In one of the least surprising turns of events I can remember, Norwalk’s Steve Enoch (Rivals #59) has verbally committed to the University of Connecticut. This has been long-anticipated by nearly everyone who follows basketball recruiting, as Enoch, Enoch’s family, and Enoch’s high school coach have all gone on record as stating that Enoch is a lifetime UConn fan. Enoch’s imminent commitment recently caused Rhode Island to cancel an official visit, as they saw the writing on the wall and knew they weren’t truly in contention.
Enoch, who had been lightly recruited until this summer, exploded onto the scene with a dominant performance at the Pangos All-American Camp in June. After outplaying several higher-profile big men, Enoch saw his stock rise, and was drawing the attention of several high profile programs, including Kentucky, Louisville, and Michigan. “Before the game, in layup lines while I was warming up, I took a look and I was amazed,” Enoch told NBC Sports in July. “It wasn’t butterflies, it just made me that much more amped up to play.”
In the end, that attention wasn’t enough to pry him away from the Huskies, who will gladly add him to their 2015 recruiting class, alongside Roxbury, MA guard Jalen Adams (#25). This isn’t the end of 2015 recruiting for Kevin Ollie, who still at least has two more scholarships to play with. While Enoch boasts impressive size at 6-10 and 225 pounds, he’s not just an inside banger, and played primarily at power forward in summer camps. He’s long and athletic, and he showed a lot of different skills offensively, including an impressive handle and outstanding three-point shooting. In other words, he’s not going to interfere with Ollie’s continued pursuit of a true, low-post center like Wisconsin’s Diamond Stone (#5) or California’s Chance Comanche (#31). With one of those players hopefully electing to come to UConn, expect the last open scholarship to go to a wing, like Pennsylvania’s Derrick Jones (#41) or Virginia’s Chris Clarke (#58), both of whom Ollie has been recruiting heavily.
