The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Huskies will have some ‘big’ visitors at First Night
There are expected to be some very “big” guests at Gampel Pavilion on Friday. And we’re not talking about Kemba Walker or the rapper TPain — although both will be in the house.
The UConn men’s basketball team is expected to have three highlevel recruits at its annual First Night festivities, which kick off at 6 p.m. and will have the usual team introductions and skills contests prior to a performance by TPain.
Andre Jackson, the 6foot6 wing from Albany (N.Y.) Academy, who committed to the Huskies a couple of weeks ago, will be there. Donovan Clingan, a 7foot, Class of 2022 center at Bristol Central, is also expected to be present, although he may not be able to make it due to a minor family issue.
Then there’s Javonte BrownFerguson, a 7footer from Canada who will be on his official visit.
UConn coach Dan Hurley told Hearst Connecticut Media a few weeks ago that his primary recruiting goals for the fall signing period were a big, athletic guard and a center. Jackson (the Huskies’ first Class of 2020 commit) checks that first box, and now it appears BrownFerguson is the prime target for the second.
BrownFerguson is in the Class of 2021, but he just turned 17 two weeks ago and is strongly considering reclassifying to 2020.
“That’s probably the way he’s going to go,” said Shane James, who coaches BrownFerguson at Thornlea Sec
ondary School near Toronto and with the Canada Elite AAU team and knows him well. “He’s the definition of character: Great kid, great family, exceptional student who’s worked his butt off to get close to a 4.0 (GPA).”
In fact, BrownFerguson is being recruited by Ivy League schools and Stanford, but he is looking to play a higher level of ball.
“He feels the earlier he can get to college, the better off for him, physically,” said James. “That’s the big piece for the next part of his development. He needs to get bigger, stronger, more explosive, to go with the skill set he already has.”
That skill set includes the ability to put the ball on the floor, strong footwork and post moves and, with a 75 wingspan, the ability to block and alter shots.
Hurley and assistant coach Kenya Hunter have spearheaded BrownFerguson’s recruitment, and the entire coaching staff went up to see him recently.
“He has a chance to come in and play right away,” James said of UConn. “He’s very comfortable with the coaching staff. Kenya’s done an amazing job, Coach Hurley was exceptional when he came and sat down with us, talking about the history, his coaching style. It would be a good fit for him.”
And if you think conference affiliation means nothing to a kid who was born and raised in Canada, think again.
“He loves that fact that UConn’s going back to the Big East next year,” James added. “The Big East is suited for smallball. Most teams play four guards. Having Javonte, he might be the biggest guy coming into the Big East. It could be an interesting place for him, if he decides to go that way.”
James noted that BrownFerguson is a huge sports fan who watches all kinds of sports and appreciates their history. He frequently watches old Big East games and knows the history of the league.
“He’s a student of the game,” James said. “He understands the Big East is a better, stronger league than the one they’re in now, the American.”
BrownFerguson has already made official visits to Texas A&M and Kansas, and is slated to visit Marquette on Oct. 24. Arizona just offered the big man on Wednesday, so he could make that school (or possibly UCLA) his fifth and final visit.
Either way, James believes BrownFerguson will wait until the end of the November signing period in a few more weeks to make his decision. Whoever winds up with him will get a kid who “plays the game with a smile on his face. He’s very energetic, and he just wants to get better. He’s finally got the bug. It takes a while for big guys to get the bug and want to be in the gym all the time and get better.”
UConn has actively recruited 610 Cliff Omoruyi of Roselle Catholic in New Jersey, and he is a higherrated recruit than BrownFerguson. However, Omoruyi has made it clear that he won’t be committing anywhere until the spring, and the Huskies can’t afford to wait that long if a player like BrownFerguson is ready to commit. According to Andrew Slater of The Athletic, the UConn staff was in to see 610 Mohammed Diarra of Redemption Christian Academy on Thursday. UConn was also in on Dylan Cardwell, a 610 center from Georgia, but Cardwell’s slated visit this weekend has been scrapped, and he now seems focused on schools closer to his home.
And that’s the nature of recruiting. Players change their minds frequently, and there are only so many available scholarship slots and positions on a team. UConn was strongly recruiting Niels Lane, a 65 guard and Omoruyi’s teammate at Roselle Catholic, until it became apparent Jackson was going to commit to the Huskies and Lane cancelled a scheduled visit and later committed to Florida.
Similarly, once Jackson committed to UConn, the staff ’s focus shifted away from big guards they had been recruiting like Cam Thomas and Kadary Richmond.