2025 Updated Recruiting Targets

[HooperScooper]

good rundown of the targets.

Good comments on Dybantsa. Nice kid. Father isn't a bad guy. Exceptional talent. Just not a good fit for what Hurley is looking for.

 

[awy]

at this stage I'd rather have ament in the UConn system. also can't put all the money into one player.

 

[Mazhude]

Athletic: The best players we saw at Peach Jam

Several players with UConn recruiting mentions, including Brayden Burries, Tounde Yessoufou, and Derek Dixon.

Of note: Shelton Henderson (No. 25 in 2025): At 6 foot 6 and 220 pounds, Henderson has the frame to play college basketball tomorrow if he were eligible. And while his game does match his body at times — he can bulldoze his way to the rim — he’s a surprisingly connective player, capable of playmaking as a lead or secondary handler. (No surprise, then, that Henderson said he models his game after “big guards” like ... San Antonio Spurs rookie Stephon Castle, the fourth overall pick in last month’s draft.)

 

[auror]

Athletic: The best players we saw at Peach Jam

Several players with UConn recruiting mentions, including Brayden Burries, Tounde Yessoufou, and Derek Dixon.

Of note: Shelton Henderson (No. 25 in 2025): At 6 foot 6 and 220 pounds, Henderson has the frame to play college basketball tomorrow if he were eligible. And while his game does match his body at times — he can bulldoze his way to the rim — he’s a surprisingly connective player, capable of playmaking as a lead or secondary handler. (No surprise, then, that Henderson said he models his game after “big guards” like ... San Antonio Spurs rookie Stephon Castle, the fourth overall pick in last month’s draft.)

Haven't seen Dixon's name attached to us yet, but I like his game. He's outside the top 50 but just seemed to make every shot he took that I saw and is solidly built.

 

[aceboon]

Listening the Dauster pod and when he gets to Niko Bundalo he says we haven't really seen UConn play with a pure stretch 4...huh?

 

[awy]

Derek Dixon also scored pretty well on this passing metric based on top 100 camp data. There's some familiar names here.



dante allen is also someone that plays a role well and pretty underrated, but don't think UConn is in on him

 

[Mazhude]

Haven't seen Dixon's name attached to us yet, but I like his game. He's outside the top 50 but just seemed to make every shot he took that I saw and is solidly built.

Per the article: Derek Dixon (No. 59 in 2025): Dixon reminds me of Cam Spencer, another product of the DMV who lacks some foot speed but makes up for it with his feel and shooting. He’s one of the best shooters in the class and understands how to get to his spots and find space. He also has good vision and usually makes the smart play. Not surprisingly, Spencer’s old coach Dan Hurley was watching him closely this weekend.

 

[RuffRuff]

Listening the Dauster pod and when he gets to Niko Bundalo he says we haven't really seen UConn play with a pure stretch 4...huh?

Dausters point is that we haven’t used a kid Bundalo’s size as a stretch 4. AK is closer to a 3 than a 4, would not be a 4 at the NBA level. Bundalo would be a 5 playing as a 4.

Furthermore Dauster had some interesting insights. Thinks target class size is 3. Based on fit he thinks the best players for Hurleys system would be Ament, Burries and Bundalo. Interestingly he didn’t feel Maleeks game was a great fit, too on ball.

He did go on to rave about the Boozers and said if Hurley felt there was an opp to get them out of Florida and Duke, he’d go for it and they’d be perfect fits as kids who love hoops and are winners.

 

[awy]

he sees meleek as a tough shot maker but his passing feel is overlooked. he has enough vision and processing to work in the UConn system. also a lot of the tough shots are at the rim and he has a lot of moves to get to the rim, this commanding a lot of defensive attention. this offense is insanely good at converting offense gravity into advantage, and meleek can draw that attention and gravity. it's just a matter of passing on some tough shots.

 

[Drame]

We havent had a guy that was nasty on the ball. Castle has come closest and Newton could get a bucket most of the time if needed but sometimes based on the defense you just need a guy who can go and get one. I think our offense can get more varied and better than it has been, even though it has already been the best.

 

[aceboon]

Dausters point is that we haven’t used a kid Bundalo’s size as a stretch 4. AK is closer to a 3 than a 4, would not be a 4 at the NBA level. Bundalo would be a 5 playing as a 4.

Furthermore Dauster had some interesting insights. Thinks target class size is 3. Based on fit he thinks the best players for Hurleys system would be Ament, Burries and Bundalo. Interestingly he didn’t feel Maleeks game was a great fit, too on ball.

He did go on to rave about the Boozers and said if Hurley felt there was an opp to get them out of Florida and Duke, he’d go for it and they’d be perfect fits as kids who love hoops and are winners.

if that was his point then he could have said as much, yes Karaban would be more of a wing in the league but in college he's as prototypical a stretch 4 as it gets.

 

[bendm]

OK, draft your class of '25:

Thomas
Tounde
Greer
Reibe

plus returning

Nowell
Mahaney
Ball
Ross
Abraham
Reed
Singare

Pass on tounde. If this is a dream draft I’m taking Ament and Mullins along with Thomas, Reibe and Lewis.

Mahaney / Nowell / Lewis
Ball / Mullins
Thomas / Ross
Ament / Abraham
Reed / Reibe / Singare

 

[bendm]

Furthermore Dauster had some interesting insights. Thinks target class size is 3. Based on fit he thinks the best players for Hurleys system would be Ament, Burries and Bundalo. Interestingly he didn’t feel Maleeks game was a great fit, too on ball.

Even tho Thomas was rated as the best passer at peach jam? He’s an bozo

 

[auror]

Even tho Thomas was rated as the best passer at peach jam? He’s an bozo

Top 100 camp, which is not saying as much as actual games.

 

[awy]

team context is pretty important with thomas. he was deferring more early on in the aau season. the staff clearly think he's not a selfish kind of player.

 

[Ricker]

Preferences in order (grouped as big guards, frontcourt, pure 5)
2 of Thomas/Mullins/Burries/distant 4th Hudson Greer
2 of Bundalo/Ament/distant 3rd Aristode/Yessoufou/(Muurinen)
1 of Reibe, (the portal),

As a practical matter, my list is probably NIL limited to really have the resources to get more than 2-3 of such high talent
Any combination of 2-4 of Thomas/Mullins Bundalo/Ament would keep us as a threat for deep runs

Qualifying Thoughts
I don't sense high interest from Burries who gives you great guard rebounding like Castle/Newton
Mullins I covet but I bet Indiana wins in the end with at least 1 of his 2 high ranked Adidas buddies
Yessoufou is an impact player hard for me to see as a system fit only because he doesn't fit the mold we have had recently = coaching
I didn't know Abraham's strong connection to Ament which increases my optimism with him
Seems like Creighton has the perfect story for Reibe, but we'll see
If reclassifies, Muurinen is only 185lbs so I grouped him at Frontcourt rather than center (his 1 & done objective is less appealing)
(I actually like Tee Bartlett as this year's DJ Burns but there is no involvement by us that I know of)
Adams & Lewis underwhelmed me with their Peach Jam play. I'm not sold.
Jamison & Fowler both gave a Polley vibe as good looking shooters who don't accomplish other things
Aristode I like but is redundant to Abraham/Ross, and Stewart if we still have him vs nba, and, we seem less involved now
I watched a game with Sebastian Williams-Adams before our interest and never noticed him which doesn't scream impact player
Hudson Greer an ok piece based especially on position versatility
I discount Dauster's thoughts as real players for the Boozer twins & Dybantsa is a non-choice

 

[Mooch82]

Good breakdown @Ricker .

Dauster's pod highlighted the following nine guys...

Guards
Lewis
Thomas

Wings
Mullins
Adams
Burries
Ament
Yessoufou

Bigs
Bundalo
Reibe

I sort of feel like Mullins/Adams/Burries is one bucket and Ament/Yessoufou is another. Bundalo may also be more in the big wing group versus the big group.

He then mentioned a few other guys as having some interest, including Greer. I'd swap in Greer for Burries in terms of guys we actually have true mutual interest in...although I think he left him off the first nine because we haven't offered him yet. Burries is obviously great, but we don't have a visit scheduled and he's a West coast kid that seems likely to stay there. He also said that he thought we would take 3 guys, but it wasn't really based on a whole lot outside of current roster structure and the idea that we probably want to leave a spot or two open for transfers in the spring. 3 does feel like the most likely number, but 4 wouldn't surprise me either.

My IDEAL class right now would be Thomas, Mullins, Ament, and Reibe. Really would love to get an Ament visit on the calendar. Kid may have the highest upside in the class outside of Dybantsa.

 

[awy]

I think guys like greer/sebastian williams/others are seen as backup options for now in case they don't get any of the higher priority guys. this class is deep with quality players so going further down the rankings may not be that bad if it means you get more money for portal and more years of control.

 

[NJHoops]

Not targets, but general recruiting stuff-

As one might expect, though, he already has come down off the high of winning again.

“Obviously, a lot of people are patting you on your back, but you’re just locked in on winning again,” Hurley said. “Because it fades fast, man. This one faded faster than the first. It’s gone. Some of the messaging is for the fans and the people associated with UConn so they know I’m not resting on what we did. And some of it is for the players, right? They read all this s—, so I want them to see publicly what our goals are.”

Asked whether he was flexing to recruits the fact that he spurned interest from a college and an NBA blue blood — Kentucky and the Los Angeles Lakers — in the same offseason, Hurley grinned and pointed to the shirts.

“Our back-to-back gear just came in,” he said, “so right now we’re mostly flexing that.”

 

[bendm]

Tounde Yessoufou Trims List of Finalists to 10

And then there were ten. A day after picking up an offer from Kentucky, Tounde Yessoufou including the Wildcats among his finalists.

www.on3.com

 

[awy]

battle of the hurleys for tounde

 

[HuskyHawk]

I think in the long-term there needs to be either bonuses for playing well or minimum performances to get your money. The latter would be tricky. There's just too many players getting huge $ that suck. I'd be pissed off if I was a donor giving more than 10 bucks a month to SC

Imagine if McNeeley had a contract where if he comes in and the team makes the sweet-16, he gets extra. Or if he averages less than 30% from 3 he won't get a certain amount of $.

Of course there are A LOT of things I'm not thinking of. But I do think we need a system where kids get money for college performances and not what they did in hs.

That's not NIL then. NIL is entirely, 100% about marketing value. Schools cannot directly pay kids (except the permitted stipend) and cannot pay them for performance. If you want to end college sports even faster, paying them to play would be the way. It's just a minor league system for the pros at that point.

 

[superjohn]

That's not NIL then. NIL is entirely, 100% about marketing value. Schools cannot directly pay kids (except the permitted stipend) and cannot pay them for performance. If you want to end college sports even faster, paying them to play would be the way. It's just a minor league system for the pros at that point.

Dude it's pay to play now, who said anything about schools directly paying kids. Boosters are paying kids to play and giving them lambos, you would think they would want a return on their investments.

 

[HooperScooper]

Not targets, but general recruiting stuff-

As one might expect, though, he already has come down off the high of winning again.

“Obviously, a lot of people are patting you on your back, but you’re just locked in on winning again,” Hurley said. “Because it fades fast, man. This one faded faster than the first. It’s gone. Some of the messaging is for the fans and the people associated with UConn so they know I’m not resting on what we did. And some of it is for the players, right? They read all this s—, so I want them to see publicly what our goals are.”

Asked whether he was flexing to recruits the fact that he spurned interest from a college and an NBA blue blood — Kentucky and the Los Angeles Lakers — in the same offseason, Hurley grinned and pointed to the shirts.

“Our back-to-back gear just came in,” he said, “so right now we’re mostly flexing that.”

Even in a gymnasium packed with fans and a who’s who of college basketball coaches, it’s easy to spot Hurley and his backward baseball cap. He sat front row, center court, for every coveted prospect’s games last weekend at Peach Jam, and his folding chair might as well have been a throne. For the second straight summer, he strutted into this event as the king of his sport, the reigning champ.

Lol. It's good to be the king.

 

[ec33]

That's not NIL then. NIL is entirely, 100% about marketing value. Schools cannot directly pay kids (except the permitted stipend) and cannot pay them for performance. If you want to end college sports even faster, paying them to play would be the way. It's just a minor league system for the pros at that point.

Not sure what world you have been living in. The Arkansas money isn't coming from Wal-Mart and Tyson Foods, it is coming from the Walton and Tyson families. Their personal fortunes.