A lot of prospect decisions in the coming weeks...

[upstater]

For me, the rest of recruitment is about Diamond Stone. Skilled big men are rare. I see UConn eventually landing a stud 2/3 regardless of the Jones/Mack/Briscoe decisions, even if that means 2016. Hamilton and Calhoun can hold down the fort until then.

 

[aceboon]

Do we really need two of the four to avoid scrambling? With only one senior and Adams/Enoch already in the fold, aren't we sitting on a pretty nice '15-16 roster even as it stands today? It's obviously impossible to predict early entrants in October, but I can't imagine we lose more than one. If everybody comes back, we have a solid group of 11 guys. If somebody leaves, we still have 10.

Now I'm not at all suggesting that we shouldn't add anybody - we obviously need to. But my view is that landing even one of those four guys would be incredibly good news. Landing none would sting, but I have no doubt that we'd find somebody to add in the spring. Last October we had no idea Cassell Jr. was even an option. Two Octobers ago, we had no idea who Amida Brimah was.

So my overall point is that we're starting from a position of strength, so I think "scrambling" is a little strong. Especially if we land one.

Agree 100%, but you're gonna get a doomsday scenario presented to your rationale regardless. KO brought in 2 5stars last year, has a borderline 5star in Adams and a top 60 bigman this year, and has a walking future first rounder on the team in Brimah and its been painted as "UConn not getting the type of players that it used to", some are gonna look for the negative whenever they can.

 

[GemParty]

We are on 5 targets right now. We always get good talent, & I hope we always will. We are still the champs on the court.

Nobody wants to go 0-5 in the sales room. Close somebody. Don't let VTech, Georgia, UNLV, St Johns, & Wisky get all your current targets. Period.

 

[huskiesnyc]

If we get just one more I'll be very happy. 3 top 100 recruits is a nice class

 

[imno1]

Do we really need two of the four to avoid scrambling? With only one senior and Adams/Enoch already in the fold, aren't we sitting on a pretty nice '15-16 roster even as it stands today? It's obviously impossible to predict early entrants in October, but I can't imagine we lose more than one. If everybody comes back, we have a solid group of 11 guys. If somebody leaves, we still have 10.

Now I'm not at all suggesting that we shouldn't add anybody - we obviously need to. But my view is that landing even one of those four guys would be incredibly good news. Landing none would sting, but I have no doubt that we'd find somebody to add in the spring. Last October we had no idea Cassell Jr. was even an option. Two Octobers ago, we had no idea who Amida Brimah was.

So my overall point is that we're starting from a position of strength, so I think "scrambling" is a little strong. Especially if we land one.

We are on 5 targets right now. We always get good talent, & I hope we always will. We are still the champs on the court.

Nobody wants to go 0-5 in the sales room. Close somebody. Don't let VTech, Georgia, UNLV, St Johns, & Wisky get all your current targets. Period.

There is a big chance we don't get any of our remaining targets. But we already have commitments from 2 others so we really wouldn't go 0 for 5. And I don't think we really have to scramble unless Brimah leaves after this season. Judging by the number of prospects at 1st night and there reactions I believe KO is setting us up for some huge recruiting years.

 

[intlzncster]

We are on 5 targets right now. We always get good talent, & I hope we always will. We are still the champs on the court.

Nobody wants to go 0-5 in the sales room. Close somebody. Don't let VTech, Georgia, UNLV, St Johns, & Wisky get all your current targets. Period.

That's just it though, we've already closed two sales.

 

[aceboon]

That's just it though, we've already closed two sales.

can't reason with em, seems like the board has been going through the same thing every year. get highly rated prospects, silence, miss on highly rated prospects and you get the same shouts of doom and gloom and how you can't lose prospects to this school and that school...and the program still turns out fine in the short term and in the long term.

 

[UConn990411]

Agree 100%, but you're gonna get a doomsday scenario presented to your rationale regardless. KO brought in 2 5stars last year, has a borderline 5star in Adams and a top 60 bigman this year, and has a walking future first rounder on the team in Brimah and its been painted as "UConn not getting the type of players that it used to", some are gonna look for the negative whenever they can.

I agree, and I stopped worrying about recruiting after the way 2010-11 played out.

With that said, it's a little strange that - coming off a NC, with maybe the most personable coach in college bball and a state-of-the-art practice facility opening - UConn is still struggling to beat the likes of Georgia, St. John's and UNLV for recruits. (Especially when you consider the only two commits so far grew up UConn fans.)

I really don't mean to make things sound dire, but you really do have to wonder if the staff is devoid of a top-notch recruiter like Fishy said.

 

[7774]

I agree, and I stopped worrying about recruiting after the way 2010-11 played out.

With that said, it's a little strange that - coming off a NC, with maybe the most personable coach in college bball and a state-of-the-art practice facility opening - UConn is still struggling to beat the likes of Georgia, St. John's and UNLV for recruits. (Especially when you consider the only two commits so far grew up UConn fans.)

I really don't mean to make things sound dire, but you really do have to wonder if the staff is devoid of a top-notch recruiter like Fishy said.

I agree that we don't really have a top level recruiter, but struggling to beat Georgia, St. Johns, and UNLV is only strange if you look at it at an incredibly generic level instead of looking at the specific instances.

 

[Gurleyman]

I agree, and I stopped worrying about recruiting after the way 2010-11 played out.

With that said, it's a little strange that - coming off a NC, with maybe the most personable coach in college bball and a state-of-the-art practice facility opening - UConn is still struggling to beat the likes of Georgia, St. John's and UNLV for recruits. (Especially when you consider the only two commits so far grew up UConn fans.)

I really don't mean to make things sound dire, but you really do have to wonder if the staff is devoid of a top-notch recruiter like Fishy said.

We are mostly trying to recruit wings, with a top 25 wing (who is not a clear one-and-done) ready to enter his freshman year. Not to mention Calhoun will be a senior in 2015-16, and Purvis or Cassell could play the 3 in a three-guard lineup. There's no guarantee of playing time for a wing here right away. The fact that we've come close with some wings is pretty impressive, since they have to be unsure about where they would fit in right away when they look at our roster.

We had two immediate needs in this recruiting cycle, and we filled them - a lead guard to replace Boat and someone who can play a stretch 4 to fill the Daniels void which is unfilled at the moment. The fact that they are local doesn't make their commitments less significant. What we're after now is depth, insurance (in case someone goes pro after a year and/or Calhoun's career can't be salvaged), and gravy (Stone, who would give us a new element). Now, it would be nice to have a little more depth/insurance or gravy, sure, but it isn't dire.

I will say that the effort put into Clarke/Jones/Mack, if it proves to be fruitless, was effort that could have been used for a head start on a 2016 wing instead. So in that sense, it could turn out that we put a lot of our eggs in the wrong basket if they all go elsewhere. But we were pretty late jumping in on Mack anyway - so there's no reason we couldn't make a similar run at a 2016 wing around this time next year with a greater promise of playing time (Omar graduating, Hamilton/Purvis much closer to declaring - or perhaps already gone).

We can be a better program, but not be a better situation for the recruit, and we lose out. Nothing alarming about that.

 

[selles]

I will say that the effort put into Clarke/Jones/Mack, if it proves to be fruitless, was effort that could have been used for a head start on a 2016 wing instead. So in that sense, it could turn out that we put a lot of our eggs in the wrong basket if they all go elsewhere.

Good post, well stated. Agree with everything in it except the above. I don't think the Clarke/Jones/Mack recruiting has impacted our recruitment of 2016 wings at all - see Battle, V.J. King, etc. KO has cast a very wide net over multiple classes.

 

[ctchamps]

can't reason with em, seems like the board has been going through the same thing every year. get highly rated prospects, silence, miss on highly rated prospects and you get the same shouts of doom and gloom and how you can't lose prospects to this school and that school...and the program still turns out fine in the short term and in the long term.

This is as much a given as death and taxes! Another given is the first WTF loss and a Boneyard meltdown. I'm not complaining of the Boneyared "givens" They provide me with a feeling of stability in a world filled with so many unknowns.

 

[Fishy]

Adams was the biggest need in the class and that was handled. SE was a nice addition as well - UConn defended its home turf with both.

But it's not a great class.

They've replaced Boatright, but Purvis is likely gone after this season and you imagine Hamilton is gone after next.

Their replacements are in high school right now and ideally, they'd be at UConn next September - one of Briscoe/Mack/Clark/Jones would move the ball way forward. (I find it hard to believe that 2016 will be that much easier when UConn is coming off of a title and opening a new facility right now...as it is, you can already cross off Battle. That's not happening.)

 

[superjohn]

Adams was the biggest need in the class and that was handled. SE was a nice addition as well - UConn defended its home turf with both.

But it's not a great class.

They've replaced Boatright, but Purvis is likely gone after this season and you imagine Hamilton is gone after next.

Their replacements are in high school right now and ideally, they'd be at UConn next September - one of Briscoe/Mack/Clark/Jones would move the ball way forward. (I find it hard to believe that 2016 will be that much easier when UConn is coming off of a title and opening a new facility right now...as it is, you can already cross off Battle. That's not happening.)

A lot of Purvis is gone after this year talk, that would really surprise me.

 

[8893]

Seems to me that we've done okay with classes less impressive as recruits than the "not a great class" we've got lined up already for next season. I'll take the results and leave the angsturbation to you guys.

I'll stay busy with the food threads until we have games to talk about; this recruiting stuff has proven to be a less productive waste of time than Facebook is. At least with the food threads you get useful information. Fretting about recruits is about as useless as it gets.

 

[intlzncster]

can't reason with em, seems like the board has been going through the same thing every year. get highly rated prospects, silence, miss on highly rated prospects and you get the same shouts of doom and gloom and how you can't lose prospects to this school and that school...and the program still turns out fine in the short term and in the long term.

Also, most schools (not named UK and Duke) miss out on most highly rated prospects....because there isn't all that many of them. That's the funny bit.

 

[GemParty]

That's just it though, we've already closed two sales.

Very true, & the two we landed are very high level talent. I just want to see Ollie, round out the class.

 

[sawxfan23]

Honestly I think that we miss on all of them. I think that Mack is going to end up at UGA, Stone at Wisconsin, and Clarke at Va Tech.

 

[superjohn]

What's with all the pissing and moaning about recruiting the past 2 days?

 

[Walker11]

We should be a top 20 this year and absolutely loaded next year, even if we go 0-5. The recruiting misses could rear their head the following year when we have Adams, Cassell JR, Enoch, Samuel, Facey and Lubin but even this core may be great.

I won't panic about recruiting because so much can go right in that time frame, from player development, to hidden gems, to landing an elite '16 kid. But I do understand some concern and I believe this stems from a desire to take the leap from having championship quality teams every several years to every single year. We can't expect these unbelievable championship runs and I think everyone would like to make the jump to being a perennial top 5 team. Recruiting for these next 2-3 years will have a lot to say about which direction we head in.

 

[BearJWS]

Their replacements are in high school right now and ideally, they'd be at UConn next September - one of Briscoe/Mack/Clark/Jones would move the ball way forward. (I find it hard to believe that 2016 will be that much easier when UConn is coming off of a title and opening a new facility right now...as it is, you can already cross off Battle. That's not happening.)

I've been biting my tongue on Battle. His father (Gary) worked for my company for a # of years. I had to work with him on certain customers, on numerous occasions in the past. He was the ultimate salesman. Yes, he was actually a salesman, but not a bad guy in the grand scheme of things. But Gary could talk, talk , talk! He's all about the sale. I wish some of the Tyus stories incorporated some of Tyus's input, but it's all Gary speaking from what I've read (over protective father?). That said, Gary knows basketball. He was a Division II All American at UNH (New Haven) in the late 80's/early 90's. He was in training camp with the Pistons back in the day & has done some basketball camps, so he knows his Sh'it. I just get the feeling he's trying to fulfill his NBA aspirations on his son. If Tyus doesn't end up at KenSucky or Puke, I'd be highly surprised.

Now Tyus is a great prospect, in his own right. I'm sure he's learned a lot from his father. His rating is definitely justified (shot, size & athleticism). Tyus can definitely shoot the ball at an elite level... but he ain't coming to UConn.

 

[David 76]

I thought one of our top needs was a center.

You can't judge our recruiting until it is over. We could still have our best year ever.
I have some thoughts on how it looks if we "only' get Adams & Enoch. But I'll wait until we see what happens before chiming in because everything could still be under control.

 

[champs99and04]

While it would be unfortunate to miss out on the trio of wings we've been after for a while now, I'm not so sure it amounts to anything other than a temporary inconvenience. In light of the national title run, the apprehensions we've heard from recruits are mostly the sort of circumstantial variables (location, playing time, who was on them first, etc.) that all elite programs have to deal with. It's certainly not an indictment on the program as a whole to lose out to lesser schools when a recruit is more comfortable there for whatever reason. Moreover, while we're already bracing for the departures of D-Ham and Purvis (I'm skeptical that both are gone come 2017), kids like Clarke and Mack view them as long-term barriers to playing time. It may just be that we're better off rolling with Enoch, Adams, and whoever else in 2015 and pushing our chips to the center for a wing in 2016.

 

[intlzncster]

Honestly I think that we miss on all of them. I think that Mack is going to end up at UGA, Stone at Wisconsin, and Clarke at Va Tech.

That's the spirit.

And where are Jones and Briscoe going?

 

[Fishy]

That's the spirit.

And where are Jones and Briscoe going?

I think Briscoe is going to St. John's - he was there again today.

Kentucky is not quite all in on him for some reason.