Interesting article - Donovan Clingan | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Interesting article - Donovan Clingan

Fantastic story. Seems like a great kid, with a level of maturity many in high school lack. Is there no prep school close enough to Bristol?


He wants to be at Bristol Central, why is that hard for people to see. His mom set records there and now he wants to do the same.

I hope he stays at BC and breaks all the records and then comes to UConn.
 
Great story. Saw him play Friday night and he impressed. Unaffected by crowd chants and taunts. Dad on the other hand...
Are you talking about his father's reaction to the plainville player that was called for the flagrant foul where the player jumped up, wrapped his hands around Donovan's neck from behind, and obviously tried to pul donovan down to the ground? Can't say I blame him. I was there too. It's a shame that now, his father has to worry about possible injury from an obviously flagrant foul that was clearly not a basketball play in the least. Donovan was called for a foul on that play as well bcuz he swung his elbow trying to get the player off of him. At what point is it enough? Like someone said here, Dad has alot to deal with, especially healing from the loss of his wife. But as a friend of the family I guess I'm biased. But to go on here now going after his father for reacting to a play like that? I don't know, doesn't seem fair at all.
 
Calhoun would struggle with 2020 athletes.
Yeah, agree but still....

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While watching a tough OT loss to Temple, I was getting updates on BCHS game vs Cromwell. BC wins to get to 15-4. With a win over BE on Monday, they would end up with 4 seed at 16 -4. Another strong game by Donovan. 25 pts, 16 rebs and 6 blocks
 
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I mean i did say the kid was poised so nice reading skills. The father was barking the whole game. Started from the tip off to the final buzzer. He's passionate, but he's reactive. Hope it doesnt affect the kid
Like I said, I was there too and didn't here him bark the whole game. I was few rows below him, so I would've heard. I did hear him say stuff like, let's get some rebounds guys, let's box out. So, you are absolutely incorrect with what you said about him barking the whole game. I did read what you said and you said good things about Donovan, but you lied about his father. Again, a shame.
 
Like I said, I was there too and didn't here him bark the whole game. I was few rows below him, so I would've heard. I did hear him say stuff like, let's get some rebounds guys, let's box out. So, you are absolutely incorrect with what you said about him barking the whole game. I did read what you said and you said good things about Donovan, but you lied about his father. Again, a shame.
Aside from his reaction to his kid almost getting his throat ripped out of course. Any parent would yell
 
He's getting some help on his AAU team soon



I wouldn't call him "help" FYI. He's a good public school player, but he's not going D1 unless he improves greatly. Likely a D3 guy.
 
Great article. His father sounds really stressed about how to guide his son and may be especially conflicted by all the advice pulling them in different directions. Let's hope he and his son can step away from it all, at least figuratively, and make the right call.

As to Bristol Central vs. prep schools, there are local examples of elite players who played for their high schools and for AAU teams and developed and went on to great professional careers. Marcus Camby only played one year of high school ball in his last three years, if I recall correctly, because of his transfer out of Hartford as a sophomore and back as a junior. Corny Thompson and Scott Burrell are two others that didn't go to prep school, with Burrell not putting much time into basketball because of also playing football and baseball. Are these outliers? Or was it simply a different time?

Here's a couple question for those in the know:
DC seems to have developed quite a bit from his freshman to his sophomore year and plays on a high level AAU team.
1. How much is he being held back by staying in his local high school part of the year and playing high level AAU part of the year?
2. Is that really a bad alternative versus possibly getting burned out by playing year round at a high level prep school along with a high level of AAU team?
 
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Great article. His father sounds really stressed about how to guide his son and may be especially conflicted by all the advice pulling them in different directions. Let's hope he and his son can step away from it all, at least figuratively, and make the right call.

As to Bristol Central vs. prep schools, there are local examples of elite players who played for their high schools and for AAU teams and developed and went on to great professional careers. Marcus Camby only played one year of high school ball in his last three years, if I recall correctly, because of his transfer out of Hartford as a sophomore and back as a junior. Corny Thompson and Scott Burrell are two others that didn't go to prep school, with Burrell not putting much time into basketball because of also playing football and baseball. Are these outliers? Or was it simply a different time?

Here's a couple question for those in the know:
DC seems to have developed quite a bit from his freshman to his sophomore year and plays on a high level AAU team.
1. How much is he being held back by staying in his local high school part of the year and playing high level AAU part of the year?
2. Is that really a bad alternative versus possibly getting burned out by playing year round at a high level prep school along with a high level of AAU team?

Those guys played high school ball 40 years ago. The game has changed drastically since then; what you're saying is essentially irrelevant. TONS of guys stayed public then all over the country. Very, very few do now.

I'm sure there are examples of more recent guys that stayed in public school for 3 or 4 years. It would be great if DC and his family could reach out about those decisions and how it impacted them to help with their own decision-making process.
 
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Those guys played high school ball 40 years ago. The game has changed drastically since then; what you're saying is essentially irrelevant. TONS of guys stayed public then all over the country. Very, very few do now.

I'm sure there are examples of more recent guys that stayed in public school for 3 or 4 years. It would be great if DC and his family could reach out about those decisions and how it impacted them to help with their own decision-making process.
I think the point was that exceptional players get noticed, no matter where they play.
 
I think the point was that exceptional players get noticed, no matter where they play.

Sure. But what about continuing to improve? For kids as high profile as DC that's the most important thing. That's what DC and fmaily need to figure out.
 
BE up on BC 15 -6 after 1 qtr. Clingan 1 shot, 0 pts 2 rebs. Slow start for him and team. Howard Eisley played with Malcolm Huckaby at Boston College. I am sure most people know Huckaby played at BCHS. So there is a slight connection, but dont believe that is significant
 
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Sure. But what about continuing to improve? For kids as high profile as DC that's the most important thing. That's what DC and fmaily need to figure out.

Yeah, I didn’t know how much had changed until recently. There were no basketball factory post grad prep schools back then. Wilbur Cross was routinely the best in CT, or one of the Hartford or Bridgeport schools. I went to Manchester High and we beat East Catholic like a drum in basketball. DeMatha was huge and there were major public school programs in NY, Chicago, Baltimore, Philly etc.

I still think he will certainly get a D1 ride staying at BC. Jake Layman did it staying public in the town next to me and landed with the Timberwolves. But I doubt Donovan will be as ready for the college game as he would be at a prep school.

The bigger concern is that he’s evidently getting mauled because these short kids he plays against are unable to do anything else.
 
Yeah, I didn’t know how much had changed until recently. There were no basketball factory post grad prep schools back then. Wilbur Cross was routinely the best in CT, or one of the Hartford or Bridgeport schools. I went to Manchester High and we beat East Catholic like a drum in basketball. DeMatha was huge and there were major public school programs in NY, Chicago, Baltimore, Philly etc.

I still think he will certainly get a D1 ride staying at BC. Jake Layman did it staying public in the town next to me and landed with the Timberwolves. But I doubt Donovan will be as ready for the college game as he would be at a prep school.

The bigger concern is that he’s evidently getting mauled because these short kids he plays against are unable to do anything else.

He'll go D1 no matter what. Especially if he ends up 7'2 or whatever. He needs to be thinking about preparing for the next level
 
He'll go D1 no matter what. Especially if he ends up 7'2 or whatever. He needs to be thinking about preparing for the next level

What are your thoughts on the potential for "burn out" with these kids playing at a high level both in HS and Prep year round? We've heard some coaches like players that play multiple sports because it keeps them trained but doesn't wear out the same body parts from year round pounding.
 
Sounds like a situation where the kid may commit very early so the phones stop ringing.
 
What are your thoughts on the potential for "burn out" with these kids playing at a high level both in HS and Prep year round? We've heard some coaches like players that play multiple sports because it keeps them trained but doesn't wear out the same body parts from year round pounding.

That's probably true through middle and freshman/sophomore year of hs. I always recommend letting the kids do what they want and have fun.

All of my aau players have specialized by sophomore year. One plays aau when they can and are focused on track--they stick around for the local tournaments. But I've known him forever.

Even the hs team I coach, which has maybe 4-5 d3 guys right now the kids are specialziing early. With them, I always recommend just doing whatever is fun

I think a big part of the problem is parents expectations. 1 sport is FINE if it is the kids choice. If the parents are forcing the kid to so anything they'll burn out because it's not an internal motvation

If Donovan is as motivated as it seems, he'll enjoy playing ball 9 months a year. And I'm not sure what else a 7 foot 15 year old is going to be good at! Shotput? I don't know
 
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