As much as I loved Shonn and appreciated SG, Grad Transfers can really hurt the in-game development of our players. We don't make the tournament or win that first game without either of them this year, and I will be forever grateful to them for that. But it really acts as a band-aid to bigger problems and it will curb development down the line. If Facey can keep his fouls down and play consistent minutes early in the year, I see no reason he can't be a solid starter for us
I am sorry for how long this got.
I tend to agree with you, but the last few years UConn dealt with a debilitating set of circumstances that directly impacted both the quality & quantity of recruits and required those transfer 'band-aids'. They were banned from the tournament, lost two scholarships per year, had their practice time reduced and lost important recruiting privileges in addition to losing a legendary coach & their conference (I apologize if that sounds patronizing, repeating for effect). The talent stayed away because the future of program was sort of 'in limbo' (not that 'limbo' was the only reason they couldn't recruit, but it didn't help) and even when it did come there wasn't enough to compete the way UConn expects to.
2o12's simultaneous mass exodus and then three man recruiting class (Calhoun/Nolan/Tolksdork- two rotation players) made KO's first cycle on the job immensely difficult, especially considering the aforementioned NCAA restrictions on the vehicle they'd use to fill those spots (recruiting). KO steadily improved his recruiting prowess in spite of those challenges, but struggled - to various degrees - with the '13 / '14 / '15 classes before seeming to come into his own:
2013 - Facey/Brimah/Samuel - two contributors, helped win title, but limited ceiling & no depth
2014 - Hamilton - two solid seasons, but no depth & potential greatness in Storrs gave way to uncertain protential
2015 - Adams/Enoch - start of upswing, 2 strong talents, greatness lurking but again, zero depth
Ollie wasn't trying to simply fill out roster depth, but needed to find guys capable of contributing immediately in order to keep the program afloat. They would have barely had enough players to field a team, instead transfers provided a reliable source of production, allowed underclassmen to ease into their roles and pushed guys who would've otherwise been over burdened into the reserve roles they were suited to. KO will have recruited nearly a full cycle without sanctions when the 2015 class are juniors, which will ideally result in a more balanced roster distribution and reduced need for transfers.
I did some reading a few weeks back regarding the violations UConn committed under Calhoun, their punishments and the coincidental role Mark Emmert played. There is zero doubt in my mind that he wanted to cut Connecticut, and Calhoun down to size, which he did very successfully and without much, if any criticism from the press-outside the NCAA #1 enemy, Jay Bilas. We need to appreciate the job KO did, which may be a bit disappointing outside 2014 of course, but should be celebrated once placed in the context of the surrounding circumstances - a feat only possibly because of those band-aids.
I apologize for hi-jacking the thread. I started writing a quick response and it turned into a thesis. If someone wants to move this to a more appropriate place be my guest. Also, while I am at it, might as well address Facey. Offensively either he or Brimah is going to require a jumper if they have any chance of playing together. Facey had a nice stroke, but then you pull him away from the basket for rebounds, his best skill. In an ideal world, we have a real strength coach who helps Kelis Fisher bulk up a bit and he focus' his off season on watching film of the defense and practicing the Jeff Adrien 12-14ft jumper. If he can put together a Gavin Edwards type senior year it will help tremendously. Even without Hamilton this is the 1st year since 2014 with two true ball handlers and Purvis/Jackson will get tons of open shots. If Adams shot starts going in with consistency, they can do damage anyway. Goodnight, tomorrow will now be awful at work as I become a desk zombie.
Tl/DR - we needed transfers to stay afloat due to extreme recruiting disadvantages caused by sanctions. In a year or two we will not need them the way we have in the past/do now
