My opinion he is good enough to start for us. Our backcourt needs help.
Transfer Portal
- Thread starter The_Only_Blue
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I can’t recall any championship team that played more than 7 or 8 meaningful minutes. Jon is the coach though, and he knows his current guys better than we do, but I have my doubts.
This reminds me of a kid that goes to the buffet, drools over all the options, then can’t eat but half of what he piled on his plate.
This reminds me of a kid that goes to the buffet, drools over all the options, then can’t eat but half of what he piled on his plate.
Sure, they’re looking, but he’s still losing 100% of his starters, they haven’t reloaded through the portal nor is their class anywhere near good enough to keep them at the level they’ve been at. I think Hurley is a very good coach and and will coach up his guys, but you still have to have damn good players to even compete and right now, they don’t.
And should they fade back into struggling to get to the tournament or missing it then recruiting and portal success can take a nosedive.
Correct. Roster construction between Duke and Kansas for this year is very different.
The best example of a really deep team winning big is Nolan Richardson's 40 minutes of Hell teams in the mid-90s. The 1994 team that edged Duke in the title game had nine guys average at least 11.9 mpg and a 10th average 9.6. Corlis Williamson was a great college player and he averaged 29.1 mpg. Scotty Thurman averaged 29.0. And they led the team.
But in the title game Richardson compressed his rotation so that five players played between 29 and 36 minutes, with four others playing between 5 and 12.
I'm not sure if the lesson is that deep teams can win big or even the deepest teams ride their best players longer in the biggest games.
Or both. Not mutually exclusive
He has coached at Rhode Island and Connecticut for a total of 12 years and missed the NCAA tournament 6 times.
Sion James may not necessarily start, but I do think he'd get at least 20 minutes a night. He's a great defender, a good secondary playmaker, and he's in the 96th percentile on spot up jumpers. Much more prepared to contribute than most of the freshmen. - and will likely have a bigger impact than the other two transfers.
2023 NBA scouting report on James. I couldn't find anything from 2024.
"A strong, athletic guard. He is a versatile player who can distribute the basketball, and he is a high motor player who can get steals and blocks on defense. He can tend to be too passive on offense, and he'll need to improve his jump shot. He currently projects to be a borderline second round pick in the 2024 draft."
"A strong, athletic guard. He is a versatile player who can distribute the basketball, and he is a high motor player who can get steals and blocks on defense. He can tend to be too passive on offense, and he'll need to improve his jump shot. He currently projects to be a borderline second round pick in the 2024 draft."
James didn’t get an invite to the NBA combine, FYI. I think he will be heading back to college for one more year. Hopefully that will be with Duke.
Hurley is a different animal - don’t bet against their legitimate chance at a 3-peat. The guys who are coming in are fixed on that goal. He lost most of his team from his first title, and managed to end up with an even better team.
He could go to 95% of teams and start man… here he’ll get 20 at the very most. Like I said I hope he comes but don’t get your hopes too high. We have enough he’d be a nice bonus though
He’s reloaded , got the number nine recruit to commit , he’s got a strong back court and good front court players . You can say the same thing about Duke . Foster coming off injury , Proctor coming off another up and down year , Mal is a foreign player who won’t even join the team until after the Olympics , Brown and Gillis have to learn a new system and no matter how you spin it Duke will still be relying on atleast two freshman starters ( Mal and Flag are not coming off the bench ).
Some on here need to take off your glasses . Hurley has UCONN rolling since taking over . Very seriously doubt they miss the tourney next season and his system is designed for portal players and hex not scared to play his bench . Who helps Duke of the bench next year ? Can you please tell me seeing as how most of the posters on here want portal players. Leaving very little faith in the incoming freshman from their points?
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Only once at UCONN in 2019( his first season as head coach of UCONN. ) so in his first five years at UCONN he’s missed the tourney once , Covid cancelled his second season , first round exit his third and two national championship his fourth and fifth . That’s really a program that looks like they’re about to struggle given they just reloaded again out the portal .
They got Reed from Michigan to play center, Mahaney from St Mary’s to play guard, and high recruits in McNeeley and Nowell, both of whom are the highest rated recruits they’ve had since forever. I think their talent is as good, if not better, as it has been under Hurley.
Shey I think the sweet NIL deal was really the clincher. It's also generally acknowledged Duke won't play the three guard offense next year. Jeremy wouldn't get the same kind of PT as this season.
OFC
Yes Hurley has been fantastic at getting guys from the portal and having them play as a team. He seems to be a very good evaluator of talent and fit. They may not 3 peat but they will likely be a 1/2 seed next year. If Jon seals the deal on the Tulane guard I will give him an A plus in the portal.
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What facts you’ve shown none ! You mentioned Rhode Island . I’m simply talking about since he’s been at UCONN . You’re going off what previous coaches have done there . They aren’t Hurley . I mean didn’t Ollie win a National championship after he took over at UCONN?
It’s not even up for debate that Hurley is the best coach in the nation. Just like Coach K was when he went back to back and then Donovan when he did it.
He has back to back titles and that is not easy to do. I don’t think you could argue against Hurley not being the best all around coach right now just due to that fact. I don’t see Hurley or UConn going away anytime soon either. Regardless of how good he is right now, I still wouldn’t trade him for Jon. I agree with Chris that uconn will likely have a good seed so I’m not saying it’s impossible. However, I wouldn’t bet on 3 in a row. Due to single elimination, even the best teams frequently don’t win the tournament. It takes a great team and a little bit of luck to win one. To win 3in a row, you need Kareem.
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While I agree with everything you said . You don’t need Kareem . You simply need a team willing to put all self accomplishments to the side and buy into the team concept . The last guard that just committed to UCONN said it best ,” they get you to feed off each other, feed off each team member and member of the staff and have you buying into something way bigger then yourself !” .
I wouldn’t trade Scheyer for any coach either . However to think UCONN is simply fixing to struggle or fall off the map is crazy . They are the hottest program right now and their two back to back championships make that fact !
You like to pick apart my comments. And what’s up with the exclamation marks? I used Kareem as an example because he won 3 in a row. So did bill walton. I am not discrediting wooden but those were two special generational talents. (Not to be confused with prodigy) Those guys were giants during their time and they played without a 3 pt line. I’m not sure a team has won 3 consecutive times since. Therefore, history tells me that the odds are against UConn to win a 3rd. They’re not 0% though. I’m just not betting on it.
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Huh ? I agreed with you . The last part of my post was simply replying to others who think UCONN is simply going to fall off . As far as the Kareem comment it was meant more at the fact that Hurley has been able to get high portal transfers to buy into his system therefore keeping him in the hunt . That’s all calm down .the only exclamation mark I used was in reference to what a recruit said about UCONN did you not see the quotations after the one exclamation mark ? Sorry I used two. The second was in response to a fact at an earlier post from another poster not you
He deserves all the credit he’s being given, but I’m sick of Hurley and UConn. This time next year, I pray we’re singing the praises of Duke and Jon.
With all due respect, the hell with Hurley.
With all due respect, the hell with Hurley.
People got sick of us in the 90's after the two titles and Dick Vitale calling us the greatest thing ever every time he did our games. It comes with winning. I don't like U Conn, but I respect what they have done. My dad was amazed at how crisp and precise their plays and execution was.
Nothing confirmed...but it is looking like we got James!
Nothing confirmed...but it is looking like we got James!
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This . Anyone who thought UCONN wasn’t going to win it all was lost . They did it with precision.
On to next season.
If we get the Tulane guy, and hints are suggesting we did(Duke IG just followed him, a good sign), we have a complete team that has as good a shot as anyone. Experienced tough transfers in the frontcourt, wing and backcourt. Plus talented freshman. (I like freshman I just think they are hit and miss) Jon will have made some hard choices and assembled a team without a glaring hole. Only challenge is fitting those pieces together, but Proctor can help with that.
Hurley is the best coach in the country right now there is no denying that.
I disagree with whomever said Hurley lost the majority of his team from the 22-23 season and repeated with a completely new roster, that is simply not true. UConn lost Jackson, Sanogo, and their stud player after the 22-23 title. They still returned the core guys of Newton, Karaban, Clinigan they defend the 23-24 title along with adding Spencer, the big who replaced Karraban & Clinigan off the bench, and the one and done freshman.
Mr Scary is right in that UConn is losing all 6 of those guys this off season.
I disagree with whomever said Hurley lost the majority of his team from the 22-23 season and repeated with a completely new roster, that is simply not true. UConn lost Jackson, Sanogo, and their stud player after the 22-23 title. They still returned the core guys of Newton, Karaban, Clinigan they defend the 23-24 title along with adding Spencer, the big who replaced Karraban & Clinigan off the bench, and the one and done freshman.
Mr Scary is right in that UConn is losing all 6 of those guys this off season.
Karaban can still come back he only declared like half of college basketball. The problem is he reloaded with upper classmen not freshman . Move on . UCONN just like Duke is in the top ten of the early preseason poles just like Duke . See how it plays out my issue is that it seems a lot are hating on him for his success just like Duke once was for their success and it only fuels a flame .
Shey I wasn’t hating (did you not read the first part of my last post?) I was just saying that Mr Scary isn’t wrong about UConn losing all of their rotation players from the last 2 seasons. It’s true. Don’t know what you want me to say to make it untrue.
I’m not going to make up things just to please posters on here.
Also, reloading with upperclassmen doesn’t automatically make you a Final 4 lock. Villanova won it in 2016, then got ousted in the 2nd round in 2017 at the hands of Wisconsin. That Villanova team had returned the majority of their 2016 national championship team including Brunson, Hart, Bridges, Pascal, all guys that were in the rotation on their 2016 Natty Team.
I’m not going to make up things just to please posters on here.
Also, reloading with upperclassmen doesn’t automatically make you a Final 4 lock. Villanova won it in 2016, then got ousted in the 2nd round in 2017 at the hands of Wisconsin. That Villanova team had returned the majority of their 2016 national championship team including Brunson, Hart, Bridges, Pascal, all guys that were in the rotation on their 2016 Natty Team.
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I honestly thought Purdue and unc were the two teams that could potentially beat them before the tourney. I was definitely wrong about Purdue. I am glad unc never had the chance.
They lost four starters and the last to declare can still return which a lot think he will but have already replenished their backcourt through the portal which is why the way to early poles have them listed from 3-8 .
As far as the Villanova team, there was plenty of tape on them from the previous year to allow to prepare . I’m talking about upperclassmen in a whole new system which they are being strategically recruited and implemented. Either way I’m done this is the transfer portal thread. We will see how next season plays out .
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I didn’t see either of them beating UCONN. I actually thought Duke had the best offense to beat them . Purdue only had EDEY as their focal point . UConn had two bigs to aggravate him and UNC only had Bacon boy.
UCONN literally played with their opponent. Let them think they were in it and then unleashed their will. I simply can’t hate them due to the fact they looked like early Duke teams . If they couldn’t score they would make you attempt to score over their defense .
I don’t . I look at Evan’s as the next Duke Villian . He’s got that “ it” factor and he has already said the sweep from UNC won’t happen next year .
