Montez Mathis

[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

 

[FriarJ]

Ollie has a decade of NBA experience and has coached a team to a NC, oh and NBA stars show up at AAU events to hang with him, The school itself has won an amazing 4 NC's in 15 years. Chill is a top notch recruiter and the facilities are as good as anywhere.

I know many here don't want to hear this or even consider this but it's the conference, yes there are good teams in the conference but there are too many dregs and they are all a long long way from Hartford and NYC. How long before Ollie goes to Herbst and tells her this or maybe he already has?

 

[methodology]

@husky99 if he's top priority the head coach at least calls. Don't you think?

 

[Fishy]

Ollie has a decade of NBA experience and has coached a team to a NC, oh and NBA stars show up at AAU events to hang with him, The school itself has won an amazing 4 NC's in 15 years. Chill is a top notch recruiter and the facilities are as good as anywhere.

I know many here don't want to hear this or even consider this but it's the conference, yes there are good teams in the conference but there are too many dregs and they are all a long long way from Hartford and NYC. How long before Ollie goes to Herbst and tells her this or maybe he already has?

There is no question - the conference is, has been and will be a problem.

There is zero doubt about that. There are some kids who simply will not want to play in the American. It's not a secret.

But there have been some self-inflicted wounds over the past year that might take a little bit of time to overcome. They should still be able to pull in top 100 kids over the other locals.

 

[husky99]

@husky99 if he's top priority the head coach at least calls. Don't you think?

Are you talking ku or RU? I never said casey was KU top recruit.
Different schools use the phone differently. I read last summer that cal calks 2 to 3 hours a day to recruits

 

[the Q]

There is no question - the conference is, has been and will be a problem.

There is zero doubt about that. There are some kids who simply will not want to play in the American. It's not a secret.

But there have been some self-inflicted wounds over the past year that might take a little bit of time to overcome. They should still be able to pull in top 100 kids over the other locals.

Take this. Sticky it. Drop it in every thread where there's talk about the conference being the issue.

Underachieving, esp 2 years with Miller and Gibbs, the last few years in a conference that we should dominate, is a huge issue as well.

 

[upstater]

Ollie has a decade of NBA experience and has coached a team to a NC, oh and NBA stars show up at AAU events to hang with him, The school itself has won an amazing 4 NC's in 15 years. Chill is a top notch recruiter and the facilities are as good as anywhere.

I know many here don't want to hear this or even consider this but it's the conference, yes there are good teams in the conference but there are too many dregs and they are all a long long way from Hartford and NYC. How long before Ollie goes to Herbst and tells her this or maybe he already has?

If they were recruiting against Michigan, it would be the conference.

Why? Because of marquee games and TV.

But against Rutgers? No.

UConn has Villanova, Syracuse, Arizona, Auburn this year and in future years. They also have big tournaments that Rutgers doesn't participate in, like Maui or this year's Nike. Games against Oregon, and then potentially Michigan St, North Carolina, Arkansas, Arizona.

This is just the OOC slate.

In season, UConn faces Cincy, Wichita St., SMU, but it has a total of 15 games on ESPN, ESPN2 or CBS.

In other words, UConn has a much better OOC and is on prime TV a lot more.

Rutgers? They have Seton Hall and East Carolina. Also I see a listing for B1G and ACC challenge.

3 games, only 1 against P5, and we don't even know who that is.

 

[husky99]

Sure.

Stansbury uses it to call his bag man to arrange the drop off point.

Bruce Pearl uses the phone to call everyone over for bbq s

 

[HuskiesAllDay]

Ollie has a decade of NBA experience and has coached a team to a NC, oh and NBA stars show up at AAU events to hang with him, The school itself has won an amazing 4 NC's in 15 years. Chill is a top notch recruiter and the facilities are as good as anywhere.

I know many here don't want to hear this or even consider this but it's the conference, yes there are good teams in the conference but there are too many dregs and they are all a long long way from Hartford and NYC. How long before Ollie goes to Herbst and tells her this or maybe he already has?

Its Rutgers........Rutgers....If we cant beat them then we mine as well close up shop now.

 

[Fishy]

If they were recruiting against Michigan, it would be the conference.

Why? Because of marquee games and TV.

But against Rutgers? No.

You have it exactly wrong.

The only reason Rutgers is lined up opposite UConn on this one is because of the conference. They are not even in a conversation involving UConn if they didn't have the boost from their conference affiliation relative to ours.

Kids don't give a crap about out of conference schedules. What does Montez Mathis care about UConn playing in the PK80? Nothing.

 

[upstater]

You have it exactly wrong.

The only reason Rutgers is lined up opposite UConn on this one is because of the conference. They are not even in a conversation involving UConn if they didn't have the boost from their conference affiliation relative to ours.

Kids don't give a crap about out of conference schedules. What does Montez Mathis care about UConn playing in the PK80? Nothing.

I'm saying UConn has more exposure and marquee games.

In other words, Rutgers is the wrong decision for him if he wants more exposure (presumably that's why conference matters at all).

Friar was saying that UConn has too many games against the dregs.

Well, not only does Rutgers have a lot of games against dregs, but they are never on TV!!

As for PK80, UConn does Maui next year, doesn't it?

That's another 3 or 4 games.

 

[KembaStepback]

Umm isn't RU the dregs?

We've been through this. What good is being in a good conference if you're going to BY FAR the worst school in the conference? It'd be like going to DePaul in the Big East days. You're signing up to get crushed on a nightly basis. If you don't care about winning or playing in any kind of post-season tournament - and all you want is to be option #1. Go for it.