Connecticut junior center Amida Brimah has declared for the draft, league sources told Shams Charania of The Vertical. He has no immediate plans to sign with an agent, and he’ll retain his college eligibility as long as he doesn’t hire representation and withdraws by the May 25th deadline. Brimah is just 123rd in Chad Ford’s ESPN Insider rankings, while Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress lists him at No. 57 in his 2017 mock draft. That lends credence to the idea that the 7’0″ 22-year-old will be back with the Huskies next season, though he’ll work to draw the attention of NBA teams this spring, Charania writes.
Brimah was second in NCAA Division I with 3.5 blocks per game during the 2014/15 season, but he swatted only 2.7 per contest this past season as his minutes declined and he fell out of the starting lineup. He nonetheless found a way to up his rebounding despite seeing less time on the court, but his 4.6 boards per game were still low, considering his size. The 7-footer blocked five shots and collected seven rebounds against Colorado in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, one of his better performances of the season.
He was outside the Recruiting Services Consensus Index top 100 coming out of high school in 2013, but he was still a part-time starter on UConn’s 2013/14 national championship team as a freshman. He went scoreless with four rebounds and one block in the title game that year.
Ha. April fools. At least I hope. At least it won’t take a lottery pick to find out he’s a bust a la thabet