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Message: [QUOTE="SCGamecock, post: 2406158, member: 6132"] As an elite recruit, It’s probably harder to turn down UConn than it is to accept an offer. If you’re an elite recruit people almost expect you to go to UConn and nowhere else. Not just UConn fans either.. everyone expects that recruit to want to go to UConn and they find it hard to believe when an elite recruit just doesn’t want to go to UConn.. it’s almost a “Well are you crazy? It’s UConn!” sort of response. Going against that peer pressure has to be tough, so when I read about a recruit receiving interest from UConn but chooses to go elsewhere I commend them because I’m aware of the pressure that recruit probably faced turning down Connecticut. For example, read an article (especially local articles) on any elite player in the 2019, 2020 or 2021... there’s always that part that says something like “____ is receiving offers from schools across the country, including UConn” or “11-time National title winning head coach Geno Auriemma has been by to watch ____ work out” ... stuff like that builds the expectation that if you’re a top player, you should be looking at UConn and nowhere else. If an elite player turns down THAT kind of pressure to go to a school they really want to, then it shouldn’t be looked at as “well they didn’t want to be coached hard and reach their fullest potential”.. that recruit probably made a really smart personal decision that worked best for them. No recruit with a UConn offer turns it down lightly. We should give them the benefit of the doubt. If I were a UConn fan I’d much rather have that then have a player here that doesn’t really want to be here, only to transfer later. [/QUOTE]

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