Castle, ‘a pleaser,’ is the one to get it done for Huskies
BOSTON — There is no more polarizing term in college basketball than “one and done.” Often, the two happiest days in a coach's year are when such a player commits, and when he leaves.
There's a certain connotation.
“You would think those guys are arrogant, entitled,” Hassan Diarra said. “But this kid right here? None of those things.”
The kid right there to Diarra's left in the locker room Thursday was Stephon Castle, just off one of the best games of his first, and likely last season at Uconn, fresh off the first double-double of his career, 16 points and 11 rebounds in the Huskies' 82-52 victory over San Diego State in the NCAA Round of 16.
“His will to work, his will to learn, his work ethic,” Diarra said. “I'm just so proud of how far he came this year. Battled through injuries, how he's learned the game so much, evolved his game. He's just an amazing player. He was the driving force to our gaining confidence in that second half, getting on the glass the way he did, gave us confidence that we would be attacking just like him. Not many times you see a freshman lead the way, especially on a team of older guys.”
It takes more than two to tango as magnificently as the Uconn men's basketball team is right now, but in this case it takes two sides. On one side, a team of older players, some in their fifth year of college, some with a championship ring in their possession, willing to be open to a freshman with a big-time reputation, not prejudge him as being all those things Diarra talked about. And on the other, it took Castle to be, in coach Dan Hurley's word choice, “a pleaser.”
“He's the antithesis of how a lot of highly recruited, five-star players come into college,” Hurley said.
Castle, 6 feet 6, has been in NBA mock drafts predating his commitment to play at Uconn, some having him going in the lottery-pick range, others opining he could slip into the 20s. Unless he hears something unexpected in the predraft feedback, Castle is going to be Uconn's second one-anddone, the first since Andre Drummond in 2012.
Drummond, too, came to Uconn the year after a national championship. His one season as a Husky was not memorable, though he has gone on to have a solid career in the NBA. One-and-dones were all the rage back then, when it looked like Kentucky, Duke and Kansas would hold a monopoly on getting them, and a monopoly on championships. It has not worked out that way, of course. Many one-and-dones prove not to be as good, as a college or pro player, as they were believed to be; many “have their bags packed” midway through their college season.
This kid right here? Stephon Castle? None of that. And the veterans have embraced him as their insanely talented little brother, Tristen Newton teeing him up for dunks again and again, sometimes with half-court lobs against San Diego State.
“I feel like me and Tristen have a lot of chemistry that way,” Castle said. “That's not the first one he's thrown. He threw one yesterday to me in practice, He's a great passer, and I feel like he has the confidence in me to go get it.”
This Uconn team, now one win away from the Final Four and three from a repeat as national champ, is so good, it can appear to be struggling, as it did for a little more than half the game Thursday, and still be leading by double digits. Castle killed it in the second half at both ends of the floor, joining Newton and Cam Spencer, both fifth-year seniors, and Diarra, in his fourth year, to turn the lights out on the Aztecs.
“Steph's got veteran players that aren't threatened by him in these mock drafts,” Hurley said. “and all of his abilities and talent. We don't have that petty stuff in our program. We just have a great group of people that support each other.
Okay, but a pleaser? Castle's big brothers couldn't help but rib him a little about that as they walked from the podium back to the locker room.
“That was crazy,” Newton said. “He's never said that one before. I guess Steph's a good pleaser and he's, uh … yeah.”