Recruiting - Past Results better or not?

[MDHusky]

There has been quite a lot of concern expressed here regarding the quality of recruiting, Coach Ollie versus Coach Calhoun, no one on the staff to close out the deal, etc.

So, looking back at our recruiting history since the 2000 season is a good reminder of the ups and downs of recruiting:

Best Class Since 2000: Gordon/Okafor in 2001, or was it Kemba 2008, or Boat/Daniels/Drummond in 2011?

Largest Class: 2006 with 8 new players

Many have complained about the quality particularly with the transition to Coach Ollie.

2012: Omar, Nolan, and Tolksdorf
2013: Brimah, Facey, Samuel

But you can look at the 2007 class or even the 2009 class, or possibly 2005 and see how they compare to the most recent 2 or 3 years.

07: Donell Beverly
09: Coombs-McDaniel, Majok, Darius Smith, Jamaal Trice, and Oriakhi


The 2015 recruiting is coming along very nicely, and I do think there will be plenty of top 100 guys playing at UConn in the years ahead with Ollie.

We are UConn, and we will find a way to get guys who know and will do what it takes to be Champions!

 

[Stainmaster]

What people fail to understand is the huge improvement that this class has compared to 2012-14 even with missing out on various Top 100 targets. This was Ollie's first ever class with multiple top 100 players, and we have a real shot at adding one or two more 4-star guys.

Of course, if Jahshire Hardnett commits, then an angry mob will want the entire staff gutted because we "can't recruit"...

 

[W Coast UCONN]

the huge improvement that this class has compared to 2012-14 even with missing out on various Top 100 targets

Nailed it!
Sometimes expectations are a little ridiculous, no school gets everyone they go after and if they did I would be suspicious...
(Insert Kentucky burn here)

 

[UconnFanDC]

I'm still not sold on rankings!!! Yes we want the top guys but if they are not system/chemistry/team guys. Stay away. We have beaten Duke and Kentucky enough to prove we don't need a roster full of Burgerking all Americans. I am betting next years team will be better. They will play better as a team and learn from this year!

 

[Jerry1714]

Deandre Daniels was a KO recruit, don't care he came here with JC at coach, he was not committing without KO.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Cassell, Brimah, Hamilton, and Lubin are Ollie's recruits. Everyone else committed under Calhoun except for Purvis who was a transfer obviously. Ollie's really only had one recruiting class. I think it's hard to judge him.

 

[UC990411]

The 2015 recruiting is coming along very nicely, and I do think there will be plenty of top 100 guys playing at UConn in the years ahead with Ollie.

We are UConn, and we will find a way to get guys who know and will do what it takes to be Champions!

Don't we have 2 guys signed for next year?

 

[Matrim55]

Don't we have 2 guys signed for next year?

Jalen Adams, borderline 5-star PG from Boston
Steven Enoch, 4-star PF from Norwalk

 

[Skies17]

It makes no sense to judge recruiting classes before they play a single minute in a UConn jersey. The only accurate way to judge a class is to see how productive players are while at UConn - because rankings are wrong, the staff identifies underrated talent, etc. The class of Facey, Samuel, and Brimah is a perfect example. ZERO top 100 recruits, however Brimah and Samuel played huge roles in a championship and all three look like they will be good players. If Ollie brought in another class with no top 100 players this board would self-destruct and its ridiculous. And regarding Ollie and his ability to finish, no one knows who Ollie really wants or is backing off of and for what reasons ... and even so, sometimes a kid just likes another school better, thats not a sin. Some people need to come back to reality as far as recruiting goes.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Some of you guys are too much. Terence Samuel is a testament to KO's recruiting prowess? Nice kid, hard worker, but get out of here with that. By August people are going to be posting about Enoch potentially being one and done, and then in December will be outraged when he can't get off the bench.

Recruiting is a problem. You can recognize it or not, but tying yourself up in knots defending UConn's recruiting is a pretty bad look.

 

[Fishy]

Despite the constant nitwittery from the likes of some of the posters above, UConn's struggling to recruit the players they need/want.

They're absolutely missing out on kids that would have been fish in a barrel in year's past.

 

[Stainmaster]

Despite the constant nitwittery from the likes of some of the posters above, UConn's struggling to recruit the players they need/want.

They're absolutely missing out on kids that would have been fish in a barrel in year's past.

Different coach with eons less experience. Different, more toxic conference.

 

[Fishy]

Different coach with eons less experience. Different, more toxic conference.

Wait - you've blown large swaths of our bandwidth telling people that recruiting is ducky and now you're giving reasons why it ain't?

Well...welcome to the light.

Ollie needs recruiting help which is what some of us have been saying since last fall. He can't do it all.

As you now astutely point out, we have serious challenges with this conference and a relatively new coach. We need a dedicated recruiter on staff in the mold of a Todd Simon.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Honest question. What was the deal with the scholarships when the ban came around? How many did we lose and when

 

[Stainmaster]

Wait - you've blown large swaths of our bandwidth telling people that recruiting is ducky and now you're giving reasons why it ain't?

Well...welcome to the light.

Ollie needs recruiting help which is what some of us have been saying since last fall. He can't do it all.

As you now astutely point out, we have serious challenges with this conference and a relatively new coach. We need a dedicated recruiter on staff in the mold of a Todd Simon.

What I'm saying is that people who expected there to be absolutely no drop in recruiting from Calhoun to Ollie were misguided. You don't replace one of the greatest recruiters of all time just like that, even if KO is a charismatic guy. Calhoun had 30 years of experience and intangible skills that Ollie hasn't been around long enough to develop. So yes, several years ago Clarke/Mack would've been easy gets. But that was then and this is now. We are dealing with a HC who is learning how to recruit, because even though he has gotten a couple of good pieces and has a '15 class that's better than anything else he's done, he has many areas he needs to improve on. I'm not 100% satisfied. But it is what it is.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

KO should be the closer. It's not about him developing the "intangible skills" necessary for recruiting. It's about having an ace recruiter on the staff so the head coach doesn't have to be solely responsible for recruiting.

 

[Matrim55]

What I'm saying is that people who expected there to be absolutely no drop in recruiting from Calhoun to Ollie were misguided. You don't replace one of the greatest recruiters of all time just like that, even if KO is a charismatic guy. Calhoun had 30 years of experience and intangible skills that Ollie hasn't been around long enough to develop. So yes, several years ago Clarke/Mack would've been easy gets. But that was then and this is now. We are dealing with a HC who is learning how to recruit, because even though he has gotten a couple of good pieces and has a '15 class that's better than anything else he's done, he has many areas he needs to improve on. I'm not 100% satisfied. But it is what it is.

There's no point when Clarke/Mack would have been easy gets.

Calhoun would have had a better shot at them than Ollie, but at no point was he walking down the line pointing at kids he wanted and getting them.

 

[champs99and04]

The recruiting has not been ideal - particularly following a national championship - but I think there are a lot of schools around the country who would love to trade classes with us. Ollie has hauled in three five stars in two years, and our starting lineup next season will likely feature three five stars, a four star, and a three star project that we've struck gold with. If you want to say that those kids have not lived up to their ranking, fine, but that's a different discussion. The way our current situation is portrayed on this board is indicative of how f'in good the program is when this can be considered a talent deficit.

 

[Fishy]

There's no point when Clarke/Mack would have been easy gets.

Calhoun would have had a better shot at them than Ollie, but at no point was he walking down the line pointing at kids he wanted and getting them.

Shaka Smart and Dave Rice don't eat Jim Calhoun's cookies.

Mack and Clarke would have been easy gets.

 

[RipCity]

Once Ollie establishes himself in the recruiting game as a consistent winner and producer of NBA talent, recruits will come.

Getting into a better conference would give us a boost too, but if teams like UNLV can get great classes to come to the Mountain West, I'm going to expect we can get to the point where we have no problem convincing studs to come to the AAC.

Really hope that we hire a recruiting specialist as an assistant in the near future too (I know this has been said many times, but can't help it). Probably would ensure we don't lose in situations like Mack's or Clarke's.

 

[Chief00]

It seems we have not developed a recruiting sales narrative and there is far too much burden on the head coach.

 

[Skies17]

Some of you guys are too much. Terence Samuel is a testament to KO's recruiting prowess? Nice kid, hard worker, but get out of here with that. By August people are going to be posting about Enoch potentially being one and done, and then in December will be outraged when he can't get off the bench.

Recruiting is a problem. You can recognize it or not, but tying yourself up in knots defending UConn's recruiting is a pretty bad look.

Considering a tourney ban and Calhoun retiring, Samuel was a non-top100 recruit who by the end of the season was one of the first guys off the bench for a National Championship team. Does that speak to Ollie's ability to bring in top 20 guys consistently? No. But does it speak to his ability up evaluate talent and choose guys that work in his system? I would say yes. Considering the circumstances the class of Samuel/Brimah/Facey has produced WAYYYY above expectations. To me that's a recruiting success for Ollie.

As far as recruiting being a problem, that's just silly. There were a lot of close calls on the trail and yeah we ended up on the wrong side of them and maybe that means Ollie is a bad closer or maybe just maybe some guys wanted to go somewhere else. Imagine that for a second, someone wanting something other than what you think they should want. It's ridiculous that we have a class of two top 100 guys who look promising and address our biggest needs and still we are crying that recruiting sucks. We have never recruited with the blue bloods, we still don't, and we may never. WINNING is all that really matters, not if you were top 100 or All-American or anything. It's been said before and I'll say it again, last years NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM had ONLY 3 top 50 players (Daniels, Boat, Omar)... This team actually has MORE top 50 players (Boat, Omar, Purvis, DHam) and look how that's working for us. Stop crucifying Ollie as a bad recruiter when this is one of his earliest classes and before you've even seen the results. And if you can't handle not getting 5 top 20 guys every year, be a Kentucky fan.

 

[KembaStepback]

UConn does a good job recruiting. You can't get every kid who expresses some interest.
Sure, we've recruited some guys who haven't been good, or lived up to expectations. Sure, we've lost out on some guys that are good that went elsewhere, but that doesn't mean we do a bad job recruiting.

When you're recruiting, you're looking not for how good someone is, but how good they CAN be, how coachable they are, and how they fit in the system, among other things.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. UConn starts at a disadvantage being in a cold climate, and being in the middle of farm land. It takes a certain type of kid to thrive there. When those right kind of kids come to UConn and put the work in, they become incredible players on incredible teams.

Our recruits are either still young or underperforming for the most part.
Omar is not what he was as a freshman, when he was making shots for us. He's been a major disappointment.
Samuel is Donnell Beverly 2.0. Ok off the bench for short periods, but cant hit a jumper to save his life. I don't see him as a problem either. He's fine as a backup PG. Would love to see him get his jumper in order for next yr.
Cassell was struggling before he got hurt. I think he's a fine guy off the bench to have on the team. He can play on or off the ball. He needs to not rush. Looked like he was always in a hurry.
Hamilton is better than expected IMO. He does what we need him to do on a nightly basis. He can score, rebound, and pass.
Facey is developing slowly, but definitely developing. Not sure what happened, but at the beginning of the year, he seemed to be flying around for rebounds. That seems to have faded.
Brimah has been fine. When he's on the court, he's solid. Especially on the defensive end. He's not an issue in my opinion.
Nolan gives effort on D and is not afraid to sacrifice his body on charges. I appreciate that. With that said, he might be the least talented offensive player I've seen in awhile.
Lubin I actually like. Kinda wish Ollie would play him more. Too soon to tell, but I think he'll be a solid bench bruiser for this team.

So with all that said, it's apparent that our team is very young. 6 (7 if you count Purvis) of our rotation players are Fresh or Soph.
Only Boat, Omar, and Nolan are Jrs or Seniors. These 3 are the guys who should be leading the team. Obviously, Boat is the best player on the team. Nolan isn't any good, and Omar no longer has the promise he had as a freshman.

So to tie this all back into recruiting. It's still early for the 2013 class, but we were coming off sanctions, so I don't think we expected much. However, the guys we did get still have promise. Brimah will end up a VERY good player for us. He's good now, and will be much better as soon as next year. Facey has potential too.
The 2014 class is looking very good. Hamilton is the 2nd best player on the team already, and I think Lubin will be playing over Nolan next yr.
The 2012 recruiting class turned out badly and that is what is holding this team back. Calhoun was a prized recruit, who was good as a freshman and then fell off a cliff. I cant imagine that happens often.

Next year could be a tough one. Omar and Phil will be seniors, and unless they make serious improvements, they'll still hold us back. However, with Hamilton taking the next step, as well as Brimah Facey and Lubin taking steps up front, the team should have a decent core. Adding a good class (Adams, Enoch, and maybe someone else) should only help. I don't expect much out of Enoch come conference play. I'm sure Ollie will give him minutes early to see what he has. (much like he did with Lubin) Adams will be playing from day 1. It's unfair to expect him to be Boat, but he'll be a good player.

 

[KembaStepback]

sorry for the long post...bit of a steam of consciousness...

 

[Blue Blood]

I think 2010 would have to be in the discussion as best just for the gems we got in bazz and lamb. Them along with giffey, roscoe, and wolf, I count wolf as a decent recruit if he had kept his head on straight he could have been solid for us. I think that goes along with one of Calhoun's greatest strengths which was finding his type of guys. I think he was one of the bests in that regard along with boeheim (say what you will his zone works) and izzo. The biggest thing going forward is to see if ollie can get his guys, talent is great but if they don't work with what he wants to do its easy to squander. I think clarke would have been a great get just as an aggressive defender but no point in thinking on what ifs. As much as I like Stone and would like to see him pick UConn not sure if hes a great fit. I'd like to see him focus on kegler next year and waters plus brown in 17. If we can get 2 of those guys I think that gives us a nice foundation. From there we pick up a couple 3 and d guys and see what kevin can do with a complete graduation cycle under his belt.