The Quality Of Our New Commits Bouknight & Gaffney | Page 2 | The Boneyard

The Quality Of Our New Commits Bouknight & Gaffney

Hans Sprungfeld said:
Huh?
I realize that the "always worry" claim is about you, but I'm not clear who you mean by "we" here. And I therefore don't understand what "overhype" means. Are you referring to BY posters? Or recruiting staff?
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The op was addressing the question of how good Bouknight and Gaffney really are.
Yes, I'm saying we, the Boneyard, have a track record of overrating recruits, but I then go on to say that is not the case for these 2 guys because I think they are as good as people on here are making them out to be.
 
Jaybo said:
People will disagree. I’m not totally impressed yet. The two recruits aren’t that high above what Ollie was pulling with akinjo and Matthews. Again my opinion.i do believe Hurley can do a lot more with these two then Ollie and staff could of. Development makes a huge difference. What will impress me would be landing any one of akok, kofi or precious on top of the two they already landed. I hope for at least one. But hope Hurley can pull in any combo of the two.
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Have you seen either of them play?
 
intlzncster said:
Have you seen either of them play?
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Iv watched the YouTube videos. But every kid looks like the second coming of Kemba in those. Not saying they’re not good recruits. I just don’t see them as being far better than what we have been seeing lately. I’m excited they wanna play at UConn. Those are the kids we need. But I wanna see this program under the new staff snag a guy who imo wouldn’t of even thought of UConn the last few years.
 
I am very happy with these two guards. They strike me as guys who are being underrated by the recruiting services a little bit, but who should develop nicely. Some strength would help both of them. Both should be here 3-4 years. Those kinds of players win games for you as they become juniors and seniors.

As for expectations possibly being too high right now (for the current team), it is worth noting that our expected starting back-court consists of two guys who were higher rated than these two.
 
Jaybo said:
People will disagree. I’m not totally impressed yet. The two recruits aren’t that high above what Ollie was pulling with akinjo and Matthews. Again my opinion.i do believe Hurley can do a lot more with these two then Ollie and staff could of. Development makes a huge difference. What will impress me would be landing any one of akok, kofi or precious on top of the two they already landed. I hope for at least one. But hope Hurley can pull in any combo of the two.
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What you don't seem to understand is the importance of getting 2 east coast recruits compared to 2 west coast recruits. It's something Ollie didn't get. We are a east coast powerhouse or we were. To continue to go west for recruits just hurt us on the east where the UConn name meant something. Ollie had no foothold in the east and it showed. Hurley getting two east coast recruits is letting other east coast recruits know where his priorites are. Kids see their friends or teammates or kids that played on their AAU team tearing it up at UConn makes them more likely to go to UConn than not.
 
Jaybo said:
Iv watched the YouTube videos. But every kid looks like the second coming of Kemba in those. Not saying they’re not good recruits. I just don’t see them as being far better than what we have been seeing lately. I’m excited they wanna play at UConn. Those are the kids we need. But I wanna see this program under the new staff snag a guy who imo wouldn’t of even thought of UConn the last few years.
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I'm talking about seeing the kids play in person. A number of people have on here, and all came away with very favorable reviews. Very real comparisons to Lamb for Bouknight. And Gaffney is drawing rave reviews from other coaches (see Rice quotes) and evaluators.

And the fact that Hurley and staff targeted these particular kids early, stuck with it, and landed them, speaks volumes to what they view their potential to be.

According to all those with the most information, these two are much, much better than what we've seen the last few years. At a certain point (after say the Top 15-20), rankings don't matter a damn -- see the old Okafor chestnut of being ranked #99 or Jeremy Lamb and Shabazz Napier in the 80s/90s.
 
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Candyman34 said:
What you don't seem to understand is the importance of getting 2 east coast recruits compared to 2 west coast recruits. It's something Ollie didn't get. We are a east coast powerhouse or we were. To continue to go west for recruits just hurt us on the east where the UConn name meant something. Ollie had no foothold in the east and it showed. Hurley getting two east coast recruits is letting other east coast recruits know where his priorites are. Kids see their friends or teammates or kids that played on their AAU team tearing it up at UConn makes them more likely to go to UConn than not.
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Calhoun recruited nationally (and internationally). The class that put us on the national map after the Dream Season had nobody closer than Reading, PA (Donyell). That said, there is a greater chance that you're getting mercenary-types if you're exclusively chasing kids without local ties.
 
amsterdamjade said:
K
. Kentucky and Duke don’t even have multiple 5 star recruits yet. What do you mean “what have these guys been doing?”
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I'll be polite. There are statements made regularly on this site involving sarcasm and attempts at humor and this is one of them.
 
Excalibur said:
Calhoun recruited nationally (and internationally). The class that put us on the national map after the Dream Season had nobody closer than Reading, PA (Donyell). That said, there is a greater chance that you're getting mercenary-types if you're exclusively chasing kids without local ties.
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Building that local flavor, especially NYC/Boston/NJ/Delco is so huge though. The amount of time you can get in front of the kids is so much greater. Taking an afternoon to pop into a game is a simple exercise. You ain't jumpin on a flight to Cali on a whim. Relationships are so much easier to maintain, both with the recruits themselves, and with the associated programs.

The biggest thing with these kids is, as @HooperScooper mentioned, Hurley identified early, targeted, and landed these kids like a sniper. This wasn't machine gun fire hoping you hit something. The previous regime consistently identified the wrong kids, or missed on most they identified right, and settled for 3rd/4th/5th option types late.
 
intlzncster said:
I'm talking about seeing the kids play in person. A number of people have on here, and all came away with very favorable reviews. Very real comparisons to Lamb for Bouknight. And Gaffney is drawing rave reviews from other coaches (see Rice quotes) and evaluators.
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If Bouknight hadn't gotten hurt this winter he'd have been a top 40 player at the very least IMO. Certainly played like that once he got to about 90% health this summer.

And Gaffney's ~100 ranking is entirely down to lack of strength. He's a very good-to-great shooter, a very good-to-great distributor, and a ++ athlete. Problem is he still looks and plays like a scrawny-ass teenager whenever he goes against elite comp, and gets bullied. For now.

Guys, these are great pick-ups. I think we'll see both kids in the NBA some day.
 
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Jaybo said:
Iv watched the YouTube videos. But every kid looks like the second coming of Kemba in those. Not saying they’re not good recruits. I just don’t see them as being far better than what we have been seeing lately. I’m excited they wanna play at UConn. Those are the kids we need. But I wanna see this program under the new staff snag a guy who imo wouldn’t of even thought of UConn the last few years.
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I know I'm not going to be able to change your mind, but just going to quote this for context. UConn's recruiting really fell off after that 2016 season. Guys like Bouknight and Gaffney are the recruits that UConn should be landing that they really weren't. Here's a comparison of the 2017, 2018 (previous staff only) and 2019 classes:
2017
Sidney Wilson
4*, NR in ESPN100 (due to reclassification)
4*, #71 in Rivals150
4*, #87 in Top247
........
4*, #89 in 247 Composite
​
Tyler Polley
4*, NR in ESPN100
4*, #117 in Rivals150
3*, #187 in Top247
........
3*, #168 in 247 Composite
​
Josh Carlton
4*, NR in ESPN100
3*, #150 in Rivals150
3*, #219 in Top247
........
3*, #178 in 247 Composite
​
Isaiah Whaley
3*, NR in ESPN100
3*, NR in Rivals150
No ranking on 247
........
No composite ranking on 247
​
Eric Cobb
No rankings (JUCO)
​
Kwintin Williams
No rankings (JUCO)
​
2018
James Akinjo
4*, NR in ESPN100
4*, #71 in Rivals150
4*, #119 in Top247
........
4*, #90 in 247 Composite
​
Emmitt Matthews
3*, NR in ESPN100
4*, #125 in Rivals150
3*, #249 in Top247
........
3*, #178 in 247 Composite
​
Lukas Kisunas
3*, NR in ESPN100
3*, NR in Rivals150
3*, #172 in Top247
........
3*, #209 in 247 Composite
​
2019
James Bouknight
4*, #87 in ESPN100
4*, #85 in Rivals150
4*, #73 in Top247
........
4*, #79 in 247 Composite
​
Jalen Gaffney
4*, #97 in ESPN100
3*, NR in Rivals150
4*, #133 in Top247
........
3*, #149 in 247 Composite
​
This 2019 class is the first since 2016 to have at least two guys ranked in the top 100 by one of the recruiting services. And a tiny trend in the 2017 and 2018 classes was to land one single top 100 guy then surround him with guys outside of the top 100 and 150. That wasn't cutting it. Now that you have Hurley and his staff in here, totally flipped the script and are convincing top 100 recruits to come to UConn coming off of two straight losing seasons and back in the picture with top ranked 4* and 5* guys. There's a clear plan in place and the trajectory of the program headed up.

Also, landing Bouknight and Gaffney coming off of back-to-back losing seasons isn't something that should be dismissed. I've been beating this drum the last couple of days but 2019 recruiting was legit about to be terrible if the previous staff was still here. For some reason, the staff was still offering 5* players thinking they had a shot (like Isaiah Stewart and Josh Green) instead of identifying and targeting guys who could come in and help bring the program back.

Here are some of the recruits that UConn probably had a solid chance at landing in the 2019 class:
​
Seth Lundy - offered
4*, NR in ESPN100
4*, #118 in Rivals150
3*, #164 in Top247
........
4*, #111 in 247 Composite
​
Donta Scott - offered
4*, NR in ESPN100
3*, #141 in Rivals150
4*, #125 in Top247
........
3*, #139 in 247 Composite
​
TJ Bickerstaff - offered
No profile on ESPN
3*, NR in Rivals 150
3*, #205 in Top247
........
3*, #219 in 247 Composite
​
Sherif Kenney - offered
4*, NR in ESPN100
3*, NR in Rivals150
3*, #291 in Top247
........
3*, #255 in 247 Composite
​
Noah Kamba - offered
3*, NR in ESPN100
0*, NR in Rivals150
0*, NR in Top247
........
0*, NR in 247 Composite​

Charles Coleman - offered
3*, NR in ESPN100
3*, NR in Rivals150
0*, NR in Top247
........
3*, #335 in 247 Composite​

Not. a. single. top. 100. recruit.
 
Jaybo said:
Iv watched the YouTube videos. But every kid looks like the second coming of Kemba in those. Not saying they’re not good recruits. I just don’t see them as being far better than what we have been seeing lately. I’m excited they wanna play at UConn. Those are the kids we need. But I wanna see this program under the new staff snag a guy who imo wouldn’t of even thought of UConn the last few years.
Expand ...

Ok, but this staff is also recruiting within the context of what has happened at UConn the last few years.

Also, be patient. This is just the start.
 
Excalibur said:
Calhoun recruited nationally (and internationally). The class that put us on the national map after the Dream Season had nobody closer than Reading, PA (Donyell). That said, there is a greater chance that you're getting mercenary-types if you're exclusively chasing kids without local ties.
Expand ...

Knew this was coming about Calhoun and Ollies class. This was a different time and UConn was not a national power. Yes the dream season helped but it was one year. East Coast recruiting was dominated by other Big East schools like Syracuse, St John's, Providence, Seton Hall, and even Pitt (Charles Smith). Calhoun had to travel to get that class and he had to sell the Big East and not actually UConn. Once we started winning it opened up the east for UConn like RIP, Freeman, Talik, Ben Gordon, Villaneavu, Kemba, AO, Bazz and whoever else I missed from the east. Yes of course he still traveled around as I'm sure Hurley will once he establishes the Northeast & the DMV.
 
tcf15 said:
I know I'm not going to be able to change your mind, but just going to quote this for context. UConn's recruiting really fell off after that 2016 season. Guys like Bouknight and Gaffney are the recruits that UConn should be landing that they really weren't. Here's a comparison of the 2017, 2018 (previous staff only) and 2019 classes:
2017
Sidney Wilson
4*, NR in ESPN100 (due to reclassification)
4*, #71 in Rivals150
4*, #87 in Top247
...
4*, #89 in 247 Composite
​
Tyler Polley
4*, NR in ESPN100
4*, #117 in Rivals150
3*, #187 in Top247
...
3*, #168 in 247 Composite
​
Josh Carlton
4*, NR in ESPN100
3*, #150 in Rivals150
3*, #219 in Top247
...
3*, #178 in 247 Composite
​
Isaiah Whaley
3*, NR in ESPN100
3*, NR in Rivals150
No ranking on 247
...
No composite ranking on 247
​
Eric Cobb
No rankings (JUCO)
​
Kwintin Williams
No rankings (JUCO)
​
2018
James Akinjo
4*, NR in ESPN100
4*, #71 in Rivals150
4*, #119 in Top247
...
4*, #90 in 247 Composite
​
Emmitt Matthews
3*, NR in ESPN100
4*, #125 in Rivals150
3*, #249 in Top247
...
3*, #178 in 247 Composite
​
Lukas Kisunas
3*, NR in ESPN100
3*, NR in Rivals150
3*, #172 in Top247
...
3*, #209 in 247 Composite
​
2019
James Bouknight
4*, #87 in ESPN100
4*, #85 in Rivals150
4*, #73 in Top247
...
4*, #79 in 247 Composite
​
Jalen Gaffney
4*, #97 in ESPN100
3*, NR in Rivals150
4*, #133 in Top247
...
3*, #149 in 247 Composite
​
This 2019 class is the first since 2016 to have at least two guys ranked in the top 100 by one of the recruiting services. And a tiny trend in the 2017 and 2018 classes was to land one single top 100 guy then surround him with guys outside of the top 100 and 150. That wasn't cutting it. Now that you have Hurley and his staff in here, totally flipped the script and are convincing top 100 recruits to come to UConn coming off of two straight losing seasons and back in the picture with top ranked 4* and 5* guys. There's a clear plan in place and the trajectory of the program headed up.

Also, landing Bouknight and Gaffney coming off of back-to-back losing seasons isn't something that should be dismissed. I've been beating this drum the last couple of days but 2019 recruiting was legit about to be terrible if the previous staff was still here. For some reason, the staff was still offering 5* players thinking they had a shot (like Isaiah Stewart and Josh Green) instead of identifying and targeting guys who could come in and help bring the program back.

Here are some of the recruits that UConn probably had a solid chance at landing in the 2019 class:
​
Seth Lundy - offered
4*, NR in ESPN100
4*, #118 in Rivals150
3*, #164 in Top247
...
4*, #111 in 247 Composite
​
Donta Scott - offered
4*, NR in ESPN100
3*, #141 in Rivals150
4*, #125 in Top247
...
3*, #139 in 247 Composite
​
TJ Bickerstaff - offered
No profile on ESPN
3*, NR in Rivals 150
3*, #205 in Top247
...
3*, #219 in 247 Composite
​
Sherif Kenney - offered
4*, NR in ESPN100
3*, NR in Rivals150
3*, #291 in Top247
...
3*, #255 in 247 Composite
​
Noah Kamba - offered
3*, NR in ESPN100
0*, NR in Rivals150
0*, NR in Top247
...
0*, NR in 247 Composite​

Charles Coleman - offered
3*, NR in ESPN100
3*, NR in Rivals150
0*, NR in Top247
...
3*, #335 in 247 Composite​

Not. a. single. top. 100. recruit.
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tcf out here doing work.
 
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Hurley's recruiting plan has been genius in my opinion. He reinvigorated the existing brand and sold recruits as being the guys who get UConn back to its (rightful) status as a basketball power. That's powerful. He emphasized the university's history, both on the court and in getting people to the NBA. Then he supplements it with his personal history of success developing people.

His emphasis on the East coast makes sense logistically (easier to cover) and in terms of maximizing the UConn brand. His coaching choices are very smart. All are quality experienced coaches with each guy being a known factor with a history of in a targeted sub-region.

Hurley has a vision and very logical and methodical way of implementing it. He pulled us out of a recruiting death spiral. We still need to see if he can develop kids at UConn and how he is as a game day coach (although his history at both looks solid), but so far so good. It has been impressive to watch.

#stilldoomed
 
Hurley got 2 guards that are known and well-respected throughout the NE AAU circuit. This was/is critical to recruiting the bigs. The likes of Akok and Kofi know who will be getting them the ball and running the show. Getting the 2 guards lays a foundation.
 
Well well... look where we are ranked now.... from last to 23 rd and going up :)

upload_2018-9-25_11-12-34.png
 
My take is a blend of all these posts.

I think Bouknight is special and Gaffney has potential. But that is TBD.
I would have been really impressed if Hurley pulled in Watts.
It is obvious that Hurley is organized. He has a plan and follows it. Given the current state of the program getting two solid guards increases his ability to promote UConn for players with higher rankings (Precious, Kofi and Akok). Holding off on getting officials from those three until the two guards were in hand is masterful imo.

@RayIsTheGOAT echoes my sentiments regarding the fanatics in this forum. When we're excited we tend to overshoot expectations. When we're miserable we tend to exaggerate or vilify the process. @Paesano and @Jaybo have basically stated what the vast majority of us would have stated if Bouknight and Gaffney were KO's recruits.

We are arguing against their position for two reasons. The first is that some of us have observed these players and, in our estimation, project them as better than their rankings. That is fairly objective but has not always been born out with regards to past recruits. There isn't a poster in this forum that I can argue has been regularly accurate in their projection of players. The second is we want to feel good. We are not just debating different viewpoints. We are arguing against dissent and I suspect it not only has to do with different perspectives but we are trying to convince ourselves things are positive. Negativity has a greater impact on us after the past two to three years.

RayIsTheGOAT hit the nail on the head when he stated the value of the buzz. If all things were equal (which they were not) it would have been much more difficult for KO to get the program back on track than a new coach whose reputation at this point in time is positive. I believe Hurley was a great option for UConn for many reasons. But it remains to be seen if my expectations are accurate.
 
Jaybo said:
I’m not totally impressed yet.
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I said the same thing. Especially with Gaffney being a 3*. I looked back at all the 3* recruits we had brought in over the years - honestly we didn't have many and there very few who contributed.
Jaybo said:
Iv watched the YouTube videos. But every kid looks like the second coming of Kemba in those.
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I agree with this, too. All those videos look exactly the same whether you are a 5* or unranked.

However, the exception for me is Gaffney. I have watched all his videos. And I am so blown away by this guy. To me, his videos look different. What he can do on the court, shots he is able to pull off, confidence with the ball in his hand. I truly believe he is underrated just by watching his videos. I would love to (and excited to) see him in person.

**Also note as an aside. When you watch other guy's videos, look for some of our targets in their videos. I don't remember which one, but one was taken from a game against Kofi's team and you can see him getting burned on defense, not blocking out on rebounds, etc. It would be great if they just posted a whole game instead of just the highlight reel stuff. Then you can get a better idea of what you are getting.
 
Marbles90 said:
I said the same thing. Especially with Gaffney being a 3*. I looked back at all the 3* recruits we had brought in over the years - honestly we didn't have many and there very few who contributed.
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For the umpteenth time, Gaffney is not a 3 star. He's a 4 star on ESPN and 247. The only reason his composite is 3* is that he's not been evaluated properly on Rivals for whatever reason.
 
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NJHoops said:
Gaffney is a 3/4 Star guy, Bouknight a 4. No one can predict the future of these guys for sure, but what you have to like is this: the staff identified them as guys they wanted, and then did. Three official visits, two verbals.

You can’t assume that they’ll outplay their rankings or that they’re currently underrated, but I love that they obviously fit the vision the staff has and that they got them.
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YOU can listen to their stories and ... conclude that the upside may not be marked to the market on their quality. Bouknight, particularly, came back so extraordinarily strong after injury. Strength and conditioning at an elite level; and solid developmental coaching. Let's see. This is exciting.
 
I don't care where they are rated on a site.... I trust our coaches with there evaluation than any joe smo...... I believe in this coaching staff and can't wait to see a great product on the court for me to go see :).... Haven't gone to a men's game since the game I drove 2hrs to Tulsa to see kids give up on plays and not care.... Can't wait to see them play hard and be competitive again on the court.... WIN OR LOOSE.... I am there :)
 
fleudslipcon said:
We are arguing against their position for two reasons. The first is that some of us have observed these players and, in our estimation, project them as better than their rankings. That is fairly objective but has not always been born out with regards to past recruits. There isn't a poster in this forum that I can argue has been regularly accurate in their projection of players. The second is we want to feel good. We are not just debating different viewpoints. We are arguing against dissent and I suspect it not only has to do with different perspectives but we are trying to convince ourselves things are positive. Negativity has a greater impact on us after the past two to three years.
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The third reason is that we are comparing these kids to what we likely would have had if KO were still our coach.
 
Some of you are being transparently contrarian.

Others are hopelessly blind to how college basketball works, outside of a very narrow and limited understanding of the UConn program.

I see a lot of people commenting in this thread that don’t usually follow recruiting and, frankly, you are out of your depth in this conversation.
 
fleudslipcon said:
We are arguing against dissent
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No, we are arguing against stupidity. Specifically against those that think we would still have a program worth salvaging if KO got another year.
 
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