 According to individuals close to Maryland head coach Gary Williams, the recruitment demonstrated that rule-bending is often necessary to secure highly touted players, which Williams said he was unwilling to do, even at the expense of recruiting.As a freshman at Connecticut in 2004–05, Gay was a co-winner (with Jeff Green of Georgetown) of the Big East Conference Rookie of the Year award after averaging 11.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists on .462 shooting in 28.8 minutes in 31 games.He was a unanimous Big East All-Rookie Team selection, was named National Freshman of the Year by "The Sporting News", and earned Big East Rookie of the Week honors five times.