Our biggest recruiting miss- Bonzie Colson

[superjohn]

Kid is just destroying Duke like he does every other team. He's the perfect college power forward and we were his dream school, can't believe we blew that one.

 

[Matrim55]

Kid is just destroying Duke like he does every other team. He's the perfect college power forward and we were his dream school, can't believe we blew that one.

Where are you getting the dream school thing from? I feel like you're just making that one up.

Agree he was a big miss, though. If I could rewrite one thing from our recent history, it'd be Ollie's decision to focus on Abu over Colson for the 2014 class.

 

[uconnbill]

He is Charles Barkley without the round part at 6'4 1/2. He rebounds well and can score on the inside. He would have helped greatly this year for sure.

 

[upstater]

Where are you getting the dream school thing from? I feel like you're just making that one up.

Agree he was a big miss, though. If I could rewrite one thing from our recent history, it'd be Ollie's decision to focus on Abu over Colson for the 2014 class.

I don't know if UConn was ever his dream school, but he did want to commit to UConn.

 

[superjohn]

Where are you getting the dream school thing from? I feel like you're just making that one up.

Agree he was a big miss, though. If I could rewrite one thing from our recent history, it'd be Ollie's decision to focus on Abu over Colson for the 2014 class.

Sorry but I don't make up stuff. It was known we were Colson's dream school and he was begging for us to recruit him. He didn't fit our idea of what a basketball player is supposed to look like. For some reason we seem to always get tall athletic big men with no skill, Colson is the exact opposite. Drove me nuts at the time because I knew Colson would be good. Drives me even more crazy now when I see how awesome he is.

 

[Matrim55]

I don't know if UConn was ever his dream school, but he did want to commit to UConn.

Link? I don't remember that ever being the case, and we didn't finish in his top 5 even after we missed on Abu, IIRC.

 

[UConnSwag11]

According to the BY, every recruit we miss is our biggest miss

 

[Matrim55]

According to the BY, every recruit we miss is our biggest miss

Nah dude, this one really was. The staff did a bad job of prioritizing recruits in 2014 and we've paid for it over the last couple of years especially.

 

[superjohn]

Link? I don't remember that ever being the case, and we didn't finish in his top 5 even after we missed on Abu, IIRC.

Because we didn't want him, it was known he wanted to come here and was asking the staff to recruit him. You're wrong.

 

[nomar]

I don't know if UConn was ever his dream school, but he did want to commit to UConn.

"I always wanted to go to UConn, it was always one of my dream schools," Colson said "

"UConn really hasn't been contacting me," Colson, who made an unofficial to Storrs earlyl in the summer, said on Wednesday evening. "They wanted me to go on an official, but I haven't heard from them. I'm trying to contact Coach (Kevin) Ollie and Coach (Glen) Miller, but they're waiting for the right time, I guess."

17.1 PG, 10.2 RPG, 1.4 BPG, 1.1 SPG, 52/39/80

The Huskies seem to be biding their time with Colson, an undersized (6-foot-5) power forward -- perhaps waiting until other options like Larrier, Robinson or Abdul Malik Abu make their decisions.

How'd that work out?

The New Haven Register Blogs: UConn Men's Basketball Blog: Bonzie Colson: "UConn Hasn't Really Been Contacting Me"

 

[Tenspro2002]

"I always wanted to go to UConn, it was always one of my dream schools," Colson said "

"UConn really hasn't been contacting me," Colson, who made an unofficial to Storrs earlyl in the summer, said on Wednesday evening. "They wanted me to go on an official, but I haven't heard from them. I'm trying to contact Coach (Kevin) Ollie and Coach (Glen) Miller, but they're waiting for the right time, I guess."

17.1 PG, 10.2 RPG, 1.4 BPG, 1.1 SPG, 52/39/80

The Huskies seem to be biding their time with Colson, an undersized (6-foot-5) power forward -- perhaps waiting until other options like Larrier, Robinson or Abdul Malik Abu make their decisions.

How'd that work out?

The New Haven Register Blogs: UConn Men's Basketball Blog: Bonzie Colson: "UConn Hasn't Really Been Contacting Me"

We got Larrier as sloppy seconds -- does that count?

 

[Matrim55]

"I always wanted to go to UConn, it was always one of my dream schools," Colson said "

"UConn really hasn't been contacting me," Colson, who made an unofficial to Storrs earlyl in the summer, said on Wednesday evening. "They wanted me to go on an official, but I haven't heard from them. I'm trying to contact Coach (Kevin) Ollie and Coach (Glen) Miller, but they're waiting for the right time, I guess."

17.1 PG, 10.2 RPG, 1.4 BPG, 1.1 SPG, 52/39/80

The Huskies seem to be biding their time with Colson, an undersized (6-foot-5) power forward -- perhaps waiting until other options like Larrier, Robinson or Abdul Malik Abu make their decisions.

How'd that work out?

The New Haven Register Blogs: UConn Men's Basketball Blog: Bonzie Colson: "UConn Hasn't Really Been Contacting Me"

Interesting that we offered him just days after that, and he cut us less than a month later.

Anyway, to agree with the OP: Yup, huge miss and we're still paying for it. Seems like it's a lesson learned – we didn't hesitate to offer a similarly-sized, similarly-rated Diarra, did we?

 

[nomar]

Interesting that we offered him just days after that, and he cut us less than a month later.

Anyway, to agree with the OP: Yup, huge miss and we're still paying for it. Seems like it's a lesson learned – we didn't hesitate to offer a similarly-sized, similarly-rated Diarra, did we?

Maybe we did, yeah.

You've got to show these kids the love. We clearly didn't with Colson.

They may be similarly rated, but Diarra seems less offensive minded, doesn't he? I see him as a Marcus White type, but I'm no recruiting expert.

 

[Matrim55]

Maybe we did, yeah.

You've got to show these kids the love. We clearly didn't with Colson.

They may be similarly rated, but Diarra seems less offensive minded, doesn't he? I see him as a Marcus White type, but I'm no recruiting expert.

Yeah he definitely doesn't seem as polished offensively. Was supposedly a monster rebounder and good rim protector with a motor that never quit in high school, tho, so I'll take it.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Nah dude, this one really was. The staff did a bad job of prioritizing recruits in 2014 and we've paid for it over the last couple of years especially.

It was ollies second year. I don't hold it against him.

 

[Matrim55]

It was ollies second year. I don't hold it against him.

I don't either, but it was definitely a miss.

 

[Huskyforlife]

This is making me rage on the inside, those are the type of quotes i'm sure Ollie hoped would never surface. We had one of the bigs in college basketball practically beg us to at least pretend we had interest, wow Ollie effed up really hard.

 

[ASweet3781]

For all the talk about Ollie's coaching and other popular topics of discussion on here, you just never know how challenged UConn is until you see our post players up close on the offensive end in person. It's one thing to see it on TV, it's another just to see what a struggle it is offensively playing 4 vs 5, and with the way Facey played this tournament, 3 on 5. It just puts us at a tremendous disadvantage. Bad hands, bad decisions (one play Brimah had the ball dished to him, all he had to do was go up and lay it in for 2, he puts the ball on the floor, tries to do a pump fake and it's a travel, 2 points gone), unable to finish around the rim with contact.

We just have to get better in the post. Evaluating, developing, recruiting, whatever. It has to get better or we are gonna be having the same discussions every year.

 

[superjohn]

Interesting that we offered him just days after that, and he cut us less than a month later.

Anyway, to agree with the OP: Yup, huge miss and we're still paying for it. Seems like it's a lesson learned – we didn't hesitate to offer a similarly-sized, similarly-rated Diarra, did we?

Diarra is a completely different player than Colson, doesn't have near the offensive skill set.

 

[Glastonhusky]

I don't either, but it was definitely a miss.

Those undersized PF types always kill us. I didn't see him play in HS, but the descriptions of his game reminded me of Danya Abrams from BC who always gave us fits. I remember hoping we would sign him just so he wouldn't go somewhere else and come back to haunt us. We never faced him, but he turned out pretty good.

 

[80shusky]

A whole bunch of NFL teams passed on Tom Brady also. Sometimes people make decisions they regret.

 

[6xChamps]

"I always wanted to go to UConn, it was always one of my dream schools," Colson said "

"UConn really hasn't been contacting me," Colson, who made an unofficial to Storrs earlyl in the summer, said on Wednesday evening. "They wanted me to go on an official, but I haven't heard from them. I'm trying to contact Coach (Kevin) Ollie and Coach (Glen) Miller, but they're waiting for the right time, I guess."

17.1 PG, 10.2 RPG, 1.4 BPG, 1.1 SPG, 52/39/80

The Huskies seem to be biding their time with Colson, an undersized (6-foot-5) power forward -- perhaps waiting until other options like Larrier, Robinson or Abdul Malik Abu make their decisions.

How'd that work out?

The New Haven Register Blogs: UConn Men's Basketball Blog: Bonzie Colson: "UConn Hasn't Really Been Contacting Me"

I TOOK EMEKA OKAFOR AND CARON BUTLER, THEYRE NOT BAD

 

[mauconnfan]

And to think I thought the answer to this was Ryan Gomes?

 

[aceboon]

I agree that Colson is a big miss in hindsight, but if KO prioritized Colson, who was ranked in the 100s, over top 50ish Abu this board would have been raging, and the posters who would have been barking the loudest are in this very thread. You guys would have been complaining about his ranking, size, and athleticism before ever playing a college game and y'all know it. Hopefully KO and the staff come out on the right side of correct evaluations with guys like Polley and Carlton.

 

[superjohn]

I agree that Colson is a big miss in hindsight, but if KO prioritized Colson, who was ranked in the 100s, over top 50ish Abu this board would have been raging, and the posters who would have been barking the loudest are in this very thread. You guys would have been complaining about his ranking, size, and athleticism before ever playing a college game and y'all know it. Hopefully KO and the staff come out on the right side of correct evaluations with guys like Polley and Carlton.

I was always a big Colson fan, I was a big Abu fan as well. It wasn't hard to see Colson would be a good college player. He had great footwork and post moves in high school, huge wingspan, killed it on the AAU circuit, and comes from great stock. I can care less about size in the college game. Undersized skilled power forwards almost always seem to do well and we never seem to recruit this type of player.