I can't help wondering if Samuelson's commitment

[Frodo]

puts some pressure on the remaining uncommitted recruits, Ogunbowale, Brown and Durr. There are 12 scholarship players slated for the 2015-2016 season, assuming that Tuck gets the redshirt and that Lawlor and/or Pulido aren't offered. UConn has seldom had more than 12-13 since Auriemma started at Connecticut so I can't help wondering if the next one to raise their hand gets a spot and the others have to look elsewhere, especially since the UConn staff probably wants to keep a couple of spots open for Cox, Ionescu, Boley, etc. from the 2016 class.

 

[jdubct]

puts some pressure on the remaining uncommitted recruits, Ogunbowale, Brown and Durr. There are 12 scholarship players slated for the 2015-2016 season, assuming that Tuck gets the redshirt and that Lawlor and/or Pulido aren't offered. UConn has seldom had more than 12-13 since Auriemma started at Connecticut so I can't help wondering if the next one to raise their hand gets a spot and the others have to look elsewhere, especially since the UConn staff probably wants to keep a couple of spots open for Cox, Ionescu, Boley, etc. from the 2016 class.

Not really. They have plenty of other choices available to them and can take the time needed to make their decision. At this point, Uconn would only be interested in the best 2015 players available such as the three you mentioned.

 

[ndmb]

It's hard to say. With three spots left, I'd say that any of the three who have a scholarship offer won't have that offer rescinded. And I can't imagine the coaching staff keeping Durr off the team if we have fewer than 15 scholarship players and she wants to come.

 

[jsloanjr]

Its like Christmas day? Which present to open 1st...........Good luck to UCONN!!!

 

[Boreifs]

IMO, they are now finished with the 2015 class. UConn never recruits "bench" players; with two in the class of 2016, two for 2017, five for 2018 and three for 2019, that is 12 all-american players. Frankly, the pressure on the uncommitted recruits is the opposite; going somewhere else to insure there will be enough playing time. Durr doesn't want to watch Kia Nurse play and Brown won't want to back up Butler; neither of them has a lot of incentive to go to UConn other than to watch someone else win a championship. From UConn's side, they also put themselves in a hole by having two larger than normal recruiting classes, making it necessary to do the same thing four years later to replace those players. If memory serves me correctly, Geno has never recruited five players for one particular class and then immediately recruited more than three the following year. After all, three players in each class is the "ideal"; that always gives the team a solid roster of twelve and a great balance of youth and experience each season.

 

[ochoopsfan]

My first thought when any school gets so many top recruits is do some of them suddenly see a different picture of how they fit in and do they now have second thoughts. There are some players who want to play for a winner, not just be on a winner.
In UConns case the recruits you generally get are so elite that some might say " I figured I was going to be the main 3(position) for the next 4 years but now UConn has got new committments from Sally Joe and Betty Sue and they might be better 3's than me".

 

[Godfather]

Competition is good, you get to see everyone's skills and knowledge of the game on both ends of the floor, some who lose out and have to play a backup role, then it may change

 

[UcMiami]

My first thought when any school gets so many top recruits is do some of them suddenly see a different picture of how they fit in and do they now have second thoughts. There are some players who want to play for a winner, not just be on a winner.
In UConns case the recruits you generally get are so elite that some might say " I figured I was going to be the main 3(position) for the next 4 years but now UConn has got new committments from Sally Joe and Betty Sue and they might be better 3's than me".

I think most players that Geno recruits obviously want to play, but also understand that it is a four year program and few freshman get to start unless there is an injury. The ones that have played on powerhouse HS/Prep/AAU/USA teams have already experienced this process and understand that there is both a learning curve and progression to the four years. In terms of minutes - starters on a loaded team only average maybe 25 minutes each which leaves 75 additional minutes for non-starters each game. Add in foul trouble, minor tweaks, off nights, and while any given bench player may only get a few minutes in some games, there will be others where if they are playing well in practice they may well get 25 minutes in other games.
Obviously if everything goes well Stewart and Jefferson will be impossible to displace in 2015, but that will be their senior year. The following year if Tuck is healthy and if Chong develops well they will have carved out the senior leadership roles, but the rest of the playing time is up for grabs for the 2014 juniors and the 2015 sophomores and whoever comes in to learn as freshman.
I know we live in an instant gratification society, but Geno tries to recruit players who see the big picture and are more interested in being part of the whole progression that is Uconn basketball from the 1980s through into the future, not the immediacy of their personal stats game by game.
I think he is also very good at defining roles for his players so they have a goal and can have a sense of accomplishment as they work their way from their first game through their graduation - the freshman roles/goals are limited and it expands as their responsibilities and skills increase. I think this is also why he is a very good coach for the national team which truly is a team of stars - he is able to define roles for the 7 players not starting so they know exactly what is needed when they do get in.

 

[reno tony]

puts some pressure on the remaining uncommitted recruits, Ogunbowale, Brown and Durr. There are 12 scholarship players slated for the 2015-2016 season, assuming that Tuck gets the redshirt and that Lawlor and/or Pulido aren't offered.

Just a thought, if Pulido and Lawlor don't get offered scholarships, they could complete their UCONN careers as undefeated players with an N.C. Besides Saniya, has any other UCONN player gone undefeated for their career at UCONN?

45 TO GO​

 

[easttexastrash]

Send the leftovers to Waco.

 

[winlots]

Told my wife this morning that I figure we'll lose two kids plus or minus to transfers out of this whole bunch. Now I see on another thread here that we are already losing one.......(.did NOT figure on that sort of timing, nor did I figure on Banks).

 

[asuwish]

IMO, they are now finished with the 2015 class. UConn never recruits "bench" players; with two in the class of 2016, two for 2017, five for 2018 and three for 2019, that is 12 all-american players. Frankly, the pressure on the uncommitted recruits is the opposite; going somewhere else to insure there will be enough playing time. Durr doesn't want to watch Kia Nurse play and Brown won't want to back up Butler; neither of them has a lot of incentive to go to UConn other than to watch someone else win a championship. From UConn's side, they also put themselves in a hole by having two larger than normal recruiting classes, making it necessary to do the same thing four years later to replace those players. If memory serves me correctly, Geno has never recruited five players for one particular class and then immediately recruited more than three the following year. After all, three players in each class is the "ideal"; that always gives the team a solid roster of twelve and a great balance of youth and experience each season.

Uconn is FAR from finished for 2015! Geno takes Brown and 1 of the guards (we think he prefers Durr, but the other kid is still a top ten player.
In 2 years Uconn will have only 1 post player (someone over 6'2") on the roster. This year they had 3. You need other post to go up against in practice. Do you think Butler will play all 40 minutes, never get hurt or in foul trouble. Teams need depth everywhere.
Durr now has the same incentive KLS has in that if she goes to Uconn she will never be able to be double teamed again. Read some of the reasons KLS says she wants to come here. Why is this so hard to understand, Durr (maybe the most dominant guard since Maya, and that is often what separates one team from another when a title is on the line) and like Maya or DT, somebody else sits if she come here! great players want the challenge of practicing against other great players, and the reward of playing with players who can make them step up their game.
Remember that all these recruits play on team USA together and know how selfish or unselfish the others are.
I have a feeling the players in 2015 are more talented than in the class of 2014 and they will be fighting for playing time, and Yes some may leave, but that is usually in the best interest of both Uconn and the player.
The other incentive of course is Geno. Using round numbers let's just say 100,00 girls play high school basketball, 3500 play division 1 basketball, 150 play in the WNBA, and 12 play on the USA Olympic team. If you have a goal to do the last 2 then what coach in the world can better prepare you to attain it. There is the incentive to come to Uconn.

 

[HoopsFan21]

I don't think UConn is getting Durr or Brown. Brown seems a lot like Wilson and will be hard to pull from the south. I think Geno knows it (after 3 decades he's gotten pretty good at this recruiting thing I'd say) which is why he took Butler. Like Geno says, the kids that they get generally know pretty quickly that is the place for them. Collier, Boykin, and KLS all decided after their official UConn visit last month. Based on Boykin's father's comments and those from Boykin herself, it sounded like the official visit last month was a mere formality. Collier committed before even heading back home from her visit. KLS said she really wanted to play for Geno and that UConn would be her only official visit despite the veritable who's who of WCBB programs on her list. The class of 2015 wrapped up pretty quickly with kids that obviously wanted to go to UConn and didn't need much fanfare or convincing to commit. I'm always a little nervous about kids on the fence.

 

[Boreifs]

IMO, they are now finished with the 2015 class. UConn never recruits "bench" players; with two in the class of 2016, two for 2017, five for 2018 and three for 2019, that is 12 all-american players. Frankly, the pressure on the uncommitted recruits is the opposite; going somewhere else to insure there will be enough playing time. Durr doesn't want to watch Kia Nurse play and Brown won't want to back up Butler; neither of them has a lot of incentive to go to UConn other than to watch someone else win a championship. From UConn's side, they also put themselves in a hole by having two larger than normal recruiting classes, making it necessary to do the same thing four years later to replace those players. If memory serves me correctly, Geno has never recruited five players for one particular class and then immediately recruited more than three the following year. After all, three players in each class is the "ideal"; that always gives the team a solid roster of twelve and a great balance of youth and experience each season.

My Goodness, circumstances can change so quickly! With Banks transferring, UConn really has to recruit a four-person 2015 class, AND that will make recruiting in four years or so that much more difficult. With nine players in the sophomore and freshman classes, recruiting for 2016 and 2017 years is indeed going to be dicey.

 

[DaddyChoc]

My first thought when any school gets so many top recruits is do some of them suddenly see a different picture of how they fit in and do they now have second thoughts. There are some players who want to play for a winner, not just be on a winner.
In UConns case the recruits you generally get are so elite that some might say " I figured I was going to be the main 3(position) for the next 4 years but now UConn has got new committments from Sally Joe and Betty Sue and they might be better 3's than me".

how tall is Sally Joe and Betty Sue?

 

[Paul1969]

I don't think UConn is getting Durr or Brown. Brown seems a lot like Wilson and will be hard to pull from the south. I think Geno knows it (after 3 decades he's gotten pretty good at this recruiting thing I'd say) which is why he took Butler. Like Geno says, the kids that they get generally know pretty quickly that is the place for them. Collier, Boykin, and KLS all decided after their official UConn visit last month. Based on Boykin's father's comments and those from Boykin herself, it sounded like the official visit last month was a mere formality. Collier committed before even heading back home from her visit. KLS said she really wanted to play for Geno and that UConn would be her only official visit despite the veritable who's who of WCBB programs on her list. The class of 2015 wrapped up pretty quickly with kids that obviously wanted to go to UConn and didn't need much fanfare or convincing to commit. I'm always a little nervous about kids on the fence.

I agree with you on Brown-she is not going to UConn. Durr is a mystery at this point and with no official visit yet it's hard to guess what she's thinking.

 

[pap49cba]

I said some weeks ago I thought Geno had cooled on Brown and I still believe this. The silence has been deafening.

 

[Sonny44]

I agree with you on Brown-she is not going to UConn. Durr is a mystery at this point and with no official visit yet it's hard to guess what she's thinking.

Under those circumstances it's difficult to be confident in Durr. Yet many BY'ers are quite so.

 

[sawxfan23]

I agree with you on Brown-she is not going to UConn. Durr is a mystery at this point and with no official visit yet it's hard to guess what she's thinking.

Durr has not scheduled any official visits to anywhere yet and has not even finalized her top 5 list. However her father has said that she is definitely planning an official visit to UConn in the future. The fact that she does not even have top 5 list yet but is already planning to visit UConn is a good sign for the Huskies.

 

[Buzzyboy]

I don't think UConn is getting Durr or Brown. Brown seems a lot like Wilson and will be hard to pull from the south. I think Geno knows it (after 3 decades he's gotten pretty good at this recruiting thing I'd say) which is why he took Butler. Like Geno says, the kids that they get generally know pretty quickly that is the place for them. Collier, Boykin, and KLS all decided after their official UConn visit last month. Based on Boykin's father's comments and those from Boykin herself, it sounded like the official visit last month was a mere formality. Collier committed before even heading back home from her visit. KLS said she really wanted to play for Geno and that UConn would be her only official visit despite the veritable who's who of WCBB programs on her list. The class of 2015 wrapped up pretty quickly with kids that obviously wanted to go to UConn and didn't need much fanfare or convincing to commit. I'm always a little nervous about kids on the fence.

Geno didn't take Butler as some kind of consolation prize because he wasn't figuring on getting Brown. He got her because she's proven that she is a hard working kid whose already improved radically from her high school days and she's someone who has a high ceiling (and I'm not just referring to her height). We may or may not get Brown but it won't be for a lack of trying as we will be short in our front line (particularly at center) over the next few years unless we can pick up someone like her. There may be a lot of competition for the point guard, shooting guard, small forward position but for power forward and center, we still have a pretty BIG need.

 

[JoePgh]

... we will be short in our front line (particularly at center) over the next few years unless we can pick up someone like her. There may be a lot of competition for the point guard, shooting guard, small forward position but for power forward and center, we still have a pretty BIG need.

I really don't see this as a gap worth worrying about. Even if UConn didn't have either Butler or Brown, it could win an NC and even go undefeated in 2015-16 with a front court of Tuck / Boykin / Collier / Samuelson (not all playing at the same time, of course), with Ekmark as a possible 5th player at the 3 behind Samuelson. Adding Butler to that mix just makes the frontcourt even stronger (particularly since she will already have a year of college experience). Six players for three positions gives just as much depth in the front court as in the back court.

The fact that the other players are 6-3 or under is not a concern. Remember that the all-world 2002 team had no player taller than 6-2, and they got plenty of rebounds.

Adding Brown is not necessary at all -- it would (and should) only be done if Brown is dying to come to UConn as the other recruits are, and there doesn't seem to be much evidence that she has that strong a desire to play in Storrs.

ON EDIT: It occurred to me that in 2015-16, we will still have Breanna Stewart. (Minor slipup, wouldn't you say?) So that makes 7 front-court players, including one 6-5 and another with 7-1 wingspan. So there is absolutely no need for more big bodies in that year. In 2016-17, the original analysis applies (in spades, because the freshmen will be sophomores and have college-level experience), and there is still no problem with depth in the front court.

 

[UconnWBB]

what of Arike Ogunbawale? i have heard her name a few times and isn't she playing with Collier, Boykin and KLS in the 3x3 tourney?
http://espn.go.com/high-school/girls-basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/164645/arike-ogunbowale

 

[Buzzyboy]

I really don't see this is a gap worth worrying about. Even if UConn didn't have either Butler or Brown, it could win an NC and even go undefeated in 2015-16 with a front court of Tuck / Boykin / Collier / Samuelson (not all playing at the same time, of course), with Ekmark as a possible 5th player at the 3 behind Samuelson. Adding Butler to that mix just makes the frontcourt even stronger (particularly since she will already have a year of college experience). Six players for three positions gives just as much depth in the front court as in the back court.

The fact that the other players are 6-3 or under is not a concern. Remember that the all-world 2002 team had no player taller than 6-2, and they got plenty of rebounds.

Adding Brown is not necessary at all -- it would (and should) only be done if Brown is dying to come to UConn as the other recruits are, and there doesn't seem to be much evidence that she has that strong a desire to play in Storrs.

Look, I'm not saying UConn NEEDED to get a 6'5" player like Butler or the program would explode but why wouldn't Geno want to have more size and talent in the middle if he can get it. That was my point and not the fact that without Brown or Butler, it would be a disaster and UConn would struggle to make the NCAA tournament. I don't know how you construed my remarks to suggest that! Don't you think that if there was a 6'5" center who was hard working and talented and team oriented available that wanted to come to UConn in 2000 or 2001, that Geno would have gladly recruited her???? CERTAINLY! These type players didn't just grow on trees and it was apparent that none was available at that point. At least none that were interested in UConn. You have to remember that 14 years ago, people looked at UConn a little differently than they do now because since then we've won six or seven more championships. That changes peoples impressions. So maybe some really talented natural centers back then preferred Tennessee or some other schools that were closer to their homes. Back to my point, UConn is thrilled to have Butler and they'll be thrilled if you and others are wrong and Brown decides to leave the deep South and accept a scholarship offer. End of story!!!!!!!!!!!!! By the way, there's no evidence that she wants badly to play for UConn because ....... she didn't call you and tell you of her plans???? How can you possibly throw something like that out when there's absolutely no way to know what's going through a kids mind. This is obviously a new experience for this girl and I don't know if there's a formula for a recruit to communicate through the media how excited she may be to go the school A or school B or school C and let the world know about it. Maybe she has sleepless nights about the possibility of going to play for us but she's under pressure to check all avenues before she makes a decision. Didn't A'ja Wilson take forever and play her cards close to the vest. No one knew where she was going (for sure) until the very last moment.

 

[Buzzyboy]

IMO, they are now finished with the 2015 class. UConn never recruits "bench" players; with two in the class of 2016, two for 2017, five for 2018 and three for 2019, that is 12 all-american players. Frankly, the pressure on the uncommitted recruits is the opposite; going somewhere else to insure there will be enough playing time. Durr doesn't want to watch Kia Nurse play and Brown won't want to back up Butler; neither of them has a lot of incentive to go to UConn other than to watch someone else win a championship. From UConn's side, they also put themselves in a hole by having two larger than normal recruiting classes, making it necessary to do the same thing four years later to replace those players. If memory serves me correctly, Geno has never recruited five players for one particular class and then immediately recruited more than three the following year. After all, three players in each class is the "ideal"; that always gives the team a solid roster of twelve and a great balance of youth and experience each season.

It's been said many times here that Durr is definitely one of the most talented players coming out of high school in many, many years so I don't think she's worried about playing time. She'll get plenty if she decides to come to play in Storrs. If she accepted a scholarship, there's no doubt it would be others whose playing time would be potentially affected. Geno is going to recruit players who he feels are capable of helping the Huskies win as long as they play team oriented ball and give 100% at all times. End of story!