2026 Recruiting: Junior County

[Lafayette]

Definitely, not taking anything away from him. I think he's going to be a very good player, just saying the expectations are very different for a highly ranked, coveted prospect

True that. It’s for sure a lot more pressure when you are “the chosen one” than if you slide in and low key are really freakin good.

 

[Mooch82]

Not at all. Jacob Furphy was unranked when he committed here, Jayden Ross was ranked 179, Jacob Ross was unranked when he committed. Junior County is ranked 29 right now, the playing time expectations are not in the same stratosphere

Ok - so what point are you trying to make? I don’t think every top 50 kid comes in expecting to start. Reibe was ranked higher than County is (County is 29 by 247 but lower by other services and is 39 in the composite). I don’t think County coming off the bench as a freshman and having a great chance to win a starting job as a sophomore is a bad pitch for him.

 

[navery12]

Ok - so what point are you trying to make? I don’t think every top 50 kid comes in expecting to start. Reibe was ranked higher than County is (County is 29 by 247 but lower by other services and is 39 in the composite). I don’t think County coming off the bench as a freshman and having a great chance to win a starting job as a sophomore is a bad pitch for him.

Just that every top recruit is going to be looking for playing time, not necessarily to start, as a freshman. And I don't think that's a scenario UConn can offer if we get Mingo.

Not even saying it's what I would do, I agree with your pitch. Just that Dan Hurley said it's not really a scenario he's looking to repeat with the current portal rules after what happened with Nowell, Abraham, Floyd, etc

 

[auror]

Just that every top recruit is going to be looking for playing time, not necessarily to start, as a freshman. And I don't think that's a scenario UConn can offer if we get Mingo.

Not even saying it's what I would do, I agree with your pitch. Just that Dan Hurley said it's not really a scenario he's looking to repeat with the current portal rules after what happened with Nowell, Abraham, Floyd, etc

Assuming Braylon goes pro. If there's 1 more pro defection, it's even easier.

Demary / County
Ball / Furphy
Mingo (Or Landrew, Samuels) / Ross
Stewart
Reibe / Backup C

There's your 9-man rotation. That's minutes for County. Ross might need to beef up a bit to play backup 3/4.

 

[navery12]

Assuming Braylon goes pro. If there's 1 more pro defection, it's even easier.

Demary / County
Ball / Furphy
Mingo (Or Landrew, Samuels) / Ross
Stewart
Reibe / Backup C

There's your 9-man rotation. That's minutes for County. Ross might need to beef up a bit to play backup 3/4.

If Mingo is being recruited as a wing then I agree. My assumption was we were talking in addition to Landrew or Samuels which is why I was saying I don't see room

 

[auror]

If Mingo is being recruited as a wing then I agree. My assumption was we were talking in addition to Landrew or Samuels which is why I was saying I don't see room

Was Castle recruited as a wing? If Mingo comes, he's not backing up Demary, so his only real slot in the starting lineup would be that jumbo playmaker role. Which he fits really well and is an easy sell to say "we just had a tall PG play this role get picked top 5".

I only think we can recruit Mingo+(Samuels or Landrew) if we think both Braylon and Ball are going pro.

 

[RuffRuff]

Assuming Braylon goes pro. If there's 1 more pro defection, it's even easier.

Demary / County
Ball / Furphy
Mingo (Or Landrew, Samuels) / Ross
Stewart
Reibe / Backup C

There's your 9-man rotation. That's minutes for County. Ross might need to beef up a bit to play backup 3/4.

I don't see Hurley going into another season (like last) relying on non lottery type freshman. I see this differently.

Demary/Portal 1
Ball/Mingo (or Landrew, Samuels)
Furphy/Ross/Mingo
Stewart/?
Reibe/Portal 5

I could see bringing in either Landrew or Samuels to work into the rotation for year 2 and then going portal for a backup 4. Cloer was likely targeted to take that ?, not sure what they do with it now since there is really no other 4 targeted in this class.

2026/27 is a full cupboard. 2027/28 is where it starts getting really thin because last years class was a donut, so lot's of opportunity to play if you're willing to be patient for a year and develop. 2027 as of now is starting with just Furphy & Reibe.

It's going to be interesting to watch Hurley's trends on HS recruits vs Portal, as I know he likes building culture with a core group of incoming freshmen, the issue these days is just that you don't know if they'll stick.

I feel pretty good about Ball/Demary sticking through senior year based on strength of this years class vs next.

 

[auror]

I don't see Hurley going into another season (like last) relying on non lottery type freshman. I see this differently.

Demary/Portal 1
Ball/Mingo (or Landrew, Samuels)
Furphy/Ross/Mingo
Stewart/?
Reibe/Portal 5

I could see bringing in either Landrew or Samuels to work into the rotation for year 2 and then going portal for a backup 4. Cloer was likely targeted to take that ?, not sure what they do with it now since there is really no other 4 targeted in this class.

2026/27 is a full cupboard. 2027/28 is where it starts getting really thin because last years class was a donut, so lot's of opportunity to play if you're willing to be patient for a year and develop. 2027 as of now is starting with just Furphy & Reibe.

Well where does County fit in then. We're clearly recruiting him, so there's a plan for him. What is the possible sell of 0 minutes for a top 50 recruit?

 

[bendm]

Demary/Portal 1
Ball/Mingo (or Landrew, Samuels)
Furphy/Ross/Mingo
Stewart/?
Reibe/Portal 5

Furphy has more guard skills than Landrew / Samuels, otherwise sure. Ross needs to bulk up by his senior year so he can be a 3/4

Demary/Portal 1
Ball/Furphy
Mingo or Landrew or Samuels
Stewart/Ross
Reibe/Portal 5

 

[RuffRuff]

Well where does County fit in then. We're clearly recruiting him, so there's a plan for him. What is the possible sell of 0 minutes for a top 50 recruit?

Perhaps a backup to Mingo or maybe he's willing to work into the very back end of the 2/3 rotation to pull a starters role in Year 2. That type of recruit is really about the kid, character, willingness to develop and be part of a winning program. Alternative is to do what Darius Adams did, get the cheap minutes at a second rate program to get PT. This is the the trickery of HS recruiting.

Bendm - we are not starting 4 stars out of this class. Ross moving to the 4 would be a stretch. The 2 and 3 are fairly interchangeable - we had Castle at the 3 two years ago.

 

[bendm]

Bendm - we are not starting 4 stars out of this class. Ross moving to the 4 would be a stretch. The 2 and 3 are fairly interchangeable - we had Castle at the 3 two years ago

Isn’t samuels a 5*? I’ve been told a hundred times Hurley will never go more than 9 deep so that leaves a hole at backup PF unless Ross can fill it.

 

[auror]

Perhaps a backup to Mingo or maybe he's willing to work into the very back end of the 2/3 rotation to pull a starters role in Year 2. That type of recruit is really about the kid, character, willingness to develop and be part of a winning program. Alternative is to do what Darius Adams did, get the cheap minutes at a second rate program to get PT. This is the the trickery of HS recruiting.

But even as a backup option to Mingo, then you're still running into the problem of "I don't see Hurley going into another season (like last) relying on non lottery type freshman."

He's either being recruited to be in the rotation or he's not. It's one thing to pitch a kid "you're the backup PG or 2G" and then he gets squeezed out late in the year because we start only playing 1 backup guard (like Solo in '24). It's a whole other ball-game to recruit a top 50 kid as 3rd on the depth chart.

 

[HooperScooper]

Isn’t samuels a 5*?

Top 20ish but generally just outside the 5* ranking (not that the stars matter since the cut off between 5 and 4 stars is kind of arbitrary). He’s probably a top 10 scorer in this class but he didn’t show much of anything else in his game this past summer to be overall top 10. That’s at least what I read from the recruiting analysts.

 

[navery12]

Was Castle recruited as a wing? If Mingo comes, he's not backing up Demary, so his only real slot in the starting lineup would be that jumbo playmaker role. Which he fits really well and is an easy sell to say "we just had a tall PG play this role get picked top 5".

I only think we can recruit Mingo+(Samuels or Landrew) if we think both Braylon and Ball are going pro.

I guess it's a distinction without a difference, but I'd say Castle was recruited as a guard and we started 3 guards to get him on the court and I'd expect we do the same with Mingo.

I just feel like Mingo is in his own tier, where he'd come in and immediately start on day 1, and guys like Landrew or Samuels still fit as the backup behind our starting 3 and Stewart. I could be wrong though

 

[Lafayette]

I think the odds are LOW that none of Demary, Ball, Stewart are going pro next year.

If that trio makes the jump like we have heard Solo has again (AK interview) or Stewart (Hurley interview) and Demary knows what he needs to do after testing the NBA already it stands reasonably that at least one will.

 

[Drame]

The County PT comment was really just in reference to the point about him having an opportunity in 2027. In an ideal world that makes sense but I don't think kids work that way anymore, they want to play immediately.

Not sure what we'd do in that scenario of County and no Mingo. County seems fine as a backup CG off the bench and maybe bring in a veteran PG to play behind Demary. But it's a tough call to make now. If we only get Landrew or Samuels then maybe that opens up more minutes for Furphy at the 3, lots of moving pieces

Not at all. Jacob Furphy was unranked when he committed here, Jayden Ross was ranked 179, Jacob Ross was unranked when he committed. Junior County is ranked 29 right now, the playing time expectations are not in the same stratosphere

A top 30 kid should not expect to start or get any specific amount of minutes at Uconn. Obviously you want him to play a good role but he has the same ranking as Nowell and this is a weak class on top of that. Plus kids are getting paid according to their ranking, more or less. They are probably recruiting him based on his attitude relative to his ranking.

 

[RuffRuff]

A top 30 kid should not expect to start or get any specific amount of minutes at Uconn. Obviously you want him to play a good role but he has the same ranking as Nowell and this is a weak class on top of that. Plus kids are getting paid according to their ranking, more or less. They are probably recruiting him based on his attitude relative to his ranking.

There was a ton of feedback out of Peach Jam this year that this class is really thin in top end talent and there isn’t a lot of separation after Stokes, but a lot of depth. A kid like Stokes would not have been top 5 last year. That means you can get the same caliber of player at 30 that you can at 2. So I’m not sure this is a year where rankings correlate to pay as much as value does. And it’s generally where the staff is spending their time outside of Mingo, inside that 20-30.

And I agree with this, issue is that kids these days want to play and have those options in the portal era. So I think Hurley is trying to find those unique high upside kids that want to be part of something and are willing to be patient. Whether he lands them who knows. It feels like a tough sell, especially after you saw two kids walk last year for those reasons.

It’s easy to get excited about rankings but they mean different things year to year. Mullins would have likely been a top 5 kid in the 2026 class. I’m not getting too overworked about these kids, put faith in the staff.

 

[navery12]

A top 30 kid should not expect to start or get any specific amount of minutes at Uconn. Obviously you want him to play a good role but he has the same ranking as Nowell and this is a weak class on top of that. Plus kids are getting paid according to their ranking, more or less. They are probably recruiting him based on his attitude relative to his ranking.

In theory that's nice, but in this portal era I'm just not sure it's realistic. Kids want to play and when they can freely move around every year there's very little incentive to sit on the bench. I'm not saying this is exactly what happened with Darius Adams, but if you're him and UConn tells you there's no minutes as a freshman but you're going to be a rotation guy year 2, why wouldn't you go play somewhere else at a lower level for 1 year?

 

[RuffRuff]

In theory that's nice, but in this portal era I'm just not sure it's realistic. Kids want to play and when they can freely move around every year there's very little incentive to sit on the bench. I'm not saying this is exactly what happened with Darius Adams, but if you're him and UConn tells you there's no minutes as a freshman but you're going to be a rotation guy year 2, why wouldn't you go play somewhere else at a lower level for 1 year?

Pitch to County is probably this: come in here, learn the system for a year and play with some strong upper class kids you can learn from. Kill it in practice and in whatever minutes you get and you have as good a chance to start in this program as anyone year 2. Got to think he’s brutally honest. If the kid would rather go somewhere they get instant minutes, move on. Call me in the portal. If anything I think Hurley would start pivoting down the rankings if this wave doesn’t bite, bring in a couple lower ranked kids that buy into and carry culture.

 

[husky429]

bring in a couple lower ranked kids that buy into and carry culture.

I have a feeling we'll see more and more euros because of this.

 

[superjohn]

Pitch to County is probably this: Call me in the portal. If anything I think Hurley would start pivoting down the rankings if this wave doesn’t bite.

If anything I think Hurley would start pivoting down the rankings if this wave doesn’t bite, bring in a couple lower ranked kids that buy into and carry culture.

Nope, this goes against everything Hurley has said about roster construction now.

 

[auror]

 

[Lafayette]

Furphy’s American twin?

 

[RuffRuff]

Nope, this goes against everything Hurley has said about roster construction now.

We'll see - HS recruiting is a year to year, fluid and evolving process. I feel pretty confident one thing Hurley will want is kids that maintain culture year over year. If it's shapeable HS kids, it's likely with an expectation not to get a lot of minutes in year one. Maybe he gets them in the 20-35 range. If he can't land those higher rated kids to buy in, I can see him stocking up the roster with a couple later ranked kids to stash on the bench that are really bought in. Like a Ross.

 

[auror]

Furphy’s American twin?

Similar offensive versatility and intangibles. But differing strengths so actually pretty good complements. Furphy better shooter and probably a better scorer overall, probably further along as a pick and roll operator and making reads, too. County quicker, better defender and athlete, better finisher at the rim.