2025 Recruiting: Meleek Thomas to UConn Crystal Ball

[superjohn]

Guys, the offense thrives on having multiple guys who can dribble shoot and pass. We don't have A POINT GUARD. We have multiple facilitators. Castle, Cam and Newton all played the role of facilitator, scorer, off ball mover.

I know it's a discussion board, but we're all on the same side here.

Any Meleek news?

I don't know why this is so difficult for people to understand.

 

[dogpause]

Looking like Meleek is going to drag this out. His loss if he goes elsewhere. Loving this years team.

Is this real? What do you base that on?

 

[KemBuckets21]

I don't know why this is so difficult for people to understand.

Antiquated thinking.

 

[temery]

View attachment 102537

an Apple mouse?

 

[QuickDraw]

Nah, not nearly so pointed. Besides, i’d bet half this board has no clue what “kemo sabbe” refers to.

my title is his ride, away

 

[Scrutineer]

Do you mind elaborating on this? Not trying to be argumentative, but the ball moved because of Andre. Andre had the best vision, the best instincts, the best everything except maybe not the tightest handle. He dribbled a little high and loose. TNew spent so much more time driving to the lane when Andre was in the game.

Once Dan Hurley figured out how to involve AJax on offense by being the primary ball handler/set up man, rather than sitting in the corner waiting for 3s and long rebounds (Xavier game comes to mind), UConn turned the corner and never looked back.

So nice to see someone being civil and not calling the other person stupid or an idiot just because they don't agree with them.

 

[JLW]

I hear Meleek is taking several more visits in the next 2 months. I’ll get excited when he commits.

 

[sirjames]

How about starting a thread that talks about Meleek only ?

 

[cohenzone]

my title is his ride, away

That‘s 4 of us. I wonder if Meleek knows? if not, do we still want him?

 

[uchusky32]

I hear Meleek is taking several more visits in the next 2 months. I’ll get excited when he commits.

You must be new here.

 

[ucp990411]

Watch the tournament games. Castle initiated the offense lots of times.
Willing to bet Dan Hurley was surprised Tristen came back. Dan Hurley did a tremendous job blending our guards into the best backcourt in the country

 

[WhereistheDove?]

cant believe this discussion still going on with no change in the content

Annoyed that it’s still going on? I get that. But can’t believe that BY posters are beating a dead horse argument? It’s kind of what we do here.

 

[Bboy Lace]

Looking like Meleek is going to drag this out. His loss if he goes elsewhere. Loving this years team.

It wouldn't be his loss if he went elsewhere. What's up with this weird energy where we think we're the ONLY school in the world producing talent? Have you not paid attention to his highlights? He will be a stud wherever he goes.

 

[awy]

UConn player dev does add more value than most programs. As the incoming talent level increases this will be more evident. They are cooking with gas.

 

[Deleted at users request]

Would you rather we talk about player versatility? Would you grant that Stephon demonstrated versatility in his time at UConn? And that versatility is valued by the NBA?

I’d rather us just say what things are. We did a great job developing Castle’s defense and ability to move off ball. I don’t think he becomes the defender he did here anywhere else (he might’ve still been good elsewhere but not best in class like here).

But I don’t think we did anything to help develop him into a future star player. Luckily for him he was able to force himself into the perfect situation with his talent to make that possible anyways.

The skills he showcased here are valuable skills for a role player in the NBA. I’m sure as a top 10 player in his class and in hindsight he probably should’ve been #1 (how the hell was DJ Wagner ranked over him?) he sees himself as being more than that.

It’s one of my few remaining gripes with the staff is trying to figure out how to develop these very talented recruits we get into more complete star players instead of seemingly developing them to be role player specialists. Because we are recruiting more talent than we ever had.

 

[FearThePups]

How about starting a thread that talks about Meleek only ?

That was the point of this topic before it went off the rails 3 times.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I’d rather us just say what things are. We did a great job developing Castle’s defense and ability to move off ball. I don’t think he becomes the defender he did here anywhere else (he might’ve still been good elsewhere but not best in class like here).

But I don’t think we did anything to help develop him into a future star player. Luckily for him he was able to force himself into the perfect situation with his talent to make that possible anyways.

The skills he showcased here are valuable skills for a role player in the NBA. I’m sure as a top 10 player in his class and in hindsight he probably should’ve been #1 (how the hell was DJ Wagner ranked over him?) he sees himself as being more than that.

It’s one of my few remaining gripes with the staff is trying to figure out how to develop these very talented recruits we get into more complete star players instead of seemingly developing them to be role player specialists. Because we are recruiting more talent than we ever had.

You've moved on from Andre Jackson being drafted in 2nd round as a development failure to Steph Castle's development being underwhelming?

 

[navery12]

You've moved on from Andre Jackson being drafted in 2nd round as a development failure to Steph Castle's development being underwhelming?

And these are the last #10 overall recruits and what they did, it's crazy to suggest Castle's development was underwhelming. Even becoming a rotation player is not a given for that level of recruit.

Cason Wallace - 1.10 after freshman season

Scoot Henderson - 1.3 skipped college for G League

Greg Brown III - 2.13 after freshman season

Tyrese Maxey - 1.21 after freshman season

Quentin Grimes - 1.25 after junior season

Hamidou Diallo - 2.15 after freshman (RS) season

Thon Maker - 1.10 after skipping college

Stephen Zimmerman - 2.11 after freshman season

Rashad Vaughn - 1.17 after freshman season

James Young - 1.17 after freshman season

 

[djct1999]

And these are the last #10 overall recruits and what they did, it's crazy to suggest Castle's development was underwhelming. Even becoming a rotation player is not a given for that level of recruit.

Cason Wallace - 1.10 after freshman season

Scoot Henderson - 1.3 skipped college for G League

Greg Brown III - 2.13 after freshman season

Tyrese Maxey - 1.21 after freshman season

Quentin Grimes - 1.25 after junior season

Hamidou Diallo - 2.15 after freshman (RS) season

Thon Maker - 1.10 after skipping college

Stephen Zimmerman - 2.11 after freshman season

Rashad Vaughn - 1.17 after freshman season

James Young - 1.17 after freshman season

Look at it half full. Anyone silly enough to suggest castle’s development was underwhelming highlights the selflessness of this kid and what a great team first player he was. Most kids with castles ability would have searched for stats. Castle simply did what was asked of him and needed. At any time Danny needed to unleash him, castle could go off at will. If anything, it shows a maturity beyond his years and his championship season showed invresible development. It’s why he went fourth to an organization who rarely gets it wrong.

 

[husky429]

Only positions that matter are on defense in our offense.

 

[Deleted at users request]

And these are the last #10 overall recruits and what they did, it's crazy to suggest Castle's development was underwhelming. Even becoming a rotation player is not a given for that level of recruit.

Cason Wallace - 1.10 after freshman season

Scoot Henderson - 1.3 skipped college for G League

Greg Brown III - 2.13 after freshman season

Tyrese Maxey - 1.21 after freshman season

Quentin Grimes - 1.25 after junior season

Hamidou Diallo - 2.15 after freshman (RS) season

Thon Maker - 1.10 after skipping college

Stephen Zimmerman - 2.11 after freshman season

Rashad Vaughn - 1.17 after freshman season

James Young - 1.17 after freshman season

Please form an opinion from what you see from watching the game itself.

Saying Castle being just a rotation player is a success is crazy talk. And if you told him that personally he’d probably look at you a way for it.

Stop having such low expectations for the talent that we have man.

 

[pj]

The skills he showcased here are valuable skills for a role player in the NBA.

Was he a role player at UConn? Would you agree he played a critical role in winning us an NCAA championship?

If he plays a similar role at San Antonio and enables them to win an NBA championship, would you say he was a role player in the NBA?

 

[Deleted at users request]

Was he a role player at UConn? Would you agree he played a critical role in winning us an NCAA championship?

If he plays a similar role at San Antonio and enables them to win an NBA championship, would you say he was a role player in the NBA?

Yes to all of this.

 

[businesslawyer]

I’d rather us just say what things are. We did a great job developing Castle’s defense and ability to move off ball. I don’t think he becomes the defender he did here anywhere else (he might’ve still been good elsewhere but not best in class like here).

But I don’t think we did anything to help develop him into a future star player. Luckily for him he was able to force himself into the perfect situation with his talent to make that possible anyways.

The skills he showcased here are valuable skills for a role player in the NBA. I’m sure as a top 10 player in his class and in hindsight he probably should’ve been #1 (how the hell was DJ Wagner ranked over him?) he sees himself as being more than that.

It’s one of my few remaining gripes with the staff is trying to figure out how to develop these very talented recruits we get into more complete star players instead of seemingly developing them to be role player specialists. Because we are recruiting more talent than we ever had.

You have a gripe with the staff? They’ve won back to back national championships without playing a close game. They need to win them and please you as to the manner in which we utilize players while doing so? I could say a lot of mean things, but am in a relatively good mood so I will simply let people draw their own conclusions.

 

[bjc42]

Can we start a new thread for this castle nonsense