Mike Bradley to UConn; Lamb Has Top Three

UConn coach Jim Calhoun has found his latest big man.

Michael Bradley, a 6-foot-9, 210-pound forward/center out of Chattanooga (Tenn.) Tyner Academy, called Calhoun Tuesday night to tell him he was choosing the Huskies over Drake.

“He was excited. He was like, ‘Welcome to the family’ and stuff like that,” Bradley said Wednesday by phone.

Bradley, who owns a 3.5 GPA, visited UConn, Drake, VCU and Georgia and then narrowed it to the Huskies and Drake. He said Calhoun, who scouted him against 2012 big man Andre Drummond in Orlando last summer, told him he projects as a power forward.

“There’s a lot of stuff I like [about UConn],” he said. “Mostly because you get to compete and develop at a high level. The other thing I like is Coach Calhoun develops big men. We go against pros, great players every day.”

From Emeka Okafor to Hasheem Thabeet, UConn has produced a slew of NBA big men and Bradley would like to follow suit.

“Yes, sir,” he said.

Bradley joins 6-4 shooting guard Jeremy Lamb of Norcross (Ga.) High in UConn’s 2010 recruiting class. The Huskies are also involved with guards Brandon Knight and Doron Lamb and forward Roscoe Davis.

Bradley has only been playing ball since ninth grade and averaged 8 points last season.

“A lot of people see  his upside more than anything else,” Tyner coach Gerald Harris said. “What people see in him is what kind of what player he’s going to be. He’s a coachable kid, a real hard worker. He’s only been play basketball for about four years.”

Bradley said he wants to develop his strength and his all-around game at the next level.

“Strength, especially,” he said. “I’m mostly going to work on everything, mostly strength and blocking shots.”

“He’s got a lot of upside,” Harris said. “The kid runs the floor and has a lot of energy. He’s 6-9 and shoots the ball so that’s basically that. Jim Calhoun is going to take it upon himself to bring out all the other things.”

LAMB HAS TOP THREE

Oak Hill (Va.) guard Doron Lamb will take his second official visit this weekend to Kansas for “Late Night in the Phog.”

He previously visited Oklahoma for his first official the same weekend Harrison Barnes was there.

After the Kansas visit, Lamb says he plans to visit either Kentucky or UConn the weekend of Oct. 23.

Oak Hill coach Steve Smith had previously told me Lamb would visit Kentucky that weekend.

“I don’t even know yet,” Doron said Tuesday night. “Kentucky or UConn next week.”

Asked if he had a leader at this point, the 6-4 Lamb said: “It’s a three-way tie out of Kentucky, Kansas and Oklahoma.”

Arizona and St. John’s are also recruiting Lamb and he had tentatively slated a visit to Arizona the weekend of Oct. 23, but that now seems off.

As for the Kansas visit, Lamb said he has a good relationship with the coaching staff and also knows former Jayhawk Russell Robinson.

“I  haven’t been there but I know a former player, Russell Robinson, and I know players that go there and they tell me good things about it. I’m cool with the coaching staff,” Lamb said.

As for UConn, Lamb said he might visit the Huskies in November if not on Oct. 23.

“If I don’t visit the the third week [of October] I’ll probably visit in November,” he said. 

FREE THROWS

St. Anthony forward Ashton Pankey has pushed his official to Maryland to Oct. 23 from this weekend…Vince Walden of IMG Academy said forward Dwight Powell “really enjoyed” his weekend visit to Georgia Tech. He’s also considering Harvard and Stanford. “Going to be a tough decision, though it could come as early as this weekend,” Walden wrote in a text.

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