Eric Cobb - C (JuCo)

[Matrim55]

h/t @Hungryhusky99



Cobb's a transfer to JuCo from South Carolina. He was dismissed from USCe after he was arrested for some petty vandalism with a BB gun (first and only offense, from what I can gather). Played about 3-4 minutes a game as a freshman, but rarely more than that because of fitness & foul issues. Was originally a K-state commit, generally regarded as a 3-star though ESPN had him as a 4-star.

Dude is a load. 6-foot-10, 270 pounds. You can see him jumping center (#12):



Looks IMO like he'd struggle to keep up with the game at the D-1 level unless he lost about 25 pounds. Worth noting former UConn target Jahshire Hardnett is the PG for Chipola.

EDIT: Texas Tech & Houston are recruiting him as well. He'd come in with 2 years of eligibility.

 

[gtcam]

Big and Slow
Not much Hustle
Doesn't leave his feet much - no offensive moves
We've had enough of that
NO THANKS

 

[Stainmaster]

Past history of behavioral issues - Chief must LOVE this guy.

 

[BUConn10]

really scraping the bottom of the barrel here huh?

 

[mauconnfan]

Past history of behavioral issues - Chief must LOVE this guy.

Stay tuned Stair

 

[Travelman6]

Ugh, no thanks.

 

[ctchamps]

I think he can play the third line and be an enforcer with or without BB's.

 

[imno1]

Doubt he can skate a lick

 

[ctchamps]

He's more of an r. edsel than a ko ferrari.

 

[pj]

You guys are too negative. If KO decides he can help us, he can help us.

 

[pnow15]

The good, the bad and the ugly:

The good: Great size, can set a pick, takes up room in the lane, can pass out of low post, can hit a foul shot, finds his man on the box out. He will provide a similar big man to Enoch so that Enoch can practice against a guy his own size (not that it will due any good). He is not out at half court when the rebound is coming off the rim. Has a better sense of the game than any of our bigs. Has two good knees.
The Bad: Bounces ball off his foot, is slow up and down court and in half court. Can't bend over to pick up ball.
The Ugly: If we go into next season with Enoch as our only big. We had "the rock,"
It may be time for "the block." He is faster than Sam Jr.

 

[pj]

The good, the bad and the ugly:

The good: Great size, can set a pick, takes up room in the lane, can pass out of low post, can hit a foul shot, finds his man on the box out. He will provide a similar big man to Enoch so that Enoch can practice against a guy his own size (not that it will due any good). He is not out at half court when the rebound is coming off the rim. Has a better sense of the game than any of our bigs. Has two good knees.
The Bad: Bounces ball off his foot, is slow up and down court and in half court. Can't bend over to pick up ball.
The Ugly: If we go into next season with Enoch as our only big. We had "the rock,"
It may be time for "the block." He is faster than Sam Jr.

Things like "can't bend over to pick up the ball" are easily fixed with the right nutrition and conditioning program. You have to assess the guy's attitude, if he's willing to work then that mitigates a lot of sins.

A body could be very valuable. Enoch may have bad feet. With Enoch/Cobb/Carlton we'd have a center by committee that wouldn't be pushed around and could give 15 fouls, 10 if someone was injured.

 

[pnow15]

Who is number 35 that is hitting threes?

 

[Chief00]

Past history of behavioral issues - Chief must LOVE this guy.

Sorry - doesn't pass the on court eye test. Still think we need a couple of guys who could handle themselves if a fight developed in the parking lot after the game. I know Jim always like a guy or two like that.

 

[scotty0330]

Sounds like we offered

 

[tcf15]

Sounds like we offered

 

[Jaker]

Calhoun would not sign any big that could not play with his back to the basket.

 

[Matrim55]

I am surprised by this, but if ours clearly isn't the only staff that thinks he can be a D1 player.

Hopefully someone introduces him to vegetables and he decides they're delicious. Otherwise I have no idea how he'll keep up with the game.

 

[BUConn10]

Looks like another 1-2 year period of patching up a major area of weakness instead of addressing it seriously. People keep saying Ollie has always gotten his top targets in each class, yet the last 4 classes he has put most of his eggs in a ball handler - DHam, Adams, Gilbert, and MAL. Despite the fact that our front court has been our most OBVIOUS weakness for almost 4 consecutive years now, he keeps "targeting" back court players. If fans want to return to the levels we were, this will not do. Getting a JuCo or 5th year big will only be a patch job like I said, a temporary place holder into the season after where we find ourselves with better guards ready to emerge onto the national stage, but a massively flawed front court which will overall hold them back severely.

This leads me to think 2 things about Ollie's "too target" recruiting philosophy he has acquired here on the Boneyard:
(1) either he is way too focused on guards as a former PG himself and is disregarding the front court's value and importance to his guards' success (unlikely)
(2) or he is just missing out on his real "top targets" early on and simply putting the "top target" label on the best guy who is showing receptive interest to him. This is what I personally think it is and has been. I've always said we as fans have no idea what KO's "top target" is unless he specifically labels a recruit that very early into his recruitment. Otherwise it's likely Ollie had Bamba or another big as his "top target" but simply due to lack of interest he pivoted focus to other players, just because he landed a good player doesn't make that player his "top target".

Ollie needs to seriously up his big man recruiting acumen. Either they don't buy his level of experience improving guys like themselves or he isn't putting enough go time on the trail on these guys.

We will all be very sorry next season or the season after when all our guards and wings like Jalen, AG, Larrier, MAL and Jackson are all studs who are some of the best players in conference at their positions, but the team is still losing games regularly due to a massively deficient front court. We only have these guys for 3 years at most if they are truly as good as they need to be to be UConn greats. Anything else and we are just treading mid-level, irrelevant, water.

 

[King Husky]

Looks like another 1-2 year period of patching up a major area of weakness instead of addressing it seriously. People keep saying Ollie has always gotten his top targets in each class, yet the last 4 classes he has put most of his eggs in a ball handler - DHam, Adams, Gilbert, and MAL. Despite the fact that our front court has been our most OBVIOUS weakness for almost 4 consecutive years now, he keeps "targeting" back court players. If fans want to return to the levels we were, this will not do. Getting a JuCo or 5th year big will only be a patch job like I said, a temporary place holder into the season after where we find ourselves with better guards ready to emerge onto the national stage, but a massively flawed front court which will overall hold them back severely.

This leads me to think 2 things about Ollie's "too target" recruiting philosophy he has acquired here on the Boneyard:
(1) either he is way too focused on guards as a former PG himself and is disregarding the front court's value and importance to his guards' success (unlikely)
(2) or he is just missing out on his real "top targets" early on and simply putting the "top target" label on the best guy who is showing receptive interest to him. This is what I personally think it is and has been. I've always said we as fans have no idea what KO's "top target" is unless he specifically labels a recruit that very early into his recruitment. Otherwise it's likely Ollie had Bamba or another big as his "top target" but simply due to lack of interest he pivoted focus to other players, just because he landed a good player doesn't make that player his "top target".

Ollie needs to seriously up his big man recruiting acumen. Either they don't buy his level of experience improving guys like themselves or he isn't putting enough go time on the trail on these guys.

We will all be very sorry next season or the season after when all our guards and wings like Jalen, AG, Larrier, MAL and Jackson are all studs who are some of the best players in conference at their positions, but the team is still losing games regularly due to a massively deficient front court. We only have these guys for 3 years at most if they are truly as good as they need to be to be UConn greats. Anything else and we are just treading mid-level, irrelevant, water.

People might argue against this by saying Enoch and Durham were pretty highly rated big men recruits, each of the past two years. But since you're talking about "top targets," I guess that's understandable. But I do believe Enoch will develop into a low-post scorer, at some point...

 

[Matrim55]

Looks like another 1-2 year period of patching up a major area of weakness instead of addressing it seriously. People keep saying Ollie has always gotten his top targets in each class, yet the last 4 classes he has put most of his eggs in a ball handler - DHam, Adams, Gilbert, and MAL. Despite the fact that our front court has been our most OBVIOUS weakness for almost 4 consecutive years now, he keeps "targeting" back court players.

Your take lacks context or insight. Let me help:

Ollie's No. 1 target for 2017 was a 5-star center, and he landed that fish. Then the kid went crazy so KO had to cut him loose, at which point it was already late in the cycle (i.e., too late to jump in for any of the other big fish in 2017).

He mitigated the damage by recruiting a 4-star C with a good back-to-the-basket game (Carlton), and has now apparently decided to add more bulk to the position with Cobb. If we sign this kid, we will enter next season with 5 big men, four of whom were 4-star recruits and all of whom were P5 targets.

Ollie needs to seriously up his big man recruiting acumen. Either they don't buy his level of experience improving guys like themselves or he isn't putting enough go time on the trail on these guys.

Part of the sanctions was that we were able to spend only so much time on the trail, which made it harder to A) identify guys we really wanted, b) identify potential problem recruits, and C) build a rapport with second-tier recruits.

If our guys had gotten to spend more time with Zach Brown when he was younger, would they have seen the red flags? I don't know. I do know that Carlton is the exact kind of recruit we missed out on back in 2014 after Abu brushed us off (think Kyle Kuzma or Bonzie Colson, both of whom we offered but couldn't reel in).

You're upset, as you often are, that things aren't perfect. I suggest you take heart from the fact that they are, nonetheless, improving.

 

[BUConn10]

Your take lacks context or insight. Let me help:

Ollie's No. 1 target for 2017 was a 5-star center, and he landed that fish. Then the kid went crazy so KO had to cut him loose, at which point it was already late in the cycle (i.e., too late to jump in for any of the other big fish in 2017).

He mitigated the damage by recruiting a 4-star C with a good back-to-the-basket game (Carlton), and has now apparently decided to add more bulk to the position with Cobb. If we sign this kid, we will enter next season with 5 big men, four of whom were 4-star recruits and all of whom were P5 targets.

How do you know Zach Brown was Ollie's top target, how could any of us conceivable know that? And I'm not claiming to know the answer myself, its simply in response to the "Ollie always gets his top targets every yea, so..." crowd.

As for the edited part added on, I know people think its funny to point out people who you think are "always upset", but I really dont see what there has been to be excited for the last couple seasons. Last 3 seasons have started and ended with vastly different expectations from the fan base, and not in the positive, improvement sense of "different". I still do and will always watch every single UConn game beginning to end, but I will not sugar coat the conquests and ultimately, the results of a 4x champion, Top 7 all-time program for the sake of getting likes on a message board.

 

[Matrim55]

How do you know Zach Brown was Ollie's top target, how could any of us conceivable know that? And I'm not claiming to know the answer myself, its simply in response to the "Ollie always gets his top targets every yea, so..." crowd.

I think he pretty clearly had 1A, 1B and 1C in 2017 with Diallo, Brown & MAL. This isn't rocket science – just look at the amount of time he spends with guys early in the cycle.

In 2014 Hamilton was our top target, and Abu was clearly No. 2. In 2015 it was Adams, and then Stone. In 2016 it was Gilbert and then Durham.

He's targeted plenty of bigs, and he's landed a couple. I wish he'd landed more, but that's how recruiting goes.

Last 3 seasons have started and ended with vastly different expectations from the fan base...

The fanbase is irrational.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Your take lacks context or insight. Let me help:

Ollie's No. 1 target for 2017 was a 5-star center, and he landed that fish. Then the kid went crazy so KO had to cut him loose, at which point it was already late in the cycle (i.e., too late to jump in for any of the other big fish in 2017).

He mitigated the damage by recruiting a 4-star C with a good back-to-the-basket game (Carlton), and has now apparently decided to add more bulk to the position with Cobb. If we sign this kid, we will enter next season with 5 big men, four of whom were 4-star recruits and all of whom were P5 targets.


Part of the sanctions was that we were able to spend only so much time on the trail, which made it harder to A) identify guys we really wanted, b) identify potential problem recruits, and C) build a rapport with second-tier recruits.

If our guys had gotten to spend more time with Zach Brown when he was younger, would they have seen the red flags? I don't know. I do know that Carlton is the exact kind of recruit we missed out on back in 2014 after Abu brushed us off (think Kyle Kuzma or Bonzie Colson, both of whom we offered but couldn't reel in).

You're upset, as you often are, that things aren't perfect. I suggest you take heart from the fact that they are, nonetheless, improving.

Just saying, not to disagree with anything because all you said was right, but ZB at the end of the day was/is a low 4-star recruit. He's so raw, I think Carleton is the better recruit regardless of background issues

 

[mauconnfan]

I think he pretty clearly had 1A, 1B and 1C in 2017 with Diallo, Brown & MAL. This isn't rocket science – just look at the amount of time he spends with guys early in the cycle.

In 2014 Hamilton was our top target, and Abu was clearly No. 2. In 2015 it was Adams, and then Stone. In 2016 it was Gilbert and then Durham.

He's targeted plenty of bigs, and he's landed a couple. I wish he'd landed more, but that's how recruiting goes.


The fanbase is irrational.

And there are just too many variables in which to explain how it goes anyway Matrim, especially to those who openly applaud what they deem the failures of KO, and there's just way too many of those hanging in the BY these days. Sickening