2024 Recruiting: ESPN 100 2024 Final Rankings

[444JR]

Liam McNeeley #9 *currently on OV 4/23
Ahmad Nowell #34
Isaiah Abraham #58

 

[Karmacop]

Just for comparison's sake, last year for ESPN it was:

Stephon Castle #12
Solomon Ball #33
Jayden Ross #84
Jaylin Stewart #95
Youssouf Singare UNR

So McNeeley would be higher ranked than Castle, and Nowell is nearly the same ranking as Ball.

It's clear that ESPN underranked Stewart, who appears more ready to contribute next year than Ross. But who knows, Ross might surprise us all next year after another offseason of work.

McNeeley would be the highest ranked player on ESPN's list to commit to UConn since Andre Drummond (#2) in 2011.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Just for comparison's sake, last year for ESPN it was:

Stephon Castle #12
Solomon Ball #33
Jayden Ross #84
Jaylin Stewart #95
Youssouf Singare UNR

So McNeeley would be higher ranked than Castle, and Nowell is nearly the same ranking as Ball.

It's clear that ESPN underranked Stewart, who appears more ready to contribute next year than Ross. But who knows, Ross might surprise us all next year after another offseason of work.

McNeeley would be the highest ranked player on ESPN's list to commit to UConn since Andre Drummond (#2) in 2011.

Another big question is whether Ball was a miss or whether he was just buried behind other guys who out-performed him.

 

[Karmacop]

Another big question is whether Ball was a miss or whether he was just buried behind other guys who out-performed him.

It's tough when the guys ahead of you last year at the 1G and 2G positions are Newton, Castle, Spencer and Diarra. With only Diarra back, we'll soon see what we've got in Ball. He should at the very least get 15-18 minutes of playing time (if not more) even if a portal guard is brought in. He looked great early in the season (see UNC game), so he's got the talent.

 

[Fan1978]

Another big question is whether Ball was a miss or whether he was just buried behind other guys who out-performed him.

He showed several glimpses of what is to come

 

[king conn]

Donnie Freeman #6 to Sara?

Let's go steal him just for kicks

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Isaiah Abraham seems to be regarded as an afterthought when posters speculate about rosters, rotations, and playing time.

The common Boneyard inclination is to regard many UConn recruits as underrated, and rarely overrated. A final ranking of 58 seems to have gotten more of a ho-hum response, I suppose, because his offensive stats & skills haven't leaped out. I'm interested in seeing how he fits with the program.

 

[mauconnfan]

Isaiah Abraham seems to be regarded as an afterthought when posters speculate about rosters, rotations, and playing time.

The common Boneyard inclination is to regard many UConn recruits as underrated, and rarely overrated. A final ranking of 58 seems to have gotten more of a ho-hum response, I suppose, because his offensive stats & skills haven't leaped out. I'm interested in seeing how he fits with the program.

I admittedly only saw him twice but both games against HS teams that were sending most of their players to D-1, the best competition. He’s a better player than we think we’re getting I think. Obviously small sample but he does a lot well while being very physically and athletically gifted. Think he finds minutes next year. But of course that depends on the portal hits too.

 

[auror]

Isaiah Abraham seems to be regarded as an afterthought when posters speculate about rosters, rotations, and playing time.

The common Boneyard inclination is to regard many UConn recruits as underrated, and rarely overrated. A final ranking of 58 seems to have gotten more of a ho-hum response, I suppose, because his offensive stats & skills haven't leaped out. I'm interested in seeing how he fits with the program.

Seems like he had a good few months to close out his HS career, but the narrative hasn't quite caught up yet. He was ranked #79 by ESPN when he committed to us, now 58th. But the portal players are shiny yet experienced things, so it's easy to get enamored. That and he has some positional overlap with McNeeley, so presumably he's getting lowered down 1 rung if McNeeley commits.

 

[Dutch Boyd]

Isaiah Abraham seems to be regarded as an afterthought when posters speculate about rosters, rotations, and playing time.

The common Boneyard inclination is to regard many UConn recruits as underrated, and rarely overrated. A final ranking of 58 seems to have gotten more of a ho-hum response, I suppose, because his offensive stats & skills haven't leaped out. I'm interested in seeing how he fits with the program.

I agree, Hans. Most of these so called experts on here had similar reactions to Clingan just a couple years ago.

 

[DAVEROD]

I admittedly only saw him twice but both games against HS teams that were sending most of their players to D-1, the best competition. He’s a better player than we think we’re getting I think. Obviously small sample but he does a lot well while being very physically and athletically gifted. Think he finds minutes next year. But of course that depends on the portal hits too.

Isaiah Abraham seems to be regarded as an afterthought when posters speculate about rosters, rotations, and playing time.

The common Boneyard inclination is to regard many UConn recruits as underrated, and rarely overrated. A final ranking of 58 seems to have gotten more of a ho-hum response, I suppose, because his offensive stats & skills haven't leaped out. I'm interested in seeing how he fits with the program.

I agree was easily one of the best players on the court during his teams games in the Chipotle National Championships. He was effective on offense and was a really talented player on defense. He will be a major contributor

 

[EROCK CONN]

Another big question is whether Ball was a miss or whether he was just buried behind other guys who out-performed him.

Solo was not a miss... he was really good, especially considering he was a freshmen, before Castle came back. He had 13 against UNC, 9 against IU and 12 against Xavier in January.

I think Solo is going to be oustanding next year.

 

[bendm]

The common Boneyard inclination is to regard many UConn recruits as underrated, and rarely overrated.

i think the days of hoping that our 3 and 4* recruits are actually good enough to beat out our returning players are over. now we reserve that optimism for our 5* recruits and transfers.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

The tendency here is to downgrade players who either haven't had the chance to show much at the college level, or haven't been a top 10 recruit in HS, or may have been moved to a lesser role by a superstar. I think what I would recommend is that you look at the skills and/or physical attributes displayed at each level, and decide does that skill translate.

Clingan - 7'2" with incredible reach, soft hands and touch, and teachable. So he didn't play high level AAU ball, so what?

Hurley has recruited these last two classes with skills/attributes that will translate. I have confidence that Ball, Stewart, Ross, and even Singare may each be contributors next year if they put in the work and trust the coaching. There's a lot there in each of those guys to commend. The first two I think are ready to make the jump. The second two less so, but if Ross gains strength and can reliably shoot and Singare gets the attention and coaching that raw post guys need they both might surprise.

I think we know what Nowell can do, the only question on him is how early can he be a major plus and play significant minutes. I agree with @mauconnfan that Abraham showed a lot the couple of times I saw him, including athleticism and toughness on D and a nice jump shot out to the line, with touch. I bet he's a significant contributor by mid-season, particularly if Karaban exits.

 

[Fishy]

Another big question is whether Ball was a miss or whether he was just buried behind other guys who out-performed him.

Going to avoid insults here, but the answer is just so screamingly obvious. So, so obvious.

Ball plays the same position as Stephen Castle. Castle is pretty good.

Ball got a lot of minutes when Castle was injured and you can go right to the Butler game to see where he handed those minutes back to Castle - once Castle was ready to go 30-36 minutes a night, those minutes came from Ball.

To answer the anticipated response, “But Jaylin got minutes…”, Jaylin Stewart is a 6’7” wing playing an entirely different game. With Cam, Tristen, Stephon….another combo guard was not going to see time.

 

[superjohn]

i think the days of hoping that our 3 and 4* recruits are actually good enough to beat out our returning players are over. now we reserve that optimism for our 5* recruits and transfers.

There's definitely some truth in this.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

Ball is gonna ball next year. The kid plays hard and he has ample skills. He just wasn’t as good as castle and that is not a put down. Kid is gonna be great. And I for one look forward to seeing Has, Ball and Nowell disrupt games defensively next year!!!

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

I agree, Hans. Most of these so called experts on here had similar reactions to Clingan just a couple years ago.

Donovan was ranked something like 72, right?

But, on the overall topic of roster construction, I do expect the landscape to change every year for the foreseeable future. Look at the many ways this coaching staff could have gotten caught flat-footed every single year, and look at how it has absorbed surprises, pivoted, anticipated, adjusted, acted, and grown...and then look at the many other programs that haven't.

The predictions and speculations that based on incomplete information continue pretty much like it's just another off-season.

Anxious impatience, high ambitions, and higher expectations are the new normal. Not for everybody of course, but for many. Probably too many.

 

[Ricker]

247 ranks the portal players. I skimmed thru 350. There are many top 100 recruits in their class that are 200 to 350 in the portal. Given all the underclassmen that have been drafted from each class, and all the players not in the portal, it speaks to the inexactness of rankings.

 

[Fan1978]

Another big question is whether Ball was a miss or whether he was just buried behind other guys who out-performed him.

He showed several glimpses of what is to

Donovan was ranked something like 72, right?

But, on the overall topic of roster construction, I do expect the landscape to change every year for the foreseeable future. Look at the many ways this coaching staff could have gotten caught flat-footed every single year, and look at how it has absorbed surprises, pivoted, anticipated, adjusted, acted, and grown...and then look at the many other programs that haven't.

The predictions and speculations that based on incomplete information continue pretty much like it's just another off-season.

Anxious impatience, high ambitions, and higher expectations are the new normal. Not for everybody of course, but for many. Probably too many.

clingan 56 actually

 

[uconngb]

Going to avoid insults here, but the answer is just so screamingly obvious. So, so obvious.

Ball plays the same position as Stephen Castle. Castle is pretty good.

Ball got a lot of minutes when Castle was injured and you can go right to the Butler game to see where he handed those minutes back to Castle - once Castle was ready to go 30-36 minutes a night, those minutes came from Ball.

To answer the anticipated response, “But Jaylin got minutes…”, Jaylin Stewart is a 6’7” wing playing an entirely different game. With Cam, Tristen, Stephon….another combo guard was not going to see time.

I won’t. Anyone that says Ball was a miss is a moron. Tell me who he was gonna play over? We went 37-3 and won a NC. Tell me exactly where he was supposed to fit in once Castle came back healthy.

Stupid, stupid, stupid

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

clingan 56 actually

I just looked and 24/7 showed 73rd, which is what I was recalling.

Still, in addition to ESPN showing 56, I just saw Rivals and On3 both higher than ESPN. I'm not going to bother to look for a consensus. I agree with you, and my greater interest was noting that Abraham at 58 is pretty good .

 

[Fan1978]

I just looked and 24/7 showed 73rd, which is what I was recalling.

Still, in addition to ESPN showing 56, I just saw Rivals and On3 both higher than ESPN. I'm not going to bother to look for a consensus. I agree with you, and my greater interest was noting that Abraham at 58 is pretty good .

Abraham is going to be a good player. I think people minimize him thinking he was only part of failed package deal

 

[husky429]

Isaiah Abraham seems to be regarded as an afterthought when posters speculate about rosters, rotations, and playing time.

The common Boneyard inclination is to regard many UConn recruits as underrated, and rarely overrated. A final ranking of 58 seems to have gotten more of a ho-hum response, I suppose, because his offensive stats & skills haven't leaped out. I'm interested in seeing how he fits with the program.

He'll play because he can defend. How much will depend on if his offensive improvement is consistent or a flash in the pan.

As of 6 months ago, I'd have said his offense will preclude him from getting anything more than spot minutes. His offense was horrible in AAU and early in his HS season. He seems to have taken a big leap in the 3 games I saw recently. PT will be earned in practice as always.

 

[MuchoDogYears]

Another big question is whether Ball was a miss or whether he was just buried behind other guys who out-performed him.

Not a question at all and certainly not a “big” question.

The reality is that Ball and the other freshmen (not named Castle) were “out- performed” by the 5 UConn starters who were so talented that they won the national championship.

In the same light, you’re saying that Ball wasn’t able to beat out the most dominant starting 5 in college basketball this year. I don’t think that qualifies as a “miss” on Ball.