last time we lost a top recruit to Squid at the very end

[tzznandrew]

That's hyperbolic. It's a very good two-year haul of new blood entering the program, but on paper it's not quite up there with 2008+2009, or even 2009+2010.

I agree with you; I'm hopeful, but while the program was never a powerhouse in recruiting (Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, UNC), it had been in that second tier. Next years' class may turn out to be awesome, but it isn't "as good as we've ever done" even taken in the most generous sense.

Just an example, from the wake of our 2004 team through the Final Four team of 2009. I'm going to list Top 100 or players we assumed would be high impact from a composite site.

Class of 2004
5 Rudy
26 Price
plus Ed Nelson, who had just been the ACC Freshman of the Year.

Class of 2005
6 Andrew Bynum (whomp whomp)
43 Jeff Adrien
57 Marcus Johnson

Class of 2006
17 Robinson
27 Kelly
42 Dyson
70 Wiggins

Class of 2008
12 Walker
17 Majok
(Nate Miles: 4 star)

Class of 2009
19 Oriakhi
40 McDaniels
77 Darius Smith

 

[upstater]

The 2003-2004-2005 classes had a lot of people chattering about UConn's recruiting the same way people are chattering about Calipari now.

It's bad enough they grabbed Villanueva late, with Okafor and Ben Gordon already lighting things up, but after the Rudy Gay-Maryland tiff, and snagging Denham Brown/Rashad Anderson, AJ Price, the coup de grace was the Ed Nelson transfer. People freaked when he came to UConn--he was ACC Rookie of the Year. Then of course it was topped off when UConn beat UNC for Bynum.

There was a lot of grousing about all the talent being assembled, and people went after Calhoun in the press much harder than they ever went after Calipari, especially that knob Tony Kornheiser.

 

[David 76]

I agree with you; I'm hopeful, but while the program was never a powerhouse in recruiting (Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, UNC), it had been in that second tier. Next years' class may turn out to be awesome, but it isn't "as good as we've ever done" even taken in the most generous sense.

Just an example, from the wake of our 2004 team through the Final Four team of 2009. I'm going to list Top 100 or players we assumed would be high impact from a composite site.

Class of 2004
5 Rudy
26 Price
plus Ed Nelson, who had just been the ACC Freshman of the Year.

Class of 2005
6 Andrew Bynum (whomp whomp)
43 Jeff Adrien
57 Marcus Johnson

Class of 2006
17 Robinson
27 Kelly
42 Dyson
70 Wiggins

Class of 2008
12 Walker
17 Majok
(Nate Miles: 4 star)

Class of 2009
19 Oriakhi
40 McDaniels
77 Darius Smith

Did you compare this year ,2016, with those? Rudy was a great get, but other than that, I don't see the superiority.
Bynum and Edwards don't count (unless Larrier and Purvis do)

 

[tzznandrew]

Did you compare this year ,2016, with those? Rudy was a great get, but other than that, I don't see the superiority.
Bynum and Edwards don't count (unless Larrier and Purvis do)

2016
34 Gilbert
50 Durham
77 Jackson
(33 Larrier [2014 ranking])

Sure, this one is in the ballpark once you add in Larrier, and better than some of those classes. But the upcoming one isn't:

2017
33 Ashton-Langford

Now, we have time still to round this class out, but it isn't "as good as we get" by any means.

Let's be clear here: I'm not in the "our recruiting sucks" camp. But I am in the "facts matter" one, and having one committed Top 100 recruit when we had 5 scholarships available--and still have 2--isn't a good look. Perhaps we were too convinced we had Diallo, perhaps Zach Brown's verbal chased away some bigs. Perhaps we'll get Bamba or someone else we have an offer out on. But as of this point the statement that led to this back and forth is clearly incorrect, and while our roster next year should still be quite good, we still need an infusion of talent.

 

[Matrim55]

2016
34 Gilbert
50 Durham
77 Jackson
(33 Larrier [2014 ranking])

Sure, this one is in the ballpark once you add in Larrier, and better than some of those classes. But the upcoming one isn't:

2017
33 Ashton-Langford

Now, we have time still to round this class out, but it isn't "as good as we get" by any means.

This is a good discussion, and I thank you for taking the time to compile the research and for sure you proved "as good as we get" was overshooting it a little bit -- Calhoun put together 5 huge recruiting classes in 6 years, and on paper I think 05 & 06 back-to-back is probably our best group even without Bynum. If we'd gotten Diallo then we could plausibly make the argument, but without that one top 10 player, it does fall a little bit short.

That said, I was talking about recruiting in two-year blocks, because that's how college coaches have to think. For example now that we've missed on Diallo, even us amateurs are talking about how it'd be better to get a postgrad or JuCo SG instead of reaching for a 2017 commit down the rankings, or trying to flip an already committed player, because A) we need someone who can help next year, and B) we have the inside track on a 2018 SG (Reeves) who has a high upside.

And regardless I still stand by my assertion that for a two-year haul, this is damn near the top for us even before we fill those last two scholarships.

Let's be clear here: I'm not in the "our recruiting sucks" camp. But I am in the "facts matter" one, and having one committed Top 100 recruit when we had 5 scholarships available--and still have 2--isn't a good look. Perhaps we were too convinced we had Diallo, perhaps Zach Brown's verbal chased away some bigs. Perhaps we'll get Bamba or someone else we have an offer out on. But as of this point the statement that led to this back and forth is clearly incorrect, and while our roster next year should still be quite good, we still need an infusion of talent.

I'm not super concerned about the bolded part. We took it on the chin with Brown being a criminal and we shot for the moon with Diallo & Bamba and (likely) missed on both, but that's kind of what you're supposed to do when you already have six four-star players coming into the program in a two-year span. Getting guys like that allowed us to miss on the higher rated guys without it absolutely devastating the program, and the truth is we'll swing-and-miss more often than we make solid contact going forward.

But as long as guys like Gilbert & Durham stay healthy, and Jackson & Carleton develop, we're going to be better than ok. Ollie is thinking like a GM now -- a roster-builder -- and not just like a coach.

 

[AtlHusky]

We almost never land burger boys, we get very few five stars, we never have the best class in the country. Yet we have the most titles since 1999.

Don't short us a half dozen years...we have the most titles since '93.

 

[ctchamps]

2016
34 Gilbert
50 Durham
77 Jackson
(33 Larrier [2014 ranking])

Sure, this one is in the ballpark once you add in Larrier, and better than some of those classes. But the upcoming one isn't:

2017
33 Ashton-Langford

Now, we have time still to round this class out, but it isn't "as good as we get" by any means.

Let's be clear here: I'm not in the "our recruiting sucks" camp. But I am in the "facts matter" one, and having one committed Top 100 recruit when we had 5 scholarships available--and still have 2--isn't a good look. Perhaps we were too convinced we had Diallo, perhaps Zach Brown's verbal chased away some bigs. Perhaps we'll get Bamba or someone else we have an offer out on. But as of this point the statement that led to this back and forth is clearly incorrect, and while our roster next year should still be quite good, we still need an infusion of talent.

Nice work. What was Durham's ranking when he gave his verbal to UConn and before he suffered his second ACL? What was Zach's ranking at the time of his verbal? I think KO had two terrific classes in a row until circumstances outside his control changed things.

 

[Matrim55]

Nice work. What was Durham's ranking when he gave his verbal to UConn and before he suffered his second ACL? What was Zach's ranking at the time of his verbal? I think KO had two terrific classes in a row until circumstances outside his control changed things.

We can throw in Prince Ali and Willie Jackson as well, as both were top 50 players when they committed.