Jordan Hawkins buried the biggest shot of the game as San Diego State cut UConn's lead from 16 to 5 and had all the momentum -- a big time 3 running off a double stagger. UConn cruised from there. Hawkins finished 21/42 for 3 in six NCAA tournament games. Potential lottery pick.
That’s on Hurley. Stop letting Gilbert take the meaningful shots. Over and over again. We didn’t even give ourselves a chance. UConn was better than that Xavier team.
Clingan
Karaban
Spencer
Newton
Castle
Great starting 5. UConn needed shooting badly and they got that in a big way in Spencer, who along with being a 40%+ career 3PT shooter is also a steal machine and underrated playmaker.
Newton has 503 PTS, 234 REB, and 195 AST this year. He is set to join Penny Hardaway, Kyle Anderson, Kyle Collinsworth, and Jalen Pickett as the only players to record 500 PTS, 250 REB, and 200 AST in a single season.
Sanogo finishes with 671 PTS on the season, 10th highest in UConn history and 4 shy of ‘94-‘95 Ray Allen. Highest point total for a UConn center in team history.
Hurley finding Bouknight and Hawkins in the 50-75 range when they're clearly NBA players is such good scouting. Even the guys he missed on he was right about (Patrick Williams of FSU comes to mind).
Ahmad Nowell’s commitment to UConn reminds me of Karaban’s in the sense that I have a strong conviction that his game will translate to the college level. I think UConn has found another star.
Ahmad Nowell is a power guard & two-way impact player:
▪️aggressive on-ball defender
▪️gym rat & self-made 3pt shooter
▪️strong & physically tough
▪️can play on or off the ball
Sour grapes, but have to say it. The Lakers have nothing going for them outside of being the Lakers. No young talent, not currently good, with an aging star that has gotten every single coach he’s ever had fired.
With the 2024 draft class off to the NBA, it's time to shift our attention to next year.
The 2025 NBA draft is 12 months away, but we've had our eyes on these players for years already.
Here's how we see this group and key storylines.
STORY:
A 3 point quad 1 loss on the road isn’t going to hurt your resume much.
But your eyes tend to hurt a little more from it when your team shoots 3/23 from 3.
If Flagg picks UConn, takes like this are going to be amazing.
Duke’s GM is literally someone who at Nike cheated and funneled 5 stars to Duke for years. But they’ll really cry about UConn’s big bad NIL collection, which is infinitely smaller than Duke’s.
We all know Kimani is a HC, but tonight was proof. Insanely good job. But I will say that I think he’s earned the right to wait for a job where he is in a position to win. What a stud
@CoachKimani
UConn was 216th in eFG% last year. Couldn’t make a shot. Then they lost an NBA lottery pick, added nobody, and still couldn’t make shots this year (196th in eFG%). Have to do better than that, and hard to ignore that the only big W we’ve had in 2 years came with the HC ejected.
Calcaterra is 32nd in the country in ORtg. He hasn’t had a turnover in 3 games, and that was his one downside early in the season (down to 20% TO% now). 57% 2PT/58% 3PT/82% FT shooting splits. Are we dreaming?
I feel bad for Bouknight. A bad end to an impressive young career. Let’s remember where we were before he got here and appreciate how far we’ve come albeit the rough ending to the year. His next teammates will spread the floor for him.
Whaley: 15 PTS, 7-10 FG, 1-1 3PT, 13 REB (6 OR), 3 AST, 1 STL, 2 BLK
Polley was unreal tonight, but Whaley’s energy and relentlessness is what sparked the comeback tonight. By the way... that 3 was 💦
Since 1992, Adama Sanogo is 4th in UConn history in career PTS/40 minutes (22.3) behind only Donyell Marshall, Ray Allen, and Rip Hamilton. A UConn legend.
Tristen Newton will probably be an AP 1st Team All American and not win Big East POY. Reminds me of Kemba getting snubbed for Ben Hansbrough. Hopefully this story has a similar ending.
Hurley is really shutting people up this tournament. Dominating Bennett and Musselman after beating Pitino. The vocal minority in my mentions has gone AWOL.
Jackson also had 3 AST in 6 MIN. He needs more burn.
Hawkins had an off shooting night, but (shockingly) led the Pels in FGA and in +/- at +17 in a Win.
Roumoglou is garbage time Doncic. I feel like he would be playing substantial minutes in conferences that aren’t too far below the A10. He needs a chance.
UConn has not run their offense for the final 5 minutes of game time. They have let Marquette double team them and force turnovers almost every single possession. Horrible way to close games. Really disappointing performance IMO
INTEL 🚨
From multiple sources.. here’s what I’ve gathered on Dayton transfer Koby Brea. The schools he will focus on are:
Kentucky
UConn
Villanova
Ohio State
Syracuse
Louisville
Duke
The school he attends next year will come from this list above.