Is this kid not on our radar? Seems like a great fit | The Boneyard

Is this kid not on our radar? Seems like a great fit

storrsroars said:
I think he ends up in the MAC. He's a Cleveland kid whom I don't think wants to be all that far from home. I suppose a bag of NIL could change that, but I don't know what kind of bag gets offered to a kid from the Horizon conference.
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Villanova and Providence are all over him. He visited both schools and both fanbases think he'll be committing to them this week. He's visited Iowa too, he's definitely ending up much higher than the MAC
 
Karaban needs to make his decision before we can pursue a big fish like this. Maybe he will wait on his commitment announcement though until he hears what Karaban is doing. If you were Folgueiras, would you rather play the 4 at Nova, Providence, or UConn? It's a no brainer.
 
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boog204 said:
He owes us an answer! Actually hurting the team at this point. /s
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He owes us? I would think his decision is made and he is taking his time on communications and is in lock step with Hurley.
 
We are so impatient here ! If Hurley truly doesn't know yet, then AK deserves some patience from us for his commitment/time/success to the program. As Tom said, unless something is public - assume he is staying. With the addition of the new guards, and NIL $, don't be surprised .
 
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Since we're hand-wringing and speculating, I'll float another entirely plausible theory while hopefully staying within BY rules:

Perhaps Alex has decision options "A" and "B" made already. Can't say them out loud due to BY rules but you can figure what they could be.

"A" and "B" may be equally "good" decisions in Alex's and the staff's mind. Which one eventually chosen depends on outcomes of ongoing portal inquiries/activities that are not public yet (since our staff is great at radio silence activity).

Dominos could fall really quickly.

All of you chicken littles that think the staff is just sitting there doing nothing while Alex's decision-making process is going on and players are entering/exiting the portal haven't really been paying any attention to recruiting methods and outcomes during the Hurley era.
 
Marat said:
We are so impatient here ! If Hurley truly doesn't know yet, then AK deserves some patience from us for his commitment/time/success to the program. As Tom said, unless something is public - assume he is staying. With the addition of the new guards, and NIL $, don't be surprised .
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Impatient? Don’t you think he should feel guilty if we can’t get a player who would be equal to his ability or better and in a week he says I’m leaving.
 
Tyler2Rings said:
This is the last impact PF who will be available! What ever shall we do!

Alex can take his time and we will be fine
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He can take his time but for the sake of being able to assemble the best possible roster, he needs to let the staff know his decision before the portal closes to new entrants next week. There could be a few studs who are comfortable in their current roles and therefore not in the portal, but if they see the starting PF spot open up at a top 5 UConn team, they may want to jump into the portal. If the portal is closed for new entrants by the time Karaban decides, we don't have that luxury of being able to put feelers out there to those guys.

Plus, this will let the staff finish up the roster so they can go on vacation for the first time in 3 years lol
 
aburks41 said:
He can take his time but for the sake of being able to assemble the best possible roster, he needs to let the staff know his decision before the portal closes to new entrants next week. There could be a few studs who are comfortable in their current roles and therefore not in the portal, but if they see the starting PF spot open up at a top 5 UConn team, they may want to jump into the portal. If the portal is closed for new entrants by the time Karaban decides, we don't have that luxury of being able to put feelers out there to those guys.

Plus, this will let the staff finish up the roster so they can go on vacation for the first time in 3 years lol
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I agree. I have every reason to assume Alex and the staff are communicating, so I'm not worried
 
Tyler2Rings said:
I agree. I have every reason to assume Alex and the staff are communicating, so I'm not worried
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Doesn’t address the legit concern regarding guys who might be interested in starting at UConn if Alex leaves but that might not enter the portal in time if Alex doesn’t publicly announce at least a few days before it closes. Unless you’re confident staff is tampering with any potential future transfers. We also coulda landed Hall or Watts already.
 
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bendm said:
Doesn’t address the legit concern regarding guys who might be interested in starting at UConn if Alex leaves but that might not enter the portal in time if Alex doesn’t publicly announce at least a few days before it closes. Unless you’re confident staff is tampering with any potential future transfers. We also coulda landed Hall or Watts already.
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If what you describe is a concern of the staff, then surely they have explained as much to AK and he won't leave them in a bad spot.

Yes I hope the staff is "tampering" (ie gaging interest with agents which is fair game)
 
What kind of certainty does Alex have as to his draft position? Is that position likely within say 5 spots and is he first round pick or very early second round?
 
AK is a fringe draft pick at this point; this past year did nothing to help his draft stock.

The make up of the team hurt his game - he’s best when he’s in motion and we had a two-pronged effort in keeping him from doing that this year. First, we really did not have a natural point guard to keep things moving and second, we had a bunch of guys who were spot up shooters who would become anchored in place which meant Alex had to stop moving. (Liam often settled in the right corner which would often bring most of the motion to a halt.)

I am not sold on him as an NBA player - I think he might be just barely below that level, but I do think there’s a chance that next year’s team, with two good guards and Solo’s progress, really could free Alex up and let him be more of the player who drew NBA attention to start with.

Plus, he’d likely make more money here next year.
 
bendm said:
Doesn’t address the legit concern regarding guys who might be interested in starting at UConn if Alex leaves but that might not enter the portal in time if Alex doesn’t publicly announce at least a few days before it closes. Unless you’re confident staff is tampering with any potential future transfers. We also coulda landed Hall or Watts already.
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There's no reason to think they're not doing this, especially when the staff has all but come out and said they're prepared for every outcome
 
Fishy said:
AK is a fringe draft pick at this point; this past year did nothing to help his draft stock.

The make up of the team hurt his game - he’s best when he’s in motion and we had a two-pronged effort in keeping him from doing that this year. First, we really did not have a natural point guard to keep things moving and second, we had a bunch of guys who were spot up shooters who would become anchored in place which meant Alex had to stop moving. (Liam often settled in the right corner which would often bring most of the motion to a halt.)

I am not sold on him as an NBA player - I think he might be just barely below that level, but I do think there’s a chance that next year’s team, with two good guards and Solo’s progress, really could free Alex up and let him be more of the player who drew NBA attention to start with.

Plus, he’d likely make more money here next year.
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It really doesn't seem like he has much benefit to going pro this year v next. As you said, he'll make more money @Uconn.

He's not a lead dog, and trying to turn him into one did him no favors, nor did not having adequate PG play. He's best in the flow of the offense facilitating and taking his shots in the flow.

I don't really understand the benefit of leaving...other than being a year older. Would that hurt his status that much, especially if he had a better year with a more balanced team around him?
 
At some point there just aren’t that many forward options left, that’s how long we’ve been waiting. It’s this dude and Darrion Williams for power forwards, and Williams is probably gonna be in that 2.5 range I doubt we’ll dabble in.

Curious to see what the plan is if Alex does declare.
 
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