SF Vance Jackson (Signed LOI on 11/11)

[Ricker]

I'm greedy and want both. I assume Hamilton goes and Purvis has as much as said he is gone. What if Brimah leaves.
1. We absolutely need a 3 point sniper to receive from our breakdown penetrators, and to deter teams from packing the paint. Jackson fills that bill, likely solidifies that role for 4 years, and plays intelligently. We should want him ASAP
2. Gabriel is an elite player just as you say, and after Gilbert, is the player I have wanted the most. He takes the team over the top. Why not take him at his word that he doesn't care who else is coming in at his position. He will play and so will Diarra and Durham.

8 players to cover 3 positions isn't outrageous, Brimah might be gone, Facey has capabilities but may become depth rather than rotation, and there are always in season injuries that put players on the bench for a few games. 120 minutes means they all can have double digit minutes and anybody that deserves 20 to 25 or more can earn it.

Brimah
Facey
Enoch
Diarra
Durham
Gabriel
Larrier
Jackson

These 2 guys and a quality shooting guard. (would have loved Myles Powell)

 

[David 76]

Grab who you can when they fit this well.
Starting a team, I'd pick WG. But VJ meets our needs better and the "I want to play the 3" stuff makes me a little nervous.

 

[superjohn]

DogMania, it seems like you have always been a good poster here so let's stop this clown show.

 

[MexicoHusky]

How do you know that? You're probably right. But it wouldn't be the first time that a recruit was on an official visit but UConn has not been ready to accept a commitment, preferring that the recruit continue taking their visits while they wait for another recruit's decision. Programs do this all the time, or they'd end up taking the first ones that have visited and want to commit over the ones that they prefer most. You can't always control the dates of when these recruits visit. We also need to consider that Jackson might want to take his Cal visit and isn't all in on UConn yet, but by the looks of his tweet yesterday it sure seems he is.

It will be very interesting to see how this plays out. Funny how a few months ago we were all concerned about landing any decent recruits, and now I'm presenting the dilemma of taking a top 75 at the expense of passing on a top 10. Bottom line, it's great to be a UConn fan. And as I've said in the other replies, I'll welcome Jackson in with open arms. I'm sure he's a great kid and would be a solid player for our program.

I suppose your response causes me to back away from my statement a little, but I've always been under the impression that recruits are identified and it's a first come first serve situation after that. Whoever signs/commits first is who the staff goes with.

 

[MexicoHusky]

Grab who you can when they fit this well.
Starting a team, I'd pick WG. But VJ meets our needs better and the "I want to play the 3" stuff makes me a little nervous.

I'm not a big fan of the "I want to play the 3" stuff either. Play basketball. Whatever you can do will be utilized on offense and defense.

 

[UConnSwag11]

I'm not a big fan of the "I want to play the 3" stuff either. Play basketball. Whatever you can do will be utilized on offense and defense.

No. A shortstop doesn't want to play right field. A defender doesn't want to play forward. Players feel comfortable in certain positions or feel they can do their best at. I do agree they should talk to the coach and make it known and talk to them to figure out what they see and how they can work with it

 

[JonnyRI]

I am really sensing a Monday or Tuesday announcement here.....no basis to this but....

 

[CallMeBruce]

I'm not sure how 24-7 makes their composites. It appears they don't include Rivalsa data, or include another metric I didn't list or they weight the score in some way or there are a bunch of kids who have a much wider range of scores which pushes him up the composite.

His average ranking between the four major services is 57, and two of the services have him decidedly outside the top 50, so yes, I'd say top 75 is much more accurate. Honestly, it doesn't matter as 30-75 are usually all pretty close (maybe even 25-100 in some classes).

You should look it up, because all of your assumptions are wrong.

-All major media services share an equal percentage in the 247Composite Rating.

-The composite index equally weights this percentage among the services that participate in a ranking for that specific prospect.

-A composite strength meter, indicated by red bars, illustrates the total number of industry services that have ranked the prospect. A full strength meter indicates the prospect has been ranked by all industry services participating in the composite.

-All industry networks have a different philosophy on number of "stars" distributed with each class. The 247Composite Rating assigns stars based on an approximate average distribution of stars from the industry.

-The 247Composite will update as major media outlets update their prospect rankings throughout the recruiting cycle.

 

[DogMania]

Why are you so into this argument?

Who's arguing anything. This is just a discussion. If Vance commits this weekend, then we'll know that KO in fact was intent on pressing and accepting a commitment. If not, then who knows? Maybe KO did and Vance wants to take his Cal visit. Or maybe the mutually want more time. We'll likely find out within the next 24 hours or so.

 

[DogMania]

DogMania, it seems like you have always been a good poster here so let's stop this clown show.

Wow! What's gone on with this board? Seems it's poster beware! You can't post some alternative thoughts and opinions w/out personal attacks.

Whatever!

 

[DogMania]

I suppose your response causes me to back away from my statement a little, but I've always been under the impression that recruits are identified and it's a first come first serve situation after that. Whoever signs/commits first is who the staff goes with.

Since coaches can't control what order a recruit takes their official visits and if they plan on accepting an offer during a visit or after all their visits, it's really hard to tell what's going on.

Now many here seem to believe that KO will extend a hard offer if he hasn't already and that Vance will accept if he likes what he sees. That may in fact be the case. Even when recruits say they will wait till after all their visits before deciding many don't.

I assume we'll know more over the next 24 to 48 hours.

 

[Walker11]

This is a silly argument but I'll bite. He is ranked outside of the top 50 in half of the rankings. To me, that doesn't really seem like a consensus top 50 player even though his average ranking is 51. Regardless, I think all of us would love to land Vance.

 

[huskiesnyc]

I like you Dogmania. But you aren't going to win a debate whether or not to take a top 50 kid that's got a deadly shot when we have (likely) 4 more scholarships to give.

 

[superjohn]

Wow! What's gone on with this board? Seems it's poster beware! You can't post some alternative thoughts and opinions w/out personal attacks.

Whatever!

Not arguing but I'm not even sure what you are discussing anymore. You really think Ollie flew Jackson to Connecticut for the kid to hang out and he isn't trying to get the kid to commit?

 

[johnhuskies95]

I don't think that what DogMania is saying is all that crazy in general, it's just that in this particular case I don't think that strategy would work. If you slow-play Jackson to try and land Gabriel you seriously risk not landing either of them. I'd prefer Gabriel as well, but you have to take Jackson if he wants to commit.

 

[CallMeBruce]

This is a silly argument but I'll bite. He is ranked outside of the top 50 in half of the rankings. To me, that doesn't really seem like a consensus top 50 player even though his average ranking is 51. Regardless, I think all of us would love to land Vance.

Right, but I certainly wouldn't use "top-75" player for a guy whose average ranking is #51.

 

[superjohn]

Right, but I certainly wouldn't use "top-75" player for a guy whose average ranking is #51.

But he's one spot lower than 5o.#boneyard logic

 

[huskiesnyc]

This is a silly argument but I'll bite. He is ranked outside of the top 50 in half of the rankings. To me, that doesn't really seem like a consensus top 50 player even though his average ranking is 51. Regardless, I think all of us would love to land Vance.

and inside the top 50 in the other half. His average ranking is 51 and that's pretty damn good. Vance is not some borderline 3/4 star top 100 kid.

 

[Yankees32123]

I don't think that what DogMania is saying is all that crazy in general, it's just that in this particular case I don't think that strategy would work. If you slow-play Jackson to try and land Gabriel you seriously risk not landing either of them. I'd prefer Gabriel as well, but you have to take Jackson if he wants to commit.

We had this discussion last year with the whole Tevin Mack, Chris Clarke, Derrick Jones debacle. The best policy is whoever wants to commit first, gets the scholarship. But it's not like we are in a bind for scholarship openings right now. There are still plenty of spots to go around, so this shouldn't even be a discussion.

 

[DogMania]

Grab who you can when they fit this well.
Starting a team, I'd pick WG. But VJ meets our needs better and the "I want to play the 3" stuff makes me a little nervous.

Good points, David.

I'm a bit surprised that some seem to be hot and bothered that I brought this up. I've not said that I have any insider perspective. I've not said that Vance would be a bad fit or is not a good prospect. I've only shared my preference of Gabriel over Jackson and why.

If we land Jackson at the expense of landing Gabriel, which might not be the case if Gabriel is a strong lean toward one or multiple programs on his short list, or even if he is KO's preferred recruit, then I'm fine with that. I'll welcome him gladly into the fold.

Many times what we want often doesn't turn out what was best. Having a player like Vance for say 3 to 4 years of productive contribution just about always trumps 1 year from some short timer. Or sometimes the player that many ranked lower turns out to be a more productive player than many hire ranked recruits. It's an inexact science. I've followed recruiting for a long time now. I used to attend events, have interviewed recruits, still watch occasional clips, and known some past UConn assistant coaches who gave me some inside stuff in the past. So I would think some would give me some benefit of the doubt that I'm not completely out to lunch. These posts were meant to spawn some healthy discussion, not meant to flame or upset anyone.

You can reply however you want, but it sure makes for a more enjoyable experience here when people aren't attacking posters for posting different opinions than your own. I can understand if someone comes to flame, put down our own players or coaches, but it sure seems some are overreacting a bit.

 

[JonnyRI]

We had this discussion last year with the whole Tevin Mack, Chris Clarke, Derrick Jones debacle. The best policy is whoever wants to commit first, gets the scholarship. But it's not like we are in a bind for scholarship openings right now. There are still plenty of spots to go around, so this shouldn't even be a discussion.

Gabriel is playing out the same way. Ollie needs to hit Jackson hard and lock him up. Gabriel ain't coming to storrs next fall. Get over it.

 

[johnhuskies95]

We had this discussion last year with the whole Tevin Mack, Chris Clarke, Derrick Jones debacle. The best policy is whoever wants to commit first, gets the scholarship. But it's not like we are in a bind for scholarship openings right now. There are still plenty of spots to go around, so this shouldn't even be a discussion.

Right, because we weren't in great position with any of those guys really as it turned out. I'm just saying that I wouldn't mind that strategy if we were in better shape with Jackson, rather than apparently being 50/50 with Cal, because I prefer Gabriel by a decent margin.

Duke did it with Quinn Cook. He wanted to commit there during the summer before his senior year, but they held off trying to get other guys(like Kabongo). When the other options fell through they accepted his commitment. It only works if the fallback option really wants to go to your school.

 

[DogMania]

Gabriel is playing out the same way. Ollie needs to hit Jackson hard and lock him up. Gabriel ain't coming to storrs next fall. Get over it.

Just curious, JonnyRI, do you have some inside info? How do you know that Gabriel isn't committing here in the end? If he does, I hope you're willing to eat your pound of crow. Hum...you a PC fan. If so, why are you even in this discussion, but maybe I'm making an incorrect assumption here.

I've never said that Gabriel was coming here. Just would like him to though. We are in his top 3 or 5, whatever the case. And he still has an official visit scheduled.

 

[superjohn]

This thread has turned crazy.

 

[DogMania]

We had this discussion last year with the whole Tevin Mack, Chris Clarke, Derrick Jones debacle. The best policy is whoever wants to commit first, gets the scholarship. But it's not like we are in a bind for scholarship openings right now. There are still plenty of spots to go around, so this shouldn't even be a discussion.

Gabriel is playing out the same way. Ollie needs to hit Jackson hard and lock him up. Gabriel ain't coming to storrs next fall. Get over it.

Hum, looking at this more closely, it's completely not the same situation!!!!

I think KO wanted Derrick Jones the most but at a much earlier stage Jones clearly moved off of UConn and KO stopped pursuing him. The he got on Clarke and Mack late but never got enough traction.

KO has been on both these recruits for a long time. Now I don't know who KO preferred early on and who he preferred more when Gabriel begin to blow up. Remember Wenyen was ranked outside the top 100 or just inside it before he blew up. He had visited UConn many times. He's a NE recruit who's friends with a current UConn commit and another prospective recruit in Diallo. The only thing similar is that like Jones he's a long athletic wing or stretch-4 who's current skills are close to the basket and in transition, while the other recruits are more perimeter threats with more provent jumpshots. Jones dropped us well before this time of year while Gabriel still has an official visit in his plans, though that could change.

So the comparison couldn't be further from what's going on now!