OTish - Damion Lee to Louisville

[CallMeBruce]

http://www.gocards.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/042315aac.html

 

[CallMeBruce]

So they're bringing in two grad transfers this year, both of whom will probably start. Who were the folks who said it was beneath UConn to build a recruiting class around grad transfers?

 

[tcf15]

That is a damn good recruiting class they are bringing in, along with Lee & Lewis. Pitino saying he'll be holding another press conference next week or so to announce another player, too.

 

[Jaker]

I would take a proven grad transfer player over a 1 and done player any day.

 

[James]

has rothstein lost his mind on twitter yet?

 

[tcf15]

That is a damn good recruiting class they are bringing in, along with Lee & Lewis. Pitino saying he'll be holding another press conference next week or so to announce another player, too.

Also, kind of glad he didn't go to Maryland since we play them next year.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Maryland has turned their attention elsewhere pretty quickly. They are looking to cut nets down. They are probably a player away. It will be fun watching it all play out at the top of the food chain from a recruiting perspective.

 

[RipCity]

Damn, they'll be very good. Their recruiting class is nasty. 3 top 35 guys in Mitchell, Spalding, and Adel and the lowest rated kid, Ryan McMahon, is a filthy 3 point shooter. Losing Harrell and Rozier will obviously be tough, but if things fall into place well they could be very competitive.

 

[DogMania]

I can't help but wonder what our 2015 class would look like if we were in one of the P5 confs. Not implying our hall for 2015 isn't good, but I'm sure KO and staff have had an uphill battle to get who they have so far and who they might add, not to mention how dominos may have had to fall our way to land Miller. Though maybe we were his top choice.

I wonder what recruits we might have landed if we were in a P5 now. Maybe Stone, Derrick Jones, or Briscoe are a few that come to mind. Maybe none of them would have chose UConn, but I can't help but wonder.

Gotta give props to Pitino. He's a heck of a recruiter and isn't all that bad at developing talent once they get there. There have been some players that turned out a lot better than their ranking would dictate. His teams were Kriptonite to us. I sort of miss playing them, but they more often had our number than we had theirs.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

Gotta give props to Pitino. He's a heck of a recruiter and isn't all that bad at developing talent once they get there. There have been some players that turned out a lot better than their ranking would dictate. His teams were Kriptonite to us. I sort of miss playing them, but they more often had our number than we had theirs.

I agree about giving props to Pitino. Although he can be criticized for his arrogance and off court extracurriculars, he is a heck of a basketball coach. He recruits great athletes and uses them to play stifling defense. It seems like he is getting tremendous depth on his roster and has had few if any down years in some time.

 

[champs99and04]

I definitely would not classify Pitino as a great recruiter.

 

[caw]

I agree about giving props to Pitino. Although he can be criticized for his arrogance and off court extracurriculars, he is a heck of a basketball coach. He recruits great athletes and uses them to play stifling defense. It seems like he is getting tremendous depth on his roster and has had few if any down years in some time.

It is strange how very few of his top ranked high school players end up being good NBA players though.

 

[W Coast UCONN]

Grad transfers are great! They give a team a lot of positives:
- college level experience
- usually a good gpa
- short term position strength

Also these type of players know their game, it has been developed. You do not get a lot of unknowns, the only downside is one year is a short period of time to mesh 100% with a new team.

 

[whaler11]

I would take a proven grad transfer player over a 1 and done player any day.

Evans or Kromah over AD?

You'd pass on Stone for a grad transfer?

 

[mauconnfan]

Evans or Kromah over AD?

You'd pass on Stone for a grad transfer?

I believe that's an unknown. Miller may fit UConn's needs more than Stones who's to know right? You would think this would be simple as Stone is a supposed stud, but does Millers experience lend a hand to making AB better whereas maybe Stone's inexperience may not have? Who knows, I like the one we got.

Imagine the Huskies having a nice looking prospect freshman instead of Kromah because he took that spot? I mean just a kid who projects to be a real nice player in the long haul but only played 4-6 minutes. What we got from Kromah cannot be measured because very few freshman can play 2-3 positions on defense, clog passing lanes, read passes and guard key players. All while shooting in the high 3o's from 3. His experience was a key piece to a NC and I doubt there were many options better for that role. Again, somewhat of a crapshoot but if it's right, it can be better.

 

[whaler11]

I believe that's an unknown. Miller may fit UConn's needs more than Stones who's to know right? You would think this would be simple as Stone is a supposed stud, but does Millers experience lend a hand to making AB better whereas maybe Stone's inexperience may not have? Who knows, I like the one we got.

Imagine the Huskies having a nice looking prospect freshman instead of Kromah because he took that spot? I mean just a kid who projects to be a real nice player in the long haul but only played 4-6 minutes. What we got from Kromah cannot be measured because very few freshman can play 2-3 positions on defense, clog passing lanes, read passes and guard key players. All while shooting in the high 3o's from 3. His experience was a key piece to a NC and I doubt there were many options better for that role. Again, somewhat of a crapshoot but if it's right, it can be better.

Kind of thing you convince yourself of when you can get Winslows Okafors and Townses.

 

[mauconnfan]

Kind of thing you convince yourself of when you can get Winslows Okafors and Townses.

I wasn't offered any of them

 

[champs99and04]

Kind of thing you convince yourself of when you can get Winslows Okafors and Townses.

I wouldn't pass on Stone or any top ten recruit for that matter, but you're just as likely to draw a kid like Turner, or Alexander, or Oubre that don't really move the needle and leave after a year as you are to get a big time difference maker.

With the understanding that I might look like an idiot in eight months, I have no problem saying that I think Miller will be better for us than Stone would have, taking roster context, positional strengths, etc. into account.

 

[CallMeBruce]

I wouldn't pass on Stone or any top ten recruit for that matter, but you're just as likely to draw a kid like Turner, or Alexander, or Oubre that don't really move the needle and leave after a year as you are to get a big time difference maker.

With the understanding that I might look like an idiot in eight months, I have no problem saying that I think Miller will be better for us than Stone would have, taking roster context, positional strengths, etc. into account.

Yeah, this is a tough one. I could absolutely see Stone come in, have a good but ultimately standard-issue freshman year, especially since he's a weird fit on our team as he and Brimah play the same position. Miller is probably a better fit for us, even if he's not nearly as talented.

 

[whaler11]

This is not a tough one. People who gets paid millions of dollars to coach and recruit players were chasing Stone to the end of the Earth.

Miller is a very good Ivy League player who's game might translate at a higher level for one season in his 5th year.

Do you really think Kevin Ollie would hesitate given a choice?

You guys can literally talk yourselves into anything.

 

[champs99and04]

I don't think the question is whether Ollie would choose Miller over Stone - he wouldn't. And I wouldn't, either, simply because Stone's ceiling is a lot higher than Miller's.

If we're playing the percentages, though, is it more likely that Stone is Demarcus Cousins or Dakari Johnson? That's not even to say that Dakari is a bad player. He's not, and he would have played big minutes at UConn. But roster structure complicates everything, and Stone would have been a messy fit in a couple ways. Either you're still rolling with Brimah at the five and using Stone as an over-sized four, or Stone is trying to learn how to play defense at the college level on the fly as our last line of defense, flanked by another couple forwards who have not proven to be particularly reliable players.

I realize this is all a pointless hypothetical, but if it's one year of Stone versus one year of Miller? While I might lean towards Stone if I had to choose, I think Miller's floor - at least in regard to how he fits into the current roster - is higher than Stone's would be.

 

[ctchamps]

This is not a tough one. People who gets paid millions of dollars to coach and recruit players were chasing Stone to the end of the Earth.

Miller is a very good Ivy League player who's game might translate at a higher level for one season in his 5th year.

Do you really think Kevin Ollie would hesitate given a choice?

You guys can literally talk yourselves into anything.

If you read what champs and bruce wrote they stated exactly what you are stating about their preferable player. If you think they are rationalizing because he isn't coming to UConn so be it. I didn't get that at all from their statements.

There is no one in this thread who would take Miller over Stone if they were in the position to chose and that choice was available. However there is no guarantee that this choice would have a better outcome for UConn next season. We've seen over and over again where the preferable choice went elsewhere and plan D helped the team to a championship. Would plan A have accomplished the same result? No one knows.

champs and Bruce are making the assumption that Amidah will improve significantly from last season. That's an unknown. If he does than you have a decent if not very good 4 in Miller and a decent 5 with Amidah as opposed to a potentially incredible 5 in Stone and Amidah a back up 5 with potentially no decent 4. Is that the more likely formula for success with a freshman Adams, jr. Rodney and soph. DHam? Who knows? It isn't illogical to postulate that a postgrad player can make the transition to a new team easier than a freshman no matter how talented that player is. Nor is it illogical to postulate that having five players with skills on the floor is better than four even with one of the four being one of the best, if not the best, player in his class.

I would give anything to zoom to an over verse and observe the two universes being debated. That's the only way to determine which hypothesis is correct. To insist we know outcomes without having the opportunity to test our theories is the problem imo. I don't get the impression champs or Bruce are insisting their statements are incontrovertible.

 

[whaler11]

If you read what champs and bruce wrote they stated exactly what you are stating about their preferable player. If you think they are rationalizing because he isn't coming to UConn so be it. I didn't get that at all from their statements.

There is no one in this thread who would take Miller over Stone if they were in the position to chose and that choice was available. However there is no guarantee that this choice would have a better outcome for UConn next season. We've seen over and over again where the preferable choice went elsewhere and plan D helped the team to a championship. Would plan A have accomplished the same result? No one knows.

champs and Bruce are making the assumption that Amidah will improve significantly from last season. That's an unknown. If he does than you have a decent if not very good 4 in Miller and a decent 5 with Amidah as opposed to a potentially incredible 5 in Stone and Amidah a back up 5 with potentially no decent 4. Is that the more likely formula for success with a freshman Adams, jr. Rodney and soph. DHam? Who knows? It isn't illogical to postulate that a postgrad player can make the transition to a new team easier than a freshman no matter how talented that player is. Nor is it illogical to postulate that having five players with skills on the floor is better than four even with one of the four being one of the best, if not the best, player in his class.

I would give anything to zoom to an over verse and observe the two universes being debated. That's the only way to determine which hypothesis is correct. To insist we know outcomes without having the opportunity to test our theories is the problem imo. I don't get the impression champs or Bruce are insisting their statements are incontrovertible.

I didn't sat it would work out better and my comments are based on what Jaker said in post 4.

But yeah it's straight up rationalization in general. One and dones are evil because one and dones go elsewhere.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

I would take a proven grad transfer player over a 1 and done player any day.

u would take a grad transfer over anthony davis, drummond, durant, ect?

 

[TigerJ]

I can't help but wonder what our 2015 class would look like if we were in one of the P5 confs. Not implying our hall for 2015 isn't good, but I'm sure KO and staff have had an uphill battle to get who they have so far and who they might add, not to mention how dominos may have had to fall our way to land Miller. Though maybe we were his top choice.

I wonder what recruits we might have landed if we were in a P5 now. Maybe Stone, Derrick Jones, or Briscoe are a few that come to mind. Maybe none of them would have chose UConn, but I can't help but wonder.

Gotta give props to Pitino. He's a heck of a recruiter and isn't all that bad at developing talent once they get there. There have been some players that turned out a lot better than their ranking would dictate. His teams were Kriptonite to us. I sort of miss playing them, but they more often had our number than we had theirs.

Not being in a P5 conference doesn't hurt Memphis and UNLV's recruiting.