Montez Mathis

[EBonz30]

Like I said a week ago, one time please!!

It's been incredibly dry, can't remember the last time we came through with a top 100 recruit.

KO & Chill best of luck, I believe in you guys!!

 

[champs99and04]

This isn't an excuse as much as it is a commentary on how saturated recruiting has become, but is it possible that Ollie is simply too...normal to win these type of battles?

Because my impression is that it's easy to conflate normalcy with complacency in this profession, and my sense is that Ollie is willing to do the trench work but not at the expense of what he might perceive as a violation of a kids' personal space and privacy. Of course he has an entire staff to do the dirty work for him, but if Pikell is campaigning on the family's front porch then that is difficult to compete with.

It's a bottom line business, so ultimately there is no time for moralizing. You need players to win and if abduction is the best strategy for a particular recruit, that's the path you need to take. From afar, though, it's hard not to notice the commonality in the way these recruitments have played out. Baring that in mind, we're still only a year removed from reeling in a top ten class. I just wonder if we've been less successful in battles that have been drawn out - to my knowledge, we've had a lot of early commits in Ollie's tenure but not as many late in the game.

 

[HooperScooper]

How could you possibly know UConn ever had a huge lead? If you're basing it off of the crystal balls, I think they've been proven to be complete garbage. Yes, it sucks that we're competing with Rutgers for a recruit, but every recruit is different. If he chooses to stay home, so be it. We'll find guys who want to be Huskies.

How do I know? Because many of the recruiting analysts were told that he wanted to go to UConn by various people close to Mathis. Which is why all the so called "experts" had him pegged for UConn. But things change in recruiting as husky99 tells us all the time. So UConn had a chance to lock him up when that's what he wanted to do but for various reasons it didn't happen. That happens a lot in recruiting but a large part of recruiting is getting a commitment when you have a kid on the hook and that doesn't seem to be happening lately. Maybe he still chooses UConn in the end. But if he doesn't then it's another lost opportunity and those are happening far too frequently lately.

We'll see what happens when the book is closed on the 2018 recruiting class. Too soon to complain at this point. But I don't think anyone could say things have been trending UConn's way with recruiting lately.

 

[Blaneylover]

We are at that time were a "P5" school like Rutgers is more important than a 4 time National Champion in the eyes of recruits. Playing B1G vs play AAC is a much bigger stage even if at Rutgers. We are also not competing with coaches like they have had in the past who have no idea what they are doing. It is a different world then even a year ago and competition is that much harder until AAC basketball schools get it and devote some serious time into basketball resources, scheduling, recruiting... we are going to live this scenario over and over.

I agree. HCJC, upon arriving at UCONN (and actually recruiting Pikiell), would lure his kids to a team with no record of Big East achievement by offering the opportunity to come in and compete against the best. He convinced kids to come to a school with (then) terrible facilities and an annual date in the conference tourney "8/9 game" to come and compete against the best of the best in a big time conference. This is a tool that Pikiell can certainly use in this instance. I'm not trying to beat a dead horse here, but.....this conference is killing us. The PERCEPTION is that it is not as good. As a result of this, we have lost kids to Providence, St. Johns, and now, perhaps, Rutgers. Someone has to break the trend and commit. Then, a good season on the court cures a lot of what is ailing us here.

 

[KembaStepback]

My question is - if we assume RU is calling this kid and texting him non-stop (arent there NCAA regulations on this stuff?) are we assuming KO and Chill etc aren't calling/texting? I'd bet my bottom dollar they are doing the same thing RU is doing.

 

[Fishy]

I am impressed.

With absolutely no actual insight save the odd quote from a recruiting article, we've built an entire narrative around this kid's recruitment.

Spoilers...the narrative is probably crap.

 

[Fishy]

My question is - if we assume RU is calling this kid and texting him non-stop (arent there NCAA regulations on this stuff?) are we assuming KO and Chill etc aren't calling/texting? I'd bet my bottom dollar they are doing the same thing RU is doing.

Of course, they are.

 

[UCfor3]

At some point though, with so many bad beats over the past year, each individual reason for each player lost, as valid as they might be, just ring like a list of excuses for not getting the job done. It's a results oriented business and the staff just have not gotten the results. At some point all the reasons don't matter. If coaches want to win games and keep their job they have to find a way to win an occassional battle. I'm way past caring about the "why" anymore.

 

[tjc1888]

Of course, they are.

Nah, we all know Ollie is lazy and getting outworked. That's the right narrative some are pushing here right?

 

[Fishy]

Nah, we all know Ollie is lazy and getting outworked. That's the right narrative some are pushing here right?

There's no doubt that was an issue in the previous class(es), but if it's a problem now, it won't be for very much longer...

 

[JSM1970]

The 2016 class had several, Durham, AG, Diarra, even VJ. Vital was like 250

2017 = none, Polley was like 145, Carlton 200+

Like I said a week ago, one time please!!

It's been incredibly dry, can't remember the last time we came through with a top 100 recruit.

KO & Chill best of luck, I believe in you guys!!

 

[husky99]

Carey like option #4 for Kansas and self hasn't even called and spoken to him yet

Link?
There are many ways schools reach out to a player. I heard ku was more involved eith casey. Not sure what form. Will ask around

 

[upstater]

In case people didn't know, Rutgers was the initial choice of the crystal ball people.

It was only AFTER Myer read the stuff about Montez intending to commit that he weighed in and chose UConn.

Subsequently, they all switched to UConn.

Even a guy who predicted Rutgers in 2016!

2016!!

Rutgers has been on this kid for over a year.

After Myer read the Russ Wood quote about Montez and Rutgers, he switched, then many of the others switched.

So, there is no real narrative here and even Myer has said that his info is iffy at best.

 

[Fishy]

Link?
There are many ways schools reach out to a player. I heard ku was more involved eith casey. Not sure what form. Will ask around

Don't ask around.

It's inviting a game of telephone where each caller makes a sketchy rumor that much sketchier.

 

[BaZZnBOAT]

In case people didn't know, Rutgers was the initial choice of the crystal ball people.

It was only AFTER Myer read the stuff about Montez intending to commit that he weighed in and chose UConn.

Subsequently, they all switched to UConn.

Even a guy who predicted Rutgers in 2016!

2016!!

Rutgers has been on this kid for over a year.

After Myer read the Russ Wood quote about Montez and Rutgers, he switched, then many of the others switched.

So, there is no real narrative here and even Myer has said that his info is iffy at best.

Right. The "doomed" and "fatality" people are overreacting over the 247 predictions.

 

[Walker11]

Schools 'like ku' have always been calling.

Not only has KU always been calling, 99 has been telling us that KU has been calling for months. I don't understand the workings of this brain.

 

[husky99]

Don't ask around.

It's inviting a game of telephone where each caller makes a sketchy rumor that much sketchier.

Sure fishy.. you are the boss.

 

[husky99]

Not only has KU always been calling, 99 has been telling us that KU has been calling for months. I don't understand the workings of this brain.

New level of involvement.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I understand it's frustrating that we are battling with a school with the basketball pedigree of Rutgers, but others have explained just why there has been such a fight. They are all over this kid. Calling him, texting him, his mom, his his dad, his coaches every day. This is the closest they'll come to getting a Top 100 recruit. They stuck their claim with this kid and they're riding with him. This is their one recruit they can get in their eyes.

Of course this kid is a high priority recruit for the Huskies. Why would he not be and they still put in the time and effort to recruit him to the point they are 1 of 2 schools? Just think about it before you ask these questions.

The crystal balls are predictions. Some people make those choices based off of what others are choosing. You pick Rutgers, you get points. The CRystal Balls are a glorified game, if we're being honest, and we've seen them be wrong quite often before this. I wouldn't put much stock into them since whatever Slater and Meyer pick is usually the choice of most others.

Look, MM can still pick Rutgers, but 1) Rutgers is putting in an absolute direct focus on the kid, 100% of their attention now on him and has been on him for the most part the past 6 months. 2) UConn is still very close and MM obviously likes the school. 3) CB don't mean ****.

Look at most of the crystal ball picks. They are from guys with no track record. I think a lot of these guys are just wanna be bloggers, who make picks related to situations they know nothing about, so that they can build a fake reputation as an expert. They'll swing with whoever the actual insiders pick.

 

[HuskiesAllDay]

Right. The "doomed" and "fatality" people are overreacting over the 247 predictions.

The 247 predictions are useless and i stopped paying attention to them a few years ago.

But I think its reasonable to be worried that we are having this much trouble beating out only Rutgers for a top 100 kid.

Chill was brought in to land much bigger recruits than this. If we cant close out Rutgers....

 

[GemParty]

The 247 predictions are useless and i stopped paying attention to them a few years ago.

But I think its reasonable to be worried that we are having this much trouble beating out only Rutgers for a top 100 kid.

Chill was brought in to land much bigger recruits than this. If we cant close out Rutgers....

Agreed. The 247 stuff is a buzz indicator. Following 25 UConn players, including 7 last night is also an indicator. I chose to believe MM action, means more. But, with the delay, he needs to have his circle of trust sign off. Hope he's a good salesman rather than a buyer.

If Chill can't get us over the hump against Rutgers, for a kid in the DMV we have huge problems. He was brought in to outrecruit Miller. He might not be s better coach. His team won like 3 games with the #1 NBA pick. He's a hired recruiting gun. If he can't shoot straight. I'm guessing the whole staff is on very thin ice.

 

[blue93]

How do I know? Because many of the recruiting analysts were told that he wanted to go to UConn by various people close to Mathis. Which is why all the so called "experts" had him pegged for UConn. But things change in recruiting as husky99 tells us all the time. So UConn had a chance to lock him up when that's what he wanted to do but for various reasons it didn't happen. That happens a lot in recruiting but a large part of recruiting is getting a commitment when you have a kid on the hook and that doesn't seem to be happening lately. Maybe he still chooses UConn in the end. But if he doesn't then it's another lost opportunity and those are happening far too frequently lately.

We'll see what happens when the book is closed on the 2018 recruiting class. Too soon to complain at this point. But I don't think anyone could say things have been trending UConn's way with recruiting lately.

I agree with basically everything you said, but I just don't trust the "experts" and their "sources" anymore. Maybe he was close to committing to UConn, but I'm not going to go as far as to say the staff blew a huge lead because Joe Schmo told Jerry Meyer something and the 247 crew believed it. IMO recruiting is only as fluid as we think because the analysts don't really know what's going on a lot of the time and are just grasping straws to generate hype.

 

[methodology]

Link?
There are many ways schools reach out to a player. I heard ku was more involved eith casey. Not sure what form. Will ask around

Article someone posted earlier this week carey said he hasn't spoken or heard from self but Kansas was recruiting him.

 

[husky99]

Article someone posted earlier this week carey said he hasn't spoken or heard from self but Kansas was recruiting him.

Like i said. There are many ways for a school to recruit a kid. Aau boosters sneakers etc