If he can significantly improve his shooting from 3 (25.5%) and the stripe (46%), then yes. They say he knocks 'em down in practice, so I have to believe he'll start doing so in games. But it remains to be seen.
Maybe he's a tweener, but I see Haugh as a deficit at the four in the SEC and a tough matchup for opponents at the three.
Why is he a deficit at the four? His greatest weakness was his defending quicker fours in space, but threes in the SEC are heckuva lot quicker than fours. Again, his block rate was second on the team (better than everyone but Condon's) and his finishing rate was exceptional for a true freshman in this league (57.5% overall on 2s, but a team best 65% in conference play!). He didn't turn the ball over anywhere near as much as our other bigs, so that might translate to the wing, but his perimeter shooting was rough, he didn't draw fouls at a high rate, and he had the lowest assist rate on the team. I guess I'm not sure what makes people think he would be a better fit for the three than the four other than his prep clips. Personally, I think he can be a more defensively than offensively oriented David Lee at the four: an athletic, bouncy kid who can finish at a high level--but rather than being as deft of a passer or ballhandler or offensive rebounder as Lee, Haugh is a much better shot blocker who brings oodles of energy at the defensive end.
Would really be nice to see Hough consistently hit 3s at a good clip and improve as a passer -ball handler next year
Defense will be improved. Unclear if offense will be as high powered. Depth and athleticism improved.
Won’t make the tournament, even? Lots of teams make the tourney with pretty average to poor point guards. And lots of teams with really good point guards barely make it or have middling seeds with really good point guards. Heck, we had the second best point guard in the league last year and ended up a 7 seed that didn’t get out of the first round.
I could see us not making the tournament last season without Pullin. Of course we’ll never know, but I think he was the difference maker
If my position projections are accurate, we definitely should use our last 2 spots for a true 1 and a true 3. Or possibly two true 3s if we trust that bevy of 1/2s we have to handle the ball / run the O.
I wonder if people realize that UConn has won back to back championships with Karavan at the 4. Guess how tall he is, 6’8. Haugh is 6’9. Karavan is a really good shooter who is not as athletic or as fluid an athlete as Haugh. There is absolutely no reason Haugh can’t be a really good 4 for us. He needs to shoot it better no doubt, but with just a couple adjustments that are easy to make that can change. As a coach I can tell you he makes so many winning plays. Joakim Noah and Will Yeguette are who I compare him too in terms of making winning plays with his effort, his ability to get his hands on balls, his head first loose ball mentality and all the intangibles. To be clear I am not saying he is Joakim Noah, I am saying as a coach we really value guys who play super hard and make tons and tons of small winning plays that don’t show up in box scores. I believe Haugh will be a key player for us next year and make a big leap in his sophomore season. He rushed last season a bit on offense as a shooter. That will slow down and with some tweeks and just slowing down a bit his shot will improve.
Will Richard is a 3 for us and Brown is a 2/3 as a freshman. Also I will be surprised if Martin plays 0 minutes at the 3 next year. He has done it at a high level before. As I have said here before we want to add another longer 3 and are trying to do that. We will see what happens. Any true pg brought in will be a low profile one if Clayton is coming back. We have already told both Clayton and Martin they will get the chance to at times be the primary ball handler. There just isn’t the minutes or NIL money to bring in a high profile pg.
Didn't David Lee bulk up between in freshman and sophomore season only to find that it actually hurt his game? I prefer the bouncy Haugh to the muscular Haugh. I see Haugh as splitting his time between "3" and "4" depending on Micah's return and whether either Brown or Aberdeen can earn time as part of a 3 guard lineup
But that’s the point of these additions: Martin, Alexis, and Chinyelu are all outstanding defensively. Aberdeen is, and he will get more minutes. Condon and Haugh were as good or better defensively than the starters last year. The entire premise of my thread starter was that we have shifted our identity in the portal, and I think it is Golden’s analytics-derived belief that good offensive rebounding and a high tempo (with high usage rate guards who get out in transition and get you early offense) make you an efficient offense even if without great shooting or play making in the halfcourt, while improved defense (contested 2s, good defensive rebounding, turnover creation) will get you more possessions, more transition opportunities, and more shots. At the end of the day, I agree what we need solid point guard play, but I also think the staff believes some combination of Aberdeen, Clayton, and Martin can provide that, but alongside immensely improved defends that creates its own offense. It’s a real risky gambit, so we’ll see how well it works.
Condon played most of his minutes at the 5 last year, and I expect the same this year, unless Handlogten is ready to go. And I don’t see Chinyelu playing the 4. Same with Alexis. He is far more likely to play the 5 than the 4. Richard is definitely a 3, and Brown a wing. I agree that a 1 and a 3 are what would probably like, but find it interesting that we are still reaching out to a 5, like the shotblocker from Kentucky.
Ok I missed that you think we are going to be markedly improved on defense. I tend to think that team defense doesn't just happen by recruiting good defenders, rather from a cohesive philosophy of the team working together, including things like ball pressure, switching, rotation, weakside help, boxing out, and transition offense, which leads teams to play more cautiously on their offensive end. One or two guys playing defense is what we had this season and it was terrible by any measure. Watching someone as athletic as Riley Kugel let his man go by him with ease and trying to reach around behind them and steal the ball was infuriating this season. It's like nobody taught him how to play defense. So I will admit that better defenders allow for better defense, but you still have to coach it. Color me cautiously optimistic. EDIT: I still think we are gonna be sorry for not getting a good PG from the portal.
Curious, did you think Aberdeen played good defense? Kugel and him have had the same coaching for probably 6 years as the played HS ball together too...
Exactly what Jacob Rudner at 247 says for the starting lineup. "While it could change depending on Florida's final additions to its roster: Walter Clayton, Alijah Martin, Will Richard, Sam Alexis, Alex Condon. It's a real toss up for me between Alexis at the four and Chinyelu at the five with Condon at the four. It will in part depend on how quickly Chinyelu acclimates after playing mostly reserve minutes in 2023-24 as a true freshman at Washington State. I think if he gets to campus and proves he can hang quickly, he'll get the job. Thomas Haugh could also be a candidate to occupy a starting spot with a strong preseason."
He played OK in a couple of games. Kugel actually had a couple of decent games defensively when he would get a steal or two and actually try to rebound a little. I'm not sure what you are getting at because my point is that we are going to take a huge step back at the point guard position, and mostly I am talking about running the offense. Defensively Aberdeen may be close to Pullin, we will see how good he is defensively when his minutes go up. A guy can come into a game fresh and give his team a spark, but towing the load all day is a different animal. It is really hard to tell how good any player is when you are not playing good team defense.
