UConn Receives Another Verbal Commitment
2014 JUCO PG Sam Cassell Jr. is coach Ollie’s third verbal commitment in the class of 2014. Cassell Jr. joins SG Daniel Hamilton and PF Rakim Lubin as UConn’s 2014 commitments. Also, Ollie has transfer Rodney Purvis coming in who will be eligible to start playing in the 2014-2015 season for UConn. Purvis will only have three years of eligibility left to use at UConn.
Cassell Jr. himself will only have three years of eligibility once he gets to UConn as well. However, he will be coming in very experienced. He did the normal four years of high school and attended Notre Dame Prep for a post grad year. Coming out of Notre Dame Prep he committed to Maryland, however he was ruled academically ineligible by the NCAA. The NCAA wouldn’t accept some “core classes” that he took while at Notre Dame Prep. After being ruled ineligible he enrolled at Chipola Junior College. He decided to redshirt his first year and will be back on the court this year. So technically he will be arriving at UConn as the same age as a college senior but with three years of eligibility left.
Sam was a part of UConn’s “Big Recruiting Weekend” September 20th-22nd. This was when he and Ray Kasongo officially visited and JaQuan Lyle unofficially visited. Ever since then Cassell Jr. has became one of the staff’s biggest targets. Cassell Jr. had this to say about his visit, “I enjoyed my visit and I felt at home. I enjoyed how the fans showed the basketball team so much love.” Not much word came from Cassell Jr. initially after his visit but he has been telling everyone that it was good time. He also said that his visit was a major reason in why he committed to UConn. He added this about why he committed, “I felt at home on my visit. It had a great basketball tradition and I felt good with playing for coach Ollie.”
UConn has clearly been targeting bigger and taller point guards since Kevin Ollie has became head coach. Last year it was Terrence Samuel, then the transfer of Rodney Purvis who would like to play point guard, and now the 6’4″ 190lbs. Sam Cassell Jr. With three point guards coming in over the course of two years, all will have the same graduation year, it would seem as if there won’t be too much playing time for one, maybe two of them. However, Ollie’s three guard lineups will allow plenty of playing time for all three in the future. Sam thinks he will, “Fit in well,” at UConn.
Shabazz Napier has been a common comparison to Sam Cassell Jr. for UConn fans. Cassell Jr. prides himself as being, “A good scorer, shooter, and good passer. I also have a high basketball IQ.” He also had this to say about Ollie’s use of guards, “I like the way he lets his guards play.” I then asked Cassell Jr. what coach Ollie was telling him he could come in and do, and this is what I was told, “They just told me to come in and play hard.”
As for the impending completion of the state of the art practice facility that should certainly help the current team and recruiting, Sam remarked, “I just saw the plans but when it’s done I know it’s going to be nice.” He is part of the first recruiting class that will be able to use it throughout their entire careers at UConn.
Coach Ollie and his staff filled what they thought was a major need for the class of 2014. Sam Cassell Jr. will be coming to UConn with tons of maturity and playing experience which could help the team out significantly in his first year. He’s another player that is ten toes in and that was evident when I asked him if he had anything to add about himself and he simply replied saying, “Husky Nation is all.”
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