UConn's Kevin Ollie Deserves Credit As Elite Basketball Recruiter

Early on in the Kevin Ollie tenure, even though he won a National Championship, there were whispers in some corners that the UConn coach couldn’t compete with the elites in the recruiting market. The past two to three classes have changed that big time. You just have to look at the results.

For the class of 2014 ,he plucked Daniel Hamilton out of Los Angeles and brought him all the way to Storrs. After his freshman season last year, it’s clear how talented Hamilton is and how big of a get that was for Ollie. A year before that, Ollie was able to lure star guard Rodney Purvis on the transfer market.

In fact, it’s that transfer/graduate transfer market where Ollie has really shined. Purvis was first, and this past offseason Ollie was able to land a big pick up by getting Seton Hall transfer Sterling Gibbs to come to the Huskies. He also grabbed veteran Shonn Miller from Cornell and Terry Larrier (not eligible until 2016) from VCU.

Ollie has something that shows these guys UConn will be a better experience for them than their former schools. He’s showing them that there are greener pastures in Connecticut. While former legendary coach Jim Calhoun is the Godfather of UConn basketball, Ollie has shown something that Calhoun never really did with his willingness and ability to grab transfers. He knows it’s never too late to bring someone into your program.

Ollie has really stepped up his high school recruiting the past two offseasons as well. In a lighter class size wise thanks to having little roster turnover, he added Jalen Adams and Steven Enoch. Adams is surely the prize of the class. He has a chance to be just as impactful as the last UConn guard to come out of Roxbury, Mass — Shabazz Napier. Where Ollie really is shining is for the upcoming 2016 freshman class. At this very moment they have the fifth ranked recruiting class in all of the nation according to Rivals. That’s something UConn hasn’t had in forever.

The recent commitment of Vance Jackson really pushed an already great class to the elite level. The No. 72 player on Rivals chose UConn over all the NCAA’s elites. He’s joined by No. 31 Juwan Durham, No. 36 Alterique Gilbert and No. 142 Mamadou Diarra. Add an eligible Larrier to that class and Ollie has an elite group of players coming in next year to go with several key players who could return from this year’s team (only Omar Calhoun and Phil Nolan are seniors). Ollie has put all those calling him a horrible recruiter in their place.

UConn was considered left for dead when Calhoun bolted and they were excluded from a power conference. However, Ollie has set UConn up wonderfully for the present and future. It’s time Ollie gets love for his coaching and recruiting prowess. Here’s to hoping UConn is able to keep him around as long as Calhoun was in town, because the Huskies have a gem on the bench.

Andrew Frosceno covers the New York Giants, college football, college basketball and MLB for www.Rantsports.com. You can follow him on Twitter, Google or Facebook.