2025 Recruiting: Dwayne Aristode

[husky429]

I cannot stress enough, the staff didn’t love the talent pool of the 24 class and acted accordingly. Did we miss on targets, yes? But in this day and age, why reach for a kid and use resources if you don’t have to.

People here are still having a hard time wrapping their heads around how much recruiting has changed. The 2024 class isn't even halfway done. The portal has changed everything.

There's little reason to make a reach for those low 4* and 3* players any more unless they are a perfect fit for our culture and have the right skillset. Because we can get a player who's ready for big minutes through the portal anyways and not have to wonder about if a freshman will develop.

 

[PNolanFan]

Duke has 4 five stars and 2 four stars coming next year on top of all the ones that are still on the roster. My question is simple. With some of their 5 and 4 star bigs certainly getting limited minutes and doing a lot of bench sitting, why wouldn’t you come to play for Hurley where you are guaranteed starting and big minutes?
Don’t we have room for 2 quality players aside from our class?

They are honestly projected to have like 8 bigs/forwards next years that are gonna want minutes. Will wait and see how it shakes out but i foresee them forcing big lineups on the court all season with no spacing and not enough ball handling

 

[superjohn]

I cannot stress enough, the staff didn’t love the talent pool of the 24 class and acted accordingly. Did we miss on targets, yes? But in this day and age, why reach for a kid and use resources if you don’t have to.

Yep, Hurley has been candid about that.

 

[gtcam]

I cannot stress enough, the staff didn’t love the talent pool of the 24 class and acted accordingly. Did we miss on targets, yes? But in this day and age, why reach for a kid and use resources if you don’t have to.

yeah, but if you don't reach out it looks bad for the program
In recruiting you throw out a huge net in order to catch a few keepers

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

There are very very few freshman who could come in next year and make an immediate impact. Even freshman year Hawkins wasn't anywhere close to what he gave us his sophomore season. We'll have a great core of Ball, Diarra (I assume he's back), Karaban (hopefully), Stewart, and Nowell. We'll need to go out to the portal and find another Cam Spencer and a veteran starting center. I love Samson but he isn't a starting caliber center in such a physical conference. He'll be a strong backup again though.

That would put us at 8 deep, and then we can still probably find a shooter to come off the bench which would get us to 9. I'm not sure how much Abraham or Ross would play next year so I'm not really counting them in the rotation depth. Next years roster is really going to come down to what we do at Center and how we can replace Cam. We got the best staff in the country. They'll find the perfect fit just like they always do

Me, resisting the urge to give my freshman year Hawkins take for the 50th time.

 

[AllHusky]

Hurley is an amazing recruiter. I don’t think 2024 went how he wanted it too.

Not going according to plan is getting a top 30 player and another close to top 50 player though with winning traits though.

yeah, but if you don't reach out it looks bad for the program
In recruiting you throw out a huge net in order to catch a few keepers

Who gives a rats rearend what it looks like?? The only thing that matters is the results. If Hurley and Co swing and miss, guess what, they are going to get right back in the batters box and be ready for that 100mph fastball again.

 

[TheHorde]

Who gives a rats rearend what it looks like?? The only thing that matters is the results. If Hurley and Co swing and miss, guess what, they are going to get right back in the batters box and be ready for that 100mph fastball again.

And might well be doing so off back to back championships. The team’s success hopefully is breeding a new generation of recruits whose “dream school” is UConn.

 

[jibsey]

Hurley isn't just going to take sloppy seconds because a kid is highly ranked. You should know that's not how he operates.

Sloppy seconds? 5 star sloppy seconds? Most of these kids are highly competitive and want to play and win, AND play in the NBA. Yeah they need to have a good attitude but I’m pretty sure that Hurley would filter out any prima Donna’s to fit into his system.

 

[aburks41]

Me, resisting the urge to give my freshman year Hawkins take for the 50th time.

Not sure what your freshman Hawkins take is but we don't win the title last year with freshman year version of Hawkins. The best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores. I'll take an experienced vet from the portal to plug in whatever needs we will have to fill this offseason over any freshman not named Cooper Flagg

 

[Umami Zen]

My two cents. 2024 recruiting class isn't close to being done. However, until we are through with our season and the tournaments- And season-ending exit interviews happen with eligible players. Enjoy this season with this team.

Reclassifications happen-Portal happens over the next 4 to 5 months-Coaches get fired-move on. Way too much beyond your control to speculate on until its time to worry about next year's roster.

More focused on Win#28 and beyond.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Not sure what your freshman Hawkins take is but we don't win the title last year with freshman year version of Hawkins. The best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores. I'll take an experienced vet from the portal to plug in whatever needs we will have to fill this offseason over any freshman not named Cooper Flagg

Pretty much that he was good freshman year but wasn’t handle properly. I site his first 3-4 games here before having a major fall off.

If he was given the reigns early I think we would’ve saw a freshman who was ready to be the best scorer on the team. But there wasn’t room for him to do that with Martin playing a similar position (and being a terrible passer) at the time.

 

[UCTitleTown]

I cannot stress enough, the staff didn’t love the talent pool of the 24 class and acted accordingly. Did we miss on targets, yes? But in this day and age, why reach for a kid and use resources if you don’t have to.

So Abraham is better than the other 2024 talent out there? Everything I'm hearing is he's a defensive glue guy who needs to develop offensively. Not knocking the kid at all, but his signing doesn't support the argument you're making.

 

[Jbirdp5]

So Abraham is better than the other 2024 talent out there? Everything I'm hearing is he's a defensive glue guy who needs to develop offensively. Not knocking the kid at all, but his signing doesn't support the argument you're making.

He’s a great culture fit and Hurley is going to invest in helping him reach his potential….he will most likely not be counted on next year like Ross was this year

 

[Jbirdp5]

There are very very few freshman who could come in next year and make an immediate impact. Even freshman year Hawkins wasn't anywhere close to what he gave us his sophomore season. We'll have a great core of Ball, Diarra (I assume he's back), Karaban (hopefully), Stewart, and Nowell. We'll need to go out to the portal and find another Cam Spencer and a veteran starting center. I love Samson but he isn't a starting caliber center in such a physical conference. He'll be a strong backup again though.

That would put us at 8 deep, and then we can still probably find a shooter to come off the bench which would get us to 9. I'm not sure how much Abraham or Ross would play next year so I'm not really counting them in the rotation depth. Next years roster is really going to come down to what we do at Center and how we can replace Cam. We got the best staff in the country. They'll find the perfect fit just like they always do

I agree with your points but I wonder about the center position. The league is losing basically all off their bigs this offseason so Samson may be able to handle starting depending what other rosters look like next season.
Kalkbrenner, oduro, Soriano are all gone

 

[MDHuskFan]

Retaining/Re-Recruiting our stud freshmen on our roster now, so that they’re here as sophomores will be more beneficial than 95% of the freshmen that we could bring in.

From some of DH’s post game and pre-game comments, it seems like that’s where a lot of the “recruiting” time is being spent.

 

[husky429]

So Abraham is better than the other 2024 talent out there? Everything I'm hearing is he's a defensive glue guy who needs to develop offensively. Not knocking the kid at all, but his signing doesn't support the argument you're making.

Better player =/= better for our team. Abraham is better for our team, because he is locked into our culture and has the work ethic to improve.

 

[husky429]

Samson may be able to handle starting

There is no way anyone would predict a summer where Samson improves enough to handle a starting position. That rate of improvement would be unbelievable. At this point, we need to be wondering if Samson is even able to handle a bench big role. A quality big in the portal and a strong off-season from Singare need to be priorities.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Seems like our biggest need is at the 5 and 4

 

[Jbirdp5]

There is no way anyone would predict a summer where Samson improves enough to handle a starting position. That rate of improvement would be unbelievable. At this point, we need to be wondering if Samson is even able to handle a bench big role. A quality big in the portal and a strong off-season from Singare need to be priorities.

No argument that Samson hasn’t been great of late, the broader point I was trying to make was that the league is loaded with really big physical centers this year and that might not be the case next season as most of the bigger centers will be moving on. Having a bruiser might not be a necessity

 

[superjohn]

Seems like our biggest need is at the 5 and 4

5 and shooting guard.

 

[BlueMAB]

Dude I’m not attacking him just trying to have a discussion on recruiting strategy. But contrary to what you’re saying he Was prioritizing two other freshmen so we could very well have had a big 4 recruit class. I hypothesized in my last post maybe he thought cooper and pat were the only freshmen he’d rather have than transfers. Do you buy that?

But those 2 are 5 star players who would come in and start, one of whom is a one and done.

If you can bring that talent in, you do it. If you swing and miss....transfer portal.

This seems to make sense to almost everyone but you.

 

[upstater]

There is no way anyone would predict a summer where Samson improves enough to handle a starting position. That rate of improvement would be unbelievable. At this point, we need to be wondering if Samson is even able to handle a bench big role. A quality big in the portal and a strong off-season from Singare need to be priorities.

Is he really that far off from where Hilton Armstrong was when he made his jump?

 

[Tenspro2002]

There is no way anyone would predict a summer where Samson improves enough to handle a starting position. That rate of improvement would be unbelievable. At this point, we need to be wondering if Samson is even able to handle a bench big role. A quality big in the portal and a strong off-season from Singare need to be priorities.

It would literally have to be a Hilton Armstrong type of growth, which has happened once in program history.

We will be hitting the portal hard. Fortunately, Hurley has killed it in the portal for 4 years.

 

[upstater]

Why are people saying things have changed and that with 2024 recruiting we still have half the class open and/or uncommitted?

I just checked the top 100 for the first time and only 4 out of 100 players are uncommitted.

 

[superjohn]

Why are people saying things have changed and that with 2024 recruiting we still have half the class open and/or uncommitted?

I just checked the top 100 for the first time and only 4 out of 100 players are uncommitted.

What's your question?

Things have changed with the transfer portal. We have the best backcourt in the country because of it.