Update: Angelo Chol and Kevin Davis
by: Griffin Bennett
We all know that there will be a huge hole in the front court for the 2011/12 season after MBA and Justin Holiday graduate. Romar must bring in some new size and talent in this recruiting class to pair up with his back court depth. Angelo Chol and Kevin Davis seem to be the only two potential options to solve this problem. While there is nothing notably new to announce on either player, I figured an update on both of their situations would be helpful for those who are asking.
He is a 6’9″ “pogo stick” that weighs 200 somthing. He’s a Husky commit. He will be joining the Huskies in 2011/12 and no one should think anything different. There have been speculation about his grades not being up to par or Romar losing interest in him, but I have yet to read anything substantial to report that. His coach at Tacoma Community College says that Davis is on track and that his grades are just fine.
As far as what he brings to UW remains to be seen. Through 7 games for TCC this year, he is averaging 10.1 points, 8 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks. He seems to have foul trouble in most games but his block numbers are very impressive. 2011/12 Upside: He becomes a lesser version of Derrick Williams and thrives on rebounds and alley-o0ps from Wroten/Gaddy/IT. 2011/12 Downside: He can’t work his way out of the 8th man role and struggles against better opponents. There is limited video on him and I am basing this all off of his stats and expert’s opinions. We’ll just have to wait until the Summer to really know what Romar has with Davis.
Chol is 6’8″ big man with range. He has a great 15 footer and can really stretch a defense. He is currently narrowed his list of schools down to Alabama, Arizona, Kansas, North Carolina, and Washington. This last weekend, he went to Chapel Hill to visit Roy Williams’ Tar Heels team. Here’s the link to UNC Scout article (subscriber only) that details his trip. In summary, he talks about how if UNC’s John Zeller goes pro that he would be able to start immediately and then when asked to describe his trip, he said ““I enjoyed it and I liked the trip. I wouldn’t have a problem going there. It was a good trip.” Read what you will into that, but it sounds like UNC is far from locking him up.
He still has two more visits two go; one at Arizona and then one here at UW. He is set to announce his decision on February 17th after his last trip to UW. The fact that Romar has the last opportunity to make an impression seems like a good sign. The Dawgs was once his favorite school earlier this year and he has said that he will give UW some real credit for being with him since the beginning.
I think Alabama has almost zero chance to land Chol and Kansas is still in the lead to add another big man, DeAndre Daniels. If the Jayhawks do land Daniels, then I think Chol might shy away from them. UNC has the legacy that could tempt Chol, but he is a west coast kid who might not want to play every game on the other side of the country. Arizona seems to scare me the most. They have yet to lose a recruit that they want and seem to be putting together a super-class. Even though they have already signed a big man in Sidiki Johnson, Arizona is close to his home in San Diego and has the legacy to entice him. Where does that leave UW? I say we’re still in the thick of it. As far as percentages, I’d say it breaks down like this:
With Daniels to Kansas:
- Alabama – 5%
- Arizona – 30%
- Kansas – 10%
- UNC – 25%
- UW – 30%
With Daniels NOT to Kansas:
- Alabama – 5%
- Arizona – 25%
- Kansas – 25%
- UNC – 20%
- UW – 25%
To be honest, I’d factor in a +5% UW bias into those numbers. All things considered, I wouldn’t bet on Chol playing for the Huskies last year. There are some quality programs after him and a 25-30% chance isn’t something that I’ll be counting on. We just have to wait and see how his next two trips go and if his gives us any more clues as to which way he is leaning. You gotta love recruiting speculation.