Most Important UConn Recruit All Time | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Most Important UConn Recruit All Time

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I think it has to be Chris Smith. I also think Rip has to be #2 on that list.

All of the remaining usual suspects really fall into the 'chicken vs egg' debate.

  • Donyell was a huge get but we don't get him without Smith first.
  • Ollie was huge because without him becoming a UConn player he obviously never becomes our coach.
  • Ray is the most recognizable UConn basketball player, by far our most successful NBA player and has been the best ambassador for UConn basketball that you could ever ask for.
  • Rip was the cornerstone for our first title. How can it not be him? Chris & Donyell helped get us to become a national name but UConn doesn't become UConn without winning a title. We're just another good program that can't quite win a title without Rip.
  • KEA was the final piece to our first title, but him coming would be meaningless without Rip (and who knows if he would have chosen UConn if Rip wasn't here).
  • Butler helped right the ship and make sure we weren't a one-off championship team that feel back into irrelevance.
  • Okafor was the cornerstone of title #2 and IMO the best player we've ever had (just based on performance in a UConn uniform).
  • Kemba helped resuscitate the program after some up-and-down times with the Gay through Dyson years.
  • Shabazz saved us from becoming irrelevant, choosing to stay when the sanctions dropped.
 
Reggie Lewis is the most important Husky recruit of all time, he just played for Northeastern.
 
Corny Thompson. Without him, Mike McKay doesn't sign the same year. Nor does Chuck Aleksinas transfer in from Kentucky. All that leads to the BE invite, without which J Calhoun doesn't come and, as someone said, we're URI, not UConn 4-time national champions.

Corny, a top 5 recruit nationally, chose UConn over North Carolina! That's the equivalent of Diamond Stone choosing UW-Green Bay over UConn.

That was likely the greatest 2 years of CT high school basketball products with Mike McKay, Corny Thompson, John Garris followed the next year by Rod Foster, John Bagley, and John Pinone. If UConn had gotten even 2 of those other four CT players they'd have been final 4 back then.
 
Waquoit said:
A couple of people have mentioned Cliff. I'm curious about their reasoning. I don't have him in my Top 10.
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Cliff lead us to the NIT, which lead to the class that brought us success beyond the Dream Season. Cliff going to the NBA and having a good career showed people you can go to UConn and still become a pro. He wasn't the first, but in the ESPN/Sportscenter Era he was the genesis of our pipeline to the league. Not to mention, he was one HELL of a player for us. Not sure anyone other than Kemba did more with less in a Husky uniform.
 
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MuchoDogYears said:
Corny Thompson. Without him, Mike McKay doesn't sign the same year. Nor does Chuck Aleksinas transfer in from Kentucky. All that leads to the BE invite, without which J Calhoun doesn't come and, as someone said, we're URI, not UConn 4-time national champions.

Corny, a top 5 recruit nationally, chose UConn over North Carolina! That's the equivalent of Diamond Stone choosing UW-Green Bay over UConn.

That was likely the greatest 2 years of CT high school basketball products with Mike McKay, Corny Thompson, John Garris followed the next year by Rod Foster, John Bagley, and John Pinone. If UConn had gotten even 2 of those other four CT players they'd have been final 4 back then.
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They never accomplished much so it is hard to say that they were the most important recruits. Had JC had them it could have been very different. I loved Michael Mckay and Corny. Chuck not so much.
 
Waquoit said:
A couple of people have mentioned Cliff. I'm curious about their reasoning. I don't have him in my Top 10.
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Cliff carried us to NIT champs - sort of got the UConn name out there.
 
imno1 said:
Winner!
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Johnnie Selvie gave the program national street credibility . Kids from
Compton to the south Bronx started wearing Uconn jerseys because of Selvie.
The program owes him.
 
AZHuskiePop said:
Donyell was probably the highest ranking recruit ever .
I think top 5
Emeka was also a great recruit.
Corney Thompson was so highly regarded out of high school that getting him propelled us into the Big East. So he might be the most critical recruit of all time.
Smitty was a great player and JC first great Connecticut recruit.
But Earl Kelly,Mike McKay ,Tony Hanson Al Westin and Corny all were Homegrown.
In fact the 1979 NCAA team started 5 Connecticut Kids. With Jeff Carr and Thompssin that was a pretty good rebounding team. McKay wasn't too bad a scorer either.
I believe Abromitis was also on that team. Along with Bobby The shot Dulin.
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Bobby Dulin, there's a guy I haven't thought of in years.
 
Diamond Stone? For acute reasons....so the Boneyard doesn't snap.
 
Sky ball said:
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.
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I find this interesting but I'm not convinced this correct. I always thought UConn to the Big East was more about geography than players but I'm curious if there is any basis or statement out there that supports this. It's an interesting thought.
 
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Bonehead said:
Cliff carried us to NIT champs - sort of got the UConn name out there.
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Cliff didn't carry us anywhere. That NIT was a team effort. We don't get past VCU if Jeff King didn't kick ass, for one. The time for Cliff to lead was the next year when he layed egg after egg in the big spot. That's why he didn't get drafted in the 1st round. It's no accident we had a Dream Season the year after he left. Calling Cliff a leader or "incredible player" for UConn is what the fanboys call "ret-conning." If Cliff could have found a way to motivate himself before that draft humiliation, you might have a point.
 
CL82 said:
I find this interesting but I'm not convinced this correct. I always thought UConn to the Big East was more about geography than players but I'm curious if there is any basis or statement out there that supports this. It's an interesting thought.
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It was about geography, but the powers that be were so impressed with UConn at the time that they invited Holy Cross first. After they said no, UConn forced their hand by being a team on the come. A team whose best players were freshmen and looked like they would be good for the foreseeable future. They rolled through the ECAC tournament beating a Rhody team that took Duke to the final seconds the year before. Not picking UConn would have been a tough sell.
 
Dogdeacon said:
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.
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We did get a lot of in state talent before Smith. Many with offers from more famous schools.
In fact one could say that Connecticut was a hotbed of High school basketball .
Until the.cocaine wars of the late 80's and early 90's almost killed city ball.
Those same wars actually made recruiting at UConn easier.
Phil Gambles mom couldn't wait to get him out of DC.
My wife worked with a guy from Hill section of New Haven whose family actually slept on the floor to avoid stray bullets from drive by's. Hard to produce basketball pla
mauconnfan said:
You wouldn't unless you were a young girl under 16.!! :oops:
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She was actually 17 but ,teacher/ coach is held to a higher standard.
 
OkaForPrez said:
Reggie Lewis is the most important Husky recruit of all time, he just played for Northeastern.
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Lol! I sh#t you not! I was thinking the same thing.

Let me also add that Stone could be Ollies most important recruit. If he signs here and wins big and goes on to be a top 3 or even #1 pick itll send ollie into the stratusphere recruiting wise.
 
Sky ball said:
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.
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Corny was Parades National Player of the Year. Dean Smith recruited him heavily to go to UNC, but hey...Corny stayed home. The rest is history.
 
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huskyrob1 said:
Corny was Parades National Player of the Year. Dean Smith recruited him heavily to go to UNC, but hey...Corny stayed home. The rest is history.
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A couple of big howevers...With all the names thrown about in this thread, I'm shocked that no one in this thread mentioned Ben Gordon. The other thing, yeah say Corny goes to UNC. OK, NO BIG EAST at least right away, and no Jim Calhoun, but a lot of things could have happened to fill that vacuum. Say Calipari takes the UCONN job instead of signing with UMESS. Camby comes to UCONN, along with whoever else Calipari recruits to come to Storrs. So even if Corny and Calhoun never come to UCONN, I think UCONN's later success was inevitable, the state wanted it and the fan base (us) wanted it. UCONN as another URI or UNIV OF VERMONT was never in the cards.
 
huskyrob1 said:
I think UCONN's later success was inevitable, the state wanted it and the fan base (us) wanted it. UCONN as another URI or UNIV OF VERMONT was never in the cards.
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I don't buy that for a second. If we don't get into the Big East, we don't get Calhoun and go nowhere. UConn in the Big East pre-Calhoun was basically Rutgers. Our athletic department was content to cash the checks the BE made possible without doing what it took to compete. We were only competitive for as long as Corny was here, after that, nothing. UConn won our first BET game and didn't win another for 8 years, JC's 2nd year. The Big East saved us from being another URI but JC saved us from being Seton Hall. None of this was "inevitable".
 
Waquoit said:
I don't buy that for a second. If we don't get into the Big East, we don't get Calhoun and go nowhere. UConn in the Big East pre-Calhoun was basically Rutgers. Our athletic department was content to cash the checks the BE made possible without doing what it took to compete. We were only competitive for as long as Corny was here, after that, nothing. UConn won our first BET game and didn't win another for 8 years, JC's 2nd year. The Big East saved us from being another URI but JC saved us from being Seton Hall. None of this was "inevitable".
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Not saying not getting Corny, the Big East invite, or Calhoun wouldn't have been a setback, but am saying UCONN was destined to eventually do great things in athletics. Toner wanted it, Gov's O'Neil, Weicker, and Rowland, all wanted it big time, and who's to say that UCONN gets a big east invite or Calhoun even if we don't get Corny? If we don't get Calhoun in 84/85, I would bet that Toner signs either Calipari or Pitino, both were begging for jobs at the time. Pitino would have left Boston Univ in a second to take the UCONN job in the early 80's. I continue to say that UCONN's later success was due in large part to the fan base, the State, and Toner & company wanting a winner.
 
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AZHuskiePop said:
We did get a lot of in state talent before Smith. Many with offers from more famous schools.
In fact one could say that Connecticut was a hotbed of High school basketball .
Until the.cocaine wars of the late 80's and early 90's almost killed city ball.
Those same wars actually made recruiting at UConn easier.
Phil Gambles mom couldn't wait to get him out of DC.
My wife worked with a guy from Hill section of New Haven whose family actually slept on the floor to avoid stray bullets from drive by's. Hard to produce basketball pla

She was actually 17 but ,teacher/ coach is held to a higher standard.
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We (UConn) did get some in-state recruits, but my frame of reference is strictly 79-86 or once UConn was in the Big East. That's when the program spiraled downward and we lost out on the 'national' type of in-state or northeast stars that garnered offers from big time schools. Post 1979 Bird-Magic college basketball was taking off and UConn was left in the prior era. So a Murray Williams type was achievable, but a guy like Smith that seemed like a superstar would typically choose Villanova, Cuse or some where else in top-20 landscape. Not a hard and fast rule as UConn over-time got the best in-state guys, but especially at that time UConn was operating as a 2nd choice not the default location for the best in-state as it became and continues.
Examples;
Mike Gminski - Duke
Harold Jensen - Nova
John Pinone - Nova
John Bagley - BC
Harold Pressley - Nova
Charles Smith - Pitt
Chris Watts - Providence

Then beginning with Smitty UConn got 3 straight CT players of the year as Burrell and the ill-fated Shawn Ellison chose UConn.
 
huskyrob1 said:
Not saying not getting Corny, the Big East invite, or Calhoun wouldn't have been a setback, but am saying UCONN was destined to eventually do great things in athletics. Toner wanted it, Gov's O'Neil, Weicker, and Rowland, all wanted it big time...
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Wanting something isn't the same as taking the steps necessary to make something happen. UConn was not "destined to eventually do great things in athletics." That's complete nonsense. While the BB team was cratering, Toner said he "could see UConn being one of the top 5 teams in the Big East in five years." Top 5 in a 9 team league! Can you imagine if Warde said something like that? He wasn't even going to fire Perno until Earl Kelley went off the deep end and the powers that be forced him out.

UConn became the UConn we know because of Jim Calhoun. Period. He changed the culture of the entire university. "Destiny" had nothing to do with it.
 
Waquoit said:
And the absentee AD along with him. UConn wasn't going anywhere until they both were out of the picture.
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All the "absentee AD," John toner, did was get UConn into the Big East, hire Jim Calhoun (and Geno Auriemma) and get Gampel approved.
 
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Waquoit said:
Wanting something isn't the same as taking the steps necessary to make something happen. UConn was not "destined to eventually do great things in athletics." That's complete nonsense. While the BB team was cratering, Toner said he "could see UConn being one of the top 5 teams in the Big East in five years." Top 5 in a 9 team league! Can you imagine if Warde said something like that? He wasn't even going to fire Perno until Earl Kelley went off the deep end and the powers that be forced him out.

UConn became the UConn we know because of Jim Calhoun. Period. He changed the culture of the entire university. "Destiny" had nothing to do with it.
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Just Jim Calhoun? What about Geno Auriemma? Chris Daily? What about Lew Perkins? Toner? Dave Letaio? Howie Dickenman?
 
I'm with Waquoit -- Without Corny - no Big East invite - that means no Chris Smith - no KEA, no KO -- nada - nothing. As Waquoit said it was more than just geography in which you got an invite.

You had to show you can win - which is why I believe that there was a time that the Big East was considering dumping UCONN because being competetive is of a high value.

Thus the point of the invite - Corny was the man. After that as Waquoit brings up - it was about Jim Calhoun. His recruitment allowed us to open up a style of play that allowed us to get guys like Smith/Donyell/KEA/Ray/Rip etc.
 
Waquoit said:
Cliff didn't carry us anywhere. That NIT was a team effort. We don't get past VCU if Jeff King didn't kick ass, for one. The time for Cliff to lead was the next year when he layed egg after egg in the big spot. That's why he didn't get drafted in the 1st round. It's no accident we had a Dream Season the year after he left. Calling Cliff a leader or "incredible player" for UConn is what the fanboys call "ret-conning." If Cliff could have found a way to motivate himself before that draft humiliation, you might have a point.
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I do believe Clifyf got an extremely bad wrap. He was a finesse palyer in a power league. I think Calhoun said something to the effect "they looked at all his negatives and disregarded his positives." The Big East was a beast back then with Seton Hall going to finals and I believe the top tier teams were ridiculously good and CLiffy's teammates weren't much good. But I'm with you- no way Cliffy was that much of an impact.

Sometimes I think Earl Kelly gets more praise yet imo he was one of the most overrated players in UCONN History.
 
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