With Kemba Walker all but certain to head to the NBA, could the UConn Huskies lose star freshman Jeremy Lamb, too?
His father says there’s a chance.
“It’s one of those situations where we really don’t know,” Rolando Lamb, a former college player at Virginia Commonwealth, told SNY.tv by phone Saturday evening. “Just gathering information right now. That’s where we’re at. We’re just gathering information.”
Asked if experts had told him that Jeremy could get drafted, Rolando said, “Yeah, oh yeah.”
Underclassmen have until April 24 to declare for the NBA Draft, and can withdraw by May 8 and return to campus assuming they don’t hire an agent.
The 6-foot-5 Lamb averaged just 9.6 points during the regular season, but his stock exploded as UConn won 11 straight postseason games — five in five days to capture the Big East Tournament and six more to win UConn’s third NCAA championship since 1999.
Lamb averaged 16.2 points during the NCAA Tournament, hitting for a career-high tying 24 against San Diego State, 19 versus Arizona in the West Regional final and 12 in the national semifinals against Kentucky.
With UConn trailing Butler 22-19 at halftime in the national championship game, Lamb scored all 12 of his points in the second half to key a 53-41 rout.
“Oh, I think it helped [his stock] tremendously because when you put up numbers like that on that stage in the NCAA Tournament, I think it always increases your stock,” Rolando said.
Lamb, a wing out of Norcross, Ga., is willowy thin and some have suggested he could benefit from at least another year in school to bulk up. His father wasn’t certain he agreed with that thought process.
“He could do that in the NBA, though,” he said. “It all depends how you look at it. There’s two ways to look at it.”
Rolando emphasized that the family was still weighing its options and hadn’t decided yet.
“I think that’s the responsible thing to do is just gather information and see what’s being said out there,” he said. “I think that will help us make an informed decision.”
ZACH LAMB MULLING OPTIONS
Zach Lamb, Jeremy’s older brother, is still mulling his options after de-committing from Manhattan in the wake of the coaching change.
Rolando Lamb said his son had heard from “a number of schools” interested in his son, including South Alabama, Michigan State, La Salle, Drexel and Hofstra.
“We will visit some of those schools and hopefully can narrow it down and get a decision made by the end of this month,” Rolando said.
Rolando said his son will not play for Manhattan no matter who the school hires as its new coach.
Lamb is a 6-4, 180-pound wing who averaged 13 points last season at Miami Dade College.
He signed a National Letter of Intent with Manhattan last November. Former coach Barry Rohrssen was fired last month.
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