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We just filled out biggest hole in next year's lineup with a big recruiting win over the weekend, and people are already bitching.
SG Mustapha Heron (Auburn Commit)
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You are right, Shonn Miller is a very nice get and Kudos to the staff on getting a player who should be a very big contributor at a key spot for us next year.
However, do you think that our recruiting this year has been as good as we expected it to be? With all the top recruits that we went after, we really didn't to very well, and got our asses handed to us by programs that we should not lose key recruits to. These include Jones to UNLV, the kid to VCU, kid to Marquette, Stone to Maryland etc. We lost out on an absolute TON of recruits this year. Something has to be fixed with recruiting going forward. I think that this is pretty obvious and most people would agree with this statement.
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Yes, most people would. And we know that most people would, since it's been pointed out ad nauseum on this very website. The recruiting has been a disappointment so far. But we just got some great news, and it seems silly to immediately start pissing and moaning again because a player who was always going with a specific assistant coach is still going to follow that coach. While you're complaining that we never get any of the top CT recruits, you failed to mention that we're bringing in the CT POY in Enoch this very year. So maybe take it down a notch.
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We offered Dunn, but were basically out of the picture when he announced, even though the headlines were "picks PC over UConn". I believe we hadn't been in contact with him in over a month - basically when we got the commitment from a Omar in June, that was that. We had Bazz and Lamb going into sophomore years and Boat coming in, heavy scholarship reductions, a team going on probation, and a crowded backcourt. It just wasn't a good fit for either side at that point.
In hindsight, sure, Dunn over Omar would be great now (no offense to Omar, who has been a good teammate and Husky). Omar was better as a freshmen, both had injury problems, and Dunn came back a new man from his surgery, while Omar came back a shadow of himself. But I wouldn't want to turn back the clock and make personnel changes to a team that won a title - butterfly effect and all. For all his strengths, Dunn put up two colossal stink bombs in big games this year - Kentucky and Dayton (combined 17 turnovers). Not sure he has the big game gene in him - at least not yet.
In hindsight, sure, Dunn over Omar would be great now (no offense to Omar, who has been a good teammate and Husky). Omar was better as a freshmen, both had injury problems, and Dunn came back a new man from his surgery, while Omar came back a shadow of himself. But I wouldn't want to turn back the clock and make personnel changes to a team that won a title - butterfly effect and all. For all his strengths, Dunn put up two colossal stink bombs in big games this year - Kentucky and Dayton (combined 17 turnovers). Not sure he has the big game gene in him - at least not yet.
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Same thing was said after we missed Brandon Knight, Cory Joseph, CJ Leslie, etc. We brought in a 7 man class that people whined about on here for months because they weren't highly ranked. Obviously that class worked out pretty damn well. Recruiting is fluid and every school misses on key targets all the time. We're bringing in an incredible point guard and skilled big who hasn't even tapped his potential yet. I've been hearing that the sky is falling on this board since 2007 and things still work out because the program that JC built is bigger than people give it credit for.
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FASTEDDY said:
This has been discussed a lot here, and I've said this before (and earned some blowback, since there are fair counter-points to be made), but those recruits we lost were largely wings we tried to recruit one class behind Daniel Hamilton, who was a top 25 recruit. It's a bit tough to do, unless the guy coming in is a sure one and done. One class behind Caron Butler, we got Chad Wise. It would have been nice for us to get a little more depth, but Jones/Mack/Clarke all had to be on some level concerned about spending their first couple seasons backing up a stud. On paper, there weren't many minutes at the two either - Purvis and Cassell (a JuCo A-A) were both there as sophs.
We did get three quality guys in this class (albeit Miller for only one year). - Ali also set us back a bit with his commit/decommit (Jackson to a lesser extent). But we ended up filling our biggest needs, besides maybe one shooter/ballhandler in the backcourt. Other than Briscoe, though, we didn't really end up in the hunt for a guy like that after Adams signed. If I have a beef with our recruiting efforts, it was that we prioritized wings in the fall when we should have looked harder at a 1 or 2 to bring in along with Adams. Purvis really belongs at the 3 in college, so we had plenty of options/depth there but not a lot of guys to handle the ball or knock down shots in the backcourt.
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Fellas I know all about Super John Williamson, he was before my time but was one of my pops favorite players and is the reason for my boneyard handle. I know all about the Wilbur Cross teams and Bob Salisbury.
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Just watched a replay of a game this past season between Sacred Heart and Christ The King. Heron is a great player, very deserving of his high ranking.
There's another junior on Sacred Heart who also impressed me greatly, who gets overshadowed by Heron. 6'7" (don't know first name) Flowers. Fluid, athletic, skilled, can shoot inside and out, handle the ball, block shots. real impressive, under the radar player. Reminds me a lot of Giffey.
UConn should keep tabs on Flowers and get in on him over the summer. If he gets in the right national tournaments he might explode like Enoch did.
There's another junior on Sacred Heart who also impressed me greatly, who gets overshadowed by Heron. 6'7" (don't know first name) Flowers. Fluid, athletic, skilled, can shoot inside and out, handle the ball, block shots. real impressive, under the radar player. Reminds me a lot of Giffey.
UConn should keep tabs on Flowers and get in on him over the summer. If he gets in the right national tournaments he might explode like Enoch did.
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Tyrn Flowers is the guy you're thinking of. He's a top-50 New England guy. If he gets some momentum, I could see him being a real prospect, but the odds are definitely against it right now.
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Tyrn Flowers, he was a 6'2 guard as a soph and grew to a legit 6'7 over the summer. He's not really on the national radar too much but I agree he is a player to watch. Still growing into his body but can do a little bit of everything. Handles the ball well, can shoot it and has very good length. I could see him having a good summer and he seems like someone who with a pg year at one of the prep schools could really blow up. Raheem Solomon is Heron's cousin and started as a freshman, another kid to keep tabs on.
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Grew 5 inches last year? Like hearing that! If he continues with the growth spurt, he could definitely blow up. Will be following what he does this summer.
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http://articles.courant.com/2009-03-08/news/cthistory0308_1_cromwell-high-school-foul-third-quarter
Weston was also a great player. My dad coached against him in the state tournament and lost.
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Damn I am not happy I didnt remember Al Weston, a truly remarkable CT HS player and a very good Husky. Good call BlueDog - thx!
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I'm just Old School that's all. Probably to a fault.
. Have a good 1!
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can't forget Tony Hanson
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He decommited on the 17th.... http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcspo...rd-mustapha-heron-de-commits-from-pittsburgh/
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UConn is currently one of four schools recruiting him the hardest at this point:
Heron reported that he was hearing the most from Cincinnati, UConn, St. John’s, and UCLA. He sees a lot of similarities in the schools. For example, he noted that UCLA and St. John’s recruiting process seems to have many parallels and that UConn’s Ollie would also be a player’s coach and has played in the NBA.
http://zagsblog.com/articles/mustapha-heron-hearing-from-four-schools-the-most/
Heron reported that he was hearing the most from Cincinnati, UConn, St. John’s, and UCLA. He sees a lot of similarities in the schools. For example, he noted that UCLA and St. John’s recruiting process seems to have many parallels and that UConn’s Ollie would also be a player’s coach and has played in the NBA.
http://zagsblog.com/articles/mustapha-heron-hearing-from-four-schools-the-most/
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Would be quite surprised if he didn't end up at St. John's.
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Shocked that we're pursuing him.... would need more than this report from Zags to actually believe it
Ollie did watch the Rens (Samuel and Faceys AAU team if I remember correctly), but...
CTBasketball
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Well this is good news. Gonna be hard to drag him away from St. John's though. Has a lot of moxie; watching him play is always fun.
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Let's see if Parish and/or Rothstein call him a liar
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