SF Vance Jackson (Signed LOI on 11/11)

[Dove]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....hearing good things on the chatter:

 

[James]

HeVantastic ‏@VanceJackson1 11m11 minutes ago
UCONN

 

[CallMeBruce]

I'll say this: I've never seen a recruit seem this into a school before not committing. Not based on any particular inside info, but feeling pretty good here.

 

[Dove]

Either Vance said he will accept the offer...or he was never a golfer.

This mike sucks!!

 

[Dogbreath2U]

Either Vance said he will accept the offer...or he was never a golfer.

This mike sucks!!

This remote spying is not getting it done. We need our man on the ground and behind the shrubbery where he belongs. Okay, inside the practice facility would be good.

 

[JimHurley]

Vance is on an absolute retweet frenzy. Hope he enjoys his visit and commits over the weekend.

 

[uchusky32]

Vance is on an absolute retweet frenzy. Hope he enjoys his visit and commits over the weekend.

To busy Tweeting to even know what Storrs looks like. . .

 

[MuchoDogYears]

Let me guess...Vance's luggage got lost and Breanna Stewart came to the rescue with the pants

 

[Jaker]

lock him up

 

[AtlantaHusky]

Where's ozies info from the otb? I'm too lazy to look on a Friday night. C'mon down VJ!

 

[Chief00]

Quite frankly, relax everyone - enjoy the football game and beautiful day. Let him have a good time - he will - we are clicking now.

 

[CallMeBruce]

He's at the tailgate with Hamilton as we speak.

 

[azescobar]

@Chief00 cracks me up - quite frankly though, you are correct.

 

[ScottBonz]

He's at the tailgate with Hamilton as we speak.

Second. Saw him walking, love the hair in person. Gave him some love.

 

[DogMania]

I watched some video of Jackson, and he seemed so much more of a spot up shooter. I much prefer to land Gabriel who's a much much better athlete and has potential to be a solid jump shooter, but I don't know if he is slipping out of reach at this point or not. I wonder what the staff will do as far as pressing or taking a commitment this weekend from Jackson. I'm assuming if we land him, that puts us out of the Gabriel sweepstakes. Maybe that's not the case since Gabriel is more of a stretch 4 while Jackson looks like a more prototypical small forward. To land Gabriel, they're going to have to recruit him as a 3. I realize that you UConn sells itself as a positionless system, but I'm sure recruits still tend to think about at what position each program plans to use them. So do you take a bird in the hand in Jackson, over the two in the bush in Gabriel?

This is a tough one. Jackson is still a top 100 recruit who has legit hi major shooting skills and size. It just looks like his athleticism is a little bit underwhelming based on the video that I saw, but doesn't always tell the whole story. But when you watch Gabriel, you see highlight after highlight of him punishing the rim, driving the lane, running the floor, and even passing the ball which he excels at for kid his size. Gabriel has solid form on his jump shot. It's hard to tell if he's just not consistent with it, or if other parts of his game is so strong that he simply doesn't need to rely on taking too many jump shots.

My preference, if the staff feels they have a really good shot at landing Gabriel, is to wait on him and try to defer a Jackson decision till after he takes his Cal visit and Gabriel takes his at UConn. I guess you run the risk of losing both, but Gabriel seems like such a talent that he might be worth holding out for. You can often find some good shooter that might present themselves next spring if they need to fill that role. High-flying long athletes like Gabriel don't come around that often, especially ones that have your program high on their list.

 

[UConnSwag11]

I watched some video of Jackson, and he seemed so much more of a spot up shooter. I much prefer to land Gabriel who's a much much better athlete and has potential to be a solid jump shooter, but I don't know if he is slipping out of reach at this point or not. I wonder what the staff will do as far as pressing or taking a commitment this weekend from Jackson. I'm assuming if we land him, that puts us out of the Gabriel sweepstakes. Maybe that's not the case since Gabriel is more of a stretch 4 while Jackson looks like a more prototypical small forward. To land Gabriel, they're going to have to recruit him as a 3. I realize that you UConn sells itself as a position less system program, but I'm sure recruits still tend to think about what position each program plans to use him at.. So do you take a bird in the hand in Jackson, over the two in the bush in Gabriel.

This is a tough one. Jackson is still a top 100 recruit who has legit hi major shooting skills and size. It just looks like his athleticism is a little bit underwhelming based on the video that I saw, but doesn't always tell the whole story. But when you watch Gabriel, you see highlight after highlight of him punishing the rim, driving the lane, running the floor, and even passing the ball which he excels at for kid his size. Gabriel has solid form on his jump shot. It's hard to tell if he's just not consistent with it, or if other parts of his game is so strong that he simply doesn't need to rely on taking too many jump shots.

My preference, if the staff feels they have a really good shot at landing Gabriel, is to wait on him and try to defer a Jackson decision till after he takes his Cal visit and Gabriel takes his at UConn. I guess you run the risk of losing both, but Gabriel seems like such a talent that he might be worth holding out for. You can often find some good shooter that might present themselves next spring if they need to fill that role. High-flying long athletes like Gabriel don't come around that often, especially ones that have your program high on their list.

We have a lot of athletes already. The way our guards play Jackson will be open to hit threes. Which we need

 

[Stainmaster]

I watched some video of Jackson, and he seemed so much more of a spot up shooter. I much prefer to land Gabriel who's a much much better athlete and has potential to be a solid jump shooter, but I don't know if he is slipping out of reach at this point or not. I wonder what the staff will do as far as pressing or taking a commitment this weekend from Jackson. I'm assuming if we land him, that puts us out of the Gabriel sweepstakes. Maybe that's not the case since Gabriel is more of a stretch 4 while Jackson looks like a more prototypical small forward. To land Gabriel, they're going to have to recruit him as a 3. I realize that you UConn sells itself as a position less system program, but I'm sure recruits still tend to think about what position each program plans to use him at.. So do you take a bird in the hand in Jackson, over the two in the bush in Gabriel.

This is a tough one. Jackson is still a top 100 recruit who has legit hi major shooting skills and size. It just looks like his athleticism is a little bit underwhelming based on the video that I saw, but doesn't always tell the whole story. But when you watch Gabriel, you see highlight after highlight of him punishing the rim, driving the lane, running the floor, and even passing the ball which he excels at for kid his size. Gabriel has solid form on his jump shot. It's hard to tell if he's just not consistent with it, or if other parts of his game is so strong that he simply doesn't need to rely on taking too many jump shots.

My preference, if the staff feels they have a really good shot at landing Gabriel, is to wait on him and try to defer a Jackson decision till after he takes his Cal visit and Gabriel takes his at UConn. I guess you run the risk of losing both, but Gabriel seems like such a talent that he might be worth holding out for. You can often find some good shooter that might present themselves next spring if they need to fill that role. High-flying long athletes like Gabriel don't come around that often, especially ones that have your program high on their list.

IMHO I don't think we're as starved for talent as it would suggest if we need Gabriel or bust. Obviously the better prospect is who you want all things being equal, but I don't think that the gap between the two would hurt the program if we got Jackson instead.

 

[huskiesnyc]

Jackson is a top 50 player and excellent shooter. Why in the world would we not take a commitment? Also, we have Durham who is very similar to Gabriel in my opinion.

 

[BUHusky]

I watched some video of Jackson, and he seemed so much more of a spot up shooter. I much prefer to land Gabriel who's a much much better athlete and has potential to be a solid jump shooter, but I don't know if he is slipping out of reach at this point or not. I wonder what the staff will do as far as pressing or taking a commitment this weekend from Jackson. I'm assuming if we land him, that puts us out of the Gabriel sweepstakes. Maybe that's not the case since Gabriel is more of a stretch 4 while Jackson looks like a more prototypical small forward. To land Gabriel, they're going to have to recruit him as a 3. I realize that you UConn sells itself as a positionless system, but I'm sure recruits still tend to think about at what position each program plans to use them. So do you take a bird in the hand in Jackson, over the two in the bush in Gabriel?

This is a tough one. Jackson is still a top 100 recruit who has legit hi major shooting skills and size. It just looks like his athleticism is a little bit underwhelming based on the video that I saw, but doesn't always tell the whole story. But when you watch Gabriel, you see highlight after highlight of him punishing the rim, driving the lane, running the floor, and even passing the ball which he excels at for kid his size. Gabriel has solid form on his jump shot. It's hard to tell if he's just not consistent with it, or if other parts of his game is so strong that he simply doesn't need to rely on taking too many jump shots.

My preference, if the staff feels they have a really good shot at landing Gabriel, is to wait on him and try to defer a Jackson decision till after he takes his Cal visit and Gabriel takes his at UConn. I guess you run the risk of losing both, but Gabriel seems like such a talent that he might be worth holding out for. You can often find some good shooter that might present themselves next spring if they need to fill that role. High-flying long athletes like Gabriel don't come around that often, especially ones that have your program high on their list.

Stop. Just stop.

 

[DogMania]

IMHO I don't think we're as starved for talent as it would suggest if we need Gabriel or bust. Obviously the better prospect is who you want all things being equal, but I don't think that the gap between the two would hurt the program if we got Jackson instead.

I'm not saying that Gabriel will make our program in any and anyway. I just think he's a special player who would help our program and be an exciting player to watch for a couple of years at least. Jackson really fits the need for shooters, but UConn has often been built on its defense. I see Gabriel as a potential big time defender at the 4 or the 3 while I think Jackson might turn out to be a little bit of a liability on that end of the floor. He just doesn't look all that quick. I think what you might not get in outside shooting from Gabriel, will be a lot of defensive plays that will add up to a much better plus-minus than what you'll get from Jackson. That's just a guess on my part. We won't know till both hit the college hardwood and have a bunch of games under their belt.

 

[caw]

I watched some video of Jackson, and he seemed so much more of a spot up shooter. I much prefer to land Gabriel who's a much much better athlete and has potential to be a solid jump shooter, but I don't know if he is slipping out of reach at this point or not. I wonder what the staff will do as far as pressing or taking a commitment this weekend from Jackson. I'm assuming if we land him, that puts us out of the Gabriel sweepstakes. Maybe that's not the case since Gabriel is more of a stretch 4 while Jackson looks like a more prototypical small forward. To land Gabriel, they're going to have to recruit him as a 3. I realize that you UConn sells itself as a positionless system, but I'm sure recruits still tend to think about at what position each program plans to use them. So do you take a bird in the hand in Jackson, over the two in the bush in Gabriel?

This is a tough one. Jackson is still a top 100 recruit who has legit hi major shooting skills and size. It just looks like his athleticism is a little bit underwhelming based on the video that I saw, but doesn't always tell the whole story. But when you watch Gabriel, you see highlight after highlight of him punishing the rim, driving the lane, running the floor, and even passing the ball which he excels at for kid his size. Gabriel has solid form on his jump shot. It's hard to tell if he's just not consistent with it, or if other parts of his game is so strong that he simply doesn't need to rely on taking too many jump shots.

My preference, if the staff feels they have a really good shot at landing Gabriel, is to wait on him and try to defer a Jackson decision till after he takes his Cal visit and Gabriel takes his at UConn. I guess you run the risk of losing both, but Gabriel seems like such a talent that he might be worth holding out for. You can often find some good shooter that might present themselves next spring if they need to fill that role. High-flying long athletes like Gabriel don't come around that often, especially ones that have your program high on their list.

I don't disagree with you but you could argue Gabriel and Larrier overlap moreso than Jackson and Larrier.

The counterpoint would be that with Larrier, Diarra and Durham in the fold, UConn has the option to wait on Gabriel if they want to do so as both Jackson and Gabriel are icing on the cake of a very strong front court recruiting class.

A solid two guard seems a much higher priority if Diallo does not reclassify and (for some reason) does not choose UConn.

 

[DogMania]

Jackson is a top 50 player and excellent shooter. Why in the world would we not take a commitment? Also, we have Durham who is very similar to Gabriel in my opinion.

He's not top 50 in all the rankings, but you can't always just rely on the rankings. I'm going by the eye test, but again only based on some video, so who knows. I'm just sharing some observations and thoughts. This is a message board for such.

 

[caw]

Jackson is a top 50 player and excellent shooter. Why in the world would we not take a commitment? Also, we have Durham who is very similar to Gabriel in my opinion.

Durham and Gabriel may both be college PFs but Gabriel has more perimeter skills. Durham is/was better in the post. Biggest question is how Durham recovers from his knee injury.

I personally take whoever commits between Gabriel and Jackson and run with it.

 

[DogMania]

Stop. Just stop.

This is a message board. It won't be very interesting around here if people can't share their thoughts and observations. If we land Jackson this weekend and have to pass on Gabriel, so be it. I will gladly welcome Jackson into the Husky family. Just because you don't agree with someone's opinions, you shouldn't be telling them to stop on this board.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

He's not top 50 in all the rankings, but you can't always just rely on the rankings. I'm going by the eye test, but again only based on some video, so who knows. I'm just sharing some observations and thoughts. This is a message board for such.

I think Gabriel is much less polished than you're giving him credit for, and much less polished than Jackson. And let's not lose perspective, this isn't about holding out for Gabriel or pulling the trigger on a kid who's barely in the top 200. Jackson's a top 50 kid.