2025 Recruiting: - Meleek Thomas to UConn Crystal Ball | Page 8 | The Boneyard

2025 Recruiting: Meleek Thomas to UConn Crystal Ball

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pj said:
How is it recruiting over? More like recruiting a backup and understudy for Nowell.

Recruiting over is bringing in Aidan Mahaney to get minutes ahead of Hassan Diarra.
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Would this recruit likely to be a one and done player? Either in their mind or in the minds of most recruiters and recruiting services? If so, would this recruit be content with a backup/understudy role for a year? I don’t think he’d be at all satisfied with that role and would want to start and play big minutes as a freshman. So either he’d be unhappy in that scenario or Nowell would be if demoted or relegated to a 20 minute/20 minute a game time share. I think a portal guy or a developmental low to mid four star that views themself as a 2-4 year player.
 
TheHorde said:
Would this recruit likely to be a one and done player? Either in their mind or in the minds of most recruiters and recruiting services? If so, would this recruit be content with a backup/understudy role for a year? I don’t think he’d be at all satisfied with that role and would want to start and play big minutes as a freshman. So either he’d be unhappy in that scenario or Nowell would be if demoted or relegated to a 20 minute/20 minute a game time share.
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I’m not sure who you’re referring to but Thomas is a top 5 player so he would start over almost anyone. Lewis would be a third string PG behind Mahaney and Nowell. Staff already recruited over some guys (Diarra and Ball and Nowell) by bringing in Mahaney and McNeeley
 
bendm said:
I’m not sure who you’re referring to but Thomas is a top 5 player so he would start over almost anyone. Lewis would be a third string PG behind Mahaney and Nowell. Staff already recruited over some guys (Diarra and Ball and Nowell) by bringing in Mahaney and McNeeley
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I’m not referring to Thomas. It’s really about Acaden Lewis or any similar point guard. Thomas is not a point guard. I think it would be reasonable for Lewis to expect 15 or 20 minutes a game as a freshman, and with Nowell and Mahaney here, I don’t see that as realistic. We don’t know what Mahaney was promised in terms of minutes or a role I.e. a guarantee to start or play 25-30 plus minutes a game. Diarra has already exceeded the playing time and role he had after coming here through the portal, so I don’t view any of that as recruiting over him. McNeeley doesn’t play the same spot as Ball or Diarra.
 
pj said:
How is it recruiting over? More like recruiting a backup and understudy for Nowell.

Recruiting over is bringing in Aidan Mahaney to get minutes ahead of Hassan Diarra.
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That's an odd example since more than a few folks would argue the latter, that diarra will be starting over mahaney...in fact there's a pretty solid chance they're starting alongside each other
 
huskiesNhoos said:
That's an odd example since more than a few folks would argue the latter, that diarra will be starting over mahaney...in fact there's a pretty solid chance they're starting alongside each other
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Lewis is not a 5 star but he is a fast/late rising high four star top 30 player that might end up in the top 20-25. He’s currently the #6 ranked PG in his class on On3. I don’t see a kid like that wanting to be an understudy. But hey if he buys in and wants to stay 3 years I’d absolutely love to have him. I don’t view Nowell as a one year player or necessarily even only a 2 year player. I really think finding a Diarra 2.0 type Guard in the portal that can play a role and give you 10-15 minutes behind Nowell and Mahaney fits this roster best. Just my opinion.
 
TheHorde said:
Would this recruit likely to be a one and done player? Either in their mind or in the minds of most recruiters and recruiting services? If so, would this recruit be content with a backup/understudy role for a year? I don’t think he’d be at all satisfied with that role and would want to start and play big minutes as a freshman. So either he’d be unhappy in that scenario or Nowell would be if demoted or relegated to a 20 minute/20 minute a game time share. I think a portal guy or a developmental low to mid four star that views themself as a 2-4 year player.
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I don’t think Acaden sees himself as a one-and-done that is expecting to start out the gate, which is why we’re targeting him. Acuff/Fears probably do which is why we stopped recruiting Acuff and never actually offered Fears.
 
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huskiesNhoos said:
That's an odd example since more than a few folks would argue the latter, that diarra will be starting over mahaney...in fact there's a pretty solid chance they're starting alongside each other
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Diarra will get a ton of minutes, whether or not he is the starter. I have no idea what to expect from Mahaney, Diarra is a tough player to beat out, but someone just listed Mahaney as a sleeper All-American, and I can't see Diarra being considered for All-American status.

They could both be starters, but then you'd have to sit one of McNeeley or Stewart, and I consider both of those as guys who have to see the court.

For my money it's probably Mahaney-Diarra-Stewart-McNeeley getting the bulk of the minutes at guard and wing, and Ball, Nowell, Abraham, Ross having limited minutes.
 
david said:
I don’t think Acaden sees himself as a one-and-done that is expecting to start out the gate, which is why we’re targeting him. Acuff/Fears probably do which is why we stopped recruiting Acuff and never actually offered Fears.
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He could fit depending on what he views his own role being. If Nowell stays more than 2 years, then he’d overlap with a 2025 like Acuff for multiple seasons. Mahaney has two years of eligibility remaining, I believe. So he’d only overlap with a 2025 for one year. There would be a path to 20-25 minutes a game to be available starting in 2026, in my opinion.
 
TheHorde said:
Lewis is not a 5 star but he is a fast/late rising high four star top 30 player that might end up in the top 20-25. He’s currently the #6 ranked PG in his class on On3. I don’t see a kid like that wanting to be an understudy. But hey if he buys in and wants to stay 3 years I’d absolutely love to have him. I don’t view Nowell as a one year player or necessarily even only a 2 year player. I really think finding a Diarra 2.0 type Guard in the portal that can play a role and give you 10-15 minutes behind Nowell and Mahaney fits this roster best. Just my opinion.
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But that's exactly the position Nowell was recruited into, and nobody was complaining about that. There would be plenty of minutes available for Lewis as a freshman even with Nowell and Mahaney here between both guard spots. Both are likely 2-3 year guys
 
navery12 said:
But that's exactly the position Nowell was recruited into, and nobody was complaining about that. There would be plenty of minutes available for Lewis as a freshman even with Nowell and Mahaney here between both guard spots. Both are likely 2-3 year guys
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What about Ball? I’m not sure what plenty of minutes would be defined as in this scenario. Lewis isn’t a five star or necessarily a one and done or thought of that way. But I honestly don’t see more than 10 minutes or so a game being available if Solo is on the roster during his freshman year. If Lewis is willing to be patient and take a longer view then I can certainly see 20-25 minutes a game being available in his sophomore year.
 
TheHorde said:
What about Ball? I’m not sure what plenty of minutes would be defined as in this scenario. Lewis isn’t a five star or necessarily a one and done or thought of that way. But I honestly don’t see more than 10 minutes or so a game being available if Solo is on the roster during his freshman year. If Lewis is willing to be patient and take a longer view then I can certainly see 20-25 minutes a game being available in his sophomore year.
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Ball will play tons of minutes too, and Thomas and Ball would both be big enough to get minutes at the 3 spot as well. Plenty of minutes would be about what we expect from Nowell this year as the 3rd PG, 15-20 minutes a game depending on matchups.

And that's really all that top freshman top PGs get anyway. It's a tough position to crack as a freshman at P5 schools. Lewis is currently ranked 31, Jeremy Fears was 32 last year and played 15 minutes a game at Michigan State. Miro Little was 41 and played 7 minutes at Baylor. There's some exceptions like Jackson Shelstad at Oregon who played 32 minutes, but Oregon was also a bad team
 
navery12 said:
Ball will play tons of minutes too, and Thomas and Ball would both be big enough to get minutes at the 3 spot as well. Plenty of minutes would be about what we expect from Nowell this year as the 3rd PG, 15-20 minutes a game depending on matchups.

And that's really all that top freshman top PGs get anyway. It's a tough position to crack as a freshman at P5 schools. Lewis is currently ranked 31, Jeremy Fears was 32 last year and played 15 minutes a game at Michigan State. Miro Little was 41 and played 7 minutes at Baylor. There's some exceptions like Jackson Shelstad at Oregon who played 32 minutes, but Oregon was also a bad team
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I guess we’ll see how it plays out
 
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Ball looks like he can do 1,000 pull-ups with how wide is upper back is. Look at how wide his shoulders are compared to the rest of his body. He's the type that has two 45's strapped to his ankles while doing pull-ups.
 
Bboy Lace said:
Ball looks like he can do 1,000 pull-ups with how wide is upper back is. Look at how wide his shoulders are compared to the rest of his body. He's the type that has two 45's strapped to his ankles while doing pull-ups.
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I’m not counting him out at all. I’d love to see him focus on driving to the basket and getting in the lane more. He seemed to do that more regularly early in the season and had success with it. In my humble opinion, he settled for too many three point attempts during the latter part of the season.
 
bendm said:
diarra and samson are gone after this season and hopefully Karaban, Liam, and Stew all get drafted 1st round after we 3peat. if everyone else returns our 2025 depth chart would look like this:

Mahaney / Nowell / ???
Ball / ???
??? / Ross
??? / Abraham
Reed / ??? / Singare

we'd need to bring in at least 5 guys so I think the priorities should be:
1) Starting W- Thomas
2) Starting stretch 4- Ament / Bundalo
3) Backup W- Mullins / Adams
4) Backup C- Cenac / Reibe
5) 3rd string PG- Lewis

we'll prob have to fill 1 or 2 of these needs via the portal
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That’s a big haul. Not sure Hurley is going to go that many frosh in one single class as you always want to leave some openings for the portal. This wouldn’t be the right balance.

Alex, Diarra, Samson and maybe McNeeley go. 4 spots open barring any transfers out.

2026 could effectively be:

PG - Nowell
SG - Mahaney
3/4 - Stewart/Abraham/Ross
C - Reed, Sengare

Could see 3 frosh.

PG, SG, C
 
bigknight3 said:
I stopped listening. Representing UConn basketball, yawns, butchers players names regularly, and because he's forced to podcast every day, in the off-season, there's mostly speculation and random what if scenarios presented as fact that l than actual news.
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100%. I am also turned off with the constant "Look!" or "Listen!" declarations as if he is trying to wake us up. Further I can't stand his constant reference to being a pro tennis prospect. Who cares. I have removed this one from my rotation. Someone let me know if Locked On gets someone better.
 
TheHorde said:
McNeeley doesn’t play the same spot as Ball
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They are both wings so overlap by definition. McNeeley could be the starting 2 this year with Stew at the 3 for all we know and Ball was starting at the 3 as the 3rd guard when castle was out.
 
bendm said:
They are both wings so overlap by definition. McNeeley could be the starting 2 this year with Stew at the 3 for all we know and Ball was starting at the 3 as the 3rd guard when castle was out.
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Agree to disagree but it’s all good. McNeeley is also listed as a Forward and Ball is listed as a Guard on the official UConn roster. Their defensive assignments as far as who they’d be expected to guard and how much they’d be expected to rebound would not be the same in my view. There’s also about a 5 inch height difference between them.
 
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TheHorde said:
Agree to disagree but it’s all good. McNeeley is also listed as a Forward and Ball is listed as a Guard on the official UConn roster. Their defensive assignments as far as who they’d be expected to guard and how much they’d be expected to rebound would not be the same in my view. There’s also about a 5 inch height difference between them.
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Nothing you said is objectively wrong but the only way to get our top 2 draft prospects (Liam and Stew) both in the starting lineup is to play Liam at the 2. I want the starting lineup to be
Mahaney / McNeeley / Stew / AK / Reed
 
bendm said:
Nothing you said is objectively wrong but the only way to get our top 2 draft prospects (Liam and Stew) both in the starting lineup is to play Liam at the 2. I want the starting lineup to be
Mahaney / McNeeley / Stew / AK / Reed
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I like that lineup. Reed should be a good rebounder and allow for more shooting to be on the floor with less size at certain positions. My hunch is that Danny will play slightly more uptempo this year with more trapping and full court pressure. With the exception of Alex, I don’t think anyone else will play 30 minutes a game. There will be a definite need to test guys and try lots of lineup combinations until the postseason. I see a large number of guys playing in the 15-25 minute per game range next season.
 
bendm said:
Nothing you said is objectively wrong but the only way to get our top 2 draft prospects (Liam and Stew) both in the starting lineup is to play Liam at the 2. I want the starting lineup to be
Mahaney / McNeeley / Stew / AK / Reed
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Liam and AK are our top two draft prospects, right now by far
 
huskiesNhoos said:
That's an odd example since more than a few folks would argue the latter, that diarra will be starting over mahaney...in fact there's a pretty solid chance they're starting alongside each other
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Yeah it baffles me to think it is either mahaney or diarra starting. I think they both start and Ball is backup at sg and Nowell at pg.
 
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navery12 said:
That seems pretty unlikely. I have a very hard time seeing a starting lineup that doesn't include 2 of the 5 best players on the team
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The best 6 players are probably Diarra, Mahaney, McNeeley, Stewart, Karaban, Reed. Which one doesn't start? Probably Diarra or Stewart.
 
I can’t believe people have definite opinions on who is our 2nd, 3rd, 4th best player…other than AK does anyone know anything?

There’s 8 dudes that can start on 97% of D1 teams. You can only start 5. Anyone who’s positive about someone beyond AK is just guessing.
 
Mr. French said:
I can’t believe people have definite opinions on who is our 2nd, 3rd, 4th best player…other than AK does anyone know anything?

There’s 8 dudes that can start on 97% of D1 teams. You can only start 5. Anyone who’s positive about someone beyond AK is just guessing.
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This. Speculation is fine, but it’s speculation — we shouldn’t pretend we know things that we’re just speculating on. AK has proven he can play at an all conference level in our league. Diarra has proven that, playing half a game, he can be extremely productive for us. Everyone else is just wild speculation, some with more evidence for speculating than others.

My point isn’t that any position is right or wrong. Just that there needs to be more respect for differing opinions on what is really nothing more than wild butt guesses.
 
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