Conversation With The Microwave

[TheChamps990411]

Are we the featured school on ESPN Big Monday or Tuesday? We’ve mostly been on ESPN 3, SNY or CBS Sports. Gwynn is right, top 20 players are not coming to us. I was taken back by his frankness and assessment because I want to return to our glory days too. The question is can Hurley get Jay Wright level players and do the same for us? And our great pros (aside Drummond) are from the OBE and Jim Calhoun.

No we havent been "mostly on ESPN 3" We had 2 nationally televised games on Cbs and had a game on ESPN 17 times. Now those numbers are with the program in shambles over the last 3 years. If we get back to being Uconn those numbers go up. Hate to break it to you but at our peak as a program we werent getting top 20 players on a regular basis. In fact during the JC era he might have had less than 10 top 20 players total. The man had an eye for talent and how to develop it so it seemed like we might have had more. Dont get me wrong he brought in top 100 talent but my point is we dont need top 20 talent to be elite.
Im not worried about Hurley bringing in the level of talent of anyone else. I want him to bring in the talent that fits what he wants to successfully and if some of those guys are actually top 20 guys then great if not top 100-20 talent is just as good for winning. I believe that this brand can still appeal to kids and reports to the contrary are greatly exaggerated. WINNING CURES ALL! If Hurley can win 20+ games and get into the Tourney with an exciting fun to watch product on the court kids are going to come here. I have ZERO DOUBTS!

 

[ktuck911]

No not the GE but John Gwynn. I told him we needed a microwave, a guy to come in and knock down some 17-20 footers. Over the summer he said he used to take 600-700 shots a day over the summer with a purpose, and said you have to want to put in hard work, not just hanging out and scrimmaging which can be social. Doesn’t know if players put that work in today. Also mentioned that getting the kind of players we had under Calhoun OBE like Caron, Donyell, Ray and Khalid etc in this conference will be difficult.
He’s in recent contact with KO and one other thing is that the old players aren’t thrilled with the way KO was treated with the administration trying to wriggle out of the contract. Understandable. Says you can’t win without a point guard, can’t be done. I agreed but said that so many blowout losses to better teams created a problem. Doesn’t think Hurley can get the kind of players that Calhoun used to get OBE in the AAC and that means “domination like the old days is not likely.” Thinks we can get competitive to Cincy and better conference teams. Was hoping for a better outlook. Seemed to favor going to the current BE or P 5. Not much to argue with here. Good guy.
IMO he has the best nickname in UCONN Men’s hoop history.

Ouch!

 

[ktuck911]

I can agree with the “treatment “ of Ollie as I had a dialogue with a former player who is very close to Kevin and the old guard and they pretty much feel he is getting played. They do understand this is a results oriented bottom line industry as well. But KO is really being dogged by the administration. Believe that since ad Dave isn’t one of us he will leave the moment Auburn comes looking for a new AD.

Fair assessment. Wouldnt surprise me one bit.

 

[KemBaller]

Are we the featured school on ESPN Big Monday or Tuesday? We’ve mostly been on ESPN 3, SNY or CBS Sports. Gwynn is right, top 20 players are not coming to us. I was taken back by his frankness and assessment because I want to return to our glory days too. The question is can Hurley get Jay Wright level players and do the same for us? And our great pros (aside Drummond) are from the OBE and Jim Calhoun.

Nova and the rest of the BE get players while playing games hardly anyone watches on FS1. Wichita and Gonzaga continue to get players. Cal got guys like Rose and Tyreke Evans to go play in CUSA. I don't think the name of the conference means nearly as much to a recruit as the name or the school and the name of the coach.



One of the biggest takeaways from Ollie's firing is how ESPN and every other sports media outlet treated it like a big deal. Showed that UConn still has major name cache. We can still recruit at a very high level with a guy like Hurley at the head of the program.

 

[mauconnfan]

If UConn plays like UConn there will certainly be Big Monday’s with WSU, SMU, Cinc, or whoever is at the top of the AAC. Or OOC games. That Nova game could have been great if we didn’t suck. Certainly not happening if we turn in more sub 20 win seasons and don’t sniff the top 25.

In response to the top 20 recruit question, we have had 9-10 top 20 recruits depending on how you’re counting.

Daniel Hamilton
Kemba
Gay
Villanueva
Daniels
Robinson...

Even right now we have two PGs that were 23 and 32... I don’t tend to think anyone is winning national titles with great frequency with one and done top 10 players anyway, so if we can get some top 50-100 players to believe in roadhouse and UConn and see past a slightly weaker conference I’m cool with that.

To add to that list El Amin was 19 I believe but our highest recruit I think was Donyell at 4-6 in various rankings. I’m not sure about Rip he was close. Robinson as in Cliff? I don’t think so but could be wrong more like top 50-60. Was Daniel Hamilton too? Didn’t realize that.

 

[SixRings]

To add to that list El Amin was 19 I believe but our highest recruit I think was Donyell at 4-6 in various rankings. I’m not sure about Rip he was close. Robinson as in Cliff? I don’t think so but could be wrong more like top 50-60. Was Daniel Hamilton too? Didn’t realize that.

Drummond? He was top 20 and maybe top 5.

 

[mauconnfan]

Drummond? He was top 20 and maybe top 5.

Yeah Andre had mostly Top 5 rankings and maybe as high as 2-3 while Donyell was 3-6 area. Think you're right.

 

[djct1999]

it just shows they're not very well informed.

Yes, its all about friends, teammates, and supporters telling KO's side of the story. Doesn't make it true. I also find the timing odd. Maybe a settlement was made and KO is unhappy? Few of us really know about the buyout so its hard to say who is in the right, but not realizing that this move was vital for the health of this program is simply tone deaf. From AAU coaches to current coaches to current players, the narrative about KO was consistently bad.

 

[Balker]

...get some top 50-100 players to believe in roadhouse and UConn and see past a slightly weaker conference I’m cool with that.

Is DH changing to the word roadhouse somehow?

 

[Balker]

To add to that list El Amin was 19 I believe but our highest recruit I think was Donyell at 4-6 in various rankings. I’m not sure about Rip he was close. Robinson as in Cliff? I don’t think so but could be wrong more like top 50-60. Was Daniel Hamilton too? Didn’t realize that.

Yeah wasn’t meant to be a complete list, just a sample! Stanley Robinson! He was up there.

Total should be around 10 though. Some who never showed, some like Drummond who came in early. Probably could be as high as 15 top 20 recruits if you count generously.

 

[UConnNick]

If UConn plays like UConn there will certainly be Big Monday’s with WSU, SMU, Cinc, or whoever is at the top of the AAC. Or OOC games. That Nova game could have been great if we didn’t suck. Certainly not happening if we turn in more sub 20 win seasons and don’t sniff the top 25.

In response to the top 20 recruit question, we have had 9-10 top 20 recruits depending on how you’re counting.

Daniel Hamilton
Kemba
Gay
Villanueva
Daniels
Robinson...

Even right now we have two PGs that were 23 and 32... I don’t tend to think anyone is winning national titles with great frequency with one and done top 10 players anyway, so if we can get some top 50-100 players to believe in roadhouse and UConn and see past a slightly weaker conference I’m cool with that.

Big Monday games involve the ACC and Big 12. Unless and until we get into one of those two conferences, you will not see UCONN games on Big Monday. We would have to play a non-conference game against a team from one of those two conferences to get a game scheduled on Big Monday, which is highly unlikely, given that most of those games are scheduled during the conference portion of the season.

 

[jibsey]

If UConn plays like UConn there will certainly be Big Monday’s with WSU, SMU, Cinc, or whoever is at the top of the AAC. Or OOC games. That Nova game could have been great if we didn’t suck. Certainly not happening if we turn in more sub 20 win seasons and don’t sniff the top 25.

In response to the top 20 recruit question, we have had 9-10 top 20 recruits depending on how you’re counting.

Daniel Hamilton
Kemba
Gay
Villanueva
Daniels
Robinson...

Even right now we have two PGs that were 23 and 32... I don’t tend to think anyone is winning national titles with great frequency with one and done top 10 players anyway, so if we can get some top 50-100 players to believe in roadhouse and UConn and see past a slightly weaker conference I’m cool with that.

Donyell, KEA

 

[gtcam]

Yes, its all about friends, teammates, and supporters telling KO's side of the story. Doesn't make it true. I also find the timing odd. Maybe a settlement was made and KO is unhappy? Few of us really know about the buyout so its hard to say who is in the right, but not realizing that this move was vital for the health of this program is simply tone deaf. From AAU coaches to current coaches to current players, the narrative about KO was consistently bad.

Someone please change this record - it has an annoying skip in it

 

[djct1999]

Someone please change this record - it has an annoying skip in it

Sing it out loud, "KO had to go". Rewind it, scratch it, however you like. "KO had to go". "KO had to go". "KKKKKKKKKKKK KO had to go".

 

[Waquoit]

Someone please change this record - it has an annoying skip in it

The reminders will continue until morale improves.

 

[Chief00]

Yeah Andre had mostly Top 5 rankings and maybe as high as 2-3 while Donyell was 3-6 area. Think you're right.

Top 2.

 

[jibsey]

My memory says Donyell was 9, but I still remember his first 3 pointer as a Husky, with the announcer screaming “that is a 6’9” freshman!”. Good times.

 

[KemBaller]

Yeah Andre had mostly Top 5 rankings and maybe as high as 2-3 while Donyell was 3-6 area. Think you're right.

Drummond was almost universally the #2 guy in the class and had only been surpassed by Davis by senior year. But for the most part it wasn't like JC was bringing in 5 top 10 guys every year either

 

[Duncan Idaho]

I think Rudy Gay was the highest rated recruit in his class that went the school route?

 

[David 76]

So, you run a company and are entrusted to use the shareholders money wisely.
You have an employee whose performance is requiring that you terminate him. Meanwhile, you learn he violated an industry rule that could save the company millions of dollars in severance pay.
I thing you have an obligation to save the shareholders (taxpayers/donors) as much as you can.
Don't get the Ollie being screwed scenario. The AD would not be doing his job, if he didn't negotiate this. And if Ollie didn't do something wrong, he will be fine.

 

[ctchamps]

Point is KO got commitments from two five star players while UConn was in the AAC.

So the argument that Hurley can't has already been proven wrong. As was the argument that KO swung and missed on five stars.

 

[Scrutineer]

To add to that list El Amin was 19 I believe but our highest recruit I think was Donyell at 4-6 in various rankings. I’m not sure about Rip he was close. Robinson as in Cliff? I don’t think so but could be wrong more like top 50-60. Was Daniel Hamilton too? Didn’t realize that.

Cliff wasn't the highest rated Robinson the year he was recruited. That honor belonged to Keith Robinson who was a McDonald's All- American and went to Notre Dame. I remember it the same way I remember Jeremy and Doron Lamb. In both cases some of us thought we got the wrong guy, but both turned out in our favor.

 

[Mokum]

Understandable and predictable takes from a former player with ties to Calhoun and Ollie. Loyal to the old guard.

The AAC bashing gets really tiresome. Nobody connected with the UCONN men's BB program has any standing to bash a conference in which we've got one conference tourney title in five seasons. The AAC is the best of the G5 football leagues and football is all that matters if you have P5 membership aspirations.

Football is all that matters? Is that why they took Rutgers in the big 10 or whatever they call it? Maybe the potential for being better in FB in a better league at this point.

 

[CTBasketball]

Corny Thompson was up there too but he was a Perno recruit.

But back to the thread topic, the 15’ jumper is a dying art in basketball. Why shoot 45% from 18’ when you can shoot 35% from beyond the arc?

 

[GenericPizza]

I had a cugino whose son I hired at my parlor. He made the best pie any of my employees had ever made. The kid was 16, and going to be a star. Next thing you know, he gets caught diddling another girl, and his girlfriend breaks up with him. He gets reckless, and he doesn’t properly develop the pies like he used to. I saw him slipping. Customers are becoming angry. It wasn’t the same pizza they were used to. Then, behind my back, he’s making pizzas prior to the dough getting the correct rise, and I’m taken aback. I fire him out of the blue, and told him he violated the rules of making pizza. To my surprise, my cugino is all mad at me because family should take paramount. I tell him, “cugino, it’s a business. If I did what he did, I’d fire myself.” I’ve since hired an Irish kid whose parents owned a parlor down in Jersey, you know, he grew up around pizza. I have very high hopes.