2025 Recruiting Targets?

[navery12]

H/T: @UConnStats

 

[UCfor3]

Love that we pursue shooters like gangbusters nowadays.

 

[Mr. French]

I thought I remember early in Burries’ career we were watching him a decent amount, then didn’t hear much. I may be misremembering but I think so.

Seems like he got the offer, he’s a definite player.

 

[Zionn]

Love that the basis of seemingly every recruit is the Pitt bull fight attitude. Playing with that chip is always what made us excel.

 

[Ricker]

2024-25
Today Hurley mentioned they might still decide to take a 13th player for 2024-25 as a redshirt. That surprises me unless there is a center candidate to redshirt that has good enough future potential. Using the open scholly would leave us with only a likely 4 schollies for next year when we really seem to be able to load up. (Diarra, Johnson, & likely Karaban, McNeely)

2025-2026 Guards:
We are offering a bunch of guards considering we expect Mahaney, Ball, & Nowell to return. I would be surprised to carry more than 5 guards in the end. #6 Meleek Thomas, rising Braylon Mullins, #13 Brayden Burries, & #18 Darius Adams all have 6'4 / 6'5 size and great value add. Acuff 6'3 & Lewis 6'2 seem a bit redundant to our existing guys no matter how good they may be. I'm hoping for Thomas and 1 more from the taller group.

2025-2026 Forwards
Niko Bundalo seems like a great Karaban/McNeeley replacement. Dybantsa & Aristode are the only others so far and I am dismissing Dybantsa from my expectations based on my assumption without evidence that the culture fit isn't close enough. Aristode would be great, but not necessarily leaps better than other names that could surface.

Conclusion
So far give me Meleek Thomas & Niko Bundalo and we're competing for titles with returnies. Ahother 6'5 guard from this group of great offers makes us really really good.

 

[HooperScooper]

He's been playing very well this spring. Due for a big jump in the rankings.

Acaden Lewis blossoming into potential five-star recruit

His story is a remarkable one, now he's amongst the nations top juniors

stockrisers.com

 

[auror]

Don't think it was posted here yet but we also offered Chris Cenac Jr. Top 30 in the composites. He was MVP of the NBA top 100 camp. 6'10 with a handle/face up game, can shoot, and fluid athlete.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Don't think it was posted here yet but we also offered Chris Cenac Jr. Top 30 in the composites. He was MVP of the NBA top 100 camp. 6'10 with a handle/face up game, can shoot, and fluid athlete.

Nice. What has made us dominant is having two very skilled bigs. We definitely need someone who can protect the rim. I hope that continues.

 

[ToolzieFan]

Is this a complete list? This could be an awesome class.

 

[auror]

Is this a complete list? This could be an awesome class.

Not sure if distinction between offer and target or interest or whatever, but Aristode is a notable absence. Can't find if we offered him, but there was a lot of visit chatter and we watched Expressions a lot. But he had that "on and off" quote.

 

[Drame]

Don't think it was posted here yet but we also offered Chris Cenac Jr. Top 30 in the composites. He was MVP of the NBA top 100 camp. 6'10 with a handle/face up game, can shoot, and fluid athlete.

On3 has him #6 which sounds more accurate if hes getting MVP of NBA top 100. He's quite impressive.

 

[husky429]

Don't think it was posted here yet but we also offered Chris Cenac Jr. Top 30 in the composites. He was MVP of the NBA top 100 camp. 6'10 with a handle/face up game, can shoot, and fluid athlete.

Sounds like he sat out last season after transferring high schools? Would make sense of why he's getting so many late offers and there's very little film on him. Also he plays on the PUMA circuit??

From what I can see, has a pretty well-rounded skillset and a very nice shot at 6'10. Built well. Nice frame with long arms. Should be a fun one to keep an eye on.

 

[husky429]

Not sure if distinction between offer and target or interest or whatever, but Aristode is a notable absence. Can't find if we offered him, but there was a lot of visit chatter and we watched Expressions a lot. But he had that "on and off" quote.

This is what I wrote about Aristode after watching 4 Brewster games. He's good--very good--but I'm not sure we have room for someone with such a limited offensive skillset in our system. He dominates AAU because of his physicality, but in real games, he's basically a spot up shooter who can't pass on that end. Very good defender though. I wonder if we're waiting to see how his dribbling and passing develop before pursuing him more aggressively. I may have not posted this before because I didn't want to say something so negative about a recruits ability on offense, but... f it.

...

Overall: I watched 4 games versus the best competition I could find. He’s a big, strong, physically advanced wing. Built like a grown man and can jump. 6’7 205–he’ll probably show up to college 6’8 220. Excellent 1v1 defender. Absolutely lockdown. His offense outside of spot up 3s is underwhelming. Good spot up shooter at about 38%. I don’t see how he could effectively play anything but the 4 in college barring a massive improvement on the offensive end. I worry that without a huge boost in his IQ and comfort vs pressure and moving the ball on the perimeter, he wouldn’t fit in with the identity we’ve created. All high school juniors need to improve, but his skillset would need to improve more than any other recruit in the last couple years to fit in.

Defense: Physically advanced and locked in on defense. Effort is fantatsic. Terrific wing defender and always matching up on the opponents best perimeter player regardless of size. He is going to be a fantastic college defender and a leader of a team defense. On the defensive end, he could be the best perimeter defender on the team in year 1. He’s got the physical profile to shut down the kind of strong, driving 4s that have given us fits lately. He held VJ Edgecombe (#4 in the 2024 class) to something like 2/9 shooting when Aristode was his primary defender. Despite being a fantastic athlete, he isn’t all that good of a defensive rebounder. He’s physical and tough so he gets the offensive boards, but can’t track the ball well enough or doesn’t have the awareness to get defensive boards at the rate you’d expect considering his size.

Offense: This is where things go a bit haywire. He can shoot the 3 at a solid clip–about 38% between high school and FIBA on decent attempts. He will be a very good spot up shooter in college. Can’t shoot off the dribble effectively. Frankly, just about everything else isn’t up to our level at his current stage of development. He struggles mightily versus pressure because his handles and passing aren’t good enough. He only had 1 assist and 3 potential assists in over 100 minutes of playing time I saw him in. That is simply not good enough. A JV player would get a few assists just by moving the ball out of fear. His handles are not good, and he dribbles far too much for his skill level in close games. It leads to turnovers–almost 3 a game and those are almost exclusively from dribbling into traffic with no plan. He frequently slows down the offense by getting into this triple threat with his head down by his waist looking at his toes. With the ball on the perimeter, his decision-making is much too slow. It’s a 0-threat because he can’t shoot or pass with his head down, and he doesn’t have the handles to make something happen in anything but a wide open lane or in transition anyways. No left hand finish at the rim at all, nor does he have the Jalen Adams'esque creativity to get the shot off. Spends far too much time uninvolved and standing around on offense while his teammates make plays. His passing IQ is too low to be an effective part of a press break.

 

[husky429]

Acaden Lewis seems like Acuff insurance to me. I like what I'm seeing though. Quick with the ball in his hands, very fast release off the dribble.

15/3/4 in EYBL. 34% from deep on high volume. 78% from the line. I think about 46% from 2 if my math is right.

 

[controlfade]

Is this a complete list? This could be an awesome class.

I love Mullins!!!! If he came and had Liam next year as well…. Holy Hell!!!

 

[Mooch82]

Acaden Lewis seems like Acuff insurance to me. I like what I'm seeing though. Quick with the ball in his hands, very fast release off the dribble.

15/3/4 in EYBL. 34% from deep on high volume. 78% from the line. I think about 46% from 2 if my math is right.

I know we've offered Acuff but someone said he was a heavy Kansas lean. Lewis may be a more realistic option if we want a true PG type.

 

[FreeKlaiber]

Id love to get Thomas, Burries, Bundalo and Mullins. Would need a 5 from portal.

Burries has that edge I like. Competitor. Plays on Lebrons team if I recall

Thomas reminds me of Halliburton. High praise if you have seen his NBA game evolve

Bundalo plug and play AK replacement, a lefty european game.

Mullins can just stroke it, and is born for Murray's x and o's

 

[HooperScooper]

Don't think it was posted here yet but we also offered Chris Cenac Jr. Top 30 in the composites. He was MVP of the NBA top 100 camp. 6'10 with a handle/face up game, can shoot, and fluid athlete.

Good find. I read the stuff from the NBA Top 100 Camp and was wondering if UConn would offer.

On3 MVP: 5-star PF Chris Cenac​

Chris Cenac came into the NBPA Top 100 Camp as the highest-ranked player, No. 6 in On3’s 2025 class. Through the four days of the camp, the 6-foot-10 forward quickly became the talk of the camp. Cenac intrigued with his fluid athleticism and versatile ball skills. For starters, at his height, with his length, Cenac led the camp in rebounds (11.4) and he finished third in blocks with 1.6 per game. After securing rebounds, Cenac proved to be a threat to push the break. He showed an array of ball-handling abilities in the open floor, including in-and-out dribbles, euro steps, and change-of-direction dribbles that allowed him to put pressure on the rim.

Once Cenac got to the rim, he was explosive and violent. Finishing with two hands, in traffic, well above the rim. He also showed he could be a threat as a jump shooter. We have written about his shooting touch before, and he showed capable of much of the same this week. He knocked down shots off movement, stepped into shots, and made some from the corner off the catch. Throughout the camp, he showed off his versatility, and with that, the highest-ranked player coming into camp, played like the highest-ranked player throughout the camp.

Cenac averaged 18.6 points, 11.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.6 blocks through the camp. While only being ranked among the top 25 by On3 coming into the camp, he walked away as the camp’s MVP.

NBPA Top 100 Camp: Overall Top Performers

On3's Jamie Shaw lays out and discusses the top performers from the 2024 NBPA Top 100 Camp in Orlando, Florida.

www.on3.com

 

[Mooch82]

Id love to get Thomas, Burries, Bundalo and Mullins. Would need a 5 from portal.

Burries has that edge I like. Competitor. Plays on Lebrons team if I recall

Thomas reminds me of Halliburton. High praise if you have seen his NBA game evolve

Bundalo plug and play AK replacement, a lefty european game.

Mullins can just stroke it, and is born for Murray's x and o's

Mullins was originally supposed to visit this weekend...then we heard that visit may be off, and haven't heard a thing since. Anyone have intel as to whether the visit is still happening, if we're still recruiting him, etc.?

 

[navery12]

Mullins was originally supposed to visit this weekend...then we heard that visit may be off, and haven't heard a thing since. Anyone have intel as to whether the visit is still happening, if we're still recruiting him, etc.?

He mentioned UConn today in his interview, but doesn't sound like there's a date set yet

 

[HooperScooper]

Don't think it was posted here yet but we also offered Chris Cenac Jr. Top 30 in the composites. He was MVP of the NBA top 100 camp. 6'10 with a handle/face up game, can shoot, and fluid athlete.

Transferring to Link Academy.

On3 5-star PF Chris Cenac transferring to Link Academy

On3 five-star power forward Chris Cenac will transfer to play his senior season at Branson (MO) Link Academy.

www.on3.com

 

[peyton1211]

 

[peyton1211]

 

[Waquoit]

Every year, the median ranking of our list of recruits gets higher. This must be the highest in history. And it seems we're going to land a few. It's amazing, we are at the mountiantop.

 

[Ricker]

I'm curious as to whether these highly ranked highly skilled guards that are 6'4 to 6'5 all perceive themselves as 1 and done. It could become quite a recruiting rat race. I'd prefer at least some of guys accept the Hawkins 2 year plan.