A Preliminary Look at 2014 Basketball Recruiting

UConn’s 2014 recruiting class will mark the first class that Kevin Ollie will have scouted, recruited and courted on his own without the legend Jim Calhoun. Many have questioned and even doubted Kevin Ollie’s ability to keep UConn Basketball at the elite level fans have become accustomed to. First, it bears mentioning that Calhoun did not specialize in bringing in elite recruits as much as building teams out of solid recruits who stay for at least 2-3 years. Of course he’s brought in Rudy Gay, Villanueva, Taliek Brown and others, but his bread and butter was developing those players that weren’t super highly rated.

I strongly believe KO will not disappoint. Those who are still not sold on his ability to lead the program and keep the Huskies in the top tier of Men’s Basketball don’t seem to understand that he played a large role in our recruiting as an assistant. He was critical in recruiting Ryan Boatright, Omar Calhoun and others during his 2 year tenure as assistant coach. He also had 2013’s #2 overall recruit Jabari Parker add UConn to his list after Ollie became head coach.

It cannot be overstated how highly Ollie is regarded in the basketball world. He was an unheralded recruit out of Crenshaw High, and worked his tail off to earn a starting role by his sophomore season at UConn. Undrafted after college, he played two years in the CBA (what?) for the Connecticut Pride (who?) before earning a shot at a coveted NBA roster spot on the Dallas Mavericks. He spent the next 13 years holding down a roster spot among a slew of different teams, earning his keep by being the hardest worker on his team, understanding every nuance of team strategy, and leading by example for younger players. This man turned down an offer to be in the Thunder front office to be an assistant at UConn.

Although it is still very early in the 2014 recruiting trail there are some high profile players that the UConn staff has in their sights. With Rodney Purvis joining after his transfer season and Danny Hamilton already in the mix, we’re off to a good start. As the summer progresses and the AAU summer circuits get into full swing there will be more recruiting news and a clearer picture of which prospects are legitimately attracted to UConn. The back court for the ‘14-‘15 team is looking pretty solid right now, so hopefully we can make some moves for PF/C’s and bring back the UConn block parties we’ve been accustomed to.

We'll provide more detail on these players as this list becomes smaller. This is the start of a running series providing an overview on recruiting news, updates and more.

Committed:

Daniel Hamilton SG

ESPN #27 overall ESPN Recruiting Page
Rivals #28 overall Rivals Recruiting Page

Offered as of 5/24/2013:

Jahlil Okafor C

ESPN #1 overall ESPN Recruiting page
Rivals #1 overall Rivals Recruiting Page

Rashad Vaughn SG

#9 overall ESPN Recruiting Page
Rivals #6 overall Rivals Recruiting Page

Leron Black SF

ESPN #11 overall ESPN Recruiting Page
Rivals #16 overall Rivals Recruiting Page

Jordan McLaughlin PG

ESPN #23 overall ESPN Recruiting Page
Rivals #33 overall Rivals Recruiting Page

Ahmed Hill SG

ESPN #25 overall ESPN Recruiting Page
Rivals #26 overall Rivals Recruiting Page

JaKeenan Gant SF

ESPN #26 overall ESPN Recruiting Page
Rivals #25 ovarall Rivals Recruiting Page

Kelly Oubre SF

ESPN #43 overall ESPN Recruiting Page
Rivals #27 overall Rivals Recruiting Page

Kameron Chatman SF

ESPN #49 overall ESPN Recruiting Page
Rivals #39 overall Rivals Recruiting Page

Abdul Malik- Abu PF

ESPN #53 overall ESPN Recruiting Page
Rivals #50 overall Rivals Recruiting Page

LJ Peak SF

ESPN #34 overall ESPN Recruiting Page
Rivals #71 overall Rivals Recruiting Page

Trayvon Reed C

ESPN #42 overall ESPN Recruiting Page
Rivals #59 overall Rivals Recruiting Page

Paul White SF

ESPN #58 overall ESPN Recruiting Page
Rivals #43 overall Rivals Recruiting Page

Paschal Chukwu C

Unranked by ESPN
Rivals #74 overall Rivals Recruiting Page

Alex Robinson G

ESPN unranked
Rivals #81 overall Rivals Recruiting Page

Jared Terrell SG

ESPN Unranked
Rivals #57 overall Rivals Recruiting Page