Richard Springs joins UConn for 2019 class (UPDATED)

By ADAM ZAGORIA

Richard Springs, the 6-foot-9, 220-pound forward from Brooklyn, N.Y. and the MacDuffie School (MA), has committed to UConn and will enroll for the 2019-20 school year.

Springs was originally set to do a post-graduate year at powerhouse Brewster (N.H.) Academy, but instead will go straight to college, filling the scholarship vacated by UConn’s Mamadou Diarra, who stopped playing due to a chronic knee injury and is now a student assistant coach.

Husky nation what’s good!!? pic.twitter.com/TvTON61wA2

— Richie Springs (@richie_springs) August 6, 2019

“The history behind UConn basketball, the culture and my relationship with the coaching staff definitely played a role in my decision,” Springs said in a text message. “I also want to be a part of something great, As we all know, UConn will be heading back to the Big East and I would love to be part of that rebuilding process and help get UConn back to where it was.”

UConn will re-enter the Big East for the 2020-21 season, and coach Dan Hurley has used that to promote recruiting.

Springs joins a recruiting class that includes forward Akok Akok and guards Jalen Gaffney and James Bouknight, his former teammate at MacDuffie.

“We are thrilled to add Richie to the program,” Dan Hurley said, per a school release. “He gives us a versatile frontcourt player with a ton of upside to complete a very strong 2019 recruiting class for us. We’ll be excited to follow up with another great class in 2020.”

Springs, 17, spent two years at Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Brooklyn before completing high school at MacDuffie, playing under coach Jacque Rivera.

“Richie is an unbelievable person, very bright and very, very coachable,” Rivera said. “Speaking non-athletically, UConn is getting a young man who is caring, selfless and, most importantly, a hard worker in all facets of life. He comes from a great foundation.

He averaged 13 points and 13 rebounds at Peach Jam for the PSA Cardinals.

“Richard Springs is one of the most improved young men the PSA Cardinals program has ever come across,” said directeor Terrance ‘Munch’ Williams. “When I say that, I’m referring to both on and off the court. He is 100 percent ready to take the next challenge in his life and we feel more than comfortable with his family’s choice of University. He will be great!”

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