VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

a, May 13 2024 [ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, [9], 10 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: Friday, July 23, 06:49:13am
Author: CLK
Subject: Comment by a Pitt Fan on thier Rivals Board - By Sean Miller Fan

TJ McConnell - He was the other pleasant surprise this summer. I had never seen McConnell play before this summer and I heard everything from "he's the second coming" to "he'll never get off the Duquesne bench" so I was very excited to see what this kid could really do. I think the question though is what CAN'T he do. I am going to throw out some hyperbole because this is what I think of TJ McConnell. I think he's the best guard to come out the WPIAL since Sean Miller. I think he is a Top 50 (yes Top 50) incoming freshman. There isn't any way possible there are 50 better players than this guy. TJ McConnell is everything some of us "recruit to shoot" fans have dreamed about. First of all, he doesnt miss a 3. I dont know if they kept 3 point percentages in this league, but had to shoot about 50%. He wont dazzle you with his ballhandling like the white Jason Williams but he has a very solid handle and was never stripped the entire summer that I can remember. Here are the amazing this to me: He is pretty quick! He gets into the lane and slithers his way to finish at the rim. He BLOCKS shots. He had a few blocks that I just couldnt believe what I saw. He plays GREAT defense. It is easy to stereotype small white guards and if you watch McConnell warm up, he would seem to fit those stereotypes but after watching him play about 5 minutes against major D1 competition, you can see that this kid is legit. I would have LOVED to see him in a Pitt uniform. Surely, Jamie questioned his defensive ability and physicality and the problem with TJ is that the competition he played in HS was so bad and I dont think he played in major AAU tournaments. Therefore, Jamie and others could not guage what he could really do. We've all seen guards like him light up the WPIAL then either flame out in D1 (Yuri Demetris) or end up in D2 or D3. That wont be McConnell. I think he'll average 10 a game for Duquesne and could be the A10 freshman of the year. McConnell is not your stereotypical "white shooter." As I said, he plays lock-down (yes, lock-down) defense. In the championship game, he picked up Ashton Gibbs FULL COURT and while McConnell didnt cause any turnovers and even though Gibbs isnt exactly Allen Iverson in his prime, the fact that McConnell was right there with Gibbs for 94 feet impressed the heck out of me. Gibbs was able to have a nice game against McConnell but he worked for everything he got. I think the question some Pitt fans will be asking for the next few years is why Jamie didnt offer McConnell instead of Cam Wright.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

Forum timezone: GMT-5
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.