UCONN Players you thought would be Real Good BUT.............

[CTBasketball]

Mike Hayes? What did you expect out of Mike Hayes?

Better than what he actually gave us.

 

[TheChamps990411]

"Saunders was lazy and just had a piss-poor attitude."

It was from all that weed he smoked living in waterbury. i know because i hung out with him lol!

 

[zyron]

Michael Leblanc

I actually had a honors English class with him freshman year in the white Honors house (No idea if it is still there). Was a friendly guy but that class was a nightmare.

 

[PomonaHusky]

I know he helped give us a championship.
I know he gave up his offensive role for the beterment of the team.
But, after his Sophomore year, I thought for sure Rickity Moore would be a superstar...
He's still one of my favorite players.

 

[UConn2SF]

thought marcus johnson was going to be special after his mini scoring outburst early in his freshman year, so good infact that he would eventually be lottery pick after sophomore/junior year. to this day, the best pure athlete uconn basketball has ever had

 

[Excalibur]

marcus johnson . . . . to this day, the best pure athlete uconn basketball has ever had

I'd put him behind Scott Burrell in that regard. A distant second, in fact.

 

[mauconnfan]

Good call. Clay used to shoot it from behind his head. I always thought he would be good too.

I was thinking of Clay Johnson but I hadn't seen him in HS and when I finally did just didn't feel he was that good although had some very good moments in the Husky uni.........

How about Jim "Disco" Sullivan from Don Bosco in Boston.....came in after averaging about 28-30 a game in HS some decent accolades.......always rooted for the kid but didn't pan out to be all that much!

And one I forgot....Vern Giscombe, thought he was going to be a jewel out of Cardinal Hayes in the Bronx.......Perno never used him right!!

 

[Sully]

Biggest problem with Ajou is that we burned bridges for his brother.

Although on second thought, Luol only played one year and we won the title. No harm done.

The 99 team openly admitted Ajou was the best player on the roster..... Ajou got hurt, was rushed back , got hurt again. Then the relationship soured. It was all downhill from there.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

I never thought Hazelton was that great in high school - he was what I thought he'd be. I was much more disappointed in seeing UConn lose out on Turner and Randell Jackson than I was happy to see UConn land Hazelton. Both of those cats were orbits better than Hazelton in high school - Scott's feet are not the difference there.

Ajou Deng is the gold standard for UConn flops, but taking him out of it, I'd probably list Marcus Johnson, Doug Wrenn and Edmund Saunders as the biggest disappointments. Circumstance probably prevented guys like Rudy or Charlie from being all they could have been, but Wrenn, Johnson and Saunders had every chance.

Wrenn was so talented, but a pure lunatic. Saunders was lazy and just had a piss-poor attitude. Johnson was just a great athlete who wasn't very good at basketball.

Good call on the entire post. Doug Wrenn #1. What a mess!

 

[Danzz]

As long as we've gotten into what people looked like in high school, does anyone want to start a "players from Connecticut high schools who turned out to be studs at other colleges even though we didn't recruit them and why the hell not" thread?

I nominate Vin Baker and John Pinone. Anyone else?

(I'm sure we probably recruited John Pinone, but I'm not actually hoping for serious responses to this)

We recruited Pinone and many thought we had him.

 

[Deepster]

I guess it all depends on what your definition of Real Good is.

Rash Jones was on the floor in the final seconds of our first National Title with the game on the line.

That's "real good" enough for me. He does not belong in this discussion.

 

[Waquoit]

Good job with Brian Buckelew. I always remember and chuckle to myself in regards to Buckelew and the Arnold Dean show.

He had a great quote in the paper. He said his (shooting) range was "23 feet and in".

 

[Calhoun's Court]

I was thinking of Clay Johnson but I hadn't seen him in HS and when I finally did just didn't feel he was that good although had some very good moments in the Husky uni.........

How about Jim "Disco" Sullivan from Don Bosco in Boston.....came in after averaging about 28-30 a game in HS some decent accolades.......always rooted for the kid but didn't pan out to be all that much!

And one I forgot....Vern Giscombe, thought he was going to be a jewel out of Cardinal Hayes in the Bronx.......Perno never used him right!!

Yeah Jimmy Sullivan was always a mystery to me. I heard he averaged 30 and thought we were getting a scorer.

Spot on with Vern. He should have played more.

I always liked Terry Coffey too. Thought he should have played more.

 

[Calhoun's Court]

We recruited Pinone and many thought we had him.

Not only Pinone we should of had Harold Pressley too.

Wish we could have gotten in on Rod Foster too.

 

[CL82]

Chuck Aleksinas is in the top 5
but imho the biggest flop was Ajou Deng.

Ater also is probably top 5.

I had forgotten about Chuck but then again I guess that's the point isn't it?

 

[CL82]

Aleksinas, Rudy, Albert, Rash and Denham have no right in this thread..............

Al Lewis, Larry Blucher, Norm Bailey, Cup Cormier, Ajou Deng, Sam Funches, Marte Smith, Michael Leblanc are some

Al Lewis was a student favorite though.

 

[CL82]

N*** M****...ugh

That's like the snake face guy in Harry Potter...NEVER say the name. Right now the NCAA is looking to see if it can work your post into a violation, well right now they are busy ignoring violations at UNC but soon they'll be looking at your post. Count on it.

 

[CL82]

I know he helped give us a championship.
I know he gave up his offensive role for the beterment of the team.
But, after his Sophomore year, I thought for sure Rickity Moore would be a superstar...
He's still one of my favorite players.

Your right. Single handedly carry us in the first half of 1999 NC game and shutting Langdon on the last two possessions giving us our first NC. Is that all you got Ricky? PSSHT!

 

[hasheemthedream]

Ace Watanasuparp

5'6" 150 LBS out of Queens, NY.....Was expecting Mugsy Bogues like athleticism out of this guy but he never really came to form in a Uconn uniform.

 

[ktuck911]

Does Oliver Macklin count?

 

[freescooter]

Drummond has to go on the list if you are talking about just time at UConn. He came in as th e#2 recruit in the nation and never came close to living up to expectations last year. Rudy Gay is another one. He had a tendency to disappear for long periods...his numbers and such were much more impressive than his actual play...Deng of course makes everyone'slist...hell he was in SI as the next big thing before he ever played a game.

 

[gampelcrazies]

Drummond has to go on the list if you are talking about just time at UConn. He came in as th e#2 recruit in the nation and never came close to living up to expectations last year. Rudy Gay is another one. He had a tendency to disappear for long periods...his numbers and such were much more impressive than his actual play...Deng of course makes everyone'slist...hell he was in SI as the next big thing before he ever played a game.

Exactly what i was going to say. Drummond was a dissaponetment he was supposed to be great but ended up being a decent player

 

[metsfan2323]

I thought Murray Williams was going to be a big time player but he never developed. He and Steve Piekell were wrecked by injuries.

There was another guy who transferred to Richmond, Flemming, he looked like he would be a great three point shooter for us.

 

[dtrumpet]

This is maybe a bad suggestion, because his stats are mostly good, but I thought Earl Kelley should have been better, at least in terms of making the team better. Every season of his the team was under .50o overall and his senior year was especially disappointing.

 

[len0322]

This would be my starting rotation. I took out players with injuries:

PG-Dougie Wiggins (Disaster both on/off court)
SG-Mike Leblanc (really a SF, but he deserves to be on this team)
SF-Scott Hazelton (Tranferred to URI and struglled cracking top 10)
PF-Ater Majok (Waited a long time for him, why did the lakers draft him?)
C-Soulemane Wane (looked intimidating, thought he was going to be our first true '5')

Bench
G- Gilad Katz (I thought Nadav 2.0, couldn't crack backcourt rotation)
G-Nates Miles (doesn't deserve a comment)
C- Marc Suhr (Import from Germany, no skills for a 7'1 on a team that needed size)
F- Ajou Deng (Atleast he has some success at Fairfield)
F-Ben Eaves (URI should have learned from Hazelton)