Uconn ... the real story

[Scottzer]

Some of these NEPSAC kids spent only one year playing high school ball in Connecticut - Spellman, Moyer, Powell. Growing up in Ohio and New Jersey, I'd assume they were like most other kids from there and had no sentimental attraction to UConn. Echoing @Tuna's point, many of the kids who come here for their prep ball are from all over the country. Diallo's old PSA team has players from Brooklyn, Arizona, France, and Louisiana on their roster who are only here for one season.

Heron, as mentioned earlier, had handler issues (possibly i$$ue$) that steered him away from here. Alabama and Mississippi State were in his Top 5 - I don't think even Calhoun would have gotten him interested in UConn.

Waters I am okay with losing given that the staff made a just as good (if not better) choice in MAL. One could also argue that given the amount of talent in the MA/greater Boston area that's exploded onto the scene in recent years, that may be a more important pipeline to maintain than CT natives.

The number of recruits ranked as high as Diallo UConn has ever gotten can be counted on one hand. Drummond, Bynum (but he didn't make it to campus), maybe Donyell or Ray? It took Calhoun 26 years here and he only ended up with those four.

Chukwu's final 2 were Providence and St. Joe's. His host family was pretty set on him going to a private Catholic school, not much we can do there. They also made his host brother getting a walk-on spot a condition of his transfer to Syracuse. Not every school wants to deal with handlers who try to make deals like that. Plus, looking at his on-court performance thus far, he wouldn't have given us anything his freshman year that Brimah or Nolan didn't give. Before he got injured this past year, his rebounding appears decent given the minutes he played, but that comes from beating up against Syracuse's killer non-conference slate of Colgate, Holy Cross, and South Carolina State. It'll be interesting to see how he recovers from the eye issues, but I don't think he can be counted as a huge miss.

Ray was really underrated - around 35. I think Rip was #7. Donyell was #8. Not sure on Khalid or Caron.

 

[RUSS56]

WORTHLESS absolutely worthless post

You could do this with any state or city
Based on the 10 players you cited as 4 + star it looks like KO had a 30% success rate - that I would guess is pretty damn high - I challenge that JC even came close to that
JC was and is one the greatest NCAA coach and he could not keep the best of the state to stay here at UConn - there is a long list
All the coaches at St Johns including Lou (Hall of Fame) should have kept all NYC players in city???

You talk BS about KO "scolding" players - yeah he does it like JC right? A ridiculous accusation
UConn coaching staff is all guards- not completely true but Tell me where are the big men on the Duke coaching bench? I would bet that if there are former players who are coaches at most ant level - 80% were guards

You spent a lot of time spewing little or nothing - do something different

Thanks for the post, and opinion, actually for the record Ollie got 1, Enoch and he is gone, Diarra, and Vitale were both 3 stars, so officially 1-8 for Ollie with 4* plus and that is just the last 3 years, he got none before that, so he is less than 10%.

Nate James ala Kevin Freeman was a 6-6 forward and played inside, coaching big men at Duke. Not sure where I said all? If I am in error, let me apologize and correct myself. Calhoun kept more than he lost, and didn't lose many. Not to disappoint you but he has had many CT NBA players, Ollie none, and none in the house either, cause they are all getting away, which was my point.

 

[RUSS56]

Russ Smith was class of 2010, yet another thing to add to the many things you continue to be wrong about in your own thread. The fact that you haven't been able to figure out that a good deal of these kids that played at CT prep schools aren't from CT make whatever point you are trying to make null and void.

Your correct on Russ Smith, my error

 

[James]

Myles Powell is from jersey... Omari spellman is from OHIO.

 

[RUSS56]

Myles Powell is from jersey... Omari spellman is from OHIO.

They played in CT. Calhoun developed pipelines to these basketball factoires, and HS in CT.

 

[shizzle787]

OMG.

If this has been posted before, ignore it. But today, the world is a smaller place.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

The point that Kevin Ollie is not Jim Calhoun at the height of his powers is not an earth shattering revelation. KO has things to learn as should have been expected and he has gone through a period of time that is the opposite of stable. He is probably in his first job as a supervisor and is a major head coach at that. I am not happy with the way things have gone the last 3 years, but I'm in total agreement about the importance of getting out and supporting the team by attending games.

 

[Deepster]

No truer words ever spoken ....The fish does stink from the head. Rarely does replacing a number 2 fix a fundamental leader problem.

These things have a sequence. In baseball, the hitting coach or pitching coach take the first couple bullets. Then it ends up hitting the coach, then the GM? Ollie is buying time with some of the reshuffle, but these moves just end up squaring the bullseye onto him eventually.

 

[tykurez]

I seem to remember a set of sanctions were in place and limited Ollie's recruiting until the 2015 class. Not sure though - I'm just a casual fan.

 

[CTBasketball]

I seem to remember a set of sanctions were in place and limited Ollie's recruiting until the 2015 class. Not sure though - I'm just a casual fan.

Very true and should be mentioned.

But it doesn't hide his deficiency to coach the game.

 

[Caronimo]

This is why I don't follow Russ Steinberg on twitter. #fakenews

 

[intlzncster]

Some of these NEPSAC kids spent only one year playing high school ball in Connecticut - Spellman, Moyer, Powell. Growing up in Ohio and New Jersey, I'd assume they were like most other kids from there and had no sentimental attraction to UConn. Echoing @Tuna's point, many of the kids who come here for their prep ball are from all over the country. Diallo's old PSA team has players from Brooklyn, Arizona, France, and Louisiana on their roster who are only here for one season.

Heron, as mentioned earlier, had handler issues (possibly i$$ue$) that steered him away from here. Alabama and Mississippi State were in his Top 5 - I don't think even Calhoun would have gotten him interested in UConn.

Waters I am okay with losing given that the staff made a just as good (if not better) choice in MAL. One could also argue that given the amount of talent in the MA/greater Boston area that's exploded onto the scene in recent years, that may be a more important pipeline to maintain than CT natives.

The number of recruits ranked as high as Diallo UConn has ever gotten can be counted on one hand. Drummond, Bynum (but he didn't make it to campus), maybe Donyell or Ray? It took Calhoun 26 years here and he only ended up with those four.

Chukwu's final 2 were Providence and St. Joe's. His host family was pretty set on him going to a private Catholic school, not much we can do there. They also made his host brother getting a walk-on spot a condition of his transfer to Syracuse. Not every school wants to deal with handlers who try to make deals like that. Plus, looking at his on-court performance thus far, he wouldn't have given us anything his freshman year that Brimah or Nolan didn't give. Before he got injured this past year, his rebounding appears decent given the minutes he played, but that comes from beating up against Syracuse's killer non-conference slate of Colgate, Holy Cross, and South Carolina State. It'll be interesting to see how he recovers from the eye issues, but I don't think he can be counted as a huge miss.

Charlie V was another very high rated dude. 2 or 3?

 

[Pudge]

Total BS position.

We need to be thrilled we are UConn fans on this ride. Ollie will be fine. And talking about CT kids that got away is freaking insane. Looking at lots of great kids that have come through.

 

[BY06518]

Ok, I'm not sure why I have to do this, all I tried to do is make a point, and the point is valid. It's fine if you disagree with the point, I accept that, but when you come up with stuff like this, it just doesn't play. Let's review the 5 players you called Calhoun out for not landing:

Isaiah Thomas- Thomas was a very late bloomer, he ranked 187th in the country as a prospect, not the type of guy that got away, because Calhoun didn't recruit that low.

Dorell Wright - This kid never played a game in college, went straight to the NBA.

Maurice Harkless - Ranked 37th, one that truly got away, albeit a 1 and done guy, but a miss for Calhoun.

Russ Smith - He was 2012-13, and it was an Ollie miss, not Calhoun

Ricky ledo - This kid was ineligible his entire freshman year, and never played a game, went right to the NBA.

So to review your 5 players that got away from Calhoun, 1 is true, 4 others are simply false.

Umm Russ Smith's freshman year was 2010-2011 when Calhoun was the coach and he was a 3 star recruit on Rivals. If you are going to give facts don't miss on something as simple when Russ Smith got recruited.

 

[Okafour rings]

WORTHLESS absolutely worthless post

You could do this with any state or city
Based on the 10 players you cited as 4 + star it looks like KO had a 30% success rate - that I would guess is pretty damn high - I challenge that JC even came close to that
JC was and is one the greatest NCAA coach and he could not keep the best of the state to stay here at UConn - there is a long list
All the coaches at St Johns including Lou (Hall of Fame) should have kept all NYC players in city???

You talk BS about KO "scolding" players - yeah he does it like JC right? A ridiculous accusation
UConn coaching staff is all guards- not completely true but Tell me where are the big men on the Duke coaching bench? I would bet that if there are former players who are coaches at most ant level - 80% were guards

You spent a lot of time spewing little or nothing - do something different

You can make your points without using the words 'WORTHLESS' and 'ridiculous' and'BS. Everyone has their opinion and you are welcome to counter it, but it should be done in a civil manner. Your counter arguments have merit, but your attacks take away from your message.

While your valid points made me reconsider what the OP said, I still appreciate that he expressed his well thought out opinion in a way that shows he really cares about UConn. He played and played well for UConn, and his opinion counts as much as yours.

 

[Gwynning]

Do Vin Baker, Marcus Camby or Ryan Gomes count?

 

[intlzncster]

You can make your points without using the words 'WORTHLESS' and 'ridiculous' and'BS. Everyone has their opinion and you are welcome to counter it, but it should be done in a civil manner. Your counter arguments have merit, but your attacks take away from your message.

While your valid points made me reconsider what the OP said, I still appreciate that he expressed his well thought out opinion in a way that shows he really cares about UConn. He played and played well for UConn, and his opinion counts as much as yours.

But the point was, those weren't opinions. Just incorrect statements that were being masqueraded as facts to fit a narrative (opinion). Hence why other posters were annoyed. If you wanted to give an opinion, fine, do it. But back it up with actual facts, or you'll be challenged on it, which is again, fine. But if you back it up with false statements, well, expect to get ripped apart.

 

[AdamaNation]

Agree with everything you said, but wanted to drop a couple more names that somehow slipped through Calhoun's fingers....

Ryan Gomes, Marcus Camby.

Anthony Harris

 

[Danzz]

We had 2 players transfer who didn't like the way they were being used. It is not exactly an indictment on anything, it happens all the time. Coaches not players decide roles or otherwise you have the inmates running the prison. Many are making way too much of this. Good luck to Enoch and Jackson but we will be fine without either of them.

 

[caw]

Bored so, by ESPN since 2007 there have been only 9 CT players in the top 100.

Committed while Calhoun was coach:
Allan Chaney - UF/VT 2008, New London
Andre Drummond - CT 2011 Middletown
Kris Dunn - PC 2012 New London

Committed under Ollie:
Kuran Iverson - Memphis/URI 2013 Windsor
Paschal Chukwu - PC/Cuse 2014 Westport
Donovan Mitchell - UL 2015 Greenwich
Mustapha Heron - Auburn 2016 West Haven
Tyrique Jones - Xavier 2016 Bloomfield
Tremont Waters - Georgetown/??? 2017 New Haven.


I guess Calhoun was 1/3 on top 100 kids from CT in 6 years.

Ollie was 0/6 on top 100 kids from CT in 5 years.

2-4-7 has the following players from CT preps/CT as the top players in CT

2003
Quincey Douby RU
2004
David McClure Duke
2005
Craig Austrie
2006
Doug Wiggins
2007
Matthew Bryan-Amaning UW
2008
Devin Ebanks WVU
Allan Chaney UF (#2)
2009
Jordan Williams UM
2010
Jason Morris GT (CT)
Of Note:
Russ Smith UL (NY)
2011
Andre Drummond (CT)
Of Note:
Maurice Harkless SJU (NY)
2012
Kris Dunn PC (CT)
2013
Scoochie Smith (CT)
2014
Paschal Chukwu (CT)
2015
Steven Enoch (CT)
2016
Myles Powell (NJ)
2017
Hamidou Diallo (NY)

It's more like there just weren't a ton of good players in CT when Calhoun was coaching. There has been more of an explosion under Ollie but Ollie has prioritized other players over those UConn even had a shot at:

Adams/Mitchell
Diarra/Jones
MAL/Waters

The only one from CT or at a CT prep UConn had a shot at who they seriously prioritized as their top target and missed under Ollie was Diallo. And that was dreadful bc they thought they had him.

 

[uconngb]

I'm trying to understand this narrative: so if a kid is born in Connecticut and spends 16 years in CT and then goes to prep school in Iowa for a year, does the Iowa coach get for not landing him, or does KO?? I'm assuming KO. Because any recruit that ever sets foot in CT that UConn doesn't get is a huge miss. Give me a friggin break please.

 

[Fishy]

It is inevitable when someone shows up with the 'real story', they completely F it up.

UConn got their share of players from in-state prep schools, but Calhoun never had any sort of monopoly there. Never.

 

[huskyrob1]

Anthony Harris

I actually thought of him but didn't mention him because I don't know if UCONN would have accepted him as a student. I think he was the only kid ever under Boeheim who was a academic redshirt, but even then he flunked out.

 

[RUSS56]

Sadly, this is typical. Someone pulls 3 sentences from a long thought, and it becomes the narrative for the entire thread. There were 3 lines in what I wrote on CT kids, and this entire thread has become about the accuracy of that, as their obviously mistakes, not intent to deceive anyone. That wasn't the point of all that I wrote. Perhaps those fixated on the CT kids portion should read the rest.

 

[Huskybass]

The apologists are out in full force. The team has been bad for 3 straight years, and things don't look too promising for 2017-18 with only 2 fully healthy players returning.

The apologists will come up with excuse after excuse, year after after year. The bottom line is that the results just aren't there and nobody can dispute that.

And the icing on the cake is hiring an associate head coach who's last team went 9-22 and didn't win a game after January 18th. Yeah, he is going to help turn things around.