UConn offers Bradley Hayes

[upstater]

Once he grew into his body Hilton was just as good an athlete as Emeka imo.

Eh, I'm not sure about this. He was a good leaper, etc., but does coordination figure into this? Hand strength? Aren't these physical attributes as well. I mean, you didn't really want to throw the ball in down low to Hilton, but on defense, he showed leaping ability.

 

[FeedTheDove]

if we land either obekpa or hayes then next seasons outlook is alot better imo. we need a center that has potential(both of those guys do) who can play right away and fill minutes while being productive. i think a combo os scoe and olander at the 4 is fine compared to every team we will play. its not the best at the 4 but its easily good enough considering what we have at the 1,2,3. the 5 is our issues. if we get one of those guys we can be a good team. wolf as a chuck type backup can work i think. if we were to land both of these guys or 1 and another big we don't know about then i would venture to say we could be a top30 team next year. maybe i'm overrating us but there are not going to be many 123 combos in the ncaa next year better that waht we have right now.

Where is obekpa leaning towards? Cincy?

 

[sinkhole]

Kid looks like a decent big man--in any era.

No slower than Jake Voskuhl, Travis Knight, Hasheem Thabeet, Hilton Armstrong and a great many others. Through the years, UConn has had exactly two--and only two--big men with great athleticism. Emeka and Drummond.

Cliff Robinson

 

[shakes65]

Calhoun personally visited Hayes

Went to UConn Club banquet last night and extremely reliable source told me that JC made home visit the other day to Hayes.

Hope this means something. Kid gives us something we desperately need.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

Eh, I'm not sure about this. He was a good leaper, etc., but does coordination figure into this? Hand strength? Aren't these physical attributes as well. I mean, you didn't really want to throw the ball in down low to Hilton, but on defense, he showed leaping ability.

Hilton had (has?) really good lateral quickness for someone his size. He could defend the perimeter quite well his last year. He had good form on jumpers and was a pretty good foul-shooter (I think). Not a great interior scoring threat, for sure. He was not in Emeka's class when it came to smarts (even basketball smarts), drive, determination, seriousness, and confidence.

 

[DogMania]

Calhoun personally visited Hayes

Went to UConn Club banquet last night and extremely reliable source told me that JC made home visit the other day to Hayes.

Hope this means something. Kid gives us something we desperately need.

UConn desperately needs another big. Going to battle next year with Wolf, Olander and Scoe manning the post (4 & 5) is far to scary for me to even think about. Never mind not being properly stocked with enough talent for those two positions, what happens if one of them gets into foul trouble, or even worse, injured? Who does JC call when he looks down the bench? Daniels? He's under-girthed at the 4 never mind the 5. Wolk is really the only kid with 5-size. Olander would be undersized there and so would Scoe.

This team has to add a big body and pray that he learns quickly, along with Wolf, to stick on the floor for long stretches w/out getting into foul trouble. History tells us that freshman 5s usually last about 10 minutes before they foul out. This team simply can't afford that type of result from Wolf or whoever else plays the 5.

They really need both Hayes and Obekpa, but one is a must. If not, I hope there is some ready-to-play International player out there to be had. Maybe there's one out there that doesn't know anything about this APR ban and would be champing at the bit to be a Husky. Hey, you can't blame a guy for hoping, can you?

 

[UCONNfan1]

I don't disagree that bodies are a hot commodoty at this point (ie. take almost anyone if they are big), but i remember when Wolff committed, some were talking about comparisons to Nowitzki. clearly wishful thinking as Wolff has failed to even earn minutes in garbage time.

not saying the guy doesn't have potential, or that adding more players isn't a good thing - it is. with all the bad news we've gone through in the past few years, any positive news going forward is a great thing. I just expect this year to be really tough and anything better than horrible will be a pleasasnt surprise...

 

[WestCoastHusky]

We need this kid and Obekpa. I hope we land one or the other or both.

 

[nomar]

What I've read about him makes me think of Tyson Chandler.

Obviously I'm not saying this kid is Tyson Chandler. Just that he's an athletic defender/rebounder and raw offensively.

We could use him, needless to say.