Corey Evans on UConn Recruiting

[ElmCity40th]

I'm off the fire KO bandwagon officially thanks and I personally don't give a damn about rankings just find me some ballers to root for and develop them ... I agree that it is something good about the offseason when we're waiting to see the debut game of a much hyped player but we're uconn fans we hype our own JC style Pause

 

[alexd]

Yep.....

Calhoun built an empire with big time high school players, this revisionist history that he won with plucky kids with chips on their shoulder is nonsense.

We had 2 McD's all Americans on each of JC 's title teams....but we also had guys like Moore, okafor, Gordon and Lamb and Napier.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Big like akok would change everything

That usually is a game changer. Just ask John Holmes.

 

[upstater]

Both were top 75 recruits.....throw in Diarra another top 100 recruit. That's quite a haul and pretty easy a top recruiting class.

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.

 

[HuskyHawk]

It would be surprising if Terry comes back. If Jalen comes back expectations should be high, if he leaves though it's kind of hard seeing it be anything but a rough season.

The real blow to the program from the Gilbert injuries will show up next year. He should be a McDAA PG with junior level experience. Maybe on the Cousy list pre-season. Instead he's a guy who still hasn't played any meaningful minutes.

 

[Huskyforlife]

The question that needs to be asked is, is akinjo a jalen type scorer/playmaker? If Jalen leaves after this season, who leads this team?

 

[upstater]

Just looked at 247s rankings for the AAC.

Jeez, a real nightmare.

No one in the top 95 in the entire conference.

1 from UConn and 1 from Houston in the top 100.

2 players 100-150, both at Wichita St.

3 players 150-200, 2 UConn, 1 Cincy, 1 SMU.

This is unbelievable.

0-95: ZERO players
95-200: 7 players

For 12 teams!!!

 

[champs99and04]

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.

 

[olehead]

I wonder how it was the #8.

Alterique sure gives it a lot of credibility, but Durham and Jackson were not top gets.

Upon Durham's commitment, 247 Sports had him ranked at 50 and Vance at 77. Both received Big time offers. Durham chose UConn over Miami and Jackson received offers from most of the West Coast Basketball Powers, including UCLA, Cal-Berkeley, San Diego State and Utah.

 

[upstater]

Upon Durham's commitment, 247 Sports had him ranked at 50 and Vance at 77. Both received Big time offers. Durham chose UConn over Miami and Jackson received offers from most of the West Coast Basketball Powers, including UCLA, Cal-Berkeley, San Diego State and Utah.

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.

 

[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.