Zach Brown
- Thread starter UConnFamily
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Has he already been to Storrs once ?
ScoutsFocus @scoutsfocus
#1 2017 Center Zach Brown is visiting UCONN for their midnight madness.
2:02 PM - 17 Oct 2014
Looks like the heavy hitters and his hometown team are in the mix: Zach Brown, Miami Beach Senior
Seems like alot to work with... but he has a ways to go:
ScoutsFocus @scoutsfocus
#1 2017 Center Zach Brown is visiting UCONN for their midnight madness.
2:02 PM - 17 Oct 2014
Looks like the heavy hitters and his hometown team are in the mix: Zach Brown, Miami Beach Senior
Seems like alot to work with... but he has a ways to go:
Boo willngham is his AAU coach. I believe Ollie and him are very good friends. Pretty sure they were roommate at UConn and he might have even been at Ollie wedding.
Think UConn is in a good place with Brown. Love his potential and big body. Just what UConn needs with the other pieces the staff has assembled
Think UConn is in a good place with Brown. Love his potential and big body. Just what UConn needs with the other pieces the staff has assembled
Boo is indeed very tight with KO. They recently showed up together at a golf outing and as I recall Boo was on the floor with coach after the championship in 2014. I like that connection. I hope Boo has developed some good habits in young Zachary.
Just looked at the video posted by Blades....this kid looks very long and I like the shot blocking ability and seems to have a good body.
I'm not an insider like Ozzie, but I gotta assume Nantambu and KO are like brothers. This seems like a positive thing for us. I'm really surprised at all our ex-players who are running camps, basketball academies, AAU coaches, etc.. Scott Hazelton, Nantambu, Robert Swain. Robert certainly helped us with Gilbert. Hopefully Boo is doing the same.
I also find it kinda interesting that all these guys kinda stunk. I always had a soft spot for Nantambu because he tried as hard as anyone who ever put on a Husky uniform. He was sorta garbage, but was always positive and ready to hustle when called upon. In that regard, he was as professional as anyone JC coached. He must be a solid person.
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Of course if we don't get this kid, I'll hate him.
I also find it kinda interesting that all these guys kinda stunk. I always had a soft spot for Nantambu because he tried as hard as anyone who ever put on a Husky uniform. He was sorta garbage, but was always positive and ready to hustle when called upon. In that regard, he was as professional as anyone JC coached. He must be a solid person.
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Of course if we don't get this kid, I'll hate him.
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If we get this there will be some decent opportunities for good nicknames...Zach Brown Band, etc...
I just watched this kids video and I'm super pumped to get this kid. He's a shot blocking project. This type of player is totally our style.
Boo Willingham wasn't much of anplayer but he did try hard. I think Chuck was a better player. But the best players don't always make the best coaches. In truth although Coach Ollie was a starting point guard at UConn and carved out a nice 13 year NBA journeyman career, he wasn't a great player. He couldn't shoot that well but he defended well and was a team player and he was also a clutch player. You wouldn't characterize him as being as good as Rickey Moore, or Chris Smith, or Khalid, or Taliek Brown, or AJ Price, but guess what, he had a longer NBA career than all of those guys did. And in the end that is really another way to look at it. I would give my vote to Khalid as the best point guard and leader and ballhandler, at UConn, but KO had a way longer NBA tenure than Khalid did.
Yea bro I did.... Brown is ALLL UCONN!
Trust me when I tell you. I was with him when him and Bu came to Houston for the Nike eybl and at the John Lucas camp. Good kid really has gotten in shape after we all gave him the business especially Lucas about having a bit of a gut back in April. The kid wanted my UCONN shirt lol
Only way he is not a Husky if we for whatever reason don't want him or If his grades are beyond garbage
Btw Boo is like a assistant aau coach his head coach is a piece of work... Lol
What????? Who has a gut at age 18?????????? I hope UConn isn't recruiting another Mel "Dinner Bell" Turpin? Anyone remember how that guy ate himself out of the NBA?
A tad before my time, but I did some reading on Mel. Incredible nicknames. Dinner Bell Mel and The Mealman...very funny.
I think "Dinner Bell Mel" may have gone back to his Kentucky days. He struggled with his weight and conditioning at UK and in the NBA. I didn't realize he committed suicide in 2010:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvin_Turpin
What I remember is a game in the NCAA tournament in 1984 or 1985 between Kentucky and Georgetown when Pat Ewing played at Georgetown and Sam Bowie and Turpin played UK. UK was being touted as having the "Twin Towers". Against Ewing and Georgetown they shot a record low FG% from the field. UK was viewed as being soft after that game. Both Bowie and Turpin were later NBA busts. Turpin because he couldn't control his weight and Bowie due to injury issues. Turpin might have been a good player if he had controlled his weight and conditioning a little better.
The UConn women had a similar player a few years ago in Kailie "Big Mama" McLaren. McLaren was one of the best passing big girls I have ever seen at UConn. Could not control her weight while at UConn. She was just a Big Mama, but she she could pass and was a very skilled big girl.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvin_Turpin
What I remember is a game in the NCAA tournament in 1984 or 1985 between Kentucky and Georgetown when Pat Ewing played at Georgetown and Sam Bowie and Turpin played UK. UK was being touted as having the "Twin Towers". Against Ewing and Georgetown they shot a record low FG% from the field. UK was viewed as being soft after that game. Both Bowie and Turpin were later NBA busts. Turpin because he couldn't control his weight and Bowie due to injury issues. Turpin might have been a good player if he had controlled his weight and conditioning a little better.
The UConn women had a similar player a few years ago in Kailie "Big Mama" McLaren. McLaren was one of the best passing big girls I have ever seen at UConn. Could not control her weight while at UConn. She was just a Big Mama, but she she could pass and was a very skilled big girl.
Yeah, suicide is tough. Hopefully it wasn't because he was a "bust" in the NBA. Or even worse...weight issues.
I was curious and Googled a few stories about Mel Turpin's suicide. News reports indicated he died of "self inflicted gunshot wound" to the chest. Turpin's family said he was working, had no financial problems and no signs of depression although his wife had a stroke a couple weeks prior to the reported suicide. Ex teammates of Turpin including Dickie Beal, who had spoken to him in the weeks prior to his death, said he was upbeat and they were planning to play golf and he couldn't believe the suicide report. Other teammates expressed shock. Both family of Turpin and teammates questioned the autopsy report conclusion of suicide, and no suicide note was left. It also could have been that he accidentally shot himself, although a blast in the chest usually isn't accidental, unless someone shot him and left the gun there to make it look that way. He was apparently working as a security guard in Lexington.
Here is an interesting article on Zach Brown, which indicates that he is Jewish, having converted to that faith:
http://usatodayhss.com/2015/star-re...m-poverty-and-the-family-that-helped-save-him
This means they better get those Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashana kosher menus ready in case that is what he wants to eat.
http://usatodayhss.com/2015/star-re...m-poverty-and-the-family-that-helped-save-him
This means they better get those Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashana kosher menus ready in case that is what he wants to eat.
Seems like this weekend was a success and good news may be on the horizon.
Pretty soon we'll be asking "What can Brown do for U...C-O-N-N"
Pretty soon we'll be asking "What can Brown do for U...C-O-N-N"
Also featured on our Big Board, which came out today
https://www.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=1039&CID=1799911
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April: Shonn Miller
May: Sterling Gibbs, Mamadou Diarra, Terry Larrier
July: Alterique Gilbert
September: Juwan Durham, Zach Brown(????)
Quite the streak KO has been on these last few months.
May: Sterling Gibbs, Mamadou Diarra, Terry Larrier
July: Alterique Gilbert
September: Juwan Durham, Zach Brown(????)
Quite the streak KO has been on these last few months.
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Zach Brown was on campus according to his guardian and he enjoyed it. He said Zach likes about a half dozen schools but said that Connecticut is the front runner. No decision made. Zach look forward to process.
Boo Willingham is not a coach for the Miami South Beach AAU Program, but he has helped train Zach since 7th grade.
Boo Willingham is not a coach for the Miami South Beach AAU Program, but he has helped train Zach since 7th grade.
“Connecticut is one of the strong considerations,” Michael Lipman, Brown’s legal guardian, told SNY.tv by phone on Tuesday.
“I think you have a head coach, Kevin Ollie, that is a flat-out great coach. He has developed Andre Drummond. We have to find a system that is a good fit academically and a good fit for a big man, and that is going to showcase his offensive skills. And you need a team that’s going to compete while he’s there for the national championship.”
Lipman also mentioned that Brown already has a bond with 2016 UConn commit Alterique Gilbert, a point guard.
“He played with Alterique Gilbert in the [Nike] Global Games and they won the whole thing,” Lipman said. “The two of them were tremendous. You need a strong one, you need a system that’s going to build around the big man. Kevin Ollie and his staff are just tremendous.”
Oh, thanks for clarifying.
Brown is a good kid. He and his brother had about as horrific a childhood as anyone can imagine. His guardian, Michael Lipman is a former professional poker player, is trying to legally adopt him. At times he even refers to Brown as his son and Brown refers to him as dad.
Brown had some difficulty staying on the court, due to foul trouble, in 17U EYBL play. When he dropped down to 16U he performed better.
Everyone in Florida is interested to see how he plays at his new HS because he really seemed to respond well to his head coach at Miami Beach HS.
I would suggest you read the article I posted earlier in the thread. Brown has been living with the Lipmans for a very long time and he converted to Judaism as a result. See the article posted earlier. Brown was living with Lipman long before he became a known basketball commodity. This ain't a leech- the family has tons of money and he has several successful businesses. He made this kid into something, not vice versa.
I know, I read the article, but Russ has mentioned how he was a former poker player and to "consider the source" in another. Maybe I'm reading too much into it.
I wouldn't call Lipman shady. He's a smart business man with a keen intellect, a nice guy who loves the spotlight.
Nice read, you can't make 7-1 no matter who you are, but Lipman seemed to do plenty to send a lost kid in the right direction and get him out of a bad situation.... with basketball being a bond for Zach and his biological son. Wonder if Lipman's got any CT roots ? There used to be a Lipman Motors in the north end of Hartford/ West Hartford line near U of Hart, back in the day ???
But signing day is an eternity off for a 2017 ( Prince Ali/ Turtle Jackson anyone ?)....So personally I'd rather see him and his "family" take their time than get a commit now and get a re-open latter if the vultures swoop in and/or if he/they have second " thoughts".
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