The View From Section 241 -- Jim Mora

[Chin Diesel]

I can't really argue most of these points. What I would suggest is undersold in this view, is just how legitimate Jim Mora is. Our program has been a laughingstock. We had a crazy young coach who made up trophies and nonsense phrases. Who wouldn't return punts. Who punted from inside the 40 when behind. Then we got the great retread, and like those retread truck tires you see on the side of I-95, the wheels came off. It's not just this Jim Mora, it's the other Jim Mora, his father. The same way Hurley caries a sense of legitimacy from his dad and brother, Mora has that as well.

The second point, and I don't expect @businesslawyer or many of us old farts to get it, is that you're undervaluing social media. High School football players, like all high school kids (and college kids) now, don't watch TV. They live on YouTube, Tik Tok, Instagram. So what was one of the first things Mora managed? Bringing in the D'Amelios. They were already UConn fans, but he recognized it for the staggering asset it is. Charli has 107 million followers on Tik Tok. Dixie 48 million. How many are high school football players? A lot. YouTube and Tik Tok crush network TV in viewership. It matters more than you think that he gets it and knows how important it is.

C

This in spades.

I don't know if they are paying the D'Amelios, but if they aren't, and it is organic, incredible. I would think we should know the power of social media by 2021.

Non social media people like to complain about it, but influencers kill. Example. You would think in MY OWN FAMILY I would know more about UConn than my 15 year old daughter.

Last week, got a text from her while se was at school. She said that Bueckers was out with an injury on UConn WB Instagram. She didn't go to her email, didn't go to The Boneyard, didn't go the NH Register or Hartford Courant or UConn Daily. She got it from UConn Instagram.

Information travels like lightning on these platforms. You have to embrace it. She gets her celtics highlights on youtube.

Secondly, on an awful example, there was a rumor of a student having a hit list at Farmington high school. It was all over Snapchat and IG in about 2 hours. By 11 p.m. kids were already saying they were staying home from school, who the kid was, and they had already processed it. By the time FHS got the message out about what really happened or didn't, the entire episode had been talked about, processed and reacted to by the student population. Then it got on facebook and the Karen's came out accusing the schools of acting irresponsibly and not communicating/putting under the rug....

The school never had a chance using it's archaic email reach out. Are you kidding me? God forbid they went to a newspaper and tried to set the record straight. No one reads newspapers anymore anyway.
This happened over night. They didn't even get a chance to call the police before it was everywhere.

So, I did a scientific experiment with sample size of one with my HS senior daughter. I asked her if she knew of Charlie or Dixie and she was like "yeah, Charlie's like the most famous tik tokker out there." I said something about their dad, and she said "Marc? Yeah, they use him sometimes too".


Conclusion? I am too old for this stuff but I am glad UConn is getting a message out there.

 

[DoctorWho85]

I personally don't think UConn will ever make the playoffs unless the expand to 16 or beyond. Mora's level of success for the first few years will be measured in competitiveness on the field and player retention. That being said, if the Oline can give the QB some protection (whether it be Steven Krajewski or Tyler Phommachanh) next year, I fully believe we can make a bowl game. The pieces are there on offense. We saw it against Vandy, Wyoming and flashes elsewhere. And the defense fed off the offense when they were moving the ball.

 

[huskysupporter]

I mentioned in one of the other threads - Coach Mora has to win 5-6 games next year (on paper it is possible looking at some of the teams on schedule). If he doesn’t the buzz is gone.

With that said I have no doubt Coach Mora realizes this and will go hard in the transfer portal for players that can help immediately. The biggest question is, can he reel in some nice players from the portal? This has not been answered yet.

 

[ZooCougar]

So, I did a scientific experiment with sample size of one with my HS senior daughter. I asked her if she knew of Charlie or Dixie and she was like "yeah, Charlie's like the most famous tik tokker out there." I said something about their dad, and she said "Marc? Yeah, they use him sometimes too".


Conclusion? I am too old for this stuff but I am glad UConn is getting a message out there.

This. Times a million.

 

[HuskyHawk]

C

This in spades.

I don't know if they are paying the D'Amelios, but if they aren't, and it is organic, incredible. I would think we should know the power of social media by 2021.

Non social media people like to complain about it, but influencers kill. Example. You would think in MY OWN FAMILY I would know more about UConn than my 15 year old daughter.

Last week, got a text from her while se was at school. She said that Bueckers was out with an injury on UConn WB Instagram. She didn't go to her email, didn't go to The Boneyard, didn't go the NH Register or Hartford Courant or UConn Daily. She got it from UConn Instagram.

Information travels like lightning on these platforms. You have to embrace it. She gets her celtics highlights on youtube.

Secondly, on an awful example, there was a rumor of a student having a hit list at Farmington high school. It was all over Snapchat and IG in about 2 hours. By 11 p.m. kids were already saying they were staying home from school, who the kid was, and they had already processed it. By the time FHS got the message out about what really happened or didn't, the entire episode had been talked about, processed and reacted to by the student population. Then it got on facebook and the Karen's came out accusing the schools of acting irresponsibly and not communicating/putting under the rug....

The school never had a chance using it's archaic email reach out. Are you kidding me? God forbid they went to a newspaper and tried to set the record straight. No one reads newspapers anymore anyway.
This happened over night. They didn't even get a chance to call the police before it was everywhere.

So, I did a scientific experiment with sample size of one with my HS senior daughter. I asked her if she knew of Charlie or Dixie and she was like "yeah, Charlie's like the most famous tik tokker out there." I said something about their dad, and she said "Marc? Yeah, they use him sometimes too".


Conclusion? I am too old for this stuff but I am glad UConn is getting a message out there.

Talking to my daughter last night and mentioned that UConn football had a new coach and has connected with the #1 Tik Tok person who lives in Connecticut, and she reacted "Charli D'Amelio!" Of course she knows all about them and their show on Hulu etc. We were watching some version of Jeopardy with Twitch streamers as competitors, called Mogul Money. Contestants were staggeringly stupid, and my daughter said these weren't even the worst of them. We talked about news and she said her whole generation just goes to online platforms for news and commentary shows. No news sites, no cable news, nothing.

I'm just glad Mora seems to get it, despite his age. NIL is only going to enhance this. We have talked about it, but I'm not sure how much it is likely going to matter that the school embraces it. Paige really helps UConn right now. Maybe Sool and Hawk are video gamers and start a Twitch stream, who knows? Football is leading the way on NIL and UConn football needs to get in on it. Measuring The First 100 Days Of Name, Image and Likeness

 

[ZooCougar]

Talking to my daughter last night and mentioned that UConn football had a new coach and has connected with the #1 Tik Tok person who lives in Connecticut, and she reacted "Charli D'Amelio!" Of course she knows all about them and their show on Hulu etc. We were watching some version of Jeopardy with Twitch streamers as competitors, called Mogul Money. Contestants were staggeringly stupid, and my daughter said these weren't even the worst of them. We talked about news and she said her whole generation just goes to online platforms for news and commentary shows. No news sites, no cable news, nothing.

I'm just glad Mora seems to get it, despite his age. NIL is only going to enhance this. We have talked about it, but I'm not sure how much it is likely going to matter that the school embraces it. Paige really helps UConn right now. Maybe Sool and Hawk are video gamers and start a Twitch stream, who knows? Football is leading the way on NIL and UConn football needs to get in on it. Measuring The First 100 Days Of Name, Image and Likeness

I bet this is part of the whole creative director gig.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

I also disagree that hiring him wasn't the right move at the time. Reasonable minds differed at the time and the results speaks for themselves, but I imagine that if we had hired a no name and ended up where we are more people might be blaming it on the program than they are Edsall. Not sure why, but I think that is the case. Edsall appears to have come with a free replay. We'll see if he left Mora any talent.

I think there were plenty of people that knew he wasn't the right hire based solely on his history. He left us at the airport in a sneaky way. The man that spoke of discipline cowardly left the team in another state and went to MD. That alone was a major character flaw that he showed on the way out. He then failed at MD. So his recent history is cowardice and failure. I didn't want him back based on how he left. As far as I and many others were concerned, that bridge was burned. In my life, only my father was allowed to lead via the "do as I say, not as I do" mantra. Randy shouldn't have gotten that pass.
That $1M may have been below the AAC market value, but considering his options for making that kind of money were extremely limited, he did pretty well for himself. Got his kid's foot in the door as well. I would gladly take just a million a year.

 

[uconnfan68]

I think there were plenty of people that knew he wasn't the right hire based solely on his history. He left us at the airport in a sneaky way. The man that spoke of discipline cowardly left the team in another state and went to MD. That alone was a major character flaw that he showed on the way out. He then failed at MD. So his recent history is cowardice and failure. I didn't want him back based on how he left. As far as I and many others were concerned, that bridge was burned. In my life, only my father was allowed to lead via the "do as I say, not as I do" mantra. Randy shouldn't have gotten that pass.
That $1M may have been below the AAC market value, but considering his options for making that kind of money were extremely limited, he did pretty well for himself. Got his kid's foot in the door as well. I would gladly take just a million a year.

We really had limited options. I was hopeful he changed. He did... he got worse.

 

[freescooter]

I with the curmudgeon's Palantine. Win freaking games. No more we have a high APR, we have great kids at turkey drives, we have great culture and teamwork. Those are important, but secondary to winning games. Win games. 8-4 with great kids is better than 10-2 with a police blotter squad that embarrasses.

But, 1-11 isn't making anyone smile.

Also, Great breakdown BL. I was more shocked by the hire. Not that DB made it, but that Mora wanted it. They, literally, got a guy they have no right getting IMO. IF he wins here, does Mora jump to a big-time P5 role? Maybe. I don't know. He's also 60, doesn't need the money, and maybe he is crazy enough to continue this Don Quixote style quest.

If Liberty, Costal Carolina, Boise State, ULM, Northern Illinois can be good, why can't UConn? Fair question.

Just a thought,

Everyone's been so focused on what UConn can't do -- No p5 invite, can't get into CFP, can't sell stadium, it isn't the South. A non-football person told me once -- "What are we doing with FB? What's the point? You can't win a national title here."

No one has looked what they can do -- Pump out more NFL players than their profile says they should, schedule mid-P5 home and home.

Mora doesn't have the toxicity and negativity of someone associated with the football program. Amazing what that can do. I think, and this goes for people at UConn that are in and around athletics, that fans have come to resent the program. Randy coming back in did the opposite of what DB wanted - it gave people a chance to yell and bury Edsall and the football program. That was a strategic error.

The resources, the attention it gets, and the money it uses. They wanted it to fail, reflexively, because basketball was so desperately hurt by the AAC, quite unexpectedly TBH. I thought UConn's brand and nability was big enough after all the titles. It wasn't. Big East needs UConn, UConn needs Big East.

While football lives, there is always a chance that football drives the bus and the Huskies are out of the Big East. Unfathomable now. But in 5 years? In 10 years? If all you care about is basketball, then football is a threat. Right now, it isn't a big one. But what happens if the Huskies get decent?

Good for the AD department and university? Yes. Is it good for the basketball programs? Not so clear. That tension is going to be there, always.

John
This is a really interesting analysis. I don’t buy the basketball was hurt by tha AAC thing though. That is too trite. It was hurt by a dreadful coach, one who lost to Wagner and Northeastern in back to back weeks. That level of ineptitude, heck, we wouldn’t expect to lose to them in back to back decades. Had we been a Cincinatt, chugged along making the tournament in 2015, 16, 17, 18, we’d have been fine. Same with football really. Diaco followed up the 6-6 season with a 7-5 and 8-4 we are good. None of that happened, so it was the AAC that caused it.

I also get that we aren’t likely to win a title in football, but here’s a little secret, neither is Wake Forest or Vanderbilt or Iowa State, or Illinois or pretty much anyone in the PAC or B12. Could we get a shot? Maybe. If we were to go unbeaten next year, winning at UtahState, Michigan and NC State? We’d sure be in the conversation. But we don’t need to do that to be relevant and fun. Play interesting games, win most of them, win maybe 1 payday game every 4 years, go bowling and we are good. I think Mora can get us on that kind of track. If the UConn basketball only crew starts trying to undercut him, we will know he is succeeding.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I also agree that the conference we called home at that time was a convenient excuse for the men's program falling. Quality leadership from the head coach could have kept us at a high level. The excuses reminded me of the early-mid 1980's when there were comments that we could never compete in the Bug East.

I also understood (but was not happy with) the return to the BE as the new AAC tv contract would have crippled us financially. I will also admit that the schedules DB put together are immensely superior to anything that I could have anticipated. At the time of the BE return I assumed we were destined to live in the bottom 20% of FBS. While we haven't shown it on the field, once I started seeing who our opponents would be I was convinced we could return to where we were during the end of RE's first run.

 

[pepband99]

So you have us as the best positioned to succeed 1-11 team ever basically. Look, from your mouth to God’s ear. I hope your right. But as I’ve seen said, the race doesn’t always go to the swiftest, but that’s still

Put it this way - who would you rather be right now - UConn Football or BCU basketball? I know which one i would pick.

We control our own destiny.

 

[Waquoit]

I also agree that the conference we called home at that time was a convenient excuse for the men's program falling.

You are both wrong. It was killing the women's team, too.

 

[JohnFSilver]

I also agree that the conference we called home at that time was a convenient excuse for the men's program falling. Quality leadership from the head coach could have kept us at a high level. The excuses reminded me of the early-mid 1980's when there were comments that we could never compete in the Bug East.

I also understood (but was not happy with) the return to the BE as the new AAC tv contract would have crippled us financially. I will also admit that the schedules DB put together are immensely superior to anything that I could have anticipated. At the time of the BE return I assumed we were destined to live in the bottom 20% of FBS. While we haven't shown it on the field, once I started seeing who our opponents would be I was convinced we could return to where we were during the end of RE's first run.

It's funny, but the "basketball people" at UConn (not just admins, but boosters, other administrators and hanger ons kind of took out the failures under Ollie in the AAC on football. I was of the voice, can't they just win in the AAC? And the retort was can't recruit. If Diaco went 705, 6-6 and the team was .500 in the AAC over the last five yers, would they have left to the Big East and Indy?

Probably not. That's why there is/was/still a movement to kill football. That isn't media people inventing it. It took AD and even Gov. Lamont, who is defacto head of the BoT to nix that talk.

Edit: take a poll of all the boards: Big East and no football or AAC and football team lives. What do you choose? Basketball people would take the hoops kill football path (and I think they would take that and not blink). I think Benedict has done a splendid job positioning the FB program right now. It's going to be hard. But they have a schedule and a coach and a commitment. Now it is time to win games and execute on field...sell tickets fill up stadium in marketing and sales off the field.

Edit II: And i am not belittling basketball people. That's the powerhouse of the program and the Unviersity owes a ton to those programs. That is is UConn's brand, as a basketball school. UConn isn't a catholic university though. So, it's always been a struggle since I am of the opinion that flagship State Universities should play major football.

 

[Pudge]

You are both wrong. It was killing the women's team, too.

That's the POINT. We - University of Connecticut AD - have an identity. The fanbase enthusiasm was dead for the teams in the AAC (with the exception of Baseball). We were swirling around the bowl. Sure the HC. Sure football was inept. But it all combined to a point that the buzz we count on as a community of fans was dreadful.

Just better games. WBB and MBB playing games we care about. Rise in Hockey etc. The Football comes in on a wave of good feeling and Mora has the opportunity/responsibility of a restart.

 

[UConnJim]

It's funny, but the "basketball people" at UConn (not just admins, but boosters, other administrators and hanger ons kind of took out the failures under Ollie in the AAC on football. I was of the voice, can't they just win in the AAC? And the retort was can't recruit. If Diaco went 705, 6-6 and the team was .500 in the AAC over the last five yers, would they have left to the Big East and Indy?

Probably not. That's why there is/was/still a movement to kill football. That isn't media people inventing it. It took AD and even Gov. Lamont, who is defacto head of the BoT to nix that talk.

Edit: take a poll of all the boards: Big East and no football or AAC and football team lives. What do you choose? Basketball people would take the hoops kill football path (and I think they would take that and not blink). I think Benedict has done a splendid job positioning the FB program right now. It's going to be hard. But they have a schedule and a coach and a commitment. Now it is time to win games and execute on field...sell tickets fill up stadium in marketing and sales off the field.

Edit II: And i am not belittling basketball people. That's the powerhouse of the program and the Unviersity owes a ton to those programs. That is is UConn's brand, as a basketball school. UConn isn't a catholic university though. So, it's always been a struggle since I am of the opinion that flagship State Universities should play major football.

Yes, we do have to blame the decline of the men's basketball program on Ollie, but the AAC was a bad fit for basketball and the next coach after Ollie would have struggled to turnaround the program in the AAC. Sure, a good coach could have gotten basketball to some 20 win seasons, but it would have been tough to attract recruits from the Northeast to UConn and try to make deep NCAA basketball runs. And, if the AAC was a bad fit before, imagine playing in the AAC without Cincinnati, UCF, and Houston. Look at what joining the ACC has done for basketball at Pitt, Syracuse, and Boston College as all three programs have lost their relevance.

I believe leaving the AAC for the Big East and Independence in football will not only prove to be a competitive benefit for all programs, but it will be a financial benefit for UConn through better schedules, more athletic support, higher ticket sales,...

Now, if Jim Mora can get us to 4 wins next year......

 

[HuskyDogArt]

I with the curmudgeon's Palantine. Win freaking games. No more we have a high APR, we have great kids at turkey drives, we have great culture and teamwork. Those are important, but secondary to winning games. Win games. 8-4 with great kids is better than 10-2 with a police blotter squad that embarrasses.

But, 1-11 isn't making anyone smile.

Also, Great breakdown BL. I was more shocked by the hire. Not that DB made it, but that Mora wanted it. They, literally, got a guy they have no right getting IMO. IF he wins here, does Mora jump to a big-time P5 role? Maybe. I don't know. He's also 60, doesn't need the money, and maybe he is crazy enough to continue this Don Quixote style quest.

If Liberty, Costal Carolina, Boise State, ULM, Northern Illinois can be good, why can't UConn? Fair question.

Just a thought,

Everyone's been so focused on what UConn can't do -- No p5 invite, can't get into CFP, can't sell stadium, it isn't the South. A non-football person told me once -- "What are we doing with FB? What's the point? You can't win a national title here."

No one has looked what they can do -- Pump out more NFL players than their profile says they should, schedule mid-P5 home and home.

Mora doesn't have the toxicity and negativity of someone associated with the football program. Amazing what that can do. I think, and this goes for people at UConn that are in and around athletics, that fans have come to resent the program. Randy coming back in did the opposite of what DB wanted - it gave people a chance to yell and bury Edsall and the football program. That was a strategic error.

The resources, the attention it gets, and the money it uses. They wanted it to fail, reflexively, because basketball was so desperately hurt by the AAC, quite unexpectedly TBH. I thought UConn's brand and ability was big enough after all the titles. It wasn't. Big East needs UConn, UConn needs Big East.

While football lives, there is always a chance that football drives the bus and the Huskies are out of the Big East. Unfathomable now. But in 5 years? In 10 years? If all you care about is basketball, then football is a threat. Right now, it isn't a big one. But what happens if the Huskies get decent?

Good for the AD department and university? Yes. Is it good for the basketball programs? Not so clear. That tension is going to be there, always.

I have to say Wow!! I don't think football would be a threat to basketball or hockey or soccer, I think it might help. UConn is known as a basketball school, but now with the Jim Mora hire, people are saying UConn is going all in on Football and they are serious about it.

Jim Mora been at the basketball games and I'm not sure if he been to any hockey games yet, but I don't think football is a threat.

 

[Waquoit]

Just to remember, FB was sold as Big-Time FB. And the public bought in, the lower bowl bench seat season tickets sold out over night. Once it turned to AAC small-time football, the enthusiasm waned. The FB onlies on the Yard still wish we were there.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

You are both wrong. It was killing the women's team, too.

I'm curious, was it membership in the Big East's that caused the downturn in the women's program during the stretch from when Diana graduated until Maya arrived?

The most damage that AAC membership did to the women's program (this extended through the entirety of the athletic department and school) was when the new agreement with ESPN took tier three rights from the women's hoops program (and the conference basically bragged about the new contract when it was little more than distributing this revenue stream throughout the conference).

There are few things easier than looking for something to blame failure on. It provides a means to deflect blame and allows those with limited vision to avoid looking for a way to succeed.

 

[CL82]

take a poll of all the boards: Big East and no football or AAC and football team lives. What do you choose?

Those seem like random false choices. Clearly, all sports can be in the Big East, except for Hocky, and we can still have a football program. Likewise, it’s not like the football program was killing it in the American conference. In fact, in the near term, independence may end up being helpful part of resuscitating football.

I think when you lay that out like a dichotomy, 1) the poll does nor produce useful information, and 2) it perpetuates the narrative that basketball success and football success are not compatible. That just isn’t true.

JMO

 

[ZooCougar]

AAC hoop was just a scapegoat. Ollie lost his mind.

Even still, Big East basketball is far better. And going independent in football gives us some opportunities that we wouldn't otherwise get.

 

[ZooCougar]

Those seem like random false choices. Clearly, all sports can be in the Big East, except for Hocky, and we can still have a football program. Likewise, it’s not like the football program was killing it in the American conference. In fact, in the near term, independence may end up being helpful part of resuscitating football.

I think when you lay that out like a dichotomy, 1) the poll does nor produce useful information, and 2) it perpetuates the narrative that basketball success and football success are not compatible. That just isn’t true.

JMO

Being independent allows us to schedule more opponents that are closer to home. We play sexier opponents. We are on TV more. We are more insulated from the volatility of conference membership.

 

[HuskyHawk]

AAC hoop was just a scapegoat. Ollie lost his mind.

Even still, Big East basketball is far better. And going independent in football gives us some opportunities that we wouldn't otherwise get.

Mostly agree. I think the overly parochial UConn fans also struggled to embrace even good AAC teams as opponents. So it did hurt the fanbase, even it that was the fault of the fans (plus some uninspiring Ollie teams). Big East helps, because the energy is back with the staff and the fans. The biggest reason the AAC wasn't a better basketball conference is because UConn let it down.

As for football, I think UConn and DB in particular took a calculated risk. I have no doubt that Dave checked with many other ADs before we made the move to see if we could get games as an independent. It relies on our brand recognition, which is higher than schools like UMass, if probably below BYU. Basketball being good again helps the football team schedule. It was a smart gamble. Now if Mora can actually make it a winning program, scheduling will improve further. Given the AAC implosion there isn't any doubt that our schedule can be better as an indy than in that league. Given our timeline, it also seems clear that we would not have been invited to the Big XII.

 

[Waquoit]

There are few things easier than looking for something to blame failure on. It provides a means to deflect blame and allows those with limited vision to avoid looking for a way to succeed.

The AAC took it's toll, grinded them down. I'm sure Geno loved having to go international to get a decent recruit for the last few years there. Some place where the word hadn't gone out. Look at the gaps in the recruiting classes, he lost his touch? If so, it came back the split second the Big East was back.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

The AAC took it's toll, grinded them down. I'm sure Geno loved having to go international to get a decent recruit for the last few years there. Some place where the word hadn't gone out. Look at the gaps in the recruiting classes, he lost his touch? If so, it came back the split second the Big East was back.

View attachment 71839

I'll disregard the first three seasons in the AAC as they had Stewie and lost one game in the three seasons combined.

The following three years:
2016-2017 Final four, lost in OT on a buzzer beater.
2017-2018 Final four, lost in OT on a buzzer beater.
2018-2019 Final four, had a 9 or lead with 7 1/2 left in the game, down 1 with a minute left, lost by 5.

If that is getting ground down, every coach in every sport in the country would sign up for that in a heartbeat.

Go ahead, alter the facts to fit your agenda all you want.

 

[freescooter]

You are both wrong. It was killing the women's team, too.

Now that is 10 pounds of crap in a 3 pound bag. You are talking about the team that won the national championships in its first 3 years in the league, right? And went to the Final Four every year? That women’s team? Some of you post stuff that is incredible. What has hurt the Womens team is that a handful of other programs have decided it is worth investing in the sport so now there are actually 4 or 5 teams at the top as opposed to maybe 1-2 in years past. And in five years there will likely be 8-10. And guess what? Only 1 will be from the Big East.

As for mens recruiting, that’s another canard. Restricting our recruiting to the northeast weakens the program not strengthens it. Our great teams had guys from across the nation, and the best guys, the stars, were from LA, or Texas, or Israel or Minneapolis, or South Carolina or Detroit or Utah Or Washington State. We had New Yorkers or Boston guys too, and guys from Pennsylvania of course, but UConn under Calhoun was a truly national program. If there was a potentially great player Calhoun wanted him. Hurley only wants to recruit in driving distance of Storrs. That’s fine, but ultimately it will limit this program to Seton Hall level.

It is the same outlook that thinks Mora should fill the team with Connecticut high school kids. To be a national program you need to recruit nationally. In basketball it is internationally.