Could’ve been riding the pine in Toronto or Charlotte

Hasheem Thabeet is the focus of my fifth prediction.

After this last season ended in depressing fashion for the Huskies, Hasheem knew he wasn’t ready to contribute at the next level and knew he still eagerly wanted to conquer a NCAA championship, so instead of making a few million bucks while playing sparingly for an NBA team, he decided to hop on board the college scene once again.

UCONN is talented, well represented from a point source position, has a good mix of veterans and young-uns, and most importantly, is coached by Jim Calhoun.

Not only does the team boast good guard play, they also get offensive and defensive help from the bigs.

Thabeet can take care of the paint by himself, but he does have help.

Usually unheralded Jeff Adrien was the leading scorer for UCONN last year. And not only does Jeff know how to score, he rebounds and even blocks shots too.

An efficient complimentary talent to lessen the load off of Thabeet, don’t ya think?

The Stanley Robinson situation now needs to be resolved.

Will he return in December?

2nd semester?

Having a double digit scorer who can knock down a three, block shots (1.3blk) and rebound consistently (6.5reb) will dramatically help out Thabeet, not to mention the team’s efforts to advance deep into the tourney.

But, again, defense isn’t really a concern for UCONN.

The concern is more aimed at making Thabeet into a full-fledged star.

Thabeet’s game is highly flawed, but not so demented that he will be unable to vastly expand upon his sophomore year’s accomplishments.

He started to develop a jump hook toward the end of the season, but still lacks a comfortable and dependable go-to move in the paint. Finishing at the basket is at times awkward, yet so many times he seems totally unfazed as his long arms often receive no resistance from defenders.

An area I really could see him improving in would be the free throw line percentage. He made a giant leap from the first to second year, so why not a nice little jump to about a mid 70’s ft %?

Blocks will ultimately be his ticket to the big show, however in terms of raw stat meddling, the per game blocks will not increase much, if at all, this next season. The load will continue to be helped by Adrien and Robinson, along with any contribution coming from 6’10 Frosh Ater Majok.

We all know what Thabeet’s strengths are. He won’t lose his defensive presence or his classic rebounding habits just like that.

Thabeet will do a lot of this to opposing victims, yet he needs to do more on the other end of the court to separate himself from the others.

But hopefully he knows there’s more in it for him.

His maturity and ability, and maybe patience as well, to stay in school, could symbolize his desires to aspire to that next level and put the team on his back.

God knows he could do it.

So. 10.5ppg 69.8 ft% 7.9 reb 4.5 blk

Fr. 6.2ppg 51.3 ft% 6.4 reb 3.8 blk

Hasheem’s bare minimum averages in 08/09-

14.5ppg, 74 ft%, 9 reb and 4.2 blk ????

photo credit: Newscom