....when recruiting was so much more simple. Once you got the Blue and White, the decisions had already been made and you didn't have to waste all of your time thinking of tweets, and "handlers" and bogeyman at University of Kentucky. I long for the days before technology...
I miss the days of the old Blue and White....
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I still remember sitting, eating lunch one day in the mid 1990's with my latest edition of Husky Blue & White and reading how Ray Allen was old friends with one Kevin Garnett from his S.C. days. The thought was maybe Ray could convince his buddy from Chicago to come to Storrs. Didn't quite work out. But just the thought was exhilarating.
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I remember years ago when I was playing golf and someone in my foursome told me that we got a good one in Richard Hamilton out of Pennsylvania. I took his word for it because he was a basketball fanatic and also because there was no mixtape, on-line hype and social media to confirm it.
To my pleasant surprise I was so excited watching him play without all of the pre-hype bs, and giddily saw the affirmations being posted on the BoneYard.
Saw Chris Smith play in high school and saw for myself collegiate greatness. I knew he was going to be a good-un. Again coming here and seeing the affirmations gave one a great feeling.
Unfortunately those days are long gone. I will say that of all schools UConn produces the most surprises. I waste my time hoping posters would stop putting up mixtapes of our recruits, raising immediate expectations and allow the pleasant surprises to return. But like I said its a new day and those 'statistical only' days are long gone. It seems to be all marketing now.
Bottom line, sometimes we seem know too much about recruits taking the surprise element out of it.
To my pleasant surprise I was so excited watching him play without all of the pre-hype bs, and giddily saw the affirmations being posted on the BoneYard.
Saw Chris Smith play in high school and saw for myself collegiate greatness. I knew he was going to be a good-un. Again coming here and seeing the affirmations gave one a great feeling.
Unfortunately those days are long gone. I will say that of all schools UConn produces the most surprises. I waste my time hoping posters would stop putting up mixtapes of our recruits, raising immediate expectations and allow the pleasant surprises to return. But like I said its a new day and those 'statistical only' days are long gone. It seems to be all marketing now.
Bottom line, sometimes we seem know too much about recruits taking the surprise element out of it.
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The Earl Kelley recruitment in the 1980s though had this much hype. People were wondering for a long while where he was going to go. He even had a press conference live broadcast on WTNH in which he chose UConn over Syracuse.
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I remember getting a couple issues of the husky blue and white, and reading about Rickey Moore. I lived in Maine so it was a big deal to get some insider Uconn news.
joober jones
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This thread brought back a long forgotten memory of when I was standing in line at the deli counter at Bennie's Farm Market in Centerbrook and one of the deli guys was talking about us possibly getting a guy named Lamar Odom. At the time, I had no idea who that was.
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Was that the publication by the Napolitanos? They had the first BE magazine when the conference was launched.
I believe the Napolitanos had Eastern Basketball which also had a lot of good recruiting info. I got them all, Big East Briefs, EB, HB&W, even something from a guy out of Pittsburgh named Tim Timko - He still owes me 4 issues. I didn't get the National ones - that was just too much to follow
Fishy
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It wasn't that long ago.
I remember RecruitingUSA and PrepStars.
PrepStars was like a recruiting bible - they'd have short paragraph reviews of the top 50 or 75 kids and for coaches and fans, that blurb was the book on a kid.
It started to get ridiculous towards the end, but I do miss parts of ABCD camp, etc. It was nice to see Brick Oettinger, Mike Sullivan, Tom K. a few times a year.
I remember RecruitingUSA and PrepStars.
PrepStars was like a recruiting bible - they'd have short paragraph reviews of the top 50 or 75 kids and for coaches and fans, that blurb was the book on a kid.
It started to get ridiculous towards the end, but I do miss parts of ABCD camp, etc. It was nice to see Brick Oettinger, Mike Sullivan, Tom K. a few times a year.
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OMG alex - I remember the exact article you are talking about! Had a picture of Garnett on the page. The was pretty cool getting that mag. Then I would log on to the AOL board and talk with uMess fans.
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I was always very into it. The Norwich Bulletin on Sunday's with Peter Abraham was a must read and there was a section usually dedicated to UConn and Big East recruiting. I also subscribed to Prep Stars, The Recruiters Handbook, and Bob Gibbons's newsletter. Jeff Kulas from one of the earliest incarnations of the Boneyard on UConn-Toto and the AOL/Compuserve Boards was the resident expert. I still remember him going to one of the camps and saying there was an completely unranked kid named McGrady that was blowing everyone away and that all the schools were trying to get info on him.
I have to say I have lost a bit of interest over the years. There's so much BS being broadcasted and being perpetrated by fans. I cringe when I see people post about how their tweeting high school kids trying to get an in or blasting them when they choose another school. It's nice to see these videos but you know that they need to be taken with a huge grain of salt. And the amazing hyperbole fed to the masses is nauseating. Kirk King was called a Pippen clone, Jerome Dyson a pure 3 point shooter, and people on this board had Ben Eaves as a potential starter based on his coaches glowing comps.
I have to say I have lost a bit of interest over the years. There's so much BS being broadcasted and being perpetrated by fans. I cringe when I see people post about how their tweeting high school kids trying to get an in or blasting them when they choose another school. It's nice to see these videos but you know that they need to be taken with a huge grain of salt. And the amazing hyperbole fed to the masses is nauseating. Kirk King was called a Pippen clone, Jerome Dyson a pure 3 point shooter, and people on this board had Ben Eaves as a potential starter based on his coaches glowing comps.
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