Rakim Lubin Commits to UConn!!!

[upstater]

I think (and hope) that you will be proven right, but to be intellectually honest, don't we have to see KO's recruits on the court before we can make this judgment? The 2013 class, and especially 2014 are the first true indications of KO's recruiting prowess, and they haven't even played a game yet.

Calhoun wasn't on the road spotting talent all the time. His assistants were out there a lot of the time. Karl Hobbs can certainly speak to what they used to look for. He was one of the big recruiters.

 

[DogMania]

Calhoun wasn't on the road spotting talent all the time. His assistants were out there a lot of the time. Karl Hobbs can certainly speak to what they used to look for. He was one of the big recruiters.

Spot on, upstater. And to add to that, KO has been recruiting since he arrived here and was the primary recruiter for some of the current players. I don't recall which ones. But recruiting is a collective staff thing since the head coach is often not the first one to spot these diamonds-in-the-rough. Though it's the head coach who ultimately gives the thumbs up if a scholarship is to be offered.

You do have a point, Tenspro, in that my point about KO having learned from the master will not be proven correct till we see how the most recent recruits turn out, especially the less heralded ones. What makes me chuckle a little bit about this is how JC, and KO to that matter, missed out on many of their Plan-A recruits before settling on the under-the-radar ones they got. Does that mean they just got lucky? My answer to that is all programs miss out on their share of Plan-A, Plan-B, etc. recruits. But not all coaches are good at scouting that next tier of recruits and choose wisely. UConn has won their share of NCs with players who were not on the radar during the summer or even the fall in some cases, beating teams such as Dook that had rosters full of their Plan-A recruits.

 

[Huskygamble19]

Late to the party basketball mom, but i too welcome you to the boneyard with all our different personalities you will, mostly enjoy conversing with. glad to have rock on board with the group. Looks like we will have an awesome team to look forward to and I know your son will be a big part of it.

 

[zymurg]

"Luck is the residue of design" to that I would add intelligence and hard work. Sometimes your good fortune is due to other's mistakes.
Okafor played for Josh Pastner's father's AAU club; there was some friction there. Okafor looked hard at Stanford, but for some reason
they weren't that interested. Houston at that time was an open recruiting area. UConn got a foothold in the Metro area at Strake Jesuit.
There was a top guard UConn was interested in. The second choice was a near top 50 player who UConn got; he was a bust. However, while on the recruiting trips the only member of Perno's staff retained by Calhoun noticed an unheralded big man who had never scored 20 points in a game at any level. Jake Voskhul was a real find. The top 50 kid failed at UConn; and later failed at Vanderbilt. He ended up at an NAIA school.

During his first iteration as a UConn assistant, a current UConn assistant, was tasked with watching Taliek Brown all over the country. Taliek played AAU ball in Houston, not for the Pastner team. So UConn had a little some purchase in the Houston area.
There was a more promising big in the Houston area, who ended up at Baylor in the greatest trainwreck in college basketball history.
He later transferred to Mississippi State where he was a top player, second team All American.

Okafor blew up his senior year; it was down to UConn and Vanderbilt. For some reason the Vandy visit didn't go particularly well.
Several UConn staff members convinced Calhoun to watch Okafor in an all star game in Pittsburg. He met Calhoun's eye test. Coach Calhoun could be quite effective with certain types of parents; he sold the family on UConn's ability to provide Emeka with a quality education.

Actually there is more to this one story than I am telling here, but Okafor was a major success beginning in his first game at UConn.
Is it serendipitous that what limited Okafor in the NBA has been his back problems. Don't get me started on Calhoun's relations with
AAU programs; UConn the premier New England college program during Calhoun's tenure wasn't able to get a single recruit from BABC until Jeff Adrien.

Okafor's recruitment started with Calhoun's decision to retain Howie Dikerman as an assistant.

 

[DogMania]

"Luck is the residue of design" to that I would add intelligence and hard work. Sometimes your good fortune is due to other's mistakes.
Okafor played for Josh Pastner's father's AAU club; there was some friction there. Okafor looked hard at Stanford, but for some reason
they weren't that interested. Houston at that time was an open recruiting area. UConn got a foothold in the Metro area at Strake Jesuit.
There was a top guard UConn was interested in. The second choice was a near top 50 player who UConn got; he was a bust. However, while on the recruiting trips the only member of Perno's staff retained by Calhoun noticed an unheralded big man who had never scored 20 points in a game at any level. Jake Voskhul was a real find. The top 50 kid failed at UConn; and later failed at Vanderbilt. He ended up at an NAIA school.

During his first iteration as a UConn assistant, a current UConn assistant, was tasked with watching Taliek Brown all over the country. Taliek played AAU ball in Houston, not for the Pastner team. So UConn had a little some purchase in the Houston area.
There was a more promising big in the Houston area, who ended up at Baylor in the greatest trainwreck in college basketball history.
He later transferred to Mississippi State where he was a top player, second team All American.

Okafor blew up his senior year; it was down to UConn and Vanderbilt. For some reason the Vandy visit didn't go particularly well.
Several UConn staff members convinced Calhoun to watch Okafor in an all star game in Pittsburg. He met Calhoun's eye test. Coach Calhoun could be quite effective with certain types of parents; he sold the family on UConn's ability to provide Emeka with a quality education.

Actually there is more to this one story than I am telling here, but Okafor was a major success beginning in his first game at UConn.
Is it serendipitous that what limited Okafor in the NBA has been his back problems. Don't get me started on Calhoun's relations with
AAU programs; UConn the premier New England college program during Calhoun's tenure wasn't able to get a single recruit from BABC until Jeff Adrien.

Okafor's recruitment started with Calhoun's decision to retain Howie Dikerman as an assistant.

Zy, you seemed all over the place with this one. I struggled to follow some of this. You noted that Taliek played for some Houston AAU. Is that right?!?! TB was from NYC and I thought he played for one of the NYC AAU programs.

Exactly what was your point? Is it that JC was not a great recruiter and just a product of good luck?

 

[James]

For him to be one of the best big men in GA, that would mean he's got game; slough of talented big men scattered around Georgia. Wonder if he'll get a chance to show out against them.

 

[zymurg]

I think I just lost a reply to DM.

Let me review; as in life there are multiple points. Point one: Because JC made the correct decision to retain Howie; UConn was able to make inroads in a talent rich open area. Howie not only recruited Jake; he opened a UConn presence in the area. Point two: Partly because of the imploding of the very successful NYC AAU situation and a former NBA player an uncle I believe; Taliek spent a summer living in Houston and playing AAU ball. Point three: That brought UConn back into the area in a big way. Point four: Being on the scene and knowing some people in the Houston area made it relatively easy to keep up to date. Point four: Despite being better placed than normally; Okafor wasn't even the first local big man choice.

Finally, when JC was confronted with Okafor at that All Star game; he moved really quickly and he sold the hell out of the Okafor family.

The imploding AAU situation played a major role in three key players' recruiting: Taliek Brown, Emeka Okafor, and Ben Gordon. JC was on the outs with almost all the traditional AAU power brokers, for once this was actually kind of an advantage. Remember that JC was chasing Cal big men (Sampson and one other) the year Okafor was recruited. He was using connections dating back to Ollie's recruitment. JC had a long memory and kept up with a lot of people; the Rudy Gay recruitment is an example of this paying off. California didn't pay off for all the time put in, but Ollie had a relationship with the Hamilton's. So who knows for the future.

Unexpected successes sometime depend upon a thin string of coincidences. In the long run hard workers with eyes for talent who can establish relationships generally will do pretty well. Short term success is good, but long term success is the product of design. Still never underestimate the ability of your competitors to screw up.

 

[DogMania]

I think I just lost a reply to DM.

Let me review; as in life there are multiple points. Point one: Because JC made the correct decision to retain Howie; UConn was able to make inroads in a talent rich open area. Howie not only recruited Jake; he opened a UConn presence in the area. Point two: Partly because of the imploding of the very successful NYC AAU situation and a former NBA player an uncle I believe; Taliek spent a summer living in Houston and playing AAU ball. Point three: That brought UConn back into the area in a big way. Point four: Being on the scene and knowing some people in the Houston area made it relatively easy to keep up to date. Point four: Despite being better placed than normally; Okafor wasn't even the first local big man choice.

Finally, when JC was confronted with Okafor at that All Star game; he moved really quickly and he sold the hell out of the Okafor family.

The imploding AAU situation played a major role in three key players' recruiting: Taliek Brown, Emeka Okafor, and Ben Gordon. JC was on the outs with almost all the traditional AAU power brokers, for once this was actually kind of an advantage. Remember that JC was chasing Cal big men (Sampson and one other) the year Okafor was recruited. He was using connections dating back to Ollie's recruitment. JC had a long memory and kept up with a lot of people; the Rudy Gay recruitment is an example of this paying off. California didn't pay off for all the time put in, but Ollie had a relationship with the Hamilton's. So who knows for the future.

Unexpected successes sometime depend upon a thin string of coincidences. In the long run hard workers with eyes for talent who can establish relationships generally will do pretty well. Short term success is good, but long term success is the product of design. Still never underestimate the ability of your competitors to screw up.

Now I follow you. By the way, the other Big JC missed on after Sampson was Fox. I don't think I ever knew that Taliek played AAU ball in Houston.

 

[upstater]

I think I just lost a reply to DM.

Let me review; as in life there are multiple points. Point one: Because JC made the correct decision to retain Howie; UConn was able to make inroads in a talent rich open area. Howie not only recruited Jake; he opened a UConn presence in the area. Point two: Partly because of the imploding of the very successful NYC AAU situation and a former NBA player an uncle I believe; Taliek spent a summer living in Houston and playing AAU ball. Point three: That brought UConn back into the area in a big way. Point four: Being on the scene and knowing some people in the Houston area made it relatively easy to keep up to date. Point four: Despite being better placed than normally; Okafor wasn't even the first local big man choice.

Finally, when JC was confronted with Okafor at that All Star game; he moved really quickly and he sold the hell out of the Okafor family.

The imploding AAU situation played a major role in three key players' recruiting: Taliek Brown, Emeka Okafor, and Ben Gordon. JC was on the outs with almost all the traditional AAU power brokers, for once this was actually kind of an advantage. Remember that JC was chasing Cal big men (Sampson and one other) the year Okafor was recruited. He was using connections dating back to Ollie's recruitment. JC had a long memory and kept up with a lot of people; the Rudy Gay recruitment is an example of this paying off. California didn't pay off for all the time put in, but Ollie had a relationship with the Hamilton's. So who knows for the future.

Unexpected successes sometime depend upon a thin string of coincidences. In the long run hard workers with eyes for talent who can establish relationships generally will do pretty well. Short term success is good, but long term success is the product of design. Still never underestimate the ability of your competitors to screw up.

Fantastic post.

 

[mauconnfan]

Zy, you seemed all over the place with this one. I struggled to follow some of this. You noted that Taliek played for some Houston AAU. Is that right?!?! TB was from NYC and I thought he played for one of the NYC AAU programs.

Exactly what was your point? Is it that JC was not a great recruiter and just a product of good luck?

It's just a bit weird to me that a man of a million words would tell someone they're "all over the place"!!

 

[JLock819]

I for one cannot wait to get this kid on campus. He seems to have the attributes we've been lacking since the departure of Jeff Adrien, and all of the traits that will make a kid successful under the tutelage of KO and the staff.

 

[ColoradoUCFan]

He was #4 this most recent year. This video is from the 2011-2012 season though.

Maybe he wore #32 in 2012 and wore #4 in 2013

If he's #32 then he'll be hitting 3's for us, not pounding the paint. I questioned his number too (because of that photo), but then found a roster for 2011-2012 that had him listed as #4. He clearly wasn't 245 as a Sophomore, but had speed and ups. Hopefully he's kept that athleticism since he's bulked up.

 

[DogMania]

If he's #32 then he'll be hitting 3's for us, not pounding the paint. I questioned his number too (because of that photo), but then found a roster for 2011-2012 that had him listed as #4. He clearly wasn't 245 as a Sophomore, but had speed and ups. Hopefully he's kept that athleticism since he's bulked up.

I watched the video a few days ago. If I remember correctly, it had #4 hitting a couple nice inside shots, showing a lot of mobility and athleticism. One was a quick explosive dunk and the other was a slashing play across the paint with a nice back-side layup. Since that vid was from the 11-12 season, he would have only been a sophomore and would not have been his current 245. With that said, body wise he was a far cry from anywhere close to 245, so I don't know if that was him. I've heard kids can go through big growth spurts, so who knows.

On a related note, his mom did say he can shoot it beyond the arc and handles the ball well. Some of the best Bigs often started out as wings or even guards and then grew into their front court bodies with some perimeter and ball handling skills. Maybe this is the case with Rakim. BBMom said she'll try to get us some video on him soon. I'm assuming it will be more recent and am looking forward to seeing it.

 

[aceboon]

You guys need eye exams, that kid in that video looked nothing like Lubin, he wasn't even the same complexion.