Shows how little I know.
Andre Drummond pulled a shocker today today, announcing by Twitter that he was joining the Huskies for the 2011 season. Previously, Drummond had denied that he would reclassify for 2011, and had in fact announced that he was instead changing prep schools.
I really didn’t believe that Drummond was going to end up with the Huskies, partly because UConn was (and is) out of scholarships, and partly because I was convinced that he wasn’t going to escape Kentucky’s grasp.
Because the Huskies are out of scholarships, one of the current players is going to have to give up a scholarship. The two most obvious candidates are Enosch Wolf and Michael Bradley. Wolf saw little playing time after joining the Huskies in midseason, while Bradley redshirted. Bradley is a real project — at 6’10″, he averaged 5.9 points and 6.5 rebounds as a high school, which wouldn’t seem to predict stardom. Wolf supposedly has potential, but didn’t show all that much.
Drummond still needs to complete paperwork and be cleared by the NCAA.
Drummond joins a recruiting class of G Ryan Boatright and F DeAndre Daniels. It would be interesting to see where this class would rank nationally, but I’m not sure that any of the recruiting services will update the ranking again.
I thought the Huskies were going to be pretty good this year, despite the loss of Kemba Walker. After all, they returned most of the nucleus of an NCAA Championship team. While Walker will be difficult to replace, Shabazz Napier ought to be able to step in, and Boatright will be good off the bench. The Huskies will only have three scholarship guards, but they’re all talented.
Where the Huskies were going to have difficulty was on the front line. Despite the numbers, however, there really wasn’t going to be a lot of talent at C and PF. As little as Charles Okwandu contributed, he was going to be missed — there really wasn’t going to be anyone to relieve Alex Oriakhi, and most of the talent is really better suited for SF — including Roscoe Smith, Niels Giffey, Daniels. The addition of Drummond, as long as he doesn’t upset the chemistry, is a real game changer. Imagine a starting lineup of Oriakhi, Drummond, Smith, Jeremy Lamb and Napier. I think Tyler Olander is going to be a player, but for now, I feel better with him coming off the bench.
The Huskies should now start off the season ranked in the Top 10 — it should be an exciting season.
