2020 Recruiting: Cam Thomas Update

[upstater]

I don't know what you're disagreeing with? Player rankings aren't up for debate, those guys I named were all big time recruits. If you think we wouldn't be happy with big time recruits I don't know what to tell you...

Doug Wrenn was considered one of the most talented kid's on the West Coast and probably the whole country, he was a top 25-30 kid but dropped to like 60 something because of his behavior. Tony Robertson was the #31 recruit in his class, Marcus Cox #41 in his class, Jeff Adrien #50, Marcus Johnson #51, Mandeldove #111 #11 center in his class.

Player rankings aren't up for debate?
Scott Hazelton and Vance say Hi!

Please. We knew what we were getting. No one thought Mandeldove was going to be a good get. Please. You act like peope weren't disappointed in Calhoun's classes every 3 or 4 years. They were. They ripped those classes.

 

[intlzncster]

Please. We knew what we were getting. No one thought Mandeldove was going to be a good get. Please. You act like peope weren't disappointed in Calhoun's classes every 3 or 4 years. They were. They ripped those classes.

Which is fine, but in between he was landing 5 star studs, supplemented with quality 4's. We're not there now.

Last year's class was a nice start. But we need to follow it up with something similar (on a smaller scale), at worst. The void down low is gaping.

 

[superjohn]

Player rankings aren't up for debate?
Scott Hazelton and Vance say Hi!

Please. We knew what we were getting. No one thought Mandeldove was going to be a good get. Please. You act like peope weren't disappointed in Calhoun's classes every 3 or 4 years. They were. They ripped those classes.

You make no sense. You think this board would be upset with getting a bunch of top 50 type players.

Your point is when Calhoun wasn't bringing in top 25 players and was instead bringing in top 50 players some fans were pissed? What on earth does this have to do with the situation we're in now.

 

[superjohn]

Which is fine, but in between he was landing 5 star studs, supplemented with quality 4's. We're not there now.

Last year's class was a nice start. But we need to follow it up with something similar (on a smaller scale), at worst. The void down low is gaping.

As upstater already said we'll be fine, we don't need studs because we have Bouknight, Akok, Gaffney, and RJ holding down the fort.

 

[pj]

You make no sense. You think this board would be upset with getting a bunch of top 50 type players.

Your point is when Calhoun wasn't bringing in top 25 players and was instead bringing in top 50 players some fans were pissed? What on earth does this have to do with the situation we're in now.

No, the point is that Calhoun had his share of disappointing classes. Take 1999, which was not bad on a ratings basis (Recruiting Services Consensus Index (RSCI) Rankings - 1999 | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com, #32 Tony Robertson, #45 Marcus Cox, #67 Doug Wrenn) but was still disappointing to those of us who watched Robertson and Cox play in high school, they were mediocre players and their college results proved it. Whereas Hurley's most recent class will be much better, even though Bouknight, Gaffney, Akok, and Springs were not as highly rated.

The only point here is that even proven Hall of Fame coaches have disappointing classes once in a while. Hurley deserves a pass for a single down year. I think something odd is happening right now with corruption, and we may be entering a hard time for honest coaches. Let's see how the coaching staff adapts.

 

[upstater]

You make no sense. You think this board would be upset with getting a bunch of top 50 type players.

Your point is when Calhoun wasn't bringing in top 25 players and was instead bringing in top 50 players some fans were pissed? What on earth does this have to do with the situation we're in now.

The point is, don't look at the rankings, look at the players. You make it seem like posters were impressed when they landed Cox, Coombs-McDaniel or Mandeldove.

By contrast, they were much happier when they landed Jeremy Lamb and Napier, even though these players were ranked in the mid 70s. We all watched the video, we knew what we were getting.

Even the big 5 Ollie class, with all the high ranked players, Juwan, Vance, etc., even that class was suspect. Why? Because despite the very high rankings, the players were not sought-after.

 

[bendm]

Cardwell and a grad-transfer wing for 2020. Make up for it with 4 top 50-150 guys in 2021.

 

[superjohn]

No, the point is that Calhoun had his share of disappointing classes. Take 1999, which was not bad on a ratings basis (Recruiting Services Consensus Index (RSCI) Rankings - 1999 | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com, #32 Tony Robertson, #45 Marcus Cox, #67 Doug Wrenn) but was still disappointing to those of us who watched Robertson and Cox play in high school, they were mediocre players and their college results proved it. Whereas Hurley's most recent class will be much better, even though Bouknight, Gaffney, Akok, and Springs were not as highly rated.

The only point here is that even proven Hall of Fame coaches have disappointing classes once in a while. Hurley deserves a pass for a single down year. I think something odd is happening right now with corruption, and we may be entering a hard time for honest coaches. Let's see how the coaching staff adapts.

We were supposed to have momentum with our new coach/getting back in the Big East and it seems to be the opposite. We've seen the get involved with and fade for top recruits thing and it doesn't work out. The idea that we'll be fine if this class is a s***burger is just not the reality...As to whatever point upstater is trying to make I disagree, we would be ecstatic with the #31, #45, and #67 recruits in this class. Upstater seems to be trying to say rankings don't matter now, they absolutely do...the highly ranked kids tend to be the better players and they are our priority, when we're moving way down our list for kids there is a problem....

Pretending we weren't happy about Robertson, Wrenn, and Cox is just that...pretend. I remember watching Robertson go head to head against Jason Williams (Duke) and thinking he would be an absolute stud. We were talking about Wrenn being the best athlete ever here. If we weren't happy with a top 50 recruit back then it's only because we were a top 5 program and wanted all top 25 players. It isn't at all relevant to now.

We have to hope things become clearer and we close on a couple of guys in the next couple of months or so, a nothingburger class is nothing but bad news for us.

 

[husky429]

We were supposed to have momentum with our new coach/getting back in the Big East and it seems to be the opposite. We've seen the get involved with and fade for top recruits thing and it doesn't work out. The idea that we'll be fine if this class is a s***burger is just not the reality...As to whatever point upstater is trying to make I disagree, we would be ecstatic with the #31, #45, and #67 recruits in this class. Upstater seems to be trying to say rankings don't matter now, they absolutely do...the highly ranked kids tend to be the better players and they are our priority, when we're moving way down our list for kids there is a problem....

Pretending we weren't happy about Robertson, Wrenn, and Cox is just that...pretend. I remember watching Robertson go head to head against Jason Williams (Duke) and thinking he would be an absolute stud. We were talking about Wrenn being the best athlete ever here. If we weren't happy with a top 50 recruit back then it's only because we were a top 5 program and wanted all top 25 players. It isn't at all relevant to now.

We have to hope things become clearer and we close on a couple of guys in the next couple of months or so, a nothingburger class is nothing but bad news for us.

It's odd some guys think what you're saying is so crazy. IF Hurley and co. Can't get this class sorted out with a couple 4*s at least, it's fair to be disappointed. It's not like you're saying to abandon the team

 

[HooperScooper]

Wrenn wasn't even a much sought after recruit.

That's very wrong. He was a knucklehead but he was a very highly rated recruit.

Only 67 because some of the recruiting sites didn't rank post grads.

1999 Final - RSCIhoops

Recruiting Services Consensus Index of the top 100 high school basketball players in the US since 1998

sites.google.com

 

[upstater]

We were supposed to have momentum with our new coach/getting back in the Big East and it seems to be the opposite. We've seen the get involved with and fade for top recruits thing and it doesn't work out. The idea that we'll be fine if this class is a s***burger is just not the reality...As to whatever point upstater is trying to make I disagree, we would be ecstatic with the #31, #45, and #67 recruits in this class. Upstater seems to be trying to say rankings don't matter now, they absolutely do...the highly ranked kids tend to be the better players and they are our priority, when we're moving way down our list for kids there is a problem....

Pretending we weren't happy about Robertson, Wrenn, and Cox is just that...pretend. I remember watching Robertson go head to head against Jason Williams (Duke) and thinking he would be an absolute stud. We were talking about Wrenn being the best athlete ever here. If we weren't happy with a top 50 recruit back then it's only because we were a top 5 program and wanted all top 25 players. It isn't at all relevant to now.

We have to hope things become clearer and we close on a couple of guys in the next couple of months or so, a nothingburger class is nothing but bad news for us.

How long have you been on this board? Classes that won us national championships were excoriated. Please. I have a longer memory than you.

We'll be just fine.

 

[superjohn]

How long have you been on this board? Classes that won us national championships were excoriated. Please. I have a longer memory than you.

We'll be just fine.

I've been here from back when every recruit you mentioned was recruited by us. Your memory is clearly bad based off of what you said about all those recruits you mentioned.

I've pointed out all of this and you're back to we will be fine no matter what this class looks like.

 

[upstater]

I've been here from back when every recruit you mentioned was recruited by us. Your memory is clearly bad based off of what you said about all those recruits you mentioned.

I've pointed out all of this and you're back to we will be fine no matter what this class looks like.

My memory is much better than yours on this. We've had classes that held the fort and helped this team a great deal just get ridiculed here. I remember the people who did it too, because I thought it was funny. This place is all about despair most of the time.

 

[superjohn]

My memory is much better than yours on this. We've had classes that held the fort and helped this team a great deal just get ridiculed here. I remember the people who did it too, because I thought it was funny. This place is all about despair most of the time.

Lolz.

 

[Horatio]

Comparing then to now is a bit silly and Doug Wrenn, Tony Robertson, Marcus Johnson, Marcus Cox, and Jeff Adrien were all considered studs coming out of high school. We would be ecstatic to have them coming in now. Even Mandeldove was a 4 star highly ranked center we would be excited about.

I’d love to have Jeff Adrien and Tony Robertson again.

 

[superjohn]

I’d love to have Jeff Adrien and Tony Robertson again.

This is a perfect example of replying to an upstater post. It goes on for several pages and you're just left wishing he was trolling because the alternative is much worse.

 

[upstater]

Lolz.

Scout board is gone. Our most prominent posters sneered at the very classes that won us 2 championships during the Scout board's time.

Did you not think the Donnell Beverly class was an example of bad recruiting?

Beverly actually played some key minutes in the final 4 in 2011.

The next year we landed Kemba and Scottie Haralson.

In 2011, people were apoplectic when we grabbed Niels Giffey, Enosch Wolf, Tyler Olander, Shabazz and Jeremy Lamb.

This was all on the Scout board. People predicted doom.

You look at those 2 classes in the span of 4 years, and you can't say UConn didn't have down years or that UConn recruited much more highly back then, because they didn't. The stud class of Oriakhi and Coombs-McDaniel had everyone more optimistic, and that was sandwiched in between. The year after that, they landed Boatright, Daniels and Drummon. Following that, Omar Calhoun, Phillip Nolan and Leon Tolksdorf.

In the eyes of the Boneyard, every other year was a down year.

2008: DOWN
2009: UP
2010: UP
2011: DOWN
2012: UP
2013: DOWN

It yoyo'd back and forth.

 

[Shine33]

I don't know what you're disagreeing with? Player rankings aren't up for debate, those guys I named were all big time recruits. If you think we wouldn't be happy with big time recruits I don't know what to tell you...

Doug Wrenn was considered one of the most talented kid's on the West Coast and probably the whole country, he was a top 25-30 kid but dropped to like 60 something because of his behavior. Tony Robertson was the #31 recruit in his class, Marcus Cox #41 in his class, Jeff Adrien #50, Marcus Johnson #51, Mandeldove #111 #11 center in his class.

All you are really doing here is proving the inconsistency of rankings. We can miss out on a #41 ranked recruit and get an unranked guy like Giffey or a lower ranked recruit like Brimah and end up in better shape than if we get one of these top 100 guys like Kofi.

I believe recruiting is more like fitting puzzle pieces than it is about grabbing the top of the shelf. Many ppl on this board don’t see it that way. The best coaches find the RIGHT players for their team not the highest ranked players.

 

[AntG168]

Can we just see how this plays out first. This stuff goes in waves. We’ll be the favorites for a couple of these guys again before it’s all over. Trust the Grind

 

[superjohn]

All you are really doing here is proving the inconsistency of rankings. We can miss out on a #41 ranked recruit and get an unranked guy like Giffey or a lower ranked recruit like Brimah and end up in better shape than if we get one of these top 100 guys like Kofi.

I believe recruiting is more like fitting puzzle pieces than it is about grabbing the top of the shelf. Many ppl on this board don’t see it that way. The best coaches find the RIGHT players for their team not the highest ranked players.

Why is unbelievably simple stuff so difficult for some on this board? Higher ranked recruits tend to be better players than lower ranked recruits. Upstater brought up a bunch of players many of which were really highly ranked and we would be incredibly happy to have...Hurley and staff have prioritized several highly ranked kids who we seemed to be in a really good spot with and seem to no longer be in a really good spot with. The fear is we are going way down the list and a small class where we thought we could zero in on a couple of studs and fill those schollies because of our new coach and Big East momentum may turn out to be a total bust. Upstater is fine with it being a total bust because Bouknight, Gaffney, Akok, and RJ will carry us.

i happen to think a bust of a class is detrimental to the future of your team and the staff better make sure that doesn't happen.

Your logic seems to be that our staff would be better off with their D or E options than the highly ranked guys they have prioritized for many months.

 

[Chief00]

JuJu and Hassan are going to be a problem in the same backcourt over there at PSA.

My PSA connect is raving about JuJu’s ability.

Yeah he’s good and the reason Tom was there.

 

[dennismenace]

We basically have no proven big time players coming off losing seasons and we're talking about a fear of playing time? We should routinely be getting big time classes, we're UConn with a new coach and back in the Big East.

How can the incoming class (high school players that is) which is very highly rated be "proven big time players" when they are still in high school? Are you suggesting we should be investing everything in recruiting for say only the top 20-25 recruits who might have the self confidence to risk coming here believing that they can start over these kids one year a head of them (and maybe 3 more after that)? We haven't reached the level yet of the "UConn" rep from years past. I think Hurley knows what he is doing and I don't think we can afford an instant gratification moment by firing our sales staff just yet. That creates instability. This incoming class should be the nucleus to build on and add to. I'm afraid that takes a degree of patience. A lot of damage has been done by the past. We also are maintaining a zero tolerance for policy for fa$t lane recruiting so who knows how many young "$tudent athlete$" will put up with that? We have to start winning and we need to show some big improvement this year.

 

[pj]

We were supposed to have momentum with our new coach/getting back in the Big East and it seems to be the opposite. We've seen the get involved with and fade for top recruits thing and it doesn't work out. The idea that we'll be fine if this class is a s***burger is just not the reality...As to whatever point upstater is trying to make I disagree, we would be ecstatic with the #31, #45, and #67 recruits in this class. Upstater seems to be trying to say rankings don't matter now, they absolutely do...the highly ranked kids tend to be the better players and they are our priority, when we're moving way down our list for kids there is a problem....

Pretending we weren't happy about Robertson, Wrenn, and Cox is just that...pretend. I remember watching Robertson go head to head against Jason Williams (Duke) and thinking he would be an absolute stud. We were talking about Wrenn being the best athlete ever here. If we weren't happy with a top 50 recruit back then it's only because we were a top 5 program and wanted all top 25 players. It isn't at all relevant to now.

We have to hope things become clearer and we close on a couple of guys in the next couple of months or so, a nothingburger class is nothing but bad news for us.

I watched Tony Robertson go head to head against Jay Williams and he was totally out-classed, I wished we were getting Williams.

Recruiting rankings are more reliable now than in 1999. With modern AAU and video shared over Internet and evaluation networks, Tony would have been 80-100 and Marcus 100-150. Tony was the classic combo guard who you hope can become either a good PG or a good SG, but has a high risk of just staying mediocre at everything. Wrenn, I never saw in high school, obviously he had great talent but we never got to see it. But character and mental makeup are part of recruiting too.

As for this class, something has changed in the recruiting atmosphere. Guys closing in on a final list, then re-opening recruiting; or closing in on a commitment, then deciding to extend their recruitment indefinitely. Kofi last year, going to Illinois out of the blue. There are unseen forces at work leading players to change not just their favorites, but their whole approach and process of coming to a decision.

Our guys have been doing things the right way, and it looks like the right way may not be the winning way this year.

Personally, I have faith in them, because I think they are great coaches, and I think there are players out there who recognize that the value to their careers of great coaching will exceed whatever enticements other schools can offer. But they have to make that case more convincing by winning and getting players drafted.

 

[Chief00]

So the NBE isn’t the selling point some Casual Fans thought it was as guys signed with Duke, Memphis and UK.

As Chief sees it, the more important factors are money and not being able now to play the NBA card. Unfortunately, the school shot itself in the foot on the incidental contact thing with NBA players, thanks to highlighting the Ray Allen thing. Schools who have these guys do it all the time and we unilaterally disarmed. Now if there is contact it will truly be random and accidental. How sad.

As for money, I have no problem not doing it but there have always been legal ways to do it until a loophole gets closed. Remember Ray selling a half a dozen cars a summer or the Beltway Ballers coach’s $25k check. I am purposely sticking to already public stuff from a long time ago to make this point.

In today’s real World how many UK, Duke or Memphis star recruit even need a semi-fake summer job? My guess, is few if any. You have to ask yourself why?

This is the life out on The Grind. These aren’t significant factors recruiting at URI or Wagner. It is for top 50 guys. So the older Casual Fans can talk about the Diary Bar, but honestly do you think it’s a factor today? How many people asked me down in Jersey about it this week? None.
#ChiefKeepingItReal

 

[Chief00]

Scout board is gone. Our most prominent posters sneered at the very classes that won us 2 championships during the Scout board's time.

Did you not think the Donnell Beverly class was an example of bad recruiting?

Beverly actually played some key minutes in the final 4 in 2011.

The next year we landed Kemba and Scottie Haralson.

In 2011, people were apoplectic when we grabbed Niels Giffey, Enosch Wolf, Tyler Olander, Shabazz and Jeremy Lamb.

This was all on the Scout board. People predicted doom.

You look at those 2 classes in the span of 4 years, and you can't say UConn didn't have down years or that UConn recruited much more highly back then, because they didn't. The stud class of Oriakhi and Coombs-McDaniel had everyone more optimistic, and that was sandwiched in between. The year after that, they landed Boatright, Daniels and Drummon. Following that, Omar Calhoun, Phillip Nolan and Leon Tolksdorf.

In the eyes of the Boneyard, every other year was a down year.

2008: DOWN
2009: UP
2010: UP
2011: DOWN
2012: UP
2013: DOWN

It yoyo'd back and forth.

Some valid points, but to also be fair, Jim had some legitimate playing time issues due to known returning stacked lineups. Top recruits don’t want to sit. That’s partly why he would occasionally have down years.