StephonCastleworking through growing pains with UConn men's basketball team: 'It's about motor'
Jul. 30—A brief chat would follow. Young would point and prod and teach and urge, essentially pulling Castle further into something that must feel like a car wash tunnel.
Castle glided into college basketball, the headlining player in the Huskies' self-proclaimed "Fab Five" freshman class. Getting acclimated after arrival is typically rocky for any first-year player, though, no matter the hype and potential.
"That's probably what we do best, getting those young guys ready to play, so we're excited about where he can get to," Young said. "It's going to be an everyday process with him. He's super talented. He's got tremendous size and athletic ability for such a young player. But this is hard to do. It is hard."
Sometimes Castle makes it look easy and it is clear why he is projected as a one-and-done lottery pick.
"Sometimes" is not a word any player wants to be associated with.
The goal is for Castle to turn these summer lessons into winter impact the way, say, Alex Karaban and Donovan Clingan did in helping the Huskies to last season's national championship. Then, maybe, it will be time to wonder if Castle will become the second player in program history (Andre Drummond in 2012) to opt for the NBA after his freshman season.
Castle is projected to be selected sixth overall in 2024 by two websites, nbadraft.net and nbadraftroom.com. Sports Illustrated on Friday floated his name as a potential No. 1 overall pick. CBSSports.com and USA Today have Castle going seventh.
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He is a massive talent. The foundation is there. But the work has only just begun.
"It's all about motor," coach Dan Hurley said. "He can't play in spurts and he can't make a splash play and then kind of disappear for a couple minutes. Once we get him playing every possession like it's life or death, and fully understanding his identity ..."
Hurley trailed off and thought aloud about who and what will surround Castle — shooters in Karaban, Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer, finishing post players in Clingan and Samson Johnson.
"He's going to have all the space he needs to make plays," Hurley said. "You see how physical he is and how athletic he is. It's just like any freshmen. Freshmen like Alex are rare. It was so deeply engrained in Alex, the mental aspect of the game. Steph, the mental aspect, the concentration, the focus, playing every single possession with no drop off, that's what it takes to be on a great team and to be a great player. We've just got to get him there."
There is plenty of time, of course. Castle, of Covington, Ga., committed to UConn in November 2021 and was named a McDonald's All-American as a high school senior. He won't play an NCAA game for another four months or so.
NBA 10 months from now? It's impossible to predict. He does have tools to develop that quickly, but there are many steps along the way.
"If you know Coach and the culture we've built here, you've got to do it out on the court," Young said. "It doesn't play out on social media. It doesn't play out on the mock drafts. You've got to come in here and produce. It's a two-way street. We want all these guys in our program to reach the highest level of basketball. But they've got to come in here and earn it and help us win."
UConn could not be in a better position this summer to harness potential and develop talent. The Huskies have been afforded 10 full practices in advance of their eight-day, three-game trip to Europe beginning Aug. 2.
The national championship party has concluded. Important transitions have begun in earnest. Role players from the 2022-23 squad are emerging with advanced opportunities in areas of production and leadership. And freshmen, those Fab Five, are going through the necessary dizzying adjustments.
The Huskies spent two hours on Saturday working out in front of a few hundred season ticket holders and donors at "The Jim," or, James A. Calhoun Gymnasium at the University of St. Joseph. There were three 10-minute scrimmages, basically the first public basketball steps in UConn sneakers for Castle.
He is intriguing, 6 feet 6 and 215 pounds, a point guard of great strength and instinct. He's is long but stout, almost like an NFL edge rusher. He's disruptive, tends to keep loose balls alive until he secures, emerging from a pack because he's a little bigger and a little stronger and jumps a little higher than most around him. He is a creative passer and the ball zips cross-court out of his hands the way it did for Andre Jackson.
At one point, just after Young challenged him to make a difference on defense, Castle intensely guarded Hassan Diarra, picked his pocket and waltzed in alone for a two-handed dunk from the right side.
At other points, it was clear that Castle is not so far removed from high school games and the AAU circuit. Most everything there comes easy for a player like Castle. Not in college. Not at UConn. Not yet.
"It think it's being coachable, for him," Karaban said of the process Castle has entered. "If he lets the coaching staff be hard on him, let them bring out the best in him I think he'll go to another level. He has the talent. He has the physicality. He has everything that most freshmen aren't gifted with when they come into college, and he has all of that. It's just playing hard, getting the coaching down and really just turning it up another level."
Passing is probably what Castle does best. He is an inconsistent shooter but capable in every area of the game, with bursts of direction-changing energy. He makes a lot of adjustments in the air, showing his athleticism. Sometimes it results in a successful play. Other times he's left without options. He isn't afraid of contact and drew several fouls Saturday.
"From when he got here to where he is now, a lot of growth," Clingan said. "We all call him 'Big Guard.' He's 215 at point guard and he's all muscle. He can get to the rim, he's a great passer, has great eyes. He can play defense, pick up full court. I think he's going to help us out a lot with his physicality and his toughness. We've just got to get him used to the college game and keep getting him confident."
UConn mixed up teams for its scrimmages Saturday. Castle both guarded, and played alongside, fellow guards Spencer, Newton and Hassan Diarra. He committed an early turnover while trying to pass back to the perimeter during a drive, and was called for a charge on the next possession. Castle soon willed his way to an offensive rebound and a put-back in a crowd, and threw a perfect lead pass to Solomon Ball for a breakaway dunk.
Castle is bouncy, graceful. He's just unrefined for now. That's normal. Jordan Hawkins looked that way as a freshman. It clicked for him as a sophomore and he wound up as a lottery pick. If it clicks for Castle earlier, he could put on quite a show as UConn tries to return to the Final Four.
He will get an earful from UConn coaches every single day.
"It starts with his parents at home," Hurley said. "You have no shot unless you have the folks at home and the inner circle. With [father] Stacey and [mother] Quan, they're going to echo anything that we're saying here because they're parents, not necessarily his fan club. The stuff that Steph has got to learn to do is exactly why they sent him to UConn, for us to get it out of him so he can reach his own potential."
