Will this year change Geno's approach to recruiting? Or not?

[pap49cba]

NM

 

[Icebear]

I don't think there is anything to change. We would be in fine shape if Michaela and Lauren were here. It wasn't recruiting that presents the current situation. The two walk-ons are really holding down those places. We would have 9 available with them even with the injuries.

MoJet
Bria
Stewie
Stef
Kiah
Brianna
Saniya

Plus TLaw and Polly

 

[UcMiami]

Not.
The selection process of possible recruits remains the same and the field is what it is - some years from that core most of them go elsewhere, some years they come to Uconn. He always wants 12, sometimes like this year he ends up with 9. It might make a difference with the self recruiting players like Gardler, but I don't think there are many players that contact Uconn and say - I really want to play for you even though I am not probably in the talent bracket that you would normally recruit. The coaching staff might look closer at those kids, but specific to Gardler, that was a family connection.

 

[pap49cba]

I don't think there is anything to change. We would be in fine shape if Michaela and Lauren were here. It wasn't recruiting that presents the current situation. The two walk-ons are really holding down those places.

I don't disagree but transfers are a fact of like too.

 

[Icebear]

I don't disagree but transfers are a fact of like too.

Yes, but unpredictable. You expect to have those players.

 

[UCONNfan1]

It should change. I think it already has. Look at the cadre of guards he already has on tap. Next season the team will effectively have 8 guards or wings. They will only have 3 forwards, but that's a whole different issue.

It appeared he cooled on Reimer, stopped recruiting Holmes, and who knows what other kids he pared down expecting he didn't want to have too many kids on scholarship. Now, with the losses of Walker, Engeln, and Johnson, coupled with putting all their eggs in the Deshields basket, Tuck out for the year, Banks recently day to day with ankle issues, and now KML, clearly they needed more bodies.

The program even went out and recruited 2 walk ons - something they would not have done if they weren't short so many bodies. And this isn't the first season UCONN has barely had 6 or 7 players to play in a big game. They allow 13 scholarships for a reason.

Geno learned in the past that you can't wait until the junior year to START recruiting kids. I'm sure he can learn to recruit a slightly larger team (numbers-wise).

 

[JoePgh]

Are you implying by your question that the coaches intentionally aimed at having only 9 scholarship players this year, disregarding the risk of injuries?

I doubt that is the case. I don't think they hoped or expected to have a 1-person freshman class this year. Also, the recruiting in 2011-12 was completed before they knew (probably) that Michala and Lauren would transfer. Had they known or expected those outcomes, I think they would have recruited more bodies.

I think the "silver lining" in this year's experience is that recruits such as Ms. Wilson may be prompted to think that getting playing time at UConn may not be as difficult as other schools' coaches would like them to believe. CD publicly commented on this about a month ago.

I disagree with UcMiami's statement that very few players would volunteer to come to UConn on a FULL SCHOLARSHIP even knowing that they are not at the talent level of normal UConn recruits. I think there are thousands of high school seniors who would jump at that chance, even without the prospect of significant playing time. But recruiting Top 100 athletes such as Lauren and Michala, especially from distant parts of the country, without the prospect of good minutes would be difficult and might well lead to more transfers.

This year's experience may lead the coaches to look harder for New England players who are high school stars but well below the Top 100 level -- i.e., Lawlor/Pulido types. But if the KML's, Brias, and Breannas get injured, those players will not be able to step in and play at a comparable level. I don't think it is realistic to expect athletes who COULD play at a somewhat comparable level to sit on the bench waiting for someone to get injured. Lauren and Michala weren't willing to do that, and I doubt that Bria Holmes would have been.

 

[Zorro]

I seriously doubt that there is much left for Geno to learn. I don't thing that the gaggle of guards next season represents any sort of change in recruiting philosophy or technique; I think that it just happened that way. (Glad it did!)

 

[rbny1]

I don't think Geno will change his recruiting. He is very specific about the kinds of kids he wants and is unwilling (rightly so) to change that profile. I think we would be in worse shape right now if we had players who didn't fit the program than we are by having a very short bench. Geno's approach has withstood the test of time. There's no reason to change it.

 

[pap49cba]

I'm not 'implying' anything. Simply asking the question given all of the surprises this year.

 

[UcMiami]

JoePgh - there are I am sure a lot of Lawlor's out there who would jump at a scholarship, but I am not talking about those players. I am talking about a player like Gardler who probably rank somewhere in 75-200 range and have the size and skill to start or play significant minutes on a D1 team, just not necessarily a top 25 team. They are difficult players for Uconn to actively recruit honestly because the chance of them ever playing serious minutes is slim.

 

[msf22b]

I don't think there is anything to change. We would be in fine shape if Michaela and Lauren were here. It wasn't recruiting that presents the current situation. The two walk-ons are really holding down those places. We would have 9 available with them even with the injuries.

Ice

You may recall the Lauren Brouhaha that I started during the season prior to her transferring.
It was clear that she and Michaela were getting mop up minutes only.
Not dissimilar from what our two walk-ons have been receiving (up to now).
With Michaela, it still appeared that she was hobbled by her knee problems.
There was also the Geno quote about people not keeping up in practice and that it was a downer for the team.
It was obvious that something had to give one way or another.
Either they were going to improve within the program
Or sit at the end of the bench for 4 years or leave.
I am certainly not surprised they made the choice they did.
And I think to say that if they were here now…is an ingenuous argument.

 

[Scotter]

It should change. I think it already has. Look at the cadre of guards he already has on tap. Next season the team will effectively have 8 guards or wings. They will only have 3 forwards, but that's a whole different issue.

I think the incoming recruiting class is more a reflection that he hasn't changed than he has. He recruited players that meet the criteria even if they are all guards. And he won't recruit post players just to get post players even though there is a need for that position. UConn's recruiting philosophy isn't going to change and it shouldn't. Addressing the occasional downside would ultimately only undermine why the recruiting philosophy has been successful in the first place. If you're going to seel exclusivity then you better actually be exclusive.

 

[Stinger92860]

I don't think there is anything to change. We would be in fine shape if Michaela and Lauren were here. It wasn't recruiting that presents the current situation. The two walk-ons are really holding down those places. We would have 9 available with them even with the injuries.

Geno wanted Lauren and Michaela to leave. He did not have nice things to say about them.

 

[John Glass]

I would assume Geno is recruiting more posts for 2015, and has a list of plan B recruits.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I think at the margin there will be changes. As noted, we have a class of at least 4 next year. If Gabby can recover, all 4 players truly look like major contributors at some point. We are hoping for a class of 5 by adding A'ja. For 2015, it seems as if we have multiple offers out there. He may be looking at a group as large as 5: Durr, Samuelson, Boykin, Collier, and Brown. If we can get 6-10 players out of 2 classes, that's a robust number.

I think it was Brown about whom Geno was lukewarm, but one of the assistants urged him to take another look. In past years, he might not have been as flexible.

 

[UcMiami]

I think the period that really sealed Geno in his ways were the years around 2003-5 when he against his better judgement took the center from Colorado who ended up transferring to Vandy I think and the NZ netball transfer. He felt he was short on height during those years and offered players that he would not normally have done because the ones he wanted didn't chose Uconn. He got absolutely nothing production wise out of either player and they both left.
Early on he was desperate for talent and may have had lower standards (or not), in the early 2000s he was trying to establish a dynasty. Now, I think he would rather have a 20-10 season than coach players he doesn't like or whose games he doesn't appreciate. So maybe he is a little faster to drop players from the recruiting list than he used to be, and maybe he also is better able to identify player qualities that work and that don't work in his program from previous hits and misses.

 

[doggydaddy]

Geno wanted Lauren and Michaela to leave. He did not have nice things to say about them.

I sure would like to see the links for those comments. Thanks so much.

 

[uconnbill]

This could come back and bite UCONN and Geno. One thing that bothers me is last year recruiting turned into one player instead of one or two more.

 

[Sonny44]

Dynasties come and go in sports. Very few last as long as ours. The coach has to stand by his principles for continuity in a program. Nevertheless, times change, other teams begin to catch up, kids coming out have different attitudes, the game changes, etc. So coaches have to change a little also, maybe even Geno. Injuries, transfers and even an occasional dud also have to be figured in. It seems we've been fighting this player shortage off and on for several years now. Five guards in two years, an incoming class of just one player just isn't going to cut it for a team expecting an NC every year.
Other schools are attracting grammar school kids now. I don't have the magic bullet answer, but it seems Geno & staff gotta figure this out.
We've played a few teams this year who have some very good freshman who weren't ranked in the top 25. Kids mature at different rates so many of these kids will eventually out-perform the top 25's. Of course identifying them in HS is very difficult. One thing we have against us is geography. New England just isn't producing that many good BB players who's parents would consider UCONN a home team. Difficult problem.

 

[sawxfan23]

Another thing you have to consider is that College is the last chance for the majority of these kids to play a game they love and have played for 10 plus years. Not very many want to spend this last chance sitting on the bench even if it is on a NC team.

 

[JoePgh]

I think the problem beyond the remainder of the current season is being grossly exaggerated.

Even if A'ja Wilson does not come to UConn, there will be 11 scholarship players including 3 front-court players next year (Stokes, Stewart, Tuck), and KML can certainly rebound well enough to play the 4 if need be. At 6-0, Ekmark and Nurse are big enough to play in the paint if they have to, and Courtney in particular may find it easier to get minutes that way than in the back court.

In 2015-2016, Stewart and Tuck will still be in Storrs, and in 2016-2017 Morgan will still be here. (Her injury has effectively doubled the size of this year's freshman class from 1 to 2.)

Can we all agree that for the next 4 years there will be absolutely NO shortage of uber-talented back court players? Geno isn't bad at playing a 4-guard or even 5-guard game if the need arises.

What other program can project out 2-3 years and see that many bases covered by existing committed players of comparable quality? Only Notre Dame comes to mind. Here too, the increasing separation of UConn and ND from the rest of the pack seems evident.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I see a number of what I judge to be well thought out "right" comments in this thread, that seem contradictory. Just to highlight:

- do to the changing landscape of players, coaches may indeed have to change or tweek the way they recruit. Here in AZ there has been a drop-off in softball, which has been admitted to be at least partly due to an unwillingness to change recruiting. Eventually Coach Candrea - who is clearly one of the top softball coaches of all time - "saw the light". At the same time, it is probably over-simplistic to over-analyze a recruiting change based strictly on being short-handed or having unexpected transfers.
- at the same time, coaches must be true to what works for them in recruiting. Much of the blame for RU's WBB struggles has been laid at the foot of the disastrous recruiting class of '08 (Sykes, Dixon, Pope, etc.) which was way outside of what CVS would normally have recruited. I would suspect that Geno will continue to recruit the type of players that he always has.
- I think Sawxfan is generally correct that there are few players that would commit to UConn or any other program knowing they would strictly be on the bench. However, it is not 100% true. For example, Katie Adams, a bench-warmer at RU, was there because she wanted to be coached by CVS as a start to her coaching career (high school I believe). Also, a few years ago, we had a bench warmer that was both relatively local and connected by family to CVS.

In response to the comment that dynasties don't go on forever in sports - of course that is correct. But there is certainly no handwriting on the wall yet as regards the UConn dynasty. Still going strong.

 

[UcMiami]

Lets see - hmmmm - when was the last time we only had a one player class, and who was that, hmmmm, it is coming to me .... oh yes, Kelly Faris ... definitely the death knell for Uconn. I mean really she only was around for 2 NCs and 4 final fours. Come on - get real here. We are complaining about a 1 player class (and a very good player at that) the year after we landed arguably the best 3 member classes ever.
People seem to think Geno has a choice in this stuff and that all he needs is a plan with a few tweaks. The talent isn't limitless and the players that can succeed at Uconn are also not limitless - He may identify 20 or so players a year that could work. A bunch of them have zero interest in Uconn (their dream school is something else.) So that cuts the list to maybe 10 for serious visits, and about half of those get weeded out either because they don't like Uconn enough or Uconn doesn't like them. So now you have maybe six players that are all deciding between Uconn and their other top 4 teams. Some years you get 4 and some you get 1, and not surprisingly the years where you get 1 are usually preceded and followed by the years where you get 3, 4, or 5.
The one change that we have seen is that the offers from Uconn as well as the other schools are going out earlier and sometimes before a player ever visits campus. But I don't think there has been or will be a change in the type of players that get offers.

Just an aside - what happened with UNC? It wasn't that long ago when the five freshman signed that people were wondering how the math worked with something like 17 scholarship players - I just checked and the roster is now at 13. Did they have a bunch of defections that I missed?

 

[Icebear]

Ice

You may recall the Lauren Brouhaha that I started during the season prior to her transferring.
It was clear that she and Michaela were getting mop up minutes only.
Not dissimilar from what our two walk-ons have been receiving (up to now).
With Michaela, it still appeared that she was hobbled by her knee problems.
There was also the Geno quote about people not keeping up in practice and that it was a downer for the team.
It was obvious that something had to give one way or another.
Either they were going to improve within the program
Or sit at the end of the bench for 4 years or leave.
I am certainly not surprised they made the choice they did.
And I think to say that if they were here now…is an ingenuous argument.

They are both better in both size and skill capable to be contributing at this point. Not keeping up in practice can be a lot of things.