Class of 2022 C Donovan Clingan (CT) Offered

[Orangefan1]

I’m glad it’s over

 

[JaySU22]

Never understood why more people didn't think he was a lock for UConn. Most kids will pick the hometown program as long as it's going well and Hurley definitely has them trending up, at least from a talent collecting perspective

 

[orangefog]

Never understood why more people didn't think he was a lock for UConn. Most kids will pick the hometown program as long as it's going well and Hurley definitely has them trending up, at least from a talent collecting perspective

Trending up? Ok. Not compared to Calhoun. Hurley is still trying to figure it out. Maybe he gets there, maybe he doesn't, but from where I stand (and admittedly, that is with orange colored glasses) he has no clue how to assemble a coherent basketball team.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Half of them were giftwrapped to them.

So what?

 

[gmoney44]

Never understood why more people didn't think he was a lock for UConn. Most kids will pick the hometown program as long as it's going well and Hurley definitely has them trending up, at least from a talent collecting perspective

I’m happy for the kids and his family. It’s pretty cool to go play for the home town team. That being said now that he is UConn it is my duty to hate him.

 

[jdubs30]

They do have 4 national championships. We have 1, quite a bit of catching up to do.

That is facts.

What also is a fact is Hurley hasn’t done crap in March.

Does Mick Cronin brag about UCLA titles despite him having literally nothing to do with them?

UConn does have 4 titles, Hurley has 0. If Calhoun was still there I think that’s a massive edge in recruiting, being able to point ar his 3 titles. But I always think it’s bizarre to bring up titles to recruits when the coach wasn’t around for it.

 

[jdubs30]

That would be like saying our national championship of 2003 doesn't mean much which I disagree with. Their last championships were in 2011 and 2014, not very long ago. We hang our hat on a 2013 Final Four, also during that timeframe, I don’t think of that as old. I am no UConn fan or apologist but it's not like their national championships were 40 years ago. They are recent enough to be relevant today.

Our coach is still here though. He was apart of it; he’s been apart of Final 4s and NBA draft picks. Hurley hasn’t done anything, after Bouknight gets drafted, we’ll see if he can put more guys in the league and win and March.

 

[Cuse Countr]

Good pickup for sure, I like Donovan Clingan. He is a nice prospect. But, the Boneyard is acting like they won the lottery when they really just won a free lotto ticket, not the grand prize. He is top 60, not top 10. You've won 4 championships, act like it, for christ's sake.

No way they think he's a top 10 guy lmao

 

[Shifty1]

Well, happy for him and his family. Good luck Donovan. Now, on to the next big.

 

[Hopkins16]

Never understood why more people didn't think he was a lock for UConn. Most kids will pick the hometown program as long as it's going well and Hurley definitely has them trending up, at least from a talent collecting perspective

Wish him well, but other than not thinking this is not a good fit for his style of play, it is not always good playing for your home team. Sometimes there's just too much pressure and familiar people around stunting growth and maturity and taking away the ability to focus (Felipe Lopez). DC would have thrived and got a lot of minutes in our zone defense. Howard would have figured out how to effectively use him at Michigan and did a great job this past season with Hunter Dickinson, a somewhat similar player to DC. I just don't see Hurley being able to figure out how to keep DC on the floor. A D1 player with NBA potential must take emotions out of the equation when choosing the team to commit to, and focus on style of play, playing time (Andre Jackson) and other factors. That is why I don't get upset when a recruit says that Syracuse was his dream school "when I was young", or an area kid (Bryant, Stewart) deciding to go elsewhere.

 

[Orangezoo]

Damn these IPAs, I think I may have just made the Boneyard again.

Lol. Who cares what they are saying. I'm sure they are claiming title number 5 is coming because of DC and other craziness. Just like Jackson was going to be a huge factor as a freshman... They don't do predictions well.

 

[Orangezoo]

Wish him well, but other than not thinking this is not a good fit for his style of play, it is not always good playing for your home team. Sometimes there's just too much pressure and familiar people around stunting growth and maturity and taking away the ability to focus (Felipe Lopez). DC would have thrived and got a lot of minutes in our zone defense. Howard would have figured out how to effectively use him at Michigan and did a great job this past season with Hunter Dickinson, a somewhat similar player to DC. I just don't see Hurley being able to figure out how to keep DC on the floor. A D1 player with NBA potential must take emotions out of the equation when choosing the team to commit to, and focus on style of play, playing time (Andre Jackson) and other factors. That is why I don't get upset when a recruit says that Syracuse was his dream school "when I was young", or an area kid (Bryant, Stewart) deciding to go elsewhere.

The style of play will be the biggest factor for him. Offensively I think he will be a real problem for opponents. He stays high when in the post and at his size he could definitely do some damage. I liken him to sort of a more mobile and better shooting Aaron Gray. I think he comes in more ready (at least on paper and through film) of course. Think Gray sophmore maybe even junior year is where DC is freshman year.

No matter what he was going to be a target for the PNR no matter where he picked unless it was to a zone team. He looks leaner in the visit pics which will help him. That said Hurley will have to adjust a lot to make his system more DC friendly.

Any UConn fan thinking it's plug and play and they will have dominant post play from day 1 you just have to laugh at

 

[Trueblue25]

Hurley will get them back in the top 25 but that guys not getting them back in the sweet 16. This is a hot take but I don’t see him being at uconn past 2025.

 

[Dinkyspond]

UConn has mattered since the 89-90 season and lasted until the Calhoun impact finally fizzled out. So essentially it's been a good run but also shorter lived by comparison. We have had the kind of teams to be sitting with 3 titles at least but ended up snakebit right before the tourney twice.

You can't discount what they accomplished but they quickly regressed to being closer to who they were prior to Calhoun .

I hate to be in any position to defend UConn but...Your woulda, shoulda, coulda about sitting on 3 titles doesn’t cut it. SYR did not win those titles, case closed. Almost does not count. The fact is UConn is a major recruiting rival vs. SYR for northeast players. We can only hope to win more of these battles than we lose. Hurley is also 1-0 vs. SYR as UConn coach. I'm sure he mentioned that to Mr. Clingan.

 

[Nicknack]

Wow, I just read three pages of this thread to catch up... that was painful as hell. My gawd.

 

[Orangezoo]

I hate to be in any position to defend UConn but...Your woulda, shoulda, coulda about sitting on 3 titles doesn’t cut it. SYR did not win those titles, case closed. Almost does not count. The fact is UConn is a major recruiting rival vs. SYR for northeast players. We can only hope to win more of these battles than we lose. Also, without looking it up, I think Hurley can also point that SYR has never beaten him at UConn. I think he is 2-0 vs. SYR as UConn coach. I'm sure he mentioned that to Mr. Clingan.

You can sell titles to fans and yeah some players care. They also care when they are on ESPN or a major network almost every night, when players like them have been successful and of course program prestige. The what if titles are not to compare in the way you think. Point is that both programs have been elite in their best years and SU has a much longer track record than UConn.

As for DC- it's his backyard. If you were UConn you simply couldn't lose a top 50/60 player who is also a 7 footer.

The move to the BE helps them for sure here too.
As for UConn beating SU I find it hard to believe a recruit cares all that much on that one.

They are competition recruiting wise which is why it's great we have gone back to casting a wider net geographically, especially in the mid Atlantic states.

 

[CuseMan4]

Not a shock at all. Don’t get me wrong Clingan is a very good player but I think it’s going to be very interesting how he does over there under Hurley. Hurley is not a great Xs and Os guy at all, has not really sent anyone to the NBA ever other than this year, hasn’t done squat in March and his system does not fit this kid at all. Clingan is a very, very good player depending on system. There aren’t too many centers like him anymore with a true post presence but the problem with that is the game has kinda gone away from the type of center he is. He’s a bit slow so he might get smoked from some of these smaller, quicker, more athletic “modern day bigs”. That being said I knew he wasn’t coming here for awhile but even our play fits him a lot better than UCONN’s, Boeheim has proven what he can do with Fab Melos, Arinze’s, Rick Jackson types. Not to mention he could hide his greatest deficiency in quickness/lateral quickness in the zone and really anchor our defense when at UCONN I can see him getting torched in pick and roll defenses. Tbh his best bet if he wanted to have the best basketball career possible would have been to go to Iowa or Michigan. He would have killed it there. Best of luck to him, seemed like a good kid. I’ll be rooting for his individual success but not team success. Really don’t see it working out there tbh and think it’s a really bad fit to be upfront

 

[Orangezoo]

Not a shock at all. Don’t get me wrong Clingan is a very good player but I think it’s going to be very interesting how he does over there under Hurley. Hurley is not a great Xs and Os guy at all, has not really sent anyone to the NBA ever other than this year, hasn’t done squat in March and his system does not fit this kid at all. Clingan is a very, very good player depending on system. There aren’t too many centers like him anymore with a true post presence but the problem with that is the game has kinda gone away from the type of center he is. He’s a bit slow so he might get smoked from some of these smaller, quicker, more athletic “modern day bigs”. That being said I knew he wasn’t coming here for awhile but even our play fits him a lot better than UCONN’s, Boeheim has proven what he can do with Fab Melos, Arinze’s, Rick Jackson types. Not to mention he could hide his greatest deficiency in quickness/lateral quickness in the zone and really anchor our defense when at UCONN I can see him getting torched in pick and roll defenses. Tbh his best bet if he wanted to have the best basketball career possible would have been to go to Iowa or Michigan. He would have killed it there. Best of luck to him, seemed like a good kid. I’ll be rooting for his individual success but not team success. Really don’t see it working out there tbh and think it’s a really bad fit to be upfront

Hopefully for DC's sake he gets a clear picture of whether it's gonna work out or not in year 1. To me this looks like a future portal situation possibly even next summer if Hurley fails DC because of the system.

 

[syrBossHogg]

That would be like saying our national championship of 2003 doesn't mean much which I disagree with. Their last championships were in 2011 and 2014, not very long ago. We hang our hat on a 2013 Final Four, also during that timeframe, I don’t think of that as old. I am no UConn fan or apologist but it's not like their national championships were 40 years ago. They are recent enough to be relevant today.

The titles weren't that long ago but every year they grow more irrelevant. And like jdubs30 said, our HC and one of our top players were actually apart of that team.

We have struggled since joining the ACC but we still have had more postseason success than they had, and that's with recruiting sanctions.

 

[PauliePeppas]

That is facts.

What also is a fact is Hurley hasn’t done crap in March.

Does Mick Cronin brag about UCLA titles despite him having literally nothing to do with them?

UConn does have 4 titles, Hurley has 0. If Calhoun was still there I think that’s a massive edge in recruiting, being able to point ar his 3 titles. But I always think it’s bizarre to bring up titles to recruits when the coach wasn’t around for it.

Exactly...but knowing him hes prob telling recruits he was Calhouns mentor lmao

 

[007]

Half of them were giftwrapped to them.

This is a weird take, even for you. But maybe it's because I have no idea how a NC can be "gift wrapped," let alone for it to happen twice.

 

[jdubs30]

Not a shock at all. Don’t get me wrong Clingan is a very good player but I think it’s going to be very interesting how he does over there under Hurley. Hurley is not a great Xs and Os guy at all, has not really sent anyone to the NBA ever other than this year, hasn’t done squat in March and his system does not fit this kid at all. Clingan is a very, very good player depending on system. There aren’t too many centers like him anymore with a true post presence but the problem with that is the game has kinda gone away from the type of center he is. He’s a bit slow so he might get smoked from some of these smaller, quicker, more athletic “modern day bigs”. That being said I knew he wasn’t coming here for awhile but even our play fits him a lot better than UCONN’s, Boeheim has proven what he can do with Fab Melos, Arinze’s, Rick Jackson types. Not to mention he could hide his greatest deficiency in quickness/lateral quickness in the zone and really anchor our defense when at UCONN I can see him getting torched in pick and roll defenses. Tbh his best bet if he wanted to have the best basketball career possible would have been to go to Iowa or Michigan. He would have killed it there. Best of luck to him, seemed like a good kid. I’ll be rooting for his individual success but not team success. Really don’t see it working out there tbh and think it’s a really bad fit to be upfront

If Clingan was from like PA I bet UConn doesn’t even reach out

 

[CuseMan4]

If Clingan was from like PA I bet UConn doesn’t even reach out

Ehhhh we offered. So they would have offered like 2 weeks after us lol

 

[jdubs30]

Ehhhh we offered. So they would have offered like 2 weeks after us lol

Just echoing your point that he doesn’t seem to fit Hurleys system at all. I think Hurley HAD to go after him because he was so highly ranked and from CT. Whaley seems like the ideal 5 for Hurley — and Don is nothing like him

 

[CuseMan4]

Just echoing your point that he doesn’t seem to fit Hurleys system at all. I think Hurley HAD to go after him because he was so highly ranked and from CT. Whaley seems like the ideal 5 for Hurley — and Don is nothing like him

Yeah agreed. Top 60 kid in your backyard you pretty much have no choice but to go after him. But I think they would have offered regardless of where he was in New England.
That being said I hope the kid has success but I could see this being a kid in the transfer portal after year 1 or 2.
Or I could see him staying all four years since staying close to home was a huge factor for him and I could see the UCONN fans saying after years 2 and 3 “this is his breakout year” etc…but ultimately he gives them a pretty average career. I could eat crow and he could have a stellar career. But Clingan is more of a system guy at this point and needs a system that will fit him to have a lot of success and UCONNs style is not that system. And that’s just being point blank