Hi gang, it’s been six weeks since our last mailbag. Anything interesting happen since then?
Remember: If your question wasn’t answered or you’ve been living under a rock and are just hearing about this, you can submit your questions here or on Twitter (@ADimeBack).
Steve asks: Can you give a best case/worst case for MBB for the next year or two? Different UConn fans I talk to seem to have expectations that vary tremendously and I’m not sure where they should be.
At this very moment, I’m feeling optimistic about Dan Hurley’s first season at the helm in Storrs. But, admittedly, a lot of things need to go right for UConn to be successful and not a whole lot has gone right for the Huskies lately. Hence the disparate expecations. Let’s do each scenario.
Best case: Jalen Adams returns. Josh Carlton returns. Alterique Gilbert is healthy. Sid Wilson emerges as the third scoring threat. Hurley lands a grad transfer who can make threes and another who can handle the ball when Adams needs a rest. The infamously intense Hurley practices yield immediate dividends on the defensive end, where the raw but developing bigs like Isaiah Whaley, Mamadou Diarra and Kwintin Williams can capitalize on their athleticism. UConn takes advantage of (what should be) a down year for the rest of the American, gets over 20 wins and earns a top three seed in the AAC Tournament.
Worst case: After losing (or rejecting) the entire 2018 recruiting class, Hurley has a few additional players leave and has trouble filling the roster with capable replacements. The lack of depth is compounded as Gilbert is unable to contribute many meaningful minutes and Wilson looks rusty after sitting out last season. The post players, who seemed overmatched for most of 2017-18, don’t have the ability to compete at this level and Hurley (like Ollie before him) struggles to find a frontcourt rotation that can meet his expectations. A few untimely injuries sabotage an easy win or two. UConn spends another season dancing around the .500 mark.
***
I don’t think one of those scenarios is necessarily more likely than the other. The worst case above is essentially exactly what happened last year, so not unprecedented. The best case counts on guys playing close to their true talent level, which doesn’t seem an unreasonable expectation. At the moment, I’m giving Hurley the benefit of the doubt that he can coach some of the bad habits out of the returning players, get the most out of Jalen Adams and Christian Vital, and install more productive systems on both end of the ball to cover up some of the inevitable deficiencies on the roster.
Big Hop asks: Would you rather fill up the roster next year with grad transfers, or whatever part of the incoming freshmen class that is left over?
With three open scholarships (please consult TCF’s ever-helpful grid), there’s space to go in either direction. At the moment, there are only a few scraps left in the 2018 recruiting class — including former UConn commit James Akinjo — but some intriguing names are bound to pop up in the coming weeks (Christian Vital ended up at UConn on April 29 after de-committing from UNLV in 2016). The team currently has critical needs all over the roster. They badly need a three-point shooter (at any position, really). They could use a wing to pair with Sid Wilson. They could use another guard to avoid having to play Antwoine Anderson In A Wig 30 minutes per game. And they could use a true big — preferably a shot-blocker.
My personal preference is to get the three best grad transfers possible, push the young guys down the depth chart giving them some more runway to develop and make a run at the AAC title this year. Then recruit the living hell out of the 2019 class. Realistically, I’ll wager Hurley lands one starter-caliber grad transfer (bring me Northeastern’s Vasa Pusica), a true transfer who will sit this season, one recruit in the 2018 class and another grad transfer who will be in the mix for frontcourt minutes (Large Dave 2.0. Get excited.) — I’m betting on another scholarship opening soon.
Jesse asks via email: Will Kevin Ollie eventually be named to the Huskies of Honor at Gampel Pavilion? Hugh Greer, the head coach from ’46-’63, has been named to the Huskies of Honor — and while I’m sure he was good, even most hardcore UConn fans haven’t heard of him. Meanwhile, say what you want about Ollie, but he won a national championship. Ollie obviously won’t be named this year or next year, but after enough time has gone by, do you think he could be added to the wall?
Ask me again once we know the full extent of his “for cause” firing. There are some lines you cross that you can’t come back from. Let’s assume (and hope, really) that nothing gross or truly damaging comes to light. If Hurley ends up succeeding at UConn — especially if he does so quickly and with Ollie’s recruits — I think history will remember Ollie fondly. It will be difficult to tell the story of UConn without including him and, assuming the relationship gets repaired somewhere down the line, I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see Ollie’s name go up on the wall of Gampel — maybe at the ten year anniversary of the 2014 championship.
