http://www.courant.com/sports/college/husky/men/hc-ucmen-1014madness-pg,0,6163020.photogallery?coll=hc-headlines-huskymen&index=9

most guys that size can barely get off their tippy toes

UCONN - Beast of the East???????

At the start of last season, Thabeet was nowhere to be found on recruiter lists. As the seaon progressed, he jumped into the top 50. By then, most big time programs (UNC, Duke, UCLA etc) had already given away their scholarships.

So in the spring, it came down to Uconn, Cincy, Louisville and Miami competing for Thabeet. He chose Uconn probably because of Okafor's sucess and also they are the best and most visible program out of the bunch.

There was also talk that Thabeet might have to attend prep school because of grades which also could have scared off a few other suiters.

Posted by UKDad:

UCONN - Beast of the East???????

theyll be exciting--the most talent uconn has ever had but way to young and look at uconn with 6 nba players this year--no final 4 and barely made it out of game 1 in 64--need guys to stay in school--thabeet will never last more than 1 year. it will be oden noah thabeet in next years draft, even if thabeet remains raw.

Posted by BRIGGS:

Posted by bigbeast:

At the start of last season, Thabeet was nowhere to be found on recruiter lists. As the seaon progressed, he jumped into the top 50. By then, most big time programs (UNC, Duke, UCLA etc) had already given away their scholarships.

So in the spring, it came down to Uconn, Cincy, Louisville and Miami competing for Thabeet. He chose Uconn probably because of Okafor's sucess and also they are the best and most visible program out of the bunch.

There was also talk that Thabeet might have to attend prep school because of grades which also could have scared off a few other suiters.

Not true. Uconn had him locked up many months ago, well before other teams even knew about him--they had him locked up back when he was in africa--how do you think some kids get here? the cursory stuff--i.e visiting other schools was just a gig. major league college basketball is as big time as nba when finding kids within channels, but cbb has the ability to really lock kids in while the nba has to hope they position to draft them. they have folders on kids going back to 7-8 th grade. what are college basketball assitants? they are recruiters who scan the globe 24-365

Most of the info I typed was based on Recruiting handbooks and the scouting progress reports that I read. If Uconn had this kidd locked since, 7-8th grade then this is the dirty-underhanded side of CBB. I'm not singling out Uconn because all major CBB programs do it, but it just goes to show you CBB is big business. And as much as i love college basketball especially the Big East (I named my self after the bigeast) they look like major hyporcrites when they badmouth the NBA for recruiting kids straight out of HS because everyone, NBA and the NCAA in general all got their hands in the same pot.

Posted by bigbeast:

Posted by BRIGGS:

Posted by bigbeast:

At the start of last season, Thabeet was nowhere to be found on recruiter lists. As the seaon progressed, he jumped into the top 50. By then, most big time programs (UNC, Duke, UCLA etc) had already given away their scholarships.

So in the spring, it came down to Uconn, Cincy, Louisville and Miami competing for Thabeet. He chose Uconn probably because of Okafor's sucess and also they are the best and most visible program out of the bunch.

There was also talk that Thabeet might have to attend prep school because of grades which also could have scared off a few other suiters.

Not true. Uconn had him locked up many months ago, well before other teams even knew about him--they had him locked up back when he was in africa--how do you think some kids get here? the cursory stuff--i.e visiting other schools was just a gig. major league college basketball is as big time as nba when finding kids within channels, but cbb has the ability to really lock kids in while the nba has to hope they position to draft them. they have folders on kids going back to 7-8 th grade. what are college basketball assitants? they are recruiters who scan the globe 24-365

Most of the info I typed was based on Recruiting handbooks and the scouting progress reports that I read. If Uconn had this kidd locked since, 7-8th grade then this is the dirty-underhanded side of CBB. I'm not singling out Uconn because all major CBB programs do it, but it just goes to show you CBB is big business. And as much as i love college basketball especially the Big East (I named my self after the bigeast) they look like major hyporcrites when they badmouth the NBA for recruiting kids straight out of HS because everyone, NBA and the NCAA in general all got their hands in the same pot.

no, they didnt have him locked up since 78th grade! in general that is where CBB channels start--- they had him locked up before other schools got involved with him

Funny Story. My father lives in Tanzania, the same country this kid is from. I visited him in Dar Es Salaam about 8 years ago (I was there during the embassy bombings).

There was a basketball court on a field owned by the miltary. Noone played there. Well, one day me and my two buddys suited up and played some hoop.

The next day we came back and there were enough guys fror a 3 on 3. We mopped them up.

The next day enough showed up for a full court. Many guys were playing without shoes. (it was a dirt court) We mopped them up.

The next day all of a sudden guys ranging from 6 foot to 6'6" showed up. Athletes too! One kid pinned my layup to the back board about a foot over the rim after it had hit the backboard and it was still on the way up! Goaltending!

We won about 5 games and lost one.

And the game we lost might have been my favorite one because I could not believe I found this great comp in Africa.

They hoop in africa. All they need is the equipment and programs to develop the players. I'll ask my dad if he has seen this kid or knows about him.

oohah



[Edited by - oohah on 17-10-2006 10:40 AM]