Jaylin Hunter wins state championship

[GHSWolverines]

Ledyard is looking into a coop in football with Montville

Correction.... I misspoke. There has been talk that Ledyard is considering doing a coop with Montville in football. Oh by the way... Congrats Jaylen on winning a state championship.

 

[Rewster]

It’s obvious Reilly is a very good coach. That’s why it is easier for him to recruit. All Catholic schools do not have the same draw and having a very good coach is a big draw. I have a real hard time routing for East. There talent advantage year after year is ridiculous. Coupled with a coach who has developed a great program and you get great teams. I live in the area and East has pulled a lot of talent out of my towns school system. It is one of its “feeder programs”.

Most middle school travel teams take 10-11 kids. It’s frustrating when 2-3 of the best kids who took spots on those teams go private(EC, X, or NW) and the town school get the scraps. Also who needs a recruiting budget when you hold several basketball clinics all summer. The kids are coming to you. He doesn’t need to come to them.

 

[Robertelamin]

What happened to Northwest Catholic? I don’t follow this stuff at all.

 

[coachn]

Jaylen saw you play and would love it if you chose to play at UConn.You were the epitomy of a coaches son. Another coach on the floor. Coach R was lucky you went to EC. Hope to see you in a UCONN uniform.

 

[husky429]

What happened to Northwest Catholic? I don’t follow this stuff at all.

Not as good. Lost primo spears to windsor.

They have a good freshman but hell probably go prep

 

[the Q]

Not as good. Lost primo spears to windsor.

They have a good freshman but hell probably go prep

You mean curtis?

 

[husky429]

You mean curtis?

Yep.

 

[crazyUCfan23]

East Catholic has always been good, but the last 4-5 years they've gotten even better. Yes, most catholic schools recruit, but IMO east was very fortunate Jaylin essentially landed in their lap for this year. Without him, they still would've been good, but would not have so much better as everybody else like they were.

 

[Bonk]

Jaylin can ball, I think if he were to walk on he could assume a back up ball handling role immediately, especially offensively. Defensively he'd have to improve his lateral quickness and get stronger but he has talent

 

[Scrutineer]

A few of the ct catholic schools do recruit. Come on be serious. Why would some of these kids travel ridiculous miles? Is it because of their strong Christian faith? I highly doubt it.

Hmmmm. A "doubting Thomas" among us and it's nearly Easter.

 

[glastonbury50]

Catholic schools aren't limited to kids in their own town. They may not recruit, but the best teams at a Catholic school have kids driving miles to play for the better teams.

Reilly recruits, don't kid yourself.

 

[Lynyrd]

Yeah, he stole that Joey kid from Cromwell ...

 

[glastonbury50]

If the Catholic high schools have such a huge recruitment advantage, how is it that the other Div I Catholic schools aren’t dominating the divisision? It would seem as though there should be, in many years, an all-Catholic final.
I guess there’s no need to consider the coaching ability of East’s head coach, Luke Reilly and the fact that the public schools have, in many cases, twice the enrollment ( East 650, Danbury 2,941, Trumbull 2,151, East Hartford 1,649, etc). It all comes down to unfair recruitment allegations —which are all they are!!

The reason is because just one of these catholic schools get all the good recruits lol. They all go to the best one.

 

[Rico444]

Discontinuing the effect East Catholic coaching has on the results achieved and discounting the lack of success achieved by other Div I Catholic high schools that flly in the face of your argument, as well as depending on your unsubstantiated recruitment allegations.....seems far more “intellectually dishonest”>

Congrats on the championship, Mr. Reilly.

 

[husky429]

Jaylin can ball, I think if he were to walk on he could assume a back up ball handling role immediately, especially offensively. Defensively he'd have to improve his lateral quickness and get stronger but he has talent

4 TOs for a ballhandler against Windsor is alarming. Windsor has those 2 low-major guards, but anything he faces at UConn is going to be a lot more difficult. I'm not sure he would be a great back up PG at all. I see his role being a poor version of Vital if anything.

 

[businesslawyer]

4 TOs for a ballhandler against Windsor is alarming. Windsor has those 2 low-major guards, but anything he faces at UConn is going to be a lot more difficult. I'm not sure he would be a great back up PG at all. I see his role being a poor version of Vital if anything.

I don't understand your point. You should see him as a poor version of Vital if anything. That's why he's being recruited by the MAAC and America East instead of the MWC and AAC. The point is not whether we should be recruiting Hunter to come here as a scholarship player. The only point anyone has been making is, especially in a year when we're only going to have 12 scholarships and there are question marks about our depth at the point with our #1 having an injury history, wouldn't it be really nice to have a low D-1 player as a walk on to provide depth and alternatives. To which the answer is almost certainly yes.

 

[mauconnfan]

4 TOs for a ballhandler against Windsor is alarming. Windsor has those 2 low-major guards, but anything he faces at UConn is going to be a lot more difficult. I'm not sure he would be a great back up PG at all. I see his role being a poor version of Vital if anything.

Kids turn the ball over in HS that number doesn't concern me all that much especially against a Windsor program known for 32 minutes of hell most every year. Thing is if he wants to be here he's an extra guard with some skills and he comes without a tab. Tarin Smith turned it over but his minutes were still pretty big this year, just has to be similar to that. Who knows may get one in a grad transfer still too. This will all depend on whether he wants to come in as an extra or go somewhere and play more. Good luck to him in his decision.

 

[CTBasketball]

Even bigger public schools recruit kids.

 

[husky429]

Kids turn the ball over in HS that number doesn't concern me all that much especially against a Windsor program known for 32 minutes of hell most every year. Thing is if he wants to be here he's an extra guard with some skills and he comes without a tab. Tarin Smith turned it over but his minutes were still pretty big this year, just has to be similar to that. Who knows may get one in a grad transfer still too. This will all depend on whether he wants to come in as an extra or go somewhere and play more. Good luck to him in his decision.

Windsor doesn't press really good teams like East Catholic. Primo spears picked up the guard at half court.

Ived seen Jaylin play 5x this year at least. Turnovers are a concern no matter what d1 level hes at.

 

[husky429]

I don't understand your point. You should see him as a poor version of Vital if anything. That's why he's being recruited by the MAAC and America East instead of the MWC and AAC. The point is not whether we should be recruiting Hunter to come here as a scholarship player. The only point anyone has been making is, especially in a year when we're only going to have 12 scholarships and there are question marks about our depth at the point with our #1 having an injury history, wouldn't it be really nice to have a low D-1 player as a walk on to provide depth and alternatives. To which the answer is almost certainly yes.

Correct. Some guys on here like @UcannUconn are really overestimating this kid. If he comes here, his biggest benefit will be having a better athlete in practice

 

[businesslawyer]

Even bigger public schools recruit kids.

You can say that by having your own definition of what it means to "recruit," but the point remains that even if your statement is true public schools and private schools play by different rules. The fact that an inner city coach may indirectly get in touch with a kid and wonder if he can move to his school's part of town is no way comparable to a St. Joes (just because I know kids to whom this happened) calling up a good 20 plus miles away and offering him a full ride and a slot on the basketball team.

So why should they be thrown together to compete for championships?

 

[superjohn]

4 TOs for a ballhandler against Windsor is alarming. Windsor has those 2 low-major guards, but anything he faces at UConn is going to be a lot more difficult. I'm not sure he would be a great back up PG at all. I see his role being a poor version of Vital if anything.

Primo Spears probably isn't a low major guard, had an unofficial to Providence the other weekend.

 

[husky429]

Spears probably isn't a low major guard, had an unofficial to Providence the other weekend.

That's great to hear. He's overcome a ton of adversity in the last few years. I remember him running train on teams when he was in 7th/8th-grade. My AAU guys were around his age at that time. We haven't played the NY Lightning (his aau team) since then that I can remember though.

Gut tells me he's still a low-major guy. Feels like too much of a hot and cold gunner right now. He has the ability to take over, but has also put his team out of games before. I think he could go mid or high but wouldn't play much barring injury. At a lower-tier school he could get a lot more playing time.

Matt Knowling and Jaylin Hunter both looked better to me both times I saw them play this year and they're low major players. But to be fair, I didn't see the game that Primo took off for 40 pts.

I hope we can get CCC kids going to D1s on a regualar basis. Would love to see less power in the hands of preps and private schools.

 

[HuskyHawk]

If the Catholic high schools have such a huge recruitment advantage, how is it that the other Div I Catholic schools aren’t dominating the divisision? It would seem as though there should be, in many years, an all-Catholic final.
I guess there’s no need to consider the coaching ability of East’s head coach, Luke Reilly and the fact that the public schools have, in many cases, twice the enrollment ( East 650, Danbury 2,941, Trumbull 2,151, East Hartford 1,649, etc). It all comes down to unfair recruitment allegations —which are all they are!!

Yeah, I don't get it. Back when I was in HS at Manchester High, we kicked East Catholic's butt at basketball. They are a much smaller school and don't really recruit. MHS had the highest enrollment in the state back then (even with only 3 grades).

The teams that dominated then were the city schools in Hartford, NH and Bridgeport. Wilbur Cross, Hillhouse etc. Has East ever won before?

 

[crazyUCfan23]

I actually like how the boys basketball are sorted into divisions, but I don't agree with how teams were distributed.

Primo Spears probably isn't a low major guard, had an unofficial to Providence the other weekend.

I thought Spears was the best prospect on the court. He takes a lot of bad shots, but that can be corrected, and he has plenty of range, ball handling and athletic ability.

 

[husky429]

I actually like how the boys basketball are sorted into divisions, but I don't agree with how teams were distributed.

I thought Spears was the best prospect on the court. He takes a lot of bad shots, but that can be corrected, and he has plenty of range, ball handling and athletic ability.

Matt knowling had the highest ceiling on the court. He's the only one with real D1 size. 6'5-6' ish, but does need to put on some weight. His passing will be a major asset at any level.

If Primo can check his ego and be a backup, he could be really, really good at the next level.

 

[the Q]

Yeah, I don't get it. Back when I was in HS at Manchester High, we kicked East Catholic's butt at basketball. They are a much smaller school and don't really recruit. MHS had the highest enrollment in the state back then (even with only 3 grades).

The teams that dominated then were the city schools in Hartford, NH and Bridgeport. Wilbur Cross, Hillhouse etc. Has East ever won before?

1) there is zero chance they don’t recruit. I have friends who were recruited for baseball. Highly doubt basketball didn’t partake.

2) I don’t know if they won, but I was playing during the Johnston zalucki days and they were really good back then too.

 

[crazyUCfan23]

Yeah, I don't get it. Back when I was in HS at Manchester High, we kicked East Catholic's butt at basketball. They are a much smaller school and don't really recruit. MHS had the highest enrollment in the state back then (even with only 3 grades).

The teams that dominated then were the city schools in Hartford, NH and Bridgeport. Wilbur Cross, Hillhouse etc. Has East ever won before?

East won Class L in 2016 when Joey Reilly was a freshman. I also believe that team had Mike McGiurl (Kansas State) and Carbone (UNH).

 

[the Q]

Yeah, I don't get it. Back when I was in HS at Manchester High, we kicked East Catholic's butt at basketball. They are a much smaller school and don't really recruit. MHS had the highest enrollment in the state back then (even with only 3 grades).

The teams that dominated then were the city schools in Hartford, NH and Bridgeport. Wilbur Cross, Hillhouse etc. Has East ever won before?

East didn’t win it all back then. I just looked. But they were still a good program.

 

[crazyUCfan23]

1) there is zero chance they don’t recruit. I have friends who were recruited for baseball. Highly doubt basketball didn’t partake.

2) I don’t know if they won, but I was playing during the Johnston zalucki days and they were really good back then too.

East catholic 100% recruits. Back in 2011, they were one of, if not, the worst lacrosse teams in the state. Since 2013 they have sent multiple players D1, and made the Class S semifinals nearly every year. It didn't just happen magically out of nowhere...