FACT - Unfortunately, the classes he recruited as head coach did not achieve much success. How good a class ultimately is based on results on the court.
Some player quotes from today
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UconnU
If he blocks 100, he blocks 100
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We never had an answer for Harrell when he was at Louisville. Just couldn’t stop the guy.
UconnU
If he blocks 100, he blocks 100
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They were highly ranked kids but there were more holes. Family issues, injury issues, system mismatch problems, etc.
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Love to hear this is Bouk's team.
Dream Jobbed 2.0
“Most definitely”
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Love the quotes about Bouknight as a leader. Your best player doesn’t HAVE to be your leader but it sure is nice when they are.
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Chief00
But his top 2 recruits were injured and viewed by other schools as damage goods.
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You keep saying that but it doesn't prove that recruiting in the AAC was easier for UConn than recruiting in the NBE. It's one data point.
It's pretty clear that every recruit they've gotten since the announcement UConn was going to the NBE has mentioned the conference as a major reason for their commitment. Now, would they have gotten better recruits if they were in the AAC? We'll never know but my opinion is they wouldn't have. Let's see after the next 2-3 recruiting classes and we can revisit this.
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This guy! That turned out well! @Palatine
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Durham and AG I assume? But didn’t AG get hurt after he had committed to us? Also, I believe Daniel Hamilton was a higher rated recruit than Durham.
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Chief00
My point is they were ranked before the injury occurred.
HuskyHawk
The triumphant return of the Blues Brothers.
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Ollie sucked at roster reaction. Bringing in kids who had some talent, but who weren’t well equipped to play with each other or even to play the same style. Add to that almost no improvement from the majority of them. Hurley builds teams. He is focused on specific kinds of players for a style of play. The difference is huge.
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Chief00
I haven’t met a Hurley recruit yet, who isn’t a hard worker.
C
Chief00
That’s always a fair position to take.
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100% agree... this has been my biggest point in observing the difference between the way Hurley (and previously Calhoun) recruits/recruited and the way Ollie did.
Unfortunately Ollie did not learn from Calhoun the importance of recruiting the right type of players who could play either the system he wanted to play, or to play together. The way recruits' styles of play blend together to form a cohesive team on the court is way, way more important than the number of stars or specific ranking they received from the recruiting services that almost always put more of a premium on the basketball skills and less on the intangible aspects that the best coaches like Hurley, Young and Moore seem to be able to pick up on so well.
I supported KO longer than quite a few people on this board. I really wanted for him to be here for decades, if possible. But it became obvious to me as it had to many of you, and eventually almost all of you, that he was unable to correctly project forward how recruits would fit into whatever system he was trying to run. It also became obvious as he got more hard-headed and stopped listening to those he should be going to for guidance (Calhoun being the best example) and that things were not going to get better while he was running the program. It still makes me sad to say that, but it is true.
If nothing else is clear about this program going forward under Hurley, one thing already is: between Hurley himself and the superlative staff he has put around him they have a thorough understanding of what type of person they are looking for as well as the level of play on the court... and they are fast becoming devastatingly effective at getting the players they desire to be here first interested in, and then committed to playing here.
Calhoun did it so well for so long that we admittedly started taking that aspect of recruiting for granted around here. Watching Ollie flounder reminded us all of just how important the character, work ethic and team-first attitude of a recruit is in addition to their basketball talent level.
It is exhilarating to have a front row seat to our renaissance being directed by Hurley and crew... you can see they are doing it the right way, and the results are already starting to show. And the most exciting part is this is only the beginning!
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i think when you look at recruiting in the AAC there is a clear line of demarcation. It was a lot easier recruiting towards the end than its first 4 or 5 teams . I attribute that to Penny snd Adding WSU both things gave basketball in that conference a shot in the arm. Prior to that Aresco simply thought BB an afterthought.
UConn actually had awful recruiting for awhile. For those of us around then even the 2010-11 class was viwed as a bunch of misses.
Olander and Giffey were fill in players.
Lamb had the wrong first name and Bazz was on the small side. Yet they won 2 NC’s. The next year DD was the catch ,Drummond was just visiting and finally
RB was a decommit from WVA who was recruited.over at that school. .
The next three years were completely dry. New coach iffy league is always a problem. Ollie had to win a NC before he even got a decent class. The program was propped with transfers.
His best class was 2016-17
When you add in Larrier on paper it’s a great class. Gilbert, Jackson, Vital ,Durham and Diarra. but snake bite.
If Ollie had real success , top ten ,with that class
The league we were in wouldn’t matter that much. Of course you lose a kid that wanted to stay closer but you might get a Texas kid. I think the vibe of a program transcends the league. As long as the perception of the league is decent.
Having said that the vibe has somewhat to do with the motivation of the base who is much more turned on by the Big East.Recruits are turned on by rabid sell out crowds. Who wouldn’t be? .But it’s still about W’s regardless of what league your in.
UConn actually had awful recruiting for awhile. For those of us around then even the 2010-11 class was viwed as a bunch of misses.
Olander and Giffey were fill in players.
Lamb had the wrong first name and Bazz was on the small side. Yet they won 2 NC’s. The next year DD was the catch ,Drummond was just visiting and finally
RB was a decommit from WVA who was recruited.over at that school. .
The next three years were completely dry. New coach iffy league is always a problem. Ollie had to win a NC before he even got a decent class. The program was propped with transfers.
His best class was 2016-17
When you add in Larrier on paper it’s a great class. Gilbert, Jackson, Vital ,Durham and Diarra. but snake bite.
If Ollie had real success , top ten ,with that class
The league we were in wouldn’t matter that much. Of course you lose a kid that wanted to stay closer but you might get a Texas kid. I think the vibe of a program transcends the league. As long as the perception of the league is decent.
Having said that the vibe has somewhat to do with the motivation of the base who is much more turned on by the Big East.Recruits are turned on by rabid sell out crowds. Who wouldn’t be? .But it’s still about W’s regardless of what league your in.
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Great points. Two things I think that matter in the big picture:
Ollie lived on JC's recruits for two years, and was successful beyond most peoples' expectations, but the bottom fell out when his wife asked for the divorce and he never recovered either his focus or his motivation.
Hurley's recruiting has actually risen higher, faster, than JC's because UConn still had the major name recognition JC built, he had a great reputation from his successes at Wagner and URI and he is so focused and enthusiastic, down to earth and genuine, that the recruits sense it and embrace it. It took JC several years (the keys being Chris Smith and the magical 1990 team that Henefeld tied together) to overcome the depths to which UConn had fallen in the early 80's before he started getting classes like those Hurley has already brought in. The future sure looks bright.
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