Here's my $.02 FWIW... We are heading into somewhat uncharted territory. In fact, I would say completely uncharted territory.
UCONN's current roster has 9 high school AA's on it (Not sure if Ekmark was an AA anywhere - if so then 10). That's literally almost the entire roster. Possibly the most talented team of all time at UCONN (Sveta, Schuey, Swin, Sue, Ashja, Tamika, Diana, and then Rigby, Battle, Valley, and Conlon - Moore red shirted that year) only had 7 equivalent AA's. My point about uncharted territory is that it's really the first time in history that UCONN has had a roster filled with kids who are literally almost all in the top 15 of their respective classes.
Now you can argue that Chong and Emkark probably aren't top 15, but when the big 3 comes to UCONN, Stewie, Mojett, Morgan, Sadie, Gabby, Kia, Naphessa, DeJanae, and KLS are literally ALL top 15, and probably top 10, kids. that's a roster of 9 and if you add in Durr, that's 10. Something's got to give. No way can every player get 30 MPG.
Women's college basketball is not like tee-league where everyone gets an award for participating. While there is a factor of developing young women, helping give them the tools for life, educating them etc., it's mostly about assembling the best teams you can, winning games, winning your conference and your conference tourney, and winning NC's. Talk to the best kids in any class and one of the first things they usually mention is "I want to go to a school where I can win a NC".
Some kids develop better than expected, others not as good as expected. It defies logic that UCONN wouldn't recruit Asia Durr just because someone else they already recruited might not get as much playing time. Just as a player like Gorecki might have looked at the depth chart ahead of her and said "too much talent", a kid like Durr will look at the depth chart and probably think she's as good or better than everyone else.
When we recruited Johnson and Engeln, I think everyone realized, especially regarding Johnson, that she had potential, but when it became clear to her that no matter how much she improved, she wasn't going to see PT ahead of KML or Stewie or Kiah, she decided to transfer. These things happen. Of course as fans it makes us sad if a kid leaves. Of course coaches recruiting against UCONN will say "there's no PT to be had there". It boils down to how good a kid thinks she is and how much playing 30 MPG and starting from day 1 is important to her. Or, if a kid, who might be really good, comes to realize because of the talent on the team, she will likely never be more than an role player, as in the case of Banks.
As a fan, I love all the kids. I want them all to stay, be the best they can be, have a great experience, and hopefully be happy with the amount of PT they are able to earn. But for some kids, Banks, Johnson, and Engeln, that's not enough. I totally get it and respect their decision and wish them the very best. They will always be part of the UCONN family.
But bottom line, to NOT recruit a terrific kid who has "UCONN" written all over her because she might take PT away from someone else and potentially cause a transfer is short sighted (IMHO). As a fan, I want all the best kids to come to UCONN. The ones who rise to the top will play the most. The others will either be happy where they are, or decide to leave. I have no issue either way with their choices. One other thing - injuries. If Johnson had stayed, I'm betting she would have gotten plenty of PT last season when Geno basically went with a 6 player team. You never know who's going to be injured and what not, and currently UCONN has 2 kids trying to come back from devastating injuries. Will Tuck or Williams ever be 100%? You just never know what's going to happen on the injury front...
Would that bring the fans to their feet??
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