Rakim Lubin---our versiono f Dejuan Blair?

[Huskyforlife]

I don't know whether to ignore the OP, make a lame Kasongo reference, or just mention that Steely Dan will be at Oakdale tonight. Or all 3.

Kasango

 

[imno1]

Rock will be the most feared man in college basketball. I heard he killed a man in Reno just to watch him die

 

[mauconnfan]

I mean to compare him to Blair now is ridiculous and also to think he should be at CCSU is on the other end of that ridiculous meter.........

heck we have people supporting Adrian Peterson beating the crap out of 4 yr olds with sticks.......what's next a prediction that the Helms Award is more precious than the NCAAN title and Bernie Fine's wife is hot?

The Boneyard is ridiculous lately!

 

[jleves]

I heard he jogged over the Himalayan s in 5th grade and scored 115 Canadian points last summer in an aau injured

And he has Three, count em Three, cell phones!

 

[Rocktheworld]

Good comparison, to a certain degree. Both about the same height, 6'6", smallish for a PF. Both well-built, physical players. But I don't think that Rakim is coming to UConn with the same developed BB talent and skillset that Jeff Adrien had coming out of HS. It was a tough recruiting year for UConn and KO dealing with the NCAA ban and transition from JC. That helped Rakim get an offer from UConn. Would he have gotten an offer this year? Probably not.

We're all Husky fans, so we're all pulling for him. But it's going to be an uphill climb. I think he's doing exactly the right thing to get PT and make a contribution, carve a niche out in rebounding, something many frontcourt players don't necessarily embrace.

Curious, what were Rock's stats his senior season? Didn't he average well above a double double? I understand he's not purely playing D1 talent, but it's not like he was playing in Alaska.

 

[Scot-e]

I am looking forward to having a big body we can put on the floor when needed. After that it remains to be seen what his impact will be.

 

[James]

This thread was stealth as hell, probably because i ignored the OP( sounds like that was a good move). Lubin isn't a low d1 talent, he was on the cusp of getting a slough of high major offers ( auburn + gtech). pretty sure he led his team deep into states as well, posting great numbers.

Also brimah wasn't undisciplined chasing shots around, that was more deandre daniels doing that.

 

[Dmike]

Yeah, I'm not sure why he's automatically DeJuan Blair or Jeff Adrien rather than Ed Nelson.

Ed Nelson was one of the top freshmen in the ACC at Georgia Tech, but happened to transfer here into the most crowded front court our program has ever had (Armstrong, Boone, Villanueva, Gay, Marcus white, Curtis Kelly, and Jeff Adrien as a frosh), plus JC sometimes went small with denham brown at the 3 and Gay at the 4. Ed Nelson would have been a star big for us over the last 2 years.

I trust that KO didn't simply waste a scholly on a goon because he liked his physique. We've been vulnerable to O-line sized bigs for the last 2 yrs. I believe that Rock was injured and we got to him and recognized his talent before other big time programs could. This guy hopefully has more to him than girth. He seems to think that he can rebound with anyone. If he plays solid D and grabs boards, he'll play.

 

[pj]

Hey man if I was Lubin I would want to be compared to Blair. Id set my personal standards high--my bet is Im sure he does too! Nothing wrong with setting a high benchmark. Im sure he didnt come in thinking well maybe Ill play a few minutes when Im a junior--its more like Ill be the next Dejaun Blair and the haters can just hate SET THE BENCHMARK HIGH IN EVERYTHING U DO!!!!!!!

I like the way you think. Rakim Lubin -- our version of Bill Russell!!!

 

[scrappy2.0]

Curious, what were Rock's stats his senior season? Didn't he average well above a double double? I understand he's not purely playing D1 talent, but it's not like he was playing in Alaska.

Rakim Lubin averaged 20 points and 12 rebounds last year per game

 

[MuchoDogYears]

I could not disagree more, even though we are national champions, we were out rebounded and pushed around a good deal last couple years and we've been needing a player like him to provide some muscle. I trust KO's assessment that he's going to be of some value for 4 years no matter what recruiting situation we're in. I can't wait to see him on the floor.

Ok, one thing...name the last player that UConn handed out a scholarship to who was ranked #346, or lower, in his class? Let's see the kid play before making pronouncements about the impact he's going to have out of the gate at UConn. From #346, to being an impact player at UConn, that's not an easy road.

 

[Gurleyman]

Ok, one thing...name the last player that UConn handed out a scholarship to who was ranked #346, or lower, in his class? Let's see the kid play before making pronouncements about the impact he's going to have out of the gate at UConn. From #346, to being an impact player at UConn, that's not an easy road.

Splitting hairs over the specific number since once you get out the top 100, people just pull names out of a hat. But if you want a low ranked recruit that people on this board thought we reached for and complained about, you have to go all the way back to this one:

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/player/evaluation/_/id/171180/amida-brimah

We also reached on Terrence Samuel, Gavin Edwards, Scottie Haralson and Jamaal Trice - sometimes it works, sometimes it don't.

 

[Fishy]

Ok, one thing...name the last player that UConn handed out a scholarship to who was ranked #346, or lower, in his class?

I don't think Gavin Edwards was even considered for any ranking when he committed to UConn - the day he committed was the first day any of us had even heard of the guy.

On a good day, maybe Edwards was in someone's top 500 after committing to UConn.

 

[tcf15]

That #346 is kinda arbitrary, too, since that's 247's composite ranking. 247, Scout and Rivals don't have rankings for him. ESPN has him at 70, but that's really their baseline for players they haven't really scouted.

It's been said before, but Rock didn't play in AAU ball the summer leading up to his senior year because of an injury. No chance for him to get ranked, and it's an uphill battle to debut in the rankings after the summer is over.

What we do know about Rock is that he averaged a double-double in his senior year (19 and 9 in his junior year) and he was named Player of the year in his division and received First Team All-State and First Team All-Region honors.

I don't think Rock will make a huge impact in his first year here, but he is definitely better than the ranking 247 has on him.

 

[superjohn]

We had a lot of reaches in the later Calhoun years including Jamaal Trice, Robert Garrison, Ryan Thompson, Ben Eaves and Chad Wise come to mind. Lubin hurt his back and played in a nothing basketball league before moving to Georgia for his senior year, I don't think he's a reach at all.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

I don't know whether to ignore the OP, make a lame Kasongo reference, or just mention that Steely Dan will be at Oakdale tonight. Or all 3.

Steely Dan was rockin' last night...just awesome performances once again, stirring up the groundswell of mojo that will once again boost the Huskies toward greatness. Someone had chicken marsala. Lyle got Kasongoed.

Just another case of history repeating........

 

[mauconnfan]

Steely Dan was rockin' last night...just awesome performances once again, stirring up the groundswell of mojo that will once again boost the Huskies toward greatness. Someone had chicken marsala. Lyle got Kasongoed.

Just another case of history repeating...

The good news is "Rock(y) didn't lose than number, he didn't want to call nobody else" after KO visited!!

 

[intlzncster]

We had a lot of reaches in the later Calhoun years including Jamaal Trice, Robert Garrison, Ryan Thompson, Ben Eaves and Chad Wise come to mind. Lubin hurt his back and played in a nothing basketball league before moving to Georgia for his senior year, I don't think he's a reach at all.

Might be faulty memory, but was Chad Wise really that much of a reach? He came in with some potential, but then decided to enjoy his college experience to the full, and I mean full, instead of really focusing on BBall.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Might be faulty memory, but was Chad Wise really that much of a reach? He came in with some potential, but then decided to enjoy his college experience to the full, and I mean full, instead of really focusing on BBall.

If I remember correctly, and that's not a guarantee, he won both the three-point shooting contest and the dunk contest at Midnight Madness his freshman year. I might be wrong about the three-point shooting contest. And the dunk contest. I was there, though, so I think I'm right. No promises.

 

[HooperScooper]

I don't think Gavin Edwards was even considered for any ranking when he committed to UConn - the day he committed was the first day any of us had even heard of the guy.

On a good day, maybe Edwards was in someone's top 500 after committing to UConn.

And if you remember when Edwards committed to UConn his high school coach said he would never be good enough to play at UConn.

You have to trust the staff on Lubin and ignore all the rankings or stats. Not everyone on the roster is going to be, or has to be, a star. If all he provides is some rebounding and good defense on some hefty opponent who is killing UConn (always seems to happen) he's worth a scholarship.

 

[Waquoit]

I don't think Gavin Edwards was even considered for any ranking when he committed to UConn - the day he committed was the first day any of us had even heard of the guy.

On a good day, maybe Edwards was in someone's top 500 after committing to UConn.

Good one, his high school coach said he wasn't good enough for the Big East.

 

[Waquoit]

On the set list, I believe

Was the encore

 

[boog204]

Might be faulty memory, but was Chad Wise really that much of a reach? He came in with some potential, but then decided to enjoy his college experience to the full, and I mean full, instead of really focusing on BBall.

I don't remember him being a big name. Found this old archived article: http://articles.courant.com/2001-04-26/sports/0104260774_1_uconn-coaches-arkansas-big-east

Wasn't top 100 and was barely recruited until the spring.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Well, if he's Edwards good as a freshman, he could be the starter. Extrapolated out to 28mpg, Edwards would have averaged about 8 points, 8 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks that year, while shooting 57% from the floor.

 

[joober jones]

I don't know, Lubin doesn't strike me as a sociopath.