Most Important UConn Recruit All Time | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Most Important UConn Recruit All Time

Status
Not open for further replies.
Chris Smith for opening the flood gates!

Napier for shutting everybody up!
 
Like a couple folks have mentioned, the answer is Corny Thompson. No Corny, No Big East. UConn would be just another A-10 school, known primarily for soccer.
 
Scoe said:
Ricky Moore and Rashamel Jones both 3 year captains played with Ray, stuck around for the rebuild in the 96-97 season and accepted their roles in order to win it all in 99, both are coaching, of course Ricky as we all know is on our coaching staff.
Expand ...
Ricky and Rash were good players and it's nice that you are giving props to them, but most important? Even you don't believe that. I'll agree with Coach Calhoun and nominate Chris Smith
 
Chin Diesel said:
Just for everyone's SA (Situational Awareness), JC has already stated that Chris Smith was the most important recruit because he was a big time in-state recruit who could have played anywhere but stayed home.

That stopped the flood gates of Ct players going elsewhere.

So, everyone here is entitled to their opinion and the rationale for their opinion, but any answer other than Chris Smith better be really good because you're opinion and rationale is in conflict with JC's.
Expand ...
1000% in agreement… Smitty.
 
.-.
I would venture to say the the most important "RECRUIT" can't be one that came to UConn after UConn became "UConn!". So, by definition, we should be arguing between Ray Ray, Chris Smith, etc... Smitty started it, but for me, it was Ray. He was huge, he really put a stamp on UConn as a destination for top players. KEA and Rip and Rudy Gay and Kemba and Butler furthered UConn's rep, but, for me, it's Ray. This is not to denigrate any others contribution to furthering the brand, as we have had many, many who have.
 
Toss up to me between Chris Smith first high profile in state kid to turn down other Big East schools in the Calhoun era, and Donyell first national top 15 type, to come to UConn when he could have went anywhere. His HS class was a beast The Fab 5, Glenn Robinson, Jason Kid. If remember correctly I think SU thought Donyell was in the bag for them.
 
CTBasketball said:
Corny Thompson.
Expand ...
Agree - No Corny ( and Mike McKay) No Big East so think URI basketball. Corny was a 5 Star type recruit and could have gone anywhere. Had he not come UConn would not have looked so good to the Big East at the time. UConn needed to look competitive at the time and without Corny maybe not.
 
imno1 said:
Ricky and Rash were good players and it's nice that you are giving props to them, but most important? Even you don't believe that. I'll agree with Coach Calhoun and nominate Chris Smith
Expand ...
imno1 said:
Ricky and Rash were good players and it's nice that you are giving props to them, but most important? Even you don't believe that. I'll agree with Coach Calhoun and nominate Chris Smith
Expand ...

Smith is the obvious answer, but I just like to throw out a bunch of names to make conversation.
 
Murray Williams because he made it easier for Chris Smith to come. He was a pebble on the road to bigger recruits. He was the Gatorade player of the year that choose UConn, the year before Smith was the Gatorade POY that choose UConn.


If we didn't get MW, I don't think we get Smith.
 
.-.
Cliff - he started the Championship runs albeit NIT but that started it!!
 
Can't believe not one vote for Scott Burrell yet. He could have went the baseball route and he was there for the dream season.
 
This one's easy - Fishy and Tom. If there wasn't BY no kids would be interested in UConn.

Can't believe I had to say this first
 
Chris Smith
It wasn't just about opening a CT floodgate it was opening national gates. You have to remember back to when the perception of UConn was an in-state safety school, a suitcase school that large portions left on weekends and a 2nd class citizen in the Big East. So smart and talented kids from Connecticut who had the opportunity to go elsewhere would take it. That sent a message to the rest of the country, if UConn wasn't good enough for its own state's best, how could it possibly be good enough for them!? Chris Smith choosing UConn changed that perception and reality and that is why he is the most important recruit.
 
.-.
I have to vote for KEA. He came in saying that JC needed a championship and that he (KEA) was going to deliver it. Then he, Rip, Ricky and others brought it home. Without '99, I'm not sure we get Mack today or Stone next week.
 
Gotta go with Ray. No one has had the staying power or impact of him post-UConn and having recruits walking by pictures of him during his UConn days is huge.
 
gtcam said:
Earl Kelly - his problems with the hand gun was the main reason Dom Perno was fired
Expand ...
And the absentee AD along with him. UConn wasn't going anywhere until they both were out of the picture.
 
All of these are excellent choices and I can see the argument for almost all of them.

Especially the early ones, like Smith, Marshall, and Ray since they were elite recruits that really showed cbb that Uconn was a legit and rising power.

But if we are going to measure this based on the consummation of becoming a power, solidified with a National Championship, you have to go with Rip.

I see all the KEA votes, and Khalid is still one of my all time favorites, but if you say that Khalid took us to the top, while true, you should also say that it would never have been possible without Rip being there.

I remember how depressed I was after the 1996 season, especially because Ray and Sheffer were gone. I thought that we might be in for some lean years.

And then I watched Rip play as a freshman and knew this kid was going to be a star.

As much as KEA brought the swagger and leadership, Rip was a real bridge after those dominant, yet came-up-short teams of the mid-1990s.

Rip was the best player on the floor in the Final Four.
 
As coach would say "The UConn Family"!!
 
.-.
Sphinx said:
Not only is Nadav Henefeld (The Gaza Stripper) the most important UConn recruit of all time, but I submit that he comprises the Top Ten all by himself. Everyone else starts at #11. Here is what UConn achieved in Henefeld's one season, 1989-90:

First ever Top 15 in national polls (followed by Top 10 and top 5).
First ever Big East regular season title
First ever Big East tournament title
First ever Top Seed in NCAA tournament
First ever Sweet 16 in NCAA 64-team field
First ever Elite 8 in NCAA 64-team field
First ever national media profiles for a UConn player (ESPN, CBS, Sports Illustrated)

Was Henefeld the key player on that team? No one who watched in sheer awe would even ask such a question. Was he the sole reason for UConn's first ever national recruiting class? Absolutely. And remember -- he not only brought Donyell to UConn, he brough Kevin Ollie to UConn. And how important was THAT?

How soon we forget!
Expand ...

The difference between what UConn became and what UConn was going to be anyway is Nadav Henefeld. Perno was getting some top regional recruits like Thompson and Cliff. Calhoun got Smith and Burrell. UConn was a Big East school with a good coach and was in a major region for recruits. UConn wasn't going to suck, and if Henefeld had not gone to UConn, we were probably good enough to get a bid and with the right matchup, win a game. The lineup would have been George, Smith, Burrell, Walker and Sellers, with a lot of Gwynn when the front court was in foul trouble, which would be always. Cyrulik would have had to play 20+ mpg. But without Henefeld, the press becomes almost impossible because Sellers and Walker are not capable of rotating like Henefeld did, and Gwynn would have shifted everyone over a position so we would have ended up with a 6'1 SF. UConn lost to a mediocre Villanova team and Texas A&M before Henefeld arrived, and they went 23-4 the rest of the way with wins over some great teams.

I believe it was down to UConn and St. Johns for Henefeld. Imagine how good the Malik Sealy/Jayson Williams St. John's team would have been with Henefeld? As it was, that team went 24-10 and lost a close game to Duke in the second round. With Henefeld, it is probably a Final Four team.

Then this Israeli shows up out of nowhere after the season had already started, and takes UConn from a decent team on track to win 18-21 games, to a Top 10 team that was a bobbled Tate George steal from the Final Four. The Dream Season led directly to the Donyell, Ollie, Fair, Donny class, and the Scheffer/Ray/Kirk class right after it. Out of all the key players in both the 1991 and 1992 classes, only Donyell was from the Northeast, and I think it is unlikely that any of those players would have attended school at a 19 win bubble team in Storrs. We would definitely not have gotten Scheffer without Henefeld.

Henefeld is the single most important recruit in UConn history.
 
Sphinx said:
Not only is Nadav Henefeld (The Gaza Stripper) the most important UConn recruit of all time, but I submit that he comprises the Top Ten all by himself. Everyone else starts at #11. Here is what UConn achieved in Henefeld's one season, 1989-90:

First ever Top 15 in national polls (followed by Top 10 and top 5).
First ever Big East regular season title
First ever Big East tournament title
First ever Top Seed in NCAA tournament
First ever Sweet 16 in NCAA 64-team field
First ever Elite 8 in NCAA 64-team field
First ever national media profiles for a UConn player (ESPN, CBS, Sports Illustrated)

Was Henefeld the key player on that team? No one who watched in sheer awe would even ask such a question. Was he the sole reason for UConn's first ever national recruiting class? Absolutely. And remember -- he not only brought Donyell to UConn, he brough Kevin Ollie to UConn. And how important was THAT?

How soon we forget!
Expand ...
I agree...I was a Junior at UConn then, I remember it well.
 
.-.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Forum statistics

Threads
168,215
Messages
4,557,558
Members
10,442
Latest member
StatsMan


Top Bottom