Entering the portal - 2026 | Page 23 | The Boneyard

Entering the portal - 2026

navery12 said:
I'll try to be a little more clear. I think there are freshman PGs who are absolutely capable of doing what Malachi Smith did and we could hand them the keys and be fine. I think there are guys ranked around where Junior County is that can absolutely contribute as freshman, as we've seen.

I think counting on both of those things happening as a lower ranked recruit playing out of position is a lot to ask. That does not seem like a very good gamble, especially when it is that exact gamble that has burned us multiple times in the past few years
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I’m not sure why you’re considering 10 minutes a game to be “handing the keys”.

The success rate of PGs in the top 100 range as rotational players is actually pretty high. Let alone a top 50 player. It’s not that big of a gamble and it’s not one we’ve ever made.
 
Hurlees4hed said:
This is a new era of college basketball (and sports in general).

To be an annual title contender, you need quality depth and proven production. Older guys have a big advantage over most non-elite freshmen. It's really tough to rely on a non-elite freshman to deliver especially as a back up PG IMO.

Competing and earning minutes is absolutely a real thing... and bringing in guys who buy that is why we have a culture that excels. To have the kind of year we want to have, there needs to be competition. If a freshman doesn't want to commit to competing, it's an easy choice given the plethora of options with more proven production in the portal. No hard feelings.
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The narrative of non-elite freshman PG not being able to contribute is a false one that is only based on a UConn centric view. I suggest you do research and see what the actual hit rate for those guys are as rotational players. I think you’d be surprised.
 
HW611 said:
The narrative of non-elite freshman PG not being able to contribute is a false one that is only based on a UConn centric view. I suggest you do research and see what the actual hit rate for those guys are as rotational players. I think you’d be surprised.
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Feel free to post some of your research. Not speaking through a UConn centric lens at all. Wagler is the exception not the rule. Most championship teams aren't going to rely on a non-elite freshman to make decisions for 20+ mpg regularly.
 
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Hurlees4hed said:
Feel free to post some of your research. Not speaking through a UConn centric lens at all. Wagler is the exception not the rule. Most championship teams aren't going to rely on a non-elite freshman to make decisions for 20+ mpg regularly.
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That’s not what we would be asking from County.

I think this is where the disconnect is coming from. We aren’t asking him to start and run the show. We’re asking him to give us solid bench minutes and get his feet wet.

Best case scenario he breaks through in February/March and is able to take over for Silas the season afterwards. Which I thought was the whole plan for bringing in a top 50 recruit.
 
HW611 said:
I’m not sure why you’re considering 10 minutes a game to be “handing the keys”.

The success rate of PGs in the top 100 range as rotational players is actually pretty high. Let alone a top 50 player. It’s not that big of a gamble and it’s not one we’ve ever made.
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I'm having a hard time taking this conversation seriously when you're on the record multiple times as not even being high on Junior County. This is another case of you taking a contrarian position to just argue with the entire board at once
 
navery12 said:
I'm having a hard time taking this conversation seriously when you're on the record multiple times as not even being high on Junior County. This is another case of you taking a contrarian position to just argue with the entire board at once
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It doesn’t matter if I’m high on him. The staff sought him out and thought he was good enough to offer him a scholarship and court him to be a part of our roster.

He had offers from Purdue, Arizona, BYU, Michigan State, and Houston. He was highly sought after as the 36th ranked player on 247. It makes no sense to me to bring in that caliber of player and not trusting him to even be a bench piece when we could’ve not recruited him at all and he could’ve went somewhere that was serious about investing in him as a player.
 
HW611 said:
It doesn’t matter if I’m high on him. The staff sought him out and thought he was good enough to offer him a scholarship and court him to be a part of our roster.

He had offers from Purdue, Arizona, BYU, Michigan State, and Houston. He was highly sought after as the 36th ranked player on 247. It makes no sense to me to bring in that caliber of player and not trusting him to even be a bench piece when we could’ve not recruited him at all and he could’ve went somewhere that was serious about investing in him as a player.
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Maybe I'm typing too many words, I'll try to shorten it.

He can be a bench piece if he's ready. We still need a backup PG.
 
navery12 said:
Maybe I'm typing too many words, I'll try to shorten it.

He can be a bench piece if he's ready. We still need a backup PG.
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We always need 3 PGs regardless, but the highly recruited #37 player has been the backup-future-starting PG in training since forever. And they've been ranked anywhere from #15 (Kemba) to #65 or so (Napier). But we've seen a long string of them from Marcus Williams to AJ Price to Kemba Walker to Napier to Boatright. Things may have changed under Hurley but I will note that he has always recruited a PG to come in (but of course, they've been somewhat underwhelming and transferred twice after their first season, and once before they even got here). That's a scouting problem, but I sense it's still part of the philosophy.
 
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uconn1999 said:
We can do better
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He looks really good to me. Strong body, can definitely play and score through a lot of contact, can step out and hit the 3, elevates and dunks rather easily.

On this year's team, he'd be our most athletic player, which (admittedly) isn't saying too much.

I would definitely take him if he wants to come here and not break our budget.
 
upstater said:
We always need 3 PGs regardless, but the highly recruited #37 player has been the backup-future-starting PG in training since forever. And they've been ranked anywhere from #15 (Kemba) to #65 or so (Napier). But we've seen a long string of them from Marcus Williams to AJ Price to Kemba Walker to Napier to Boatright. Things may have changed under Hurley but I will note that he has always recruited a PG to come in (but of course, they've been somewhat underwhelming and transferred twice after their first season, and once before they even got here). That's a scouting problem, but I sense it's still part of the philosophy.
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He’s also listed as a SG a majority of recruiting sites and from all the stats I can find he doesn’t have high assist numbers. Maybe…just maybe he is much more of a combo guard that won’t be running a ton of point anyways.

We need another point guard, it seems pretty simple to see that.
 
upstater said:
We always need 3 PGs regardless, but the highly recruited #37 player has been the backup-future-starting PG in training since forever. And they've been ranked anywhere from #15 (Kemba) to #65 or so (Napier). But we've seen a long string of them from Marcus Williams to AJ Price to Kemba Walker to Napier to Boatright. Things may have changed under Hurley but I will note that he has always recruited a PG to come in (but of course, they've been somewhat underwhelming and transferred twice after their first season, and once before they even got here). That's a scouting problem, but I sense it's still part of the philosophy.
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I would really like to get back to this and hope Silas can take County under his wing next year to get on the job training like those other past PGs had.
 
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upstater said:
We always need 3 PGs regardless, but the highly recruited #37 player has been the backup-future-starting PG in training since forever. And they've been ranked anywhere from #15 (Kemba) to #65 or so (Napier). But we've seen a long string of them from Marcus Williams to AJ Price to Kemba Walker to Napier to Boatright. Things may have changed under Hurley but I will note that he has always recruited a PG to come in (but of course, they've been somewhat underwhelming and transferred twice after their first season, and once before they even got here). That's a scouting problem, but I sense it's still part of the philosophy.
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Well this misses one key point, he is a shooting guard who we're hoping can play some PG. As a freshman that's a pretty big gamble to take that he's ready to do that day 1.

I have no issues or concerns with him playing off the ball, and I suspect he will year 1. It does not seem crazy to say we will bring in a PG, and based on what UConn has done on day 1 of the portal they agree
 
navery12 said:
Well this misses one key point, he is a shooting guard who we're hoping can play some PG. As a freshman that's a pretty big gamble to take that he's ready to do that day 1.

I have no issues or concerns with him playing off the ball, and I suspect he will year 1. It does not seem crazy to say we will bring in a PG, and based on what UConn has done on day 1 of the portal they agree
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This! He’s a combo guard with some PG skills and projection. It is entirely possible, and to me probably likely, that the plan for County is to come in and get minutes at the 2 as a scorer and someone who can be a secondary ball handler and creator. Hurley has done that tons with Cam, Steph, and Andre over the past few years. To me it’s not primary backup PG minutes or bench for County. He can easily be in the guard rotation and develop his PG skills without being the primary PG backup. And if he takes those minutes too based on his play, even better.
 
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FearThePups said:
I said it early this year. We have enough wing type guys. We need a Power Forward à la the Mailman. A Yaxel type guy. I wondered why we didn’t really push to get him this year. JP Toppin, Zuby, for you old guys Anthony Mason or Charles Oakley.
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You’re not “old” with Mason or Oakley you’re still a kid. Wes Unseld, Elvin Hayes make you old.
 
mauconnfan said:
You’re not “old” with Mason or Oakley you’re still a kid. Wes Unseld, Elvin Hayes make you old.
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Someone made a reference to Unseld on Monday night. Not sure if it was Ian or Raftery. This was after Mara gathered a rebound and made a length of the court chest pass flatfooted to a teammate.
 
Shine21 said:
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He’s not going to be cheap and may way to be the unequivocal top dog but he’d be an amazing fit next to Silas in the backcourt. His only real issues have been 3 point efficiency and turnovers, which are mostly driven by system and shot selection. Furman already used him in a movement off-ball role quite a bit and his ability to come off screens and either catch and shoot or get into the lane and create would be a lot of what we were missing this year. I think he’d put up massive numbers here and give us a ton of flexibility, while also cutting down on Silas’ wear and tear significantly.
 
KingAG said:
Looks like Royal is coming. Hopefully as a 3 right?
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I do think he probably has a good amount of shooting upside as well. I know the 3% was low but his FT% is very good which suggests to me he has the touch. Look at newton, he was a bad shooter before coming to UConn but once he started taking open shots in our offense his shooting improved on day 1
 
Where is that youtube page that makes all the transfer portal highlight videos for youtube? I'm not seeing that for any of these guys.
 
husky429 said:
Where is that youtube page that makes all the transfer portal highlight videos for youtube? I'm not seeing that for any of these guys.
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Not the one you’re thinking of, but there’s this. This is the exact type of player we haven’t had in a few years. Prototypical combo forward who can be a three level scorer, athletic, can handle, and looks to have some toughness.



25-26 highlights
 
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