PF Taurean Thompson (UConn Offer)

[Tenspro2002]

Does this make the yard want him more? It's kind of working for me.

Yes.

What's true in football recruiting is often true in basketball recruiting: the quality of a player's offers is, often times, an indication of that player's talent. I know, shocking, right?

 

[August_West]

I need to see a few minutes of uncontested dunks before I grant my approval.

I dunno. This kids mixtape has my mouth watering. By the way, this is how EVERY mix tape looks to me.

 

[KemBuckets21]

Yes.

What's true in football recruiting is often true in basketball recruiting: the quality of a player's offers is, often times, an indication of that player's talent. I know, shocking, right?

The question is, if you average the quality of his offers, what is the avg school to offer him? Kansas Zona and UCONN obvi rounds it up. But I'm thinking he is still no more than a 10 mpg guy at most until he is an upperclassman for us.

 

[imno1]

Facey as a player has some warts (especially his fouling), but he really isn't a bad player. His offensive rebounding % is 16.7 which, if he qualified (too few mpg) would have ranked him tied for 4th in the entire country. His defense has improved dramatically (except the fouls) since his freshman year, and I am excited to see what he can do in his senior season

Well I'd disagree that his d improved dramatically. But I think Kenton has more offensive skill than he's been able to show because of two reasons. He seems to lack the self conifidence so while his shot is good in warm ups he doesn't shoot that well in the game. And of course he never gets the ball which plays into the self confidence issue. I still think he has a chance to have a really nice senior season if he puts the work in this summer.

 

[pj]

The question is, if you average the quality of his offers, what is the avg school to offer him? Kansas Zona and UCONN obvi rounds it up. But I'm thinking he is still no more than a 10 mpg guy at most until he is an upperclassman for us.

Why would you downgrade the guy for getting a lot of offers? Anybody who gets a lot of offers is going to have a mediocre average quality.

 

[KemBuckets21]

I said that partially in jest. Not entirely true on your second point, there are a lot of guys who have a certain pedigree and that is reflected in the schools they will hear from.

 

[CGarr]

 

[CallMeBruce]

If you're going to judge a prospect by his offers, it should be by his top 3-5 offers. Going beyond that is just weird.

 

[Stainmaster]

Good. Miller seems to be our best recruiting assistant when it comes to the NEPSAC.

 

[UConnStats]

Good. Miller seems to be our best recruiting assistant when it comes to the NEPSAC.

Just curious... What makes you say that?

 

[Stainmaster]

Just curious... What makes you say that?

He's been mentioned by name in articles detailing the recruitments of Diarra (he was his main guy) and other recent prep commits. Additionally, if you look at his track record...being a HC for 6 years in the NESCAC and 10 years in the Ivy League kind of necessitates that you are able to navigate the New England prep scene. An inordinate number of commits for those schools end up coming from the NEPSAC.

 

[businesslawyer]

The question is, if you average the quality of his offers, what is the avg school to offer him? Kansas Zona and UCONN obvi rounds it up. But I'm thinking he is still no more than a 10 mpg guy at most until he is an upperclassman for us.

O.K. -- that makes no sense whatsoever. So if UConn and Duke and Kansas and Kentucky offer someone, and then there is a second prospect who those same four schools offer but is also offered by ten other schools at various other levels for whatever other reasons (geography, a coach knowing his AAU coach, whatever), you are downgrading the second kid because his "average" is lower? Any idea how dumb that is?

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Any idea how dumb that is?

You have to ask?

 

[KemBuckets21]

O.K. -- that makes no sense whatsoever. So if UConn and Duke and Kansas and Kentucky offer someone, and then there is a second prospect who those same four schools offer but is also offered by ten other schools at various other levels for whatever other reasons (geography, a coach knowing his AAU coach, whatever), you are downgrading the second kid because his "average" is lower? Any idea how dumb that is?

i was speaking in jest dudes...no biggie.

 

[tcf15]

Borzello says he thinks Thompson ends up at UConn, but rest of ESPN staff says Syracuse:

No. 86 Taurean Thompson, 6-9, PF
Jeff Borzello prediction: UConn
ESPN Scouts' prediction: Syracuse
Others in the mix: Xavier, Seton Hall, Georgetown

This is a recruitment that has gone on longer than many people expected. Thompson took visits early in the process to Xavier and Syracuse, and then saw a long list of schools shuffle in and out of his recruitment over the last few months. He still plans on taking some of his remaining official visits, but obviously the clock is ticking. UConn is losing most of its frontcourt players and could use someone like Thompson next season.

 

[James]

This is a home run for him if he's looking for tick, he could easily see 25 mpg or more. Reminds me of the shonn Miller situation , not having anything at the four and him fitting like a glove.

 

[CGarr]

Over on the Bibles board, Bossi says the key to his recruitment is winning over his mother. If that's truly the case (and he's not hinting at $), I'll take KO versus the field.

 

[UCweCONN]

@Stairmaster
I think commiting to 3 pf for the next 4 years is a little overkill. However, if the kid can play, Ollie believes(SP) in him, and so does everyone else, then sign me up.

I'm glad you added the "and so does everyone else" part. I hate when people say, "If KO likes him, that's all I need to say bring him in." No coach is infallible so I don't blindly buy in just because a coach offers a kid. Lord knows, we've had some wastes of a scholarships under both JC and KO. I don't like project players. We've won two titles in five years. Give me kids that can contribute immediately.

 

[Leebo]

KO is obviously not infallible, but no one here is going to have any insight to overrule one of his decisions. He has the information and we don't.

 

[superjohn]

I'm glad you added the "and so does everyone else" part. I hate when people say, "If KO likes him, that's all I need to say bring him in." No coach is infallible so I don't blindly buy in just because a coach offers a kid. Lord knows, we've had some wastes of a scholarships under both JC and KO. I don't like project players. We've won two titles in five years. Give me kids that can contribute immediately.

Taurean Thompson is not a project player.

 

[tjc1888]

Taurean Thompson is not a project player.

I understand you’re probably saying this because he is a top 100 4* player but I don’t think anyone can say with certainty if a player is a project or not. I’m sure people from KU and UK were not saying that Diallo and Skal were projects. Similarly, I’m sure there have been players that were thought to be projects and came in to have an immediate impact. Just my opinion.

 

[CallMeBruce]

I understand you’re probably saying this because he is a top 100 4* player but I don’t think anyone can say with certainty if a player is a project or not. I’m sure people from KU and UK were not saying that Diallo and Skal were projects. Similarly, I’m sure there have been players that were thought to be projects and came in to have an immediate impact. Just my opinion.

Good call. Let's not recruit anyone. They might be projects!

 

[mauconnfan]

I understand you’re probably saying this because he is a top 100 4* player but I don’t think anyone can say with certainty if a player is a project or not. I’m sure people from KU and UK were not saying that Diallo and Skal were projects. Similarly, I’m sure there have been players that were thought to be projects and came in to have an immediate impact. Just my opinion.

The only thing about those guys were they had better more prepared players already at those schools (it also tells you how really great these 2 are at prepping players for the NBA, I mean Cal's supposedly great yet this guy was awful vs his hype all year) taking their minutes. Thompson has a chance to play if he can rebound and defend no matter who's coming back.

 

[tjc1888]

Good call. Let's not recruit anyone. They might be projects!

Yup....exactly what I was saying. Spot on.

 

[tjc1888]

The only thing about those guys were they had better more prepared players already at those schools (it also tells you how really great these 2 are at prepping players for the NBA, I mean Cal's supposedly great yet this guy was awful vs his hype all year) taking their minutes. Thompson has a chance to play if he can rebound and defend no matter who's coming back.

True....I wasn't really saying this about Thompson. I was just saying in general......guys that are not top 20-30 players could be immediate impact players or they could have to develop. You never really know. That's all my point was.