What was rush accepting Cobb commitment?

[Kembacity]

So you would prefer a Juco kid who is at best redundant with the other big men on the roster to a kid who averaged 19 and 9 on 47/47/81 shooting splits in conference USA? Or a kid who averaged 19 in the A-10 and is from Worcester?

and who is Cobb's twin on the team right now? Enoch?

Enoch is a big boy but doesn't strike many as a "banger" in the traditional sense. To me, Cobb is not at all redundant and that's why I like the staff taking a chance on a big boy

 

[pj]

Watching video of Cobbs, I just don't see a guy who quickly and aggressively goes after the ball. If you don't do that you can't rebound at the D-1 level. I hope I am missing something.

At South Carolina as a freshman Cobb averaged 1.9 rebounds in 6.1 minutes, a rate of 12.5 per 40 minutes. For comparison Enoch as a frosh averaged 1.5 rebounds in 7.0 minutes, a rate of 8.6 per 40 minutes, and as a sophomore 2.3 rebounds in 12.1 minutes, or 7.6 per 40 minutes.

At Chipola JC they didn't record minutes played but Cobb averaged 8.2 rebounds per game playing about half the game. That's an excellent rebound rate. In his last 3 games of the season he corralled 13, 12, and 9, or 11.3 per game.

The NCAA leaders are 13.1 rebounds per game and 17.4 rebounds per 40 minutes. 2016-17 NCAA Division I College Basketball Player Statistics - ESPN

Cobb looks like he rebounds as well as the average D1 starting center, and significantly better than Enoch. He was also one of Chipola's leading scorers. The big question in my mind is whether he can stay on the court and keep up with the action. If he can, he'll rebound.

 

[CTBasketball]

There are 13 scholarships. You need more than 1 player at each position. You want only 1 real center on the roster? I'm betting even the players see that. Whoever is better will start and play more minutes. If a kid doesn't want to compete for his spot then I don't want him at UConn.

Of course. I agree. But with Brimah we didn't really try to recruit over him. We never went after a shot blocking center - you could argue Diamond Stone but he played the 4 more and it fit him better.

So when Ollie comes out and annoints Enoch a special player, then goes and grabs Cobb, it got me wondering. Where was the consistency? How come you realize 5 years into your tenure you need to over recruit a center?

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

God with this "recruiting over" nonsense.

 

[Fishy]

I don't, but I also have a hard time imagining - in the second week of March - that the staff is receiving such strong signals that they felt the need to write off the market entirely. I'm assuming a lot of these kids haven't even decided what they want to do yet, and one might think a kid from Rice would at least be tempted to play in a Texas-based conference that's a couple levels up in quality of play from where he is currently.

Your assumptions aside, the people who are actually paid to know such things have apparently done the math and offered a scholarship to Eric Cobb.

Btw - the kid from Rice is almost certainly going to play for Rice next year. And he's from Russia and almost certainly doesn't give a rat's ass about another Texas-based conference. He's already transferred once and there's no talk of him transferring again.

And if the world turned over and the kid actually wanted to come to UConn...we still have a scholarship available.

 

[champs99and04]

Your assumptions aside, the people who are actually paid to know such things have apparently done the math and offered a scholarship to Eric Cobb.

No kidding, but that hasn't stopped you from criticizing them before.

Purely from a macro perspective, this is a move that opens them up to criticism. If this kid becomes the next DeJuan Blair and I look stupid years from now, great. But it's a ballsy move considering our needs for next season.

 

[Fishy]

I still think the staff needs changes. I don't think they're good enough.

But this isn't a move that I think needs to be criticized. I wish they had landed a better front court player, but they whiffed and this is what you do when you miss on your top-tier targets. They still need a banger, this kid is a banger, so sign him up.

They still have a scholarship open, so it isn't like they closed the door to another player.

 

[pj]

Purely from a macro perspective, this is a move that opens them up to criticism. If this kid becomes the next DeJuan Blair and I look stupid years from now, great. But it's a ballsy move considering our needs for next season.

The only criticism I see is that they now have only one scholarship available for 2018, assuming no one leaves early; up to three if Adams and Larrier leave early after next year.

I'm guessing that's enough schollies for the top players they have a realistic shot at. If so, 2 years of Cobb is worthwhile.

 

[B1GEast]

We're you expecting Diallo to commit?

Cobb is a project and I don't think he'll see a lot of minutes.

We really need some front court help

 

[jibsey]

Injuries aside if we can, our staff thinks this is enough, they thought Brimah, Facey and Enoch was enough. I think it's very fair to question their judgement.

 

[HuskyHawk]

No kidding, but that hasn't stopped you from criticizing them before.

Purely from a macro perspective, this is a move that opens them up to criticism. If this kid becomes the next DeJuan Blair and I look stupid years from now, great. But it's a ballsy move considering our needs for next season.

Come on, really? He was a significant recruit out of HS who had issues and went JUCO. By all accounts, he's exactly the kind of player UConn needs given the bigs we have coming back next year. Maybe he can even teach them how to rebound and block out. He can also come in and dish out a few hard fouls to make opponents think twice about living in the paint under our basket.

What is the risk exactly? UConn is never going to have 12 future NBA players on one roster. You need lunch-pail guys who do the dirty work. We have gobs of scoring next year. Larrier, Enoch, Durham, Jackson are all much better on offense than defense and rebounding. Diarra is unknown.

 

[Stainmaster]

Injuries aside if we can, our staff thinks this is enough, they thought Brimah, Facey and Enoch was enough. I think it's very fair to question their judgement.

Yeah, I remember the time they flat-out refused to recruit Diamond Stone, Abdul-Malik Abu, Jessie Govan, and Zach Brown because they thought Brimah, Facey and Enoch were all superior.

 

[Vancat]

Injuries aside if we can, our staff thinks this is enough, they thought Brimah, Facey and Enoch was enough. I think it's very fair to question their judgement.

.....as if their judgement were the only factor?

 

[pj]

He was a significant recruit out of HS who had issues and went JUCO.

I wouldn't go that far, he was #354 in the 247 composite (Eric Cobb, South Carolina, Power Forward), and had only 2 offers, South Carolina and Kansas State.

 

[intlzncster]

Honest question, not trolling. This is season jobs open left and right and we need another shooter desperately. In a perfect world, we would take a 5th year shooter and a big and have those ships for next year.

Cobb fills a need as a big but would've much rather a Shonn Miler type that put up numbers at a lesser school. Now we are basically running w 1-2 ships for next year at most.

Staff has recruited well at times obviously but some huge misses. With a strong returning core I would have been a bit more picky as we need a low post scorer and banger and hopefully Cobb is both but certainly not a given.

Ultimately, why not? They still have a scholarship. A bird in the hole. And this is 2 years max. At worst, it gives them some front court depth in case of injury. Seems like very little risk involved.

Front court is a bigger worry next year than perimeter anyway. Can't have too many. And we've got guys who can shoot well enough, they just have to show it.

 

[jayfromfla]

The last if who had a major impact was jimmy foster. Most times the hype greatly exceeds the actual impact

 

[Fishy]

He was a four-star recruit on ESPN.

He had offers beyond K State and South Carolina...those are the two schools he committed to.

ESPN Analyst
Updated 10/09/2015

Strengths:
Cobb is a big bodied, space eater in the post. He is a true center who handles the ball well for his size. He can pass it out of the post with accuracy. He scores on the low block with good footwork. His go-to moves are a jump hook and up-and-under and he can finish with either hand. He has also shown the ability to knock down face up jumpers and the occasional 3-pointer with time and space. He's also a physical rebounder.

Weaknesses:
Cobb needs to continue to get in better physical shape in order to win the battles down low at the next level. He must also continue to develop his shot and improve his form and release.

Bottom Line:
Overall, Cobb is a true post-player with great size and scoring ability down low. He has the potential to be a go-to guys for Kansas State down the road.

 

[RabidHusky]

I watched the game tape on Cobb and the announcers said he had missed the previous game with a bad ankle. He seemed kinda balky and maybe that was the ankle not his appearing to be out of shape.

 

[aceboon]

Frank Martin & Bruce Weber have proven to be pretty good evaluators of talent regardless of ranking, if they thought Cobb was someone worth pursuing coming of out of HS I'm hopeful he's someone that can be a contributor a couple years later and now hopefully in better shape.

 

[intlzncster]

Didn't have a problem with the signing, definitely had a problem with the timing. If you wan to take a flier on a kid, fine. Don't do it when the current front court is basically full of fliers. We needed a proven player and at this point in the process that was only going to be accomplished through the grad market. If that means scouring for a grad transfer and you end up losing Cobb, so be it.

We essentially added a depth piece to a front court that isn't any good rather than adding a depth piece - T-Sam - to a back court that is ready to go. That seems backwards to me.

How you could want a depth player in the back court vs the center spot is beyond me. The center position is where we need it most. T Sam adds a practice body (and dual injury insurance), that's about it.

But if Enoch sucks, or god forbid gets injured, they've GOT to have somebody else. Doubly so, given they don't have a player of that size/strength on the roster.

 

[intlzncster]

Injuries aside if we can, our staff thinks this is enough, they thought Brimah, Facey and Enoch was enough. I think it's very fair to question their judgement.

They didn't though. They just whiffed on their targets. Diamond Stone was better than all those guys. Some others too.

 

[intlzncster]

Frank Martin & Bruce Weber have proven to be pretty good evaluators of talent regardless of ranking, if they thought Cobb was someone worth pursuing coming of out of HS I'm hopeful he's someone that can be a contributor a couple years later and now hopefully in better shape.

If there's any real concern with Cobb, it's this. You'd have to think Ollie addressed this with the kid before the offer/commitment.

Just need to keep him far from DP Dough.

 

[HooperScooper]

Of course. I agree. But with Brimah we didn't really try to recruit over him. We never went after a shot blocking center - you could argue Diamond Stone but he played the 4 more and it fit him better.

So when Ollie comes out and annoints Enoch a special player, then goes and grabs Cobb, it got me wondering. Where was the consistency? How come you realize 5 years into your tenure you need to over recruit a center?

I'm sure they tried to get the best center they could in recruiting but never came up with one who was better than Brimah so Brimah continued to start. And that's on the coaching staff. If Stone had come here he would have started at the 5 over Brimah. I doubt in recruiting the coaches said to themselves that they better get someone worse than Brimah so they can make Brimah happy that he's still the best center on the roster. I don't think it works the way you are assuming.

 

[champs99and04]

How you could want a depth player in the back court vs the center spot is beyond me. The center position is where we need it most. T Sam adds a practice body (and dual injury insurance), that's about it.

But if Enoch sucks, or god forbid gets injured, they've GOT to have somebody else. Doubly so, given they don't have a player of that size/strength on the roster.

That's what I'm saying. We have plenty of depth up front between Durham, Enoch, Diarra, Larrier, Jackson, Carlton, maybe Polley, etc. That's a lot of players for not a lot of minutes. Cobb doesn't address any urgent need, besides maybe rebounding, and he certainly is not a talent upgrade over those other players.

Depth does not necessarily mean good, however, and in adding Cobb, we are either no deeper or no better. Samuel would play sparingly, but you need players on the roster who are like that. Cobb is just adding another unknown to a pile of them.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

Assume for a second that Cobb is not going to prove to be a major factor, either as a starter, or off the bench. (I'm not assuming that to be the case, but let's say it's true). At the very least he gives Enoch someone of equal size and strength to work against in practice, which may improve his game.

I hope he's more, but at least he should provide that to the team.