We have the 20th best recruiting class coming in

[CTBasketball]

We have 3 open scholarships because Ollie and virtually every one of us here expected 2015 to be a Top 5 class with a lot of top recruits. It didn't pan out.

 

[Matrim55]

virtually every one of us here expected 2015 to be a Top 5 class with a lot of top recruits. It didn't pan out.

 

[Leebo]

I judge a recruiting class by how many talented players arrive, and don't particularly care whether they're high schoolers, prep, JuCo, transfers or 5th-year eligibles.

Which means I should re-form my 2013 blurb: We brought in four guys, three of whom were essential to our national title run.

Well, just be aware that when you say "recruiting class" and include transfers who already sat out a year, some people aren't using the same definition. It invites confusion.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

We have 3 open scholarships because Ollie and virtually every one of us here expected 2015 to be a Top 5 class with a lot of top recruits. It didn't pan out.

Hey, Matrim thinks it's a top 5 class. Top 1 actually.

 

[johnhuskies95]

That's basically it - we just need more talent.

Not to run down some of the kids we already have, but we have some holes, particularly at power forward.

Statistically, our numbers at power forward are worse than bad - when you have a core role player who scores on about seven percent of his possessions and turns the ball over on nearly one-third, you have issues.

The scoring issues may abate some with the natural progression of players, but I definitely think the inability to land another guard/wing in this class will hurt for several years if it isn't rectified.

I think the talent level of most of the guys we have right now is pretty good, but you're right, we need 1 or 2 more pieces. They're just lacking at a couple positions.Last year's team had 4 pretty good players. Usually that means you'll be pretty successful in college basketball but for whatever reason they weren't able to put it together.

They were very unlucky last year in a number of games, if a key piece can be added for next year I don't think they're too far away from being a top 20 team.

Ollie's a good coach, I think he'll adapt pretty well to the personnel post-Boat.

 

[husky99]

We've recruited two players - one good and one great - but needed to recruit at least four.

The 280 schools looking up to us are meaningless when we're actually competing to be one of the ten best programs on the court.

They need to do better.

I agree 1000000%

 

[Walker11]

You can have a bunch of 1 dimensional role players but at least one player needs that dimension to be shooting.

 

[sammydabiz]

Since 2013 produced two guys who immediately contributed to a national championship team, I'm gonna say that one.

If you're talking the last consensus top 20 class, that'd be 2011 when we brought in Drummond, Boatright & Daniels.

If you're talking the last class that brought in two five-star talents, then that'd be last year's (Hamilton & Purvis).

If you're talking the last class the Boneyard didn't complain about, then you'd have to go back to the days before the internet was invented.

Purvis was a transfer....

 

[Yankees32123]

Purvis was a transfer....

He was still part of the recruiting class...

 

[CardiacAndre7]

My dream is a transfer big and B.Brown. One thing that would also make me very happy is an early pledge from one of the 2016's like Gilbert, Kegler, King etc. Something to look forward to rather than grit our teeth during the meat of the recruiting periods.

 

[sammydabiz]

He was still part of the recruiting class...

Purvis is a different category than last year's recruiting class. Yes, he's a great player and we now have him, but it's a different category.

Well, just be aware that when you say "recruiting class" and include transfers who already sat out a year, some people aren't using the same definition. It invites confusion.

 

[storrsroars]

If we're including transfers, then doesn't Iowa State rise to near top of the heap in "recruiting"?

 

[Sportsman5]

Purvis is a different category than last year's recruiting class. Yes, he's a great player and we now have him, but it's a different category.

If purvis didn't commit, then Ollie likely would have landed a top 50 guard to replace him. Purvis scared off other top guards. Therefore you have to count him to give ollie a fair assessment of his recruiting success

 

[Leebo]

That's fine... give him all the credit for getting Purvis. That doesn't make Purvis a 2014 class recruit. Go ahead and say I'm being too strict with my terminology if you want.

 

[John]

I agree 1000000%

We're UConn, #20 ranking should never be good enough for anything athletic wise. In fact, when I saw 20, my first reaction was why so low???

 

[CardiacAndre7]

We're UConn, #20 ranking should never be good enough for anything athletic wise. In fact, when I saw 20, my first reaction was why so low???

For a lot of teams ahead of us it's quantity over quality. We have two highly ranked commits, but only two.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Didn't ollie also have turtle and Ali commit but they backed out? Bc of adams?

 

[Palatine]

We're not done. Recruiting begins again tomorrow. I expect the class to grow.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Didn't ollie also have turtle and Ali commit but they backed out? Bc of adams?

We mutually parted ways with Turtle. Ali is rumored to have decommitted b/c of people in his ear telling him to go to UCLA.

 

[mauconnfan]

It seemed Ali decimated because of all the other wings KO and staff were still gunning for. I don't consider those guys big losses at all, but the fact we need more players is really evident and we need very good, very smart and gifted players!

 

[Lefty2one]

I've never followed recruiting closely because we were always in the mix for enough good players. When we missed on some big names our consolation prize was someone like Shabazz. Things generally worked out.

The last few years have made me nervous, the overall talent on our roster has dipped quite a bit. We have three open scholies and a ton of glaring issues with the returning players - are we realistically in the mix for ANY remaining 4-star guys right now? Or has the staff mailed it in and focusing on 2016 and beyond?

 

[jibsey]

I've never followed recruiting closely because we were always in the mix for enough good players. When we missed on some big names our consolation prize was someone like Shabazz. Things generally worked out.

The last few years have made me nervous, the overall talent on our roster has dipped quite a bit. We have three open scholies and a ton of glaring issues with the returning players - are we realistically in the mix for ANY remaining 4-star guys right now? Or has the staff mailed it in and focusing on 2016 and beyond?

Lefty, you have managed to sum up in one short post what's really important at the moment. Is it the next 2 months we're going to find out?

 

[ktuck911]

I'm banking on 3 recruits we get once recruiting starts up again tomorrow...1) a Shabazz type recruit 2) An impactful transfer that's immediately eligible (frontcourt kid), and a foreign player who played on their countries National team where he was a starter.

Add those peices to what we already have and we'll be legit...

 

[JimHurley]

What we need for next year is another SG/SF. We have 3 PG's on the roster: Adams, Cassell, Samuel. Yet we only have 2 SG's (Purvis+Calhoun) and 1 SF (Hamilton). We need another wing player. Now we could still use another ball handler for next year, you can never have too many of those. But what we really need is another wing player. Still, I'm very happy with the additions of Enoch and Adams next year.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

What we need for next year is another SG/SF. We have 3 PG's on the roster: Adams, Cassell, Samuel. Yet we only have 2 SG's (Purvis+Calhoun) and 1 SF (Hamilton). We need another wing player. Now we could still use another ball handler for next year, you can never have too many of those. But what we really need is another wing player. Still, I'm very happy with the additions of Enoch and Adams next year.

C'mon. We maybe have 1.5 PG's on our roster for next year as of now. Cassell is not one in my eyes, Terrence needs to become a better ball handler and passer, and we aren't totally sure of what we're gonna get from Adams just yet. It's a consensus that we need 1 more PG and a big, and although a wing the caliber of say, Tevin Mack would be great and all that, it is probably our #3 priority right now.