UConn being on ESPN a good deal doesn't really change anything in my opinion. if anything, the Drummond example proves my point further. Look at the draft profiles of Drummond and Embiid at their one years at their respective programs, near identical numbers, same positions while Drummond id say was an even more impressive physical specimen than Embiid. Come draft day, Drummond is getting non-sense, unquantifiable reviews from analysts like "weak motor" or whatever the hell that means. Meanwhile Embiid is being rumored to go ahead of even Wiggins who has been considered an NBA phenom-lock since 9th grade, even WHILE Embiid is entering the draft with major injury that won't let him play his entire first year!
Drummond plummets to #9 while Embiid with serious injury concerns goes #3. The difference? Analysts and scouts actually watch KU much more closely for assessing potential prospects than they do UConn.
Another example, this past season we had Daniel Hamilton, who in my opinion was one of the true Top 5 impact freshman in his entire class with size and stellar NBA length. Yet has anyone even heard a peep about his draft prospects outside of srappy's posts here on the boneyard? To me DHam has similar prospects as a guy like Justise Winslow at Duke but no one in the media would tell you that. Granted UConn's bad season didn't help DHam's stock but that's EXACTLY my point.
The blue blood programs in question here like UK, Duke, KU, etc bring in so much elite talent each year that they essentially reload and are rarely in danger of missing the post season which is huge for prospect exposure (see Deandre Daniels in 2014). Thus, these guys can showcase their talent better than UConn because they are consistently elite on a national level. Meanwhile UConn does things differently, we go after tough, hard nosed guys that are raw and require a couple years of play before they are ready for the big scene, which partially explain UConn's cyclical nature and roller coaster performances over 5 year periods.
It's not that scouts and analysts don't SEE UConn, it's because they don't percieve UConn in the same way as we are a fundamentally different type of program, our means of achieving our goals of a title differ from the other elite programs. UConn is more akin to Michigan State in this regard than Duke/UK despite our success, and MSU isn't exactly a destination spot for elite NBA-focused talent.
