Traci Carter (Committed to Marquette)

[CTBasketball]

That's your take. These kids live on Twitter and that's where they're seeing this. If you saw the nonstop tweets for mack from the vcu fans, you'd think they have a bigger base than us

If Ollie can't out-recruit fans on Twitter, then we have a real problem.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Herbst and Warde are involved during the official visit.

You think adams taking away playing time is scaring players off who want to play right away?

 

[tzznandrew]

If Ollie can't out-recruit fans on Twitter, then we have a real problem.

Seriously...there are clearly problems with recruiting right now. This is not one of them.

 

[tcf15]

You think adams taking away playing time is scaring players off who want to play right away?

No clue. But the staff clearly wants another point guard on the team next year, and they need to find a way to get him on campus and if that was one of his concerns, convince him otherwise. I don't understand how Marquette and UConn go after Traci Carter at the same time, and UConn loses out without even getting a visit.

 

[BFieldHusky]

Not sure, but reading some stuff this morning, I think Carter liked the fact that there are no other true PGs on the roster for Marquette. Still no excuse why we couldn't get him on campus at least.

 

[imno1]

It may not be all doom and gloom and Carter might not be a must get but if we can't even get a visit from him that is troubling. It's not that far of a trip especially with a decision that important. Now maybe the staff isn't all that high on him and didn't put in a great effort. Which is possible. I'm taking a wait and see approach on recruiting until 2016. If it is not a great recruiting class I will join the doomsday brigade and declare us officially mid major status. And I know our conference sucks but can't we at least dominate it while we're here.

 

[husky91]

Whereas UK can recruit 2-3 of everything and no kid gets scared off, and their competition isn't exactly T Sam, Facey or Sam Jr.

Not sure, but reading some stuff this morning, I think Carter liked the fact that there are no other true PGs on the roster for Marquette. Still no excuse why we couldn't get him on campus at least.

 

[Shabazzkets]

All of the recruiting problems, to the extent you believe they exist, can be traced right back to the AAC. That's it. It's the worst conference in the country, IMO, because of the travel pressures without the corresponding prestige. We always had crappy games, but those were balanced out by the local rivalries we played. Now we travel halfway across the country to play in front of often empty stands (Houston), and when we come home, none of the fans care as much about playing East Carolina or Tulsa, because we used to play Syracuse, Pitt, GTown, etc.

I don't mean to complain about the conference, because that's been done. But it's not hard to understand why kids don't want to play here when you think about their options. If I didn't already love UConn hoops (and most of these kids don't), I'd rather play in the new Big East than I would in the AAC. Unless you believe Ollie has another NC in him, the choice isn't even that hard.

 

[huskyharry]

Sam Jr. Is not a bad ball handler. He did look slow on offense and defense this year but he was also nursing what's turns out was a pretty nasty stress fracture. The injury also likely contributed to throwin his shot off. Give him a chance when healthy and he might be better than we think.

If he listens to the coaches after he heals and takes the automatic fade out of his jump shot, cleans up his form and takes 1000 or more jumpers per day, he might be the 3 pt. Shooter we need.

Both TSam and RP need to learn to accentuate what works in their game and cut out what doesn't. With work they could both be effective players next year.

That being said, I would really like to see another ball handler added to the squad. Maybe Carter or one of the other two would be the answer or perhaps a fifth year senior transfer or 21 year old Israeli or German.

 

[CallMeBruce]

I'm still holding out hope that the face-puncher transfers.

 

[UConn990411]

Anyone using the AAC as the be-all excuse really doesn't know what he's talking about.

This staff needs major changes, either to its strategy or to its personnel. Maybe to both.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Anyone using the AAC as the be-all excuse really doesn't know what he's talking about.

This staff needs major changes, either to its strategy or to its personnel. Maybe to both.

This. There are plenty of other schools in middling leagues pulling top talent.

 

[Jerry1714]

Anyone using the AAC as the be-all excuse really doesn't know what he's talking about.

This staff needs major changes, either to its strategy or to its personnel. Maybe to both.

Agreed, anyone using the conference as an excuse is ill informed.

The conference is actually having a good recruiting year.

 

[pnow15]

Sam Jr. Is not a bad ball handler. He did look slow on offense and defense this year but he was also nursing what's turns out was a pretty nasty stress fracture. The injury also likely contributed to throwin his shot off. Give him a chance when healthy and he might be better than we think.

If he listens to the coaches after he heals and takes the automatic fade out of his jump shot, cleans up his form and takes 1000 or more jumpers per day, he might be the 3 pt. Shooter we need.

Both TSam and RP need to learn to accentuate what works in their game and cut out what doesn't. With work they could both be effective players next year.

That being said, I would really like to see another ball handler added to the squad. Maybe Carter or one of the other two would be the answer or perhaps a fifth year senior transfer or 21 year old Israeli or German.

 

[Matrim55]

Anyone using the AAC as the be-all excuse really doesn't know what he's talking about.

This staff needs major changes, either to its strategy or to its personnel. Maybe to both.

The two things we needed most for this recruiting class were an A+ point guard and a skilled, long, high-upside big.

So we got Adams & Enoch, and we have a consensus top 20 recruiting class at this point in the cycle for the first time this decade.

Doomed. Fire them all.

 

[pnow15]

Its clear that Ollie hasn't set up a slush fund to lure recruits. Maybe, he needs to meet with Callipari to learn how it is done. But, I thought Brown would have filled him in by now.

 

[Jluc]

If we miss out on all our targets in 2016 then I'll be worried

 

[tzznandrew]

The two things we needed most for this recruiting class were an A+ point guard and a skilled, long, high-upside big.

So we got Adams & Enoch, and we have a consensus top 20 recruiting class at this point in the cycle for the first time this decade.

Doomed. Fire them all.

I love the optimism. But we need other players also. Adams and Enoch are great, and we're all happy we got them. And if Ali were still committed I don't think there'd be this much tension. But we need desperately another ball-handler, and either another big or a back-up wing.

We've struck out everywhere...and not to Kentucky, Duke, UNC, etc. Were that the case, I can live with that. That would mean we missed our primary target. Happens to us (and all schools) all the time. We're missing out on our third and fourth options to schools like VCU and Marquette.

You've convinced me that we really need to wait until the 2016 class to get overly concerned. But we should be able to get our C and D options.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Right, so factually accurate.

Fairly certain you won't find any post from me stating something like that.

I didn't create a list.

Never said everything was rosy. If fact, I said in this thread I think we need to get a high level recruiter on staff if possible. Just not a nitwit who thinks the sky is falling.

Sorry, never thown in a "doomed" before.

But hey, I'm happy to make you the same offer I made to sammy. Since your posts indicate you know everything is going to be a disaster going forward, we can set some reasonable standard of "goodness" for the team next year. Something you know they obviously cannot achieve (like sweet 16 level). If they achieve it, you will never post again. If they don't, I will never post again.

I got a kick out of this. Take yourself more seriously.

 

[Hoophound]

Amazing what a commitment from Brown would do for us psychologically right now. We just need to get another good player so we can breathe.

 

[Matrim55]

I love the optimism. But we need other players also. Adams and Enoch are great, and we're all happy we got them. And if Ali were still committed I don't think there'd be this much tension. But we need desperately another ball-handler, and either another big or a back-up wing.

We've struck out everywhere...and not to Kentucky, Duke, UNC, etc. Were that the case, I can live with that. That would mean we missed our primary target. Happens to us (and all schools) all the time. We're missing out on our third and fourth options to schools like VCU and Marquette.

Yup. If there's one thing our guys clearly suck at, it's getting onto a recruit late and trying to close the deal. We saw it with Perkins last year, and then with a bunch of guys - Mack, Clarke, Carter, to name three - this year. It doesn't seem to matter if we're playing catch-up (as we were for Mack and Perkins) or just getting onto the guy at the same time as the other schools (as we were with Clarke and Carter). We've lost all those guys to schools that collectively shouldn't even dream of being in the same conversation with us.

Hopefully the staff can take a long, hard look and figure that out. Though I honestly believe it'll be less of an issue for the 2016 & 17 targets, which we were able to evaluate and get onto earlier than with the 2014s and 15s.

The Ali thing was a complete ****-up, no arguments from me there. Hopefully it's a lesson well learned.

You've convinced me that we really need to wait until the 2016 class to get overly concerned. But we should be able to get our C and D options.

I guess. But Marquette isn't some scrub team. They're in the Big East, they had a top 10 class already, and they basically offered the kid the starting job. That's got to be a pretty compelling pitch.

 

[CallMeBruce]

And despite getting in late on a bunch of guys, we were widely considered the favorite to land them at one point, and then missed on all of them. I don't see how we can be picked as the favorite for Clarke, Mack, Jones, Stone, and Govan, get none of them, and have some people still saying that recruiting is fine.

 

[Matrim55]

And despite getting in late on a bunch of guys, we were widely considered the favorite to land them at one point, and then missed on all of them. I don't see how we can be picked as the favorite for Clarke, Mack, Jones, Stone, and Govan, get none of them, and have some people still saying that recruiting is fine.

Recruiting is fine. It's not great, but it's getting better every season.

Were you not around for all of Calhoun's misses? We regularly went into April without anything even approaching the class we have now.

 

[tzznandrew]

And despite getting in late on a bunch of guys, we were widely considered the favorite to land them at one point, and then missed on all of them. I don't see how we can be picked as the favorite for Clarke, Mack, Jones, Stone, and Govan, get none of them, and have some people still saying that recruiting is fine.

The fact that some recruiting services called us the "favorite" doesn't particularly play into it, for me. Kids and their handlers put out all sorts of information--sometimes contradictory--to suit their needs and/or egos.

Clarke, Mack, or Jones, though. We should have gotten one of them.

 

[Matrim55]

The fact that some recruiting services called us the "favorite" doesn't particularly play into it, for me. Kids and their handlers put out all sorts of information--sometimes contradictory--to suit their needs and/or egos.

Clarke, Mack, or Jones, though. We should have gotten one of them.

Agree. Seems we just got out-worked for Jones, in particular.

Another harsh lesson, but life is full of those.