Zags: Dan Hurley revving up recruiting at UConn

[Storrs South]

Nothing particularly new but a good synopsis of recruiting in Hurley's first 6 weeks on the job

Best line: UConn has won four NCAA championships since 1999 and Hurley and his staff will reiterate that on the recruiting trail.

 

[nadav]

Awesome. Good to have a lunatic like Jimmy back on the sidelines. Love it.

 

[jcp33]

I've been very impressed with Hurley thus far, very excited to see him on the sidelines this November

 

[Tenspro2002]

Best line: UConn has won four NCAA championships since 1999 and Hurley and his staff will reiterate that on the recruiting trail.

Fans care, but it's a fair question about whether recruits care about championship history.

They want to know a program can get guys to the league, something KO failed at spectacularly -- Hurley is unproven yet.

 

[UconnU]

I didn't know that Hurley has Jamaican connections with Cockburn through Sam Samuels.

 

[Towney007]

I'm more impressed by their bandwidth and eagerness to cast a wide net. I'm 100% expecting hits and misses early - but the sheer volume will help them get a better sense of what they can get and goalpost their capabilities better, I think.

Not that I don't think we're not capable of getting great recruits. We're UConn, clearly we can. But the conference, recent failures - we're going to have to identify more of a 'type' really where we'll have sustained success. I guess in a way - establish what our floor is and a floor we can live with and work with before having some sense of what our ceiling is.

As we found out though, even in the past - recruiting can be an odd game of just being there and being present and showing kids you value them. I'm not sure we've done as good a job of that in recent years, so I expect this to all be good. We're doing everything we should be.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Really interesting connection to Cockburn. Wonder if it makes us the current favorite? Until the other blue bloods come calling I suppose.

 

[Mike Honcho]

I'm more impressed by their bandwidth and eagerness to cast a wide net. I'm 100% expecting hits and misses early - but the sheer volume will help them get a better sense of what they can get and goalpost their capabilities better, I think.

Not that I don't think we're not capable of getting great recruits. We're UConn, clearly we can. But the conference, recent failures - we're going to have to identify more of a 'type' really where we'll have sustained success. I guess in a way - establish what our floor is and a floor we can live with and work with before having some sense of what our ceiling is.

As we found out though, even in the past - recruiting can be an odd game of just being there and being present and showing kids you value them. I'm not sure we've done as good a job of that in recent years, so I expect this to all be good. We're doing everything we should be.

Isn't this exactly what we knocked Kevin Ollie for? Casting too wide a net?

 

[3rdbass]

Isn't this exactly what we knocked Kevin Ollie for? Casting too wide a net?

I was thinking the exact same thing. I hope Hurley has a more concentrated approach.

 

[Chief00]

Isn't this exactly what we knocked Kevin Ollie for? Casting too wide a net?

But you got to work the net. Additionally, when you do a deep dive on a player, you see there is a well thought out plan using a connection or a narrative. Even Chief has trouble keeping up with these dudes.

 

[Bryan Lord]

Yea but we've only won two since Instagram was invented.

 

[lange10]

Hurley’s final recruiting class at URI was top 30.

On Rosthein’s podcast he mentioned having a lot more time on his hands to recruit and gameplan being at UConn due to the relative ease scheduling OOC games. He’s going to be very dangerous on the trail for years to come.

In regards to scheduling, Hurley mentioned in the podcast that when he came to UConn the schedule for 18-19 was already set. Any idea when that’d typically released?

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I like the types of targets Danny is going after. Gone are the days of “just missing” on 5* guys and backfilling with afterthoughts.

 

[Palatine]

Fans care, but it's a fair question about whether recruits care about championship history.

They want to know a program can get guys to the league, something KO failed at spectacularly -- Hurley is unproven yet.

Of course they care about NCs. Good grief.

 

[UConn990411]

Isn't this exactly what we knocked Kevin Ollie for? Casting too wide a net?

More than his approach, I believe the main criticism is that he didn’t put a lot of effort into recruiting.

There’s a way to cast a wide net while also being smart about which recruits you prioritize. I don’t feel like Ollie ever found the balance between the two.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

Fans care, but it's a fair question about whether recruits care about championship history.

They want to know a program can get guys to the league, something KO failed at spectacularly -- Hurley is unproven yet.

The combination of sending players to the NBA AND winning national championships is as good a selling point as you can have.

Saying you have championship ambitions, and being able to back that up with history, is a very unique selling point that not many schools have.

People, coaches, recruits respect the brand of UConn because of their championship history.

 

[JMick]

More than his approach, I believe the main criticism is that he didn’t put a lot of effort into recruiting.

There’s a way to cast a wide net while also being smart about which recruits you prioritize. I don’t feel like Ollie ever found the balance between the two.

We never seemed to get good at closing in after casting the wide net and it seems like we always held out for plan A and lost plan B in the process.

 

[80shusky]

Isn't this exactly what we knocked Kevin Ollie for? Casting too wide a net?

Shhhhh, now we call it working really hard on the recruiting trail, killing it, and that sort of thing.

 

[HuskyHawk]

This is an even better hire than I thought. I'm very excited to see what he runs, and how much he can coach up the players he brings in, but he seems to be an even better recruiter than I hoped. He's willing UConn back into the conversation among the big boys. I'm absolutely pumped for the season to start.

 

[upstater]

Of course they care about NCs. Good grief.

Exactly. Playing deep in March vastly improves the perception of you as a player. Think of Jeremy Lamb. He broke out on that 2011 run. He wasn't as highly projected before then. Napier too. They got to the NBA largely because of WINNING.

If Purvis and Jalen Adams had had that kind of success, they'd already have easier roads to the NBA.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Isn't this exactly what we knocked Kevin Ollie for? Casting too wide a net?

Ollie made offers to tons of highly rated kids, who seemed to respond "yeah whatever" and weren't coming here. And he didn't seem to recognize that, and go after different kids. The difference already seems to be that Hurley is going after guys who are actually open to coming to UConn. So either he's targeting different highly rated players, or the coaching change has altered the perception those players have of UConn, or more likely, both.

 

[mauconnfan]

I won't rehash how KO did recruiting while I tell you Dan Hurley and this staff are creating excitement for sure. Seems like they have 6 coaches out there blanketing the country.

 

[jibsey]

After the national championship in 2014 I expected a line of recruits stretching from KO’s office to the highway. He was the hottest property in college basketball. And of course this success led to the disastrous extension that haunts us all today. Yes we were AAC but we were a relevant blue blood where conference mattered not. Aside from Jalen, KO’s recruiting was dismal and reason enough for firing even though some of those classes were well thought of there were no major impact players (not transfers). It was like he swung and missed on everything then picked up what he could. Hurley can be the best coach on earth but he’s just not going to make it happen without getting some big talent, so these recruiting trips are everything. Hopefully he’s a closer.

 

[businesslawyer]

Isn't this exactly what we knocked Kevin Ollie for? Casting too wide a net?

Yes. But we don't like Kevin Ollie.

Don't you get how the Boneyard works yet?

 

[Leebo]

KO had some great recruiting victories. They just all got injured or left. Definitely evaporated at the end though.

 

[MrP]

Yeah the myth that Ollie couldn’t recruit is frustrating. He had a top 15 class just two seasons ago. The problem was that none of them stayed. There’s a former McD’s AA and a potential conference POY still on the roster that he brought here. Not to mention Sid Wilson. Hard to square that with an argument that he couldn’t recruit.

KO had some great recruiting victories. They just all got injured or left. Definitely evaporated at the end though.

 

[Mike Honcho]

Ollie made offers to tons of highly rated kids, who seemed to respond "yeah whatever" and weren't coming here. And he didn't seem to recognize that, and go after different kids. The difference already seems to be that Hurley is going after guys who are actually open to coming to UConn. So either he's targeting different highly rated players, or the coaching change has altered the perception those players have of UConn, or more likely, both.

I certainly hope so but it seems like rationalization. I don't know how you're able to suss out the intention of 17 year olds via Instagram posts that say "Blessed to receive an offer from UConn!" But it's possible I'm missing the nuance. Anyways, I hope you're right.

 

[RipCity]

The article about Cockburn in January linked in Zag’s article makes it seem like he was waiting on Kansas, Duke, and Kentucky. I don’t think he last 2 will come calling in this deep of a class (Carey and Stewart are Duke leans and Kentucky will aim higher for Bassey, Koprivica, Wiseman, etc.). But Kansas is a real possibility. All bigs leaning their way are PF (Robinson-Earl, Hurt, Lawson). Hopefully Hurley can make a good connection with him early.

 

[boog204]

What it seems to me, from the confines of my home mind you, is that Hurley is "targeting" specific players that fit his vision. While he is offering a good deal of guys, there seems to be a theme of sorts. He is focusing on the Northeast and is going after guys who have skill prior to brute athleticism. I always felt like KO had the opposite focus. He believed in the "positionless" concept and Furthermore, KO did cast an enormous net. It always seemed, however, that he was attempting to reel in fish that had no intention of coming here. He wasted tons and tons of time on guys like Stone, Gabriel, and Reddish when they were never going to come here. The Diallo situation, it seems was more on KO, but we missed out on guys who were legit interested to chase the white whale.

 

[UconnU]

Yeah the myth that Ollie couldn’t recruit is frustrating. He had a top 15 class just two seasons ago. The problem was that none of them stayed. There’s a former McD’s AA and a potential conference POY still on the roster that he brought here. Not to mention Sid Wilson. Hard to square that with an argument that he couldn’t recruit.

Turn over was mostly a problem with kids from the hundreds/thousands of miles away. Most of his regional recruits stayed.