Threads like these make me wanna *facepalm*.
UConn over the years has gotten their fair share of highly rated and skilled kids. Sometimes the recruiting service's rankings reflect that fact and sometimes they don't. In Calhoun's heyday, a lot of these coddled wannabe superstar kids probably didn't like the prospect of going to play for a coach who would actually, you know, push them to become their best. Other times, some of these kids would recognize that that was exactly what they needed.
Another factor here is that once some of these kids do commit to the "name" schools (i.e. Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, etc.) the kid in question would get a rankings bump and would become more likely to be named a McD's AA. All of that is just a big circle jerk of promotion to keep the profile of schools the networks think will get them ratings as high as possible. Take our incoming 5* Daniel Hamilton for example, most recruiting services have him listed as a top 15-20 player, I guarantee if he had commited to an Arizona or a Duke that he'd have been named to that team.
Lastly, as TCF so succinctly outlined, all those other issues surrounding conference affiliation, our former coach, and our school's sanctions likely conspired to keep us off the lists of a fair number of quality prospects who otherwise might have more strongly considered us.
But fear not, the future is bright indeed.
