A week after cutting his list to 10 schools and crossing out UConn, 6-foot-8 Long Island Lutheran junior forward Tobias Harris visited the Storrs campus and put the Huskies right back on.
“Now, after a visit there, UConn is definitely going to become one of my top schools,” Harris told Mike Anthony of the Hartford Courant. “Actually, they are one of my top schools. I think everything they have going on there is great. I liked everything I saw.”
He added: “UConn produces NBA players. I’ve seen a lot of schools. I definitely came away [from UConn] very impressed.”
Torrel Harris, Tobias’ father, said UConn assistant Andre LaFleur invited them to come back up for another visit after Tobias recently visited for the UConn Elite Camp.
“We went up there and hung out,” Torrel said. “It went well. We just thought that we didn’t see them this summer and Tobias wasn’t too high on their list. The reason we took them off the list is we didn’t know they were high on Tobias. When we made the cut they emphasized that Tobias is really, really high on their list and they really like him. They said, ‘Why don’t you come on down and see the school?’
“Tobias played about seven pickup games with the team. Kemba Walker and Jerome Dyson were on his team, and they won six games straight. And we talked with Coach (Jim) Calhoun. We talked with the academic people. Calhoun just said that he liked Tobias a lot and it’s a good situation for him and we’re highly interested in him. ‘Don’t think that we’re not. Tobias is a UConn kid and we’re very, very interested.'”
Harris previously cut his list of potential schools to 10: Louisville, Syracuse, Rutgers, Georgetown, Virginia, Maryland, Marquette, West Virginia, Wake Forest and USC. Now UConn has vaulted near the top.
“I don’t really have a list or anything like that,” Tobias told Mike Anthony. “I’m really looking at all programs and schools. But this visit made me realize what a good program UConn is.”
Harris is the No. 9 power forward in the Class of 2010 and has numerous scholarship offers. Rutgers has made him a prime target for the Class of 2010.
A year ago, he scored 52 points in one game for Dix Hills (NY) Half Hollow Hills West and scored his 1,000th career point as a sophomore. He recently announced his transfer to Long Island Lutheran.
