Cornell. Gibbs will be a temporary
stop-gap as a primary ball-handler,
but he can also play off the ball. He
takes care of possessions with a 26
percent assist rate and just a 14.8
percent turnover ratio. Off the ball,
he can be a knock-down shooter,
connecting on 43 percent of his
3-point attempts last year. Miller
will have to adjust to a higher level
of competition on a nightly basis,
but the Ivy League All-Conference
First Team player will fit in nicely
beside Brimah in the frontcourt.
need to see a major jump in scoring
efficiency for Connecticut to stay
ranked throughout the season.
The 7-foot Brimah is their
best draft prospect and a monster
defensively. He blocks 15 percent
of opponents’ shots when he is on
the floor, according to KenPom—
second most in the country. While
they feed him in the post, he isn’t
a polished player with his back to
the basket, and his best offense
consists of offensive rebound putbacks and dunks off dump-off
passes. If Purvis and Hamilton can
lead the offense, Brimah can focus
on simply being a shutdown rim
protector.
The Huskies scored a major
coup by landing two graduate
transfers in Sterling Gibbs from
Seton Hall, and Shonn Miller from
He dominated the defensive
glass, posting the sixth highest
defensive rebounding percentage at
28.2 percent. Miller is only 6-foot7, so some of this may have been
taking advantage of the smaller Ivy
League competition, and he will
need to prove his skills translate to
the American Athletic Conference.
Brimah isn’t a great defensive
rebounder, making Miller’s
contributions here that much more
critical to his amount of playing
time. Both graduate transfers
should be thrown in the mix right
away, and Ollie will rely on them
to fill roles and provide veteran
leadership.
“Connecticut may
not have the
highest level
of talent, but
their seniority
could drive
them back
to another
NCAA
Tournament.”
A veteran
team, Connecticut
may not have
the highest level
of talent, but their
seniority could
drive them back
to another NCAA
tournament. They
will sport five key
contributors who will be at
least 22 at some point during
the season, giving them a big
advantage physically. If they
can share the ball and find a
way to score efficiently on a
consistent basis, they should
be in the running for the
conference title in the AAC.
Photo: David Butler II - USA TODAY Sports
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