Jc's Biggest Surprise Recruit?

[Kitaman]

Congrats to Jeremy! Made me wonder of all the recruits that Jim has signed who is considered the biggest surprise?

Qualifications: Not heavily recruited, and not highly ranked. Basically "where the hell did he come from?"

At this point wouldn't it be Emeka? I had no idea that he would be a shot blocking/scoring machine. Kemba/Ray/Rip also would qualify. Tate, Nadav, Jeff and Jake get a shout out.

Still too early to anoint Jeremy but I think all of our 1st team AAs were under the radar. Lastly I think Bazz may one day top the list.

I know many of you have better memory than I do.

 

[Waquoit]

Emeka was a surprise to me. He was so awful in his first exhibition game I never expected him to get so good so fast. Nadav was good right off the bat, Lamb made the leap from good, solid player to star in one year. That's a pretty big jump.

 

[Dann]

was hilton highly recruited? JC made him some $$$.

 

[prankster]

One of Calhoun's bigger "under the radar" recruits, who ended up turning into a star has to have been Ben Gordon.

 

[JByron21]

Wasn't Kemba a McD's AA in HS? I don't think he really qualifies here. Pretty sure Rip was a pretty decent recruit coming in as well.

 

[jcf2000]

Gordon was big, just not a McD's. I agree with Oak, Lamb and Hilton. Hilton may have been the least recruited that made NBA to date.

 

[uchusky32]

Rip was Md's AA as well. Ben, Emeka, Hilton, Jeremy. Emeka and Hilton 3 stars.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

Ben Gordon was only 3 stars? I thought he was suppose to have been incredible out of Mt Vernon?

 

[M_Funkhauser43!]

IIRC, Ben was a consensus top 30-40 recruit. The only reason he wasn't higher was because he didn't have a big presence on the AAU circuit the summer before senior year, if he played in any games at all. Ben wanted to go to Duke and Coach K was deciding on taking him or Daniel Ewing. That one turned out pretty well for us...

I'd say Emeka was the biggest surprise just because of the immediate impact he had relative to his reputation coming out of high school. Hilton was more of a long-term project.

 

[CL82]

Jonathan Mandeldove. And with his academic performance, he's the gift that just keeps on giving.

 

[Waquoit]

Jonathan Mandeldove. And with his academic performance, he's the gift that just keeps on giving.

I think the guy has been an undergrad at UConn longer than Ron Pape.

 

[TopDog18]

No question Emeka. Wasn't even a top 100 prospect out of High School and the became National Player of the Year, and won a ship!

 

[Scot-e]

I have a different slant on this and I am going to say DD.
As far as the fans knew we never talked to him and were not even considered. He came to UCONN having never even visited the school and was a top 10 player that Dook, Texas and Kansas had been after for year. Emeka was a surprise after he got here and grew as a player but I was shocked when we landed DD.

 

[rw005]

Hilton is a surprise to me, I didn't know who this guy was at all when he was playing in high school until I read that he was considering UConn.

 

[Joobie]

New

One of Calhoun's bigger "under the radar" recruits, who ended up turning into a star has to have been Ben Gordon.​

Not Ater Majok??? ​

 

[ctchamps]

IIRC, Ben was a consensus top 30-40 recruit. The only reason he wasn't higher was because he didn't have a big presence on the AAU circuit the summer before senior year, if he played in any games at all. Ben wanted to go to Duke and Coach K was deciding on taking him or Daniel Ewing. That one turned out pretty well for us...

I'd say Emeka was the biggest surprise just because of the immediate impact he had relative to his reputation coming out of high school. Hilton was more of a long-term project.

This.

 

[ctchamps]

EO. Unheralded coming in and top pick going out.

 

[HuskyFan32]

Kemba, Ray, and Rip were all top recruits. Ben Gordon was a bigger surprise than them, but he too was a top recruit (Top 40 albeit and not Top 15.) Emeka obviously has to be the biggest surprise. From 3 star recruit to POY! Hilton too, but he had only one good year (and it ended in disaster). I dont think Butler was that highly coveted either, mainly bacause of his background. Lamb has a shot to be in this discussion depending on how this year go.

 

[ctchamps]

Kemba, Ray, and Rip were all top recruits. Ben Gordon was a bigger surprise than them, but he too was a top recruit (Top 40 albeit and not Top 15.) Emeka obviously has to be the biggest surprise. From 3 star recruit to POY! Hilton too, but he had only one good year (and it ended in disaster). I dont think Butler was that highly coveted either, mainly bacause of his background. Lamb has a shot to be in this discussion depending on how this year go.

Butler was the number one ranked post graduate player and was wanted by several high major schools.

 

[Scoe]

Kevin Freeman, Rashad, Denham ( im sure his 101 point game got some teams attention), Ricky Moore, Adrien, Hilton, Ray, Ben. I would have to go with Emeka. AD took all of us by suprise with the timing of his announcement lol.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Ray Allen was ranked in the 40's-50's by most recruiting services. He was fairly heavily recruited (Kentucky was after him too), but he far exceeded everyone's expectations from the very first game. He was easily one of the top 5 freshmen in the nation that year, and would eventually win POY as a junior.

Emeka Okafor wasn't even on the radar of most recruiting services until late in his senior year. Some did rank him in the top 100 very late, but I'm sure noone, except Jim Calhoun and Emeka himself, believed he had POY in him.

Perhaps not as dramatically late as Andre Drummond, but Calhoun has a knack of getting huge commits very late in the recruiting process, going all the way back to stealing Donyell Marshall from Syracuse and Michigan.

 

[Mike Honcho]

Ray was first team AA but never POY. Marcus Camby won it that year. He did win BE POY, if that's what you meant.

 

[Waquoit]

Ray Allen was ranked in the 40's-50's by most recruiting services.

Allen was higher than that. He was 1st on the USA Top 25 that year. Of course, that list was in alphabetical order.

 

[jleves]

Based on the criteria presented - Emeka hands down. No one else comes close.