I basically agree with this, with the caveat being that there aren't many teams with good bigs anymore. Yea, Nick Ward might eat us alive again. Izundu and Huell will be tough. But who else on the schedule has that sort of big man talent? Not many.
What's the Word on Huffman?
- Thread starter What Would Jesus Do?
- Start date
I basically agree with this, with the caveat being that there aren't many teams with good bigs anymore. Yea, Nick Ward might eat us alive again. Izundu and Huell will be tough. But who else on the schedule has that sort of big man talent? Not many.
He never said in the NBA. You are aware Joel James is a pro right?
If my memory is right we played at least 3 legit front lines. I guess you’re just going to ignore Duke, who was arguably the best front court we played and we beat them 2 out of 3 times.
Personally, I think Joel James is a good goal for Huff. Joel, even though we all held our breath when he played, did play in every single game and occasionally did some good things. If Huff becomes a player that will give you 10 minutes all 40 games, that's pretty good. I'm not expecting that, so it would be a surprise to me.
The pressing topic comes up every year we have a deep team that's athletic. We don't press unless we have to. I don't recall any team Roy has had where pressing becomes part of the game plan. So I'll believe that when I see it. If Roy doesn't really coach it unless for specialized situations, I don't want it anyway.
There is just so much I disagree with here I am not sure where to start honestly...
Will start with the "No one here grades Huff through a one-and-done lens. No one", excuse me, so you speak for all tar Heel fans, I find that interesting considering I am a Tar Heel fan and guarantee ya not speaking for me...
"It's different to say people close the book on a player if they don't think he's any good as opposed to looking at them through a OAD lens." Actually, in my view there is not a lot of difference, point is you have already judged the kid lucky to be a back up and already telling us how we will be in trouble if he ever starts for us, yada yada yada, Luke Maye says hello, as does Kenny Williams. Brice Johnson couldn't play because he fouled so much, same with HIcks. But oh, then came their upper classman years and all the sudden they were players? I am really glad that Roy does not close the books on a kid just because he didn't have a great freshman season.
WE are not in trouble if Luke starts PER SAY? Kindly explain what you mean by PER SAY? IT seems as if you are saying we are not in trouble if Luke starts unless we want to win? Did ya know that Luke is a front runner for NCAA 1st team, did ya know that?
Do ya realize why our season ended as it did? It ended as it did because Luke was our ONLY experienced big man, did ya get the ONLY part? WE had 4 freshmen big men, ALL 4 needed big time development, Roy chose to go with the most ready in Brooks and the considered most upside, at least the longest in Manley. That means neither Huff or Walker Miller (who can also play) were not going to get the PT. Luke is a power forward, actually more of a stretch 4, what he really needed was a big man center to be able to play off of but none of them were really ready so in crunch time we went to small ball with Luke at the 4 because that was our most effective lineup. That does not mean Huff can not play, does not mean he is a bust or a wasted scholly, just a situation of he not being as ready t9o help in Roy's opinion as Manley and Brooks.
I guess it bugs you the way he runs, how did you put it, you questioned if he could walk and chew gum at the same time? Yeah, he looks a bit awkward when he runs but he ain't awkward when he snatches a rebound or flushes a dunk!
I don't know how his career will end but I did see a lot of potential in the kid prior to coming to UNC and nothing I saw last season changed my mind at all, if anything it reinforced my belief in the kid. That is my opinion, worth no more or no less than anyone else's, so how bout YOU relax!!!
Were you are a Tar Heel fan in Brandan Wright's season with us? WE pressed a lot and not sure we were as deep at all positions as we will be this coming season, maybe more individually talented but even that is TBD.
FTR I never said Huff would start! I said he could reach starter level. I expect UNC recruiting to explode in the next few years so I expect him to always play from the bench behind some elite Bigs! I said IF he reached Haywood's sophomore very modest numbers he would be a force. I even said reaching the point total is less likely than the Blocks and rebounds. Huff WILL get paid to play and he has an outside shot at the NBA. THe league he plays in is largely related to how dedicated he is to improving his skill set, balance, and bball instincts. He already has the size, attitude, athleticism, and strength!
James would have started over the three guys we had playing post last year, that kind of sums it up..
I don't speak for everyone (of course I don't), but I'm pretty sure no one views Huff through a one-and-done lens.
I don't compare Huff to: Brice, Isiah, Luke or K-Will. You could immediately see Brice had offensive game. Isiah took some time, but if you're a top 10 recruit, you probably have talent. And as mentioned, Luke and K-Will had maybe the most valued skill in basketball today the moment they stepped on campus. Can Huff improve and develop into a damn good player? Of course he can. But you usually see something before the development. Hopefully we see something this year, because through my lens, I didn't see much last year.
Trouble is a subjective word. I don't think we're a national title caliber team if we absolutely need Luke Maye and he's our go-to offensive player. If Luke were the secondary post scorer, then I would think differently. If a sweet 16 upside is fine, we're not in trouble. I just don't think we're a national title winning team if we absolutely need Luke's production every game.
Our season ended last year because we were far inferior talent wise against Texas A&M. Brooks, Manley, Huff could've been 5th year seniors and Robert Williams and Tyler Davis were more talented. Doesn't mean we don't beat A&M if everyone were older, but A&M was more gifted.
You're on all of the drugs.
Our front line was certainly not the reason we beat Duke 2 out of 3 last year, I can assure you of that.
What are you talking about???? Huff had zero minutes in the first game we won and 2 minutes with 0 points, rebounds, assists and 2 turnovers in the ACCT.
Of course he was the reason
That said, Sterling and Brooks both had very good ACCT games. Can we stop lumping the 3 of them together? I think Sterling/Brooks are 1000% different than Huff right now.
No way. Garrison and Sterling both just had better seasons than Joel James ever had.
But yeah, Huff didn't look very good. Maybe he can get good enough at defense to be to have an impact his junior or senior year. But I'm only going to say maybe.
Last edited:
I think Huffman is strong but very uncoordinated for his size at this level of D1. I hope he has a great Sophmore jump. His Basketball IQ was lacking in his Freshman year as well in my opinion. Like I said Huff is strong but his personality is not fierce when he plays
Well considering our frontline averaged 46 points and 29 rebounds in those two wins against Duke last year, I think you could make a good point that they contributed heavily to those wins.
I have expectations that Huff will be a solid role player, certainly more potential than James had.
How are you getting that? I was referring to Manley, Brooks, and Huffman (who combined to average 10 and 6 in those games), but even for this I'll grant you that Maye should be considered "front-line" (although obviously Maye was instrumental in the wins). That still only gets me to 26 and 15. Even though Pinson shouldn't really be considered frontline, adding him in I'm still at 32 and 20. I'd have to add some guys in like Cam Johnson to even get close to the 46 and 29 you got to.
Maye and Johnson contributed heavily to those wins. Were you implying that Huff, Brooks, and Manley did as well?
The only one of our freshman bigs that competed effectively and for more than token minutes in the 3 Duke games was Brooks - who acquitted himself reasonably well.
We went small but remained effective on the boards. Cam really stepped up (21 rebounds in the 3 games) and Theo, as always was solid (19 rebounds).
Sterling only played 14 minutes, Huff 3 - that's combined for all 3 games. Brooks averaged 13 per game.
Sterling played double digit minutes in 20 games as a freshman. But only 3 times in the last 14 games. Reminds me of Brice's freshman year. Roy gave him plenty of minutes but by the end of the season he hadn't really put it together, so he gave the major minutes to guys he could count on.
The picture is even worse for Huff. He only got double digit minutes twice last season. Both before ACC play. By the end of the season he generally got only 1 or 2 minutes per game and didn't even sniff the court in 9 of the last 20 games.
Huff (and Sterling to a lesser extent) either take that as a big time challenge, or they are going to be languishing on the bench. Brooks and Little will take their minutes - even if that does mean smallish ball. I expect them to improve a good bit, but it's up to them to work for it.
Who said they were the reason? They played their roll.
The final score of the first game was 82-78, we won by 4. Sterling Manley went 4-4 from the free throw line. Brooks stopped a lob for Wendell Carter that gave Kenny a chance to cut the game to 1 instead of Duke going into half up 6 and he had 5 rebounds and some pretty damn crucial rebounds/tip outs with what 5 minutes left? Oh and had it been anyone other than Marvin Bagley he would've posterized someone in that last 5 minutes.
The game in the ACC Tournament Brooks had 10 points 4 rebounds and Sterling had 6 and 2. We won that game by 5.
They played a much bigger role than you're giving them credit for.
Last edited:
Again that is Joel James career and HE IS A PRO. This isn't meant as a knock on him. He's a great representative of UNC. Throw in where he came from and I'm damn glad he's able to make a living playing basketball.
But the most mpg Joel averaged was in 2014-15, he averaged 10.1 minutes, 2.5 points, 1.9 rebounds.
If Huffman puts in the work he can average at least that by his senior season.
Last edited:
You said “our frontline”. That’s the C/PF/SF spots. That includes all the players you mentioned.
BTW, I was pleased to get 10/6 from our young bigs. And I expect to get 15/10 from them this year. I’ll take that.
I realize they played a role. But they're just that, role players.
I have optimism for Manley to turn into a solid contributor for us. Brooks still needs to show me something, but I haven't cut bait on him yet. Huffman is certainly well below average for ACC big men, and he hasn't really shown any indication that will change.
The term "pro" needs to be re-defined in basketball circles. Could Huff play professionally in the Macedonian First League? I'm sure he can right now. I think when most people refer to "he's a pro", we're talking about: NBA, G-League or a high level league overseas (Spain, France, Israel, China, etc). But if people are talking about literally playing professional basketball, there are people on this board that can probably play in some overseas pro leagues.
Think it is pretty clear that you tend to be more a fan of the NBA and at that level the last guy on the bench would star in the college game, you do not see the dramatic development that we see from freshmen (below 5 star) that come in to the college game. Many of these kids come in as freshmen are really really raw, you have to look past that to see what there is to work with, what aspects can be developed.
With Huff, I see good clay there for a coach like Roy to mold, more than I saw in Joel James. Huff has a mean streak of aggression when he plays, can bang with any college big man out there and has 7ft reach. Yeah, he looks clumsy at times but I think he is a kid that will play within his own individual skill set. I do think he can be a really good rebounding physical presence for us in time, I did see enough to feel very good about that.
Joel James had the body to bang with but he tended to finesse rather than use that big body and his physical strength, don't know that finesse is a thing we will see in Huff, he will look to engage in contact more than get away from it. IDK if he can ever become a player the NBA covets but there are a LOT of kids that the NBA does not covet that become really good college players, as an example being a certain jersey that is retired and hanging in our rafters.
Of course kids improve. I'm not going to debate that. I would argue that talent is pretty tangible in sports and in other skills. If I'm at the park and playing some ball, I can tell pretty early on who has game, who doesn't. If I can't... then I'm the sucker (shout out Rounders). If I'm watching a singing reality TV show, you can tell pretty quickly who's got the pipes and who doesn't. Talent isn't difficult to see. If it's difficult to see, it probably isn't there.
I don't see the base talent in Huff to get him to an upper tier basketball league. I'm not even talking about the NBA, because right now, in my opinion, that's a pipe dream for Huff.
But hopefully he always had a lot talent in him and he develops really well over the next few seasons.
Don't get me wrong, I'm rooting for the kid. I root for every college basketball player to reach their dreams.
LOL, really, you using the American Idol retort? LOL
I would strongly suggest that you know talent when it is developed but I as well strongly suspect that you do not really understand raw talent that has to be molded. It isn't if my looks at UNC players is not well documented, go back, I invite you, go back and look at my takes on our past and present players, they are found in my 24,000+ posts, not like I am shy about sharing what I see in our players. How often in the end have I been wrong?
MANY times I am that guy that swims against the tide on players because I trust my own eyes, you tell me how often I am wrong...When I tell you I see talent in a kid, based on well documented history right here, it is a pretty darn safe bet.
Not piling on, but didn't you say, at least early in his career at UNC, Kennedy Meeks was "..not an ACC caliber center."? Huff is RAW. He may never be even a serviceable post player. However, he has a great staff and fantastic players (past and present) to help him. Hard work and focus can go a long ways. Think about a Freshman Hakeem or a Sophomore Mikan. Bill Russell wasn't even recruited out High school (and no, I am not saying Huff will become a Hall of Fame player). Remember, like Joel James, Huff started playing years after most decent players had already built reps.
Last edited:
Maybe, I don't remember necessarily having a strong opinion one way or another about Meeks.
And I agree, Huff can definitely improve and become a better player. I just don't think the baseline of talent is there for him to be a pro in a quality league.
I'm not going to question his work ethic. I'm sure he's going to do everything he can to get the most out of his ability. And I hope he improves a lot and ends up having a very successful basketball career (if that's what he wants).
Alright. Hopefully Huff shows some of that talent. I'm probably being harsh with the Joel James comparison. But I think if Huff plays in every game for 10 min/game like James did his senior year, that's a good goal for Huff.
Similar threads
