2025 Recruiting: Meleek Thomas Watch
- Thread starter FearThePups
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Something something something, 3 guys on team USA, something something something, look at the all star roster, something something something, look at who’s most teams best players are.
It’s not a hard pitch lol. Especially when you’re talking to players who believe they can be that good.
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It’s also a litmus test for the staff. Kids looking for the highest nil first is not part of UConn dna. One of the biggest advantages of having our staff, is we don’t have to lose any sleep over recruiting. They always find the right guys.
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And the funny thing is, the only reason he can speak to that is because he gets those kids in the first place. It’s not like he’s developing them. It’s a one year stop over and apparently one where he puts them through NBA etiquette school, how to hold your Crystale glass at the club.
It’s why the UK faithful ran him out of town. Really just a minor league system.
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Is this the opposite of a wink?
Until or if the NCAA puts a ceiling on NIL budgets- The same programs after Top 25 kids will continue to show up on the recruiting trail. Kentucky-Kansas-Kansas St-Arkansas-Alabama-Auburn to name a few. As mentioned by @HooperScooper above- Very few top kids have committed to 2025 rosters so far.
With the success of winning back-to-back NCs and having a reputation for player development and NBA visibility as a Program-UConn is in play for many Top 25 2025 recruits. In years past we have recruited and developed Top 35-100 kids (exceptions Castle and McNeeley) who prioritize player development/coaching/winning. As a result of attracting and targeting higher level prospects- These kids have more people in their ears telling them what to do-Advisors-AAU coaches-"Agents"-Parents/family/friends. Waiting for rosters at their preferred choices to take shape before committing.
End result-Longer cycles on decisions. All Danny/staff can do is keep filling the pipeline with alternatives until their targets commit. Dan has also done pretty well in the portal so he can take his time for the right guys.
With the success of winning back-to-back NCs and having a reputation for player development and NBA visibility as a Program-UConn is in play for many Top 25 2025 recruits. In years past we have recruited and developed Top 35-100 kids (exceptions Castle and McNeeley) who prioritize player development/coaching/winning. As a result of attracting and targeting higher level prospects- These kids have more people in their ears telling them what to do-Advisors-AAU coaches-"Agents"-Parents/family/friends. Waiting for rosters at their preferred choices to take shape before committing.
End result-Longer cycles on decisions. All Danny/staff can do is keep filling the pipeline with alternatives until their targets commit. Dan has also done pretty well in the portal so he can take his time for the right guys.
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Dauster was the one who said this...but in my opinion this is a short sighted mindset. There are certain schools/coaches that will be so much more valuable to these kids in terms of their long term career, where a couple hundred K difference shouldn't be the difference maker. If UConn offers you $500K and Kansas State offers you $750K - you really think it's worth it to go to Kansas State? Not to mention the fact that the longer you wait, the bigger chance your scholarship opening may be taken by someone else. Meleek has probably been trying to drive UConn's price up...but ultimately we may take 2 of 3 out of the Mullins/Lewis/Adams group and Meleek has lost his spot.
game theoretically the one whom the program values most is the critical decision, having priority. but there's a trade-off with limited budget and so on. finding this point, telling people straight up and sticking to it is the best strategy.
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If Castle blows up will we say we were responsible for developing him? Same with Liam?
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I’m starting to wonder if kids these days use media to drive up their NIL price.
Visiting a national championship school before the real bag school in Arkansas and putting it out there you may commit would be a crazy leverage play.
If Arkansas doesn’t play, hey you can go to the best program in the country still. If they do they have to come with it. Along with any other school that comes in.
Visiting a national championship school before the real bag school in Arkansas and putting it out there you may commit would be a crazy leverage play.
If Arkansas doesn’t play, hey you can go to the best program in the country still. If they do they have to come with it. Along with any other school that comes in.
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Coach Cal: "Here at [fill in current school], we'll give you truckloads of money & also won't substantially hurt your prospects to be a high-level NBA player in the future...keep in mind that you're unlikely to make it past Round 1 of the NCAA tournament...but that's actually a blessing in disguise as you'll have more time to relax and thoughtfully prepare for the NBA draft!"
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It's been well-known for awhile that he decided he wants to visit some other schools. So we'll see what transpires.
In the meantime, hilarious how people will develop agita over something like this posted by someone who has only posted 2 times before...both in 2022 about Providence-centric items.
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Eh...there was a tweet from a pretty valid source. He didn't completely make up the smoke.
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Kind of. Heard for months it was a done deal. Now a wait and see.
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From the Tweet of July 27, 2024:
I have been told Arkansas boosters are supplying Calipari with around 8M in NIL money and if the word on the street about Acuff reaching 7 figures for his commitment is true, I would venture to say Calipari would give Meleek the same. Will UConn be able to match that? I don’t know. But on the contrary I am not sure if the Acuff commitment has affected him considering Arkansas but I doubt so if he is still planning to visit. Will Cal come off that type of money when he has a 5* guard and will need it for some other recruits/portal additions? I’m not sure.
Is that $8 million annually? I highly doubt UConn has that kind of dough to spend on NIL. I hate this kind of NIL stuff. It's just totally the antithesis of what NIL was supposed to be.
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QuickDraw
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And yet we still knew this is how it was going to go, this is the new arms race. Money ruins everything pure & good.
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Buddy, if you think college sports were ever pure and good...
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Where was Castle drafted? What was his recruiting ranking? Did he develop to outperform his recruiting ranking?
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I wonder if there's a Moneyball aspect to how this is playing out. Like, has Hurley prioritized going a little bigger on relatively modest NIL money for high-impact transfers (Spencer, Newton, Mahaney) and returnees (Clingan, Karaban) over astronomical NIL money for high-profile recruits?
If so, hard to argue with the results so far.
If so, hard to argue with the results so far.
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I just don’t see how we can both negate the success Cal players has because they’re highly recruited one and dones but then want to get credit for Castle and Liam if they do the same thing.
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wait, wait. Do not compare our coaching staff with anyone else, particularly not Cal. Whaley. Adama. Clingan. Newton. Cam. Andre. Hawkins. These guys ALL got significantly better under this coaching staff. And this year, Samson and AK will be added to this list. So please, comparing us with Cal will trigger ---- out of me.
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Would be wild to be in the “draft” room as the staff prioritizes. I’d imagine NIL is one of the reasons they moved off Dysbantsa. Why put all eggs in one basket for a OAD? So if you can get two of Mullins and Greer for less than 1 Thomas, spread your odds of success, maybe you do. This was the old Belichek way.
Cal likely just spent a bundle on Acuff, who was a top 5 kid and from everything I’ve heard, an on-ball kid focused on the NBA. A perfect fit. He seems to be sticking to his age old approach with the Tyson $$. In Arkansas they’ll get hyped around it given a lower bar, at UK they started seeing through it as a program who wants to actually win.
You didn’t follow my point. My point was that guys like Castle, Clingan, and Hawkins came in at a certain recruiting ranking or level. They left at much higher levels. They outperformed where their recruiting rankings were, meaning they improved while they were here. It doesn’t mean a lot when a top 5 McDonald’s All American goes in the lottery. Weren’t they kind of expected to with that ranking? Did they actually get better?
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From a moneyball perspective you would look at two types of players. the smart athletes with skill upside, and system fit advantage creators with the right mental makeup.
This year they are targeting more HS stars and guys with more exposure, because the program clout is elite. but these guys tend to be expensive, and more of a fit for non-development focused bag schools as well. So it seems like they are in a lot of elite recruitments but closing the deal gets a bit more difficult. It's important to identify what exactly the star scorer brings that generates value for the program, and what attributes can be replaced.
The smart athlete with skill upside is an obvious fit and they've targeted this type a lot. These guys benefit greatly from UConn's development, more than they would get from any other program. With a year of practice, they can play in the system and be versatile positionless two way players. the only snag is the shooting may not be guaranteed, but shooting is something that can be developed. The other benefit is them being less exposed (lower usage) on offense, and thus are not as expensive. The skill development bit is a roll of the dice, but upside is big.
The more ambitious and high upside play is elite advantage creators with passing capability. Elite high school scorers come in many different forms. Some scale better than others, but more importantly, some are more universally valuable to all kinds of programs. This is typically the ball dominant iso bucket getter. This type of player is valuable to the bag schools, so they will be more expensive.
Advantage creation to generate scoring, and mental makeup is to scale it in a team context. The mental makeup is seen as a prerequisite by this program, stuff like processing speed, awareness and willingness to pass to the best shot etc. The core problem is figuring out the most cost effective form of advantage creation for the system. Personally I think it's a combination of elite shooting and the athleticism to attack open lanes, individual iso creation i.e. beating a stationary, in stance defender is not as important. This skill is highly valued by the NBA and is self sufficient, so it tends to be on the ball dominant star types, pretty expensive. Ditching this and maybe also "tough shotmaking" can open choices up a lot.
Shooting is a special skill that is about cashing in the advantage created, and having more of it can synergize and scale. Just in terms of cashing in the advantage created, It can be obtained from the portal with smart offball movement shooters. poverty moneyball is basically some uber advantage creators who can't shoot too well surrounded by elite shooters who can't score. This is not good enough right now though. UConn is pretty magical at generating cuts to the rim for guys who can't shoot and utilizing vertical gravity, but ideally you still want to maximize shooting. A bunch of dangerous shooters who can also attack open lanes running around waiting to pounce with their high feel is the ideal form.
iso scoring is still important as a floor raising skillset, especially in close and late situations. but you can avoid this situation by blowing people out.
This year they are targeting more HS stars and guys with more exposure, because the program clout is elite. but these guys tend to be expensive, and more of a fit for non-development focused bag schools as well. So it seems like they are in a lot of elite recruitments but closing the deal gets a bit more difficult. It's important to identify what exactly the star scorer brings that generates value for the program, and what attributes can be replaced.
The smart athlete with skill upside is an obvious fit and they've targeted this type a lot. These guys benefit greatly from UConn's development, more than they would get from any other program. With a year of practice, they can play in the system and be versatile positionless two way players. the only snag is the shooting may not be guaranteed, but shooting is something that can be developed. The other benefit is them being less exposed (lower usage) on offense, and thus are not as expensive. The skill development bit is a roll of the dice, but upside is big.
The more ambitious and high upside play is elite advantage creators with passing capability. Elite high school scorers come in many different forms. Some scale better than others, but more importantly, some are more universally valuable to all kinds of programs. This is typically the ball dominant iso bucket getter. This type of player is valuable to the bag schools, so they will be more expensive.
Advantage creation to generate scoring, and mental makeup is to scale it in a team context. The mental makeup is seen as a prerequisite by this program, stuff like processing speed, awareness and willingness to pass to the best shot etc. The core problem is figuring out the most cost effective form of advantage creation for the system. Personally I think it's a combination of elite shooting and the athleticism to attack open lanes, individual iso creation i.e. beating a stationary, in stance defender is not as important. This skill is highly valued by the NBA and is self sufficient, so it tends to be on the ball dominant star types, pretty expensive. Ditching this and maybe also "tough shotmaking" can open choices up a lot.
Shooting is a special skill that is about cashing in the advantage created, and having more of it can synergize and scale. Just in terms of cashing in the advantage created, It can be obtained from the portal with smart offball movement shooters. poverty moneyball is basically some uber advantage creators who can't shoot too well surrounded by elite shooters who can't score. This is not good enough right now though. UConn is pretty magical at generating cuts to the rim for guys who can't shoot and utilizing vertical gravity, but ideally you still want to maximize shooting. A bunch of dangerous shooters who can also attack open lanes running around waiting to pounce with their high feel is the ideal form.
iso scoring is still important as a floor raising skillset, especially in close and late situations. but you can avoid this situation by blowing people out.
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Mr. French
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I think he’s said as much already - they are going to be competitive in the market in the ways NIL was intended, but they’re not getting into arms races with 5*s.
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From the most recent draft Steph Castle was ranked #10 in the class and was drafted 4th, that's a success. Rob Dillingham was ranked #21 and was drafted 8th and Reed Sheppard was ranked #79 and went 3rd. You'd have to really twist yourself in knots to give Dan Hurley credit for his lottery pick and not give Cal credit for his
Now do Justin Edwards and the Harrison twins.
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I'm too lazy to do a statistical analysis but all of the UConn players drafted in the last three years have outperformed their rankings in HS or the portal.
That is definitely not true of Cal.
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you can also say "now do Bouknight". From the eyes of a recruit, it's hard to argue, Cal's guys get to the NBA, they get 2nd and 3rd contracts, they make All Star and All NBA games. His issues werenever tied to recruiting, it's been in game "coaching".
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