who was the 1 recruit that got away calhoun years..

[superjohn]

Yes.

Curley is the correct answer if we are actually using JC's words.
Gomes is the correct answer if you want the best JC comment.
Durant, Garnett, and others are correct if we want to fantasize.
Camby is never the correct answer.

Calhoun just wants to forget about Camby and Calipari. It's not something he's ever wanted to talk about.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

If you're talking Calhoun wouldn't be able to reel in Camby off the court and get him to stop hanging out with a couple of his criminal friends in Hartford that might be true but Camby was never a problem on the court. He was totally dominant, an awesome teammate, and always gave maximum effort. Maybe Calhoun wouldn't have been able to stop the off the court stuff and they would've gotten dinged for it but I have little doubt they would've cut down the nets at least once with Camby, he was the best player in the country. Camby and Ray Allen would've been one of the best duos in the history of college basketball.

Camby was an immense talent who, with proper motivation could have been one of the greats of his generation. He also was fond of blowing off meals and feasting on soda, chips and candy. Missing a stray practice because he wanted to finish a video game and a handful of other little things. If he cared about his body like for example Ray Allen, he would be in the HOF today. JC pushed players, often beyond what the player felt was his limit (ask Jake Voskhul) because he wanted the best out of them, on all levels. Camby didn't like getting pushed, one of the reasons he and Calipari got along as well as they did was that Calipari was willing to give him as much slack as he wanted.

 

[The Frog]

If I remember correctly, we were really close with Kobe Bryant. He Committed elsewhere, and we settled for RIP, as the backup plan. Kobe though just jump straight to the NBA more after all....

 

[superjohn]

Camby was an immense talent who, with proper motivation could have been one of the greats of his generation. He also was fond of blowing off meals and feasting on soda, chips and candy. Missing a stray practice because he wanted to finish a video game and a handful of other little things. If he cared about his body like for example Ray Allen, he would be in the HOF today. JC pushed players, often beyond what the player felt was his limit (ask Jake Voskhul) because he wanted the best out of them, on all levels. Camby didn't like getting pushed, one of the reasons he and Calipari got along as well as they did was that Calipari was willing to give him as much slack as he wanted.

Best player in the country without being pushed, imagine what Calhoun could've done with him. He may have not liked practice but Camby was like Iverson in the respect that when the lights were on for the game he sacrificed his body on the court. I agree he had Hall of fame talent but it's not like he was a bust or anything. His offense never developed in the NBA like I thought it should have but he was one of the best defensive players of his generation.

As for candy and video games, half the NBA seems to have those addictions. Ray Allen was unique.

 

[superjohn]

If I remember correctly, we were really close with Kobe Bryant. He Committed elsewhere, and we settled for RIP, as the backup plan. Kobe though just jump straight to the NBA more after all....

Kobe was never going to college but if forced to he was going to Duke.

It would've been interesting to see if his daughter Gianna's game would've developed to be good enough to play at UConn. What a terrible tragedy.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Best player in the country without being pushed, imagine what Calhoun could've done with him. He may have not liked practice but Camby was like Iverson in the respect that when the lights were on for the game he sacrificed his body on the court. I agree he had Hall of fame talent but it's not like he was a bust or anything. His offense never developed in the NBA like I thought it should have but he was one of the best defensive players of his generation.

As for candy and video games, half the NBA seems to have those addictions. Ray Allen was unique.

Yep. Multiple times led the league in blocks, was a DPOY, several all-defensive teams, 11 seasons averaging more than 10 rpg.

 

[UConn94]

Perhaps fact, possible urban legend (probably somewhere in the middle) but rumor was Toraino Walker was the host for Curley and Toraino didn't want him to come to UConn and take a spot so he left him at his apartment and went out partying without him. Not sure you ever want Toraino in charge of anything given his track record but none of this would surprise me if true.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Couldn't have been him.

While he was from a tough place (East St Louis), Martin was a model citizen. He really liked the school and JC but felt the program wasn't big enough at the time. JC had a similar situation a few years earlier with a kid (I believe his name was Perry Clark, may be wrong on his last name) who ended up at Ohio State (ironically we beat him in the NIT final).

At the time, with kids from where they were from, we couldn't compete with a quality B10 program.

The number is quite a bit higher than one on quality recruits that we just missed on. We could have gotten to where we are a bit quicker if we landed one or two but, all things considered I'm very happy with the results.

As an aside, not considering all the details (which could cover 20 pages) I don't believe that Camby and JC could have coexisted. HC wanted kids to demand the best from themselves. Camby wanted to be able to do what he wanted when he wanted.

Perry Carter is the kid you are thinking about for Ohio St. Your memory isn't correct there, UConn & Calhoun really, really wanted Carter as one of his first big national recruits but simply lost out to Ohio State. No worries though as UConn later beat Ohio State and Mr. Carter (didn't develop as much as he would have under Calhoun) in NIT final. I'm not sure if it was Perry Carter that Lyman posterized early in that final.

 

[The Frog]

Kobe was never going to college but if forced to he was going to Duke.

It would've been interesting to see if his daughter Gianna's game would've developed to be good enough to play at UConn. What a terrible tragedy.

Yup. Still, remember that day. Fog and a mountain. still a head-scratcher. Gianna already had her offer. Kobe was on record to telling other influencers NBA'er trying to convince him to send her to USC, Stamford UCLA. And his response to them. Was that her 13-year-old daughter had already made up her own mind? She was going to be a Uconn Husky. And there was nothing he could/would do to convince her otherwise. She had her 20-year plan in place. And the Path included winning a championship as a Huskie.....

 

[B1GEast]

Danbury CT high school parade all American guard Anthony Harris ended up at Syracuse in the early 90's.

I was really hoping that kid would stay local. Unfortunately he never really panned out and had some minor off the field issues.

For some reason I never forget that one.

 

[ElGreco]

Yes.

Curley is the correct answer if we are actually using JC's words.
Gomes is the correct answer if you want the best JC comment.
Durant, Garnett, and others are correct if we want to fantasize.
Camby is never the correct answer.

Agree 100%. Gomes’ comments is a classic

 

[ElGreco]

Yup. Still, remember that day. Fog and a mountain. still a head-scratcher. Gianna already had her offer. Kobe was on record to telling other influencers NBA'er trying to convince him to send her to USC, Stamford UCLA. And his response to them. Was that her 13-year-old daughter had already made up her own mind? She was going to be a Uconn Husky. And there was nothing he could/would do to convince her otherwise. She had her 20-year plan in place. And the Path included winning a championship as a Husky.....

She still in HS? Perhaps to honor her father she comes to UConn. Have heard nothing.

 

[cullaville]

KG or KD, I read in Calhoun’s Dare to Dream book that we coulda had baron davis too but he didn’t wanna leave the west coast

If he didn't want to leave the west coast how could Uconn could had baron davis?

 

[superjohn]

She still in HS? Perhaps to honor her father she comes to UConn. Have heard nothing.

She was in the helicopter with Kobe and passed away.

 

[superjohn]

Yup. Still, remember that day. Fog and a mountain. still a head-scratcher. Gianna already had her offer. Kobe was on record to telling other influencers NBA'er trying to convince him to send her to USC, Stamford UCLA. And his response to them. Was that her 13-year-old daughter had already made up her own mind? She was going to be a Uconn Husky. And there was nothing he could/would do to convince her otherwise. She had her 20-year plan in place. And the Path included winning a championship as a Husky.....

It's so sad, I remember hearing the Kobe news and shaking. Then I heard Gianna was with him and I broke down. Awful day and then Covid happened. It's been an incredibly rough 3+ years for many people and collectively as a nation/world.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Randall Jackson, Boston area kid went to FSU instead.

 

[ElGreco]

She was in the helicopter with Kobe and passed away.

OMG, I should have known. I forgot. Senility took over when I was typing

 

[Palatine]

Curley would have fit that UConn team perfectly. The Sunday before he committed Bob Ryan wrote an article in the Globe saying that if he didn't go to BC, BC should give up basketball. I honestly think that had some effect.

BCU should have given up basketball. That wold have saved everyone years of heart ache.

 

[Scrutiner]

Calhoun probably only landed about 12 McDonalds All Americans in his entire career. His real gift was to find top 40, top 50 players like Ray Allen, Ben Gordon, along with some international finds, Nadav Henedeld, Doran Scheffer, and some unknown bigs like Voskul, Thabeet, Hilton Armstrong, Okafor and develop them all into stars.

I don't think he even had five. Hamilton and Donyell, yes, but who else? Kemba? Charlie?
Might just be my memory is bogged down with all the posts about Timberland.

 

[Scrutiner]

Yep, Best was another big miss. Ollie was a good point guard but Travis Best was on a whole other level.

I met Travis at a fund-raising event in Holyoke (Winter 1991) before he committed to Ga Tech and, because it was still legal to talk with him about college choices, my friend asked him what he thought about UConn and he said all the right things. Good politician, and he was very pleasant and easy to speak with but very careful to not divulge anything about his plans or thoughts.

 

[Scrutiner]

Women

That was while at UMass. Could Cal have learned from Pitino or was it Bayno that arranged the side benefits since it was him that arrived at Camby's home at 12:01 AM to sign the papers before JC showed up at 8 AM?

 

[superjohn]

I don't think he even had five. Hamilton and Donyell, yes, but who else? Kemba? Charlie?
Might just be my memory is bogged down with all the posts about Timberland.

Donyell, Charlie, Kemba, El-Amin, Rip, Rudy, Taliek, Hazleton, Oriakhi.

Bynum but he opted for NBA. Guys like Caron, Drummond and Daniels would've been if they were eligible.

I might be missing one.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

That was while at UMass. Could Cal have learned from Pitino or was it Bayno that arranged the side benefits since it was him that arrived at Camby's home at 12:01 AM to sign the papers before JC showed up at 8 AM?

Bayno was always there when we were scheduled to see Marcus and he would whisper in his mom's ear as soon as we left to spin almost anything JC said or did as an insult to Camby.

It was Spears however who arranged the hookups.

 

[UCfor3]

I remember the Ike Diogu recruitment as being a painful recruitment even though I wouldn't classify it as the "biggest loss." Too lazy to look but think he ended up choosing Arizona St. Also remember the Nik Caner-Medley recruitment saga. Maryland played an exhibition with a team with a lame name like Beltway Ballers or something and it aided the recruitment (team got paid for playing I think-can't remember particulars). Then the next year we did the same thing with Rudy Gay and played a similar exhibition and Gary Williams had an aneurysm and complained. Didn't like when the shoe was on the other foot. I think shortly after this those types of exhibitions were banned...but we got Rudy.

 

[Scrutiner]

I never say camby in cars. Bt the word of many people i worked with said it.. running joke at the school.. ie second hand

Living amongst all the UMass fans in Western Mass at the time was tough. Losing Camby to them and their Final Four were the worst, but all that was wiped out by the allegations of hookers being supplied to his room by an agent and the famous gold chain necklace with the large diamond encrusted number 21 on the chain that lead to the vacating of their appearance in the Final Four.

When asked by a reporter why he had not questioned Camby about the necklace (regarding size of the chain itself and the large gold #21 encrusted with diamonds), the AD at the time, Bob Marcum, famously said "we didn't know they were real diamonds".