C Ikechukwu Obiagu (UConn Offer) | Page 2 | The Boneyard

C Ikechukwu Obiagu (UConn Offer)

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WhereistheDove? said:
I guarantee you that the pictures of Ray Allen in the new basketball facility aren't solely there because they needed something to cover the wall.
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But is Ollie selling kids on that picture? It's cool to have UConn legends and be able to point to them and say "you could be this" but Ollie isn't going to tell a kid he had much to do with ray Allen's success.
 
Huskyforlife said:
But is Ollie selling kids on that picture? It's cool to have UConn legends and be able to point to them and say "you could be this" but Ollie isn't going to tell a kid he had much to do with ray Allen's success.
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Whether or not Ollie tries to take credit for someone like RayRay's success is irrelevant (and I'm sure he doesn't), the aura and mystique of having guys like Allen and Okafor and Gordon and Donyell and Rudy and player xyz is a selling point in and of itself. Seeing those players names and images on the walls makes it obvious that its part and parcel to the UConn tradition of grooming NBA level players.

So of course he is selling them on that picture, you aren't able to convince elite recruits to come to your school unless you lay out a path of success that they ultimately might be able to take. As long as they are guided with a healthy dose of the long held UConn tenets of hard work, perseverance, and gritty pluckability.
 
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Huskyforlife said:
But is Ollie selling kids on that picture? It's cool to have UConn legends and be able to point to them and say "you could be this" but Ollie isn't going to tell a kid he had much to do with ray Allen's success.
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You're overthinking this. Guys like Allen, Gay, Thabeet, etc. are absolutely good for recruiting still even though Ollie wasn't the one coaching them. I understand your point, but I don't think many people would agree with it.
 
dennismenace said:
He had very little experience prior to Uconn. Believe he left early, earlier than JC recommended. JC's comments to recruits "I want you to play professionally; for a long time". Hard to resist the money however and that is the dilemma. Hard to see how this is a Uconn problem and is easily
explainable to a potential recruit.
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That's not true, and let's not act like 1 more year at UConn would've prevented Thabeet from being a bust.
 
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RipCity said:
I kind of get the sense we're more into him than Brown. I have nothing to back this claim up, of course.
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I kind of get the sense that we are into both, and both are very high on UCONN...hence the pressure for Zach Brown to commit so early in order to beat Obiagu in accepting an offer.
 
aceboon said:
That's not true, and let's not act like 1 more year at UConn would've prevented Thabeet from being a bust.
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Not sure what you believe is not true. He first played basketball at 15. He came from another country. He was the highest drafted player ever to be sent to the Development League (and this was in his first year). Hard to imagine he couldn't have been helped by playing another year but I can't argue with his choosing to go pro. What is the dollar difference if he got hurt by staying an extra year? $1 million insurance vs say $6-9 million for going pro? I don't know what the dollar differential was but the point I am trying to make IMHO is that he really could have benefitted from another year. If it wasn't experience are we to say that he was just dogging it or had a bad attitude? As far as the JC quote, I don't remember him saying that about anyone specifically but just using it as an expression in an article on the subject of kids leaving too early. Just my opinion.
 
dennismenace said:
Not sure what you believe is not true. He first played basketball at 15. He came from another country. He was the highest drafted player ever to be sent to the Development League (and this was in his first year). Hard to imagine he couldn't have been helped by playing another year but I can't argue with his choosing to go pro. What is the dollar difference if he got hurt by staying an extra year? $1 million insurance vs say $6-9 million for going pro? I don't know what the dollar differential was but the point I am trying to make IMHO is that he really could have benefitted from another year. If it wasn't experience are we to say that he was just dogging it or had a bad attitude? As far as the JC quote, I don't remember him saying that about anyone specifically but just using it as an expression in an article on the subject of kids leaving too early. Just my opinion.
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I only meant to bold the part of you saying he left earlier than JC recommended but then it was too late to go back and edit. Hasheem was a lottery pick, certainly shouldn't have gone #2 with the Grizzlies already having Gasol but he was definitely going to go top 10, JC didn't discourage him from leaving. As far as him staying an extra year and that helping his future NBA career, I just don't see it. Thabeet progressed well enough as a college player but in regards to the NBA I just didn't see the insincts, skill leve, and footspeed/athleticism to be a useful rotation player at that level, plus you had DraftExpress doing writeups on him during his years in college that scouts had relayed to them he viewed putting in extra work to improve as some type of punishment. I don't think him staying another year would've done much of anything to change his career trajectory, he put in 3 years, it's not like he left after his freshman year.
 
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RipCity said:
I kind of get the sense we're more into him than Brown. I have nothing to back this claim up, of course.
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We've been recruiting Brown a heck of a lot longer and just had him on campus hoping for an early commitment. So I don't see how this can possibly be true.
 
HuskyBballFan said:
We've been recruiting Brown a heck of a lot longer and just had him on campus hoping for an early commitment. So I don't see how this can possibly be true.
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Why? You don't think Ollie knows who he would choose if he was lucky enough to have a choice? I'm not saying he doesn't love Brown, I'm just saying I get the sense that Ikey is #1. Before Brown announced a visit, Ozzie said that Ollie was after Obiagu very very hard. It's not unreasonable to think that someone in Brown's camp caught wind of something like this, and really wanted to get the ball rolling.

This is all hypothetical, but it's plausible.
 
HuskyBballFan said:
We've been recruiting Brown a heck of a lot longer and just had him on campus hoping for an early commitment. So I don't see how this can possibly be true.
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RipCity said:
Why? You don't think Ollie knows who he would choose if he was lucky enough to have a choice? I'm not saying he doesn't love Brown, I'm just saying I get the sense that Ikey is #1. Before Brown announced a visit, Ozzie said that Ollie was after Obiagu very very hard. It's not unreasonable to think that someone in Brown's camp caught wind of something like this, and really wanted to get the ball rolling.

This is all hypothetical, but it's plausible.
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We are recruiting both players very hard. Both are 5 star center prospects. Ollie and UConn fans will be thrilled to have either one of them commit. The argument over who is number 1 and number 2 is useless. We'll be lucky to have either one in a UConn uniform and will take whoever is the first to commit.
 
RipCity said:
Why? You don't think Ollie knows who he would choose if he was lucky enough to have a choice? I'm not saying he doesn't love Brown, I'm just saying I get the sense that Ikey is #1. Before Brown announced a visit, Ozzie said that Ollie was after Obiagu very very hard. It's not unreasonable to think that someone in Brown's camp caught wind of something like this, and really wanted to get the ball rolling.

This is all hypothetical, but it's plausible.
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Obviously I have no idea who is #1 in Ollie's head. My point is that if Obiagu is the clear #1 and truly is preferable to Brown, KO wouldn't have been sitting by the phone on Tuesday hoping for Brown to commit.
 
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Ricky puttin in that work in the GA...he's trying to lay the groundwork for a Georgia pipeline
 
jrmadej21 said:
Can't we just have both? Is it too greedy to have two 7 foot towers in the middle?
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I don't see why we couldn't have both! Not sure either would be thrilled about it, but having 2 bigs would be amazing. I don't know much about eithers game. Can either of them step out? Need room for Larrier, Gilbert, (Hopefully Diallo) to be able to penetrate.

Can Durham play 3? That'd be a HUGE lineup.

Brown, Obiagu, Durham, Diallo, Gilbert - assuming Adams is gone by then. You'd also have Diarra in the big man mix. Enoch as a junior too.

That front-court would be LOADED.
 
KembaStepback said:
I don't see why we couldn't have both! Not sure either would be thrilled about it, but having 2 bigs would be amazing. I don't know much about eithers game. Can either of them step out? Need room for Larrier, Gilbert, (Hopefully Diallo) to be able to penetrate.

Can Durham play 3? That'd be a HUGE lineup.

Brown, Obiagu, Durham, Diallo, Gilbert - assuming Adams is gone by then. You'd also have Diarra in the big man mix. Enoch as a junior too.

That front-court would be LOADED.
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UK did the platoon system, maybe KO is going for a sled dog formation?

I apologize in advance for liking fishy's comment and then promptly ignoring it
 
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Don't see how you fit he and Brown on the same team considering how many minutes they'd both want, but Obiagu is one of my favorite recruits in recent memory.
 
It's possible he and Brown are plans 1a/1b. Especially given the recent events surrounding Brown, it's not a bad idea to have another option available.
 
Tenspro2002 said:
It's possible he and Brown are plans 1a/1b. Especially given the recent events surrounding Brown, it's not a bad idea to have another option available.
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Despite the hullaballoo surrounding Brown, he still seems to be a strong UConn commit. Not that having a twin towers type of situation wouldn't be advantageous, but I think that Brown is a pretty safe bet.
 
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