Zach Brown wants to reclass to 2016

[HuskyHawk]

You give a walk-on a scholarship under one circumstance: it's August or September and you failed to meet the 13-player quota in the last recruiting cycle. So instead of letting it go to waste, you reward a kid who's worked his tail off both in practice and the classroom. It's a morale boost for the the team, the player, and his family - granted, UConn's in-state rate isn't awful and Lenehan and Amilo were probably on pretty hefty academic scholarship before then, but still.

That being said, the goal should always be to hit the full roster. You should never bank scholarships for walk-ons. It's not like football where work in the weight room and on the practice field can turn you into a contributor. Also, even though plenty of people have accused Ollie of banking scholarships, he's never done so before. Lenehan and Amilo both got theirs in late August when no more new players were coming in.

You don't bank scholarships for walk-ons, but you might bank a scholarship if there is nobody you can recruit who is really able to help your team. You don't do it for the walk-on, you do it so you can land an impact player the following year, rather than a 2 star kid this year.

 

[David 76]

13 deep is misleading. 13 dep if every recruits pans out as expected. 13 deep if they are all ready for action on day 1. If no one is injured.

 

[nomar]

Yeah let's use 2 scholarships on players who won't even see the court. How many teams do you know that use 13 players? Zero. I'd much rather have two deserving walk ons who have shown loyalty to the program be rewarded scholarships.

Sometimes when everyone is telling you you're wrong, it's because you're wrong.

 

[nomar]

When everyone says you're off base, you're probably off base

Ha, didn't see this before I posted.

 

[JimHurley]

Ha, didn't see this before I posted.

Keep pouring it on. No of you will change my opinion.

 

[Leebo]

Keep pouring it on. No of you will change my opinion.

Always the sign of a debate worth having when one side declares that they can't be swayed for any reason.

 

[bear]

No Hilton Armstrong was an impact player at UConn. Whoever would be filling those 12th and 13th scholarships would not be high level players. For guards we'd have Gilbert, Adams, Ashton-Langford, and Diallo. At forward we'd have Diarra, Jackson, Larrier, Durham, and Hamilton. And at Center it'd be Enoch and Brown. Nobody that we'd offer a scholarship would challenge any of these guys for playing time. They'd pretty much be roster fillers and that's not what we want from our scholarships. 11 true D1 players is plenty, whether you guys want to believe it or not.

Hilton was one of those 12th and 13th scholarship guys that became an impact player over time. That's why you take 13 scholarship players. Neils was a late commit to UConn because we had a scholarship available the summer that he came over. You have no idea if anyone that we offered a scholarship to at this point would challenge the new guys for playing time. Nobody goes 13 deep but you take all 13 players because not every top 100 player is going to come in and make an impact, and occasionally you'll take a flyer on a guy and hit a home run. It's ok to change your opinion when you learn a little bit more about what you're talking about.

 

[auror]

Saw one of the ESPN guys say if Brown were to join 2016, he'd be more of a top 60 player.

I heard of a nice recruit who committed in the winter and reclassified for that same fall and the ranking sites slotted him into the top 75 range. Bazzy something.

 

[80shusky]

You might also potentially find a transfer for one of those scholarships like Evans or Kromah.

 

[James]

So I guess this is the new zach brown thread? Thoughts from borzello last night via an article he posted :

Over the last decade or so, Connecticut has produced a long line of talented college big men -- with names like Emeka Okafor, Charlie Villanueva, Josh Boone, Hilton Armstrong, Hasheem Thabeet and Andre Drummond.

The Huskies might have their next one: talented junior center Zach Brown (No. 25 in the ESPN 60). Brown pledged to Kevin Ollie’s program earlier this month, but a couple of developments since have piqued everyone’s interest.

First, it was announced that Brown would be transferring from Miami Beach (Florida) to Putnam Science Academy (Connecticut).

Putnam is home to five-star junior Hamidou Diallo (No. 14) and 2016 UConn signee Mamadou Diarra (No. 92) -- and obviously much closer to Storrs.

“It was 99.9 percent academics,” said Brown’s guardian, Michael Lipman. “In a public school environment, Zach doesn’t have the attention he needs to get the necessary skills. [Putnam] will be a good adjustment to life skills, and committing to UConn, he’ll be close. Also, in the state of Florida, the competition isn’t the same.

“One thing about Zach is he wants to match up against the best. He’s got a great opportunity to go against the northeast big guys: [Mohamed] Bamba, Nick Richards, Omari Spellman. Plus it’s 20 minutes from UConn. It’s a win-win-win for everybody.”

The transfer also opened up the potential option for Brown to reclassify to 2016 and enroll at UConn next fall -- but Lipman insists that’s not much of a talking point right now.

“At this time, Zach is a junior and scheduled to graduate in 2017. The ball is in Zach’s hands, but we have him scheduled for 2017,” Lipman said. “That option will hopefully be open if Zach does what he has to do in the classroom. But he’s committed to UConn and wants to get there as soon as he can.”

Ollie is already bringing in a top-10 recruiting class in 2016, with his four-man group ranking No. 7 in the country. Brown would obviously push that group higher, but for now, he’s the third highest-ranked junior prospect to make a decision so far.

“The tradition of UConn is tremendous,” Lipman said. “Only two or three programs have accomplished what they’ve accomplished over the past 10-15 years. They have a tremendous amount of NBA players. And Kevin Ollie, I can’t tell you how great of a human being he is, outside the lines. There’s a family, a brotherhood. KO is going to really prepare Zach.”

Brown will run with Nike South Beach on the EYBL circuit this spring and summer.

Pretty funny PSA head coach is 100% convinced he isn't reclassifying but brown and his guardian seem to be focusing on it.

 

[HooperScooper]

Didn't see this article about Brown from Jeff Jacobs posted. Surprised Jacobs drove up to Putnam.

UConn Recruit Zach Brown Putting On A Show At Putnam Academy, Jeff Jacobs, Hartford Courant

"Zach's extremely quick for a 7-footer," Espinosa said. "He moves extremely well. He has got to work on his defense. He closes, no space, and he fouls constantly. He has got to be a better shot-blocker. Defensively, he's kind of way behind.

"But offensively, he's quick, he keeps the ball high, he has got great up-and-under moves. The last two days of practice, he dominated."

 

[CallMeBruce]

Keep pouring it on. No of you will change my opinion.

What is your opinion, exactly? Do you think that coaches know with certainty which players will be impact guys right away?

 

[intlzncster]

Ha, didn't see this before I posted.

Sometimes, when everyone is thinking the exact same thing, it's because the exact same thing is true.

 

[intlzncster]

Keep pouring it on. No of you will change my opinion.

That's a pretty tiny island you are out there on. Tide's commin' in too.

 

[intlzncster]

Didn't see this article about Brown from Jeff Jacobs posted. Surprised Jacobs drove up to Putnam.

UConn Recruit Zach Brown Putting On A Show At Putnam Academy, Jeff Jacobs, Hartford Courant

"Zach's extremely quick for a 7-footer," Espinosa said. "He moves extremely well. He has got to work on his defense. He closes, no space, and he fouls constantly. He has got to be a better shot-blocker. Defensively, he's kind of way behind.

"But offensively, he's quick, he keeps the ball high, he has got great up-and-under moves. The last two days of practice, he dominated."

If this was the type of thing he stuck with, along with the occasional on point rant, JJ would be a great local columnist vis a vis UCONN.

 

[JimHurley]

What is your opinion, exactly? Do you think that coaches know with certainty which players will be impact guys right away?

My opinion is that if we get Diallo and Ashton-Langford for 2017, we're all set for recruiting.

 

[CallMeBruce]

My opinion is that if we get Diallo and Ashton-Langford for 2017, we're all set for recruiting.

What if there are injuries, or players underperform or don't pan out?

 

[Leebo]

There's a difference between being "all set" in terms of getting all your targets and not sweating it if you don't get more guys, and turning away excellent players who want to play for your school. If you really are suggesting the latter, that's just absurd.

You have implied that anyone who took the 12th or 13th scholarship would be 12th or 13th on the depth chart, which is just silly. Drummond wasn't deep on the depth chart when he joined the team.

 

[JimHurley]

There's a difference between being "all set" in terms of getting all your targets and not sweating it if you don't get more guys, and turning away excellent players who want to play for your school. If you really are suggesting the latter, that's just absurd.

Yeah I'm not saying that we should turn away excellent players, I'm just saying that if we don't get anyone other than Diallo and MAL I think we are good. This whole thing started by someone saying we should get Brown for 2016 and then recruit an elite big man for 2017. For what reason? Is Brown and Enoch not enough for centers?

 

[Leebo]

Yeah I'm not saying that we should turn away excellent players, I'm just saying that if we don't get anyone other than Diallo and MAL I think we are good. This whole thing started by someone saying we should get Brown for 2016 and then recruit an elite big man for 2017. For what reason? Is Brown and Enoch not enough for centers?

You just contradicted yourself... if an elite big man wants to come to UConn, then we will take him, even if we have Brown and Enoch.

 

[tcf15]

Yeah I'm not saying that we should turn away excellent players, I'm just saying that if we don't get anyone other than Diallo and MAL I think we are good.

Not really what you said...

Nobody that we'd offer a scholarship would challenge any of these guys for playing time. They'd pretty much be roster fillers and that's not what we want from our scholarships.

 

[JimHurley]

You just contradicted yourself... if an elite big man wants to come to UConn, then we will take him, even if we have Brown and Enoch.

Yes if a big man wants to come to UConn, sure why not. But we don't need to make an elite big man a priority at all in 2017.

 

[bmo22]

Yes if a big man wants to come to UConn, sure why not. But we don't need to make an elite big man a priority at all in 2017.

Major backpedaling, and again you're wrong. We should be targeting a big man in every class. That's what the staff has done and they continue to do it.

 

[UConn3432]

always take talent. take as much as you can. take it as soon as you can get it. then give that talent a ladder and scissors.

 

[JimHurley]

Major backpedaling, and again you're wrong. We should be targeting a big man in every class. That's what the staff has done and they continue to do it.

Not gonna argue with you again. With Brown, Enoch, Diarra, Durham all capable of playing the 4/5 there is no need to go after a big man.