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Message: [QUOTE="olehead, post: 2505014, member: 4474"] Backyard recruiting matters. It mattered in the OBE, matters in the AAC, matters in the NBE, it generally matters in each conference. It's true Calhoun elevated us to nat'l/int'l recruiting status but he built our brand thru local recruits. Just think, relative to modern day recruiting Perno missed w/ Pressley, Jenson, Charles Smith, Jay Murphy to name a few. Coach Calhoun righted the ship w/ major recruits like Chris Smith, Scottie Burrell, Rash Jones and Craig Austrie. His in-state success, whether Southern Connecticut or New England Ct. opened up the recruiting front in the NYC metro area (Tate George, B. Gordon, T. Brown, Kemba, AJ Price) and New England proper w/ Adrien, Oriakhi, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel, Shabazz, and others. These kids would see Big East hoops on Big Monday, recognize the allure of playing for UConn, playing in a league steeped w/ geographic rivalries, near home where family can come and see you play and look at UConn as a no brainer. This, compared to the AAC which is the old metro and conf. USA coupled with a few other leftover schools. Of course there are schools in the AAC that view their membership as a come-up. Houston and SMU, prior to the AAC, the only thing that came to mind about these schools was Phi Slamma Jamma and the death penalty and maybe the Pony Express backfield. They market the AAC on the back of UConn and can now get kids out of the Houston area. SMU has the upper Serah Williams locked up. They get good Dallas kids along with other Texas and Oklahoma kids. The same w/ Cincinnati. They have N. Kentucky, Ohio and other rustbelt locales on lockdown. What has been a boon for some AAC schools sadly has depressed our marketability in our backyard. [/QUOTE]

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