Sounds like Terry Larrier, the 6-foot-7 small forward out of the Bronx, is legitimately torn between UConn and VCU.

"I think he's on the fence," said Jeremy Pridgen, who coaches and trains Larrier's AAU team, Team SCAN. "If he could give half of himself to one, half of himself to the other, he'd do it."

But Pridgen added: "I think he pretty much knows what he wants to do. It's more of a situation of, 'How am I gonna call this one coach and tell him I'm not coming?' He's gonna fit in great, wherever he goes."

Larrier's decision could come over the next few days. If he lands in Storrs, Kevin Ollie is getting a good one that could offset some of the misses (Abdul Malik Abu, Quentin Snider, Paul White) the Huskies have had over the past couple of weeks.

"He's one of the best kids we've had in the program," Pridgen said. "He's come so far in a very short amount of time. He's worked hard, grown a few inches, and has come far. And he's got so much further to go.

"He's got a lot of talent. He's hungry, too. When you put those two things together, he can actually do it."

Pridgen compares Larrier to DeAndre Daniels, except "Terry is a much better shooter." He noted that VCU head coach Shaka Smart has been "on him from minute-one. He's been on him really hard."

However, Pridgen added, "UConn is creeping up on him."

Larrier visited Storrs a few weeks ago.

"That meeting went well," Pridgen said. "He loves Rudy Gay. He sees himself fitting in there really well ... He looks at UConn's wings like him -- long and lanky -- and who made it to the next level. And he likes Coach Ollie. He thinks he's going to have it rockin' like when (Jim) Calhoun was there."

Now, it's just a matter of making a very tough decision.

"He loves Kevin, he loves Shaka," Pridgen reported. "He loved Billy (Donovan, Florida's coach), too, but he hasn't really been on him like the other two."

Whatever the decision, one thing is certain: UConn definitely has a fan in the Team SCAN ranks in Pridgen. And that could help in the future with a kid like Thomas Bryant, a 6-9 Class of 2015 power forward, or even (way down the road) Tremont Waters, a Class of 2017 point guard who played for Team SCAN and is now at South Kent School ... and who happens to hail from New Haven.

"When they start winning this year, all the (Class of) 2015 kids are gonna be like, '(Ollie) really lets those guards play,'" Pridgen said. "Once he puts one of his own guys in the league, when they see the kind of year Shabazz (Napier) and Ryan (Boatright) are gonna have, they're going to be very intrigued about going there. UConn is gonna do very well."

A tinge of recruiting news as UConn picks up the pieces following Abdul Malik Abu's commitment to NC State:

*** It appears Bonzie Colson's visit to UConn on Oct. 11 will be an unofficial one. Why? Because it's a simple, two-hour drive from St. Andrew's School in Barrington, R.I. (my hometown) to Storrs. Might as well save your officials for visits that involve plan flights and overnight stays.

Colson will also take an unofficial to Temple shortly after the UConn visit.

He's leaving his fifth and final official visit open. As it stands, he's already visited Pitt, will be at Florida State this weekend, Notre Dame at the end of the month and Miami on Oct. 4-6.

St. Andrew's coach Mike Hart says Colson is still "wide-open" in his recruitment. Glen Miller was at St. Andrew's on Monday.

*** UConn will be making an in-home visit with Paul White on Wednesday. White is slated for an official visit Sept. 27-29.

*** The Huskies are also still on for an in-home with Devin Robinson on Sept. 17. Robinson is slated for an official on Oct. 18-20, meaning he'll be at UConn's First Night festivities.

*** According to Adam Zagoria at SNY.tv, JUCO guard Jeff Newberry is slated to visit UConn in the next week or two.

*** According to Josh Gershon at FOX Sports/Scout.com, Kevin Ollie checked out Los Angeles's Chance Comanche, a Class of 2015, 6-10 center, on Monday.

Larry Lucchino was fond of saying, "There are no secrets in baseball."

The same can usually be said in the world of college basketball, particularly when it comes to recruiting. While players like to hold press conferences where they reveal the hat of the school they're choosing, or simply make the announcement on Twitter, usually their decisions are pretty well-known by that time.

But that's not the case with Abdul Malik Abu and Jared Terrell, who will announce their college decisions on Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston. Rarely has there been so much intrigue and speculation about a decision by a prep player, particularly in the case of Abu. While Terrell's decision is far from certain, the growing speculation is that he'll go and play for Danny Hurley at URI, where the 6-foot-4 guard could see playing time immediately.

But Abu is an entirely different story, and it's his story that UConn fans are solely interested in (the Huskies didn't make Terrell's final four and, in fact, UConn never seriously recruited him. Kevin Ollie watched him play a lot this summer, but only because he was on Abu's AAU team).

Abu's final four schools are UConn, Florida, Providence and NC State, and depending on which recruiting "pundit" you talk to (or which fan base's message board you read), the 6-8 power forward could end up at any of the four.

For its part, UConn has no idea whether or not Abu will reveal a Husky cap on Saturday afternoon. There is a line of thinking that Florida could have a slight edge, as influences close to Abu seem to be pulling for the Gators (and late Tuesday came word that Abu may be at Florida right now for a visit). But that is pure speculation at this point, and if nothing changes over the next few days, his choice on Saturday will be a complete surprise.

Again, this doesn't happen very often. With AAU and high school coaches, friends, "influences," family members, etc., usually some sort of word gets out about where a kid's likely to go. Case in point: Pascal Chukwu, the Fairfield Prep 7-footer who announced via Twitter last week that he'll be taking his talents to PC, kept his recruitment famously close to the vest. But even at the time of his announcement, it was pretty much assumed he would go to either PC or St. Joseph's, two small, Catholic schools where his guardian (an Iona alum) felt Chukwu would be more comfortable. Heck, his guardian's niece is a captain on the PC soccer team.

While UConn certainly wanted Chukwu, it had seemed pretty obvious from the start that the Huskies weren't going to land him. He never even got to Storrs for an unofficial visit (just to Hartford for a few games).

Abu is a different story. UConn obviously wants Abu, a desperately-needed physical, rebounding power forward who now attends Kimball Union Academy in New Hampshire. The question is, does he want UConn? No one knows, or at least no one's saying.

If the Huskies miss on Abu, their hopes will likely lie in Paul White, a versatile 6-9 forward out of Chicago, or Bonzie Colson, Jr., a 6-5 (maybe) forward out of New Bedford, Mass. and St. Andrew's School.

White listed UConn among his final five, along with Arizona, DePaul, Minnesota and Georgetown. But according to a report, White is re-opening his recruitment, as more schools are showing interest in him. As of now, he's still planning on visiting Storrs on Sept. 27.

Colson, who made an unofficial to UConn back in June, has called the Huskies a "dream school." He will make an official visit to Storrs on Oct. 11-13. He visited Pitt over the past weekend and also is slated to go to Notre Dame, Florida State and Miami, as well.

He's also a vastly undersized power forward, but he has the will and the motor to be a successful college player -- an overachiever that could fit well in the Ollie mold.

(For those wondering about Terry Larrier, who visited UConn recently, he is viewed strictly as a small forward, not a power forward).

UConn missed on Chukwu. It could miss on Abu, White and Colson. If so, it would likely be viewed as a disaster. But it's easy to forget that the Huskies have already added Daniel Hamilton, a national top-50 recruit, and Rodney Purvis, an NC State transfer and former McDonald's All-American, for the 2014-15 season. And they will continue to monitor and recruit Hamilton this season as if he hasn't committed.

One more thing to add: the entire recruiting process has really gotten silly. Sillier than ever, it seems. The idea that fans -- grown men, usually -- would post on message boards or, worse, send Tweets to recruits begging them to come to the school they root for is beyond ridiculous. That they'll rip these kids -- 17 and 18-year-old kids, we might add -- if they don't choose their school is infantile and sickening. It's like they're personally insulted if a kid doesn't pick their team.

Yes, as a member of the media, I suppose I'm part of the same hypocrisy. I follow many recruits on Twitter and try to contact them and their parents or coaches from time to time to see where their decision process is at. It's part of the job -- not one I always feel particularly good about -- but obviously something that has to be done in this day and age.

But lately, I've had people ask me to predict where Abu is going to go. Sorry, I don't get into the game of predicting what's going on in the minds of any 17 or 18-year-old kid, much less one I've never met. I'll leave that to others.

Anyway, we'll all find out on Saturday at 3 p.m. Should be interesting.

Abdul Malik Abu, the highly-touted Class of 2014 power forward from Kimball Union Academy in New Hampshire, is visiting UConn today. He was originally slated to visit this weekend.


The 6-foot-8, 235 pound Abu has listed UConn, Providence, Florida and NC State as his final four schools. He had already visited the other three. There is thought that he could be a package deal with AAU teammate Jared Terrell, who has not listed UConn as one of his finalists. PC is the only school to make both players' lists, but there are some who feel a package deal is becoming less likely.

UConn also made Terry Larrier's final six and he is reportedly set to visit Storrs next week. Point guard Quentin Snider will be making an official Sept. 20-22, and Paul White, a 6-8 forward out of Chicago, will visit the following weekend.

UConn is also reportedly making an in-home visit to White on Sept. 11.