Recruiting has to get better

[Burnsbros23]

A game like this just reinforces that we need better players. Granted MSU is most likely a top 5 team but there is such a clear disparity in size and talent from top to bottom. Our three big time recruits are our only players who look like they belong against this type of opponent. I think Ollie has a better handle on recruiting and what he needs right now but we simply need to land some studs, he has to break through with a couple of big timers.

Polley Carlton have bright futures but need to be developed. I think Matthews Akinjo and Kinuas will be the same. Where wer in trouble is we need polley and those guys to be ready now after ecverything we loss.

The American conference is looking better maybe we will be able to put something in 2019 together.

 

[Ewekon]

I've seen a bunch of people here say we are fine in terms of recruiting and they would take a whole team of Polley's, Carlton's, and Akinjo's and take our chances against anyone in the future. Many of the guys we have recruited the past couple of years can be nice complimentary pieces but that's just what they are, players who are supposed to compliment your stud players. We need more stud players and less complimentary guys.

Finally a voice of reason.
Our recruiting is vastly substandard and that includes next year's batch of 80 to 200 crew. Period.

Expect nothing more than an at large 12 seed at best. We aren't beating Cincinnati nor witch state at this rate.

 

[8893]

This is really frustrating because Michigan State isn't that good.

 

[Fishy]

Recruiting definitely needs to pick up. I’m still amazed at our struggles to put just one better-than-average player in the front court.

The coaching sabbatical last year was always going to have consequences.

At this point last year, they have MAL and they’re favored for guys like Duke and Reeves. Now, they’ve set Providence up with a top-10 backcourt going forward. That damage is done.

But, they did a good job in recovery mode to recruit kids this year. It’s not a good class by UConn standards, but Akinjo wins and the other two kids look like sleepers - now they need to start landing some top-50 types to actually start competing with these better teams.

 

[EBonz30]

I've seen a bunch of people here say we are fine in terms of recruiting and they would take a whole team of Polley's, Carlton's, and Akinjo's and take our chances against anyone in the future. Many of the guys we have recruited the past couple of years can be nice complimentary pieces but that's just what they are, players who are supposed to compliment your stud players. We need more stud players and less complimentary guys.

Gotcha, losing MAL is really terrible. Obviously missing out on Diallo hurts as well, if the season didn’t fall apart last year with the injuries I truly believe they are in Husky Blue today.

 

[upstater]

Finally a voice of reason.
Our recruiting is vastly substandard and that includes next year's batch of 80 to 200 crew. Period.

Expect nothing more than an at large 12 seed at best. We aren't beating Cincinnati nor witch state at this rate.

Because they recruit better players?

 

[Tenspro2002]

Yeah . Come play for UConn , in the juggernaut AAC in front of 5134 in the XL center. Quite frankly it’s a miracle KO gets the players he does.

Conference affiliation hasn't held back programs like Wichita State and Gonzaga.

If we were winning, attendance and buzz would be there, so it's a bit disingenuous to give KO an excuse on the basis of conditions that he's at least partially responsible for creating.

 

[August_West]

Conference affiliation hasn't held back programs like Wichita State and Gonzaga.

If we were winning, attendance and buzz would be there, so it's a bit disingenuous to give KO an excuse on the basis of conditions that he's at least partially responsible for creating.

Where do their recruiting classes fall on the scale compared to ours?

 

[August_West]

Conference affiliation hasn't held back programs like Wichita State and Gonzaga.

If we were winning, attendance and buzz would be there, so it's a bit disingenuous to give KO an excuse on the basis of conditions that he's at least partially responsible for creating.

See I love when someone tees up that equivocation In a recruiting thread

2016 recruit rankings
UConn 8
Gonzaga 20
WSU 72

2017
UConn 82
Gonzaga - not even top 100
WSU - 84


2018

UConn - 37
Gonzaga - 59
WSU - 39


This isn’t about recruiting , this is about getting more out of what we get. That’s the equivocation you can make between those 3 teams.

 

[MadDogRevival]

David O for example, looked really bad because he shouldn’t be playing big minutes against players who are so much more gifted than he is.

I disagree. I thought he looked serviceable.

 

[superjohn]

See I love when someone tees up that equivocation In a recruiting thread

2016 recruit rankings
UConn 8
Gonzaga 20
WSU 72

2017
UConn 82
Gonzaga - not even top 100
WSU - 84


2018

UConn - 37
Gonzaga - 59
WSU - 39


This isn’t about recruiting , this is about getting more out of what we get. That’s the equivocation you can make between those 3 teams.

It's about recruiting and coaching. Ollie needs to be better in both. That #8 class he brought in was a disaster. He needs to do a better job with what we have, need to make the tournament this year and he needs to bring in some top 50's for 2019.

 

[superjohn]

I disagree. I thought he looked serviceable.

Dave O looked serviceable last night?

 

[8893]

It's about recruiting and coaching. Ollie needs to be better in both. That #8 class he brought in was a disaster. He needs to do a better job with what we have, need to make the tournament this year and he needs to bring in some top 50's for 2019.

And what are you going to do if he doesn’t?

 

[ctchamps]

It's not at all reactionary, I've been harping on how our last several recruiting classes aren't cutting it for a long time. Any time we play any sort of contender the talent gap is greatly exposed. If Larrier and Jalen both leave after this season it will be Alteique and a bunch of compimentary players. We absolutely need to step up our recruiting game.

That's the problem. You're a harpy.

You posit an argument that is obvious to everyone, imply that KO is unaware of what creates success and imply that people in this forum think it's better to not have talented players. In an of itself these points are ridiculous, but you conveniently overlook the two top ten classes KO recruited in 2016 and 2017 that had lots of star power. They just didn't pan out.
Zach Brown, Juwan Durham, Steve Enoch and MAL were all top four or five star players that, had they lived up to their potential and played yesterday, would have been the pieces to go toe to toe with Michigan State. We would not have had to band aid the team with David O., Kwintin W., Cobb and Anderson.

Every bad game you come to this forum and feel the need to blame someone or something for the loss. Worse is you dish it out but don't like the posters who take you to task over it. I understand the rotten feeling of losing and the potential danger of a program never recovering. Does it have to be thrown in people's faces every time?

So I agree with @MadDogRevival that you are Captain Obvious and you are reactionary at least with regards to this program.

One more point: If the players ever exhibited the attitude that some of the posters in this forum exhibit, the fan base would be all over them. And guess which posters would lead the charge?

 

[MadDogRevival]

Dave O looked serviceable last night?

Samson Johnson - we're looking through different lenses!
I respect that we can have different opinions of this team.
I think DO will do fine this year as a serviceable center.

 

[Horatio]

Outside of our big three, the whole team is 3 stars.

Exactly and that's always been the Uconn way.

 

[superjohn]

That's the problem. You're a harpy.

You posit an argument that is obvious to everyone, imply that KO is unaware of what creates success and imply that people in this forum think it's better to not have talented players. In an of itself these points are ridiculous, but you conveniently overlook the two top ten classes KO recruited in 2016 and 2017 that had lots of star power. They just didn't pan out.
Zach Brown, Juwan Durham, Steve Enoch and MAL were all top four or five star players that, had they lived up to their potential and played yesterday, would have been the pieces to go toe to toe with Michigan State. We would not have had to band aid the team with David O., Kwintin W., Cobb and Anderson.

Every bad game you come to this forum and feel the need to blame someone or something for the loss. Worse is you dish it out but don't like the posters who take you to task over it. I understand the rotten feeling of losing and the potential danger of a program never recovering. Does it have to be thrown in people's faces every time?

So I agree with @MadDogRevival that you are Captain Obvious and you are reactionary at least with regards to this program.

One more point: If the players ever exhibited the attitude that some of the posters in this forum exhibit, the fan base would be all over them. And guess which posters would lead the charge?

It's not obvous to everyone though. We've had all sorts of posters saying they like our chances against anyone with a roster full of Polley's, Carlton's, and Akinjo's.

 

[superjohn]

Exactly and that's always been the Uconn way.

That's not true.

 

[8893]

That's the problem. You're a harpy.

You posit an argument that is obvious to everyone, imply that KO is unaware of what creates success and imply that people in this forum think it's better to not have talented players. In an of itself these points are ridiculous, but you conveniently overlook the two top ten classes KO recruited in 2016 and 2017 that had lots of star power. They just didn't pan out.
Zach Brown, Juwan Durham, Steve Enoch and MAL were all top four or five star players that, had they lived up to their potential and played yesterday, would have been the pieces to go toe to toe with Michigan State. We would not have had to band aid the team with David O., Kwintin W., Cobb and Anderson.

Every bad game you come to this forum and feel the need to blame someone or something for the loss. Worse is you dish it out but don't like the posters who take you to task over it. I understand the rotten feeling of losing and the potential danger of a program never recovering. Does it have to be thrown in people's faces every time?

So I agree with @MadDogRevival that you are Captain Obvious and you are reactionary at least with regards to this program.

One more point: If the players ever exhibited the attitude that some of the posters in this forum exhibit, the fan base would be all over them. And guess which posters would lead the charge?

My favorite is when we do well and he comes on here and says he told everyone we were better and the other team was worse.

He always has among the hottest of the hot takes, but like the magic man he combines it with saying enough different—and directly contradictory—things that he can always claim “I told you so” in one way or another.

 

[Bonk]

In order to improve recruiting Ollie needs to put a couple people into the league. Recruits want results. I hate to say it but that is why Calipari is so successful. All he has to say is, "I can do for you what I did for___".

 

[MadDogRevival]

Conference affiliation hasn't held back programs like Wichita State and Gonzaga.

Shockers - 13 Tournis, 2 , 0 Natties.
Gonzaga - 19 Tournis, 0 , 0 Natties.

Notwithstanding their national recognition and tournament footprints, it's a very easy counter argument that either of these programs would have more hardware if they were in P5 conferences.

 

[superjohn]

My favorite is when we do well and he comes on here and says he told everyone we were better and the other team was worse.

He always has among the hottest of the hot takes, but like the magic man he combines it with saying enough different—and directly contradictory—things that he can always claim “I told you so” in one way or another.

I said a bunch of times before we played Oregon that I expected us to win (Jalen will be the most talented player on the court) Oregon lost everyone from last year except for Prichard and it was ridiculous how many Uconn fans were predicting us to get blown out.

I love it when you make up things about me.

 

[8893]

I said a bunch of times before we played Oregon that I expected us to win (Jalen will be the most talented player on the court) Oregon lost everyone from last year except for Prichard and it was ridiculous how many Uconn fans were predicting us to get blown out.

I love it when you make up things about me.

Thank you.

Perfect.

Tell me again how MSU isn’t that good.

 

[ASweet3781]

Isn't it fair to ask how "recruiting can get better" when we lost Big Monday and BET at MSG as 2 huge tools to sell?

 

[superjohn]

Thank you.

Perfect.

Tell me again how MSU isn’t that good.

I think we win.

Seriously, this thread is depressing. People acting like we have no chance and are going to get blown out. Oregon lost pretty much everyone from last year and Jalen should be the best player on the court. The fan base is absolutely shook, from these posts you would think we were playing the Warriors instead of some mediocre Oregon team.

I don't think MSU is that good right now, it's your typical Izzo team where they will be a lot better come March. Last night was a big opportunity for us and we didn't play well. With their two big guys in foul trouble and sitting the whole first half we should have built up some sort of a lead by halftime.