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Ivan Uceda commits to the U

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@InsideTheArc: JUCO PF Ivan Uceda has committed to Miami. Was visiting this weekend.
 
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Feel free to look at the SOTU article that Charlie and I worked up on him. We always had a good feeling but you just never know.

Twitter buzz:



Adam Zagoria ‏ @ AdamZagoria 17m

Ivan Uceda is a skilled 6-10 big man with good hands...chose Miami

Brad Winton ‏ @ JucoRecruiting 17m

Another very good JC addition for Miami

Josh Verlin ‏ @ jmverlin 20m

Big and skilled; 6-11 with great hands and an advanced offensive game.
 
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I have a full breakdown on him based on a few of his games last year in the next post.
 
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Just watched 2 of his full games on youtube and boy is it hard to watch his team play. To think his coach has a job coaching basketball is amazing. That program is doing a disservice to his improvement. They just play a run and gun offense similar to D'Antoni. It doesn't really matter much if your open or not just take the first available shot available. It seems like on defense they want the other team to score as soon as possible so they can get the ball back. They run a full court pressure and fall back into a trap where no true pressure is applied. Some guys are in man sometimes some are in zone. It's a mess.

But lets get onto Ivan. These games were also at a tip off classic so they were early in the season so he has almost had a full year to improve.

-I was really impressed with his length and athleticism. He causes some problems on defense with his ability to harass shots down low.
-His ability to defend the pick and roll is great he reminds me of his fellow countryman Marc Gasol when it comes to getting out and defending the pick and roll. If his guards had any ability to play d they would have had a nice trap.
-His ability to run the floor was impressive also and he does a very good job of finishing around the basket. He is pretty crafty getting shots off down low.
-I saw him at the foul line once and his free throw looked solid, he should be able to develop a decent jump shot.

Now to some of his cons.
-I know he averaged 11 rebounds a game last year but I don't see him as a very good rebounder. I would like to see him attack the glass a lot more and would also like to see him box out more. He is very much like a Euro big in that regard.
-I would also like to see him be a little more physical against his man down low on defense. I'd like to see him front his man a little more or push him out of the lane.
-He could also improve upon his shot blocking, for his size and length and his ability to disrupt shots down low he doesn't really block shots.

He is definitely a solid pick up. But don't expect a starter from him. He will be a guy who comes in for 2 years and gives quality minutes playing defense and finishing down low. He will be a very solid role player for this team in the future at the very least. But then again has shown an ability to get the most out of his players.
 
jifarina said:
Think they go JUCO again for one more player to balance out roster
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Not sure there are any other JUCOs we feel comfortable with (academics, discipline, etc.) who fit what we're looking for. I would expect us to take another graduate transfer in the spring to push a scholarship to 2015, and the last scholarship could be used for anything - another freshman, a sit-out transfer, rolled over...we shall see.
 
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bobbo31 said:
But lets get onto Ivan. These games were also at a tip off classic so they were early in the season so he has almost had a full year to improve.

He is definitely a solid pick up. But don't expect a starter from him. He will be a guy who comes in for 2 years and gives quality minutes playing defense and finishing down low. He will be a very solid role player for this team in the future at the very least. But then again has shown an ability to get the most out of his players.
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I responded on the other board (ha) but I wanted to offer a bit of a reply to this as well. Looking at his game log, and which games you watched that are available on Youtube (which I admittedly, did not watch) - those were not only early in the year, but he had missed four games, presumably due to injury, and those were his first two back. Later in the year, he became a starter with much more consistent production and I imagine he looked like a different player. I would think some of what you noticed - lack of physicality in rebounding and defense, and tentative shot blocking - might also have been him adjusting to the refs and style of basketball in this country. I just can't see how someone who averaged 12.4 rebounds per game as a starter (17 games) and had 8 games of 15 rebounds or more (including games of 19, 18 and 17) isn't a good rebounder unless those games came against children. In terms of shot-blocking, he doesn't appear to be a major shot-blocker, but did have a couple of games where he nabbed 3.

As a starter later in the year, he appeared to be a much more assertive, confident player. I wouldn't expect him to start right away next year - if Kelly plays well, he will start at the 4 next to Jekiri as a senior, most likely, and we may have a graduate transfer in the mix too. Cruz Uceda can play both the 4 and the 5 off the bench and I expect us to use that versatility to give different looks. There's absolutely no reason to believe he wouldn't start consistently his senior year - he'll be next to Jekiri (presumably), and there's no reason to believe that Sherman or anyone else would have developed ahead of him by that point. If we get a blowaway transfer or 2015 kid, obviously, we can revisit this, but he almost has to start just by virtue of the roster composition.
 
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2014-15 Roster: (This will not include Elder or Griffin)

PG: Lecomte (So.), Rodriguez (Rd. Jr.) and Newton (Fr.)
SG: Burnett (So.), McClellan (Rd. Jr.) and Palmer (Fr.)
SF: Reed (So.)
PF: Kelly (Sr.) and Sherman (Fr.)
C: Jekiri (Jr.) and Uceda (Jr.)*

*Uceda at Center for now*

With 2 open scholarships, I would take (as Josh stated) a graduate transfer if we need the depth but if not go young and grab a HS Senior at Center. We could use the spacing with 2 Juniors at the position. With the other open ship I would take a SF/PF.
 
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joshdacane said:
bobbo31 said:
But lets get onto Ivan. These games were also at a tip off classic so they were early in the season so he has almost had a full year to improve.

He is definitely a solid pick up. But don't expect a starter from him. He will be a guy who comes in for 2 years and gives quality minutes playing defense and finishing down low. He will be a very solid role player for this team in the future at the very least. But then again has shown an ability to get the most out of his players.
Click to expand...

I responded on the other board (ha) but I wanted to offer a bit of a reply to this as well. Looking at his game log, and which games you watched that are available on Youtube (which I admittedly, did not watch) - those were not only early in the year, but he had missed four games, presumably due to injury, and those were his first two back. Later in the year, he became a starter with much more consistent production and I imagine he looked like a different player. I would think some of what you noticed - lack of physicality in rebounding and defense, and tentative shot blocking - might also have been him adjusting to the refs and style of basketball in this country. I just can't see how someone who averaged 12.4 rebounds per game as a starter (17 games) and had 8 games of 15 rebounds or more (including games of 19, 18 and 17) isn't a good rebounder unless those games came against children. In terms of shot-blocking, he doesn't appear to be a major shot-blocker, but did have a couple of games where he nabbed 3.

As a starter later in the year, he appeared to be a much more assertive, confident player. I wouldn't expect him to start right away next year - if Kelly plays well, he will start at the 4 next to Jekiri as a senior, most likely, and we may have a graduate transfer in the mix too. Cruz Uceda can play both the 4 and the 5 off the bench and I expect us to use that versatility to give different looks. There's absolutely no reason to believe he wouldn't start consistently his senior year - he'll be next to Jekiri (presumably), and there's no reason to believe that Sherman or anyone else would have developed ahead of him by that point. If we get a blowaway transfer or 2015 kid, obviously, we can revisit this, but he almost has to start just by virtue of the roster composition.
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I'd like to see him play some this year. I just saw a different type player than what is being said about him from most reports. That player is someone I think will make a very good addition to this team. But I do hope that that injury did plau a factor in those games.
 
Consigliere said:
2014-15 Roster: (This will not include Elder or Griffin)

PG: Lecomte (So.), Rodriguez (Rd. Jr.) and Newton (Fr.)
SG: Burnett (So.), McClellan (Rd. Jr.) and Palmer (Fr.)
SF: Reed (So.)
PF: Kelly (Sr.) and Sherman (So.)
C: Jekiri (Jr.) and Uceda (Jr.)*

*Uceda at Center for now*

With 2 open scholarships, I would take (as Josh stated) a graduate transfer if we need the depth but if not go young and grab a HS Senior at Center. We could use the spacing with 2 Juniors at the position. With the other open ship I would take a SF/PF.
Click to expand...

Sherman would be a FR.
 
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bobbo31 said:
I'd like to see him play some this year. I just saw a different type player than what is being said about him from most reports.
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Absolutely. Not saying what you saw is wrong or invalid, but just wanted to provide some more context. It looks like he made a big leap in production as the year progressed, and so I expect that the "scouting report" would likely be very different.
 
bobbo31 said:
Consigliere said:
2014-15 Roster: (This will not include Elder or Griffin)

PG: Lecomte (So.), Rodriguez (Rd. Jr.) and Newton (Fr.)
SG: Burnett (So.), McClellan (Rd. Jr.) and Palmer (Fr.)
SF: Reed (So.)
PF: Kelly (Sr.) and Sherman (Fr.)
C: Jekiri (Jr.) and Uceda (Jr.)*

*Uceda at Center for now*

With 2 open scholarships, I would take (as Josh stated) a graduate transfer if we need the depth but if not go young and grab a HS Senior at Center. We could use the spacing with 2 Juniors at the position. With the other open ship I would take a SF/PF.
Click to expand...

Sherman would be a FR.
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My bad. Fixed
 
joshdacane said:
bobbo31 said:
I'd like to see him play some this year. I just saw a different type player than what is being said about him from most reports.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. Not saying what you saw is wrong or invalid, but just wanted to provide some more context. It looks like he made a big leap in production as the year progressed, and so I expect that the "scouting report" would likely be very different.
Click to expand...

Agreed Josh just looked up his per game stats and it definitely looks like he became a much better rebounder and started blocking some of those shots which likely was getting back into game shape after the injury because he was a pretty solid rebounder in the games before the injury. His shooting percentage of 59% is great but his 26.5% 3 point shooting is something that I'd either like to see him improve upon or for him to just take out of his game especially when he gets into the ACC. But like I said he was great around the rim and very creative with getting his shots up and if he can hit a consistent 15-18 footer that would be great for this team.
 
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I plan to watch him play when Harcum comes up to play up here in Westchester in Feb. will pass on thoughts after
 
bobbo31 said:
I'd like to see him play some this year. I just saw a different type player than what is being said about him from most reports. That player is someone I think will make a very good addition to this team. But I do hope that that injury did plau a factor in those games.
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According to Rivals, he was out for six weeks due to an emergency appendectomy, and those two games on YouTube were his first two games back. That would have had a LOT to do with energy and physicality.
 
Of course Josh I agree. After looking at his stats and seeing his consistency on the boards I have definitely changed my opinion in that regard. But seeing his 3 point shooting percentage makes me feel a lot different than others when its comes to him being a 3 point threat.
 
bobbo31 said:
Of course Josh I agree. After looking at his stats and seeing his consistency on the boards I have definitely changed my opinion in that regard. But seeing his 3 point shooting percentage makes me feel a lot different than others when its comes to him being a 3 point threat.
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Probably decent enough to keep them honest, but not a dead-eye shooter by any stretch. Thankfully, he seems to recognize he's not a bomber - averaged less than two attempts per game for a team that averaged almost 23 in total (and where he was second in overall field goal attempts).
 
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