By ADAM ZAGORIA
Donovan Clingan, the 7-foot-1 Class of 2022 big man from Bristol (CT) Central and the Boston Spartans AAU program, has been piling up high-major offers since coaches could begin calling on Monday.
Michigan State, Rutgers, Iowa and Maryland of the Big Ten, Notre Dame and Virginia Tech of the ACC and Yale of the Ivy League have all offered. He previously held offers from UConn, Providence, Georgetown, Syracuse, Boston College and UMass.
Clingan told GameTimeCt.com he spoke this week to Tom Izzo (Michigan State), Jim Boeheim (Syracuse), Patrick Ewing (Georgetown), Danny Hurley (UConn), Mike Brey (Notre Dame), Steve Pikiell (Rutgers), James Jones (Yale) and Fran McCaffery (Iowa).
“It feels like I am dreaming with some of these coaches calling me,” Clingan told the site.
Joe Chatman, Clingan’s coach with the Boston Spartans, raved about his upside.
“Personally, last year I reached out to every coach in our area and told them I thought the kid was the best low-post 14-year-old I’ve ever seen,” Chatman told ZAGSBLOG.
“But what he’s done recently is work on his range. He’s shooting the 3 fairly well for a guy his size. His passing ability for a guy that young, like [Jim] Boeheim was saying when he first saw him last year, out of double-teams is unparalleled. It’s better than most bigs at the college level now.
“His passing ability and his ability to play inside and out is phenomenal for a kid that’s only 16 years old.”
Clingan averaged 24.8 points, 17.2 rebounds and 6.4 blocks last season, per GameTimeCT. He has already has scored over 1,000 career points and grabbed over 750 rebounds.
He and his teammates will play in several AAU events this summer, including Zero Gravity events in Massachusetts in early July and the Big Time Classic (July 23-26) and the Fantastic 40 Invitational (July 29-Aug. 2) in Las Vegas, assuming it remains safe to travel and play in Nevada. Those games will be live-streamed to college coaches since July remains a dead period due to the pandemic.
“Although there won’t be any coaches there, I have been told by several high-major coaches that there’s nothing else going on,” Chatman said.
“So if I’m a coach at the Division I level and I can watch games via live stream, as long as the competition is what it needs to be, it’s worth it.”
The Spartans, who last year beat Bronny James’ AAU team, have several other Division 1 prospects. They also feature 6-3 Class of 2022 Northwest Catholic shooting guard Matt Curtis, who recently added offers from Fairfield and Hartford, and has heard from Rutgers, Providence, UMass, Iowa and Hofstra. Chatman’s son, Tony Felder Chatman, a 5-10 point guard, has heard from Boston University, Hartford, Iowa and Rutgers.
“The program in total is taking off,” Chatman said.
“Our goal is to get the kids as much exposure as possible given the circumstances,” Chatman said.
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