2025 Recruiting: Braylon Mullins discusses his recruitment, timeline

[SellersElbow]

I have wanted Mullins the most, but along the way I have always felt that he was a local rooted kid who would pick Indiana or Kentucky where he is close to home, could play with friends, and be the hometown hero like Clingan was here.

Well, except for the winning national championships part, of course.

 

[AllHusky]

Most kids don't go to college 900 miles away--they get homesick.

Feels like he is going to be in Bloomington

 

[HooperScooper]

He’s mentioned Storrs feels like Greenfield. He’ll have Andrea baking cookies for the him and the team. This kid is a Husky, can feel it in the bones.

Look at the bright side Braylon, you'll be 900 miles from mom but you'll pick up a new mom.

Andrea Hurley sat down with her husband in a conference room in Los Angeles in June, and Jeanie Buss, owner of the Lakers, sat down across from her to discuss the head coaching position.

“I’m telling you, it was surreal,” Andrea told an audience at the Mark Twain House on Friday night. “There are so many different emotions. She came in, sat down and I’m a crier, everybody knows, and I started crying. Because all I saw was Hass on Jeanie Buss’ head. That is the only person I saw. I mean, the blonde hair and I kept seeing (UConn guard Hassan Diarra). So she kept asking, ‘Why are you so upset,’ and all I could get out was, ‘They’re my kids … they’re my kids.'”

“It was like, ‘I couldn’t get my kids, my UConn kids, out of my mind the entire time I was out there,” she said. “It was the guilt, it was a guilt thing. It was like, ‘You wouldn’t get this opportunity if it wasn’t for the kids.’ I don’t think the timing was right, you don’t get blessed for doing something at the wrong time.”

 

[AllHusky]

Never underestimate the power of the Momma

 

[ec33]

Half of these 5 stars are doing HS ball away from home. Sisley is at Montverde.

You’re also playing to get into the NBA, not sure being close to home is the approach you want. He’s just spoon feeding the locals some lip service to make them think it’s a hard decision.

He’s mentioned Storrs feels like Greenfield. He’ll have Andrea baking cookies for the him and the team. This kid is a Husky, can feel it in the bones.

It all factors in. Adams, from New Jersey, goes to school in Indiana. After traveling to Vegas for a weekend to go to an all-star camp (as kids do), he flies home to make his commitment to UConn before heading back to Indiana. Lots of travel.

But don't think UConn being close to Jersey didn't help.

Sure if Mullins was from Connecticut and UConn had easy access to PT the choice would be easy. If he chooses Indiana it isn't just about being close to home, it is also not having to beat out Nowell, Ball, Mahaney, Adams, Stewart, Ross, and Abraham for PT. Oh and another reported $750k.

 

[cohenzone]

Two of my kids from CT went to college in the midwest, U of Michigan and Northwestern and had solid choices closer to home. Homesickness was not a big thing. And the modern hs hoop studs often go to prep schools far from home or play on teams that travel all over. Not saying playing near home isn’t a factor for some kids.

 

[husky429]

I think the comparisons to Clingan are missing some context. When DC commited, Hurley was a talented coach on the come up. Adama and Whaley were featured in our offense. Our team was good, but not great yet.

IU sucks. Going to the hometown school when it is going to be a detriment to your basketball career is a disservice to yourself and your family.

The kid isn't stupid, and I'm sure there's been plenty of negative recruiting about IU. Mullins needs to leave home. It may not be to Storrs, but it can't be to IU if he wants to maximize his basketball potential. He's gonna have toeave to go to the league at some point anyways. Nad he'll have more than enough cash to fly his parents first-class every weekend if he needs to. Shoot, he'll have enough to rent them a place 2 minutes from campus if he needs to.

He knows that, but disappointing an entire state at 17 isn't exactly easy to do.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Remember when Clingan made his decision, Hurley hadn't won on the big stage, Carlton had been driven off by not fitting the system and Hurley was selling that he would accommodate Clingan with changes just like Woodson is saying he will now with shooting. Adama had not taken the big step yet and Michigan was coached by a big man with nba pedigree and a 7'4 Hunter Dickenson as proof of coaching bigs. Clingan had stayed in Bristol for HS against the advice of @husky429 while so many others went to basketball factories. Note that Mullins has gone that route also. I just sense he has the same decision as Clingan with the same value system and I have hope but I can also see local. If he picks UNC then ...NEVER MIND In that case I never had a clue.

Comparing a known mediocre coach in Woodson to a young coach on the rise in Hurley isn’t right in my opinion. I think Mullins would be committed already if IU had a coach with a modern offensive system in place.

Woodson is trying to claim his teams will be more 3pt oriented moving forward, but his team this year is built around 2 post dominant bigs, I’m hoping Mullins sees through the lip service on that.

I won’t blame the kid if he dreamed of playing for Indiana and decides to make good on that. I would’ve committed to a 15-17 UConn team if I was a recruit. Combined with the crazy amounts of money IU has for recruits, it’s not a crazy decision for him.

Let’s hope he knows his nba goals are best achieved here.

 

[Lambeau]

Is Andrea allowed to make in-home visits?

 

[auror]

I think the comparisons to Clingan are missing some context. When DC commited, Hurley was a talented coach on the come up. Adama and Whaley were featured in our offense. Our team was good, but not great yet.

IU sucks. Going to the hometown school when it is going to be a detriment to your basketball career is a disservice to yourself and your family.

The kid isn't stupid, and I'm sure there's been plenty of negative recruiting about IU. Mullins needs to leave home. It may not be to Storrs, but it can't be to IU if he wants to maximize his basketball potential. He's gonna have toleave to go to the league at some point anyways. Nad he'll have more than enough cash to fly his parents first-class every weekend if he needs to. Shoot, he'll have enough to rent them a place 2 minutes from campus if he needs to.

He knows that, but disappointing an entire state at 17 isn't exactly easy to do.

The thing is Mullins probably knows the situation will have evolved by the time he enrolls at IU, if he goes there. Either there will be a new coach or Woodson will have done well enough with the very talented roster to earn the job. There is no scenario where he joins IU with a bad Woodson as coach. He may even get some small amount of input into that new coach (though not as much as the NIL boosters).

And IU has sent 3 kids to the league in the last few years anyways (TJD, Hood Schifino, Ware).

 

[FearThePups]

Wow, Hunter Dickinson keeps growing!

Maybe but he’s not getting any better.

 

[Son of Robert]

Look at the bright side Braylon, you'll be 900 miles from mom but you'll pick up a new mom.

Andrea Hurley sat down with her husband in a conference room in Los Angeles in June, and Jeanie Buss, owner of the Lakers, sat down across from her to discuss the head coaching position.

“I’m telling you, it was surreal,” Andrea told an audience at the Mark Twain House on Friday night. “There are so many different emotions. She came in, sat down and I’m a crier, everybody knows, and I started crying. Because all I saw was Hass on Jeanie Buss’ head. That is the only person I saw. I mean, the blonde hair and I kept seeing (UConn guard Hassan Diarra). So she kept asking, ‘Why are you so upset,’ and all I could get out was, ‘They’re my kids … they’re my kids.'”

“It was like, ‘I couldn’t get my kids, my UConn kids, out of my mind the entire time I was out there,” she said. “It was the guilt, it was a guilt thing. It was like, ‘You wouldn’t get this opportunity if it wasn’t for the kids.’ I don’t think the timing was right, you don’t get blessed for doing something at the wrong time.”

Very powerful stuff here, it says a lot about how tight this program is.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

Even if he commits to IU there's a 50/50 chance Woodson is fired. See you in May like McNeeley.

 

[navery12]

Even if he commits to IU there's a 50/50 chance Woodson is fired. See you in May like McNeeley.

But that's not a good scenario, because the next coach would be far more appealing than Woodson

 

[UConnTrumbull]

But that's not a good scenario, because the next coach would be far more appealing than Woodson

Fair. But if he commits to IU now it means he, somewhat, believes in Woodson. Otherwise why commit? I still don’t know why McNeeley committed to IU then dropped out the day after Woodson was announced to return lol

 

[TheHorde]

Fair. But if he commits to IU now it means he, somewhat, believes in Woodson. Otherwise why commit? I still don’t know why McNeeley committed to IU then dropped out the day after Woodson was announced to return lol

Plus unless he commits here soon, presumably UConn will have brought in another guard in this recruiting class by then, and the competition for minutes would likely make this a less attractive destination in the spring.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

My Daughter is great!!! She wears UCONN basketball shirts on campus.
My wife owns a bunch of Duke Field Hockey gear and I support her decision but I cannot put Duke on me and she’s good with it.

If my kid went to Duke and played a varsity sport I'd attend every game, fully decked out in UConn gear.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Fwiw Diarra is from New York City.

I puzzled on that, and decided that either his time at Texas A&M was considered, though not his transferring back near home. OR a brain glitch thinking that he was from TX, but that was Newton.

Not this year's roster, but Newton could otherwise have been mentioned for starting in El Paso, choosing East Carolina, and transferring even further from home to Storrs. And Sanogi and Castle certainly played far from home.

NOTED AFTERWARD that the Texas A&M matter already discussed

 

[Goldenflash]

If Mullins is truly a OAD player, then he’s talking about leaving home roughly 8-9 months earlier than if he stayed in Indiana and attended IU. He’d be expected in Storrs sometime in the summer of 2025 for summer workouts and would play through the end of UCONN’s NCAA Tournament run, which is March or April 2026. If he really is going to be drafted he’ll be leaving school before the semester ends and start training wherever his agent sets him up before the draft which will occur in June 2026. If I’m his father I’d tell him to make the best decision for your career, I hope a mature 18-19 kid could be able to figure out what his best career option might be for a few months of “home cooking” being sacrificed before he’s offered the opportunity at riches far beyond what most of us could ever imagine.

 

[SwampYankee]

Fair. But if he commits to IU now it means he, somewhat, believes in Woodson. Otherwise why commit? I still don’t know why McNeeley committed to IU then dropped out the day after Woodson was announced to return lol

I’ve always wondered if his camp had the inside track that Woodson wasn’t coming back and they approved of whoever was next in line (a certain assistant?) and things went sideways for whatever reason. Hard to make sense of the timing otherwise.

 

[SwampYankee]

If Mullins is truly a OAD player, then he’s talking about leaving home roughly 8-9 months earlier than if he stayed in Indiana and attended IU. He’d be expected in Storrs sometime in the summer of 2025 for summer workouts and would play through the end of UCONN’s NCAA Tournament run, which is March or April 2026. If he really is going to be drafted he’ll be leaving school before the semester ends and start training wherever his agent sets him up before the draft which will occur in June 2026. If I’m his father I’d tell him to make the best decision for your career, I hope a mature 18-19 kid could be able to figure out what his best career option might be for a few months of “home cooking” being sacrificed before he’s offered the opportunity at riches far beyond what most of us could ever imagine.

I can’t argue with this reasoning but I’ve never been a five-star stud in a basketball crazy state like Indiana. His parents - heck, his third cousins - probably hear about how he needs to stay home every time they go to the grocery store, post office, etc. That said, I choose to believe if it takes you this long to pick the home state school, you’re going elsewhere.

 

[superjohn]

I’ve always wondered if his camp had the inside track that Woodson wasn’t coming back and they approved of whoever was next in line (a certain assistant?) and things went sideways for whatever reason. Hard to make sense of the timing otherwise.

He committed before last season started and then he got to watch Woodson and Indiana suck all season. My guess is that's why he decommitted.

 

[SwampYankee]

He committed before last season started and then he got to watch Woodson and Indiana suck all season. My guess is that's why he decommitted.

But why specifically the day after the Woodson announcement? He saw UConn hang a twenty piece on them in December. You could tell they sucked way earlier than that.

 

[bendm]

But that's not a good scenario, because the next coach would be far more appealing than Woodson

would be super unlucky to lose back to back top targets to a "school" rather than to another coach. recruits primarily pick a school based on the coach not the other way around. Duke being the glaring exception currently.

 

[aceboon]

I’ve always wondered if his camp had the inside track that Woodson wasn’t coming back and they approved of whoever was next in line (a certain assistant?) and things went sideways for whatever reason. Hard to make sense of the timing otherwise.

Only way ann assistant coach is getting the IU job is if it's an emergency situation like Mike Davis