2025 Recruiting: UConn Offers Meleek Thomas

[businesslawyer]

I think some here are selling Hurley short when it comes to recruiting. He's shown that his intent has been to improve the level of talent, and he's achieved it. Two years ago we were fielding a lineup of mostly Mid-Major talent. Now we have a Top 5 class coming in and he's trying to go up another rung on the ladder by pitching top recruits. And I expect he going to start landing them.

LOL. Two of the players the Boneyard labeled mid-major talent helped other teams make Final Fours. You may need to think about what you mean by the term. What is true is more of our players are capable of significant NBA careers, but don’t confuse players who are not capable of that with mid-major players.

 

[AdamaNation]

And they did what with that in the postseason and even the regular season? Give me all the 4 star type players that want to stay 2-3 years, win, and then go pro after leaving a legacy. UK and Dook can have all of the one and dones they want and not survive the first weekend of the tournament. Good trade I think.

Exactly. 5 stars are like milk about to expire. You got a short time to enjoy them. Any 4 stars let’s say adama Dre and Jordan leave as 5s.

 

[mauconnfan]

I don’t think anyone has any doubt in DH and the staff’s abilities to recruit these kids. But if you’re not concerned over losing a portal kid who seemingly wanted to come here but took the bag, then you’re not paying attention. These top 25-30 kids are going to get significant life changing offers out staff more than likely won’t be able to match. Glad we got a great class last year because it’s going to get tougher, and in the portal as well. Game is changing as we speak.

No doubt finding the hidden gems, 3-4 year players will be of the utmost importance now.

 

[TheHorde]

I think making the league and getting NBA dollars is life changing. Getting $250K in NIL is not life changing imo. And if you go to a “blue blood” with 10 other 5 star McDonald’s All American types, chances are half of those players won’t shine enough to make the league. Just saying.

 

[Punkbo]

I agree with this. Now sure, if DH thinks a 5 star is the right guy after seeing our practice, and meeting the team, then absolutely, we'd be nuts to turn him away.

But we've had the best 25 years of any program by bringing in guys ranked between 30-150, having them for 2-3 years, and sending them on to the NBA. Obviously now we will mix in transfers that fit as well. Our preseason rankings won't be as high, but that didn't seem to matter this past year.

DH and staff have shown they know what they're doing. If they think a guy is the right guy, no matter the ranking, 2 or 200, then he's likely the right guy. There will surely be mistakes, and guys who don't work out for one reason or another, but all we're trying to do is make sure we have 7-8 every year that get the job done.

I think 30-100 will continue to be our sweet spot. Recruiting good kids, developing their skill set and winning national championships seems to be a winning formula. The only missing piece may be NIL which could keep us from getting a lot of 1-30 talent. But we’ll get a few of these guys due to our pedigree. My favorite continues to be Tyrese Martin who I believe was a 200+ recruit coming into URI, followed his coach to UConn and developed into an NBA talent. Absolutely great story.

 

[UCfor3]

He has been great at identifying and coaching up wing talent and post talent from high school. PG has been another story so far, though Castle does seem to be the one to buck the trend.



PG:
Brendan Adams #175 - Transferred down but did graduate from UConn
Jalen Gaffney #105 - Transferred down but did play in a final four for new team
Rasool Diggins #59 - Transferred down

It's been his biggest flaw in recruiting so far.

Brendan Adams is not a PG. Gaffney was a bit of a miss but borderline top 100 guys miss as much as they make. Maybe his fault there was not getting someone better. With Diggins it was a clear miss. Maybe not seeing players live during the pandemic was a factor here. Maybe it was just a whiff. Who knows.

 

[David 76]

R.J. and Newton are point guards that developed under Hurley

 

[aburks41]

Brendan Adams is not a PG. Gaffney was a bit of a miss but borderline top 100 guys miss as much as they make. Maybe his fault there was not getting someone better. With Diggins it was a clear miss. Maybe not seeing players live during the pandemic was a factor here. Maybe it was just a whiff. Who knows.

I'd lean more towards covid than just a pure whiff. Diggins had offers from UConn, Villanova, and Kansas.

PG is the one position where I think it makes sense to try to exclusively target those top 30ish 5* (or borderline 5*) recruits, and if you can't land any of those guys, you hit the portal. Target the big fish, if you strike out, get a Tristen Newton or an RJ Cole.

 

[ctchamps]

I don’t think anyone has any doubt in DH and the staff’s abilities to recruit these kids. But if you’re not concerned over losing a portal kid who seemingly wanted to come here but took the bag, then you’re not paying attention. These top 25-30 kids are going to get significant life changing offers out staff more than likely won’t be able to match. Glad we got a great class last year because it’s going to get tougher, and in the portal as well. Game is changing as we speak.

No doubt finding the hidden gems, 3-4 year players will be of the utmost importance now.

Is it because we can't match or don't want to match? Hurley stated he wants players who are interested in him as a coach and want to play for a team that values winning. Coming in for the "we" as opposed to the "me". Leaving for the "me".

I agree things are changing and Hurley's system may not work in the future. But getting players like Hawkins, Jackson, Newton, Karaban, Clingon, Sonogo, Allyene and Calcaterra who bought into that philosophy and made it work should at least give us fans pause about needing to rework things.

 

[McLovin]

He has been great at identifying and coaching up wing talent and post talent from high school. PG has been another story so far, though Castle does seem to be the one to buck the trend.



PG:
Brendan Adams #175 - Transferred down but did graduate from UConn
Jalen Gaffney #105 - Transferred down but did play in a final four for new team
Rasool Diggins #59 - Transferred down

It's been his biggest flaw in recruiting so far.

To be fair, we said this about his inability to land big time centers too and then he landed Sanogo. Hopefully Castle becomes that type of launching point for recruiting top PGs going forward.

 

[McLovin]

I think making the league and getting NBA dollars is life changing. Getting $250K in NIL is not life changing imo. And if you go to a “blue blood” with 10 other 5 star McDonald’s All American types, chances are half of those players won’t shine enough to make the league. Just saying.

I agree with this 100% and it's why re-establishing the NBA pipeline is so important. If Hurley gets 4 dudes drafted this year, that will be 6 players in the last 3 years. And not a single one of those players was a 5-star prospect (plus Martin & Sanogo's development would be an amazing story, considering one was a 3* and the other had played just 3 years of organized basketball before coming to UConn).

This would include 2 (hopefully) lottery picks.

And then we should have another 2 guys drafted in the lottery next year...

 

[GotNets?]

I think some here are selling Hurley short when it comes to recruiting. He's shown that his intent has been to improve the level of talent, and he's achieved it. Two years ago we were fielding a lineup of mostly Mid-Major talent. Now we have a Top 5 class coming in and he's trying to go up another rung on the ladder by pitching top recruits. And I expect he going to start landing them.

I think this is the right idea. We don’t have to change our whole system, but if there’s a top 10 guy that DH wants for the team, he should be able to start landing them.

 

[kemba]

But if you’re not concerned over losing a portal kid who seemingly wanted to come here but took the bag, then you’re not paying attention.

Why should I be concerned over 1 kid? We've missed out on guys pre-NIL, we'll miss out on more in the future. We're fine.

 

[mauconnfan]

Why should I be concerned over 1 kid? We've missed out on guys pre-NIL, we'll miss out on more in the future. We're fine.

I don't care if you're concerned or not, you can be what you want. This kid was sewed up and he still didn't come here. What's concerning to me obviously may not be to you. I was just expressing mine.

 

[CL82]

What does "offer just to offer" even mean? I mean, I get that the staff's level of interest can be on a scale, but I would hope that the bottom end of that scale is higher than just "throwing out an offer just because it's possible to."

I’m not sure, but whatever that means, it is the recruiting philosophy of Bryant university.

 

[CL82]

With Diggins it was a clear miss. Maybe not seeing players live during the pandemic was a factor here. Maybe it was just a whiff. Who knows.

I do wonder about the Diggins because it was such a big miss and even a fresh start at UMass didn’t help. The kid looked solid as a high school player from what I remember from his videos.

 

[UCfor3]

I do wonder about the Diggins because it was such a big miss and even a fresh start at UMass didn’t help. The kid looked solid as a high school player from what I remember from his videos.

Sounds like a job for Agent Sool. Wait,...ooops.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

I don’t think anyone has any doubt in DH and the staff’s abilities to recruit these kids. But if you’re not concerned over losing a portal kid who seemingly wanted to come here but took the bag, then you’re not paying attention. These top 25-30 kids are going to get significant life changing offers out staff more than likely won’t be able to match. Glad we got a great class last year because it’s going to get tougher, and in the portal as well. Game is changing as we speak.

No doubt finding the hidden gems, 3-4 year players will be of the utmost importance now.

I think it's just as likely that he thought Ajax and Newton would still be here, and when they declared he thought he would have a better chance to win at Kansas (I may not agree, but i can see how someone may think that). Or maybe he just got a great feeling from one of the KU assistants.

And as for matching the $$$, we don't really have any idea how much our players get from NIL. We think it's less than some others, but that's just because we keep saying it on the yard. I don't think there's any concrete evidence that we're not getting our guys comparable $ to everyone else. Danny said he doesn't want kids to come here for the NIL, but that certainly doesn't mean that it isn't available...just that it isn't a recruiting inducement, and certainly not a public one.

We've lost out to other P6 schools a hundred times for players. And the landscape of CBB has changed quite a few times over the last 25 years. We'll adapt as we have every other time.

 

[auror]

Sounds like a job for Agent Sool. Wait,...ooops.

We don't know how much of this narrative was just created by us on the Boneyard and ran with by like the UConn Blog, but Sool was extremely active recruiting Hawkins, Samson, and Clingan, among others. We might not win the title without him lol.

 

[NJHoops]

We don't know how much of this narrative was just created by us on the Boneyard and ran with by like the UConn Blog, but Sool was extremely active recruiting Hawkins, Samson, and Clingan, among others. We might not win the title without him lol.

This narrative was primarily fiction.

That 2021 class was the most strangely recruited maybe ever because of COVID. They loved Diggins’ intangibles and thought he had a skill set to work with and develop. He got on campus, had a rough start, let everyone know during the season he was mad, and left. He had an opportunity to get real minutes (something he thought he deserved at UConn) at UMass because of injuries but hasn’t played well yet. There are no bad guys on either side, it just didn’t work out.

 

[HooperScooper]

As far as the deciding factors, Thomas is asking three questions. “My main deciding factor is what school fits me,” he said. “What coaching staff fits me? How does the playing style fit me? It comes down to those three things. If I feel like I fit those three things and I like the area and I like what it’s bringing for me, then we’re going to judge from there.”

Class of 2025 top 10 prospect Meleek Thomas picks up offer from Duke | Zagsblog

By CHARLIE PARENT Meleek Thomas, the No. […]

www.zagsblog.com

 

[WhereistheDove?]

LOL. Two of the players the Boneyard labeled mid-major talent helped other teams make Final Fours. You may need to think about what you mean by the term. What is true is more of our players are capable of significant NBA careers, but don’t confuse players who are not capable of that with mid-major players.

If your argument rests on defining Gaffney as more than a "mid-major talent", I think you might need to re-evaluate your argument. I'm incredibly happy that Gaffney found a place that he could contribute and got to make a deep run in the tournament, but he is 1000% a "mid-major talent", no matter how you define it.

 

[Sportsman5]

Is it because we can't match or don't want to match? Hurley stated he wants players who are interested in him as a coach and want to play for a team that values winning. Coming in for the "we" as opposed to the "me". Leaving for the "me".

I agree things are changing and Hurley's system may not work in the future. But getting players like Hawkins, Jackson, Newton, Karaban, Clingon, Sonogo, Allyene and Calcaterra who bought into that philosophy and made it work should at least give us fans pause about needing to rework things.

It seems like UConn's philosophy is mostly setting players up to actually earn NIL as opposed to just depositing money in their bank accounts. Obviously a lot of players just want a huge guaranteed check or performance incentives based on their play, so they will be more likely to go to schools like Duke, Kentucky, or Kansas that clearly just are giving away huge amounts of cash.

The other tricky thing is that UConn is very short on money due to the conference situation, so right now booster money might be going to keeping the football coaching staff together and things like that. If we get into a legit conference with enough money to support the athletic department coaches and staff, then it could help open the door for a bigger flow of money that goes to the players. Right now if I'm a booster that wants to see long term athletic success, then I would be giving all of my money to the football program because that is the thing holding UConn back from getting into a major conference and creating sustainable success long term.

 

[NowInStorrs]

If his goal is just making it to the tournament, Duke is a good choice. However, if he'd like to win the tournament, I think he should come here. UConn's coach has won a national championship. Duke's has not.