big recruiting weekend

[husky99]

http://zagsblog.com/articles/robert...cruiting-weekend-at-uconn-recruiting-rundown/

 

[3uconn]

Kasongo is most likely here by now. This is from early this morning:
@RayKasongo32: Chilling at the airport, on my way to my first official visit at the UCOON (University of Connecticut)!!!! Very excited and cant wait !!!!!

 

[Peacefrog]

"UCOON"? Not off to a good start.

 

[uchusky32]

No other visits planned. Close this door now!

 

[2Infinity]

"UCOON"? Not off to a good start.

Dude...really? This kid's excited to be visiting us, he's got a lot of potential and all you can come up with is a critical remark about his typing being off with one letter?? Wow! Ray...have a great visit...we'd love to have you play here!!

 

[NYC_HUSKY22]

Get em' KO

 

[BFieldHusky]

This kid could be a huge wildcard for us. Seems like he is a little bit under the radar at this point. Any idea where he should be ranked?

 

[qdog87]

This kid could be a huge wildcard for us. Seems like he is a little bit under the radar at this point. Any idea where he should be ranked?

Not saying he should be ranked anywhere close to these two, but according to the zagsblog article, he held his own against Jahill Okafor and Alexander this summer in Las Vegas. He went for 24 points, 15 rebounds and 7 blocks against them. That is definitely a good sign.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Kasongo was an absolute unknown until this year. Recruiting services are notoriously biased in favor of long known players.

 

[SirHypeAlot]

I am hyped for this weekend.

I kinda of envision tomorrow night going something like this
1st quarter score Mich 27 Uconn 0....KO: "you boys like some ice cream? let's get outta here and head over to the Dairy bar" and Dairy Bar saves the day.

 

[Palatine]

If you don’t know anything about Ray Kasongo, he is....

a 6-foot-9, 235-pound big man from Grassroots Canada who recently went for 24 points, 15 rebounds and 7 blocks against Jahlil Okafor and Cliff Alexander.

he would be a good get.

 

[Gurleyman]

Dude...really? This kid's excited to be visiting us, he's got a lot of potential and all you can come up with is a critical remark about his typing being off with one letter?? Wow! Ray...have a great visit...we'd love to have you play here!!

He spelled Connecticut correctly. And he's typing on a phone at the airport with power forward fingers. Perhaps auto-correct saved him on Connecticut, though.

 

[Scot-e]

If you don’t know anything about Ray Kasongo, he is....

a 6-foot-9, 235-pound big man from Grassroots Canada who recently went for 24 points, 15 rebounds and 7 blocks against Jahlil Okafor and Cliff Alexander.

he would be a good get.

I think he is perfect fit for the team in 2014. A natural 4 that can hang with the big boys in the paint sounds really good to me.

 

[caw]

If you don’t know anything about Ray Kasongo, he is....

a 6-foot-9, 235-pound big man from Grassroots Canada who recently went for 24 points, 15 rebounds and 7 blocks against Jahlil Okafor and Cliff Alexander.

he would be a good get.

How does a kid do that and not get ranked higher?

 

[champs99and04]

How does a kid do that and not get ranked higher?

Probably because he's actually closer to 6'7 than 6'9. I agree with you, though.

 

[Chief00]

Spelling is not a requirement to be a good baller. We need to lose that mindset.

 

[Husky Dynasty]

He spelled Connecticut correctly. And he's typing on a phone at the airport with power forward fingers. Perhaps auto-correct saved him on Connecticut, though.

Also need to factor in that his native language is Canadian... That alone should merit the kid a pass here.

 

[Limbo Land]

Don;t blow it football. Make it close and exciting but avoid the blow out.

 

[DogMania]

Also need to factor in that his native language is Canadian... That alone should merit the kid a pass here.

LOL! If my memory serves me, we've done quite well with ballers from north of the Border. I recall one who went off for 111 points.

Canada has been pumping out some impressive talent lately. Wiggins is supposed to be a beast. KU is going to be formittable this seasons.

Getting back on track here, Kasongo...I love that name...sounds eerily similar to a late Big get back-in-the-day namely Emeka. He brought a lot of late notice and we were fortunately enough to land him. Maybe he'll turn out to be a similar late in the process surprise. Frankly I like these types of recruits compared to the ones that come in highly ranked. These under-the-radar late bloomers tend to play with a chip on their shoulder wanting to prove the experts wrong. UConn has built its program on the backs of these types of recruits (Emeka, Ben, Ray, Josh, Hilton, Lamb, Bazz...and the list goes on). Granted, we've had our share of blue chip recruits (Donyell, Caron, Rudy, Kemba...though he was a late comer who rose up the rankings, etc.), but our best teams usually kicked the butts of some programs whose rosters were full of Burger AAs with just one to two of our own.

 

[UConNick]

This is a little off topic, but I want to know why people constantly refer to Kemba as an unheralded recruit. He was consensus top 15, no. 2 pg, elite 24 and obviously a McDonalds AA. Guess i don't know his whole back story, but that doesn't exactly scream under the radar.

 

[upstater]

This is a little off topic, but I want to know why people constantly refer to Kemba as an unheralded recruit. He was consensus top 15, no. 2 pg, elite 24 and obviously a McDonalds AA. Guess i don't know his whole back story, but that doesn't exactly scream under the radar.

He jumped high in the rankings. He was around 60 around this time several years ago. UConn actually didn't have him as the priority that year.

 

[tcf15]

Looking back in the Rivals database, when Kemba committed, an article came out and mentioned his ranking: "Walker is ranked as the #20 point guard and #118 prospect in his class by Rivals.com". He committed in June, and was blowing up in the month of May at various AAU tournaments and then was one of the top players at the NBPA Camp that year.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Looking back in the Rivals database, when Kemba committed, an article came out and mentioned his ranking: "Walker is ranked as the #20 point guard and #118 prospect in his class by ". He committed in June, and was blowing up in the month of May at various AAU tournaments and then was one of the top players at the NBPA Camp that year.

Calhoun's greatest skill was spotting these guys before others and locking them down. He was a superb talent evaluator, and I doubt that he paid any attention to other people's rankings. Hopefully we can land the big fella from Canada, that's closer to what we tuly need than another wing. With DD (possibly), Hamilton, Calhoun and Purvis, I don't think there are a lot of minutes at SF.

 

[2Infinity]

Calhoun's greatest skill was spotting these guys before others and locking them down. He was a superb talent evaluator, and I doubt that he paid any attention to other people's rankings. Hopefully we can land the big fella from Canada, that's closer to what we tuly need than another wing. With DD (possibly), Hamilton, Calhoun and Purvis, I don't think there are a lot of minutes at SF.

I recall in the early Calhoun days, he mentioned that one asset he looked for, and always prized, was quick feet. I believe he said that if a player had quick feet, he could develop him into a quality basketball player ...and he certainly did that! The first player I remember him saying that about was Rod Sellers, who was less than highly recruited out of South Carolina. While not becoming a star player, he did contribute quite a bit to the Huskies...especially with his rebounding and toughness. I don't think anyone expected what he delivered....except JC. And as for his toughness, all you have to do is ask Christian Laettner .

 

[Jaybo]

Out of the 3 guys on campus now I'm hopeing to just grab one of them.hopeing it's the big guy.