Tim Barrette knew the 6-2 sixth grader who sat a few rows behind his Bristol (Conn.) Central basketball team’s bench would play for him one day. Matter of time, really, before Donovan Clingan would go from eager fan to wearing the team’s maroon and white jersey.
The surprise, though, is the career arc that started as promising but quickly has evoked the idea of a limitless ceiling. Clingan, a 7-1 center, is Rivals’ No. 47 overall player in the 2022 class, defying expectations in a way everyone at Bristol Central can appreciate.
“I didn’t think he’d be this good this early,” said Barrette, Bristol Central’s head coach. “I thought he’d play JV as a freshman and work his way up. After his first summer league game, where he had 12 points and 12 rebounds against varsity competition as basically an eighth grader, I figured that probably wouldn’t happen. Where he has come since is all due to his hard work.”
After two years of high school, Clingan is a college basketball recruiting commodity. He has double-digit offers after a busy week that began June 15, the first day college coaches could directly contact 2022 players. Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey called him that morning and extended an offer, the Irish’s first to a 2022 recruit.
“Obviously, a good school you always see on TV watching college basketball,” Clingan said. “Just good to get to get an offer from a school like that.”
Notre Dame’s interest in Clingan extends back to late last summer, when assistant coach Rod Balanis reached out to Barrette to see when he could set up an open gym workout and come by school to watch. Eventually, Balanis took in a preseason scrimmage and left impressed with Clingan. He and Barrette stayed in touch.
“They have put their time and effort in,” Barrette said.
