2024 Recruiting: Liam McNeeley, the Second of His Name, 2.0

[FearThePups]

Don't know if this has been mentioned on the Yard or not. Supposedly Mark Pope had a Zoom call with Liam yesterday(Wed night). His OV in Storrs can't happen soon enough for me.

Edit:247 Sports reporting-- per Matt Jones-Kentucky Sports Radio

Pope is a parasite.

 

[UCTitleTown]

1.2 million units of penicillin in each cheek. Aw many Marines with that affliction

"Filthy bastards, they go from port to port."

 

[jibsey]

I believe McNeeley views himself as a UConn type player and that his gaols and outlook mesh with ours. At this point Hurley's player profile has been widely and repeatedly publicized by Hurley himself, in every interview he does, without fail. Players now need to convince him; not the other way around. I love McNeeley, and beleive he will be a Husky, but if not, we'll find another player who fits.

Don't want to be overconfident but I think this is true. They gotta show they should be here.

 

[CTBasketball]

Diarra fits 10x better than Roach, who should not even be considered. We don't need to turn into the Cashman Yankees.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

We have ( praying for it) Diarra. Thats our experience. Which developing program player do you want to alienate all the way to the portal in exchange for Jeremy Roach?

He’s a good player and seems like a good kid, it’s just tough maintaining a roster.

I too wish fantasy hoops was real and that any player you want to sign or want to keep is happy sitting on the bench “ in case of emergency” , but real world doesn’t really work like that.

And for the record I personally think Hass is better than Roach.

To Threepeat we’re gonna need as much good karma & mojo as possible.

The kid is a good player and could be a great person, but I just wouldn’t want to tempt things by taking any Duke players from the portal.

Comfortable riding with our current guys, McNeeley, and maybe one more mid-budget portal sharpshooter Cam/Joey-like guy

 

[dennismenace]

I'd have to think that this kid, who is probably ready to get on a college campus ASAP and already went through an entire recruitment process knows very well what he is looking for in a program.

Hurley shouldn't let him leave campus once he gets here for the visit. Throw him right into summer workouts lol. Have Cam coach him while the coaches are in a no practice period lol

LOL!

 

[Scottobot]

I think it’s over simplistic to dismiss a young man’s goals or work ethic because they are moved by the offer of more money. Some young people are in situations where more money sooner is extremely important. If it was my son he could afford to be worried about long term earning potential the wanting to win and be part of a team while he had the choice, but not everyone is lucky enough to have that choice.

We should go easier on young men who are moved primarily by the offer of more money when they need the more money at the present time.

They are not making a choice between no money and a lot of money. it is a choice of decent money, plus a good place to play, vs a mountain of money … and then next year portalling again looking for an even bigger bag of money.
If all a program has to offer is the biggest bag of money, they will lose players as soon as someone can offer more money.
The perfect analogy to this is Hurley not chasing the dump truck of money to Kentucky. He would rather make good money at a place he wants to be. UConn got the right coach. UConn still needs to help recruits get decent NIL deals, but should worry about not being the top bidder.
I would not want to play with a bunch of bad attitude ball hogs who chuck up a shot every time they touch the ball and don’t pass.

 

[Scrutineer]

Saw this yesterday at On3 and posted it in another thread. Who knows if we want Roach but it appears we have definitely made contact with Mahaney:
Aidan Mahaney (Saint Mary’s) So. G | 6-3, 180

• Kentucky is one of many schools to reach out to Saint Mary’s transfer guard Aidan Mahaney, according to Recruits Zone. The likes of Duke, UConn, Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, St. John’s, and plenty more have done the same.

 

[dennismenace]

Could the foreign player be the French Center?

 

[Hurlees4hed]

Has UConn landed any other players from Montverde? Boyle used to have a hell of a rivalry with Bob Hurley Sr. when Boyle was at St. Patrick's

 

[Scrutineer]

As for McNeeley, if 750k is being bandied about as what he's worth or what he's looking for, I don't see him getting that here and it may offer a hint as to why the guy from Maine didn't come here (shall remain unmentionable so I don't trigger anyone).

Too disruptive to the culture and a slap in the face to guys like Karaban who've proved themselves and are probably not getting 750K and if that's the scale for McNeeley level players the guy from Maine probably wanted $1.5 M and I don't care how good he is he becomes a negative in the locker room.

 

[Scrutineer]

Clouseau?

 

[mauconnfan]

"Filthy bastards, they go from port to port."

 

[controlfade]

i do not want any Duke players ever!!!!!!! this is just me

 

[UconnU]

Has UConn landed any other players from Montverde? Boyle used to have a hell of a rivalry with Bob Hurley Sr. when Boyle was at St. Patrick's

No, never landed an MV kid. Which is surprising, I know Danny is close friends with KB Jr.

 

[ctbro1999]

As for McNeeley, if 750k is being bandied about as what he's worth or what he's looking for, I don't see him getting that here and it may offer a hint as to why the guy from Maine didn't come here (shall remain unmentionable so I don't trigger anyone).

Too disruptive to the culture and a slap in the face to guys like Karaban who've proved themselves and are probably not getting 750K and if that's the scale for McNeeley level players the guy from Maine probably wanted $1.5 M and I don't care how good he is he becomes a negative in the locker room.

I was watching an interview Hurley did with Dan Patrick recently, and Patrick asked him what a "ridiculous NIL ask" has been, and Hurley said that someone wanted $1.2 or $1.3M, which they passed on. I think $750k NIL is probably something UConn could cough up, but it better be damn worth it!

 

[Mr. French]

To Threepeat we’re gonna need as much good karma & mojo as possible.

The kid is a good player and could be a great person, but I just wouldn’t want to tempt things by taking any Duke players from the portal.

Comfortable riding with our current guys, McNeeley, and maybe one more mid-budget portal sharpshooter Cam/Joey-like guy

I'm here too, 100%.

If we get a McNeeley commit, he is a starter/6th man level player instantly. We have 2 starting-level handlers, multiple wing players with different roles, and 2 bigs to tag team.

One more bench shooter would be great, but I think with Ross, Ball, Stewart, Abraham development, that's a really good team.

If we get multiple years out of a Nowell/McNeeley/Stewart core, adding in '25 recruits ... sheesh.

 

[3rdbass]

I was watching an interview Hurley did with Dan Patrick recently, and Patrick asked him what a "ridiculous NIL ask" has been, and Hurley said that someone wanted $1.2 or $1.3M, which they passed on. I think $750k NIL is probably something UConn could cough up, but it better be damn worth it!

Sounds like we passed on Ballo!

 

[AntG168]

You wouldn’t know if I did or didn’t. Let’s put it this way, I’m on there enough to watch you embarrass yourself making the same definitive statements you’re making now. And no they are not all just doing it to piss off Duke fans. Not even close. Some are. Some aren’t .

Embarrass? Lmao. Nothing on twitter makes me feel “embarrassed”. I’m very comfortable in my skin. We’re both making definitive statements. I haven’t seen anyone seriously insinuate that Flagg was decommiting. Not one. Maybe we follow different people.

What’s embarrassing is how you think anything posted on twitter by fans bears any consequence on anything. Nobody actually cares except uptight boneyard posters.

Loosen up. It’s not that serious

 

[WallyPuds]

Has UConn landed any other players from Montverde? Boyle used to have a hell of a rivalry with Bob Hurley Sr. when Boyle was at St. Patrick's

I think Emmett Hendry was from Montverde, but definitely not the typical player coming out of there

 

[businesslawyer]

They are not making a choice between no money and a lot of money. it is a choice of decent money, plus a good place to play, vs a mountain of money … and then next year portalling again looking for an even bigger bag of money.
If all a program has to offer is the biggest bag of money, they will lose players as soon as someone can offer more money.
The perfect analogy to this is Hurley not chasing the dump truck of money to Kentucky. He would rather make good money at a place he wants to be. UConn got the right coach. UConn still needs to help recruits get decent NIL deals, but should worry about not being the top bidder.
I would not want to play with a bunch of bad attitude ball hogs who chuck up a shot every time they touch the ball and don’t pass.

I have no problem with Hurley's recruiting strategy. I do have a problem with how many here so easily assume that someone who feels the need to take the most money offered is a "bad attitude ball hog ...." Cam Spencer and Hassan Diarra would have been the same player if their family situation was such that they needed to take the most money they could get for that year. Any implication to the contrary is just fans from their thrones willing to throw young men under the bus because it makes them feel superior by being UConn fans.

 

[husky429]

I have no problem with Hurley's recruiting strategy. I do have a problem with how many here so easily assume that someone who feels the need to take the most money offered is a "bad attitude ball hog ...." Cam Spencer and Hassan Diarra would have been the same player if their family situation was such that they needed to take the most money they could get for that year. Any implication to the contrary is just fans from their thrones willing to throw young men under the bus because it makes them feel superior by being UConn fans.

Agreed. Particularly for guys who are G-league or Euro-bound. Why wouldn't you maximize your earning potential and balance it with the chance at developing your basketball skill? It's actually kind of the best approach.

Cam Spencer was paid a lot of money to come here. He also had a visit to Miami who likely offered him more. He made the best financial decision that also set him up for the best shot at a healthy professional career. It's exactly what you'd expect from an intelligent young man.

 

[Vuce]

AJ Storr committed to Kansas so however much they were in on McNeeley I assume that helps out the good guys

 

[CL82]

You’re being dishonest if you are saying that every UConn fan on Twitter who mentions Flagg is just trolling. Seriously.

My working assumption is that every UConn fan on Twitter is just trolling. They could be tweeting about a cheeseburger they had for lunch and I'd still assume that to be true. Frankly, I'm pretty sure the odds are with me on that assumption.

 

[CL82]

Would we want Roach? I don’t know anything about him.

I'm sure you are not the first person to deny any knowledge about a Roach.

 

[Arod18]

Aj Storr just signed with Kansas. I assume that takes them out of the running for Liam? Do they know something? Timing is interesting