Each week, we’ll offer a preview of what to expect from each member of the four-time National Champion UConn Huskies roster.
Sam Cassell, Jr.
Junior guard
6’4
BACKGROUND:
Sam Cassell Jr. arrived at UConn last year in the culmination of a somewhat irregular academic adventure. After initially committing to the University of Maryland out of high school, the younger Cassell failed to meet NCAA academic standards as a freshman, and moved onto Chipola College, a junior college in Florida. After taking a year off of basketball to focus on his studies, he used his first year of eligibility in 2013-14, when he scored 18.7 points per game on 43% shooting, and was named an NJCAA All-American. Cassell is, of course, the son of former Florida State and NBA star Sam Cassell, who was an all-star for the Minnesota Timberwolves as part of a 15-year career that saw him play for eight different clubs. If the recent record of college basketball players named after their 90s NBA all-star fathers holds, the younger Cassell should see at least moderate college success in the vein of Patrick Ewing, Jr., but hopefully approaches Glen Rice, Jr., Glenn Robinson III, or Tim Hardaway, Jr.
LAST YEAR:
Sam Cassell’s first season at the University of Connecticut didn’t exactly go as planned. Despite his immense success at the NJCAA level, Cassell struggled with the speed of the game at the high-major level, seeing his scoring drop to 3.9 points per game on 28% shooting before a leg injury ended his season in January. Cassell had his own theory for the drop in performance.
The rim was tripping this year
— Handsome Cassell Jr (@sam2ss2ll) April 14, 2015
Whatever the cause may be, Kevin Ollie has to be hoping that Cassell regains some semblance of his form. Adding a capable, smart scorer and ball-handler to his bench would be a huge boon to a roster that currently only boasts transfer Sterling Gibbs and freshman Jalen Adams as potential point guards, with guards Rodney Purvis and Omar Calhoun generally needing to play off the ball.
WHAT TO EXPECT:
You’ve no doubt heard the scouting report on Cassell, as well as dozens of comparisons to his famous father, but it bears repeating. Cassell is a big combo guard with a lot of experience but very little overt athleticism. In the preseason last year, he was able to use his skills to find and make open shots, but he couldn’t buy a basket once the games started for real. A lot of that is bad luck; it’s unlikely that he suddenly stopped being able to shoot to such a degree that his FG% dropped to 28%. It’s also entirely possible that he was having issues with his leg before being diagnosed with a stress fracture. If that’s the case, and he’s able to improve enough to be a regular rotation player, he further deepens a bench that already boasts a fair amount of talent with five-star freshman Jalen Adams and three former starters in Phil Nolan, Kentan Facey, and Omar Calhoun.
GUESS AT STATS:
| 10 MPG | 42% FG | 34% 3P | 1.1 REB | 1.8 AST | 4.8 PTS |
Follow Sam II Am on Twitter: @sam2ss2ll
