if we sign just newberry or someone less, i doubt we will be top 25. my point is, if you think uconn's past success was built on marginal talent, you are wrong. it was built on top 25, usually top 15 recruiting classes, sprinkled with the occassional late bloomer. in fact, in terms of recruiting and its impact on our elite status, the only "unheralded" real impact player that helped us play the 3rd week in the national tournament was jeremy lamb. i agree that uconn never has been about the andrew wiggins of the worlds, but stop playing as if recruiting multiple top 50 guys does not matter. if this class is anything short of robinson and hamilton, coupled with the last few years, then will are quickly forming a new trend that replicates nothing of our past.
Just so we can stop this, I'm going to list the classes at UConn:
2014: Purvis and Hamilton (5 stars)
2013: Facey (top 100, #66 on Rivals), Samuel, Brimah
2012: Calhoun (top 50), Nolan, Tolksdorf
2011: Drummond (top 2), Boatright (top 100), Daniels (top 20)
2010: Roscoe (top 50), Lamb (top 100, #46 SG according to ESPN, not 100), Napier, Olander, Giffey, Wolf, Bradley
2009: Oriakhi (top 50), Jamal Coombs-McDaniel (around 100, unranked at some places), Trice, Smith
2008: Kemba (top 50), Okwandu, Miles, Haralson, Majok
2007: Beverly
2006: Kelly (top 35), Robinson (top 35), Dyson (top 35), Thabeet (top 100), Eaves, Edwards, Mandeldove, Wiggins
2005: Adrien (top 50), Austrie, Garrison, Johnson
2004: Gay (top 15), Price (top 25), Kellogg
Our top classes were 2004, 2006, 2011. 2006 is the only class that is not prototypical of these since we landed 4 players in the top 100. In 2004, we landed 2. In 2011, we landed 3. But otherwise, UConn has been landing 1 or 2 kids like Hamilton and Purvis each year. That's it. If you ask me which is the best class of all these, I would rank them like this:
1. 2011
2. 2008, Kemba was the top player in college, that recruit alone was worth his weight in gold
3. 2010, it didn't look great at the time, and many of us were a little underwhelmed, but landing Lamb, Napier, Roscoe and Giffey saved the program.
4. 2004
Biggest downer?
2006. 4 top 100 players could have amounted to a national championship, but at least Thabeet , Robinson and Dyson aided the team in getting to a Final 4.