ADVERTISEMENT

Welcome to the next Huskies (2020 )



" They went to his practices. They went to his high school games and his Albany City Rocks games. They visited him at home. They invited him to games in the Carrier Dome, encouraged him to attend elite camps and general Orange practices. He was a primary recruiting target in the Class of 2020, an uber-athletic wing who could grab the ball off the backboard, push it upcourt himself and either finish the play or facilitate for his teammates. He is dangerous in the open court. He likes to pass the ball. He can score off the bounce. And he can guard and block shots..............The Huskies, like Syracuse, have a young team, but they do have a senior in shooting guard Christian Vital and are prone to playing multiple guards/small forwards in their lineups. UConn pitched an uptempo offense - which Jackson prefers - and man-to-man defense. "
 
Last edited:
Sounds like a zone defense problem if you ask me......and that UConn is just a better program historically and as is.
 

Jackson also considered Iowa, Syracuse, UCLA and Maryland, but he canceled a visit to Iowa after visiting UConn the weekend of Sept. 20. UConn assistant Tom Moore recruited Jackson for the last two years.

“With his size and athleticism, he’s got elite NBA athleticism,” City Rocks director Jimmy Hart said. “So that being said, there’s a few of those that come along every now and then. What sets him apart from the other ones that do that, his ability to handle and pass the ball. He was a point guard for us since age 9, and then he grew all of a sudden so he’s played a lot of point in his career.....“He can really find shooters and has great court vision for a guy who’s pushing it at that pace. Some guys who jump will do a great dunk when they’re wide open, this guy dunks violently on people. I mean, he’s aggressive. He attacks the rim with no fear. Great instincts as a defender and his shot is getting better.”

Last season at Albany Academy, Jackson averaged 18 points, 10 rebounds and 5.1 assists while shooting 68 percent from the field, 45 percent from deep and 70 percent from the line.
 
Last edited:
One more article from one of the Uconn beat writers with a Jonathan Mandeldove (once served as his assistant coach) sighting/comments:
 
Javonte Brown-Ferguson ...7-0/240.... Center .....Thornhill, ON
The big man made his college decision Wednesday night, picking between Kansas, Texas A&M, and UConn.

 
Last edited:
Big win. After the unreal pathetic effort by the leftover Ollie recruits against St. Joe's this commitment has us already looking past this DREADFUL last season in the American.

This kid looks THIN but maybe I just cant find a newer video?

Bouk, Jackson, and JBF are a SOLID core that should be very successful in the BE. Add Cole eh should be able to get these kiddo's the rock unlike what we see with Al and Vital with their supporting cast.
 
Big win. After the unreal pathetic effort by the leftover Ollie recruits against St. Joe's this commitment has us already looking past this DREADFUL last season in the American.
This kid looks THIN but maybe I just cant find a newer video?
.
Yeah most of his video's around are from a year or two ago when he was 14 or 15...he'll be another young kid like Springs and will only be 17 when he gets to Uconn ....from what I've read.
 
" Javonte Brown-Ferguson, the 7-foot, 240-pound 16-year-old big man from Thornlea Secondary School in Ontario and the Under Armour Canada Elite AAU program, has committed to the Huskies, he told ZAGSBLOG. "

 
Thankfully graduation in the spring should take care of some of the Uconn problems... but these 2 are now signed, sealed and delivered. Basically Hurley has a new 4 man class for the 2020-21 season...RJ Cole, Richie Springs plus:
 
Will hopefully be addition by mere subtraction of the graduating guys on this year's team, like year after Dyson graduated (2010-11).
 
Key hear is the talk of a late signing (AG graduating should open the last spot):
 
"Speaking of playing the best we have ever seen him, Connecticut signee Andre Jackson was tremendous on Thursday night during a dynamic 26 point outing. Look, the dude is as elite as they come athletically. He's a rocket off the floor, laterally quick and moves around with ease. But, his performances aren't always consistent because of effort going up and down and a jump shot he doesn't fully seem to trust...............The effort was great and the confidence in the jumper looked better. What really stood out, though, was his passing. Albany (N.Y.) Academy put the ball in his hands and he showed off passing and vision that we really didn't know existed. If he sustains this type of performance through the winter, he'll be on the rise in the next set of rankings. Either way, he's potentially a pretty significant pickup for Dan Hurley as he rebuilds UConn."



 
This kid looks THIN but maybe I just cant find a newer video?
There hasn't been much out there unless you want to watch full games of him playing in Canada. But I just found this new "highlight tape" that was put out this month. I've watched some of his full games and even though he had a good offer list ( from Rivals.com) G-town, Seton Hall, Maryland, Okla, Providence , etc) and Kansas, Tex-A&M were in his final 3, I will say with much certainty, that this kid has alot of work to do to be an effective player at the next level. Right now he has Jonathan Mandeldove written all over him. His explosion and vertical is pretty much non-existent. Motor wise/ getting up and down the court, he's way behind even the 260lb Carlton we watched this year. Didn't look like he's great at the foul line either. So currently everything he does..... is with his dominant height.

On the plus side is many bigs develop later than other positions, he has Kenya Hunter to work with him, he already has a 7-5 wingspan and he only turned 17 years old last fall. Uconn lists him now at 7-0/240lbs so he could still be growing....It's also been reported that he's close to a 4.0 student, so it seems he shouldn't have any grade issues reclassifying.. like Richie Springs did when he reclassified and came in a year early. But even still....JBF looks like he could use a redshirt year from his full HS video's I've seen so far.... no mater when they start college sports again.

But here ya go:




 
Last edited:
I hope not. Mandeldove might have been the worst scholarship big man I ever saw in a UConn uniform. It shook up my confidence in Calhoun because I could not understand what he saw in him.
You got that right, so that is all our hope...In DH I trust and like I said about Kansas....even Bill Self made an in home visit to try and close the deal on him...
 
No big is a lock.....or at least very few are but if this kid can sit for a year.....who knows.
 
I just read Dom from the Courant's story today on next year & the 4 newcomers....as I thought DH pretty much says JBF is a project.........

On Brown-Ferguson: “Javonte’s got big, big upside, a young big man we can really develop and invest in. He can be a tremendous player for us. He has a back to the basket skill set where he can score, pass. Something we’ve longed for is a big man we can develop behind Isaiah [Whaley] and Josh [Carlton]. "

also on RJ Cole:

“R.J.’s a tremendous offensive player,” Hurley said. “I compare him to a quarterback who gets the ball out on time, sees the floor. He’s a tremendous pick-and-roll, ball-screen player, tremendous court vision, a very efficient offensive player, very easy to play with. He can score and he can be a playmaker. Like a lot of guys playing their first year for us, he’s going to have to step up at the defensive end of the court, but he played for Bob Hurley Sr. [at St. Anthony’s High], so that shouldn’t be that hard an adjustment.”

On Jackson:
"Andre, we expect him to have similar impact to what James had this year, maybe not always be as a pure scorer, but as a player, as a playmaker, a guy who can pass, make big time blocks, big time plays in transition, an underrated player with the ball as a passer. He can make plays for himself and others.”

On Springs:
“Richie gives us a guy who can play the four or five, a young player, could have been in prep school, but he enrolled early. He’s one of the better offensive rebounders I’ve been around, he’s got a great future as he matures.

 
Last edited:
Whaley will be a beast and Josh will be an insanely good backup big for any league. We are good on the bigs for next year and then you have Richie that would be nothing but A CHERRY ON TOP.

Here is the depth chart as I see it:

PG: Cole, Gaff
SG: Bouk, Adams
SF: Polly, Jackson
PF: Akok, Wilson, Springs
C: Whaley, Carlton, JBF

However this is how I see the minutes playing out in order of most to least:

Cole
Bouk
Whaley
Gaff
Polly
Adams
Jackson
Carlton
Akok (if he plays at all this next season)
Wilson
Springs
 
Basically I think our second team would be a mid pack American Team on its own.....our First team kids will be top 5 in the BE and together we are Top 3.
 
I did watch tape on this kid and was very impressed by his passing ability. That article notes he modeled his game after "Pistol Pete" Maravich. Pistol Pete averaged 44 points per game in college for LSU for his career, but at the NBA level was primarily noted for his showmanship and fancy passes although he did drop 31 points per game one year for the New Orleans Jazz. And sadly he died of a heart defect while playing a Church pick up basketball game at age 41.

I do see some of Pete's influence on the game of AJ. It's good to know that these kids are properly influenced by legends of the game. There are not too many guys out there who play that style of game as Pete Maravich did.
 
After reading that story, I remember seeing the Jazz in Hartford when I was a kid. My dad would get Celtics tix back in the day when they played 4-5 games a year at the Civic Center..... I think Pete had 30 or 40, but like you said he was making showtime passes before Magic...and then there's the night he almost hung 70 on the Knicks. The one thing watching these old NBA games was they treated defense was like it was a bad word...LOL!

 
In 1 thread, Andre Jackson has been mentioned with the likes of:

Russell Westbrook - Won NBA MVP and averaged a triple double in an entire NBA season playing 80 games

Pete Maravich - Holds the NCAA record averaging 44 points a game in a full season

This actually happened.........................

I think I'll just settle for Andre "Pistol Russ" Jackson to be a solid contributor for a UCONN team on the rebound. And I'll be happy with that.

Slow your roll people please
 
Pete Maravich - Holds the NCAA record averaging 44 points a game in a full season

CFP,

I know it's hard to believe but Pistol Pete averaged 44.2 points for his 3 year LSU career (freshmen could not play back then):

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/pete-maravich-1.html

I don't think anyone believes either AJ or anyone else will put up anywhere near those numbers. I just mentioned that his passing ability does show the Pistol influence. Although Pistol was a remarkable scorer, he was an equally good passer. It's just that his teams needed him to score, which is why his career NBA assist average was only 5.4. However it was the passing showmanship that I think marked his game in the NBA.
 
Welcome to the newest Husky !

Tyrese Martin (Rivals).....6-6/205.....JR ....Allentown, PA....(Rhode Island Stats)
(Interesting looking @ his Rivals profile, Not only did Hurley recruit him once...Kimani Young also recruited him when he was with Minnesota. DH now brings in the 2nd member of his 2018 URI recruiting class to Uconn along with Brendan Adams)

 
Last edited:
ADVERTISEMENT