HOW ETIENNE DEVELOPED
At this point, scholarship offers have begun to drip in every so often for four-star center Micawber Etienne, a native of New York. Kansas and Louisville were the most recent schools to make the move, following Ohio State which extended an offer on March 29.
It wasn’t always that way.
Matthew Fava, the head coach of Connecticut’s Suffield Academy, remembers the beginning of last summer when Etienne only had a Stony Brook offer. At the time, Etienne was a bit unnerved since one of his friends – fellow four-star center Franck Kepnang – was consistently pulling in offers from major-conference programs.
Be patient, Fava preached. He saw Etienne as a high-major talent, and so did PSA Cardinals director Munch Williams.
“At the end of the day, there just aren't many 6-10 guys who can move like him just from a pure numbers standpoint,” Fava told Eleven Warriors. “He has the size and he's mobile. He's capable of playing really hard. I think those three things are just unique. I think we knew he was going to be high-major because of those things.”
Time proved Fava correct.
Etienne picked up three offers on June 15. Then between July 13 and Aug. 8, beginning with Pittsburgh and ending with UCLA, he earned 11 more scholarships from a variety of programs. Garnering such interest, he told Rivals he has visited St. John’s, Providence, UConn, Seton Hall, Rutgers, and Syracuse unofficially and Marquette and Illinois officially.
With the Buckeyes having offered while in-person visits aren’t allowed, they’re playing from behind.
“I have had more direct contact with other programs than I have with Ohio State,” Fava said a couple of weeks ago. “But that's normal. Some of them go through me. Some of them go through Munch. Some of them go directly to Mac and his mom. I don't make anything of that, but I don't have a lot of information on how that relationship developed, so I can't speak to that a lot. I think he's a logical fit there, but I don't have a lot of contact as to how that developed.”
Fava does, though, know what Etienne wants in a college program. He has four main criteria.
- Which schools develop their big men best for the NBA?
- How do coaches use the big men in their schemes and how will he fit?
- Which guards will he be playing with at the college level?
- What opportunities will he have to play early in his career?
Ultimately, those factors will settle where Etienne ends up playing college hoops, whether in Columbus or elsewhere.
