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Whenever the NCAA Tournament winning streak came to an end, it was going to be excruciating for Dan Hurley and the UConn men’s basketball program.
Following back-to-back championships up with a second round exit, the Huskies tied Duke’s mark with 13 consecutive March Madness wins, the most since seeding began in 1979, with the first 12 coming in dominant, double-figure fashion. UCLA is the only school with more, having won 38 in a row from 1964-74.
The Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) and transfer portal era was in its infant stages when UConn’s run began. While the Huskies extended their last two seasons into early April, the rest of the country opened for business a few weeks earlier, with the transfer portal opening during the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies have had a bit of a delayed start to the last two offseasons.
“When our championship run started, Andre Jackson and (Adama) Sanogo and Hawk (Jordan Hawkins) – the portal just started when we added Joey (Calcaterra) and Nahiem (Alleyne). NIL wasn’t even a thing guys were talking about on our team,” Hurley said. “Even into 2024, like, we weren’t in hard-line NIL negotiations – no one even gave a (bleep) what their NIL was the last couple years.”
Those days have come to an end.
The transfer portal opened on Monday, a day after the Huskies came up short in an honorable effort against No. 1 seed Florida in Raleigh. Conversations between coaches about the future began on the ride home.
“We’ve got to make adjustments now, because things have changed,” Hurley said. “We’ve got to be able to win this part of the year that’s coming up right now in terms of putting an elite team together.”
The staff feels like it has a good idea of who will stay and who will likely move on, either to the NBA or another opportunity elsewhere. They will meet with players this week to discuss.
“We’ve just got to go through it,” Hurley said. “Your vision for players has got to line up with their vision.”
Hurley has been open in saying that “50% or more” of the roster was considering entering the portal during the season. In his 60 Minutes interview that aired ahead of the Big East Tournament, Hurley said some players already know what school they’re going to, “and in a couple of those cases they’ve already talked to the coaching staff at future school and have an idea of what their NIL is going to be there.”
UConn didn’t have any players announce plans to enter the portal on Monday, the day it opened, but it isn’t expected to be very long before those decisions start rolling in.
The only players guaranteed to have played their final games as a Husky are Hassan Diarra and Samson Johnson, whose eligibility expired this year. Alex Karaban will have another tough decision to make with one year left as he is projected to be a mid-second round pick in the NBA Draft, his stock remaining essentially the same as it was a year ago. NIL could be a factor in potentially drawing him back for another year as the Huskies’ captain, but the exhaustion of the 2024-25 season could make him want to go pro. Five-star freshman Liam McNeeley has been projected as a lottery pick all season long, which is typically the time to go, but he dropped just outside the lottery in recent mocks, so it may not be so clear-cut.
Sophomore Solo Ball has been on the NBA radar, projected as a first-round pick in some mock drafts, with his 3-point shooting ability being a desirable trait. But he may also benefit from another year in college. If he comes back, he’ll be in line to take over a leadership role on the Huskies’ roster.
Tarris Reed Jr., whose development was impressive over the course of his first season in Storrs, talked in the postgame locker room about next season, seemingly expecting to stay for a second year at UConn after spending his first two at Michigan.
But there will be players who opt to find more opportunity elsewhere. Jaylin Stewart’s stepfather posted a video to social media that sounded like a farewell and a thank you message after his second season with the Huskies, his minutes rising to 17.9 per game. A mentor to Ahmad Nowell has been critical on social media of the freshman point guard’s usage throughout the season as he saw the court in just 18 games, averaging 6.5 minutes per – “Obviously it wasn’t as I imagined,” Nowell told The Courant prior to the Huskies’ second round game.
Nothing is set in stone, but the UConn staff will certainly have more time to decide its vision for next season, with the nation’s third-ranked freshman recruiting class coming in. That class includes three McDonald’s All-Americans headlined by 6-foot-5 guard Braylon Mullins, the Gatorade Indiana Player of the Year, as well as another 6-foot-5 guard in Darius Adams, 7-foot center Eric Reibe and Australian guard Jacob Furphy. Mullins, Adams and Reibe will take part in the All-America game at the Barclays Center April 1.
“It will be nice to get to a normal off-season,” Hurley said. Tremendous turnover is the new normal, and it’s not exactly nice.
“Just get back to myself as a coach and not have to throw out first pitches,” he continued. “You should only be ringing stock market bells and throwing out first pitches when you win the major championship. I won’t have to do things like that. I’ll be able to just focus on the upcoming season and make better decisions with all aspects of coaching.”
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Following back-to-back championships up with a second round exit, the Huskies tied Duke’s mark with 13 consecutive March Madness wins, the most since seeding began in 1979, with the first 12 coming in dominant, double-figure fashion. UCLA is the only school with more, having won 38 in a row from 1964-74.
The Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) and transfer portal era was in its infant stages when UConn’s run began. While the Huskies extended their last two seasons into early April, the rest of the country opened for business a few weeks earlier, with the transfer portal opening during the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies have had a bit of a delayed start to the last two offseasons.
“When our championship run started, Andre Jackson and (Adama) Sanogo and Hawk (Jordan Hawkins) – the portal just started when we added Joey (Calcaterra) and Nahiem (Alleyne). NIL wasn’t even a thing guys were talking about on our team,” Hurley said. “Even into 2024, like, we weren’t in hard-line NIL negotiations – no one even gave a (bleep) what their NIL was the last couple years.”
Those days have come to an end.
The transfer portal opened on Monday, a day after the Huskies came up short in an honorable effort against No. 1 seed Florida in Raleigh. Conversations between coaches about the future began on the ride home.
“We’ve got to make adjustments now, because things have changed,” Hurley said. “We’ve got to be able to win this part of the year that’s coming up right now in terms of putting an elite team together.”
The staff feels like it has a good idea of who will stay and who will likely move on, either to the NBA or another opportunity elsewhere. They will meet with players this week to discuss.
“We’ve just got to go through it,” Hurley said. “Your vision for players has got to line up with their vision.”
Hurley has been open in saying that “50% or more” of the roster was considering entering the portal during the season. In his 60 Minutes interview that aired ahead of the Big East Tournament, Hurley said some players already know what school they’re going to, “and in a couple of those cases they’ve already talked to the coaching staff at future school and have an idea of what their NIL is going to be there.”
UConn didn’t have any players announce plans to enter the portal on Monday, the day it opened, but it isn’t expected to be very long before those decisions start rolling in.
The only players guaranteed to have played their final games as a Husky are Hassan Diarra and Samson Johnson, whose eligibility expired this year. Alex Karaban will have another tough decision to make with one year left as he is projected to be a mid-second round pick in the NBA Draft, his stock remaining essentially the same as it was a year ago. NIL could be a factor in potentially drawing him back for another year as the Huskies’ captain, but the exhaustion of the 2024-25 season could make him want to go pro. Five-star freshman Liam McNeeley has been projected as a lottery pick all season long, which is typically the time to go, but he dropped just outside the lottery in recent mocks, so it may not be so clear-cut.
Sophomore Solo Ball has been on the NBA radar, projected as a first-round pick in some mock drafts, with his 3-point shooting ability being a desirable trait. But he may also benefit from another year in college. If he comes back, he’ll be in line to take over a leadership role on the Huskies’ roster.
Tarris Reed Jr., whose development was impressive over the course of his first season in Storrs, talked in the postgame locker room about next season, seemingly expecting to stay for a second year at UConn after spending his first two at Michigan.
But there will be players who opt to find more opportunity elsewhere. Jaylin Stewart’s stepfather posted a video to social media that sounded like a farewell and a thank you message after his second season with the Huskies, his minutes rising to 17.9 per game. A mentor to Ahmad Nowell has been critical on social media of the freshman point guard’s usage throughout the season as he saw the court in just 18 games, averaging 6.5 minutes per – “Obviously it wasn’t as I imagined,” Nowell told The Courant prior to the Huskies’ second round game.
Nothing is set in stone, but the UConn staff will certainly have more time to decide its vision for next season, with the nation’s third-ranked freshman recruiting class coming in. That class includes three McDonald’s All-Americans headlined by 6-foot-5 guard Braylon Mullins, the Gatorade Indiana Player of the Year, as well as another 6-foot-5 guard in Darius Adams, 7-foot center Eric Reibe and Australian guard Jacob Furphy. Mullins, Adams and Reibe will take part in the All-America game at the Barclays Center April 1.
“It will be nice to get to a normal off-season,” Hurley said. Tremendous turnover is the new normal, and it’s not exactly nice.
“Just get back to myself as a coach and not have to throw out first pitches,” he continued. “You should only be ringing stock market bells and throwing out first pitches when you win the major championship. I won’t have to do things like that. I’ll be able to just focus on the upcoming season and make better decisions with all aspects of coaching.”
Continue reading...
