Corey Evans on UConn Recruiting

[upstater]

I can't believe nobody mentioned the greatest part of the article:

Do not forget, Shabazz Napier didn’t come to UConn as a top-50 prospect; neither did Hasheem Thabeet nor Jeremy Lamb nor Amidah Brimah.

I know. Surely they meant Emeka Okafor.

Heck, they could have included Josh Boone and Hilton Armstrong too!.

 

[intlzncster]

I know. Surely they meant Emeka Okafor.

Heck, they could have included Josh Boone and Hilton Armstrong too!.

Boone was Top 50 iirc.

 

[olehead]

Vance had a lot of offers early on; he was one of the top players in the country. But his play as a senior dropped off so badly that people began pulling away.

Was Durham's Miami offer (does that qualify as "big time"?) still good after the ACL? Because there were articles here about how UConn stuck with him afterward, while other schools did not.

In terms of big time I classify 4 and 4+ guys who are in the top 100 as big time. With those rankings the expectation is there's a strong probability of positive freshman production and an expectation of big time minutes as a sophomore.

Circumstances may have brought their rankings down. Prior to injury, many believed Durham was McD's material. I don't believe Vance was on that level, but these were the rankings at the time of commitment.

 

[BlueMAB]

There's nothing wrong with doing due diligence on Plans B and C.

But I thought that jettisoning Glen Miller (architect of the highly-visible Diallo disaster) and bringing in Chillious was intended to give us a shot at those blue-chip recruits. If we were just going to fold up the tent and resign ourselves to fringe-top-100 players, why not keep the guy who can coach (but can't recruit) and why bother to bring in the guy who can recruit (but can't coach)?

It's okay for you to think that, people here who claim to be in the know certainly gave that impression, but that doesn't mean that's why Ollie brought him in. Ollie may have just had a better relationship with Chill.

I'm not saying he's going after fringe top 100 players only now. I have no idea. But my take from this article is he's not going to fight with UK, Duke, UNC, etc, etc for their top targets. My guess would be top 50-125 , and certainly you still want/need good recruiters to land those top 50-100 recruits.

We swung and missed on too many top targets only to settle for 150+ and juco/grad transfers. That's not a winning strategy for us. There are no rewards for second place, and we don't have the appeal that we used to have that would allow us to swoop in late for top 100 talent.

I'm also not certain that Chillious "can't coach". That's your impression, but you can't make the argument that it's a fact. There's no objective basis for it.

 

[tjc1888]

So that's ESPN's ranking? (Diarra was only in ESPN's top 100).
When you realize Durham had few suitors coming off an ACL, and that Vance plummeted in the rankings from being a top 20 in his Soph. and Junior years, it is much less impressive. I think we liked the class a lot here but this isn't even a criticism in retrospect. We were sky high about Alterique, but there were negative evaluations of Vance before he stepped foot on the court. Durham was more intriguing, but it was hard to know what we were getting from a recovering player.

You asked how it was #8. The class ranks were 8th (247), 9th (ESPN), and 9th (rivals). Maybe you should start your own rankings because you could see all that coming. There are negative evaluations of almost every prospect. It's called their weaknesses.

 

[BlueMAB]

I’m okay with that. For years it was putting all your effort into the top 20 kids not getting them then scrambling to fill and getting low ranked kids. Focusing on good kids a little off the radar is a good strategy.

I agree, my only concern is Ollie hasn't shown much ability to develop talent. As I said in another post, there are no points for second place. We can't afford to keep swinging and missing (and wasting our limited resources) for the talent that is "considering" us out of respect, but really wants UK, Duke, etc.

 

[upstater]

You asked how it was #8. The class ranks were 8th (247), 9th (ESPN), and 9th (rivals). Maybe you should start your own rankings because you could see all that coming. There are negative evaluations of almost every prospect. It's called their weaknesses.

I was just asking, not attacking.

 

[upstater]

Boone was Top 50 iirc.

Really? I recall he was barely ranked in the 100. I think he had no legit D1 offers his senior year of high school, so he went prep.

But do you remember they didn't rank prep players back then (whereas they do today?)

Caron Butler for instance would have been a top 10 player if he didn't do an extra year in Maine.

 

[August_West]

Really? I recall he was barely ranked in the 100. I think he had no legit D1 offers his senior year of high school, so he went prep.

But do you remember they didn't rank prep players back then (whereas they do today?)

Caron Butler for instance would have been a top 10 player if he didn't do an extra year in Maine.

Butler was ranked lower than both Tony Robertson and (lol) Marcus Cox

 

[WrenchFan69]

I think this class has a lot of talent. Wilson hyper-athlete consensus 4*. Akinjo consensus 4* MVP of maybe the biggest pre-collegiate basketball event in the country. Kisunas an ESPN 4* with international experience and a starting spot on a top 5 prep program in the country. Matthews a high 3* who one service said is the most likely 3* to make the NBA.

Is it the most talented class we've ever had? No, but it checks a lot of boxes and keeps us from scrambling and reaching late.

 

[ZenConn]

Rankings, stars and McD AA are an inexact science. The top 30 or so recruits (depending on how many top notch players there are in a given year) are in a separate category. After that to 100, the rankings and scout grades are closely bunched together.

We all know that if a recruit commits to Squid or Rat face, their rankings go up at least 10 notches and an automatic shoo in for McD AA.

So let's not get our panties in a bunch over a ranking of 80 compared to a ranking of 70.

 

[JMick]

I could really care less about recruiting rankings. Sure, they're important to an extent, but if you're winning anyway then they are meaningless.

See: Gonzaga & WSU. Both different approaches to roster building, both work. Neither rely on top guys out of HS

 

[GloryDays]

Every National Championship team has had at least 1 McDonadalds All American / 5 Star on the roster. Lamb had Kemba and Shabazz had Daniels. You can check every other program as well. Its good to get the Lamb types but you need the 5 star. People forget Daniels finally played like the #9 recruit during that Championship run. Not taking anything away from Bazz but DD was a beast too!!

 

[superjohn]

Really? I recall he was barely ranked in the 100. I think he had no legit D1 offers his senior year of high school, so he went prep.

But do you remember they didn't rank prep players back then (whereas they do today?)

Caron Butler for instance would have been a top 10 player if he didn't do an extra year in Maine.

Boone blew up and was right around 50th in the country. He was bigtime, we went head to head and beat out Kansas and Georgetown for him.

 

[superjohn]

Butler was ranked lower than both Tony Robertson and (lol) Marcus Cox

Caron was considered one of the best recruits we ever got. He was a beast at Maine Central, best prep player in the country.

 

[upstater]

I could really care less about recruiting rankings. Sure, they're important to an extent, but if you're winning anyway then they are meaningless.

See: Gonzaga & WSU. Both different approaches to roster building, both work. Neither rely on top guys out of HS

This used to be true of Gonzaga, but in the last several years they are grabbing top 100 guys, and great transfers.

 

[mauconnfan]

If Jalen or Terry leaves they have players although agree, no matter how good Akinjo may be it's hard to ask that much out of him in his freshman year. But I wouldn't rule out 5th year impact guard or forward or maybe a fall out with coaching change? Fluid situation not worth worrying about at this point.

 

[pj]

Caron was considered one of the best recruits we ever got. He was a beast at Maine Central, best prep player in the country.

Not how I recall it. He was top 5-10 in the prep rankings, but not necessarily considered the equivalent of a 5* high school recruit. Retrospective consensus ranking was #47 in the class of 2000: Recruiting Services Consensus Index (RSCI) Rankings - 2000 | Basketball-Reference.com. Taliek was considered our best recruit that year.

 

[superjohn]

Not how I recall it. He was top 5-10 in the prep rankings, but not necessarily considered the equivalent of a 5* high school recruit. Retrospective consensus ranking was #47 in the class of 2000: Recruiting Services Consensus Index (RSCI) Rankings - 2000 | Basketball-Reference.com. Taliek was considered our best recruit that year.

You're remembering incorrectly, he would have easily been a McD's all-American had he been eligible. People who evaluated him had him as a top 10-15 recruit.

 

[mauconnfan]

Not how I recall it. He was top 5-10 in the prep rankings, but not necessarily considered the equivalent of a 5* high school recruit. Retrospective consensus ranking was #47 in the class of 2000: Recruiting Services Consensus Index (RSCI) Rankings - 2000 | Basketball-Reference.com. Taliek was considered our best recruit that year.

Recruiting Services Consensus Index (RSCI) Rankings - 2000 | Basketball-Reference.com

It varied pj, here's one with him ahead of both is NYC rivals Cook and Barrett.

 

[mauconnfan]

Every National Championship team has had at least 1 McDonadalds All American / 5 Star on the roster. Lamb had Kemba and Shabazz had Daniels. You can check every other program as well. Its good to get the Lamb types but you need the 5 star. People forget Daniels finally played like the #9 recruit during that Championship run. Not taking anything away from Bazz but DD was a beast too!!

Damn that's right he did finally play like a #9 recruit during that run didn't he?

 

[HooperScooper]

Not how I recall it. He was top 5-10 in the prep rankings, but not necessarily considered the equivalent of a 5* high school recruit. Retrospective consensus ranking was #47 in the class of 2000: Recruiting Services Consensus Index (RSCI) Rankings - 2000 | Basketball-Reference.com. Taliek was considered our best recruit that year.

Not to nitpick but he was certainly considered a top 10 recruit. That list on RSCI you provided had 2 of the 4 ranking services not ranking him because he was a 5th year high school player and they didn't rank those. The other 2 services did and they had him at 8 and 9 respectively. If the other 2 services had ranked him I'm pretty certain he would have been around the same rank. So he was certainly a top 10 recruit.

 

[pj]

Not to nitpick but he was certainly considered a top 10 recruit. That list on RSCI you provided had 2 of the 4 ranking services not ranking him because he was a 5th year high school player and they didn't rank those. The other 2 services did and they had him at 8 and 9 respectively. If the other 2 services had ranked him I'm pretty certain he would have been around the same rank. So he was certainly a top 10 recruit.

OK, fair enough. More telling, he had the #3 pro career out of that class after Zach Randolph and Gerald Wallace. Not bad!

 

[PAHusky]

If Jalen or Terry leaves they have players although agree, no matter how good Akinjo may be it's hard to ask that much out of him in his freshman year. But I wouldn't rule out 5th year impact guard or forward or maybe a fall out with coaching change? Fluid situation not worth worrying about at this point.

Getting really sick of plugging huge gaps in the lineup with 5th year grad transfers. They’re great for spot roles like Kromah but it’s pretty telling of our recruiting over the last few years when we’re combing the college b-ball landscape for 5th year seniors to start or play meaningful minutes. It’s fine once in awhile but come on

 

[PAHusky]

If Jalen or Terry leaves they have players although agree, no matter how good Akinjo may be it's hard to ask that much out of him in his freshman year. But I wouldn't rule out 5th year impact guard or forward or maybe a fall out with coaching change? Fluid situation not worth worrying about at this point.

Getting really sick of plugging huge gaps in the lineup with 5th year grad transfers. They’re great for spot roles

 

[mauconnfan]

Getting really sick of plugging huge gaps in the lineup with 5th year grad transfers. They’re great for spot roles like Kromah but it’s pretty telling of our recruiting over the last few years when we’re combing the college b-ball landscape for 5th year seniors to start or play meaningful minutes. It’s fine once in awhile but come on

Not thinking Antwoine Anderson thinking higher impact player, otherwise I agree don't do it. It works for other teams and has for us to an extent. Why not if there's a fit?