Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="UConnJim, post: 3391462, member: 1559"] I disagree with the premise of your poll. UConn could have been a basketball power in the American, but Ollie couldn't get the job done for a number of reasons. First, let's look at recruiting. UConn went to the American in 2013/2014 and won the National Championship that year. The 2014 class brought in Hamilton, the #17 recruit. In 2015, Ollie brought in Adams #23 and Enoch #84. In 2016, Ollie brought in the #8 class with #32 Gilbert, #50 Durham, #77 Jackson, #126 Diarra, and #166 Vital. So, UConn was in the AAC since 2013 and recruits knew about the move 2 years earlier, yet Ollie brought in 6 top 100 recruits in 3 years. UConn went 16-17 in the 2016/2017 season as the wheels were falling off the bus and recruiting sank with the performance. The transfers. In one year, UConn lost Enoch, Durham, and Jackson. Ollie lost them. The injuries. Maybe Ollie should have seen it during recruiting, but injuries to Gilbert, Larrier, Diarra, and Durham depleted UConn's talent. Fan support. I'll break it to you. If you have a losing and uninspired team, fans will not come. That is for any sport and any team. If UConn was beating up on AAC teams and making runs in the NCAA Tournament, fan support would be OK although probably not as strong as in the Big East as Big East teams brought fans to the games and AAC teams did not. If UConn won and Ollie stayed focus, there is no reason to believe that UConn wouldn't have remained a top 20 program in the AAC. Finally, UConn is moving to the Big East and we have a new coach in Danny Hurley. Recruiting is improving, but it has not recovered to the early days in the AAC. Ollie brought in a top 32 recruit in 3 straight classes in the AAC, but Hurley has not done that yet. The problem has not been the conference, although I support the move to the Big East, but UConn basketball has stunk and it has been out of the conversation for too long. If Hurley wins, recruiting will improve and UConn basketball will return to the conversation. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach