2026 recruiting breakdown | Page 3 | The Boneyard
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2026 recruiting breakdown

Ricker said:
I wish some writer would at least ask the staff why we seem to have no interest in particular regional prospects or ranked players that we might have a connection with. #39 6'10 Quinn Costello played in Mass and knocked the lights out this spring and is going to Michigan. He would have been the best Karaban replacement on the board in my opinion, never any known interest from UConn. #80 6'9 230lb Tristan Reed will be another Tarris Reed and we seem to like that, but never a mention. #59 6'10 Sam Funches as the son of a UConn player and being highly ranked, never a mention. Just doesn't seem like writers have any curiosity. I think as fans we'll wish we had Reed and Costello.
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Someone tried that 17 years ago
 
Ricker said:
I wish some writer would at least ask the staff why we seem to have no interest in particular regional prospects or ranked players that we might have a connection with. #39 6'10 Quinn Costello played in Mass and knocked the lights out this spring and is going to Michigan. He would have been the best Karaban replacement on the board in my opinion, never any known interest from UConn. #80 6'9 230lb Tristan Reed will be another Tarris Reed and we seem to like that, but never a mention. #59 6'10 Sam Funches as the son of a UConn player and being highly ranked, never a mention. Just doesn't seem like writers have any curiosity. I think as fans we'll wish we had Reed and Costello.
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They don't ask because they wouldn't get an answer. Coaches aren't even allowed to talk about the commits by name until they officially sign their NLI. I can't imagine they'd be allowed to talk about any of those guys
 
navery12 said:
They don't ask because they wouldn't get an answer. Coaches aren't even allowed to talk about the commits by name until they officially sign their NLI. I can't imagine they'd be allowed to talk about any of those guys
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I know from some experience that sometimes the coaches and assistant coaches talk to media people "off the record" about certain recruits if the narrative has an intention. Not sure Hurley does that though.
 
Can we rename this thread? It's cursing our 2026 recruiting efforts!

And I just realized how similar NLI and NIL are (at least in spelling)
 
navery12 said:
They don't ask because they wouldn't get an answer. Coaches aren't even allowed to talk about the commits by name until they officially sign their NLI. I can't imagine they'd be allowed to talk about any of those guys
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NLI no longer exists. It was eliminated 12 months ago. They now sign an athletic grant-in-aid. Flexible and non-binding for everyone involved.
 
HooperScooper said:
All the other Mingo threads are locked and I didn't want to start another thread just for this so it's going in here. Certainly sounds like he will be making visits to all his serious suitors.

www.on3.com

Five-star PG Dylan Mingo visiting Baylor this weekend

Dylan Mingo, a five-star point guard in the 2026 class, is taking an official visit to Baylor this weekend.
www.on3.com www.on3.com
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“I want to play for a coach that values me a lot,” Mingo said. Well, not even just the coach, the whole program. I want to have a strong relationship with the coaches, especially the head coach, and the whole coaching staff. And a winning program. I’d like to compete for a championship, and also a program that’s willing to play a freshman.”

Doesn't seem like an unrealistic ask.
 
Think it's bird in the hand here, but I still think we go hard after Mingo even if we get County and Landrew. They can all easily play together.

I also think we sell County on his ability to play with Mingo (should not be a hard sell) in order to avoid an Adams type situation from last year.
 
Mooch82 said:
Think it's bird in the hand here, but I still think we go hard after Mingo even if we get County and Landrew. They can all easily play together.

I also think we sell County on his ability to play with Mingo (should not be a hard sell) in order to avoid an Adams type situation from last year.
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I don't think County would play much at all as a freshman. He looks like a development piece despite his ranking.

If we don't get Mingo it sure looks like our instant impact players will be coming from the portal again.
 
Mooch82 said:
Think it's bird in the hand here, but I still think we go hard after Mingo even if we get County and Landrew. They can all easily play together.

I also think we sell County on his ability to play with Mingo (should not be a hard sell) in order to avoid an Adams type situation from last year.
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5* type guys you need starter minutes/budget allocation for. I don't think we'd have enough of either to offer both Landrew and Mingo. In the old days, you could take both in the unlikely scenario they both were cool with fighting it out for 1 starter spot. But these days, the "cap room" budget allocation is a chokepoint on this.
 
auror said:
5* type guys you need starter minutes/budget allocation for. I don't think we'd have enough of either to offer both Landrew and Mingo. In the old days, you could take both in the unlikely scenario they both were cool with fighting it out for 1 starter spot. But these days, the "cap room" budget allocation is a chokepoint on this.
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How do you know how much money they are expecting?

People didn't even know who Landrew was a couple months ago.
 
auror said:
Because the market is competitive, and teams like Louisville know who he is.
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But that's not how it works. Players don't just automatically go to the highest bidder. We don't know their ask, we don't know what guys are being paid, we don't know what they value when choosing what school to go to.
 
superjohn said:
But that's not how it works. Players don't just automatically go to the highest bidder. We don't know their ask, we don't know what guys are being paid, we don't know what they value when choosing what school to go to.
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Some players likely do
 
I haven’t been in the either/or Mingo v County camp for a while and I’m clinging to that hope. Need both.
 
I’m sure we told County it would be a heavy uphill battle for him to start as a freshman. He’s a nice piece for the future and could easily start as a sophomore. Glad to have him aboard.

Mingo is a day 1 starter, I don’t see why County committing would decrease either sides interest.
 
superjohn said:
But that's not how it works. Players don't just automatically go to the highest bidder. We don't know their ask, we don't know what guys are being paid, we don't know what they value when choosing what school to go to.
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My default assumption is that most people act pretty rationally when making big decisions. Especially since these kids all have proper agents representing and advising them.

When making career decisions, everyone will make certain choices based on pros/cons. As these recruitments are now essentially a career choice, for most people salary is the most important consideration (it's the whole reason we're working in the first place), but as you say it's not an all-encompassing factor. (For us normies commute, location, boss, culture, etc. all play a role, and for college basketball players coach relationship, style of play, development track record, conference, school, location, status/prestige do too.)

If we're budgeting logically and conservatively against a cap (which is rev share allocation + expected NIL availability lumped together) and nothing I have heard from interviews with Tom Moore or from the grapevine indicates otherwise, then we can't offer a likely bench player a starter caliber bag, because then we will mismanage the cap elsewhere and run out of money for returnees or for the portal. You can't pay 6 players at starter level percentage of the cap without sacrificing elsewhere (bearing in mind that not all starters are paid the same, etc.). We expect or at least have to budget to pay Demary, Ball, Stewart, and Reibe starter caliber money, and perhaps Mullins, too. So there's probably room for another starter allocation, but not 2. You can't allocate BOTH Mingo and Landrew a starter bag unless you're extremely confident someone else on that list in addition to Mullins is going and that Mingo+Landrew would play their position. You can offer that same starter level of payment to both in a formal offer, but likely have to revise the dollar amount to the others once one of them or Samuels accepts.

If another school is offering a 5*/starter-allocation bag, and every indication from Trilly and others is that the Landrew recruitment has big/rich players coming after him hard (namely Louisville) who also have a lot of attractive items on the pros/cons list, then it's extremely unlikely we're going to get him by offering a bench-level bag. As you say, some people will take less money even acting rationally for other considerations, but very, very few people would take a "tier" less (in what would likely be measured in the hundreds of thousands different) for a similarly situated program. I'm not saying we shouldn't try, but all indications is that it is unlikely to happen.
 
auror said:
My default assumption is that most people act pretty rationally when making big decisions. Especially since these kids all have proper agents representing and advising them.

When making career decisions, everyone will make certain choices based on pros/cons. As these recruitments are now essentially a career choice, for most people salary is the most important consideration (it's the whole reason we're working in the first place), but as you say it's not an all-encompassing factor. (For us normies commute, location, boss, culture, etc. all play a role, and for college basketball players coach relationship, style of play, development track record, conference, school, location, status/prestige do too.)

If we're budgeting logically and conservatively against a cap (which is rev share allocation + expected NIL availability lumped together) and nothing I have heard from interviews with Tom Moore or from the grapevine indicates otherwise, then we can't offer a likely bench player a starter caliber bag, because then we will mismanage the cap elsewhere and run out of money for returnees or for the portal. You can't pay 6 players at starter level percentage of the cap without sacrificing elsewhere (bearing in mind that not all starters are paid the same, etc.). We expect or at least have to budget to pay Demary, Ball, Stewart, and Reibe starter caliber money, and perhaps Mullins, too. So there's probably room for another starter allocation, but not 2. You can't allocate BOTH Mingo and Landrew a starter bag unless you're extremely confident someone else on that list in addition to Mullins is going and that Mingo+Landrew would play their position. You can offer that same starter level of payment to both in a formal offer, but likely have to revise the dollar amount to the others once one of them or Samuels accepts.

If another school is offering a 5*/starter-allocation bag, and every indication from Trilly and others is that the Landrew recruitment has big/rich players coming after him hard (namely Louisville) who also have a lot of attractive items on the pros/cons list, then it's extremely unlikely we're going to get him by offering a bench-level bag. As you say, some people will take less money even acting rationally for other considerations, but very, very few people would take a "tier" less (in what would likely be measured in the hundreds of thousands different) for a similarly situated program. I'm not saying we shouldn't try, but all indications is that it is unlikely to happen.
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Some of these kids and their families are smart enough to know it's not all about the short term money. As Calhoun used to say, think about your second contract not your first.

Colben Landrew is ranked 10 spots ahead of Junior County, if that makes him a tier 1 guy who commands/demands hundreds of thousands of dollars more than County and in any way would hurt our ability to get Mingo I hope we move on. I like Toure's upside more than both Landrew and County and we moved on because of price. Mingo is worth it.
 
Huskyforlife said:
I’m sure we told County it would be a heavy uphill battle for him to start as a freshman. He’s a nice piece for the future and could easily start as a sophomore. Glad to have him aboard.

Mingo is a day 1 starter, I don’t see why County committing would decrease either sides interest.
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I don't think County committing would decrease Mingo's interest, but I did think Mingo committing would decrease County's interest. Doesn't sound like that's the case though so hopefully we can bring in both now
 
"Ball has a 7 foot wing span and a 43 inch vertical leap. At 6-3+ that makes a big difference in his ability to get open looks than most players his size."

Wingspan and vertical leap are ideal for taking the ball to the hole. Is he rattled by the thought of contact? He's built like a tank. I just don't know why he isn't being drilled on this daily. What have I missed?
 
dennismenace said:
"Ball has a 7 foot wing span and a 43 inch vertical leap. At 6-3+ that makes a big difference in his ability to get open looks than most players his size."

Wingspan and vertical leap are ideal for taking the ball to the hole. Is he rattled by the thought of contact? He's built like a tank. I just don't know why he isn't being drilled on this daily. What have I missed?
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Dude is chiseled, lean. Not sure I'd call him a tank, lacks size in his lower half. Steph was a tank. Listed at 185 out of HS, 190 last couple years, 200 on the UConn page going into this year. If true, 10lbs of muscle is a lot of new weight, one of the benefits you get hanging onto a guy into junior/senior years. Definitely excited to see him take the next step, draw contact, get to the line, expand his game.
 

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