Friday, March 20, 2015

Steve Enoch honored, Amida Brimah likely staying, Richard Hamilton loving retirement (and deodorant)

A couple of things today:

*** UConn commit Steve Enoch was named the 2014-15 Gatorade Connecticut Boys Basketball Player of the Year. Enoch, from Norwalk, played this past season at St. Thomas More School.

The 6-foot-10, 235-pound senior forward averaged 15 points and 11 rebounds per game this past season, leading the Chancellors (29-9) to the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council Class AAA semifinals. The state’s No.1 recruit in the Class of 2015 as rated by the New England Recruiting Report, Enoch scored 18 points with seven rebounds in an 83-76, come-from-behind victory over Vermont Academy at the Spaulding Hoophall Classic in January.

Enoch has maintained a 3.27 GPA in the classroom. He has donated his time delivering meals and clothing to families in need and has volunteered as a tour guide for prospective students at his school.

“Steven Enoch possesses tremendous integrity and initiative,” said St. Thomas More head coach Jere Quinn. “He has had a wonderful season while playing in the strongest conference in the country. He will have a very successful career at UConn as a student and as an athlete.”

*** There apparently has been some scuttlebutt about potential UConn transfers, seemingly based on Kevin Ollie's postgame quotes on Wednesday night. While the quotes did raise a few eyebrows, especially since they started off unsolicited, I don't think there's a whole lot to them. For the most part, the "exit interviews" next week are standard operating procedure.

I spoke with Amida Brimah's legal guardian, Nana Baafi, on Friday, and he scoffed at the idea that Brimah might want to transfer.

"Nobody’s thought about anything like that at all. That stuff is not … I don’t know how that stuff got out there," he said.

What about the NBA? A veteran Eastern Conference scout told me the other day that both Brimah and Daniel Hamilton would "both, for sure, be drafted -- maybe high second-round picks. To say they're first-round guys? I wouldn't say that right now."

But Baafi doesn't think that will happen, either.

"Shoot, honestly I don’t know. I don’t think so. He just took a couple of days off, we haven't had that discussion at all. It's not on our minds. We're not even close to that at all."

Then, asked about this past season, Baafi said: "Next year will be better, I know that much for sure."

*** Had a chance to chat with Richard Hamilton on Friday. He's currently promoting the new Gillette clear gel product called Undefeated, which promises wetness protection and no odor for up to 48 hours.

"From a guy's perspective, as a dad and an athlete, you need something that's gonna last you 1-2 days," he said. "Especially out in the sun."

Here's  the story I wrote for the Register, in which he talks retirement, his greatest memory as a player, and why UConn is the "best campus in the world," and here are a few leftover quotes:


(on who he likes in the NCAA tournament)

"I think Wisconsin. The only reason why I say that, you have to be lucky to win. You have to have a great team, but also be lucky. (Kentucky is) young. They don’t have guys on the team that have been in college four years, so when there's adversity, how do you handle when stuff ain’t going right for you? Are you gonna go out on your own, or stay in team concept? But also, they've got a great coach in Coach Cal, so ..."

(would he ever get into coaching?)

"You never know. One thing I love is being an analyst, doing work with NBATV, ESPN. I'm excited about doing that.


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7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Brimah would get pushed around in the pros, while Hamilton wouldn't get drafted this year. Both of them have a lot of work to do before they can be taken seriously at the next level. The team stunk, unfortunately, and they are two of the bigger reasons why.

March 20, 2015 at 4:48 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

ever see a reel hooper, dude is smooth, very cocky, looks wright thru defenders to visualize result, shoots j's wit defenders in face by ignoring them, moves wit purpose, economy of motion, doesnt rattle, laughs at pressure, doesnt force thangs, doesnt go places that cause probs, stays in known parameters of capability and depends on mates to compensate for skillslacking, no1 has all bases covered and he accepts it, puts bod on first dude he finds on defensive board, does not try to outjump dudes for ballz, takes time to pt of annoying opponents at foul line, uses pump fake wit comcomitant head fake, student of gamesmonship, takes anticoach wit grain of salt: dooz dogs courantly has any dees, nope nope nope and nada, danke sehr gut antiune

March 20, 2015 at 8:27 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

if UCONN had a top general mgr, dude wood complete package deel at midknights of deads lines; dood send entire antiroster wit complete set of antistaffing to anywho USA for nice king size box of whole grainee serials. then dude qualify for promotion-exec vp of campusnous fast foods heavy industrials, nowsa dat beez uh michiganmon i i meens michelmon iiii meens michelini meesa mables

March 22, 2015 at 4:08 AM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

if cant complete package blockbuster deel, at least trade experimental control grp subject amoeba for a can a corn since baseball season impending; dooz it nowsa

March 22, 2015 at 6:09 AM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

anticoach nowsa have painful postseezon of duh wich performance evaluations to complete de son sehr gut antistaff. dat beez quatre biggy book reports pour l'homme to submit to his boss michelini. funny stuff. this gonna hurtski. son grande decision: for ea antistaffer, dooz anticoach design employee enhancement development program consisting of advanced checkers 101 or advanced tiddlywinkers 105 or both or just forget it + let biggy boss michelini decide. ha ha ha; once dis program put in place, i betz big raises are concomitant wit program completion. wowsa; dis big time program meesa beleevsa

March 23, 2015 at 2:54 AM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

nowsa playin Jorgensen: olyfollies wit guest appearances buy das fiascoes. apres zwei ans, marquee sez "nouveau allez"

March 24, 2015 at 2:12 AM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

danidashambone goad nba buy defalt. dis l'homme nose his stock drop next ans with inferior rostrum roundhouse

March 24, 2015 at 2:09 PM 

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