23-24 UConn Basketball: Stephon's Castle

RedOctober3829

RedOctober3829

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BaseballJones said:
Assuming Clingan and Castle do, in fact, leave for the NBA, that makes four huge contributors (I'd argue the four best players on the team) gone: Clingan, Newton, Castle, and Spencer. They represent:

66% of the team's scoring
61% of the team's rebounding
66% of the team's blocks
76% of the team's assists
60% of the team's steals

That's...um...a lot to replace. And as fun as Samson Johnson was to watch, he isn't going to fill those shoes. They'll need some new guys to really step up.

I do not expect UConn to be a contender for the national championship next year.
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Ball and Stewart will step in and be good players. Hopefully Diarra stays around. They'll go in the portal for a starting shooting guard and center. Two four-star recruits are coming in(PG Ahmad Nowell and SF Isaiah Abraham) to add depth. There will be a drop-off to be expected, but I wouldn't count out Dan Hurley. They will be among the nation's best teams.
 
DennyDoyle'sBoil

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They shouldn't be anything close to a final four team next year though it will be interesting to see what the portal brings. I think players will want to play here.

The guy who intrigues me is Diarra. I think he could be a really good Big East guard. He pretty clearly knew his role, but it will be interesting to see what he can do as a senior starter. He has had some really big moments.
 
Dan Murfman

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BaseballJones said:
Assuming Clingan and Castle do, in fact, leave for the NBA, that makes four huge contributors (I'd argue the four best players on the team) gone: Clingan, Newton, Castle, and Spencer. They represent:

66% of the team's scoring
61% of the team's rebounding
66% of the team's blocks
76% of the team's assists
60% of the team's steals

That's...um...a lot to replace. And as fun as Samson Johnson was to watch, he isn't going to fill those shoes. They'll need some new guys to really step up.

I do not expect UConn to be a contender for the national championship next year.
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I agree totally but I thought the same thing last April after losing Andre, Adama, Hawk and Joey C.
 
BaseballJones

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Dan Murfman said:
I agree totally but I thought the same thing last April after losing Andre, Adama, Hawk and Joey C.
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True, but Clingan and Newton and Karaban were back, and you knew that Castle was a stud. Not having Clingan will be significant.

Nonetheless, I expect them to be good. Hurley is obviously outstanding.
 
bosox188

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I do think it's highly unlikely (moreso than how unlikely a back-to-back was) that they could pull off a threepeat. But I'm just glad that this coaching staff looks to stay intact to figure out how to restock the roster.
 
DennyDoyle'sBoil

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So, if you only count the guys who compete or coach, is Tom Moore the UConn guy with the most championships? I think he's the only one with four.

Just a weird little bit of trivia, but really kind of speaks to how they have managed to stay a great program over a lot of changes, and how he's been something of a constant, albeit with a break in there.
 
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bosox188

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Not me. If lesser coaches don't think the Kentucky job is worth it, why should Hurley? If they had any chance at him to begin with they wouldn't have been spending their past couple of days on Scott Drew. No offense to Drew he's a great coach.
 
BaseballJones

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From 1999-present (the start of the championships), here's my all-time UConn men's and women's 10-player BB teams:

Men:
G - Kemba Walker, Richard Hamilton, Ben Gordon, Tristen Newton
F - Adama Sonogo, Rudy Gay, Caron Butler
C - Emeka Okafor, Donovan Clingan, Hasheem Thabeet

Women:
G - Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Paige Bueckers, Moriah Jefferson
F - Maya Moore, Breanna Stewart, Swin Cash, Svetlana Abrosimova
C - Tina Charles, Napheesa Collier
 
JOBU

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BaseballJones said:
From 1999-present (the start of the championships), here's my all-time UConn men's and women's 10-player BB teams:

Men:
G - Kemba Walker, Richard Hamilton, Ben Gordon, Tristen Newton
F - Adama Sonogo, Rudy Gay, Caron Butler
C - Emeka Okafor, Donovan Clingan, Hasheem Thabeet

Women:
G - Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Paige Bueckers, Moriah Jefferson
F - Maya Moore, Breanna Stewart, Swin Cash, Svetlana Abrosimova
C - Tina Charles, Napheesa Collier
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I feel like Ray Allen should be on this list somewhere
 
BaseballJones

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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And I apologize to the women’s program. I put 1999 as the start of the championship period, but obviously the women won in 1995. My original post was going to be just about the men and then I added the women later before I hit “post”, but didn’t change the start date to accommodate the women’s title in 1995.

I meant no harm.

If I take it back to 1995, the men have Ray Allen instead of Thabeet, and the women have Rebecca Lobo instead of either Abrosimova or Collier.
 
BaseballJones

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He really brought this program up from the ashes. He took over a program that had gone 16-17 and 14-18 the two previous seasons under Kevin Ollie. Hurley had one losing season to start with, but then things began to build. And now...dominance.
 
curly2

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BaseballJones said:
From 1999-present (the start of the championships), here's my all-time UConn men's and women's 10-player BB teams:

Men:
G - Kemba Walker, Richard Hamilton, Ben Gordon, Tristen Newton
F - Adama Sonogo, Rudy Gay, Caron Butler
C - Emeka Okafor, Donovan Clingan, Hasheem Thabeet
Click to expand...
I would go:

G: Kemba Walker, Shabazz Napier, Tristen Newton, Khalid El-Amin
F: Richard Hamilton, Caron Butler, Rudy Gay
C: Emeka Okafor, Adama Sanogo, Donovan Clingan
 
DennyDoyle'sBoil

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Reed is a fantastic addition, but there is one tool he doesn't have. Big men who cannot shoot free throws are problematic in college, where the one and one can be as good as a turnover.

The way that the Huskies have won in the last two years makes you forget the importance of being able to make your free throws in college, especially in the tournament. I think you could make an argument that the Huskies won one of their national championships at the line.

Not meaning to throw a turd in the punch bowl, especially on something that can be improved, but it's a pet peeve. Fortunately, it's something that can improve. Whatever they did with Sanogo worked like magic, so hopefully they have a similar plan for Reed.
 
JOBU

JOBU

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Valid point. Even Clingan got much improved from the FT line. Not overly concerned.
 
RedOctober3829

RedOctober3829

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DennyDoyle'sBoil said:
Reed is a fantastic addition, but there is one tool he doesn't have. Big men who cannot shoot free throws are problematic in college, where the one and one can be as good as a turnover.

The way that the Huskies have won in the last two years makes you forget the importance of being able to make your free throws in college, especially in the tournament. I think you could make an argument that the Huskies won one of their national championships at the line.

Not meaning to throw a turd in the punch bowl, especially on something that can be improved, but it's a pet peeve. Fortunately, it's something that can improve. Whatever they did with Sanogo worked like magic, so hopefully they have a similar plan for Reed.
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Well if they land McNeeley then I think Reed will be more of a role guy.
 
DennyDoyle'sBoil

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The thing about Hurley's and Murray's offense is that you can only run it if you have the right personnel. You run all this action to find the optimal play, and it doesn't matter if you don't have players who can select the right option. That really was the thing that made them different. Everyone could pass. It started with Newton, but Spencer and Diarra were incredible decisionmakers, and Clingan has a very quick processor and is a good passer.

It's a funny thing to say because they lost by 30, but the team that I would say played UConn the best defensively late in the year was SDSU. They were the most prepared team defensively that Connecticut saw during this year's run. They blew up everything. They were on top of the screens and cuts before UConn was. They foiled multiple lobs. They were always on the right side of the players. But UConn just had so many ways to win. SDSU expended so much effort on defense that they had nothing left for the rest of the game, and UConn played an incredible defensive game. And they just could not defend like they did and also rebound -- they cost themselves defensive rebounding positioning by staying on top of Connecticut players and so while UConn did not get its trademark cuts and slams and alley-oops, they crushed them on the glass and that was that. But kudos to SDSU and Dutcher. They were prepared.

Although, I would say that the best play of the year was in that game. About halfway through the second half, it was handoff and roll by Clingan. Spencer finds Castle who lays it off to Clingan. It was just not a play you see in college. As good as SDSU defended, they couldn't defend that. Again, silly to praise a team that loses by 30, but they seemed to be more prepared for Connecticut's offensive action than anyone all year.
 
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