2026 Recruiting: Abdou Toure update from aaron torres

[RuffRuff]

He should pay attention on how the PC fans treat those who choose to leave.

English bombs this year, they are going to run him out of there fast. I don't think Toure is going to PC, but if he does, would really cement this was all about the $$. Cal I get: NBA factory coach, SEC experience, just made the S16, he's not going anywhere, can sell ice to an eskimo. To go play for a coach that the fanbase and AD is already questioning, hmm. A frosh this year isn't going to move the needle for English. Hell, he brought a top 40 kid two years ago that transferred out in a year.

 

[KingAG]

We DO NOT want him playing against us in the Big East. Mark my words.

ooohh stop being scary. We want PC having good players

 

[RuffRuff]

We DO NOT want him playing against us in the Big East. Mark my words.

C'mon man - just cause he's a CT kid doesn't make him the boogie man of recruits. Let's step outside the CT bubble a bit and put this in perspective. He's the 35th ranked recruit in a weak class and we are treating him like he's Lou Alcindor, because he's instate. It's getting kinda comical.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Toure never does anything to impact Uconn directionally, on any level.

 

[ValleyGuy]

Who was the last New Haven County kid who was a high major recruit who was good enough to play at UConn that we wanted? Tremont Waters is the only one I can think of in the past 25 years or so. Hurley didn't have any interest in Desmond Claude. Calhoun didn't have any interest in Ryan Gomes.

Mustapha Heron as well who played at Sacred Heart. Arguably the biggest recruit Pearl got at Auburn that ignited his success there.

 

[HuskyHawk]

ooohh stop being scary. We want PC having good players

If he's not coming here or Dan doesn't really want him, then I hope he's at PC. We need PC to step up their talent and program. Now St. Johns? I hope they crash and burn.

 

[Spaceman213J]

I don't get some of the comments made about the kid. He is a kid and he might just want to go somewhere new and different. CT is a small state. You can go from one end to the other in under 2 hours. For many, college is a chance to be on your own for the first time.
Plus, the kid has real chance to play at the next level and the money is good, but some freedoms are also lost then. Wherever the kid goes, I'll no ill will towards him unless he takes a shot at the program when committing. And should he ever stay, I will route for him like I do for any other UConn player. Just let the kid enjoy the process and enjoy the next phase of his life. Hopefully, he does it smartly and responsibly and represent the state of CT wherever he winds up well.

 

[dennismenace]

If he's not coming here or Dan doesn't really want him, then I hope he's at PC. We need PC to step up their talent and program. Now St. Johns? I hope they crash and burn.

What we really don't want is that kind of talent in Pitino's hands.

 

[RuffRuff]

If he's not coming here or Dan doesn't really want him, then I hope he's at PC. We need PC to step up their talent and program. Now St. Johns? I hope they crash and burn.

We want as many talented kids coming into the BE as possible so fully agree with this. As of now, there are only a couple schools that are attracting that kind of talent at the HS level. PC is one of them because they are trying and have some $$ to throw around. The back end of the BE isn't getting near these kids (Depaul, SH, Butler). Creighton tends to grab 1-2 of the 40-60 type kids annually. Marquette shops in the bargain section annually. Cooley tries, English tries, Nova may up their game if Willard can get them back. Pitino doesn't even try. We haven't had a ton of NBA talent stream through the BE other than Uconn (Carter, Sorber, a little Marquette). There is no one in the BE currently mocked in the first round other than Mullins.

And of course we want the best for this kid, wherever he goes.

 

[KingAG]

We want as many talented kids coming into the BE as possible so fully agree with this. As of now, there are only a couple schools that are attracting that kind of talent at the HS level. PC is one of them because they are trying and have some $$ to throw around. The back end of the BE isn't getting near these kids (Depaul, SH, Butler). Creighton tends to grab 1-2 of the 40-60 type kids annually. Marquette shops in the bargain section annually. Cooley tries, English tries, Nova may up their game if Willard can get them back. Pitino doesn't even try. We haven't had a ton of NBA talent stream through the BE other than Uconn (Carter, Sorber, a little Marquette). There is no one in the BE currently mocked in the first round other than Mullins.

And of course we want the best for this kid, wherever he goes.

And we can't have every good player on our roster lmao. Other teams in our conference need to be able to challenge us.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

BY: “We need the other teams in the Big East to carry their weight”

PC gets a top 35 kid: “Noooo not like THAT”

 

[ValleyGuy]

Wow! Hopefully not another Ryan Gomes-Kris Dunn situation. Good for providence though. Better to keep talent in the conference.

Much different times. He could commit to Providence and be at UConn 200 days later. This stuff is fun for the fans, but signing recruits is almost irrelevant at this point.

 

[ValleyGuy]

Remember when we misused him so much people thought Steph should be happy if he was as good as Jrue Holiday.

Pro comp: Jrue Holiday
Castle consistently drew the toughest defensive assignments for title-winning UConn last season as a freshman and made a name for himself as a defensive stopper who is elite at the point of attack. That has been Jrue Holiday's calling card as an NBA player. The big leap here is the playmaking ability Holiday has proven over his career. Castle did not show that often at UConn but has the calm and vision to become a viable point guard in time. That, along with his shooting, might be the biggest swing skills that make or break his future NBA stardom.

Our own fans thought this and weren’t sure about his stardom because of how much he sacrificed.

Which he actually touched on in the article you responded to.

"I feel like my true position is a point guard," Castle said at the NBA scouting combine. "I feel like the past couple of months, I had to sacrifice for the better of our team. It worked out for us, so it's not anything to harp on or be bitter about."

Whole time the proper comps for him is actually SGA or Cade Cunningham.

Nothing better than to read the Boneyard to see the boneheads tell Hurley how he misused a player, but only lost 2 games the whole year and had the most dominant national championship run in the tournaments existence.

Thats why some people are just “fans”

 

[FightOnCT]

I hate losing talented kids in-state to PC nevertheless but it is what it is. We’ll get someone else

 

[FriarJ]

He should pay attention on how the PC fans treat those who choose to leave.

What he’s probably paying attention to is how UConn fans treat those who don’t come.

Do better guys, he’s a young man making a tough decision. It’s just basketball.

Obviously this is not directed at all of you but there are certainly enough for the young man to notice.

 

[HuskyHawk]

What he’s probably paying attention to is how UConn fans treat those who don’t come.

Do better guys, he’s a young man making a tough decision. It’s just basketball.

Obviously this is not directed at all of you but there are certainly enough for the young man to notice.

I doubt it has any effect. That said, I agree we should simply say "good luck to you then" when guys sign elsewhere. We aren't any different than other fanbases. IU folks were nuts over losing Mullins.
I actually like English and hope he succeeds. We need PC to be competitive. I don't think Toure is one and done, so he probably sees a chance to be the lead guy in PC, which would appeal. No idea why he'd go to Arkansas except for money.

 

[aburks41]

UConn never hosted him on an official visit for a reason. He is not a good 3 point shooter. Toure may be a good player, but he wouldn't be a starter here. He'll start day 1 at PC. There is a better chance of him being Garwey Dual than a one & done.

Mingo and Landrew are the top 2 priorities. Both are much better players who would actually play significant minutes right away.

 

[Tyler2Rings]

Losing this kid to Walmart/Tyson was one thing, losing him to Providence would actually sting.

The only thing that stings re/Providence is when we lose to them on the court

 

[FriarJ]

I doubt it has any effect. That said, I agree we should simply say "good luck to you then" when guys sign elsewhere. We aren't any different than other fanbases. IU folks were nuts over losing Mullins.
I actually like English and hope he succeeds. We need PC to be competitive. I don't think Toure is one and done, so he probably sees a chance to be the lead guy in PC, which would appeal. No idea why he'd go to Arkansas except for money.

Btw, my response was to a ridiculous post about Bryce Hopkins, who deserves a bit of ire from this fanbase.

Yeah, the whole English thing is pretty crazy, we had one of the worst years we have ever had last year, he hasn’t won anything here in 2 years but he’s recruiting at a level we have not had in 50 years. I know the $$ helps but a lot of schools have money. He obviously connects well with these kids.

He recruited a top 40 kid out of Florida named Jamier Jones who will be a freshman this year and by all reports is ready to contribute right away. Elite athlete. If he pulls Toure it’s not something new, it’s a continuation of what he was already doing.

 

[RuffRuff]

UConn never hosted him on an official visit for a reason. He is not a good 3 point shooter. Toure may be a good player, but he wouldn't be a starter here. He'll start day 1 at PC. There is a better chance of him being Garwey Dual than a one & done.

Mingo and Landrew are the top 2 priorities. Both are much better players who would actually play significant minutes right away.

Lot here falling in love with his instate athltecism, not his balance as an overall player to contribute in year 1. Instate head at rim athletes are definitely exciting, but don't necessarily result in winning. Guy that won the dunk contest can bite the rim, yet is in the G League.

I'm all for PC pulling in some players. We want to keep whatever remains of that rivalry going in some way, good for the league, fun for both fanbases. Rivalries are the basis for great sports entertainment.

 

[Samoo]

247 had that one wrong. Wagner was overrated as a 6’3 combo guard with okay athleticism. Castle was the best player in that class. Wagner was just ranked super high for awhile and Castle was a late bloomer.

I don’t think our system highlighted his skillset offensively positively either. We just made him a 3 and D player and limited what we asked him to do.

He was a star level player that we fit into a role player position. So scouts were evaluating him like one instead of a franchise guy.

Role players don't get drafted 4th, and it appears that the NBA looks for more than just scoring, though after one season in the NBA he looks more like a solid starter than a "franchise player".

Hurley used him as his primary stopper (best for the team), critical linking player (best for the team), and strong rebounder (best for the team). He was elite at all these things, hence his high draft position. What he wasn't elite at was shooting. During the last 10 games of the season, when Steph was scoring at his highest rate, he averaged around 12 points on over 9 attempts, not the height of efficiency.

I think much of the pushback you get is that you seem to think that the primary role of the coaching staff is to get guys drafted whereas many here would rather win championships. Maybe Squid is a better subject for your fandom.

 

[Inyatkin]

Btw, my response was to a ridiculous post about Bryce Hopkins, who deserves a bit of ire from this fanbase.

"When our fans suck it's because the player deserved it."

Solid argument right there

 

[UCTitleTown]

C'mon man - just cause he's a CT kid doesn't make him the boogie man of recruits. Let's step outside the CT bubble a bit and put this in perspective. He's the 35th ranked recruit in a weak class and we are treating him like he's Lou Alcindor, because he's instate. It's getting kinda comical.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Toure never does anything to impact Uconn directionally, on any level.

Have you seen him play in person? I have a lot. Trust me.

 

[FriarJ]

"When our fans suck it's because the player deserved it."

Solid argument right there

Do you know the story or is this just an ignorant post?

Bryce Hopkins blew out his knee. PC paid him huge NIL to rehab and get healthy. He was ready to go for a tournament in the Bahamas, his team went to PC and said, nope he’s not going to play, because they didn’t trust the court. He then started playing in games after that tournament, on the 3rd game he bruised his other knee. It was a two game injury but now we are 1/3 done for the season and his team pulled the plug on the rest of the year, all the while hiding this fact he was okay to play in order to give him an extra year of NIL. PC continued to honor his over $1mil NIL. This alone hurt team chemistry because everyone knew what was happening. When the season was over PC upped that NIL offer to almost $2mil. He left to go play for that snake Pitino in the same conference for a bit more money after all that we had done for him. He and his “team” deserve everything the PC fan base has for them.

 

[boog204]

Hell, he brought a top 40 kid two years ago that transferred out in a year.

So did we...

The jury is out on whether English can coach. But I think it's pretty clear that he can recruit.

 

[RuffRuff]

So did we...

The jury is out on whether English can coach. But I think it's pretty clear that he can recruit.

Difference is we win titles and have also put those kind of guys in the league. This is English' only case study.