2026 Recruiting: Cole Cloer visiting this weekend

[Jbirdp5]

Why did he fall to the end of the first round as a 6’5 PG with all those accomplishments?

It’s not age either because Walter Clayton went in the 1st round in a better draft at 22 years old.

Last post about this. If you want to have a genuine conversation about it my DMs are open.

College production and draft position are two different things…..

 

[jibsey]

Well this is interesting - and a good sign. Anytime you cancel a BB coming off a visit, it's usually a very good sign. UK wasn't necessarily thought to be a major contender to begin with, as most rumors have him UConn or a NC school (NC St is going hard here apparently). He definitely feels like a Hurley kind of kid and the situation at the 4 looks perfect for him.

I tend to think the goal here is Cloer/Mingo. Maybe they pack in a developmental frosh behind these two, like a County. I can't see them going more than 3 deep with incoming freshmen. There are 3 guaranteed leavers (AK, TR, MS) with Mullins likely going into the draft. I'm not including the deep bench guys. They aren't going to fill more than 2 of those spots with frosh, as they'll need minutes from proven players next year. Cloer & Mingo seem like really good fits with AK & MS leaving, as they'll naturally get minutes as a backup to Stew and then a rotational player in the backcourt.

Solo? Distinct possibility if he lights it up this year.

 

[nomar]

We are obviously going hard after Cloer. I don't see him as realistically a backcourt player accept in a particular matchup. In the frontcourt we will be losing our primary rebounding strength (Reed, Karaban), and I think Hurley will play the guys in 2026 that can help us there. With Cloer, I;m from Missouri with regard to rebounding. Each time I watched him he reminded me of Tyler Polley who always in the scrum after the ball but had nominal rebounds at the end of the game. That is a real weak point that perhaps gets solved automatically by growth in strength and adding some weight over 1-2 years. As a player right now, I think he has a ways to go before he is a starter at UConn in 2026. I would welcome him but fully expect we will still need to be looking to the portal for a 2026 frontcourt impact player in order to be a championship contender.

You do know that you're not prohibited from liking more than one 6'7" 190 lb SF prospect, right? I don't think Alex would be mad.

Joking aside, while you were obviously right that Alex was underrated, CC is ranked much higher. There must be something to that. Shooting & ball handling look great.

As for the rebounding, that's not great, and doesn't bode well for him as a PF. Saying TP "was always in the scrum" is pretty generous. He was possibly the worst 6'8" rebounder I've ever seen.

 

[alexd]

this generation likes to post pictures to their IG's, who cares?

And they use a #notcommitted in their posts just in case there's any confusion.

 

[superjohn]

The Cloer Karaban comparison I've seen thrown around is lazy. They are very similar in size but that's it.

 

[RuffRuff]

Solo? Distinct possibility if he lights it up this year.

I'm not super confident he's a shoe-in NBA prospect this year. Have seen literally no mocks with him, he didn't test last year and there are some real gaps between what we saw last year and him being an NBA player. Couple that with the 2027 draft being watered down, and my guess is he's back for year 4. If he lights it up, shows he can defend and can score multiple level, then color me pink.

 

[Huskyforlife]

The Cloer Karaban comparison I've seen thrown around is lazy. They are very similar in size but that's it.

If you think Cloer has strong handles based on highlights, I suggest watching the full games that are out there. I do think they’re similar, if not Cloer being more physically gifted.

 

[Fan1978]

He’s not starting as a freshman. No frosh likely is. Perhaps Mingo would have a fighting chance if things fell perfectly. He’s ranked close to 30 in a weak class, we should have plenty of returners to start next year. He’d be your 2027 starting 4. I am glad you’d welcome him, someone should let the staff know.

Ricker identified karaban early so show him a little respect

 

[superjohn]

If you think Cloer has strong handles based on highlights, I suggest watching the full games that are out there. I do think they’re similar, if not Cloer being more physically gifted.

I didn't say anything about his handles and yes I've watched his full games. I also watched Karaban's full games before he came to UConn.

 

[HuskyHawk]

If the staff wants him, I want him. I've long since given up any belief that we can project whether these kids will start or will be a 3 or a 4. I don't think we can project this year's starters yet. I get the sense that the staff sees guys who fit the system and the culture and have the talent and then worry about fitting pieces around them with the portal and returning players (who are also hard to predict).

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Ricker identified karaban early so show him a little respect

No offense to this guy who continues to dine out on what does not seem to be a particularly earth-shattering observation but weren’t there a number of people who had Karaban pegged as the sort of highly-skilled, very smart player who was probably being a bit undervalued because he lacked plus athleticism but was precisely the kind of kid that was going to be a very productive college player from jump street? That’s my recollection.

 

[Mr. French]

No offense to this guy who continues to dine out on what does not seem to be a particularly earth-shattering observation but weren’t there a number of people who had Karaban pegged as the sort of highly-skilled, very smart player who was probably being a bit undervalued because he lacked plus athleticism but was precisely the kind of kid that was going to be a very productive college player from jump street? That’s my recollection.

No, he called him early and said we should be recruiting him before we did, and before he was thought of as a legit interest.

Whatever your opinion of its merit, he was no question the first. He stumped early before anyone thought anything about Karaban.

On the actual topic, Cloer seems a bit more Liam in skillset rather than AK.

 

[RuffRuff]

No offense to this guy who continues to dine out on what does not seem to be a particularly earth-shattering observation but weren’t there a number of people who had Karaban pegged as the sort of highly-skilled, very smart player who was probably being a bit undervalued because he lacked plus athleticism but was precisely the kind of kid that was going to be a very productive college player from jump street? That’s my recollection.

I think this is a pretty important year for AK to determine his legacy - he was a total role player his first two years, 5th man on the totem pole, then I think we can all agree he was disappointing last year in a more central role. I'm not sure how much you label a guy as being this or that as the 5th guy on a NC. It's easy to romantacize the connection to winning, makes it difficult to see past it when evaluating the player.

 

[UCLJ0211]

 

[DogMania]

I can understand why we often try comparing recruits to current and past players and trying to predict where and how much they would play if they come here. With that said, he's young, still growing and has a lot of filling out ahead of him. So when looking at him now, it's very hard to fully project how he'll look next season or the one after that.

One thing is evident. He's got some impressive instincts and BBIQ that aren't easily taught. He looks like a player who might struggle a bit early on while his body catches up with his skills.

He's definitely a player I'd like to see land here and develop into a key piece of the Hurley puzzle.

 

[Lafayette]

Funny about the posts of recruits wearing UConn gear.

It is from the recruit’s POV not ours. Hell of an experience being recruited and getting to wear the rings, the uniform.

Makes for a great IG post and their fellow high school chums add their comments.

Schools get this, they use it as psychology to make the recruit feel at home quickly and trest them well.

It means little to nothing to us fans since they do that at every school they visit.

 

[nomar]

No offense to this guy who continues to dine out on what does not seem to be a particularly earth-shattering observation but weren’t there a number of people who had Karaban pegged as the sort of highly-skilled, very smart player who was probably being a bit undervalued because he lacked plus athleticism but was precisely the kind of kid that was going to be a very productive college player from jump street? That’s my recollection.

He was all over him before anybody else--fans, recruiting sites, etc.

He said "Karaban with Donovan Clingan is my current 2022 wish list" in December 2019!

Thread '2022 Impressive Player'

Dec 12, 2019

Went to Brewster vs New Hampton last night with a New Hampton 7pt win 81-74 that was a 2 pt war until the last seconds. This was a high paced action packed war played by 2 teams without any 6'10 to 7 ft inside players but tons of 6'6 to 6'8 far above the rim athletes. I still haven't found a New Hampton roster to ID other players, but they have apparently cloned Tyler Lydon with a 2022 soph named Alex Karaban. He has Tyler Lydon size, skills, and versatility with Giffey BB IQ. I didn't find boxscores , but after the game I looked up writeups of their 6 previous games and this...

• Ricker
• Replies: 23
• Forum: UConn Men's Basketball Forum

• 

 

[gtcam]

Why did he fall to the end of the first round as a 6’5 PG with all those accomplishments?

It’s not age either because Walter Clayton went in the 1st round in a better draft at 22 years old.

Last post about this. If you want to have a genuine conversation about it my DMs are open.

Same a Sanogo - he was highly decorated but didn't sniff the draft.
Some guys are great college players because the fit on a particular team was like a glove but it doesn't always translate into a NBA career.
I look at Sanogo and I see the desire and fortitude but his physical make-up is not what NBA teams like and Newton had the physical make-up and talent but I think his (my opinion) mental make-up is not where it needs to be?
Both are GREAT UConn players.

 

[jibsey]

Same a Sanogo - he was highly decorated but didn't sniff the draft.
Some guys are great college players because the fit on a particular team was like a glove but it doesn't always translate into a NBA career.
I look at Sanogo and I see the desire and fortitude but his physical make-up is not what NBA teams like and Newton had the physical make-up and talent but I think his (my opinion) mental make-up is not where it needs to be?
Both are GREAT UConn players.

I don’t follow that closely but has Sonogo actually had adequate opportunity? It’s one thing to say he can’t produce at NBA level but what has his PT been?
2 seasons, one 7 minutes a game, 4 pts, 4 rebounds. Then last year 5 minutes per game? Is that per game stats?
Either way he’s gotten virtually no chance to show his skills and he certainly did in college AND G league.

 

[HW611]

Same a Sanogo - he was highly decorated but didn't sniff the draft.
Some guys are great college players because the fit on a particular team was like a glove but it doesn't always translate into a NBA career.
I look at Sanogo and I see the desire and fortitude but his physical make-up is not what NBA teams like and Newton had the physical make-up and talent but I think his (my opinion) mental make-up is not where it needs to be?
Both are GREAT UConn players.

Yeah Sanogo’s NBA problems were completely physical. He didn’t have the size nor athleticism to stick. He also went from the role of a star player and to make it in the NBA he had to be a high level role player which he didn’t really have the skillset for.

Jeff Adrien was able to carve out a career despite his size because his calling cards were defense, rebounding, and toughness. It was also a different time when Adrien was playing to be fair though.

Newton doesn’t have the same physical limitations as a 6’5 PG. Hes above average height for the position. He just didn’t have the scoring chops at the end of the day as he was very much so a volume scorer here who lived at the FT line.

He was definitely a perfect fit for what we needed in 23 and 24 though. We didn’t really need a Bazz, Kemba, etc. that had to go out and win games. We just needed a great floor general to feed the crazy talent we had.

 

[dennismenace]

You do know that you're not prohibited from liking more than one 6'7" 190 lb SF prospect, right? I don't think Alex would be mad.

Joking aside, while you were obviously right that Alex was underrated, CC is ranked much higher. There must be something to that. Shooting & ball handling look great.

As for the rebounding, that's not great, and doesn't bode well for him as a PF. Saying TP "was always in the scrum" is pretty generous. He was possibly the worst 6'8" rebounder I've ever seen.

Probably a good to great chance that Dan Hurley will "reorient" him to his current emphasis on playing time prioritized on toughness and defense/rebounding. I don't think we will ever see a 6-7 or 6-8 Polley type defender again under Dan Hurley. They will have to learn and prove it or they will not be playing minutes. That experiment is over and proclaimed by Dan Hurley this year.

 

[Ricker]

Its true I've had a lot of mileage with my Karaban post, and I do believe it was the earliest shout out regarding him before any rankings because he was just a sophomore, but it is also true that @HooperScooper was on board from the first moment because his son had played on a team with Alex and he knew Alex was a talent but just hadn't seen him recently at that point. Many of the posts along the way and updates of the recruiting interest by other teams was the product of @HooperScooper. He saw the same things early and should get some "dining out" on the call as well. @nomar you even did research!!

 

[UConnTrumbull]

 

[RuffRuff]

Mingo and Cloer going Storrs to Bama in consecutive weekends. Can Oats make a move?