OT: Paul White to Georgetown

[djct1999]

Well sign one more player and definitely be a top 25 class. So what's your point? Ollie signs two legit big men that haven't played yet so they're unproven, therefore we need to go get more unproven commodities to player over them?

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.

 

[djct1999]

Top 25 classes are reward for having multiple players. UConn could have landed a bunch of these 3 star kids, mixed in with Hamilton and Purvis, and that would have launched them into the top 25.

I thought we were discussing here the prospect of landing top 50 kids. Because UConn has always grabbed one or two of those and mixed them in with kids outside the top 100, many of them with next to nothing in terms of offers. The top 25 class rank is largely meaningless because many schools don't offer more than one or two scholarships on an off-year. There are only 13 to go around. So a school that suddenly grabs 5 3-stars suddenly looks like it had a good year.

Purvis does not count towards rankings. And lets stop marginalizing the impact and importance of grabbing multiple top 100 recruits when you have the scholarships to give. Here is a somewhat realistic, yet very negative scenario that could possibly play out......a) boatright leaves early b) the ncaa comes down hard on facey and he somehow doesnt play at uconn c) neither purvis or samuel prove capable of playing the true pg and there is a logjam at the 2/3 d) our bigs, in particularly nolan, have marginal impact..................which brings me back to necessity of having strong recruiting classes. if any thing close to the above mentioned worst case scenario plays out, and hamilton is our lone get, we will all look back on this year's swings and misses and recognize the impact then. recruiting is a very fluid situation, so you can never afford to miss out on all but one of your targets. especially playing in the aac!

 

[upstater]

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.

 

[upstater]

Purvis does not count towards rankings. And lets stop marginalizing the impact and importance of grabbing multiple top 100 recruits when you have the scholarships to give. Here is a somewhat realistic, yet very negative scenario that could possibly play out......a) boatright leaves early b) the ncaa comes down hard on facey and he somehow doesnt play at uconn c) neither purvis or samuel prove capable of playing the true pg and there is a logjam at the 2/3 d) our bigs, in particularly nolan, have marginal impact..................which brings me back to necessity of having strong recruiting classes. if any thing close to the above mentioned worst case scenario plays out, and hamilton is our lone get, we will all look back on this year's swings and misses and recognize the impact then. recruiting is a very fluid situation, so you can never afford to miss out on all but one of your targets. especially playing in the aac!

It counts in the only place that matters. Without UConn bringing in Purvis, it changes the entire dynamic of the class. Can they go hard after Isaiah Whitehead? No, they have Purvis and Calhoun. This is meaningful. Not meaningless. It makes a big difference.

Put it this way, do you think Pitino is obsessing over the rank of the class which landed him Hancock?
The 2012 class was totally unranked. Yet Hancock paid dividends.

 

[aceboon]

There are over 300 plus transfers per year now, grabbing trransfers and 5th year seniors make up part of the recruiting process.

 

[UConniki]

And... what's your point?

Bad recruiting ,while they were in Fl investing time in Brimah,they should have stayed in Ct and went after a ct kid Chukwu. Bad decisions being made, thats my point, I live in Fl, no one in FL recruited him.

 

[aceboon]

Bad recruiting ,while they were in Fl investing time in Brimah,they should have stayed in Ct and went after a ct kid Chukwu. Bad decisions being made, thats my point, I live in Fl, no one in FL recruited him.

If you think they had a chance of signing Chukwu you didn't pay attention to his recruiting at all, St Joes was in his final 2 for Christ sakes. Your avi is very fitting right now, you sound like a big ass baby.

 

[tcf15]

Bad recruiting ,while they were in Fl investing time in Brimah,they should have stayed in Ct and went after a ct kid Chukwu. Bad decisions being made, thats my point, I live in Fl, no one in FL recruited him.

At the time Chukwu committed, his handlers said it was in his best interest to play basketball at a smaller school. UConn never really had a chance.

 

[upstater]

Bad recruiting ,while they were in Fl investing time in Brimah,they should have stayed in Ct and went after a ct kid Chukwu. Bad decisions being made, thats my point, I live in Fl, no one in FL recruited him.

By investing a weekend in 2012 in FL, they lost out on Chukwu? So you're saying Chukwu was intimidated at the thought of competing with a kid no one in Florida wanted?

What does that say about Chukwu, if true?

 

[Catsailor]

djct1999 what exactly is your point regarding recruiting/UCONN success past and future?

Not entirely true. While UConn has rarely went after the highly publicized 5 star, they have for the better part of the last 15-20 years, excluding the past few, have always had top 25 classes.

Well this is not exactly true either.

Not sure where your pulling your ranking info from since class ranks don't appear available beyond 2002 scout/rivals and 2005 ESPN.

If memory serves me UCONN went after 5* just didn't land as many as
NC, Puke, Kansas, and Ksucky, (lately), etc. Got a few and had ridiculous success finding diamonds in the ruff and coaching up.

Not sure player/class rank is the best indicator see UCONN vs Puke.

"Raters" opinions of talent varies quite a bit among the top 3-4 services.

Scout ranked UCONN's class of 2009 #13 (Darius Smith, Jamall Trice, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel, AO) so how did that class turn out?

Yeah I know a couple of good games from the last two guys but overall they were massive under achievers and not really high level players or a good fit.

Since you mentioned Lamb (your words-"unheralded") was a top 100 player around 70-something and had a better college career/draft result than almost everyone ranked above him in that class.

I would call Lamb under rated.

My parting words... trust our coaching staff to evaluate better than so called rating service experts LOL

 

[UConniki]

If you think they had a chance of signing Chukwu you didn't pay attention to his recruiting at all, St Joes was in his final 2 for Christ sakes. Your avi is very fitting right now, you sound like a big ass baby.

They are 2 of my children, and you sound like a big ass jerk. You are living proof of what most people think of Uconn, rude and arrogant . I hear it all the time in fl.WERE. ELITE, JC retired, were in the AAC not ACC, football team sucks, basketball, we can hope doesn't follow football, but isn't looking great. We WERE ELITE. We are Jim Calhoun.

 

[aceboon]

They are 2 of my children, and you sound like a big ass jerk. You are living proof of what most people think of Uconn, rude and arrogant . I hear it all the time in fl.WERE. ELITE, JC retired, were in the AAC not ACC, football team sucks, basketball, we can hope doesn't follow football, but isn't looking great. We WERE ELITE. We are Jim Calhoun.

let it all out dawg, let those emotions flow

 

[HuskyBballFan]

Bad recruiting ,while they were in Fl investing time in Brimah,they should have stayed in Ct and went after a ct kid Chukwu. Bad decisions being made, thats my point, I live in Fl, no one in FL recruited him.

You're one of the least informed posters we have here. And that's saying something.

 

[caw]

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.

Err, Jake Voshkuhl? Hasheem Thabeet? Shabazz Napier? Craig Austrie? Emeka Okafor? Josh Boone?

I believe all of those guys were lower than Jeremy Lamb, though all were top 100ish players.

Calhoun made his bread with guys ranked 40-100 with a smattering of guys in the top 40 and a smattering lower than 100.

 

[UConniki]

You're one of the least informed posters we have here. And that's saying something.

Why because I dared to disagree with the popular opinion on this forum that KO who I know personally is infallible . I went to my first Uconn game in1965, had 4 season tickets at htfd civic center for 15 or so years till we moved ti fl in 2000, we have a Uconn room in our house, filled with memorabilia , I took a last minute 32 hr bus ride to the 1999 nc game in tampa, I am an insider on ESPN, and SCOUT which is where I get some of my information, as opposed to some of the obviously biased info here. I want to see Uconn succeed as much as any one but I reserve the right to express my opinion and would prefer to do so with out the personal attacks. Right about now I'm sure most Uconn fans are frustrated about our current recruiting results and the apparent lack of success at this point, so maybe that explains some of the hostility, if not some of you need to get out more, get a life,get a grip, jeez.

 

[UConniki]

At the time Chukwu committed, his handlers said it was in his best interest to play basketball at a smaller school. UConn never really had a chance.

Uconn admits they were late to the party, didn't get involved early on, he wasn't considered a top recruit by many including Uconn, which is why pc probably got involved earlier than us.

 

[Clockshop]

just jumping in here, we have an opening on the weekend of Sept 27-29th now for an official visit in place of P White

 

[aceboon]

Uconn admits they were late to the party, didn't get involved early on, he wasn't considered a top recruit by many including Uconn, which is why pc probably got involved earlier than us.

Admitted where and to whom?

 

[HuskyBballFan]

Why because I dared to disagree with the popular opinion on this forum that KO who I know personally is infallible . I went to my first Uconn game in1965, had 4 season tickets at htfd civic center for 15 or so years till we moved ti fl in 2000, we have a Uconn room in our house, filled with memorabilia , I took a last minute 32 hr bus ride to the 1999 nc game in tampa, I am an insider on ESPN, and SCOUT which is where I get some of my information, as opposed to some of the obviously biased info here. I want to see Uconn succeed as much as any one but I reserve the right to express my opinion and would prefer to do so with out the personal attacks. Right about now I'm sure most Uconn fans are frustrated about our current recruiting results and the apparent lack of success at this point, so maybe that explains some of the hostility, if not some of you need to get out more, get a life,get a grip, jeez.

Wait, you're an ESPN insider? I stand corrected then.

 

[djct1999]

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.

to be more precise:

per rivals(only way to quantify recruiting)- uconn, in years past, always had depth. my point again, is if our lone recruit is hamilton(missing out on abu, robinson, larrier, etc), the last few and next few do not resemble anything close to what uconn has been.
2003
charlie villanueva 5
josh boone 54
marcus williams 61


2004
rudy gay 5
aj price 32


2005
andrew bynum 6
jeff adrien 41

marcus johnson 59


2006
stanley robinson 14
curits kelly 27
jerome dyson 52
doug wiggins 84


2008
ater majok 13
kemba walker 14
nate miles 79

2009
alex oriachi 21
jamal coombs mcdaniel 50
darius smith 71

2010
roscoe smith 37
jeremy lamb 76
shabaz napier 98

2011
deandre daniels 11
ryan boatright 42

2012
omar calhoun 39

2013
kentan facey 66

2014
daniel hamilton 18

 

[Dogbreath2U]

There has been talk about the impact of the possibility of RB returning on PG recruits, but not much consideration of the impact of the possibility of DD coming back on PF's. Deandre played so well over the last several games that we project him gone, but other's may not see it as likely. We might have a pretty darn good team if he did decide to return.

 

[Sportsman5]

Why because I dared to disagree with the popular opinion on this forum that KO who I know personally is infallible . I went to my first Uconn game in1965, had 4 season tickets at htfd civic center for 15 or so years till we moved ti fl in 2000, we have a Uconn room in our house, filled with memorabilia , I took a last minute 32 hr bus ride to the 1999 nc game in tampa, I am an insider on ESPN, and SCOUT which is where I get some of my information, as opposed to some of the obviously biased info here. I want to see Uconn succeed as much as any one but I reserve the right to express my opinion and would prefer to do so with out the personal attacks. Right about now I'm sure most Uconn fans are frustrated about our current recruiting results and the apparent lack of success at this point, so maybe that explains some of the hostility, if not some of you need to get out more, get a life,get a grip, jeez.

Take a deep breath and calm down. You say you have "a uconn room in our house" and then end with "some of you need to get out more, get a life, get a grip, jeez". That's interesting. You also say "im sure most uconn fans are frustrated about our current recruiting results and the apparent lack of success at this point". We have a commitment from a clear 5 star player that is probably the best scorer in his class, can start from day one, and has a good chance at being drafted very high and having NBA success. That is a win in every category. Ollie also recruited a 5 star while he was in high school and then again once he decided to transfer. He committed to UConn after proving to be able to have success at a high division 1 level and believed uconn gave him his best chance at NBA success. There are a mix of players that are seriously considering uconn including a point guard and several 3/4. A few of these players are rated very high, while others appear to be solid role players and possibly better. The reason players have passed on uconn is mostly playing time. Purvis and Boatright at the 1/2. Calhoun at the 2/3. Hamilton at the 2/3/4. Daniels at the 3/4. These players will most likely command 30+minutes per game unless a freshman plans to step in and beat them out, which would mean he would likely have to be a top 25 player in college basketball as a freshman. Boatright and Daniels will be lucky to get drafted in next years draft according to the sites that a recruit would look at. If you see a different consensus, than please show me. As much as some people think Facey, Brimah, and Nolan are unproven trash, that is not how a recruit looks at a group of players that will be sophomores or juniors when he arrives on campus. He will assume that he will have to fight tooth and nail to get playing time from them. Just because recruiting sites didnt rank them as top 50 talent doesn't mean that recruits look into that and trust what the recruiting sites think. We tried to cast a wide net, so of course we will miss out on recruits. Casting a wide net while having recruiting restrictions will only increase the chances of missing out on recruits. I would still say that almost any college team would take our recruiting situation right now.

 

[champs99and04]

A lot of princesses in this thread. I thought everybody was aware Paul White was a long shot. We're in a difficult situation with an unproven head coach and an unappealing conference but Ollie has made the most of it. Saying Purvis doesn't count because he's a transfer is ridiculous - he's only used one year of eligibility and is just as talented as all but a handful of kids in the 2014 class. Worst case scenario, this is a class consisting of two five stars and a bunch of underrated three stars like Bonzie Colon. And we still have a decent shot with Robinson and a shot in the dark with Larrier if he doesn't commit to VCU within the next week. Everything is fine.

 

[Sportsman5]

to be more precise:

per rivals(only way to quantify recruiting)- uconn, in years past, always had depth. my point again, is if our lone recruit is hamilton(missing out on abu, robinson, larrier, etc), the last few and next few do not resemble anything close to what uconn has been.
2003
charlie villanueva 5
josh boone 54
marcus williams 61


2004
rudy gay 5
aj price 32


2005
andrew bynum 6
jeff adrien 41

marcus johnson 59


2006
stanley robinson 14
curits kelly 27
jerome dyson 52
doug wiggins 84


2008
ater majok 13
kemba walker 14
nate miles 79

2009
alex oriachi 21
jamal coombs mcdaniel 50
darius smith 71

2010
roscoe smith 37
jeremy lamb 76
shabaz napier 98

2011
deandre daniels 11
ryan boatright 42

2012
omar calhoun 39

2013
kentan facey 66

2014
daniel hamilton 18

If you are trying to say Purvis does not count as a recruit for this year, than you are insane. He absolutely scared off the top point guards in the class. Not only is he a 5 star guard out of high school, but he has proven success at a very high division 1 level and will have had a year in the UConn system. I don't give a crap what people on here say about him possibly not being a point guard. Recruits absolutely think he will be UConns point guard the next year+ and that is why they did not want to consider UConn. Playing time will be at a premium in the eyes of recruits for the reasons I mentioned in my previous post.

 

[CTBasketball]

There are a lot better bigs in the 2015 class. Hopefully we'll bridge the gap with a JUCO forward and then get a couple bigs then.

 

[UConniki]

Wait, you're an ESPN insider? I stand corrected then.

Just can't stop with the sarcasm. While my family and I will remain Uconn fans forever , one of the things I don't miss is ct. people, while the people down here are genuinely friendly, ct is still full of insecure wannabes . NO pro sports, Uconn floundering (unfortunately ), it's a small state full of small minded people that think small. I went to south catholic high and played there, Joe Reilly was the hof coach, Dom Perno was also a coach there, (yes the former Uconn coach), Gary palladino Uhartford coach. I think I have a clue, at least in so far as to offer an occasional opinion on the Boneyard with out being attacked or insulted. Were all Uconn fans, save the hostility for fans of other schools, Uconn isn't well liked or held in high esteem these days at least athletically, and could use all the fans it can get.

 

[tcf15]

I'm kind of glad I labeled this thread as OT now.

 

[david]

Just can't stop with the sarcasm. While my family and I will remain Uconn fans forever , one of the things I don't miss is ct. people, while the people down here are genuinely friendly, ct is still full of insecure wannabes . NO pro sports, Uconn floundering (unfortunately ), it's a small state full of small minded people that think small. I went to south catholic high and played there, Joe Reilly was the hof coach, Dom Perno was also a coach there, (yes the former Uconn coach), Gary palladino Uhartford coach. I think I have a clue, at least in so far as to offer an occasional opinion on the Boneyard with out being attacked or insulted. Were all Uconn fans, save the hostility for fans of other schools, Uconn isn't well liked or held in high esteem these days at least athletically, and could use all the fans it can get.

I've dealt extensively with people in CT as well as people in Florida through work and I can say that there is absolutely no comparison. People from CT and New England in general are much much friendlier than people in Florida.

 

[UConniki]

Take a deep breath and calm down. You say you have "a uconn room in our house" and then end with "some of you need to get out more, get a life, get a grip, jeez". That's interesting. You also say "im sure most uconn fans are frustrated about our current recruiting results and the apparent lack of success at this point". We have a commitment from a clear 5 star player that is probably the best scorer in his class, can start from day one, and has a good chance at being drafted very high and having NBA success. That is a win in every category. Ollie also recruited a 5 star while he was in high school and then again once he decided to transfer. He committed to UConn after proving to be able to have success at a high division 1 level and believed uconn gave him his best chance at NBA success. There are a mix of players that are seriously considering uconn including a point guard and several 3/4. A few of these players are rated very high, while others appear to be solid role players and possibly better. The reason players have passed on uconn is mostly playing time. Purvis and Boatright at the 1/2. Calhoun at the 2/3. Hamilton at the 2/3/4. Daniels at the 3/4. These players will most likely command 30+minutes per game unless a freshman plans to step in and beat them out, which would mean he would likely have to be a top 25 player in college basketball as a freshman. Boatright and Daniels will be lucky to get drafted in next years draft according to the sites that a recruit would look at. If you see a different consensus, than please show me. As much as some people think Facey, Brimah, and Nolan are unproven trash, that is not how a recruit looks at a group of players that will be sophomores or juniors when he arrives on campus. He will assume that he will have to fight tooth and nail to get playing time from them. Just because recruiting sites didnt rank them as top 50 talent doesn't mean that recruits look into that and trust what the recruiting sites think. We tried to cast a wide net, so of course we will miss out on recruits. Casting a wide net while having recruiting restrictions will only increase the chances of missing out on recruits. I would still say that almost any college team would take our recruiting situation right now.

White is going to a school overloaded w/ pf, sf types.It doesn't seem to matter at other schools.RB might be back, DD might be back, Gtown now has 6 (4top 100) sf/pf. I hope you 'r right and it all works out, I'm just not as optimistic. Thanks for the civil response.

 

[CTBasketball]

Maybe some kids don't want to go to UConn because Ollie hasn't proved anything yet.