Why is Memphis able to overcome the AAC stigma with recruits?

[freescooter]

Xavier is recruiting well. Prov has talent. Prov is going to surprise UConn fans I think. This has the makings for a better rivalry this time around.

Xavier would be #3 or 4 in the AAC in recruiting.

 

[freescooter]

MSG is the nicest arena in the NBA? I haven’t been in years, but I really doubt that the oldest arena is the nicest.

UConn fans generally have an MSG fetish. I have never seen anything like it. Even Michigan and Ohio State football fans don’t fetishize the big house or the horseshoe to the same degree and most of them would marry those venues if it were allied in their states. UConn fans would marry stay cats that live on the MSG loading dock just to be near the place. It is weird.

 

[freescooter]

Calhoun, just like most coaches taking over a bad program, got his players from wherever he could in the first few years. Other than Chris Smith, there were no consensus great recruits until after the "Dream Season". Donyell Marshall was the first McD AA in 1991-92

Before that he found diamonds in the rough like Lyman (MI) and Rod (SC), and maybe got lucky (?) when he signed the "other Robinson from Buffalo" (Cliff) who turned out to be the better of the two. Then there was Nadav.

Maybe Hurley can bring back the glory days with only Northeast and DMV recruits, but unless he can get the best ones every year that's going to be tough. Can't see him turning down a kid from GA (Moore, Lamb) or CA (Ollie, Daniels) if he can get a great player.

Aside from the fact that Cliff was already there you raise some good points. To me Hurley’s focus on the northeast just reflects the overall pull back from being a national program. The UConn administration will be perfectly happy to be a “strong regional” program. Get NCAA bids on a pretty regular basis but a Sweet 16 run will be their new National Championship. But hey, MSG baby!

 

[scoscox]

Xavier would be #3 or 4 in the AAC in recruiting.

third in 2019 behind UConn (a future big east team) and first in 2020

 

[Waquoit]

UConn fans generally have an MSG fetish. I have never seen anything like it. Even Michigan and Ohio State football fans don’t fetishize the big house or the horseshoe to the same degree

This is utter nonsense.

 

[Jbirdp5]

Aside from the fact that Cliff was already there you raise some good points. To me Hurley’s focus on the northeast just reflects the overall pull back from being a national program. The UConn administration will be perfectly happy to be a “strong regional” program. Get NCAA bids on a pretty regular basis but a Sweet 16 run will be their new National Championship. But hey, MSG baby!

National programs are winning programs, this take makes no sense to Me

 

[olehead]

Calhoun, just like most coaches taking over a bad program, got his players from wherever he could in the first few years. Other than Chris Smith, there were no consensus great recruits until after the "Dream Season". Donyell Marshall was the first McD AA in 1991-92

Before that he found diamonds in the rough like Lyman (MI) and Rod (SC), and maybe got lucky (?) when he signed the "other Robinson from Buffalo" (Cliff) who turned out to be the better of the two. Then there was Nadav.

Maybe Hurley can bring back the glory days with only Northeast and DMV recruits, but unless he can get the best ones every year that's going to be tough. Can't see him turning down a kid from GA (Moore, Lamb) or CA (Ollie, Daniels) if he can get a great player.

Was the other Robinson, Keith Robinson by chance?

 

[amsterdamjade]

It just takes one or two recruits to open the flood gates at a program.

 

[traitor71]

UConn fans generally have an MSG fetish. I have never seen anything like it. Even Michigan and Ohio State football fans don’t fetishize the big house or the horseshoe to the same degree and most of them would marry those venues if it were allied in their states. UConn fans would marry stay cats that live on the MSG loading dock just to be near the place. It is weird.

I don't know about a fetish, but when a place holds some of the fans greatest memories, and has felt like a second home, well it's pretty easy to love it.

 

[upstater]

To answer the opening question, it's about $$$. But why complain about it. This is the sport. Everyone knows it, it's unspoken. Complaining about the basics of college basketball is nonsensical. Some schools are very aggressive when it comes to handing over paper bags.

 

[freescooter]

National programs are winning programs, this take makes no sense to Me

Uh, no. It doesn’t matter how many times Central Connecticut wins the NEC. They will never be a National program. It is about being competitive for the NCAA title. Or having tradition. Limiting recruiting to the northeast as Hurley wants to do and playing in a regional league with no tv coverage to speak of is not the mark of a national program. It is the sign of a strong regional one. And the administration and the fan base is good with that until they see what it really means.

Calhoun built a program recruiting nationwide. Even arguably worldwide. Now the program wants to limit recruiting to New Jersey and Connecticut. It is a cost saving move as is the Big East move. We can win more games without having to travel or play tough opponents. And go out in the round of 32. But MSG baby

 

[upstater]

Calhoun built a program recruiting nationwide. Even arguably worldwide. Now the program wants to limit recruiting to New Jersey and Connecticut. It is a cost saving move as is the Big East move.

Having a hard time believing that you believe this.

The costs of recruiting nationally as opposed to regionally are miniscule. Especially in a sport where you need 3 new players a year on average.

Until Ray Allen showed up, UConn recruited regionally. Burrell, Donyell Marshall, Chris Smith, Tate George, all their top recruits were regional. It was only after UConn became a force with Allen that they started looking nationally, but even then, our top recruits were all Northeast/MidAtlantic. Rip Hamilton, Kemba Walker, Charlie Villanueva, Rudy Gay, AJ Price, Ben Gordon, Shabazz Napier, Josh Boone. You look at all these names and you realize that Emeka Okafor is the outlier.

 

[Jbirdp5]

Uh, no. It doesn’t matter how many times Central Connecticut wins the NEC. They will never be a National program. It is about being competitive for the NCAA title. Or having tradition. Limiting recruiting to the northeast as Hurley wants to do and playing in a regional league with no tv coverage to speak of is not the mark of a national program. It is the sign of a strong regional one. And the administration and the fan base is good with that until they see what it really means.

Calhoun built a program recruiting nationwide. Even arguably worldwide. Now the program wants to limit recruiting to New Jersey and Connecticut. It is a cost saving move as is the Big East move. We can win more games without having to travel or play tough opponents. And go out in the round of 32. But MSG baby

Comparing winning the nec to winning the big east is just silly. If you get good recruits that fit ur system I don’t think it matters where they come from. If you get two 4 star players from New Jersey or two from California is there a difference? This argument doesn’t even seem serious

 

[scoscox]

Uh, no. It doesn’t matter how many times Central Connecticut wins the NEC. They will never be a National program. It is about being competitive for the NCAA title. Or having tradition. Limiting recruiting to the northeast as Hurley wants to do and playing in a regional league with no tv coverage to speak of is not the mark of a national program. It is the sign of a strong regional one. And the administration and the fan base is good with that until they see what it really means.

Calhoun built a program recruiting nationwide. Even arguably worldwide. Now the program wants to limit recruiting to New Jersey and Connecticut. It is a cost saving move as is the Big East move. We can win more games without having to travel or play tough opponents. And go out in the round of 32. But MSG baby

“No television coverage to speak of” meanwhile it is literally the most televised conference in the country

 

[Excalibur]

Uh, no. It doesn’t matter how many times Central Connecticut wins the NEC. They will never be a National program. It is about being competitive for the NCAA title. Or having tradition. Limiting recruiting to the northeast as Hurley wants to do and playing in a regional league with no tv coverage to speak of is not the mark of a national program. It is the sign of a strong regional one. And the administration and the fan base is good with that until they see what it really means.

Calhoun built a program recruiting nationwide. Even arguably worldwide. Now the program wants to limit recruiting to New Jersey and Connecticut. It is a cost saving move as is the Big East move. We can win more games without having to travel or play tough opponents. And go out in the round of 32. But MSG baby

Here's what you are not getting -- Calhoun was recruiting to the best conference in all of college basketball for most of his tenure. When you are doing that you can consistently recruit effectively nationwide. In almost every other circumstance, recruiting is a regional game, whether it be as an AAC team or a Big East team, and it is far easier to recruit the northeast as a member of Big East than as a member of a southern/midwestern conference.

Penny will play out just as many former NBA alumni have played out -- early recruiting success, until it becomes clear that he can't coach them. Penny may do a bit better because of the resources behind the Memphis program, but we've seen this movie before . . .