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New UAB starting PG Denzell Watts embracing role like he's embraced other life challenges
http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2017/...rting.html

I think this lineup switch could be the change the team needed. Watts is a capable 3 point shooter & can provide a more steady hand as a senior. It also frees up Lavender to use more of his natural skill set off the ball.

Great feature

Seems like we are trending up. I told DM the moment Nick went down that it would be January before we recovered. Need this one tonight (I expect a solid performance) and let' hope Marshall doesn't get hot. (I expect a barn burner possibly OT)

A four game winning streak would put us on solid ground to make a run at the regular season title. I think we can take MTSU if we get them again. Especially if they start calling Upshaw on some of his blatant traveling.

Denzell gives us the best chance to win hands down. Lavender is good off the ball. Need to spank WKU tonight.

I'm glad this switch was finally made. It was several games too late IMO.. but anyways, I think most agree it was the right move and we are trending up..

What's amazing is norton was literally our only true point guard on the roster. I may be mistaken, but watts was a converted PG and played more of a scoring/2G role in high school. That was major mistake by the Haase staff to only have one pg on the roster, who had a history of an ACL tear no less...

(01-12-2017 09:50 AM)The Answer UAB Wrote:  I'm glad this switch was finally made. It was several games too late IMO.. but anyways, I think most agree it was the right move and we are trending up..

What's amazing is norton was literally our only true point guard on the roster. I may be mistaken, but watts was a converted PG and played more of a scoring/2G role in high school. That was major mistake by the Haase staff to only have one pg on the roster, who had a history of an ACL tear no less...

Watts was a point guard all through high school. He has shown ability to play the position effectively at the D1 level as early as our over time loss at MTSU in 2013. He ran the point the last 10 minutes in regulation while Frazier played off the ball which brought UAB back from a 15 point deficit. And we all saw his performance against Iowa St. He's more of a game manager while Norton is brilliant at passing players open. Nevertheless he's a good enough PG to lead UAB for the remainder of the season.

I don't follow recruiting closely but I believe Haase and Ehsan tried to recruit additional point guards. It wasn't like they decided they only needed one. Sometimes you recruit but don't get what you wanted.

And the article explains why Watts was out of shape at the beginning of the season. He was injured and being redshirted. So those who trashed him for being out of shape now know.

(01-12-2017 10:48 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  I don't follow recruiting closely but I believe Haase and Ehsan tried to recruit additional point guards. It wasn't like they decided they only needed one. Sometimes you recruit but don't get what you wanted.

And the article explains why Watts was out of shape at the beginning of the season. He was injured and being redshirted. So those who trashed him for being out of shape now know.

From Watts' recruitment:
C-A's Denzell Watts turns down bigger schools and verbally commits to UAB for basketball
http://highschoolsports.mlive.com/news/a...asketball/

Haase actually has signed another PG named Dayshawn Watkins who decided he didn't want to come to UAB and went to JUCO for a year and then on to FL State. He lasted there 1 yr before transferring.
http://www.uabsports.com/sports/m-baskbl...12aac.html

(01-12-2017 09:50 AM)The Answer UAB Wrote:  I'm glad this switch was finally made. It was several games too late IMO.. but anyways, I think most agree it was the right move and we are trending up..

What's amazing is norton was literally our only true point guard on the roster. I may be mistaken, but watts was a converted PG and played more of a scoring/2G role in high school. That was major mistake by the Haase staff to only have one pg on the roster, who had a history of an ACL tear no less...

I don't think he could be switched any sooner from reading the article and FWIW we recruited other point guards and did not get them. I do not think it is permissible to fore players to attend UAB against their will.

(01-12-2017 10:48 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  I don't follow recruiting closely but I believe Haase and Ehsan tried to recruit additional point guards. It wasn't like they decided they only needed one. Sometimes you recruit but don't get what you wanted.

And the article explains why Watts was out of shape at the beginning of the season. He was injured and being redshirted. So those who trashed him for being out of shape now know.

They tried multiple times and it was a position we swung and missed at. There were numerous reasons for this, but it's much easier to just trash the staff.

The staff was very good at recruiting overall. They missed on the pg position and it hurt us big time this year. I think that particular miss is definitely worth criticism. Should've been a point of emphasis to make sure we had a backup plan for a slightly built, high injury risk guard

You're right. If they couldn't get a good point guard to come here, they should have signed a bad point guard that wasnt good enough to play.

How do you suggest the staff "make it a point of emphasis". As Attalla says, you can't force players to sign. Seriously, what should they have done so they wouldn't be criticized?

I have to think style of play is a big reason we're not winning over many point guards. Pure speculation, but I suspect it's why Tristan Chambers chose Samford over UAB. Samford plays a faster-paced, three-point happy system, which is definitely not us.

Here's an article about how many teams are employing a two point-guard system: http://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/...small-ball

Haase and Ehsan haven't brought in enough good ball handlers and shooters. That's why we struggle with protecting the ball and perimeter shooting. It's not complicated. They may have done the best they could but it hasn't been enough to sustain the success started at the end of the 14-15 season. The first few classes, Haase/Ehsan brought in some real impact players who almost immediately made a difference on the court. Robert Brown (4 star) and William Lee (4 star) were the big names but Cokley, Mehinti, Watts, Norton, and Madison have made big contributions and even Sullivan was effective. IMO the problem is the lack of follow through since Lee's class. We went after so many good in-state players and missed on almost all of them (Javien is going to be great). Maybe they did the best they could but that's just another way of saying they didn't get the job done.

Ehsan seems to have made a good start at turning things around with 3 good pick ups in the early period, although we got shut out in-state. Now I wish he would recruit somebody burly down in the post. A Marquis Lewis or Kenneth Cooper would be ideal.

Perhaps a Derrick Character without the character he possessed? ;-)

(01-12-2017 12:24 PM)The Answer UAB Wrote:  The staff was very good at recruiting overall. They missed on the pg position and it hurt us big time this year. I think that particular miss is definitely worth criticism. Should've been a point of emphasis to make sure we had a backup plan for a slightly built, high injury risk guard

So we had Chad here, then we had a freshmen pg take over in a year where we expected to have Chad, watts and norton, as well as do all transfer Robert Brown. The next year we have our starting pg entrenched, playing 27 minutes a game over an experienced junior seeing 15. Dirk and rb see a lot of time at the other guard spot. Looking ahead to this year, we have dirk, Hak, Norton, and lavender all expected to see heavy minutes. So much so we can redshirt watts. Things go south and we blame the staff.

How many recruits do you know of that would like to ride the pine for two years minimum? It's easy to turn back the clock and say could've should've would've. How do you convince an outstanding player to come play pg behind a junior averaging 30 minutes a game and all kinds of guards around him on the roster already?

I swear our fan base doesn't even look at facts sometimes.

(01-12-2017 02:44 PM)blazers9911 Wrote:  

(01-12-2017 12:24 PM)The Answer UAB Wrote:  The staff was very good at recruiting overall. They missed on the pg position and it hurt us big time this year. I think that particular miss is definitely worth criticism. Should've been a point of emphasis to make sure we had a backup plan for a slightly built, high injury risk guard

So we had Chad here, then we had a freshmen pg take over in a year where we expected to have Chad, watts and norton, as well as do all transfer Robert Brown. The next year we have our starting pg entrenched, playing 27 minutes a game over an experienced junior seeing 15. Dirk and rb see a lot of time at the other guard spot. Looking ahead to this year, we have dirk, Hak, Norton, and lavender all expected to see heavy minutes. So much so we can redshirt watts. Things go south and we blame the staff.

How many recruits do you know of that would like to ride the pine for two years minimum? It's easy to turn back the clock and say could've should've would've. How do you convince an outstanding player to come play pg behind a junior averaging 30 minutes a game and all kinds of guards around him on the roster already?

I swear our fan base doesn't even look at facts sometimes.

(01-12-2017 02:44 PM)blazers9911 Wrote:  

(01-12-2017 12:24 PM)The Answer UAB Wrote:  The staff was very good at recruiting overall. They missed on the pg position and it hurt us big time this year. I think that particular miss is definitely worth criticism. Should've been a point of emphasis to make sure we had a backup plan for a slightly built, high injury risk guard

So we had Chad here, then we had a freshmen pg take over in a year where we expected to have Chad, watts and norton, as well as do all transfer Robert Brown. The next year we have our starting pg entrenched, playing 27 minutes a game over an experienced junior seeing 15. Dirk and rb see a lot of time at the other guard spot. Looking ahead to this year, we have dirk, Hak, Norton, and lavender all expected to see heavy minutes. So much so we can redshirt watts. Things go south and we blame the staff.

How many recruits do you know of that would like to ride the pine for two years minimum? It's easy to turn back the clock and say could've should've would've. How do you convince an outstanding player to come play pg behind a junior averaging 30 minutes a game and all kinds of guards around him on the roster already?

I swear our fan base doesn't even look at facts sometimes.

That Javian averages 18 minutes per game negates your argument that a freshman couldn't step in day one and play significant minutes.

Still, I'll take on this line of thinking. We run a three guard line-up. That's 120 minutes to spread out among five or six players (24mpg vs 20mpg).

Going into this season, the coaching staff knew we were short on playmaking ability outside of Norton. It sounds like they expected Lavender to fill a Robert Brown-lite role coming off the bench. Dirk isn't particularly great at creating offense, even though he's something of a freak athlete. Hak's having a career year, but after three seasons, the coaching staff knows what kind of production to expect from him. Even the most ardent supporters in the Hak fan club wouldn't say he's a playmaking guard. With regards to Watts, it sounds like his stock with the staff has been going down for a season and a half.

With everyone healthy, we would still only have one playmaker on the court at a time, perhaps 1.5 playmakers with Norton and Lavender.

Taking all of that into consideration, I believe the staff could make a compelling argument that a good, playmaking point guard would be able to play starter's minutes, if not start outright at the off guard position.

It's why the staff brought in two guards in JD and Darling this season, both of whom I believe will be very good. It's why next year, we're bringing in two point guards.

The problem is that we needed an extra point guard prior to the start of last season. It's not for lack of trying, but it's why we're in our current situation.

In any case, I'm glad Watts is finally starting.

I didn't mean a freshmen couldn't step in and play, I meant that's a tough sell to a recruit with what we have in place. I've followed recruiting and have seen what we've gone after. We've shot for the stars and missed and apparently didn't want to have a backup plan.