December, January and February tend to be interesting months for those recruiting-obsessed folks among the Huskymaniacs.

Names start circulating, rumors start flying about which player the UConn staff is looking at and the more vocal fans aren't afraid to give advice to UConn coach Geno Auriemma, associate head coach Chris Dailey or anybody else will listen.

I have written this before but it bears repeating, with six national titles, three undefeated seasons, so many individual honors have been bestowed and still being bestowed on UConn players, I think Auriemma, Dailey and the UConn braintrust have a pretty good idea what they are doing when it comes to recruiting. I use the five ex-Huskies playing in the WNBA All-Star game and the larger number of former or current UConn stars in contention to make the 2012 Olympic team as exhibits A and B in the talent judging skills of the UConn staff.

They are rather particular. If they don't like a player regardless of how talented they are, they will pass. This is the time of year when the process begins to kick into gear. It's not really about identifying talent as much as it is identifying the right fit for the program. UConn does not believe in first come, first serve recruiting nor do the Huskies recruit in bulk. What that means is that they identify the players they want and pursue them, stressing quality over quantity. Sometimes that philosophy backfires as some questionable decisions were made between the time Diana Taurasi signed her letter of intent and Renee Montgomery put her name on the dotted line. But more often than not, it works pretty well. How well? By my math, UConn is 540-44 since the beginning of the 1993-94 season that's a 92.5 winning percentage which isn't impressive, it's downright staggering.

For every kid like Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, the sweet-shooting wing from Mater Dei High in Santa Ana, Calif., who decides early that UConn is the perfect place for her, there are others like Delaware scoring sensation Bentijah Laney who prefer to take their time, go through the process and make sure before they make the right decision. It may surprise you to know that the UConn coaches prefer the latter over the former. There's nothing worse than a highly-touted recruit committing to UConn before circumstances or just a change of heart leads to them playing elsewhere.

This much I know about what UConn wants in the upcoming class, high-quality players, high-quality kids and players with a high basketball IQ. Those are the same attributes Auriemma and Dailey went after when they first started working together in 1985 and not much has changed in that regard. Sure, they have a larger pool of candidates to draw on now as evidenced by the fact that the incoming freshman class will include players from California, Illinois and Ohio as well as two players from New York.

Many of the names being mentioned (Elizabeth Williams, Ariel Massengale, Bonnie Samuelson, Laney, Bria Smith) are very much on UConn's recruiting radar. But bear in mind that at this time last year, Sheronne Vails and Orsi Szecsi were being mentioned as kids UConn was pursuing. Vails will come to Connecticut only as a member of the visiting Louisville team. No matter how many times I wrote that Laurin Mincy and Meighann Simmons were not being recruited by the Huskies, those stubborn recruit-niks refused to believe me. I don't just make this stuff up, I don't just repeat second-hand information without confirming it.

I imagine more names will emerge, especially some other potential post players, between now and November, 2010. Ironically, if few names are mentioned, that could be a good sign that UConn is comfortable with their chances of getting the players they are pursuing. When people asked me about Bria Hartley and her chances of coming to UConn, I said that the fact that UConn was not pursuing other top-level point guards was a pretty good indication that UConn felt pretty good about their chances of landing the highly sought after Hartley. Sure enough, Hartley is headed to UConn.

The last thing to remember is that until a player comes to visit UConn, try not to get too wrapped up on any impending commitments. Do not underestimate the importance the UConn staff places in what the current Huskies think of the recruits. I won't name any names but there have been some pretty gifted kids who came in for a visit and before they arrived home, were no longer being recruited by the Huskies. It doesn't take a Yale graduate degree to figure out why that was the case. I can say with certainty that Mosqueda-Lewis, Laney and Samuelson earned the stamp of approval during their visits. They are three super kids who would fit in perfectly at UConn.

My guess is that no commitments will be coming in the near future but I am envisioning another impressive class to go along with the one the Huskies just signed. I would expect a minimum of four players and perhaps a total of five.

With the early signing period beginning two weeks from tomorrow, I figured this would be a good time to reflect on what could be one of the top classes ever brought into UConn.

With commitments from guard Bria Hartley, wings Lauren Engeln and Samarie Walker, forward Michala Johnson and center Stefanie Dolson, the UConn staff is understandably thrilled with the incoming freshman class. If forward/center Chiney Ogwumike, who one recruiting source told me is the best player in either this year or next year's class, bucks conventional wisdom and picks UConn rather than joining her sister at Stanford, the class goes from impressive to off the charts.

There's not much new to report on Ogwumike. Obviously, UConn is facing long odds trying to secure a commitment from the Cypress, Tex. superstar. Both of her parents want her to go to Stanford, her sister would love to play with her in college as she did in high school and Ogwumike has been accepted at Stanford. The fact that Ogwumike boarded a plane for Connecticut after playing a volleyball match for Cy-Fair High School should give an indication that Ogwumike's interest in UConn is legit. The good news for UConn is that she is being allowed to make her decision and it will be supported by her family so there will be no repeat of the Brittany Hunter situation when her step father's dislike for UConn coach Geno Auriemma clouded his judgment and he wouldn't let Brittany sign with UConn out of high school.

One thing about recruiting that has never ceased to amaze me is how some fans hang on every whim of every kid even mentioned as a recruiting target of UConn's. It is a long, arduous process that is draining for student-athletes, their families and coaching staffs.

Various names have been linked with UConn in the past year and here are where they have committed. I am only including names of the players who I have confirmed caught the eye of UConn's staff or visited campus and not including those mentioning that players would like to go to UConn because if I did that, this list could be staggering in its length.

Whitney Bays, Maryland
Olivia Bresnahan, Florida State
Shawnta Dyer, Louisville
Jennifer Hamson, Brigham Young
Cassie Harberts, Arizona State
Natasha Howard, Florida State
Laurin Mincy, Maryland
Daisha Simmons, Rutgers
Orsi Szecsi, Duquesne
Sheronne Vails, Louisville

My advice, which will likely be ignored, is to let the process play out if you are a UConn fan, I have a hunch you'll be pleased with the results.

Since that won't happen, the word I am getting is UConn is well into the process of identifying its top targets among the current group of high school juniors. The Huskies received a head start with the commitment of Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis.

I can report that Betnijah Laney and Ariel Massengale are high up on UConn's radar but as I mentioned above, the actually list of players the Huskies are targeting right now and the ones who sign with the school next November will likely be a tad bit different.

One-time UConn recruiting target Sheronne Vails has committed to Louisville according to a report in the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Vails is an athletic 6-foot-4 forward from Arundel High in Gambrills, Md. She was in attendance with her mom at UConn's game at Georgetown on Jan. 31 but interest on both sides appeared to wane shortly thereafter.

Just a note, you may notice that Sheronne's name is spelled Sherrone both in the newspaper report I linked and by ESPN but I was in contact with her mother early in the recruiting process and she spelled her daughter's name "Sheronne" in the e-mails we exchanged. I will never go against the spelling given to me by a player's mom so I will go with "Sheronne."