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This would be a great haul. If you can add Conwell as an option, I'd go with him and Myles Rice, Humrichous and Williams. Guards: Conwell, Rice, Galloway, Leal, Cupps, Newton Wings: Mgbako, Tucker, Humrichous, reserve who can shoot TBD Bigs: Malik, Williams, portal big TBD Would give you a pretty darn good top 8 with Newton/Leal/Cupps and portal TBDers behind them. I don't really think it's at all likely we get a haul close to this, but would be great to be wrong.

Great question. I'd add Conway to the Perkins, Carlyle, Rice line.

I think I like Amari Williams the most of the bigs we've been connected to... Pay whatever it takes to sign him up! Nice video... good boards and block numbers. Looks like he could play with Malik IMO... hope staff gets it done. Getting him on campus is very good.

That's pretty spot on from the little bit I've seen. You can also see a clear difference IMO in the AAU kids vs his national team background.

I love the way this kid looks on the court. Smooth.

Comes into the McDAA game and hits a deep 3 right away.

God it's going to suck playing against Derik Queen. Hopefully it's just for one year.

Him and Cupps getting their middle school AAU backcourt back together. Cookin

Is there a world where we get both Myles Rice and Ryan Conwell? Too greedy? One or the other + Hickman?

Yeah, saying it's very early is pushing it... The non-graduate deadline to enter is May 1 if I'm not mistaken. The dead period applies to the portal too right? Not sure if that affects entering the portal or not, meaning a potential wave of new entries after the dead period ends? In any case... with 12% of the top 100 committed, I agree seems like we should be among that group of programs with an early commit.

I just looked it up out of curiosity... On 247's transfer portal rankings, of the top 50, six are committed. WVU (following Dad), Gonzaga, Maryland, Miami, Kansas, Bama. Expanding that to the top 100, there are 12 commitments. The additional 6 are committed to: Maryland, Mississippi State, Missouri, LSU, Arkansas, Iowa State. Both of Maryland's commits are guards. Lots of varying degrees of success and stability at these programs. Still very early in the cycle. Seems others are having more early success. Let's see how it plays out...

Saying it's not about being right, but others being wrong... then turning around and shouting about you being right/ahead of other people, is just down right funny. It is very peculiar, what's going on with all these burner accounts lol

Lol... he needs help...

Yep. Hurley, Oats, and Keatts have all been HS coaches for about 10 years each, give or take a few. Just my personal opinion, but I think I'd specify that along with hiring a winner from lower levels... that winner need a long track record as a HC... I know some (plenty of?) assistants have found success as a HC, but to me, I really value high-level HS HC experience over most P5 assistant experiences. To me that's the difference between a guy like Hurley and Archie Miller.

That would certainly be interesting... Though I do think a lot of the qualities that make him a great CBB coach, would not transfer to the NBA... Doubt his shtick would go over too well with a bunch of grown men who make more than him and playing at a higher level than he ever has. Tbh I think the aspect of helping develop kids into young men is a big part of what he enjoys about coaching, cliche as it is.

I don't have the time to find the clips right now, but I'm fairly sure Hurley has actually made some pretty offensive comments about "hicks" not sure if that was in reference to the south or midwest though lol... point is, I think people can be fairly certain he is a northeast guy with a northeast-based family and that is unlikely to change.

Yes, in interviews when he was hired at Wagner, Rhode Island, and UConn, he's made references to having to convince his wife to let him take the job, because she does not like change and wants to be close to her family in Jersey City, where they are both from. I think Rhode Island at 3.5 hours was about as far as she'd ever be willing to go. UConn feels like a perfect fit for Hurley when you combine that with the fact that basketball is king there... he's already got it rolling and it's fueled by a regional recruiting pipeline he's built over a lifetime. I do not think there is any feasible amount of money that would make Danny Hurley jump right now. You never know... but the thing is, the Hurley family has shown time and time again that they're not necessarily motivated by money. Bob SR. could have left plenty of times over the years... a lot of that loyalty mindset exists in Danny... he coached HS for about 10 years and only made the jump to college because his wife essentially gave him the green light since she could see the need for competition burning within him, lol. He said Coach K told him in his final year at URI that he had to make a move now and he said that's what prompted him to being open to a change I believe. The only way I could see it making sense for him is if UConn becomes so diminished in conference re-alignments that he feels he can no longer be competitive on a national level (I don't see that happening personally). Even then, I think Hurley is the kind who would take pride in staying put and "beating the odds" despite conference challenges. I also think from an ego perspective, he'd love to be the indisputable top dog over Calhoun, but that's entirely my own speculation... he's just a maniac like that and I think he fits UConn like a glove.

I'm also blocked... he didn't like being called NGW on Twitter Edit: He also was hilariously tweeting some random guy's profile picture at me, because he was convinced I was that person's burner account... because that's definitely not something he'd do himself... and no way multiple people could take issue with what he states as if it's so certain. His behavior legitimately concerns me, tbh

Those are all good points/true. But doesn't negate that, going by last year as a guide, 70% of the portal is already in it. The benefit of being prepared for and engaging in the portal as early as possible, I'd think, would be to get an inside lane on the best prospects you think you can get. Yes, there will likely be some studs joining further down the line. But within that 70% that's already open for recruitment, I'd think there's at least one guard who would be a good fit that we'd be able to prioritize and land early in the portal. If teams still currently playing can do it, why can't we? Slow playing Walker is something I actually agree with, but if he's a back up plan, why are we spending time on him right now when we have starting slots to fill? The staff's record of evaluating talent on the roster/in the portal this past season does not inspire confidence. Having a voluptuous war chest of NIL and a head start in the portal - where we supposedly have better connections than last year - I don't think it's unreasonable to want/expect a high quality guard commitment soon. Suppose we will have to see how things look after the dead period

Yep. We skipped the tournaments to get a head start on the portal. Better connections this time around, they said. Huge payroll we can outspend others. "Our targets are still in the tournament" (there's now 4 schools in the NCAAT + the NIT). Sure some really good players may hit the portal late. We've got what, 5 or 6 spots to fill? Going off last year as a guide, 70% of the portal is likely already in it. We should have a head start on evaluating, making contact, getting visits, etc. Instead before the no contact period, we've got three cancelled visits (Leland Walker, BHH, and Hickman)... sure for various reasons, like Hickman being sick. But at the end of the day they've got to get it done. Other schools are managing to walk and chew gum at the same time. It's now April 1. Let's hope we get a guard soon.

...... Could just be a VA connection between him and XJ. Or something else.

I fall firmly into 4, but could also see a modified #3 - "not filling a lot of what need, but good enough to add to the roster as it stands right now"

Is TJ Power a rim protector? I have a hard time imagining Jeremy Roach leaving Duke but would be happy to be wrong.

FWIW I think we can be fairly sure Tuckers deal is 700-750kish. That was what we were paying McNeeley per Trilly Donovan and seems to be the going rate for 5 star HS players this cycle. No idea what the portal deals look like.