This week we will be previewing the 2016-17 men’s basketball season. If you have MBB mailbag questions, let us know.
You didn’t appreciate Shonn Miller enough.
By win shares, Miller was UConn’s best player last season — its best on offense by far. Seven months ago, when the Huskies’ season ended in Iowa, the prevailing thought was that Daniel Hamilton would return for his junior season, blossoming into the team’s star and replacing much of Miller’s lost production. Then Hamilton left too.
The result is a gaping chasm at the four spot for this year’s team, also lacking rebounding help coming from the small forward position provided by Hamilton. For UConn to succeed, someone is going to have to step up.
Fortunately for head coach Kevin Ollie, he has a handful of players to lean on, each offering his own unique set of skills.
The best rebounder on the roster is senior Kentan Facey. Did you know that Facey’s 19.4 total rebounding percentage in 2014 is the highest by a UConn player since at least 2010? Number two? That’d be Kentan Facey in 2016.
The problem, as always, with Facey is his ability to stay on the court. Of the players to grab at least 100 rebounds in a season since 2010, Facey played the fewest minutes (444), yet committed 74 fouls. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s 11.4 rebounds per 40 minutes (yay!) and 6.7 fouls per 40 minutes (illegal).
As a senior, it’s not out of the question that Facey will correct some of his foul problems, or that his offensive game might take a step forward. He has added some weight this offseason and has lots of experience playing alongside Amida Brimah — front court chemistry is underrated. Ollie seems to like Facey — and veterans in general. Look for Facey to get the first crack at the starting spot early in the season.
Challenging Facey will be freshman Juwan Durham. While Facey may represent the most steady and known skill set of the traditional power forwards on the roster, Durham represents the most upside. For more on Durham, check out yesterday’s season preview piece examining the incoming freshman class.
Even if Durham is excelling early in the year, he might be hamstrung by his relatively wiry frame. Brimah requires a lot of rebounding help in the post, and Ollie may prefer to pair him with a stronger power forward to combat more traditional opponent lineups. Fellow freshman Mamadou Diarra should see plenty of playing time, especially early, as Ollie hunts for the most functional lineup combinations.
If Ollie is married to the traditional four-five front court relationship, those three will be leaned on heavily. However, as Ollie demonstrated in 2014 when DeAndre Daniels manned the four spot en route to a national championship, going small can force opponents to adjust tempo and spread the floor against the Husky offense.
Similar options are available this year, with a deep and versatile roster. VCU-transfer forward Terry Larrier has been drawing rave reviews for a solid year on the practice court. At 6’8” and 192 pounds, Larrier resembles Daniels size-wise, but offers more athleticism. While Larrier wasn’t much of a three-point threat his freshman year at VCU, the same can be said of Daniels, who eventually blossomed into a dangerous threat from behind the arc. To take the comparison even further, here’s each player’s freshman year stats:
| Player | G | MP | FG% | 2P% | 3P% | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS |
| Daniels | 31 | 12.1 | 0.341 | 0.463 | 0.24 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 1 | 3 |
| Larrier | 36 | 18.5 | 0.343 | 0.451 | 0.262 | 0.709 | 3 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 6.6 |
Freshman Vance Jackson is another option at the four in smaller lineups. While less athletic than Larrier, Jackson should be one of the team’s best three-point shooters immediately. If guards Jalen Adams and Alterique Gilbert struggle from deep, Jackson’s role could expand as the Huskies’ offense focuses on the guards attacking the basket and kicking to Jackson and Rodney Purvis on the perimeter as needed.
A lineup with Larrier or Durham at the four likely results with the most talent on the floor at once. Gilbert-Adams-Purvis-Larrier-Brimah has a chance to be an explosive unit — and must-see television — but in the end, rebounding will likely force Ollie’s hand and dictate playing time at the four.
