Recruiting

[lange10]

I've seen a few people on here upset with our recruiting. On one hand I do think our recruiting isn't up there with the Dukes, the Kentucky's, the UNC's and all those blue bloods but we still do a fine job. 2 top 100 recruits coming in (five star and a four star) and likely landing 2 more recruits (Brown, Stone, or a transfer).

Where I do think UConn still lags in WHO we have recruit. Guards love playing for Ollie and this system and he's a family man who played in the NBA and knows what it takes to make it and stay in the league but I think this staff needs to hire an alum like Rip or Ray Allen to help with recruiting and help seal the deal.

Might be a bit unrealistic and unlikely but I don't know I just think having a big name guy like that helping out would be huge for us in recruiting.

 

[tcf15]

I think we have filled the quota for former players as coaches. If we ever hire a new coach, I'd hope they would come from outside the UConn family and bring some AAU connections.

 

[Fishy]

We've never out recruited Duke or UNC and Kentucky is just insane right now. And given the conference affiliation, I get that we'll not do well against Syracuse, Arizona, Louisville, etc.

But we should do better against UNLV, Florida State, VCU, etc.

We don't have a guy who will outwork or out recruit someone like Todd Simon and that's what I hope they look for the next time we have a vacancy. Limiting the pool to UConn grads isn't a good idea.

 

[OkaForPrez]

We've never out recruited Duke or UNC and Kentucky is just insane right now. And given the conference affiliation, I get that we'll not do well against Syracuse, Arizona, Louisville, etc.

But we should do better against UNLV, Florida State, VCU, etc.

We don't have a guy who will outwork or out recruit someone like Todd Simon and that's what I hope they look for the next time we have a vacancy. Limiting the pool to UConn grads isn't a good idea.

Apparently we Lost Mack to VCU because you didn't tweet him enough.

 

[Matrim55]

We don't have a guy who will outwork or out recruit someone like Todd Simon and that's what I hope they look for the next time we have a vacancy. Limiting the pool to UConn grads isn't a good idea.

Apropos of everything, who is responsible for Texas A&M's recruiting class? They're a nothing basketball school that's sitting on a top 3 class. They must have gotten a new point man.

 

[chapwilvaug72]

watch a few minutes of last night's G-men vs Villanova

you will see what real recruits look like on the hoya side of ledger

they have so many men, each with multiskill sets it is scary when compared to what dogs have currently or what i should say dogs don't have currently

gmen on collision course with kentucky and i pick gmen

 

[OkaForPrez]

watch a few minutes of last night's G-men vs Villanova

you will see what real recruits look like on the hoya side of ledger

they have so many men, each with multiskill sets it is scary when compared to what dogs have currently or what i should say dogs don't have currently

gmen on collision course with kentucky and i pick gmen

And for all the Otto Porters and Hollis Thompson's that keep coming through that program they keep getting sniped by the Florida Gulf Coasts of the world. I don't get the Hoya worship.

 

[tcf15]

Apropos of everything, who is responsible for Texas A&M's recruiting class? They're a nothing basketball school that's sitting on a top 3 class. They must have gotten a new point man.

Former Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury.

 

[lange10]

I think we have filled the quota for former players as coaches. If we ever hire a new coach, I'd hope they would come from outside the UConn family and bring some AAU connections.

True I wasn't considering this. My main point is while to us the coaches we have on staff were great players and all, the players were recruiting probably won't know much about them. However, if we had Rip or Ray out there chasing these guys, or at least being involved in the process, it would be harder for these kids to say no to UConn. Just food for thought. I still think we recruit pretty damn well, just saying.

 

[Horatio]

" and likely landing 2 more recruits (Brown, Stone, or a transfer)".

I hope that part of your post is true because I think this is what concerns people. We know Calhoun and now Ollie can bring in one five star and then another 3.5 -4 star player per year. The problem is and has been bringing in more good players per class and some of our players " stars" ( rankings) all seem to be a little off or inflated.

 

[HuskiesAllDay]

True I wasn't considering this. My main point is while to us the coaches we have on staff were great players and all, the players were recruiting probably won't know much about them. However, if we had Rip or Ray out there chasing these guys, or at least being involved in the process, it would be harder for these kids to say no to UConn. Just food for thought. I still think we recruit pretty damn well, just saying.

I've been thinking this for a little while now. I remember when we recruited Ahmed Hill and a few other Georgia kids, posters were quick to point out that Ricky Moore is from Georgia as if that was somehow supposed to help.

I love Ricky Moore, but I doubt any high school kids today have ever heard of him, and just because he played HS ball there, I don't see how that helps us much since it was over 20 years ago.

Also, not to rip on Glen Miller, but I cant see any way that he is a very good recruiter. His personality is very vanilla to me and even I find him boring and I love UConn basketball. He doesn't exactly exude charisma, and I cant imagine kids walk away from meeting him thinking, "man I cant way to go play for that guy". I could be way off, but that is the vibe that I get. Since hes Ollie's #2 man on the staff, this could be an issue with recruiting.

I am of the belief that Ollie needs a proven recruiter on the staff.

 

[UCweCONN]

You think our recruiting is struggling now, wait until we have a .500 season in a weak conference we should own. Not winning any recruits this way.

 

[JLock819]

watch a few minutes of last night's G-men vs Villanova you will see what real recruits look like on the hoya side of ledger they have so many men, each with multiskill sets it is scary when compared to what dogs have currently or what i should say dogs don't have currently gmen on collision course with kentucky and i pick gmen

You must be smokin' that good stuff...one good game and now they'll beat UK. You are a trip ol' sled dog watcher you.

 

[The Smart One]

Also, not to rip on Glen Miller, but I cant see any way that he is a very good recruiter. His personality is very vanilla to me and even I find him boring and I love UConn basketball. He doesn't exactly exude charisma, and I cant imagine kids walk away from meeting him thinking, "man I cant way to go play for that guy". I could be way off, but that is the vibe that I get.

 

[Mano]

I've been thinking this for a little while now. I remember when we recruited Ahmed Hill and a few other Georgia kids, posters were quick to point out that Ricky Moore is from Georgia as if that was somehow supposed to help.

I love Ricky Moore, but I doubt any high school kids today have ever heard of him, and just because he played HS ball there, I don't see how that helps us much since it was over 20 years ago.

Also, not to rip on Glen Miller, but I cant see any way that he is a very good recruiter. His personality is very vanilla to me and even I find him boring and I love UConn basketball. He doesn't exactly exude charisma, and I cant imagine kids walk away from meeting him thinking, "man I cant way to go play for that guy". I could be way off, but that is the vibe that I get. Since hes Ollie's #2 man on the staff, this could be an issue with recruiting.

I am of the belief that Ollie needs a proven recruiter on the staff.

Not trying to pick on you, but how many name recruiters do you think are out there in the college basketball landscape? I don't disagree that we need a good recruiting closer on the staff, but with a lot of those guys comes a reputation of sliminess that I'd like to think our cherished university is above. Simply hiring a Rip or a Ray would probably help in some regards but who knows how developed their coaching acumen might be. Not saying they couldn't do it given their years in the league, they certainly could impart tons of knowledge I'm sure, but they are unknown quantities.

I've always assumed Ray would go into NBA coaching or announcing also. Anyway, I'm not so sure we should discount a guy like Ricky Moore, especially when looking up the Virginia Tech staff who landed Ahmed Hill. They've now got Buzz, sure, but the rest are just as anonymous as Ricky.

 

[chapwilvaug72]

oaktwee: otto wotto hollis follis: the past is the past; it has no bearing on what I saw last night; that second generation coach in hoyaland has a juggernaut ready to explode at the seams; snipers that drilled them in past lives drilled them because they had missing pieces; ask Villanova if they think hoyadestroya has any missing links this year.

guaranteed califarci watched closely last night and guaranteed he knows he has no answers to stop hoyadestroya

 

[Gurleyman]

http://espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=400588398

 

[jibsey]

Apropos of everything, who is responsible for Texas A&M's recruiting class? They're a nothing basketball school that's sitting on a top 3 class. They must have gotten a new point man.

Forget the point man, we would trade conferences in 2 seconds with A&M in the SEC.

 

[Scot-e]

Having a down year after NC #4 sucks? - ask anyone but UK or possibly Lville and they will take it in a minute. Teams like Kansas, UNC and lesser teams like Quse would kill a baby seal to have the last 5 years UCONN has had.
I think it's interesting talk about the future and we certainly need a few more quality commits - but the sky is not falling- we lost 4 out of 5 starters and most of our leadership and poise outside of Boat. Give AB and DH a year or so and they will be great leaders. We need a few more pieces but will be right back in the mix in a year or two.
Stop comparing us to Uk or Dook or Lville- it's not fair and is like me comparing myself to Brad Pitt- I am more of a Jack Black comparison and that's OK.
We are UCONN and we have always found under the radar players- mixed in a few AA types and developed our team. I personally would take a FF every 4 years - it's an amazing accomplishment. Everyone but Uk (which is not really a college team anymore) would be delighted to make it every four years to the FF.
We have one of the best and brightest coaches in college- I have faith that he will figure out how to get the job done in our dudie of a conference.

 

[HuskiesAllDay]

Not trying to pick on you, but how many name recruiters do you think are out there in the college basketball landscape? I don't disagree that we need a good recruiting closer on the staff, but with a lot of those guys comes a reputation of sliminess that I'd like to think our cherished university is above. Simply hiring a Rip or a Ray would probably help in some regards but who knows how developed their coaching acumen might be. Not saying they couldn't do it given their years in the league, they certainly could impart tons of knowledge I'm sure, but they are unknown quantities.

I've always assumed Ray would go into NBA coaching or announcing also. Anyway, I'm not so sure we should discount a guy like Ricky Moore, especially when looking up the Virginia Tech staff who landed Ahmed Hill. They've now got Buzz, sure, but the rest are just as anonymous as Ricky.

My point on Ricky Moore wasn't that he isn't a big name assistant in a world full of them. I was simply saying that posters often assume that somehow his playing career and Georgia "connections"/ affiliation will help us recruiting kids from GA and the south, and I don't see how that's the case. I don't see how i was discounting him at all.

Either way Buzz' no-name anonymous assistants landed Hill (and Clarke), and VCU's landed Mack, and UNLV's landed Jones, and ours didn't. Who knows if that has anything to do with it, but whatever the reason, none of them are going to wear a Huskies jersey and chose to opt for much less distinguished ones.

Agree Ray seems like a natural to join the coaching ranks and would love to have him.

 

[Kitaman]

I would have to wonder if Ray and other UConn NBAers will work tenaciously at recruiting. Which means traveling, watching hs/aau games, making notes, homework, visiting homes, emailing, phoning, etc. That is an awful lot of work for a huge pay cut.

However there are ways that Rip, Ray and others can add recruiting value but I am not so sure they would be up for this task. No offense or negativity on them but they are multi-millionaires who just may be comfortable not working so hard. Now if Ray and others are willing to put in the work, there would be no one better to represent. By the way this has nothing to do with their loyalty just that I see this as a business/career decision.

With that said we need an expert salesman (not just representation) who can effectively sell and close UConn to recruits. Maybe Ollie needs a little more time to identify that person out there or someone on our staff needs more training (if there is such a thing). But I would have to believe there is some bored/inactive NBA player or ex college coach out there who could use a job and has the tenacity to sell our program and can identify the hidden gems as well as bring in the big dogs. As others have said they don't have to be UConn bred, just believe in Ollie, UConn and our traditions.

I don't think there is an urgency since we have been successful in the Tourney in the last 10 years, but we would certainly benefit from a consistent class of high recruits to maintain 30 plus win seasons, putting us back on regular TV, top 10 rankings and extended media coverage. But we are not hemorrhaging or even bleeding, just maybe wounded from the misses and 'thefts' from other schools.

Its a new day and top rated freshman are getting much more attention (coverage) than I ever could imagine, so with the Stones of the world comes positive attention and perhaps draws more top recruits.

Anyway, who is our closer? That's what needs 'fixin' even if it is Ollie.

 

[jibsey]

I would have to wonder if Ray and other UConn NBAers will work tenaciously at recruiting. Which means traveling, watching hs/aau games, making notes, homework, visiting homes, emailing, phoning, etc. That is an awful lot of work for a huge pay cut.

There are ways that Rip, Ray and others can add recruiting value but I am not so sure they would be up for this task. No offense or negativity on them but they are multi-millionaires who just may be comfortable not working so hard. Now if Ray and others are willing to put in the work, there would be no one better to represent. By the way this has nothing to do with their loyalty just that I see this as a business/career decision.

With that said we need an expert salesman (not just representation) who can effectively sell and close UConn to recruits. Maybe Ollie needs a little more time to identify that person out there, but I would have to believe there is some bored/inactive NBA player or ex coach out there who could use a job and has the tenacity to sell our program and can identify the hidden gems as well as bring in the big dogs.

I don't know if there is an urgency since we have been successful in the Tourney in the last 10 years, but we do need a consistent class of high recruits to maintain 30 plus win seasons, putting us back on regular TV, top 10 rankings and extended media coverage.

Its a new day and top rated freshman are getting much more attention (coverage) than I ever could imagine, so with the Stones of the world comes positive attention and perhaps draws more top recruits.

So who is our closer? That's what needs 'fixin' even if it is Ollie.

I think you nailed it as far as what they have to do for recruiting when it comes to our UCONN superstars like Ray. I don't see him doing all of those things you listed because he has no time what with being on the phone to his financial advisers as they manage his zillions. I do see him working with promoting and selling our program as he encounters our recruits when he's a Gampel but that's not the same. Donyell doesn't need a job, but what's he doing?

 

[Fishy]

If anyone thinks Ray Allen or Richard Hamilton is going to take a job that will require them to spend one-third of their lives on an airplane, another third in a rental car and the last third in some high school gym, they're not thinking.

Todd Simon might make $150K at UNLV and he recruits the paint off the walls - that's who you hire. It's effort, connections, more effort and then even more effort. He just took Derrick Jones away from UConn, etc., by outworking everyone involved.

 

[uconnell]

I think you nailed it as far as what they have to do for recruiting when it comes to our UCONN superstars like Ray. I don't see him doing all of those things you listed because he has no time what with being on the phone to his financial advisers as they manage his zillions. I do see him working with promoting and selling our program as he encounters our recruits when he's a Gampel but that's not the same. Donyell doesn't need a job, but what's he doing?

r

If UCOnn doesn't ask Ray, they will never know what his interest is. He might surprise them.

 

[HuskiesAllDay]

Having a down year after NC #4 sucks? - ask anyone but UK or possibly Lville and they will take it in a minute. Teams like Kansas, UNC and lesser teams like Quse would kill a baby seal to have the last 5 years UCONN has had.
I think it's interesting talk about the future and we certainly need a few more quality commits - but the sky is not falling- we lost 4 out of 5 starters and most of our leadership and poise outside of Boat. Give AB and DH a year or so and they will be great leaders. We need a few more pieces but will be right back in the mix in a year or two.
Stop comparing us to Uk or Dook or Lville- it's not fair and is like me comparing myself to Brad Pitt- I am more of a Jack Black comparison and that's OK.
We are UCONN and we have always found under the radar players- mixed in a few AA types and developed our team. I personally would take a FF every 4 years - it's an amazing accomplishment. Everyone but Uk (which is not really a college team anymore) would be delighted to make it every four years to the FF.
We have one of the best and brightest coaches in college- I have faith that he will figure out how to get the job done in our dudie of a conference.

I think the concern is that our recent success is not sustainable and probably will never happen again. Catching lightning in a bottle is hard enough once. We did it twice in 4 years. Kemba and Shabazz are unique and we may never get another player like them again. You cant really rely on losing 8 or 9 games only to get hot down the stretch and have it all click and storm through the NCAA tourney.

We won two national titles and that's amazing, but they were otherwise very average seasons. Down years for a traditional power like Duke, Ky, Kansas etc. We have won more titles than anyone in the last 20 years, but we have also had a lot more down seasons too. Not since 2008-09 have we have a dominant type regular season. Now 2 years into the dreaded AAC and were sitting on a 14-8 conference record. Looking ahead it could be another few years until we have another, so it could be a decade or more between those seasons. That's a very long time for a program like ours. We were a #1 or #2 something crazy like 8 out of 10 years or something.

So sure our recruiting has been ok, but we really need to step it up a notch. The AAC certainly isn't helping, but we've seen players sign with programs in similar conference so that isn't the only excuse. We need to start getting some impact players. I love Brimah and Facey and both have great potential, but we cant rely entirely on those type of guys.

Also it cant be overlooked that the coach developing those 3-3.5/4 star guys into stars was none other than Jim Calhoun, who was probably the greatest college basketball coach ever at developing players. Ollie may be great also, but its doubtful he will match what JC was able to do in that respect.