Kelly Oubre Update

[Peacefrog]

That is EXACTLY my point. I think we could have done better by focusing / emphasizg the local NE guys who are plenty talented and we naturally have a higher chance of getting if for no other reasons than we are UCONN and local.

Sorry, no. As has been pointed out the more local players were given their due attention. If we want to remain a program with national prominence we will need to recruit nationally. We can't live on NE talent alone. If we want to be a nice little regional program we should do as you suggest.

 

[ctchamps]

Sorry, no. As has been pointed out the more local players were given their due attention. If we want to remain a program with national prominence we will need to recruit nationally. We can't live on NE talent alone. If we want to be a nice little regional program we should do as you suggest.

Exactly. The past couple of seasons NE has been a hotbed for talented recruits. But that isn't always the case. PC has no choice but to recruit locally at this juncture. UConn, as do all top programs, have the luxury of reaching out to all parts of the country and even internationally.

As has been pointed out, KO has exceeded expectations. Recruiting is about establishing relationships with people at the hs and aau levels. KO is just getting started with this process.

 

[mauconnfan]

We have Daniel Hamilton and Rodney Purvis while being named heavily with many top guys as well as others......how people can be so negative is beyond me. But hey it's the Boneyard.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

That is EXACTLY my point. I think we could have done better by focusing / emphasizg the local NE guys who are plenty talented and we naturally have a higher chance of getting if for no other reasons than we are UCONN and local.

1) Ollie followed around Abu (and the assistants followed around Chukwu) for the entire July live period. We had representation at every single game they played.

2) Daniel Hamilton is better than every single 2014 New England kid. Would you really have preferred that Ollie not go after him? The same can arguably be said for Purvis when compared to a New England combo/shooting guard like Terrell.

So I think it's clear that Ollie has prioritized the local bigs in this class, while the local guards became less of a priority once Purvis and Hamilton were in tow.

 

[ctchamps]

We have Daniel Hamilton and Rodney Purvis while being named heavily with many top guys as well as others......how people can be so negative is beyond me. But hey it's the Boneyard.

Not just the Boneyard. Admired your attempt to clarify the illusion that the men's game has flawed dynamics vs. the women's game on the women's board. Would have supported you there but others had your back.

 

[CTBasketball]

I agree with FastEddy to an extent. Ollie seems to chase the recruit that has recently blown up. Perkins, Oubre, Robinson, etc.

I guarantee if we were more consistent with Abu through late winter/spring, he would have committed by now.

 

[upstater]

I agree with FastEddy to an extent. Ollie seems to chase the recruit that has recently blown up. Perkins, Oubre, Robinson, etc.

I guarantee if we were more consistent with Abu through late winter/spring, he would have committed by now.

I disagree here.

Ollie was on Oubre and Robinson long before they blew up.

 

[CTBasketball]

I disagree here.

Ollie was on Oubre and Robinson long before they blew up.

I put more emphasis on the Abu part. It is debatable whether or not a recruit is being recruited just by saying, "their in my top 10" or "yeah I got an offer."

 

[mauconnfan]

Not just the Boneyard. Admired your attempt to clarify the illusion that the men's game has flawed dynamics vs. the women's game on the women's board. Would have supported you there but others had your back.

Some of those posters are arrogant and ignorant about the women's game. Even the obvious flies by them and they create their own ideas on just how damn good they play the game..........I admitted they are great I like them. To justify how that's the way to play is ridiculous and it kills me. That's why I need to stay away from there because I am sure they are all very nice people, just not too smart when it comes to hoops!! LOL..........but thanks for having my back. Tough crowd ... LOL

 

[CTBasketball]

Some of those posters are arrogant and ignorant about the women's game. Even the obvious flies by them and they create their own ideas on just how damn good they play the game..........I admitted they are great I like them. To justify how that's the way to play is ridiculous and it kills me. That's why I need to stay away from there because I am sure they are all very nice people, just not too smart when it comes to hoops!! LOL..........but thanks for having my back. Tough crowd ... LOL

I remember posting about Geno's bad play-calling in the 2013 BE Championship game and the posters there said the alley-oop to Briana Stewart was a great call...

 

[ctchamps]

Some of those posters are arrogant and ignorant about the women's game. Even the obvious flies by them and they create their own ideas on just how damn good they play the game..........I admitted they are great I like them. To justify how that's the way to play is ridiculous and it kills me. That's why I need to stay away from there because I am sure they are all very nice people, just not too smart when it comes to hoops!! LOL..........but thanks for having my back. Tough crowd ... LOL

It's just one person's opinion but I totally agree with the point you made about the men's game having greater equality with athleticism, if not equal talent, than the woman's game. And that this is by far and away the most salient reason for the game looking less developed from a passing standpoint. And you were correct to point out that's exactly what happens to the UConn women's team when they go against teams with equal athleticism. It's just that in the woman's game it is only a handful or so of teams as opposed to 60 to 100 men's teams. Most posters in this forum will agree with us.

The fans on the women's forum have a range of comprehension of the game. Certainly there are a few unsophisticated posters. But most of them really know their stuff. Some of the fans ( and from my observation it is only a minority) you engaged with are the typical fan that always want to embellish the team they are rooting for above the team's specific accomplishments. It isn't enough that they are rooting for the best women's bb program by far. They want to make themselves feel even more important so they reduce the value of the competition that can challenge their team's value (in their mind). So they put down the play of the men's game.

We do it in this forum although how we do it and what we do will be different. It's normal. It's all about making ourselves feel good. Just look at all the responses to PC fans. It isn't just about players or games or accomplishments. There is a need to make outsiders feel less relevant or irrelevant. Which is the same as saying there is a need to elevate our relevancy.

You have a passion for basketball - period. And that is why you'll have discussions with PC fans even as others in this forum want them to go away. And you'll debate women's fans even as most of the men's fans wouldn't go near them. The reason is you respect the game as much as the team you're passionate about. The only flaw to your discourse is on occasion you let something someone says affect you personally. When that happens the sophistication of your knowledge deteriorates considerably,

 

[mauconnfan]

It's just one person's opinion but I totally agree with the point you made about the men's game having greater equality with athleticism, if not equal talent, than the woman's game. And that this is by far and away the most salient reason for the game looking less developed from a passing standpoint. And you were correct to point out that's exactly what happens to the UConn women's team when they go against teams with equal athleticism. It's just that in the woman's game it is only a handful or so of teams as opposed to 60 to 100 men's teams. Most posters in this forum will agree with us.

The fans on the women's forum have a range of comprehension of the game. Certainly there are a few unsophisticated posters. But most of them really know their stuff. Some of the fans ( and from my observation it is only a minority) you engaged with are the typical fan that always want to embellish the team they are rooting for above the team's specific accomplishments. It isn't enough that they are rooting for the best women's bb program by far. They want to make themselves feel even more important so they reduce the value of the competition that can challenge their team's value (in their mind). So they put down the play of the men's game.

We do it in this forum although how we do it and what we do will be different. It's normal. It's all about making ourselves feel good. Just look at all the responses to PC fans. It isn't just about players or games or accomplishments. There is a need to make outsiders feel less relevant or irrelevant. Which is the same as saying there is a need to elevate our relevancy.

You have a passion for basketball - period. And that is why you'll have discussions with PC fans even as others in this forum want them to go away. And you'll debate women's fans even as most of the men's fans wouldn't go near them. The reason is you respect the game as much as the team you're passionate about. The only flaw to your discourse is on occasion you let something someone says affect you personally. When that happens the sophistication of your knowledge deteriorates considerably,

Damn fleudy that was well thought out and well stated!!

Good news is I'm never gonna change.....oh crap that's also bad news!!

 

[ctchamps]

Damn fleudy that was well thought out and well stated!!

Good news is I'm never gonna change.....oh crap that's also bad news!!

I never try to change people. Just being a mirror and letting the person looking at himself decide if he likes the clothing he's wearing.

 

[mauconnfan]

I never try to change people. Just being a mirror and letting the person looking at himself decide if he likes the clothing he's wearing.

Love my clothing.........company NIKE golf shirts mostly with casual slacks, Ecco shoes every day or Tommy Bahama camp shirts for the weekend!! LOL........ I hear ya by the way just trying to have fun.

It just seemed like everything you said was spot on until you said I occasionally take things personally......huh? Me? .....lol

 

[chevtheman]

Oubre is nothin more than a 3.. If he stretches than he'd be pretty undersized

 

[aceboon]

I agree with FastEddy to an extent. Ollie seems to chase the recruit that has recently blown up. Perkins, Oubre, Robinson, etc.

I guarantee if we were more consistent with Abu through late winter/spring, he would have committed by now.

Perkins yes, Oubre & Robinson, no. UConn was the first major school to offer Robinson and he even said so himself.

 

[UConn17]

I agree with FastEddy to an extent. Ollie seems to chase the recruit that has recently blown up. Perkins, Oubre, Robinson, etc.

I guarantee if we were more consistent with Abu through late winter/spring, he would have committed by now.

It was hard to stay right on players during late winter/spring because of recruiting violations. That is one of the reasons (in my opinion) he is going after recruits who recently blew up as he isn't put at a disadvantage as much compared to recruits who have been highly ranked since they were freshman.

 

[ctchamps]

Love my clothing.........company NIKE golf shirts mostly with casual slacks, Ecco shoes every day or Tommy Bahama camp shirts for the weekend!! LOL........ I hear ya by the way just trying to have fun.

It just seemed like everything you said was spot on until you said I occasionally take things personally......huh? Me? .....lol

Yes you, you mumu! Man I'd love to get Abu and you and I could have a field day comparing his game to AO's game.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

I agree with FastEddy to an extent. Ollie seems to chase the recruit that has recently blown up. Perkins, Oubre, Robinson, etc.

I guarantee if we were more consistent with Abu through late winter/spring, he would have committed by now.

As usual, I have no idea what you're talking about. Yes, we were late to the game with Perkins so I'll give you that one.

The biggest reason why many think we're in great shape for Robinson is because he has said numerous times that Uconn was the first major school to offer him back when he was considered a mid-major recruit. We were ahead of the game on him.

Oubre made a point several months ago to say that Uconn was recruiting him harder than anyone else. He has since blown up to the extent that Kansas and Kentucky are now all over him too, and it seems that he will have a hard time saying no to those schools.

Abu, if you recall, came to the Fordham game back in November. We clearly have been on him for a very long time. Providence apparently has been to every single one of his AAU games in the last few live periods. Uconn wasn't even allowed on the road in April - maybe that hurt us, maybe it didn't.

But you're just flat out wrong if you think Ollie is waiting too long to get involved with these guys.

 

[CTBasketball]

As usual, I have no idea what you're talking about. Yes, we were late to the game with Perkins so I'll give you that one.

The biggest reason why many think we're in great shape for Robinson is because he has said numerous times that Uconn was the first major school to offer him back when he was considered a mid-major recruit. We were ahead of the game on him.

Oubre made a point several months ago to say that Uconn was recruiting him harder than anyone else. He has since blown up to the extent that Kansas and Kentucky are now all over him too, and it seems that he will have a hard time saying no to those schools.

Abu, if you recall, came to the Fordham game back in November. We clearly have been on him for a very long time. Providence apparently has been to every single one of his AAU games in the last few live periods. Uconn wasn't even allowed on the road in April - maybe that hurt us, maybe it didn't.

But you're just flat out wrong if you think Ollie is waiting too long to get involved with these guys.

We really quieted down on Abu in the spring after he visited w/ Terrell. You can't blame recruiting violations as to why in my opinion, because during that same time we were actively Purvis/Hamilton and got them to commit. Abu fell to the back burner for a couple months, and he knew it. So it hurts our chances with him a tad.

 

[7774]

We really quieted down on Abu in the spring after he visited w/ Terrell. You can't blame recruiting violations as to why in my opinion, because during that same time we were actively Purvis/Hamilton and got them to commit. Abu fell to the back burner for a couple months, and he knew it. So it hurts our chances with him a tad.

It's cool how you make things up and pretend like they are facts. I guess.

 

[CTBasketball]

It's cool how you make things up and pretend like they are facts. I guess.

I said "in my opinion." Not facts.

 

[7774]

I said "in my opinion." Not facts.

Yes you did mention it was your opinion that we can't blame recruiting violations.

 

[Chief00]

Not trying to be fatalistic here but we have very little chance of getting Oubre.

My personal opinion is that we have spent a huge amount of time on and swung for the fences on some really big time players and players who have blown up this summer and we will most likely not get them (DHAM being an obvious exception but we got him really early) and we could have quite some time ago spent more time focusing on the NE guys who are really really good, like PC has done.
The NE guys Okonoboh, Chuckwu, Terrell, Abu, Joseph etc would be more realistic for us. The way things are looking , I personally dont think that we will get ANY of these guys. PC looks likely for several of them and perhaps Indiana or Florida for 1 or 2 of them.

I am happy with DHAM and Purvis and think we will likely get Robinson if we get him on campus soon and will get a PG (likely NOT one of our 2 main targets), but size is lacking. We will probably get some much lower rated project at the 4 or 5 (like we have done recently) and hope they pan out. We really missed the boat on Chukwu especially but also on Abu and Okonoboh.

By the way, this is me forecasting what I think will happen over the next 5-6 weeks.

Not trying to be fatalistic here but we have very little chance of getting Oubre.

My personal opinion is that we have spent a huge amount of time on and swung for the fences on some really big time players and players who have blown up this summer and we will most likely not get them (DHAM being an obvious exception but we got him really early) and we could have quite some time ago spent more time focusing on the NE guys who are really really good, like PC has done.
The NE guys Okonoboh, Chuckwu, Terrell, Abu, Joseph etc would be more realistic for us. The way things are looking , I personally dont think that we will get ANY of these guys. PC looks likely for several of them and perhaps Indiana or Florida for 1 or 2 of them.

I am happy with DHAM and Purvis and think we will likely get Robinson if we get him on campus soon and will get a PG (likely NOT one of our 2 main targets), but size is lacking. We will probably get some much lower rated project at the 4 or 5 (like we have done recently) and hope they pan out. We really missed the boat on Chukwu especially but also on Abu and Okonoboh.

By the way, this is me forecasting what I think will happen over the next 5-6 weeks.

Be realistic, that's not how JC won 3 NC's. Swing for the fences but also have plan B and Plan C.

 

[Gurleyman]

Other than Freeman (who played HS ball in Jersey...with Tim Thomas, if you hadn't heard), I don't think we had a single Massachusetts kid in JC's tenure until we signed Adrien. Then we got AO, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel and Bazz in succession. We had been shut out of Boston, where JC is from, supposedly due in part to clashes with the BABC AAU program. Wayne Turner (Kentucky) and Randell Jackson (Florida State) were the most famous misses. Travis Best was from Springfield and was another famous miss, which brought us Ollie.

While I think it's important to keep an eye in your back yard, I really don't think it matters where your recruits eventually come from - if the players you want are from 2000-3000 miles away, sell them on getting away and becoming your own man, if they are from 30 miles away, sell them on being close to home. JC was a New Englander through and through and recruited nationally, perhaps doing a so-so job of back yard recruiting in the process. But we won three titles because we found players from everywhere, often coming in very late to get players we weren't expected to get (Donyell, Khalid, CV, etc.). Now we have a coach who came from LA to have a successful career at UConn and beyond. Maybe he can sell kids from far away on his own story about getting away and becoming his own man.

Recruiting isn't a zero-sum game, but if you want to say that we lost Abu by going all in for Hamilton in the spring, so be it. I'm not going to regret that for an instant. If we did it the other way around, maybe Abu ends up still wanting to play with Terrell, and we lose Hamilton. If Abu goes elsewhere, it won't be because he didn't pay him enough attention.

 

[Dove]

Love my clothing.........company NIKE golf shirts mostly with casual slacks, Ecco shoes every day or Tommy Bahama camp shirts for the weekend!! LOL........ I hear ya by the way just trying to have fun.

It just seemed like everything you said was spot on until you said I occasionally take things personally......huh? Me? .....lol

You dress like Jake from State Farm.

 

[BearJWS]

Other than Freeman (who played HS ball in Jersey...with Tim Thomas, if you hadn't heard), I don't think we had a single Massachusetts kid in JC's tenure until we signed Adrien. Then we got AO, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel and Bazz in succession. We had been shut out of Boston, where JC is from, supposedly due in part to clashes with the BABC AAU program. Wayne Turner (Kentucky) and Randell Jackson (Florida State) were the most famous misses. Travis Best was from Springfield and was another famous miss, which brought us Ollie.

Scott Hazelton too. We missed out on Noel too.

 

[mauconnfan]

Other than Freeman (who played HS ball in Jersey...with Tim Thomas, if you hadn't heard), I don't think we had a single Massachusetts kid in JC's tenure until we signed Adrien. Then we got AO, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel and Bazz in succession. We had been shut out of Boston, where JC is from, supposedly due in part to clashes with the BABC AAU program. Wayne Turner (Kentucky) and Randell Jackson (Florida State) were the most famous misses. Travis Best was from Springfield and was another famous miss, which brought us Ollie.

While I think it's important to keep an eye in your back yard, I really don't think it matters where your recruits eventually come from - if the players you want are from 2000-3000 miles away, sell them on getting away and becoming your own man, if they are from 30 miles away, sell them on being close to home. JC was a New Englander through and through and recruited nationally, perhaps doing a so-so job of back yard recruiting in the process. But we won three titles because we found players from everywhere, often coming in very late to get players we weren't expected to get (Donyell, Khalid, CV, etc.). Now we have a coach who came from LA to have a successful career at UConn and beyond. Maybe he can sell kids from far away on his own story about getting away and becoming his own man.

Recruiting isn't a zero-sum game, but if you want to say that we lost Abu by going all in for Hamilton in the spring, so be it. I'm not going to regret that for an instant. If we did it the other way around, maybe Abu ends up still wanting to play with Terrell, and we lose Hamilton. If Abu goes elsewhere, it won't be because he didn't pay him enough attention.

We also missed out on a kid from Charlestown a few years back who went to Florida, shooter (Robinson?) and later transferred. Travis Best was not a "miss" by the way. Actually he had not decided and some say he was going to choose UConn if JC had waited but KO jumped in and took the scholly that left Best out.......not sure on that but that's what I have heard!

 

[Gurleyman]

We also missed out on a kid from Charlestown a few years back who went to Florida, shooter (Robinson?) and later transferred. Travis Best was not a "miss" by the way. Actually he had not decided and some say he was going to choose UConn if JC had waited but KO jumped in and took the scholly that left Best out.......not sure on that but that's what I have heard!

Could be wrong on Best - thought he went to GT and we took Ollie instead, but that was pre-internet so I followed recruiting more loosely. I just remember a temporary "one that got away" angst with Best that cured itself as our team succeeded.

I admit I forgot about Hazelton. He didn't pan out in college, but he was a good get at the time.

 

[Yonick]

We also missed out on a kid from Charlestown a few years back who went to Florida, shooter (Robinson?) and later transferred. Travis Best was not a "miss" by the way. Actually he had not decided and some say he was going to choose UConn if JC had waited but KO jumped in and took the scholly that left Best out.......not sure on that but that's what I have heard!

You are spot on regarding Ollie before Best. Ollie even referred to that during his speech accepting the coaching job. Also, that year JC took Brian Fair ahead of Rick Brunson who was from Salem MA. Brunson went to Temple.