Kevin Ollie.Some would say Chris Smith was our most important receruit ever, but I think it was Khalid.
10 years from now the answer will be Ollie. You could already make the case that he's the most important recruit we've ever had.Who will we be saying this about 10 years from now? DHam, JA, AG?
Khalid made us a champion... He's our most important recruit in making us UConn and a "blue-blood." Without Khalid, we are like any other school that had some good teams but had an elite eight ceiling.
You could make that argument about almost every player on the 98-99 roster.
Uconn's most important recruit: Jim Calhoun
Calhoun's most important recruit: Chris Smith
Ollie's most important recruit: Alterique Gilbert
I disagree. Without Khalid, Ricky is your point guard. Khalid came along because Ricky was so shaky while running the show in 96-97. The fact that Khalid, on his recruiting visit, became the team's leader speaks volumes to what that team of very talented, young players needed. We all would agree that Khalid has been a once-in-a-lifetime personality/leader. In my opinion, he is the reason we went from being a good team with a coach could not win the big one to being arguably the most successful basketball school of the past 25 years. We had had players like Rip before, we had guys like Freeman and Jake etc. We had never had a Khalid.
This is nonsense. There are a number of players on the 98-99 roster who, but for them, we don't win the title that year. Khalid was not the only critical player on that team.
Uconn's most important recruit: Jim Calhoun
Calhoun's most important recruit: Chris Smith
Ollie's most important recruit: Alterique Gilbert

Has anyone seen him play in person or find any full length games on YouTube?
Agree. Hard to tell from just few videos but he looks more like a 2 to me.Thanks for posting. Seems like a average athlete for a listed 6'3" high school wing...he doesn't appear to play point guard at all.
You can make a really strong argument he's the biggest recruit in the history of UConn basketball.Wherever Ishmael lands, I sincerely wish him the best. This may sound crazy, but I truly credit his father for getting us to the promised land. Kahlid was the piece we needed. I told friends at that time that he was a 'child of the basketball gods and he would lead us to a national championship."
I would never take a stock tip from me and I am rarely right about too much in life ...but I had epiphany moments (and I am Jewish) about two UConn basketball events: the day we hired Jim Calhoun and the day we signed Kahlid. Both times I believed deeply those individuals were destined to win my alma mater a national championship. You can ask my wife (-:
I just never believed we could win four of them.
You can make a really strong argument he's the biggest recruit in the history of UConn basketball.
Waters seems destined for Duke (at least verbally)... I think he is terrific - from what I have seen...plus he has got to be a winner.If he's good enough, I want him at UConn but man, why does he have to be I the same class as Waters.
Waters seems destined for Duke (at least verbally)... I think he is terrific - from what I have seen...plus he has got to be a winner.