Player Preview: Daniel Hamilton

Each week, we’ll offer a preview of what to expect from each member of the four-time National Champion UConn Huskies roster.

Daniel Hamilton
Sophomore F
6-7, 190

Background:

Daniel Hamilton was Kevin Ollie’s first big-time recruit. Well, the first as a head coach instead of as Jim Calhoun’s lead recruiting assistant. Hamilton hails from Los Angeles, representing one piece of the LA-to-Storrs pipeline that has included DeAndre Daniels, recent commit Vance Jackson, and Ollie himself.

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Hamilton was a five-star recruit, ranked 18th nationally. As the younger brother of three collegiate and professional players, Hamilton’s pedigree and status within the recruiting community resulted in sky-high expectations when he arrived in Storrs.

Last year:

Those impossible expectations and a lack of team success, dulled Hamilton’s luster a bit. Despite flashes of brilliance early in the season, he had his share of “freshman moments.” In a November game against West Virginia, Hamilton committed eight turnovers as the Huskies were incapacitated by the Mountaineers’ pressure defense.

The low point for Hamilton came on New Year’s Eve in Hartford when he missed three consecutive free throws with two seconds remaining in overtime and the Huskies down two to Temple.

To his great credit, Hamilton took his lumps and recovered from that game, improving noticeably as the season wore on. By the time the conference season came to a close, Hamilton was often the team’s second-leading scorer, playing sidekick to Ryan Boatright.

Hamilton was the only freshman in the nation with at least 300 points, 200 rebounds and 100 assists, and only the second freshman in UConn history to accomplish that statistical feat (Nadav Henefeld was the other).

What to expect:

Despite Boatright’s departure, Hamilton will be part of a dynamic and well-rounded offense this season. He will be back alongside Amida Brimah, with whom he formed a pass-and-catch combination last season that was often impossible to defend.

Hamilton should also benefit from the arrival of Shonn Miller, who will alleviate some of Hamilton’s rebounding responsibility (Hamilton led last year’s squad in rebounding by a wide margin).

More importantly, Hamilton will benefit from having a year of collegiate experience under his belt. He is supremely talented at pushing the ball in transition and will have more catch-and-shoot opportunities playing in a faster-paced offense with more ball-handlers surrounding him.

It would be fair to expect all of Hamilton’s numbers to tick up this season — with the likely exception of rebounds — but the two areas he must improve are on the free-throw line and from three-point range. With the amount of responsibility he will have on offense, 67 percent from the stripe isn’t going to cut it. Similarly, Hamilton took 134 three-point attempts last season, making 34 percent of them. This year’s team features more shooters, and Hamilton will have to pick his spots better from behind the arc.

Overall, expect big things from Hamilton this season. He is the perfect swingman for this team and will have every opportunity to lead the Huskies back to the tournament.

Guess at stats:

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