Purvis

[bluconn]

Twice in one day...read about this upcoming year's team...Purvis has a chance to be someone special in our program...unless he lays an egg he's not sitting behind ANYONE! He is a player that typifies what Coach Calhoun did in promoting his best...I'm rooting as hard as anyone. ..Thanks!

 

[B1GEast]

Purvis, Boat, Cassell and Samuel, those guys are going to make life difficult for any opposing team. Cannot wait.

 

[Huskies4ever]

Purvis, Boat, Cassell and Samuel, those guys are going to make life difficult for any opposing team. Cannot wait.

GuardU

 

[UConnfan8]

Rodney Purvis will be the best player on this team next year. Mark it down.

 

[otp85]

Rodney Purvis will be the best player on this team next year. Mark it down.

Ryan Boatright might have something to say about that.

 

[Danzz]

We lost a truckload of outside scoring with Bazz and Daniels moving on. Somebody besides Boat has to step up and be an outside scoring threat and if it is Purvis, great. Otherwise teams will sag on us and jam things up in the paint. If Omar can return to form he will be the game changer that will open up the paint for players like Purvis to get to the rim. Outside shooting is a big question mark but fortunately KO has a lot of options that could be answers. We also lost our leading rebounder in Bazz.
I can't remember being so anxious to see a UConn team on the floor. We have a chance to be very good.

 

[Edward Sargent]

I am hoping for Tsam to Omar in the corner. Good!

 

[Danzz]

I am hoping for Tsam to Omar in the corner. Good!

Don't see Tsam as an outside shooter but with another year under his belt who knows. Maybe Hamilton or Cassell.

 

[Hoophound]

I am hoping for Tsam to Omar in the corner. Good!

Lots of guys to blend in and run people off the court. My vote is to hand Boat the keys and let him continue developing and the other guys can fall in. For now, Boat is the alpha dog and his defense is what makes him so. Now he just needs to distribute and grow in that regard.

 

[ktuck911]

Our guard depth is the best in the country. Stop sleeping on/forgetting about Omar Calhoun folks. Hes really really good too. Just had a growing pains sophomore year.

 

[Edward Sargent]

Don't see Tsam as an outside shooter but with another year under his belt who knows. Maybe Hamilton or Cassell.

No but I saw several times in the two games I watched in person in Florida against USF and UCF when Tsam came in he changed the game both times with his penetration and kick outs. He also seemed to look for Omar. Omar has got to hit them now

 

[Strummer]

Omar Calhoun just had a growing pains sophomore year.

More like he shrunk.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Our guard depth is the best in the country. Stop sleeping on/forgetting about Omar Calhoun folks. Hes really really good too. Just had a growing pains sophomore year.

Not to be buzzkillington, but Omar "could" be good. He is not "really really" good.


But on subject, purvis will be a 1st round pick by the time he leaves Uconn. Whether that be based on potential or production/a combination of both

 

[Edward Sargent]

Hate to be a buzzwordkillington but its whether

 

[pj]

Rodney Purvis will be the best player on this team next year. Mark it down.

Purvis will be a huge scorer. Boatright will be the best player. Together they'll be the top guard tandem in college basketball.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Hate to be a buzzwordkillington but its whether

Hey it's early in CT

 

[Huskyforlife]

Purvis will be a huge scorer. Boatright will be the best player. Together they'll be the top guard tandem in college basketball.

I'd settle for that

 

[mauconnfan]

Best overall player - Purvis, Boat close 2nd……

Best shooters: Omar, Cassell Jr and DHam with Rodney and Boat being solid - actually more shooters than last year but not as many "proven daggers" as of yet!

Best newcomer: DHam - his mid range game will be something we sorely missed and still won a NC without

So many question marks:

Is Phil ready to take that next step from a solid defender/body to on occasion capable of the 12/10 game? Same with Amida, we know he can block shots but will his court awareness improve?

Will Omar be more of his frosh year or struggle to find his identity on a long and talented bench?

So many more, but if the chemistry is real good and they all buy in this is a talented team which could be the usual late gelling type like a couple other recent years. Not saying NC but a lot of fun to watch!!

 

[jibsey]

I have no stats to back this up but it seemed like every time TSam was on the floor he was tipping the ball out of a defenders hand, disrupting on defense and working through traffic on offense. He made things happen out there. He is a close contact player who does not need his shot to fall to make an impact, but even with all of our guard talent, it could look ugly for awhile until it meshes. We expect these guys to win it every year, but I hope we ride under the radar as we did for the last 2 until late. I wish the season started tomorrow.

 

[Edward Sargent]

I have no stats to back this up but it seemed like every time TSam was on the floor he was tipping the ball out of a defenders hand, disrupting on defense and working through traffic on offense. He made things happen out there. He is a close contact player who does not need his shot to fall to make an impact, but even with all of our guard talent, it could look ugly for awhile until it meshes. We expect these guys to win it every year, but I hope we ride under the radar as we did for the last 2 until late. I wish the season started tomorrow.

Agree totally. I think he will be a significant impact player for this team as the 6th man. Someone said earlier that Purvis would be 6th man. I don't think so. Tsam like you say made things happen perfect for the 6th man role

 

[AstarIsBorn31]

I have no stats to back this up but it seemed like every time TSam was on the floor he was tipping the ball out of a defenders hand, disrupting on defense and working through traffic on offense. He made things happen out there. He is a close contact player who does not need his shot to fall to make an impact, but even with all of our guard talent, it could look ugly for awhile until it meshes. We expect these guys to win it every year, but I hope we ride under the radar as we did for the last 2 until late. I wish the season started tomorrow.

Samuel is very quick and I was just watching some highlights yesterday thinking that this guy could probably penetrate a 2-3 zone with ease. He is very disruptive on the defensive end because of how quick he can move his feet. He did miss a few easy buckets last season because I think he moves so quick and as a freshman his mind was prolly moving even faster. If you see his high school tapes though you can see he is very comfortable around the rim moving 100mph. Bazz said this kid is really good and just learning the game still so I have to think this kid is going to be a big part of UCONN ball in the next few seasons.

 

[Rico444]

Samuel is very quick and I was just watching some highlights yesterday thinking that this guy could probably penetrate a 2-3 zone with ease. He is very disruptive on the defensive end because of how quick he can move his feet. He did miss a few easy buckets last season because I think he moves so quick and as a freshman his mind was prolly moving even faster. If you see his high school tapes though you can see he is very comfortable around the rim moving 100mph. Bazz said this kid is really good and just learning the game still so I have to think this kid is going to be a big part of UCONN ball in the next few seasons.

I think people are really underrating T-Sam. I know he's not your prototypical 3, but I wouldn't be shocked if he took a good chunk of minutes from Hamilton.

 

[caw]

Best overall player - Purvis, Boat close 2nd……

Best shooters: Omar, Cassell Jr and DHam with Rodney and Boat being solid - actually more shooters than last year but not as many "proven daggers" as of yet!

Best newcomer: DHam - his mid range game will be something we sorely missed and still won a NC without

So many question marks:

Is Phil ready to take that next step from a solid defender/body to on occasion capable of the 12/10 game? Same with Amida, we know he can block shots but will his court awareness improve?

Will Omar be more of his frosh year or struggle to find his identity on a long and talented bench?

So many more, but if the chemistry is real good and they all buy in this is a talented team which could be the usual late gelling type like a couple other recent years. Not saying NC but a lot of fun to watch!!

Just in regards to midrange game, Napier was one of the bet midrange shooters in college ball last year (from what I recall from reading stats).

Boatright had a very good midrange game freshmen year and also against UK, but fell off most of the year.

Samuel needs to at least be capable of making open shots to keep the defense honest (he did a decent job last year). Statistically he only took 1 three all year but he took and made a few with his toes on the line (needs to watch that).

I think Hamilton should have at least Rip type range (very good college three point shooter).

It will be very interesting to see how Ollie uses his ten players. Pretty much has two deep at each position but PF is a huge unknown.

My guess is:
RB 30, TS 10-15
RP 25, SC 10-15
DH 20-25, OC 15-20
KF ??, RL ??
PN 20-25, AB 20-25

Just a guess based on how well I think the newcomers are. Lubin/Facey I have no clue on. I liked the limited minutes from Facey last year rebounding and on offense but he was lost on defense. Lubin is just a question mark in terms of how his game will translate (I am cautiously optimistic).

Brimah and Facey are both foul prone, so I wouldn't start both and I also wouldn't start both my centers, though I do think UConn will be forced to play both together at times. If Brimah can play 20-25 minutes that would be something like 5-6 PPG, 4-4.5 RPG, 2.8-3.5 BPG at his per minute rate from last year, I think he can get there at least for points and rebounds.

Lose a ton of flexibility at the three-four without Giffey/Daniels/Kromah. Need one of Lubin or Facey to provide productive minutes. If they do this team could be very good, though will go through some growing pains. One positive is they both appear to like to rebound, which may allow the guards to leak out more.

 

[pj]

If Brimah can develop consistency and avoid fouling even as his role expands, then he should get 25-30 minutes per game at center, and that would allow Phil to spend more time at PF, 10-15 at center and 15-20 at PF, 25-30 total minutes, Facey getting 20-25 at PF, that makes 70-80 minutes between the three of them, maybe 10 minutes per game with a 4 perimeter player lineup.

 

[caw]

It will be interesting to see how much players improve over the summer. Last year you had Giffey making huge strides, Nolan making solid improvements, Napier and Daniels getting better at certain aspects. I'd argue Kromah played better at UConn but I have a limited frame of reference. Boat improved by the end of the year, not that he struggled at the beginning but he was a noticeably better player in the NCAAT.

OC, LT and TO regressed. Tolksdorf was used as bench fodder so he's hard to judge. Calhoun likewise had his injury so really his regression was somewhat expected (or at least the lack of improvement is understandable). Olander had issues.

I expect Boatright to improve considerably in terms of just making shots (his midrange abandoned him most of last year).

Brimah I expect to get more PT and have a better feel for the game allowing him to play more than 15 minutes a game.

Nolan I expect to be stronger and able to finish better on dump offs. He really played much better freshman to sophomore year, but I think he can get even better.

Calhoun I hope can just get his legs back, even if he just returns to freshman year, he should be able to replace what UConn lost in Kromah.

Samuel needs to work on his shot, and I expect him to make a few threes this year.

Facey could flourish with PT, just like Daniels did, though obviously not the same game.