Recruiting Philosophy under Hurley

[mauconnfan]

I think you should check your timeline. Calhoun was not UConn's coach when John Pinone, Harold Pressley and Michaels Adams played college ball. So bad examples.

Go all the way back to Tom Roy we were never able to keep the best HS talent in state although Dom did well getting Corny and McKay - real well. But there were so many misses until Chris Smith. The reality is there hasn't been many great players coming from CT since the 90's, or at least not as many as in the 60's 70's-early 80's.

 

[boog204]

I like JC's recruiting strategy better but there is more than one way to recruit successfully. Hurley never coached a team with the national success he has with the UConn brand and he probably feels more comfortable recruiting in the Northeast. At some point he will recruit the best players no matter where they are from but his Northeast strategy is fine for now.

I feel like JC got most of the big ones he wanted. Sure there were some misses (Camby, Curley, Randall Jackson, etc.) but if you look at that list above, he got a lot of the bigtime NE guys. His nationwide (and international) strategy was more because he had to recruit that way. The prepschool scene was not the same for him. You had T-More, Winchedon, MCI and maybe some others, but not all of those teams had top, top guys.

I think Hurley is smart to focus on all of the talent in the NE now and then after reestablishing the brand, branch out for the guys who are legitimate gets. I feel like KO targeting all of these guys around the country who were never going to come here.

 

[pj]

I like JC's recruiting strategy better but there is more than one way to recruit successfully. Hurley never coached a team with the national success he has with the UConn brand and he probably feels more comfortable recruiting in the Northeast. At some point he will recruit the best players no matter where they are from but his Northeast strategy is fine for now.

Effective recruiting is very relational, you need to be in good standing with the player's coaches and the whole basketball community from which young players get advice. And since the basketball community is small and people maintain their roles for decades, you need to cultivate those specific relationships and be among each person's top 4-5 recommended schools.

If you don't have relationships then you can occasionally find good players from places where the basketball community isn't strong, and players looking to get away from where they are, like Akinjo or Matthews. But generally, most players follow the advice of their advisors and go to schools with whom their coaches and advisors have good relationships.

Good for Hurley for cultivating those relationships. This is one thing Ollie failed at.

 

[CL82]

Three best players on every UConn team from 1986/87 through 2006/07:

86-87: Cliff Robinson (upstate New York), Jeff King (Michigan), Phil Gamble (Washington, D.C.)

2 out of 3 from regional recruiting grounds.

87-88: Robinson, Gamble, Tate George (Newark, NJ)

3 out of 3 from regional recruiting grounds

88-89: Robinson, Gamble, George

3 out of 3 from regional recruiting grounds

89-90: Nadav Henefeld (Israel), Chris Smith (Bridgeport), George

2 out of 3 from regional recruiting grounds.

90-91: Smith, Scott Burrell (New Haven), Rod Sellers (South Carolina)

2 out of 3 from regional recruiting grounds.

91-92: Smith, Burrell, Sellers

2 out of 3 from regional recruiting grounds.

92-93: Donyell Marshall (Pennsylvania), Burrell, Brian Fair (Arizona)

2 out of 3 from regional recruiting grounds.

93-94: Donyell, Doron Sheffer (Israel), Ray Allen (South Carolina)

1 out of 3 from regional recruiting grounds.

94-95: Ray, Doron, Kevin Ollie (Los Angeles)

0 out of 3 from regional recruiting grounds

95-96: Ray, Doron, Travis Knight (Utah)

0 out of 3 from regional recruiting grounds

96-97: Richard Hamilton (Pennsylvania), Rashamel Jones (Stamford), Ricky Moore (Georgia)

2 out of 3 from regional recruiting grounds.

97-98: Hamilton, Khalid El-Amin (Minnesota), Kevin Freeman (Massachusetts/New Jersey)

2 out of 3 from regional recruiting grounds.

98-99: Hamilton, El-Amin, Freeman

2 out of 3 from regional recruiting grounds.

99-00: El-Amin, Freeman, Albert Mouring (Maryland)

2 out of 3 from regional recruiting grounds.

00-01: Caron Butler (Wisconsin), Mouring, Edmund Saunders (Waterbury)

2 out of 3 from regional recruiting grounds.

01-02: Butler, Emeka Okafor (Texas), Ben Gordon (Mount Vernon, NY)

1 out of 3 from regional recruiting grounds

02-03: Okafor, Gordon, Taliek Brown (New York City)

2 out of 3 from regional recruiting grounds.

03-04: Okafor, Gordon, Brown

2 out of 3 from regional recruiting grounds.

04-05: Charlie Villanueva (New York City), Josh Boone (Maryland), Rudy Gay (Maryland)

3 out of 3 from regional recruiting grounds

05-06: Gay, Boone, Marcus Williams (Los Angeles)

2 out of 3 from regional recruiting grounds

06-07: Jeff Adrien (Boston), A.J. Price (Long Island), Jerome Dyson (Maryland)

3 out of 3 from regional recruiting grounds

--------

In total, that's 32 players from the first 20 years who spent at least a season as a top 3 player on the team, and thus fall into the "best players" discussion. Of those 32, 19 were from New England, the mid-Atlantic or DMV.

Interesting post, thanks for taking the time to put it all together. One quibble/question is Pennsylvania part of Hurley's targeted recruiting grounds or did you define that as 'x' miles of Storrs or CT?

 

[UConnfan4ever]

Go all the way back to Tom Roy we were never able to keep the best HS talent in state although Dom did well getting Corny and McKay - real well. But there were so many misses until Chris Smith. The reality is there hasn't been many great players coming from CT since the 90's, or at least not as many as in the 60's 70's-early 80's.

Don't forget the Morris Mountain transfer from Kentucky. That was a huge get for Perno.

 

[CL82]

Go all the way back to Tom Roy we were never able to keep the best HS talent in state although Dom did well getting Corny and McKay - real well. But there were so many misses until Chris Smith. The reality is there hasn't been many great players coming from CT since the 90's, or at least not as many as in the 60's 70's-early 80's.

Every time we talk about Corney and McKay, I can't help but wonder what would Calhoun have been able to do with these guys over 4 years. They were dynamic scorers, who were a lot of fun to watch.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Seems like very few guys truly from CT recently, maybe some late bloomers (ala Wil Solomon quite a few years ago now). Does Donovan Mitchell count?
What is the explanation? Part of general state of CT deterioration?

 

[Matrim55]

Nice list, but in my original post I spoke about the best players from the regions Hurley is focusing on and listed quite a few from the 80's that were from NE and the NY area that never gave UConn a look and went instead to other Big East schools. For example, Villanova and BC beat us over 20 times in a row back in the 80's and did it with the likes of John Pinone and Harold Pressley and Michael Adams, Dana Barros, Jay Murphy, et al.

Every single player you listed (and you forgot Charles Smith, btw) began their college careers before Calhoun started at UConn. Hell, some of the guys you're talking about finished their careers before Calhoun started at UConn.

You listed the best players on the UConn teams, but in his first twenty years Calhoun was only rarely able to get the best players from the regions in question.

That's so far from true I just can't imagine what world you live in.

And that was not a criticism. I stated it was likely because we were, in most peoples' eyes, a nobody compared to Syracuse, Georgetown, St. Johns and BC at the time.

You're talking about the time before Calhoun came to Storrs. If you think that, by the '91 recruiting class at the very latest, nobody compared us to those four teams, then again... you live far from reality.

Someone else said we went national after becoming a great program with regional guys and that is just not true. It was the other way around.

You are wrong. The majority of our best players from Calhoun's entire tenure as head coach came from New England/mid-Atlantic/DMV.

 

[tzznandrew]

When Calhoun was coaching us, the New England scene wasn't half what it is now. He still felt he wanted the best NYC and CT players available, and for whatever reason we were locked out of Jersey so he couldn't do that.

The game is different, but mostly because where talent originates has changed. You could already see late Calhoun, with Kemba, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel, Oriakhi, Bazz and Drummond really trying to make sure he got the good local kids.

 

[Matrim55]

Seems like very few guys truly from CT recently, maybe some late bloomers (ala Wil Solomon quite a few years ago now). Does Donovan Mitchell count?
What is the explanation? Part of general state of CT deterioration?

I don't have the explanation but it's weird, right? Here's the total list of guys born in Connecticut that made it to the NBA:

NBA & ABA Players Born in Connecticut | Basketball-Reference.com

Note that doesn't include guys like Andre and Vin Baker who weren't born here but were raised here. But regardless the state definitely went dry from the early 90s to the early part of this decade. Been more top talent coming out since then, including a few (Dunn, Andre) who are NBA studs.

 

[Madmannsucks]

Kids from all over the country sought to play for Calhoun. You have to earn that. Hurley is a good young coach, but kids in Wisconsin and California didn’t grow up dreaming of playing for him. He’s still got a lot of winning to do before reaching that point.

We need to take back our region. With no pipeline, you really put yourself in a stranglehold when things don’t go your way. Ollie learned that the hard way. It appears that the whole athletic department is determined to learn from those mistakes.

I agree. I have to qualify this by 1st saying, I felt Ollie deserved another year. Having said THAT, I think Hurley would have done better over the last 2 years. I think 4 to 6 games a year better, which depending on which games meant maybe 1 NCAA tourney and one NIT, and obviously much better attendance. Using that premise, I think the team he has will do much better. For now, no constant press saying "Is Hurley on the hot seat"?.....which in the latter part of year 2 I believe was the reason KO lost the team.
All this is speculation, so we will see how this plays out.

 

[Matrim55]

When Calhoun was coaching us, the New England scene wasn't half what it is now. He still felt he wanted the best NYC and CT players available, and for whatever reason we were locked out of Jersey so he couldn't do that.

The game is different, but mostly because where talent originates has changed. You could already see late Calhoun, with Kemba, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel, Oriakhi, Bazz and Drummond really trying to make sure he got the good local kids.

Exactly. He also got Rashamel, Ed, Austrie, Marcus Cox (lol), Wiggins (lol), etc etc etc. Re: state kids he missed on Camby (for obvious reasons), Baker (everybody missed on him) and Gomes (someone should ask him about that), and understandably went for Oriakhi over Jordan Williams. It happens.

BTW I'd also add guys like Adrien and Price to your late-career Calhoun list.

But yeah, any suggestion that we were a national program before we were a regional one is just a million miles from reality.

 

[Madmannsucks]

I don't have the explanation but it's weird, right? Here's the total list of guys born in Connecticut that made it to the NBA:

NBA & ABA Players Born in Connecticut | Basketball-Reference.com

Note that doesn't include guys like Andre and Vin Baker who weren't born here but were raised here. But regardless the state definitely went dry from the early 90s to the early part of this decade. Been more top talent coming out since then, including a few (Dunn, Andre) who are NBA studs.

I was surprised to see Rod Foster wasn't born in Ct....I always just assumed.

 

[Danzz]

Don't forget the Morris Mountain transfer from Kentucky. That was a huge get for Perno.

Not really as it turned out. Alexsinas was a very soft mountain.

 

[mauconnfan]

Not really as it turned out. Alexsinas was a very soft mountain.

And he only came here after he lost Pt to the other twin towers I think in Roby and Phillips, or were they gone?

 

[UconnU]

He wants guards, lots of them, preferably big guards. I would not be surprised at all if we have some 6'5-6 kid we recruited at the guard position playing the 4 in the near future. We're going to be a motion offense with 4 ball handlers on the floor.

 

[intlzncster]

He wants guards, lots of them, preferably big guards. I would not be surprised at all if we have some 6'5-6 kid we recruited at the guard position playing the 4 in the near future. We're going to be a motion offense with 4 ball handlers on the floor.

Sid's already here haha

 

[champs99and04]

While some aspects of Ollie's recruiting philosophy may have been problematic, it was not ultimately the cause of his downfall. Save for Perkins, Dorsey, Ali, and maybe McLaughin, he didn't seem to lose out on many players he had invested in significantly. And while you could argue that some of his efforts to recruit nationally may have compromised his ability to lock down the northeast, the recruits that came back to haunt us were products of either oversight or bad luck. Waters and Heron were too entrenched in foreign embassies for us to ever make headway. Colson was just a whiff. Makai was sealed and delivered until Ollie lost his mind. Diallo was someone we put in all the early legwork to sign and then couldn't close on. The Niang/Vonleh/Seldon/Terrell/Abu pool predated Calhoun's retirement. Obviously we know what happened with Dunn.

Ollie's ceiling was a lot higher than Hurley's from a networking standpoint, which is why it made sense for him to cast a wider net. In a different conference, with more experience, he may have pulled it off. But I think the notion that Ollie missed a stash of riches under his feet is overstated. That was not a pipeline he willingly turned away.

Hurley has always made far more sense as a regional guy. That was actually the #1 draw for me when I began to consider possible Ollie replacements. He's not moving far enough to disrupt the inroads he made at Rhode Island, but he is climbing high enough on the social ladder to tap into a sustainable stream of four and five star talent. The question is whether he is going to be able to recruit, out of the American, at a level that satisfies the fan base. My initial impression is no, which is why I've always viewed Hurley and a return to the Big East as a package deal. I think it would have been more viable to transcend the conference under a guy like Ollie. With Hurley here, staying in the AAC long term feels like a hedged bet. I'm not suggesting we make that move tomorrow, but I would not be surprised if that was the end game.

 

[UconnU]

While some aspects of Ollie's recruiting philosophy may have been problematic, it was not ultimately the cause of his downfall. Save for Perkins, Dorsey, Ali, and maybe McLaughin, he didn't seem to lose out on many players he had invested in significantly. And while you could argue that some of his efforts to recruit nationally may have compromised his ability to lock down the northeast, the recruits that came back to haunt us were products of either oversight or bad luck. Waters and Heron were too entrenched in foreign embassies for us to ever make headway. Colson was just a whiff. Makai was sealed and delivered until Ollie lost his mind. Diallo was someone we put in all the early legwork to sign and then couldn't close on. The Niang/Vonleh/Seldon/Terrell/Abu pool predated Calhoun's retirement. Obviously we know what happened with Dunn.

Ollie's ceiling was a lot higher than Hurley's from a networking standpoint, which is why it made sense for him to cast a wider net. In a different conference, with more experience, he may have pulled it off. But I think the notion that Ollie missed a stash of riches under his feet is overstated. That was not a pipeline he willingly turned away.

Hurley has always made far more sense as a regional guy. That was actually the #1 draw for me when I began to consider possible Ollie replacements. He's not moving far enough to disrupt the inroads he made at Rhode Island, but he is climbing high enough on the social ladder to tap into a sustainable stream of four and five star talent. The question is whether he is going to be able to recruit, out of the American, at a level that satisfies the fan base. My initial impression is no, which is why I've always viewed Hurley and a return to the Big East as a package deal. I think it would have been more viable to transcend the conference under a guy like Ollie. With Hurley here, staying in the AAC long term feels like a hedged bet. I'm not suggesting we make that move tomorrow, but I would not be surprised if that was the end game.

There also was not as much talent in the northeast the past few years as there is now. There are 14 top 100 kids from the tristate area in 2019 and 12 or 13 more in 2020.

 

[Chief00]

Chief will share more this summer - assuming the KO/NCAA clouds lift.

 

[UconnU]

I was told by one of the basketball recruiting gurus that the new Uconn staff is being much more "Aggressive" with kids than the last staff. I dont even know what that means but thought I would share.

 

[Chief00]

I was told by one of the basketball recruiting gurus that the new Uconn staff is being much more "Aggressive" with kids than the last staff. I dont even know what that means but thought I would share.

It means they are working a plan really hard.

 

[Samoo]

It means they are working a plan really hard.

They just need a catchy name for it. Any suggestions?

 

[Towney007]

It means they are working a plan really hard.

In a weird way - UConn is kind of a hot name for this brief period of time. Buzzy coach, storied program and lots of opportunities for young players to come in and make an impact immediately. If you're a talented young player and you want to put your name on a chapter - it's a great bet to work out well. So now is the time to strike while you get that short term bounce back right now. I feel like next year's recruiting class could be really strong, while the next year might have a slight dip just by virtue of that short term buzz wearing off a bit... but now's the time to strike while the iron is hot - even if it's temporary.

 

[Paesano]

The main reason Calhoun lost most of the highly rated recruits he did, and Ollie too, was MONEY. I think that much is obvious since the FBI investigation bombshell was dropped. I hope that is changing now that the FBI is involved and federal prison is on the table.

I hope Hurley's recruiting philosophy is to recruit the best players that have their heads screwed on straight. Obviously the pieces need to fit together to form a complete team but attitude and coachability should be #1.