Don Amore: UConn no longer recruiting Devin Robinson

[Fishy]

This has been one of the stranger recruiting years.

We started off hitting a home run with Hamilton and a triple with Purvis.

We then struck out in our next 74 at-bats.

We've taken a kid no one has ever heard of and our head coach never laid eyes on before he came for a visit. We lost a kid to Oregon, then unlost him to Oregon and then decided that we didn't want him. We ended up with our Plan F point guard who will likely turn out to be as good as anyone else.

We get dropped from our last remaining target and decide to fold up the tent for the year. That will last until spring when coaches start getting fired and UConn stalks their dislodged recruits.

My whole take on the recruiting year is....Rakim Lubin better be good.

 

[champs99and04]

Still can't believe we missed out on Chatman, Larrier, Robinson, and Abu. Two months ago it seemed like a question of which one. Seems like we put a lot of our eggs in the Abu basket.

 

[huskiesnyc]

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but don't be surprised if a top 2015 kid reclassifies to 2014 (like Shabazz). We have several 2015 studs on campus for Midnight Madness so lets see what happens. There are rumors the staff is feeling really good about a recruit no one is talking about on here.

 

[UCweCONN]

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but don't be surprised if a top 2015 kid reclassifies to 2014 (like Shabazz). We have several 2015 studs on campus for Midnight Madness so lets see what happens. There are rumors the staff is feeling really good about a recruit no one is talking about on here.

Is it me???? OK, I may be considered a project being 40, but I have 4 years of eligibility left and can still knock down the three.

 

[champs99and04]

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but don't be surprised if a top 2015 kid reclassifies to 2014 (like Shabazz). We have several 2015 studs on campus for Midnight Madness so lets see what happens. There are rumors the staff is feeling really good about a recruit no one is talking about on here.

Who are some of the 2015 guys that could re-classify?

 

[huskiesnyc]

Who are some of the 2015 guys that could re-classify?

No clue but Jessie Govan, Will Jackson, Malachi Richardson, Donovan Mitchell, Jared Reuter, and Curtis Cobb are all 2015's on campus for late night

 

[UCONN#1]

If the kid goes to IU then we know that is a bunch of BS. Florida makes sense, not I U. I can't wait for UConn to beat those hillbilly's after we embarrass Calhoun's favorite team BC.

 

[selles]

No clue but Jessie Govan, Will Jackson, Malachi Richardson, Donovan Mitchell, Jared Reuter, and Curtis Cobb are all 2015's on campus for late night

Reuter was originally 2014 I think.

 

[tentoes4rings]

As I posted in the Melvin Swift thread the other night,these are the things he wrote me on Twitter. When I joked and asked if I can send him a direct message after he commits to UConn, he wrote "yeah you can do that".

Then after I said I thought he'd be a great fit with Purvis and Hamilton, he said "I know that is going to be great with the three of us together" He could be just placating fans from various schools but he could have been a little more noncommittal with his comments. He confirmed that we offered him and is looking forward to his visit. Hopefully there's fire with the smoke.

 

[ColoradoUCFan]

[quote="champs99and04, post: 718090, member: 48]

worse case scenario:
Purvis/T-Sam
Omar/Cassell
D-Ham/Tolk
Facey/Lubin
Nolan/Brimah

We're fine.[/quote]
I think you're wrong about starting 5 next year. KO will play 5 best players, regardless of position. That's how he recruited Cassell, saying that more than one point can be on the court pushing the ball.

So I see Cassell making the starting 5 with one of the bigs sitting.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but don't be surprised if a top 2015 kid reclassifies to 2014 (like Shabazz). We have several 2015 studs on campus for Midnight Madness so lets see what happens. There are rumors the staff is feeling really good about a recruit no one is talking about on here.

I saw this dog the other day at Rucker Park in NYC shooting hoops and thought of you. Rumor has it Zeke has more game than Devin. Hopefully we land this kid. The comments section leads me to believe ZeKe is a 5 star recruit. Only time will tell.

 

[CTBasketball]

This is just not smart. (Unless they know something we don't)

 

[DogMania]

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but don't be surprised if a top 2015 kid reclassifies to 2014 (like Shabazz). We have several 2015 studs on campus for Midnight Madness so lets see what happens. There are rumors the staff is feeling really good about a recruit no one is talking about on here.

As I posted in the Melvin Swift thread the other night,these are the things he wrote me on Twitter. When I joked and asked if I can send him a direct message after he commits to UConn, he wrote "yeah you can do that".

Then after I said I thought he'd be a great fit with Purvis and Hamilton, he said "I know that is going to be great with the three of us together" He could be just placating fans from various schools but he could have been a little more noncommittal with his comments. He confirmed that we offered him and is looking forward to his visit. Hopefully there's fire with the smoke.

The idea that the staff thinks one of the 2015 recruits they're high on is going to reclassify is intriguing, but that seems like a longshot. Who knows?

I'm just as perplexed with the Robinson news as the rest of you, but it could be that the rumors from a while ago that UConn was backing off may have been bogus at that time, but might be dead on now because of Swift. It might be a case of taking the bird-in-the-hand if Swift has already told KO that he wants that ship as FLaHusky has proposed. Add that to the rumor that Robinson might have been looking for a promise that whoever takes him would play him at the 3 and not the 4, might have forced KO to go all in with Swift.

Another possibility might just be that KO sees more than enough overlapping talent for 2014, that he feels they're better off keeping more ships for the 2015 class than to add another player that would carve up the minutes into too many slices. It's good to try to balance off each class where you are always bringing in 4 to 5 recruits each year. There's 13 ships each year. If you're an elite program, you can expect about 2 players jumping early to the NBA each season and a transfer every couple years. Right now we have only 2 juniors (Boatright & Daniels) and both might leave after this season. That means we only have 2 ships to offer the talented 2015 class unless there's a combination of not filling all our 2014 ships, someone leaves early in 2014 and/or someone transfers between now and then. Looking at the current roster and the incoming 2014 class, the only one I can see possibly jumping early into the 2015 NBA draft would be DHam. I don't think Omar is enough of an athlete to jump early, but I'm just guessing. Although Purvis was a Burger AA, I think he's going to need more than 2014-15 season to develop his PG skills to make that jump.

I'd be shocked if DD doesn't move on early. All he has to do is continue what he did at the end of last season consistently throughout this season and he's going to be a lottery pick. As for Bazz, who knows. I think he needs all 3 years, but then again, no one expected Kemba to blow up his junior season.

If I were to take a stab at this, I'd say that KO might be in fact done with the 2014 class. What that means for Swift? I don't know. Maybe they want to see what he can do scrimmaging with the current team and if he seems like a real sleeper, they'll take him. Maybe he's an option if they think that Facey is declared completely ineligible. I hope not.

 

[UCweCONN]

Jeez, do I need to start giving envelopes to players to seal the deal? Just kidding.....maybe......If I see another Twitter filled posts saying we're leading with a kid, I think I'll lose it. I'd love to know our offer to commit percentage compared to others like UNC, Duke, Kansas etc. It seems like we offer everybody and take the first one that bites. It may just be my impression but it seems like we're offering a new player everyday.

 

[upstater]

This has been one of the stranger recruiting years.

We started off hitting a home run with Hamilton and a triple with Purvis.

We then struck out in our next 74 at-bats.

We've taken a kid no one has ever heard of and our head coach never laid eyes on before he came for a visit. We lost a kid to Oregon, then unlost him to Oregon and then decided that we didn't want him. We ended up with our Plan F point guard who will likely turn out to be as good as anyone else.

We get dropped from our last remaining target and decide to fold up the tent for the year. That will last until spring when coaches start getting fired and UConn stalks their dislodged recruits.

My whole take on the recruiting year is....Rakim Lubin better be good.

I thought I read that Ollie saw Lubin play in the spring. That's what his commit article said.

 

[aceboon]

I thought I read that Ollie saw Lubin play in the spring. That's what his commit article said.

the staff couldn't go on the road until july

 

[Fishy]

There was something written somewhere that Ollie saw him whenever, but I believe that was inaccurate.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

There was something written somewhere that Ollie saw him whenever, but I believe that was inaccurate.

Where's @basketballmom when you need her for a clarification? Also, she promised a video of her son.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

This has been one of the stranger recruiting years.

We started off hitting a home run with Hamilton and a triple with Purvis.

We then struck out in our next 74 at-bats.

We've taken a kid no one has ever heard of and our head coach never laid eyes on before he came for a visit. We lost a kid to Oregon, then unlost him to Oregon and then decided that we didn't want him. We ended up with our Plan F point guard who will likely turn out to be as good as anyone else.

We get dropped from our last remaining target and decide to fold up the tent for the year. That will last until spring when coaches start getting fired and UConn stalks their dislodged recruits.

My whole take on the recruiting year is....Rakim Lubin better be good.

I guess it has seemed strange. But was it really that unusual?

In 2010 we stole Lamb early before he blew up, got Roscoe in January, then struck out on 9 million point guards and ultimately got 2 Germans and 2 local reclassifications at the last minute.

In 2011 we get Boatright on the bounceback (after being certain we had Hinds), Daniels out of thin air (which never happens if Jamal Coombs-McDaniel had a different "hobby"), and Drummond after students had already moved into their dorms. Three great recruits, but a certain element of luck was involved in all three.

In 2012-2013 we bring in relatively unheralded classes while dealing with some significant red flags. The fact that I can only think of a few guys off the top of my head that we missed out on is probably indicative of how quickly we'll forget about lost loves like Abdul-Malik Abu.

So what's the bottom line? We got 4 guys and I think we can say pretty confidently that no fewer than 3 of them are good enough to get significant minutes from day 1. And I agree with the thought that we might end up with one more when it's all said and done.

It's a pretty damn good crop considering all the complaining that goes on here.

 

[8893]

Recruiting, my dear friends, is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation, and 2% butterscotch ripple.

 

[upstater]

Abu is the big miss of the class. Stick him in there and it's a fantastic class.

Cassell looks very good to me, but those point guards that went away from Ollie & Hobbs (Perkins, McGlaughlin, Snider) are absolutely out of their minds.

 

[aceboon]

I didn't want to start a new thread on this and do a "Kasongo", but given all the signs that were there, how much of a priority was Robinson really? I usually scoff at the "we cooled on him" responses when we miss on recruits, but look at all of the signs with the Robinson recruitment since the summer.

1) I'm sure 3 can verify, but I'm pretty sure the only time UConn watched Robinson all summer was once, at the Reebok Breakout Camp in July, and there was also other players there so its not like they were solely focused on him. Robisnon played in smaller AAU tourneys but if he was a main priority we would've had coaches tracking him.

2) this article came out in August, UConn was not listed as a school that was recruiting him hard by his coach, which backs up the claim from poster D$ that UConn had cooled on him.
http://www.umhoops.com/2013/08/21/coach-devin-robinson-is-very-interested-in-michigan/

3) Don Amore has been saying all summer that UConn wanted a big and a PG as their main priorities after Hamilton was in the fold. Abu was obviously the main big and they whiffed, and we ultimately grouped Robinson in that "big" group since we thought he could play the stretch 4 like DeAndre. Then once they got Lubin Amore said now they were focusing on a PG. We all dismissed what he was saying as BS because we were under the impression that they were still after Robinson. We give Amore a lot of sh_t, but we put more stock in what Meyer was saying than someone who had a direct line to the staff, and it turns out Amore was right.

You couple all this with what the poster on the Rivals board was saying that UConn cooled off on him because Robinson wasn't really flexible with playing another position besides the 3, which we already have talented and capable players at, and it seems to make more sense that UConn did back off, and not miss on their main priority like I read in that non sensical "chaos" article pinned up top.

 

[upstater]

I didn't want to start a new thread on this and do a "Kasongo", but given all the signs that were there, how much of a priority was Robinson really? I usually scoff at the "we cooled on him" responses when we miss on recruits, but look at all of the signs with the Robinson recruitment since the summer.

1) I'm sure 3 can verify, but I'm pretty sure the only time UConn watched Robinson all summer was once, at the Reebok Breakout Camp in July, and there was also other players there so its not like they were solely focused on him. Robisnon played in smaller AAU tourneys but if he was a main priority we would've had coaches tracking him.

2) this article came out in August, UConn was not listed as a school that was recruiting him hard by his coach, which backs up the claim from poster D$ that UConn had cooled on him.
http://www.umhoops.com/2013/08/21/coach-devin-robinson-is-very-interested-in-michigan/

3) Don Amore has been saying all summer that UConn wanted a big and a PG as their main priorities after Hamilton was in the fold. Abu was obviously the main big and they whiffed, and we ultimately grouped Robinson in that "big" group since we thought he could play the stretch 4 like DeAndre. Then once they got Lubin Amore said now they were focusing on a PG. We all dismissed what he was saying as BS because we were under the impression that they were still after Robinson. We give Amore a lot of sh_t, but we put more stock in what Meyer was saying than someone who had a direct line to the staff, and it turns out Amore was right.

You couple all this with what the poster on the Rivals board was saying that UConn cooled off on him because Robinson wasn't really flexible with playing another position besides the 3, which we already have talented and capable players at, and it seems to make more sense that UConn did back off, and not miss on their main priority like I read in that non sensical "chaos" article pinned up top.

Add to that the comment by the coach that UConn was not contacting him. Weird all around.

 

[FASTEDDY]

Sorry to say it but I am somewhat disaqppointed in the way this recruiting class has turned out.

We started out with so much momentum and promise and we have really fizzled out at the end.
We were in on SO MANY TOP LEVEL RECRUITS and MISSED OUT ON EACH & EVERY ONE OF THEM (after Hamilton). We settled for an OK PF in Cassel (there were so many other much better ones that we recruited HARD) and ended up getting some guy in Georgia by way of Alabama that harldly anyone knows about and nobody in the south (SEC) even pursued. We desperately needed a PG/C and we recruited heavily and again got some guy who seems to be much more developmental than all the other guys that we wanted much more.

Stopping recruiting Devin Robinson is just crazy. The guy is a massive talent that fits what we are doing and we stop recruiting him? Another poor choice by the staff. Same thing with Kasongo. If Kasongo is good for other schools why not UConn. You recruit him until the absolute very end.

In the end I'll rate the Class a B-. It could have been an A+ with a key recruit or 2. Better luck next year.

 

[aceboon]

Clueless, and it doesn't even require the effort to explain why you've earned that label.

Sorry to say it but I am somewhat disaqppointed in the way this recruiting class has turned out.

We started out with so much momentum and promise and we have really fizzled out at the end.
We were in on SO MANY TOP LEVEL RECRUITS and MISSED OUT ON EACH & EVERY ONE OF THEM (after Hamilton). We settled for an OK PF in Cassel (there were so many other much better ones that we recruited HARD) and ended up getting some guy in Georgia by way of Alabama that harldly anyone knows about and nobody in the south (SEC) even pursued. We desperately needed a PG/C and we recruited heavily and again got some guy who seems to be much more developmental than all the other guys that we wanted much more.

Stopping recruiting Devin Robinson is just crazy. The guy is a massive talent that fits what we are doing and we stop recruiting him? Another poor choice by the staff. Same thing with Kasongo. If Kasongo is good for other schools why not UConn. You recruit him until the absolute very end.

In the end I'll rate the Class a B-. It could have been an A+ with a key recruit or 2. Better luck next year.