As I have stated before and probably will again, we should all give less credence to the "rankings" of writers and other recruiting "experts" and much more weight to which schools have made/are making offers.
On the one hand, I do not think the recruiting service and industry "experts" are idiots - but they are often slow to move recruits up or down in the rankings, or absolutely wrong on a guy because he did not quite fit "the measurables" a 4* or 5* player should have (in their minds). There are such an abundance of examples every year that I could not possibly name them all, but here are a couple right off the top of my head from just the last couple of years: Bonzie Colson, Luke Maye, Jerome Robinson, Zhaire Smith, Landry Shamet and Shaq Morris (yes, Gregg Marshall and his staff have a well-earned reputation for finding players who are much better than their recruiting services rankings) just to name a few... and after this year we could be adding our own Christian Vital to that list, if he is not already there.
Coaches jobs and future careers depend upon them being able to identify the best talent for their teams/schools. With limited scholarships and limited time they must be able to identify and focus their efforts on the most talented players who are interested in going to their school. Period.
So let us look at Dawes. He already has offers from Clemson, TCU, St. John's, Minnesota and yes, Gregg Marshall and Wichita St. to name a few, with higher majors now kicking the tires and some offering after his consistently high level of play in the EYBL this year. He is obviously significantly outplaying his ranking of 241... and even more importantly he is showing many signs that the light has "gone on" for him and he has taken his game and attitude to a higher level with chances for more improvement looking strong.
I for one would rather offer and sign a low to mid 3-star who is showing significant improvement and strong work ethic with potential for more to come than a mid to high 4-star whose game has plateaued because other guys who matured later have caught up and are passing him. The college landscape is littered with guys like that who never amounted to anything. Unfortunately we have had our share of those guys recently.
Hurley offering Dawes seals it for me. If he is ready to commit and Gaffney is not, then we should happily take him and watch his rankings rise over the next 6 to 12 months before he gets here. In the long run, rankings do not matter: wins, consistent high-level of play and Championships are what should matter to us. After all, we are UConn.
