After Robinson: Who is up for Class of 14:

[jleves]

Let's put things into perspective. We have never gotten highly rated recruits like Duke, UNC, Kansas, Kentucky, UCLA or even Arizona and Syracuse. All of those schools have gotten higher ranked talent than we have. We've had our occasional top 5 or 10 class but not back to back to back top classes like those schools.

One thing JC was great at was finding under the radar talent that performed really good in the spotlight to help us win NCs (like Wane or Chuck, etc.) or that played huge rolls and became NBA talent (like Oak, Boone, Hilton, etc.) Sure there were swings and misses at some guys under rated and even swings and misses at top rated guys (Deng, Hazseltine, etc.) But he was great at finding the guy who was better than the guy we missed out on (Oak vs Fox, Kemba vs the kid who went to Europe, Lamb vs the other Jeremy's - even Taliek vs the other NYC points we targeted).

Let's just hope that Coach Ollie has a similar eye and maybe in a few years we'll be saying it's great we got Lubin instead of one of the other guys we targeted or Swift instead of Robinson.

All of this takes time to play out and to be put in perspective. Right now, I'm expecting we'll be saying it's a good thing we got the guys we got.

 

[Fishy]

Let's put things into perspective. We have never gotten highly rated recruits like Duke, UNC, Kansas, Kentucky, UCLA or even Arizona and Syracuse. All of those schools have gotten higher ranked talent than we have. We've had our occasional top 5 or 10 class but not back to back to back top classes like those schools.

Um, no.

Just no, no, no.

F---.

No.

 

[SeattleHoop]

6'7'', 195...he isn't playing the 5.

Okay 4 (PF) but he sure as heck isn't playing 3 (SF) either. Robinson had a lot of SF skills and may want more time at 3. Swift would be happy locked in at the 4. Plus his leaping ability will allow him to play the 4 very well. Done being a smart a**?

Your like a little kid who didn't get a puppy for Christmas and can't face the reality of getting a stuffed animal instead. We aren't recruiting Robinson anymore. We're moving on. Swift is a viable candidate.

You know Swift makes sense for the obvious reasons above and also inside reasons we dont know about. It just doesn't comply with what you want so you have to undermine all other possibilities and be a about it. Congratulations.

 

[Mooch82]

Okay 4 (PF) but he sure as heck isn't playing 3 (SF) either. Robinson
had a lot of SF skills and may want more time at 3. Swift would be happy locked in at the 4. Plus his leaping ability will allow him to play the 4 very well. Done being a smart a* ?

Your like a little kid who didn't get a puppy for Christmas and can't face the reality of getting a stuffed animal instead. We aren't recruiting Robinson anymore. We're moving on. Swift is a viable candidate.

You know Swift makes sense for the obvious reasons above and also inside reasons we dont know about. It just doesn't comply with what you want so you have to undermine all other possibilities and be a about it. Congratulations.

Whoa! I'm going to assume you're a Giants fan, crushed a few too many beers last night, and wrote this angry/depressed post. I'm also a Giants fan so I feel your pain.

Seemed a little harsh when all I said was a 6'7'', 195 pound guy isn't playing center for us. I understand that Robinson is a 3/4 and Swift would strictly be a 4, but most people agree that he'd play more 4 for us with the guys we already have in place.

 

[CTBasketball]

Can we please not lower our recruiting standards?

Daniel Hamilton, Andre Drummond, DeAndre Daniels, Alex Oriakhi, Kemba Walker, Curtis Kelly, Andrew Bynum, Rudy Gay, AJ Price, Charlie Villanueva, etc. We've had some great recruits. We just haven't had them bunched together. There's nothing wrong with trying to be the best and compete against the best.

 

[Mooch82]

Went back and found 3's recap of who our coaches watched during the July Live recruiting period and how many times...


Here’s my final list of how many times each recruit was watched during all three live periods in July:
• Josh Perkins- 4
• Devin Robinson- 1
• Wade Baldwin- 2
• Adul Malik-Abu- 13
• Charles Matthews- 1
• Leron Black- 1
• Kelly Oubre- 7
• VJ King- 1
• Jalen Brunson- 1
• Terry Larrier- 7
• Cheick Diallo- 6
• Malachi Richardson- 1
• Paschal Chuckwu- 2
• Kaleb Jospeph- 7
• Goodluck Okonoboh- 7
• Kameron Chatman- 4
• Daniel Hamilton- 9
• Khadeen Carrington- 3
• Bonzie Colson- 3
• Jared Terrell- 7
• Jordan McLaughlin- 5
• Sedrick Barefield- 1
• Jeremy Hemsley- 1
• Curtis Cobb- 7
• Josh Sharma- 7
• Tyler Ulis- 1
• Isaiah Briscoe- 2
• Vance Jackson- 5
• Tyler Dorsey- 5
• Myles Turner- 3
• Stephen Zimmerman- 1
• Isaiah Whitehead- 1

A lot of these kids are 2015, but I counted 60+ games we watched for 2014 kids that we didn't get (Hamilton being the only one we did). Granted, we backed off a few of these kids and the watching may have been purely for evaluation, but that's a lot of time and effort to swing and miss on so many. Love the work Ollie and co. put in...hope they don't get discouraged. Just funny that 2 of the 3 recruits we ended up getting were guys who were very last minute and we didn't put a whole lot of effort into...

Also found it funny that we only watched Robinson once...maybe we truly did back off more than most of us realized.

 

[aceboon]

Went back and found 3's recap of who our coaches watched during the July Live recruiting period and how many times...


Here’s my final list of how many times each recruit was watched during all three live periods in July:
• Josh Perkins- 4
• Devin Robinson- 1
• Wade Baldwin- 2
• Adul Malik-Abu- 13
• Charles Matthews- 1
• Leron Black- 1
• Kelly Oubre- 7
• VJ King- 1
• Jalen Brunson- 1
• Terry Larrier- 7
• Cheick Diallo- 6
• Malachi Richardson- 1
• Paschal Chuckwu- 2
• Kaleb Jospeph- 7
• Goodluck Okonoboh- 7
• Kameron Chatman- 4
• Daniel Hamilton- 9
• Khadeen Carrington- 3
• Bonzie Colson- 3
• Jared Terrell- 7
• Jordan McLaughlin- 5
• Sedrick Barefield- 1
• Jeremy Hemsley- 1
• Curtis Cobb- 7
• Josh Sharma- 7
• Tyler Ulis- 1
• Isaiah Briscoe- 2
• Vance Jackson- 5
• Tyler Dorsey- 5
• Myles Turner- 3
• Stephen Zimmerman- 1
• Isaiah Whitehead- 1

A lot of these kids are 2015, but I counted 60+ games we watched for 2014 kids that we didn't get (Hamilton being the only one we did). Granted, we backed off a few of these kids and the watching may have been purely for evaluation, but that's a lot of time and effort to swing and miss on so many. Love the work Ollie and co. put in...hope they don't get discouraged. Just funny that 2 of the 3 recruits we ended up getting were guys who were very last minute and we didn't put a whole lot of effort into...

Also found it funny that we only watched Robinson once...maybe we truly did back off more than most of us realized.

Bingo, I just posted this in the other Robinson thread.

 

[upstater]

Cobb, Sharma, Diallo and Dorsey. Hmmmmmmmmmm.

 

[Chief00]

Our politically correct "academic standards" since the APR problem certainly is not making recruiting easier. When you have transcript fallout the recruits fall away silently. Better to do it on the front end rather than the very back end of the process as much as feasible.

 

[upstater]

Our politically correct "academic standards" since the APR problem certainly is not making recruiting easier. When you have transcript fallout the recruits fall away silently. Better to do it on the front end rather than the very back end of the process as much as feasible.

What standards? I mean, some of the kids who didn't come to UConn but were recruited heavily had big academic red flags.

 

[upstater]

I'd also add that it's really impossible to say who/why Uconn backed off or the kid backed off. Remember Leron Black? He was heavily recruited, and talked UConn in several videos in the spring. Then suddenly he says UConn had ceased communications and totally stopped calling him. He was a PF candidate. UConn went after Kasongo and Lubin instead of him. If you try to figure out why these things are happening, you'll go crazy.

 

[tcf15]

I've posted this before, but I'll reference it again since it is pretty relevant:

Once Ollie does get involved in recruiting, he goes by what he sees, not by what he has read or heard.
"I don't really get caught up in the name and the ranking," Ollie said. "If the kid doesn't fit my eye and have the right attitude, I'm not going to take him. Of course, you look at rankings and see who is there, but once I put my eyes on him, you formulate your own rankings. I can get a top 10 guy, but if he doesn't have the right attitude, it's all for naught.

Trust in Ollie.

http://articles.courant.com/2013-08...0130812_1_kevin-ollie-head-coach-roy-williams

 

[tcf15]

I'd also like to add that this class could potentially improve without any additions. We are already hearing glowing reports out of practice about Rodney Purvis. I assume (and hope) that Hamilton will remain consistent and keep his 5 star status. Cassell sat out last year to focus on his academics, and per Rivals, is a high end 3* who will receive heavy consideration for 4* status during the season. Rakim Lubin could have a big year playing against better competition and get on the national scene. Should be fun to watch how this class develops throughout the year.

 

[Tenspro2002]

I'd also like to add that this class could potentially improve without any additions. We are already hearing glowing reports out of practice about Rodney Purvis. I assume (and hope) that Hamilton will remain consistent and keep his 5 star status. Cassell sat out last year to focus on his academics, and per Rivals, is a high end 3* who will receive heavy consideration for 4* status during the season. Rakim Lubin could have a big year playing against better competition and get on the national scene. Should be fun to watch how this class develops throughout the year.

I trust Hamilton will be the next great wing, and we'll enjoy the Cassell/Purvis backcourt for several years. I don't have big concerns there.

If Lubin turns out to have been worthy of the top-50 ranking he briefly held last year, then all the hand-wringing over misses at the 4 this recruiting period will have been for nothing. On the other hand, if we don't get significant development from him and/or from the 3 young frontcourt players (Facey, Nolan, Brimah) over the next year, we'll have not 1, but 2 gaping holes in the lineup come 2014.

 

[SeattleHoop]

Whoa! I'm going to assume you're a Giants fan, crushed a few too many beers last night, and wrote this angry/depressed post. I'm also a Giants fan so I feel your pain.

Seemed a little harsh when all I said was a 6'7'', 195 pound guy isn't playing center for us. I understand that Robinson is a 3/4 and Swift would strictly be a 4, but most people agree that he'd play more 4 for us with the guys we already have in place.

Nah just a really low tolerance for bs after a long day. Hate the giants btw. Eli Manning will never be his brother.

 

[Hugo]

Nah just a really low tolerance for bs after a long day. Hate the giants btw. Eli Manning will never be his brother.

True, but then who will ever be as good as his brother ??

 

[SeattleHoop]

True, but then who will ever be as good as his brother ??

Good point

 

[UConNick]

Tim Boyle!!!!!

 

[Huskybass]

I can see Melvin Swift completing the recruiting class. He is a high flyer, a ptp er, he is just awesome baby...

 

[3uconn]

Looks like Swift is still in the mix. Here's some UConn fans tweet at him:
@wherewolvesinc: @ThatBoySwift hope you are still in the mix with us.

Here's Swifts response:
@ThatBoySwift: @wherewolvesinc I am

 

[Gurleyman]

I trust Hamilton will be the next great wing, and we'll enjoy the Cassell/Purvis backcourt for several years. I don't have big concerns there.

If Lubin turns out to have been worthy of the top-50 ranking he briefly held last year, then all the hand-wringing over misses at the 4 this recruiting period will have been for nothing. On the other hand, if we don't get significant development from him and/or from the 3 young frontcourt players (Facey, Nolan, Brimah) over the next year, we'll have not 1, but 2 gaping holes in the lineup come 2014.

Facey will be a contributor, imo. He's too good defensively and has too good a motor not to fit in as a solid role player at minimum. We just need someone else to be solid too, since we'd be really thin (literally) with 175-pound Hamilton as a stretch 4 and a 200-pound Facey at 5.

 

[3uconn]

Swift told me that he hasn't rescheduled his visit yet but is definitely trying to get up here soon.

 

[UConn17]

Facey will be a contributor, imo. He's too good defensively and has too good a motor not to fit in as a solid role player at minimum. We just need someone else to be solid too, since we'd be really thin (literally) with 175-pound Hamilton as a stretch 4 and a 200-pound Facey at 5.

I agree but I think you forgot about Nolan and Brimah over Facey at the five

 

[Gurleyman]

I agree but I think you forgot about Nolan and Brimah over Facey at the five

Yeah - just meant that if none of those other guys developed and we had to go small with our "best five", we'd be too small, especially girth-wise. I think after seeing a little of Nolan last year that he'll be solid enough to have out there, especially as a junior, and allow Facey to play 4. Then we just have to have either Brimah or Lubin (but preferably both) emerge as rotation guys.