Landrew...Gatorade GA player of the year | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Landrew...Gatorade GA player of the year

HuskyHawk said:
Hoping he wins the starting job. Perfect 3 in our system. Going to allow us to finally match physicality and body teams a little bit.
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If Solo is back, these expectations are way too high.

He is indeed super talented and may eventually become our star, but if you watched the championship game, he does have a few things to work on. Expecting him to play over a guy with 3 years in the system, who knows it inside and out, as a freshman is a lot. I had the same idea and then watched him play a bit and thought he could develop for UConn off the bench and be more central in his second year.
 
upstater said:
If Solo is back, these expectations are way too high.

He is indeed super talented and may eventually become our star, but if you watched the championship game, he does have a few things to work on. Expecting him to play over a guy with 3 years in the system, who knows it inside and out, as a freshman is a lot. I had the same idea and then watched him play a bit and thought he could develop for UConn off the bench and be more central in his second year.
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By winning the starting job I took it as eventually not game 1. Be that February or next season.
 
Lafayette said:
By winning the starting job I took it as eventually not game 1. Be that February or next season.
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Yes, he's definitely a guy that UConn will hang its hat on in the future. More work needed on his hands, defense, and play beneath the basket. But he looks the part for sure.
 
upstater said:
If Solo is back, these expectations are way too high.

He is indeed super talented and may eventually become our star, but if you watched the championship game, he does have a few things to work on. Expecting him to play over a guy with 3 years in the system, who knows it inside and out, as a freshman is a lot. I had the same idea and then watched him play a bit and thought he could develop for UConn off the bench and be more central in his second year.
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Conditioning, coming back on defense, finishing when not dunking and more mobility in set pieces will all need polishing/work. Very good shooter, good rebounding positioning and size for the position as well as ability and willingness to hassle in fast brakes are def attributes. As you stated, will take some time to be comfortable and reliable in UConn’s offense but he has attributes to get there.
 
By the time BE season rolls around-Landrew will be earning PT. Is a mismatch nightmare for opponents.
 
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BostonHusky3 said:
I mean you can’t talk about our talent pipeline from Georgia without mentioning Nantambu Willingham.
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I remember a game where Boo was incredibly hyped after a dunk and on the way back down the floor you could see Donyell saying “Boo, Boo, calm down!”. 😂
 
RuffRuff said:
Anyone remember our first truly cross country class? Brian Fair, Donny Marshall, Kevin Ollie, Donyell. I remember how proud I was that the program could attract kids nationally/cross coast.
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Also Rudy Johnson, Bu Willingham, Richie Ashmeade. Rudy was considered big time but injuries derailed his career.

Bu was also top 100 and was recruited by the other big boys. He was supposed to sign with Bobby Cremins at Georgia Tech.

#1 or #2 class in the country.
 
upstater said:
If Solo is back, these expectations are way too high.

He is indeed super talented and may eventually become our star, but if you watched the championship game, he does have a few things to work on. Expecting him to play over a guy with 3 years in the system, who knows it inside and out, as a freshman is a lot. I had the same idea and then watched him play a bit and thought he could develop for UConn off the bench and be more central in his second year.
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Lafayette said:
By winning the starting job I took it as eventually not game 1. Be that February or next season.
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Yes, Lafayette captures my view. I think Ross would likely start in October. I think there's a real chance that Landrew becomes a major impact player at the position and his physical presence is a real benefit with a slightly undersized Nik at PF. I don't know who the backup 4 will be, but there's a chance that our best forward pairings are Nik/Landrew and Ross/New Guy. With Ross getting more minutes than that backup 4 of course and matchups dictating a lot.
 
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Russell Crowe Gladiator GIF
 
superjohn said:
I'm a little thrown off by Landrew being ranked the #22 recruit in the country and not being a McDonald's All-American despite being #4 here, First team MaxPreps All-American and Second team Naismith All-American.
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15 on Rivals/On3. I've seen some of the all star games - based on what I see, he's one of about 3-4 players that look physically ready to contribute at the college level. This is a very young looking class. In terms of college readiness, I'd call him easily a top 5 recruit, with upside. I expect him to be a big time contributor.
 
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RuffRuff said:
15 on Rivals/On3. I've seen some of the all star games - based on what I say, he's one of about 3-4 players that look physically ready to contribute at the college level. This is a very young looking class. In terms of college readiness, I'd call him easily a top 5 recruit, with upside. I expect him to be a big time contributor.
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He's #24 on Rivals/On3 rankings...

www.on3.com

2026 Industry Top Basketball Recruits

A list of the top 2026 Basketball recruits based off of a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all 3 major recruiting media services, including Rivals.
www.on3.com www.on3.com
 
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BFieldHusky said:
This kid is Cumberland 2.0 from Cincinnati with a better outside shot. I expect him to be a Top 10 freshman in the country next year.
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This is great stuff. I mean Mullins was # 17 ESPN 100, 247 #15, On3 #22, and you’re expecting him to be even better? That would be unbelievable.
 
jibsey said:
This is great stuff. I mean Mullins was # 17 ESPN 100, 247 #15, On3 #22, and you’re expecting him to be even better? That would be unbelievable.
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The injury and need for strength didn't allow Mullins to show how good he really is, and and the rankings are based more on pro potential than how good they will be as college freshmen.
 
jibsey said:
This is great stuff. I mean Mullins was # 17 ESPN 100, 247 #15, On3 #22, and you’re expecting him to be even better? That would be unbelievable.
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Landrew is obviously much more physically ready for the grind of the Big East. He and Hines are going to be the strongest, baddest 'ers on our team and they're both going to be teenagers when we start the season.

Mullins had one really fricken elite skill that we couldn't keep him off the court despite lacking size and struggling on defense sometimes. Landrew is more well-rounded, so he's probably not going to have the same kind of bursts of offense Mullins was known for, but he might provide more overall because he can guard more positions and hopefully put pressure on the rim on a team that doesn't have a lot of it.
 
husky429 said:
Landrew is obviously much more physically ready for the grind of the Big East. He and Hines are going to be the strongest, baddest 'ers on our team and they're both going to be teenagers when we start the season.

Mullins had one really fricken elite skill that we couldn't keep him off the court despite lacking size and struggling on defense sometimes. Landrew is more well-rounded, so he's probably not going to have the same kind of bursts of offense Mullins was known for, but he might provide more overall because he can guard more positions and hopefully put pressure on the rim on a team that doesn't have a lot of it.
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I’d add Silas to the ‘ers list although not a teen
 
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husky429 said:
Landrew is obviously much more physically ready for the grind of the Big East. He and Hines are going to be the strongest, baddest 'ers on our team and they're both going to be teenagers when we start the season.

Mullins had one really fricken elite skill that we couldn't keep him off the court despite lacking size and struggling on defense sometimes. Landrew is more well-rounded, so he's probably not going to have the same kind of bursts of offense Mullins was known for, but he might provide more overall because he can guard more positions and hopefully put pressure on the rim on a team that doesn't have a lot of it.
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Mullins defense was great by the end of the season. We're going to see a filled out star in terms of game and body next season I think.
 
Landrew looks like he can be an asset at the end of a shot clock when the offensive set may break down due to defensive pressure-His handle-his strength-esp. lower body-and his shot creativity. I can see him grabbing a defensive board and immediately initiating an opportunity up-court in transition. Can guard 2 thru 4 on D. Will be hard for Danny to keep him off the floor.

Hines/Silas/Landrew - 3 BBers with FB toughness.
 
superjohn said:
I'm a little thrown off by Landrew being ranked the #22 recruit in the country and not being a McDonald's All-American despite being #4 here, First team MaxPreps All-American and Second team Naismith All-American.
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FWIW, I've always found the McDonald's All-American roster a bit political. It just seems that some programs always get their higher rated recruits in that game, while recruits from other programs sometimes get omitted. And even the rankings of certain recruits get elevated based on what program landed them or not ranked high enough. I don't know if it's a conscious bias or intentional. I felt we saw a lot of this omission bias with UConn recruits in the pre 1999 NC, but not quite as much since then. To point out one program that seems to get the bump bias, even to this day, is Duke. I believe the McDonald's All American game is always on ESPN, and that Network has pimped Duke for decades now.

There is a bit of subjectivity when it comes to ranking recruits. Those who rank them don't always get to see all of them or at least enough to assess them properly. Also what a player does at the high school level doesn't always translate at the next level. Keep in mind that there are some recruits that their body of work and/or stats in high school doesn't seem to warrant their rankings, but due to the physical attributes of some of them, they rank them higher based on their perceived NBA potential.

If evaluating talent was so easy, we wouldn't see so many recruiting and drafting swings and misses. Granted, there are some players that a lot of educated followers of the sport scratch their head on how high or low some were ranked, and/or omitted/included in some of these prestigious games such as the McDonald's All-American game.

It's not unusual for a late bloomer who rose high in the final rankings to not be included in the McDonald's All American game. I'm not sure if the rosters are set far in advance or those who are selecting the players simply don't want to change the list of players they had initially identified for the event.

One other dynamic is that those who ranked some recruits really high early on, sometimes don't want to be perceived that they don't have a clue evaluating talent and have a hard time sliding them further back in the rankings where they should be slotted. And conversely there are always some recruits that were either under evaluated or simply improved dramatically where they aren't moved up as high as they should have been. I have noticed recently that in some of these top rankings those who make the decisions are moving players up and down more appropriately than they had in the past. Landrew is a good example of this, though it looks like he wasn't bumped high enough in some of these top lists.

It has been reported in the past that some coaches disregarded these rankings and recruited players based on their own evaluations or those who are either part of their program or some evaluators they highly trust. As a college basketball fan we often want our program to recruit and land the players we see at the top of these lists (both high school and portal), and often find out that the players the staff has recruited turn out to perform much higher than their rankings. We saw that a lot with Calhoun and we see it with Hurley.

I, like many of you, want our recruits to be selected for these prestigious games and be able to see them play before they arrive at UConn against some of the best out there.

These are just a few observations I've had over the years.
 
DogMania said:
FWIW, I've always found the McDonald's All-American roster a bit political. It just seems that some programs always get their higher rated recruits in that game, while recruits from other programs sometimes get omitted. And even the rankings of certain recruits get elevated based on what program landed them or not ranked high enough. I don't know if it's a conscious bias or intentional. I felt we saw a lot of this omission bias with UConn recruits in the pre 1999 NC, but not quite as much since then. To point out one program that seems to get the bump bias, even to this day, is Duke. I believe the McDonald's All American game is always on ESPN, and that Network has pimped Duke for decades now.

There is a bit of subjectivity when it comes to ranking recruits. Those who rank them don't always get to see all of them or at least enough to assess them properly. Also what a player does at the high school level doesn't always translate at the next level. Keep in mind that there are some recruits that their body of work and/or stats in high school doesn't seem to warrant their rankings, but due to the physical attributes of some of them, they rank them higher based on their perceived NBA potential.

If evaluating talent was so easy, we wouldn't see so many recruiting and drafting swings and misses. Granted, there are some players that a lot of educated followers of the sport scratch their head on how high or low some were ranked, and/or omitted/included in some of these prestigious games such as the McDonald's All-American game.

It's not unusual for a late bloomer who rose high in the final rankings to not be included in the McDonald's All American game. I'm not sure if the rosters are set far in advance or those who are selecting the players simply don't want to change the list of players they had initially identified for the event.

One other dynamic is that those who ranked some recruits really high early on, sometimes don't want to be perceived that they don't have a clue evaluating talent and have a hard time sliding them further back in the rankings where they should be slotted. And conversely there are always some recruits that were either under evaluated or simply improved dramatically where they aren't moved up as high as they should have been. I have noticed recently that in some of these top rankings those who make the decisions are moving players up and down more appropriately than they had in the past. Landrew is a good example of this, though it looks like he wasn't bumped high enough in some of these top lists.

It has been reported in the past that some coaches disregarded these rankings and recruited players based on their own evaluations or those who are either part of their program or some evaluators they highly trust. As a college basketball fan we often want our program to recruit and land the players we see at the top of these lists (both high school and portal), and often find out that the players the staff has recruited turn out to perform much higher than their rankings. We saw that a lot with Calhoun and we see it with Hurley.

I, like many of you, want our recruits to be selected for these prestigious games and be able to see them play before they arrive at UConn against some of the best out there.

These are just a few observations I've had over the years.
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Look at the ESPN top 10 ranked recruits from the McD's All Americans roster in 2023 (Castle's year):
1. Justin Edwards
2. DJ Wagner
3. Isaiah Collier
4. Aaron Bradshaw
5. Ron Holland
6. Cody Williams
7. Xavier Booker
8. Mackenzie Mgbako
9. Matas Buzelis
10. Omaha Biliew
.
.
15. Castle

Looking back, that top 10 is not exactly a murderer's row of prospects. lol
Castle laps everyone else on the list as far as outcomes go. Hoping Landrew can be another underrated recruit like Castle was.
 
ctbro1999 said:
Look at the ESPN top 10 ranked recruits from the McD's All Americans roster in 2023 (Castle's year):
1. Justin Edwards
2. DJ Wagner
3. Isaiah Collier
4. Aaron Bradshaw
5. Ron Holland
6. Cody Williams
7. Xavier Booker
8. Mackenzie Mgbako
9. Matas Buzelis
10. Omaha Biliew
.
.
15. Castle

Looking back, that top 10 is not exactly a murderer's row of prospects. lol
Castle laps everyone else on the list as far as outcomes go. Hoping Landrew can be another underrated recruit like Castle was.
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Was an really poor class - further perspective is that the highest drafted kid that class was Reed Sheppard, who was in the 60's. Calipari had 3 of the top 5, plus Dillingham and Sheppard.
 
superjohn said:
Mullins defense was great by the end of the season. We're going to see a filled out star in terms of game and body next season I think.
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Agree with a caveat, his perimeter D was excellent. He's long and has quick feet. His D on the interior is not good. He just gets run over. He's going to look much better on D, and foul less, now that he's not playing the 3 in our defense. Landrew is much better suited for that role.
 
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