2026 Transfer Portal - UConn Interest Only

[3rdbass]

I wonder why all these undersized PFs are on list. They are all smaller than even Karaban. I prefer someone at Karaban's height or bigger who is really athletic and is a decent shooter. Maybe due to NIL since if we get someone like Hines at Center that is going to cost us a lot and might limit what we can pay at other positions.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Curious about the interest in Royal. I believe we have a more than capable starting 3 with breakout potential already on the roster.

Yeah, that's literally the only guy we've been rumored to be of interest of where the fit doesn't really make sense to me.

On the flip side, having Landrew, Royal, Ross, Stewart and Furphy provides an interesting wing mix at the 3 and 4 that can mix-and-match. One thing Royal does really well is slash and get to the line (4.6 fouls drawn (18th in Big Ten), 80 FT%) and he finished the season well, averaging 14p, 6r per game and hit 49% of his 2s and 40% of his 3s across the final eight games of the season.

I guess what I'm trying to say is I hope we can retain enough guys to not need a 6'6 230 starter in the portal. He's not a 4 and we actually have a need for a starting 4.

 

[Kembafan]

It does make you wonder if we should try to find and retain smaller PGs - kid like this can be someone you have for 4 years in a leadership role. Maybe we tried that with Nowell and it didn’t work we hoped.

I know we like the tall PGs, but I think there is a way to be tall everywhere else and be lightning quick at PG.

I think it depends on their defense and how tough they are. Some smaller guards can be surprisingly tenacious defenders. And if they're upper classmen, they play smarter ball.

But I'm with you on quickness.

 

[Drumguy]

Ryan Boatright and Christian Vital would beg to differ.

iirc Ben Gordon slapped a court or two as well.

 

[3rdbass]

iirc Ben Gordon slapped a court or two as well.

Well that or Center(Backup or Starting depending on Reibe's growth in the offseason). Though I think adding more athletes is key to this club as we should have plenty of skilled players.

 

[Brandon Miles]

Have you ever seen him play or is this solely based on measurements?

Measurements, need size for rim protection

 

[aburks41]

Trilly confirmed, yes. Other sources have said that St. John's is a frontrunner, so you still might end up mad.

Ugh. Hines will feast on us if he ends up with Pitino. Hopefully they pivot to someone else lmao

 

[nomar]

They might know something we don't

Do they know something Ohio State doesn't? Maybe, I guess.

I think our staff -- like everyone else -- is casting a wide net at this point. But we really need actually big guys.

 

[Brandon Miles]

Do they know something Ohio State doesn't? Maybe, I guess.

I think our staff -- like everyone else -- is casting a wide net at this point. But we really need actually big guys.

seems most are in love with wilkins but after monday would love a PF n C... versatile PF that can play min at 5

 

[auror]

seems most are in love with wilkins but after monday would love a PF n C... versatile PF that can play min at 5

Those are our first priorities. Well a PF and a C, not a PF/C.

 

[superjohn]

Those are our first priorities. Well a PF and a C, not a PF/C.

There's a good/decent chance we are all set at guard except for a backup point guard.

We need to get more athletic and bigger up front.

 

[FightOnCT]

Ugh. Hines will feast on us if he ends up with Pitino. Hopefully they pivot to someone else lmao

They’re in the running for Bidunga so could work in our favor if that does happen.

 

[RuffRuff]

They’re in the running for Bidunga so could work in our favor if that does happen.

So are many big ticket schools. If we get outbid by Pitino will be a sad state.

 

[TheHorde]

Has anyone seen confirmation that we've reached out to Najai Hines?

Here is a very lengthy NBA scouting report someone did on him Najai Hines Scouting Report

He is my #1 WANT in the portal. If this guy somehow ends up in Queens or Providence, I'm going to be so mad.

He’s a shot blocker which we need BADLY next year.

 

[ZenConn]

I wonder why all these undersized PFs are on list. They are all smaller than even Karaban. I prefer someone at Karaban's height or bigger who is really athletic and is a decent shooter. Maybe due to NIL since if we get someone like Hines at Center that is going to cost us a lot and might limit what we can pay at other positions.

I was wondering the same. Meanwhile Michigan is targeting 6'8" and taller players for their targets - we were at a physical disadvantage during the national championship game. Are they starting to out-recruit us already?

 

[RuffRuff]

I was wondering the same. Meanwhile Michigan is targeting 6'8" and taller players for their targets - we were at a physical disadvantage during the national championship game. Are they starting to out-recruit us already?

Michigan has the 6 7” guard from Wake coming in. You can bet Dusty is going big. I’m sure all these top NIL schools are going to try to build an NBA sized team.

I Mich gets him, McKenny and Cadeau to kick off the roster, they’re already in good shape.

 

[navery12]

I was wondering the same. Meanwhile Michigan is targeting 6'8" and taller players for their targets - we were at a physical disadvantage during the national championship game. Are they starting to out-recruit us already?

No, they're not. We were in the game with 13 seconds to go despite a horrible shooting game and an awful whistle all night. Not to mention we were playing with 2 starting guards injured

 

[Husky Alien]

Do they know something Ohio State doesn't? Maybe, I guess.

I think our staff -- like everyone else -- is casting a wide net at this point. But we really need actually big guys.

Of course they are. But why is Royal a favorite for us, seems a bit odd.

 

[RuffRuff]

No, they're not. We were in the game with 13 seconds to go despite a horrible shooting game and an awful whistle all night. Not to mention we were playing with 2 starting guards injured

You really don’t think we were at a physical disadvantage? Reed couldn’t get anything going and we got nothing near the rim. You’d be the only person outside of the BY with that view.

 

[navery12]

You really don’t think we were at a physical disadvantage? Reed couldn’t get anything going and we got nothing near the rim. You’d be the only person outside of the BY with that view.

Not what I said, it's just that being at a physical disadvantage didn't matter. For all the talk about how much bigger and stronger they were we outrebounded them, and our offense got us a ton of wide open looks

 

[ZenConn]

No, they're not. We were in the game with 13 seconds to go despite a horrible shooting game and an awful whistle all night. Not to mention we were playing with 2 starting guards injured

That has nothing to do with being physically overmatched on the front line. They had 2 guys on the starting front line as big as Taris and a 7'3" center. We were routinely pushed further out when starting our offense and couldn't covert in the paint. They outscored us by 14 in the paint and while they went 2-15 from 3 point land. The 36 points in the paint was the most we allowed all season. Michigan had 6 blocks to our 1.

Being close in the game is a testament to our coaching staff but we were already at a physical disadvantage going into the game.

 

[Fishy]

If Silas stays, he isn’t coming. (And that would be a mutual decision)

I love people who speak in absolutes without having even a shred of actual information.

 

[Inyatkin]

You thought it was too early to start gushing about next year’s Michigan team? Well guess again

 

[superjohn]

You really don’t think we were at a physical disadvantage? Reed couldn’t get anything going and we got nothing near the rim. You’d be the only person outside of the BY with that view.

We are at a size and strength disadvantage on paper and on the court against them but that's not how it played out and I left the game unimpressed with Michigan. Mara is their best player and their biggest difference maker despite his stats and all the hype surrounding Lendeborg. He isn't Clingan but he has some of that same impact Clingan brought to games where it's damn near impossible to score over him and he shuts down the paint.

If the refs called that game fairly we win. Cadeau and Morez Johnson were allowed to two hand shove and hook our guys all night. If we made a couple more open threes we win despite the refs. We outrebounded them badly despite the size difference.

We do need to get more athletic and bigger up front though, I've been saying that all season.

 

[Fishy]

Not what I said, it's just that being at a physical disadvantage didn't matter. For all the talk about how much bigger and stronger they were we outrebounded them, and our offense got us a ton of wide open looks

Except it mattered. It mattered very much.

Our 6'11", 265 pound center had all kinds of trouble trying to score against their front court. Our guy who shot about 61% from the field this year was just 4-12.

 

[RuffRuff]

I love people who speak in absolutes without having even a shred of actual information.

If you haven’t heard, Mullins is also a definite lottery pick and gone too.

 

[Fishy]

If you haven’t heard, Mullins is also a definite lottery pick and gone too.

I saw that - one less thing to worry about, I guess.

 

[upstater]

Michigan was the better team. But the game was there for the taking. It wasn’t a 7 game series. One night. I’m not even talking about UConn hitting their shots. Michigan missed a lot too. I’m talking about just a little evenness in the calls. One or two calls. That’s it, all it would’ve taken. Is Michigan deserving? Yea, for their season. But not for the game. Think of it this way. If a defensive pass interference flag was thrown on the late bomb to Randy Moss in the ‘07 Super Bowl and the Patriots ended up winning, someone might say that Patriots team were deserving champions. But no one would have said that. They’d blame the flag.

 

[navery12]

Except it mattered. It mattered very much.

Our 6'11", 265 pound center had all kinds of trouble trying to score against their front court. Our guy who shot about 61% from the field this year was just 4-12.

You've convinced me. Let's scrap our whole roster construction that's gotten us to 3 Final Fours in 4 years and follow Michigan's model

 

[Fishy]

Curious about the interest in Royal. I believe we have a more than capable starting 3 with breakout potential already on the roster.

Have you seen St. John's? Have you seen the kind of players that they have that we that cannot seem to handle? Well, Royal is the solution to some of that. He's an undersized four in the KFree mold, rather than a wing.

But we'll see if the staff is actually involved. Who knows what's real in terms of what's being reported?