UConn Men’s New Kids on the Block

Here he is again, the man you need to talk to about UCONN Basketball, Art Benedict!!!! In this article, Art discusses the freshman players on the UCONN Men's Basketball team. Enjoy UCONN fans, I did!!!!


Article by Art Benedict

So last week we looked at the new freshman class on the UConn women’s basketball team, Kia Nurse, Cody Ekmark, and Gabby Williams. So now it’s on to the new kids on the block for the men’s basketball team. There are two true freshmen on the team in Rakim Lubin and Daniel Hamilton. Rodney Purvis and Sam Cassell Jr. are redshirt sophomores, so we will leave them in the honorable mention category.

DANIEL HAMILTON

Daniel Hamilton is a 6-6, 175 pound shooting guard who came to UConn from St. John’s Bosco High School in L.A. Hamilton. He was also ranked 30^th in the top one hundred recruits as voted on by ESPN. According to one scouting report on Hamilton, they listed him as a thin shooting guard who is a confident scorer, and who is willing to shoot from just about anywhere. Quick to the rim and slippery with the ball, his lack of strength causes issues for him at times. A natural scorer, he's sometimes a little too confident and trigger happy with his jumper. And we have seen that from him in the time he has spent as a starter for the Huskies. Texas El Paso coach Tim Floyd had this to say about Daniel Hamilton. “(UConn) is going to give him the opportunity, that’s all he asks for,” said Taylor, who also coached current Husky standout DeAndre Daniels at L.A.’s Taft High. “Hamilton is going to make his way. You’ll find out, he’s one of the most competitive individuals. And he thinks he’s better than everyone, so he’s going to try, try, try. I think you guys will love him. He’ll play so hard, and he’ll play the game correctly.” Hamilton previously attended Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, alma mater of UConn coach Kevin Ollie. He averaged 20.5 points. 9.0 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 1.3 steals as a senior, leading the Braves to a 23-11 record and the California Division II state championship. With UConn, Hamilton has started every game and before Tuesday night’s 66-58 loss to Tulsa, averaged 10.7 PPG, 6.13 RPG, and has a .360 3-point field goal percentage. Hamilton is known as a deadly outside shooter, isn’t afraid to make his way to the basket, and is considered a pretty good defender.  Hamilton is the youngest of 6 children. His brothers are Zell, Gary, Jordan, Isaac and his sisters name is Miya. Gary was a four-year letter winner at the University of Miami (Fla.) and played professionally overseas. Jordan attended the University of Texas and started this season with the NBA's Utah Jazz after two years with the Denver Nuggets. Isaac is a redshirt freshman this season at UCLA.

Rakim Lubin

There are many who have seen Rakim Lubin play this season and believe that before the 2014-2015 men’s basketball season is over, he will be a fan favorite. Lubin, who is 6-8, 260 pounds, was recently described by head coach Kevin Ollie as “muscles on top of muscles”. Another recent article in SportzEdge.com described him as “the type of guy who looks like he eats car batteries for breakfast, and could steal your lunch money from you simply by saying, “hi”. They did say, however, that Lubin was a great kid. In the game last Saturday against Cincinnati at the XL Center (Yes, I was there), with 5:57 to play and UConn clinging to a 3-point lead, Rakim Lubin wanted in. After Ollie witnessed a couple of guys pushing his player around, Lubin was subbed in for Amida Brimah, who picked up his 4^th personal foul, and he immediately blocked a shot to restore order. His numbers in high school attest to that. He averaged 21 points and 13 rebounds for his senior season at Buford High in Georgia, and was named the MVP of the Georgia North-South All Star game. He also had a 37 point, 21 rebound, 5 blocked shot performance in the semi-final of that tournament. With the likes of Ryan Boatright, Rodney Purvis, Daniel Hamilton and Kentan Facey, Lubin won’t be called upon to score a lot of points for the Huskies. What he will be called upon to do is to become a bully at rebounding. When you look at other players in UConn history, you can compare Lubin to the likes of Rod Sellers in the early 90’s right through Alex Oriachi in 2011. He could be compared to fan favorites Kevin Freeman and Jeff Adrian. They didn’t’ care about points or scoring, but they cared about crashing the boards and shutting players down on defense.

We still don’t know what the remainder of the season will bring for UConn as they struggle to defend their National Championship from last season, but one thing is for sure, you will hear the names Daniel Hamilton and Rakim Lubin a lot this season. You can also count on some exciting games from UConn. (Cincinnati, Tulsa), and you can take it to the bank that the fans will support these Huskies as well.  UConn! UConn! UConn! Huskies! Woo!

 Next week: Mid- season report card time