2020 Recruiting: Cam Thomas Update

[pj]

Robertson was an athlete who could shoot, of course he was recruited. But I don't think too many of those coaches made him their top priority. UConn would have preferred Jay Williams, but he homed in on Duke early.

Tony just never showed the court vision, leadership, or passing skills you need to be a PG at high level DI ball. Nor was he tall enough to be a great SG. And you could see these issues coming in high school. Yes, you hope kids develop. But it was not a big surprise when he didn't.

Blame it on the kid partying if you like, but lots of players party and still develop. If it had been easy for him to develop PG skills, he would have. They just didn't come naturally to him and it would have needed a huge investment for him to have a chance.

 

[ZenConn]

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.

I think it was the circumstances around that recruiting class that had people predicting doom and that we whiffed on a few recruits. It sounds like what's going on with the 2020 class.

If my memory serves me correctly, we had gotten Shabazz late and reclassified to come in earlier after we had whiffed on a few PG prospects including Phil Pressey. Lamb was also not our first choice. We had been targeting Doron Lamb and others.

Although I'm surprised we haven't signed anyone but seeing that we've historically landed great kids in the spring and even summer (in the past Kemba, Bazz, DeAndre, Vital, Drummond, Boat I think?). I'm not officially worried yet. But if we don't have any commits at this time next year, maybe I'll start to get worried.

 

[pj]

How do you know that? It's only your opinion.

Yes, it's my opinion. The recruiting journalism business was still young in 1999. AAU and summer basketball became important only in the 1990s when the NCAA opened up summer recruiting slots and diminished in-school year recruiting. Web browsers only became common after Windows 95 was released in fall 1995, opening up the market. Video wasn't readily available, Youtube wasn't founded until 2005. Lots of things had to come together to enable recruits from all over the country to be discovered and compared.

It would be interesting to have someone correlate high school rankings with NBA draft pick number. I'd bet the correlation has improved significantly.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Are you contending we seem to be falling out of favor with the top recruits we've prioritized this season because they are worried about a lack of playing time because of all the great players we already have? if so, that's insane.

I don't know if we are really falling out of favor or not to be honest. If we are I am sure it's a mix of negative recruiting (Hurley's health, league, not winning) and various carrots offered by those schools, plus fit, playing time and the usual things. It's simplistic to think there is "a cause". Winning is the most important thing.

My post was more to highlight that this isn't, and never was, some make or break class. Last year, with 5 scholarships and a shaky talent level, that was a make or break class. And Hurley did well except at C, which was a backup position (we had two legit UConn level starters returning, AG and Josh). I think he sees Springs playing some 5, so maybe he did address it at the end. We landed very strong players at PG, CG, SG and PF.

So my view of this class was always, get a SF and if possible a C, but basically take best players available. C becomes a must fill position in 21-20 if we don't land one now. SF concerns me because Wilson hasn't shown enough. But we have a top 100 recruited player at every position but C right now (AG, Bouk, Akok, Wilson). Nobody else in our league can say that.

 

[MattMang23]

Lol, reading through this thread and laughing at all the people with “good memories” that keep talking about Donnell Beverly’s “recruiting class” or that he was a “throw-in” in that class. Or that Jonathan Mandeldove was in that class. Beverly was literally the entire class, so all of you in this argument are wrong. Cheers!

 

[CallMeBruce]

I think it was the circumstances around that recruiting class that had people predicting doom and that we whiffed on a few recruits. It sounds like what's going on with the 2020 class.

If my memory serves me correctly, we had gotten Shabazz late and reclassified to come in earlier after we had whiffed on a few PG prospects including Phil Pressey. Lamb was also not our first choice. We had been targeting Doron Lamb and others.

Although I'm surprised we haven't signed anyone but seeing that we've historically landed great kids in the spring and even summer (in the past Kemba, Bazz, DeAndre, Vital, Drummond, Boat I think?). I'm not officially worried yet. But if we don't have any commits at this time next year, maybe I'll start to get worried.

Jeremy Lamb was a first choice - we signed him long before Doron Lamb came off the board, and while we were still recruiting him. Napier was definitely a scramble guy after we whiffed on Knight, Selby, and Joseph.

 

[dennismenace]

You do realize other schools have other players at all those positions too and most of them have better players at those postions than we do. We're coming off of losing seasons, some of our players never would have sniffed getting any minutes on UConn teams of the past. Too many UConn fans in a UConn bubble.

When someone makes some very logical arguments about recruits balking about coming in to a recently stocked top 20 recruited program you simply throw up generalized arguments without specific data to support your conclusions. If you are going to make that point how about some specific examples to buttress your point. Give some evidence to support your arguments. You may be right but illustrate please.

 

[superjohn]

When someone makes some very logical arguments about recruits balking about coming in to a recently stocked top 20 recruited program you simply throw up generalized arguments without specific data to support your conclusions. If you are going to make that point how about some specific examples to buttress your point. Give some evidence to support your arguments. You may be right but illustrate please.

What do you need illuatrated? If you think our roster is too stacked it's scaring away recruits I don't know what to tell you. Guys like Jackson, Cam, Cliff etc. aren't deterred by what we have. Do your own work, look at other rosters, look at ours...there is a reason we've sucked so hard recently, our roster isn't any good. Akok, Bouk, Gaffney, and Springs are a nice start and an upgrade in taoent but it isn't any kind of crazy class. It's the type of class we should expect coming in pretty much every year (obviously not every class is going to be the same size but you get the idea.)

 

[Fairfield_1st]

Guys like Jackson, Cam, Cliff etc. aren't deterred by what we have.

You can say they shouldn't be deterred, but bottom line is none of us knows what they're thinking. Maybe they want schools that just lost a starter at their position so they don't have to fight very hard if at all for time. Regardless of what you think our talent level is, we return 4 starters and a potential recruit may want an easier path to PT. They also may not be deterred as you're suggesting. We don't know and it's on a player by player basis.

 

[McLovin]

You can say they shouldn't be deterred, but bottom line is none of us knows what they're thinking. Maybe they want schools that just lost a starter at their position so they don't have to fight very hard if at all for time. Regardless of what you think our talent level is, we return 4 starters and a potential recruit may want an easier path to PT. They also may not be deterred as you're suggesting. We don't know and it's on a player by player basis.

I think the only spot on our roster where a 2020 recruit may be deterred is a pure point guard. We have 2, possibly 3 top level players at that position for next year. Probably why the staff isn't focused on filling this position for 2020.

If Cam, Andre or Cliff are hesitating on coming here because of paying time, then it's on the coaching staff to squash that concern. There will be plenty of PT for any of them next year.

 

[upstater]

You can say they shouldn't be deterred, but bottom line is none of us knows what they're thinking. Maybe they want schools that just lost a starter at their position so they don't have to fight very hard if at all for time. Regardless of what you think our talent level is, we return 4 starters and a potential recruit may want an easier path to PT. They also may not be deterred as you're suggesting. We don't know and it's on a player by player basis.

Some may indeed be deterred, but for me that's not even the most important factor. I'm considering that these kids will be around for at least 2 years and so it's not super important that you hit on every class. I agree with those who think that, if 2020 doesn't pan out, then 2021 has to.

 

[superjohn]

You can say they shouldn't be deterred, but bottom line is none of us knows what they're thinking. Maybe they want schools that just lost a starter at their position so they don't have to fight very hard if at all for time. Regardless of what you think our talent level is, we return 4 starters and a potential recruit may want an easier path to PT. They also may not be deterred as you're suggesting. We don't know and it's on a player by player basis.

And none of us know if we'll return 4 starters for next year when the 2020 class will be coming in. You don't know who will be starting this season, you don't know who will be returning next season...The point is our team isn't overly talented. We're coming off losing seasons and aren't predicted to make the tournament this season by most.

 

[ctchamps]

I think we've explored everything there is to know about Cam Thomas. Let's start a new thread explaining why we are qualified to be head coaches.