Exit 4
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One thing that hasn't been discussed is how big the recruiting class would have been if there was no roster turnover. It appears UConn lost only 5 players who used up their eligibility this year: Thompkins, Peart, Thomas, Brown, and O'Reilly. I think there may have been 5 empty roster spots (I could be off here by 1 or 2), so you were looking at a recruiting class of 10 without roster turnover. A 10 person recruiting class, which includes grad transfers would not be appropriate as we know that UConn needs to improve the roster talent given the performance over the past few years. I would have expected UConn to target a recruiting class plus grad transfers of close to 25 players.
Six 4th year juniors announced their intention to leave on senior day, which would have brought the class size to 16. Thus, it was clear some attrition would happen. I would think a few of the kids leaving were players that UConn did not want to lose, but most were not projected to be starters.
Most of the players leaving are from the class of 2016, Diaco's last class. They have experienced a difficult 4 years on the field and now they are seeing their friends move on. It must be difficult and some players that would have played a significant role in 2020 have decided to move on as well.
If Coyle stays and perhaps Leone then there is far less hullabaloo to talk about here. It becomes a story about clearing a bunch of deck space.

