No LOI, but No Worries: Daniel Hamilton Will Be in Storrs in a Few Weeks
The final signing date for Daniel Hamilton’s national
letter of intent has come and gone, and UConn has not received Hamilton’s LOI.
Fear not, Husky fans. He’s coming to Storrs. In fact, we
can give you just about an exact date: June 20.
Hamilton said he hopes to be on campus around June 20 so
that he can take part in two summer sessions. He’ll likely be helping out at
Kevin Ollie’s camp, as well.
“I feel real good about it,” said Hamilton. “I’m excited
to come there, ready to work. I know Kevin Ollie likes hard-working dudes. I’m
hoping to do both sessions of summer school, get my body right and get that
hard-working mentality.”
While questions abounded over whether Ollie might head to
the NBA over the past couple of months, Hamilton was never too worried.
“He told me he was thinking about staying, that he was
going to be there for us, he’s not going to leave the kids he recruited,” the
6-foot-7 wing said. “I’m happy he’s there for the kids and stayed loyal to
them.”
Hamilton famously didn’t sign a national letter of intentafter committing to UConn, precisely for that reason: if Ollie bolted, he
wanted the flexibility to be able to go to another school, if he wanted. He
didn’t want to wind up in a similar situation as his older brother, Isaac, who
wasn’t released from his LOI by Tim Floyd at UTEP and had to sit out last
season. He’ll play at UCLA this upcoming season.
And if Ollie had gone to the NBA?
“I would have had to talk to my family and with the
coaches at UConn and see what my next best move would have been,” said
Hamilton, who has signed financial aid papers with the school.
The deadline for men’s basketball players to have signed
their national letter of intent for this upcoming season was May 21.
Hamilton, a 6-foot-7 shooting guard, is rated as the No.
14 recruit in the nation by rivals.com. He visited UConn back on Jan. 18
(taking in the Huskies’ home loss to Louisville), and was back on the East
Coast for the Jordan Brand Classic game at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on April
18, starting for the West Team and scoring 10 points in a 158-147 loss.
Hamilton sees himself as either a shooting guard or small
forward, but says he’ll “play wherever coach puts me at, come in and fit in
wherever.”
He added that he’s been texting frequently with
soon-to-be teammate Rodney Purvis, getting updates on campus life, and believes
UConn could be poised to repeat as national champs next season.
“I think we’ll do pretty well,” he said. “I think we can
make a good run at the tournament again. We’ve got a lot of versatile guys,
with Rodney Purvis, Ryan Boatright coming back, and with me coming there. I
think Amida Brimah will be ready to play. He’s gonna put on some weight and be
ready, be more ready his second year. I think we’re gonna make another run at
it.”
Labels: Amida Brimah, Daniel Hamilton, Isaac Hamilton, Kevin Ollie, Rodney Purvis, Ryan Boatright
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