2024 Recruiting: One more potential add?

[uconnblueinky]

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[runner11]

Wasn’t the first portal tweet from Hurley when Liam committed? I am going to combine myself that Norlander was referring to a 25 like Dybantsa.

And do people forget Hurley’s odd quote about making sure the role they want for Hass matches the role he envisions? I expect he will be the 6th man with Mahaney and Ball as the starting guards.

 

[speckle]

McNeeley isn't coming to be a 4. It's not going to be his position in the NBA and it wouldn't help him by playing there in college. Aside from some quick rotations this sort of thing is established during elite recruiting. Also, Omier is a "whatever it takes, we'll make it work" level player who can bring the beef. I'd love to see us involved with him if he drops out of the draft. I do like Pryor alot too.

 

[boog204]

His first name is Liam.

Ahhh the reading be hard. Think I didn’t see him in the mix for the three, didn’t see his last name, and then got confused. I’m also still traumatized from the Mahaney thread the other day with Alex Teriyaki, et al…

 

[NJHusky]

i really dont like seeing ross as our backup PF. he's 6'7 190 lbs soaking wet. closer to a 2 than a 4.

A 20 yr old kid with personal training and chef should be able to gain 10lbs or more of muscle easily over the summer

 

[T-Squared]

For those over-zealous fans that think that our offense will be as good as the last two years - please calm yourselves. The Huskies five starters all averaged double figures this season, and I personally don’t expect that again for the 24-25 season. Nowell, Mahaney, McNeely and Hoss all need to learn the offense - and if they do there’s no guarantee that they’ll run it as smoothly as this past season. Ball and Stewart have a leg up here, and don’t think that they won’t take advantage of that edge over the newcomers to carve out minutes for themselves. They’ll start, but do you expect them to fill it up like Tristen and Cam? McNeely can score, but even Jordan Hawkins didn’t average double figures his freshman year coming off the bench. Do you think that McNeely is better than Hawkins at this stage? Do you think that he’ll bump Ball or Stewart?

The guards will unlikely rebound as well as Newton, Spencer and Castle did this past year. The Huskies enjoyed a tremendous edge in rebounding all year, and that wasn’t solely due to Clingan.

I expect UConn to be one of the best teams in the nation in 2024-25. I also expect that their average margin of victory will be single digits. That doesn’t mean that they won’t 3-peat, but if they do I expect a closer score in the final. 77-74 sounds about right.

 

[Improviser]

A 20 yr old kid with personal training and chef should be able to gain 10lbs or more of muscle easily over the summer

Is there a personal chef on the staff?

Or, is there a BY volunteer who will cook and bring daily meals?

 

[3rdbass]

A 20 yr old kid with personal training and chef should be able to gain 10lbs or more of muscle easily over the summer

Alex did it so not sure why Stewart can't. Ross isn't going to be the backup PF as he is the backup SF.

 

[Huskyforlife]

i really dont like seeing ross as our backup PF. he's 6'7 190 lbs soaking wet. closer to a 2 than a 4.

It’s not ideal but he fills the role of floor spacer when Alex is on the bench. I also think he might simply beat out Abraham with his experience. Plus you can always move Stewart down to the 4 defensively and have Ross play the guard/wing role offensively.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Maybe the next time someone’s cries about misspelling names, using abbreviations, or mixes first and last names in a single post, it’ll never happen again?

 

[Fan1978]

2 of Mahaney, Ball, Stewart, McNeeley would come off the bench and it seems crazy to suggest any of them do. So I'm not sure what to predict

I like solo a lot but what has he done to be anointed a starter? Mahaney is the only one that should expect to start from that group.

 

[Fan1978]

if Karaban goes pro, we could use a player who can rebound, play some defense on 4 and shoot. Unless, Hurley thinks Ross or Abraham could do that role. I think 6’7 is tall enough to play the 4 in UConn system but need some strength to defend players like Bryce Hopkins. I suppose it’s possible Samson could get some time at 4 against some of the nastier opposing power forwards, but that would probably mess up offensive sets.

And he would foul out in 2 minutes

 

[Fan1978]

McNeeley isn't coming to be a 4. It's not going to be his position in the NBA and it wouldn't help him by playing there in college. Aside from some quick rotations this sort of thing is established during elite recruiting. Also, Omier is a "whatever it takes, we'll make it work" level player who can bring the beef. I'd love to see us involved with him if he drops out of the draft. I do like Pryor alot too.

We can’t afford omier’s salary

 

[UCLJ0211]

Maybe something like.

Diarra(25)-Mahaney(15)
Liam(25)-Mahaney(10)-Solo(5)
Stewart(25)-Solo(15)
Alex(30)-Ross or Abraham(10)
Center(20)-Center(20)

Nowell could push Solo and Ross/Abraham for the 9th spot, but I think a lineup like this fits our personnel better. Really depends on Liam and/or Stewart’s ability to be a support ball handler.

Is there a chance Singare could play the backup 4 in spot minutes? I see him more as a 5 though.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

Alex did it so not sure why Stewart can't. Ross isn't going to be the backup PF as he is the backup SF.

Last year we played basically 3 combo guards ath 1-3 because that was what the roster dictated we do. This season i think we'll see more 2 Guard, 2 Fwd, 1 Big lineups because that's what this roster is.
Basically what i'm saying is that this season there wont really be a SF & PF, there will be 2 guards and 2 wings. There may even be times when we go 1 "guard" and 3 wings if Liam has a secure enough handle, although i don't expect this a lot....but who knows.

Guards- Nowell, Diarra, Solo, Mahaney
Wings- Stewart, McNeeley, Abraham, Ross, ?Karaban
Bigs- Samson, Reed, Singare

Diarra, Nowell and Solo will be able to guard 1-3 (most teams play a "3" that's between 6'4"- 6'7"). Nowell will be a terror defensively against taller players similar to the way Boatright was. TBD on Mahaney. On the occasion that there's a bigger 4, we will offer some help when necessary, or just single cover and let that guy get his points while locking up everyone else, like we did with Edey and Purdue.

The tricky thing will be if the wings can guard down on quicker guards. I think Stewart and Abraham will have no problem, but i'm not as sure about Ross and Liam. They may just chase their wing counterparts when on the floor.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

Is there a chance Singare could play the 4 in spot minutes? I see him more as a 5 though.

kill me. just do it. i cant take any more

 

[bendm]

A 20 yr old kid with personal training and chef should be able to gain 10lbs or more of muscle easily over the summer

Ross isn’t a PF

 

[Huskyforlife]

Ross isn’t a PF

The only difference between Ross and Stewart is 10 pounds.

 

[AdamaNation]

Would love a more traditional big bodied PF that could take some tough defensive assignments. Our potential frontcourt of AK and Samson could get out muscled by some bigger frontcourts.

Mike Haynes 2.0!!!

 

[AdamaNation]

And thank God for that.

We correctly realized that the benefits of having a skilled 4 (shooting, spacing, press-breaking, interchangeability, matching up defensively against small-ball 4s) are much more valuable than the downsides (possibly being overpowered on D by traditional 4s if anyone still uses them).

It is really hard to take advantage of a team that uses a stretch 4 like Karaban, and very easy to take advantage of a team that uses a traditional 4 like Whaley.

But Whaley would be the ideal add for this roster.

 

[AdamaNation]

I don't think AK got backed down with ease. He added muscle and seemed to hold his own even against some bigger centers. It definitely was something he worked on last year offseason to get stronger. I agree that Stewart and especially McNeely would need to add muscle to bang down low. This year we don't have Clingan to cover for guys so it will be interesting how we do inside. I think on offense we will be a better shooting team than this year with who we keep and those we bring in. The team will look a little different for sure but same concept of stretch 4 to keep the lanes open is what we will have this year.

AK stayed in front of Eddy for 8 minutes to bring home #6. I bet that has a big psychological effect on him.

 

[auror]

McNeely can score, but even Jordan Hawkins didn’t average double figures his freshman year coming off the bench. Do you think that McNeely is better than Hawkins at this stage? Do you think that he’ll bump Ball or Stewart?

Yes definitely to the first question. Unclear to the 2nd, depends on the jumps that Ball and Stewart take. I think McNeeley in HS this past year was better than Ball or Stewart, their freshman years, yeah.

 

[AdamaNation]

Mahaney and McNeeley are definite starters I would think.

They need to earn it. I think Mahaney with 2 years is our 6th. Solo started a bunch last year with great effect and his defense will be a step or two ahead.

 

[AdamaNation]

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Bet this dude could play. Give him a call.

 

[JungleLobo]

Is there a chance Singare could play the backup 4 in spot minutes? I see him more as a 5 though.

Not likely. Someone has to fill the role Apollo Romogoglu left