The DeAndre Daniels saga is over.
The 6-foot-8 wing ranked the No. 3 small forward in the Class of 2011 committed to UConn Tuesday, according to Andy Borman of IMG Academies. A UConn source confirmed the news.
“Yep, UConn,” Borman said by phone. “He called Coach [Jim] Calhoun and told him it’s a yes to UConn. And then he called Rick Barnes, Bill Self, Billy Donovan and Coach K and let them know that he was going to UConn. He called Calhoun and committed and then he called every coach and thanked them for their interest.”
Borman said Daniels would address the media Wednesday.
Daniels had long been mulling Kansas and Texas, but UConn swooped in in recent weeks and nabbed Daniels, who figures to be an impact player right away for the defending national champs.
“I think he’s going to be a good one,” Borman said. “He really likes Calhoun. I think he really likes the players that they have returning. I think he’s really got a shot to really step in and really help them take another run at this thing.”
UConn has one scholarship to give and had taken a stab at Mitch McGary of Brewster Academy and Andre Drummond of St. Thomas More, both of whom are Class of 2012 but could have reclassified.
“We’re operating right now on 10 scholarships,” Calhoun said recently in New York. “We can add one more and we plan to.”
Now they have the best remaining player on the board joining a team that returns freshman point guard Shabazz Napier and frosh wings Jeremy Lamb and Roscoe Smith as well as sophomore big man Alex Oriakhi.
The addition should immediately move the Huskies up in the preseason Big East and national rankings.
And it probably helps make Calhoun’s decision about whether or not to return a little easier, too.
