At Jim Calhoun's retirement/Kevin Ollie's introductory press conference two months ago, Calhoun had this to say about Ollie's resiliency:

"Kevin Ollie has been rejected a time or two. So, recruiting violations? Next guy ..."

UConn has had a lot of "next guys" lately, and you can now add Noah Vonleh to the list. The coveted 6-9 center out of New Hampton (N.H.) prep committed to Indiana last night. The Huskies thought they had an outside shot at Vonleh if the Massachusetts native wanted to stay close to home, but it didn't work out.

UConn fans are likely to blame the seven-month contract Kevin Ollie is currently on for the team's recent recruiting misses (Vonleh, Xavier Rathan-Mayes, Ron Patterson, etc.). It certainly doesn't help. And while UConn's impressive, season-opening win over Michigan State on Friday night certainly could hasten Warde Manuel to offer Ollie a long-term deal, it's going to take more for Ollie to prove himself to the A.D.

Talking to others around college basketball, another factor that's hurting UConn on the recruiting trail is simply the coaching staff's lack of contacts in the AAU world. Ollie is seen as a great recruiter, and anyone who meets him loves him. But sometimes that's not enough. He's spent almost his entire professional life in the NBA and hasn't yet made the important contacts in the recruiting world that coaches need.

Associate head coach Glen Miller spent most of his coaching life in the Ivy League, which is an entirely different recruiting world than the cut-throat, big-time D-1 landscape. Assistant Karl Hobbs was a demon on the recruiting trail in his eight prior years at UConn, but that ended in 2001. As head coach at George Washington, Hobbs delegated much of the recruiting to assistants (as most head coaches do). And George Blaney doesn't handle any recruiting at all.

And, of course, there's all the speculation and questions surrounding the future of UConn in general and the Big East in particular.

This is not to say that these guys can't go out and light it up on the recruiting trail. The results haven't been there yet, but they've had their hands tied to a degree, be it Ollie's contract or, prior to that, Calhoun's health and impending retirement questions. This is a bright and talented staff that can accomplish a lot of things. But right now, it simply lacks the "bulldog" lead recruiter with the ties to the AAU/preps world that can give a call to the AAU hot-shots and make sure they put in the good word for the Huskies with their kids.

Ollie, an L.A. native, is currently trying to cultivate his West Coast connections on the recruiting trail (he is absolutely loved in L.A.). Jordan Bell, a 6-7 Class of 2013 forward out of Long Beach, will be making his decision on Monday and is said to be down to UConn, Oregon and Auburn (though the Huskies appear to be a long-shot after Bell recently cancelled a visit to Storrs). Ollie also recently had Class of 2015 forward Bennie Boatwright out of the L.A. area on campus for an unofficial visit.

Meanwhile, Class of 2013 Brandon Austin, a highly-touted 6-5 guard out of Philly, is said to be down to UConn, Providence and Texas for his final decision, which could come this week, according to SNY's Adam Zagoria. He'd be a very nice get for the Huskies.

I'd never bet against Kevin Ollie in anything, and certainly not on the recruiting trail, even with the recent rejections. It's just worth pointing out that it's not just his seven-month contract that's hurting UConn in recruiting.

Some observations from Kevin Ollie's first practice as UConn's head coach:

Ollie is more vocal than Jim Calhoun, who didn't do a lot of shouting in practices. Ollie raised his voice a few times, but it was mostly positive encouragement. At one point, a walk-on shouted, "You look like you're giving up!" at the White Team of Ryan Boatright, DeAndre Daniels, Enosch Wolf and another walk-on that was struggling to get stops during a four-on-four drill. Ollie turned to the kid and told him if he was going to do any talking, it needed to be positive encouragement, not negative.

Not that Ollie didn't go negative. He once yelled at frosh Phil Nolan, "Hey Phil, if you want to play, you've got to get your ass some rebounds." He got on Boatright during the drill for not keeping his arms raised on defense. Another time, he stopped everything and told his team to be more vocal.

There were no "F-bombs" like Calhoun was noted for, but certainly some, shall we say ... PG-13 language.



Boatright was particularly peeved during the final drill, in which each four-man group must get three straight defensive stops before practice can end. It took Boatright's team a while, due in part to Leon Tolksdorf's hot shooting but also due to a lack of boxing out. At one point, Boatright kicked some foam padding about eight rows into the stands out of frustration.

After practice, Ollie took Boatright aside, one-on-one.

“He was just saying continue to be a leader," Boatright said. "Even when things aren’t going your way, continue to be a leader, because this team is going to feed off me. I’ve got to bring the energy and enthusiasm, even when things aren’t going my way.”

*** We only caught the last hour or so of practice, but there were certainly some positives. As mentioned before, Tolksdorf can shoot. Boatright calls him "Pistol Pete" (and I give Boatright props for knowing his hoops history).

Omar Calhoun knocked down some shots, as well, and looked good overall -- even providing some vocal leadership, though he's just a freshman.

I also liked a fairly complex new offense Ollie has installed, one that involves plenty of down-screens and movement. It's far more imaginative than some of the offensive sets I've seen the team run in recent years.


*** Shabazz Napier participated in about "45 percent" of practice, according to Ollie. He looked good in shooting drills, the coach said, but can't move laterally as quickly as they'd like him to and didn't do any one-on-one or physical drills.

Napier hopes he's "a few days from being 100 percent" and hopes to be ready for UConn's first exhibition game on Nov. 1.

“I think I should be out on the floor," he said. "I’m moving along quickly. This is my fifth week, so I really wasn’t supposed to be shooting, jumping (at this point)."

*** Khadeen Carrington of Brooklyn and Winston Morgan out of East Catholic, both of whom were guests at Friday's First Night, were also at Saturday's practice.

UConn also had another visitor -- Bennie Boatwright, a 6-6, Class of 2015 wing out of the Los Angeles area who has received scholarship offers San Diego and New Mexico State. He was on an unofficial visit.