Precious Achiuwa

[RipCity]

Sorry for the crowd trying to will him into staying multiple years (even though it would be a bad thing for recruiting if he did).

 

[Rico444]

Sorry for the crowd trying to will him into staying multiple years (even though it would be a bad thing for recruiting if he did).

Yup. I would much rather he comes in, kills it for one year and moves onto the NBA. It would show upcoming recruits (and us fans, actually) that Hurley can take this level of recruit and sharpen the edges to get them to the league quickly.

 

[pj]

Sorry for the crowd trying to will him into staying multiple years (even though it would be a bad thing for recruiting if he did).

"Crowd"? Not one person has tried to will him to stay longer than he needs to.

 

[businesslawyer]

Yup. I would much rather he comes in, kills it for one year and moves onto the NBA. It would show upcoming recruits (and us fans, actually) that Hurley can take this level of recruit and sharpen the edges to get them to the league quickly.

Unreal. In case it's escaping people, the object of a college basketball team is to win games and championships. It is not to attract good players, whom you can then use to attract better players, without any of them staying long enough to truly help you win games and championships.

Honest to God, I swear some of you worry more about what is written on the internet than winning the next game.

 

[Nebraskan18]

Our current 247 predictions. We land 3-4 of these guys and I'm over the moon.

 

[husky429]

Our current 247 predictions. We land 3-4 of these guys and I'm over the moon.

Take Chol Marial off that list. It's an old prediction.

And I'd add Tre Mitchell in there as well, I believe. And Qudus Wahab. I imagine we get one of them.

Unfortunately, we HAVE to add a guard to that list, even if he's a reach. An injury-prone Alterique at the point, and Brendan Adams/Vital at the 2. With Hurley's propensity for playing big, strong guards, we will be desperate.

Maybe we go for a higher-rated grad transfer/regular transfer if we can't get a top 100 guard? The new transfer rule could REALLY be a benefit for us in that regard...

My guess at the class:

- Precious
- Delaire
- 1 of the 3 bigs
- Transfer guard
- Maybe Quinones--but things have been weird with him.

 

[JMick]

Our current 247 predictions. We land 3-4 of these guys and I'm over the moon.

A guard, Achiuwa, Delaire and Cockburn would be one of the best classes we ever landed. Even what appear to be our "plan Bs' as of right right (Bouknight, Tre Mitchell, akk, Tyrese Samuel) would be a really good class

 

[Rico444]

Unreal. In case it's escaping people, the object of a college basketball team is to win games and championships. It is not to attract good players, whom you can then use to attract better players, without any of them staying long enough to truly help you win games and championships.

Honest to God, I swear some of you worry more about what is written on the internet than winning the next game.

I never said I didn't want to win games and championships...nice strawman, though. You can bring in a great player, have him help you win games, move onto the next level quickly, and have that help you to bring in even bigger players while still putting a really good team on the court. The two are not mutually exclusive.

If you'd rather Hurley focus exclusively on three and four stars while getting us to be good enough to win some regular season games, get into the top 25, but then get curb-stomped by teams like Duke in the NCAAs, be my guest...my ideal goal is for us to win while attracting the kinds of players that can help us win a national championship.

 

[SirHypeAlot]

Chol isn't coming here

 

[Ewekon]

Seems like we are battling St John’s on guys.

Yeah. This will be an interesting litmus test in recruiting metro NYC guys. Will recruits prefer a NBE bottom feeder that plays some games at MSG to UConn in the AAC?

A previous coach complained about recruiting into the league.

 

[businesslawyer]

I never said I didn't want to win games and championships...nice strawman, though. You can bring in a great player, have him help you win games, move onto the next level quickly, and have that help you to bring in even bigger players while still putting a really good team on the court. The two are not mutually exclusive.

If you'd rather Hurley focus exclusively on three and four stars while getting us to be good enough to win some regular season games, get into the top 25, but then get curb-stomped by teams like Duke in the NCAAs, be my guest...my ideal goal is for us to win while attracting the kinds of players that can help us win a national championship.

No, I'm laughing at you rooting for a player who presumably could help us on the court from staying so that you can attract future players who then can also leave before they help us on the court. I'd love Achiuwa. And if he's good enough to make mega-bucks after one year here, more power to him. But the thought that I'm going to be helping UConn by hoping he doesn't stay for a second year if he's that good? Sorry, you don't see it, but that's funny.

 

[Nebraskan18]

I really want Bouknight, and I'd like Dawes too

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

If you'd rather Hurley focus exclusively on three and four stars while getting us to be good enough to win some regular season games, get into the top 25, but then get curb-stomped by teams like Duke in the NCAAs, be my guest...my ideal goal is for us to win while attracting the kinds of players that can help us win a national championship.

You missed his point.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Unreal. In case it's escaping people, the object of a college basketball team is to win games and championships. It is not to attract good players, whom you can then use to attract better players, without any of them staying long enough to truly help you win games and championships.

Honest to God, I swear some of you worry more about what is written on the internet than winning the next game.

I hear you, and you can point to a guy like Drummond as an example of a 1-and-done who came through the program without leaving any kind of an impact.

However, we're at a very tenuous position as far as our national relevance. Getting a top recruit is a way to quickly re-establish our national reputation, which then translates into better recruiting overall (including those good 3-4 year guys that programs like Nova and Gonzaga have thrived on).

As a counter-example to your point, we won a championship in 2014 and got basically zero recruiting bump off of it, which led to 4 largely miserable years (yes, atrocious coaching played a role, but the point is that winning doesn't necessarily beget winning).

 

[businesslawyer]

I hear you, and you can point to a guy like Drummond as an example of a 1-and-done who came through the program without leaving any kind of an impact.

However, we're at a very tenuous position as far as our national relevance. Getting a top recruit is a way to quickly re-establish our national reputation, which then translates into better recruiting overall (including those good 3-4 year guys that programs like Nova and Gonzaga have thrived on).

As a counter-example to your point, we won a championship in 2014 and got basically zero recruiting bump off of it, which led to 4 largely miserable years (yes, atrocious coaching played a role, but the point is that winning doesn't necessarily beget winning).

We're not talking about Getting The Recruit. I want to Get The Recruit. We are talking about not wanting The Recruit to come back for a second year.

 

[Rico444]

No, I'm laughing at you rooting for a player who presumably could help us on the court from staying so that you can attract future players who then can also leave before they help us on the court. I'd love Achiuwa. And if he's good enough to make mega-bucks after one year here, more power to him. But the thought that I'm going to be helping UConn by hoping he doesn't stay for a second year if he's that good? Sorry, you don't see it, but that's funny.

No, you missed my point. I want him to be so good that he leaves after one year. I don't want players to stay longer than they should just so our team can win, and that's something Jim Calhoun didn't want, either (remember Caron Butler crying at the podium because he didn't want to leave UConn, but Jim told him he would be nuts to stay?). And no, I don't just want every player we recruit to be a one-and-done and have us post mediocre results each season, but Prescious is (potentially) Hurley's first five-star prospect. Remember the impact that Chris Smith had on Jim Calhoun? That's the kind of impact Hurley's first five-star could have on his time here. Building a buzz in the recruiting community and the ability to bring in more top 30 recruits is more important to me than hoping a kid isn't as good as advertised just so we can squeeze a 2nd year out of him.

Every time in the past that we've had a player good enough to be a lottery pick, or have their draft value be maxed out, we've had a large contingent on the board argue that it's "in his best interest" to stay another year. Most of the time it isn't; we're just being selfish as fans because we want nothing more than to win national championships. If Achiuwa comes here as a top-10 recruit, and is hailed as a "one-and-done" by most prospect evaluators, but he doesn't live up to the hype and is merely "good" and not "great," but that means we get another year out of him, I'm not necessarily jumping up and down calling that a win. Other coaches will use that to negative-recruit Hurley, saying that he can't get the best of the best to the next level.

 

[Rico444]

You missed his point.

He missed mine, too, so I guess we'll call it even.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

Best case recruiting class
A guard
Achiuwa
Delaire
Kofi

I'd love for Bouknight but if another schollie doesn't open, we need a pure point guard.

 

[Kenny11]

Chol isn't coming here

True and that is a good thing. He is extremely fragile. He is playing on a minutes restriction the few times he is actually playing. There is no way he will be ready to deal with any college's grueling workouts/practice on his current "plan".

 

[Huskyforlife]

True and that is a good thing. He is extremely fragile. He is playing on a minutes restriction the few times he is actually playing. There is no way he will be ready to deal with any college's grueling workouts/practice on his current "plan".

Surely he’ll never heal from his injury.

 

[JMick]

Surely he’ll never heal from his injury.

Unfortunately for the kid, it doesn't seem like "a" injury. It seems like a constant issue/issues. I would take Kofi and Tre Mitchell over him at this point.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Unfortunately for the kid, it doesn't seem like "a" injury. It seems like a constant issue/issues. I would take Kofi and Tre Mitchell over him at this point.

I'll always take a flier on his level of talent. Preferably get Mitchell and Chol.

 

[JMick]

I'll always take a flier on his level of talent. Preferably get Mitchell and Chol.

If we were at our usual strength I'd agree but we need talented bodies that can give a lot of minutes right now

 

[HuskyHawk]

Best case recruiting class
A guard
Achiuwa
Delaire
Kofi

I'd love for Bouknight but if another schollie doesn't open, we need a pure point guard.

Why do people keep saying this? Gilbert is a PG with two years of eligibility as of 2019-20. B. Adams is a PG with 3 years of eligibility as of 2019-20. Our only SG is Vital, who will have 1 year of eligibility. We need a shooting guard. Ahead of any other position on the court.

Gilbert will be fine. Don't worry about it. The 2020 class will need a PG.

 

[superjohn]

Why do people keep saying this? Gilbert is a PG with two years of eligibility as of 2019-20. B. Adams is a PG with 3 years of eligibility as of 2019-20. Our only SG is Vital, who will have 1 year of eligibility. We need a shooting guard. Ahead of any other position on the court.

Gilbert will be fine. Don't worry about it. The 2020 class will need a PG.

Because they are still worried about the injury, it's understandable after watching the poor kid already have two seasons ruined.