Top-Ranked HS Prospect McNeeley Commits
The Story: The highest-ranked remaining high school senior available, Liam McNeeley, committed to UConn on Friday after an official visit, giving the Huskies one of the best shooters in the class and a perfect fit for their offensive system.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: McNeeley, a 6-foot-7 forward from Richardson, Texas, committed to Indiana in October and signed a letter of intent but reopened his recruitment in early March. His only official visit since then was to UConn, which reeled him in after his stop in Storrs.
• McNeeley is a McDonald’s All-American who was ranked among the top 20 players in the nation by all the major recruiting services. His addition gives UConn a top-10 recruiting class, according to 247Sports, alongside 6-foot guard Ahmad Nowell and 6-foot-7 forward Isaiah Abraham.
• Although he’s from Texas, McNeeley played last season at Montverde Academy in suburban Orlando, Florida — the same program that was home to Cooper Flagg, the top-ranked player in the class who chose Duke over UConn, and four other prospects who are headed to major Division I schools.
HOW DOES HE FIT? McNeeley seems poised to be able to make an impact for the Huskies from Day 1 by filling the voids left by Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer (and potentially Alex Karaban, depending on his NBA Draft decision) as a reliable perimeter shooter.
• McNeeley made 45 percent of his 3-pointers this season and took more than five attempts per game. He was third in scoring for Montverde, which was crowned the national champion.
• According to 247Sports, McNeeley “has clean mechanics [and] a compact release, and shot over 40 percent from behind the 3-point line” on the grassroots circuit. “He’s particularly adept at coming off screens, making instinctual reads, and then attacking defenders while they are on the move. That can mean movement threes, but it can also mean curls, dribble penetration, and an ability to get downhill at times.”
• UConn’s high-volume 3-point offense is lacking shooters, with Hassan Diarra likely its best long-distance threat assuming Karaban doesn’t return. That’s a concern for the Huskies as Diarra, who’s also apparently mulling whether he wants to come back, is just a 29.9 percent 3-point shooter during his two seasons in Storrs and he only took 70 tries this past season.
WHAT DID McNEELEY SAY? “It felt like a perfect fit. Coach [Dan] Hurley is a hard-nosed coach. That’s the kind of coach I thrive under. The offensive system they run is perfect for my game. The culture of the team. The sets they run. They are going to help me get better on both sides of the ball. The whole coaching staff are good people.”
WHAT’S NEXT? The Huskies are looking to further shore up their sudden lack of perimeter shooting with two college prospects who made official visits to Storrs at the end of the week.
• Aidan Mahaney is a 6-foot-3 shooting guard who just completed his sophomore season at Saint Mary’s. Mahaney shot 37.5 percent from 3-point range over his first two seasons on six attempts a game. He’s also considering Kentucky, Virginia and Creighton.
• Koby Brea, a 6-foot-6 forward from Dayton, led Division I with a 3-point percentage of 49.8 last season on just over six attempts per game. He has one more year of eligibility remaining. The Atlantic 10 Sixth Man of the Year this season and in 2021-22, Brea started just four games last season. He’s supposed to be visiting Duke this week.
• UConn could theoretically add both players as just nine players, including McNeeley, are on scholarship next season and four places remain open. The Huskies landed their first transfer two weeks ago in Michigan’s Tarris Reed Jr., a 6-foot-10 forward/center.
— Zac Boyer
Chen to Continue College Years in Storrs
The Story: Princeton’s Kaitlyn Chen, a former Ivy League Player of the Year and one of the top guards in the transfer portal, will play her final season at UConn after she committed to the program yesterday morning.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Chen is a 5-foot-9 point guard from San Marino, Calif., who averaged 14.2 points, four assists and 3.5 rebounds per game over three seasons for the Tigers. She was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Ivy League Tournament all three years.
• The Ivy League canceled play in 2020-21 because of the pandemic and doesn’t allow graduate students to play intercollegiate sports, so Chen had to transfer to continue playing basketball. She took an official visit to UConn last week.
• One thing that likely didn’t hurt? Princeton’s coach is former UConn standout Carla Berube, meaning the Huskies probably had a bit of an in with Chen from the start.
HOW DOES SHE FIT? It’s a bit of a curious addition, given that the Huskies have several quality guards — and Paige Bueckers and KK Arnold are experienced ballhandlers who are capable of running the offense.
• Chen’s addition signals that Geno Auriemma wants Paige Bueckers to play off the ball more, which makes sense given her value as a scorer and that he spent nearly all season telling her she needs to shoot and score more often.
• Arnold spent much of the season as a starter by default and spelled Nika Muhl with ballhandling duties from time to time, but Chen is clearly an upgrade and will allow Arnold another season to gain experience in that role.
• The Huskies will also have to find playing time in the backcourt for Azzi Fudd, Caroline Ducharme, and Ashlynn Shade, and they have two highly regarded freshmen at the position in incoming Morgan Cheli and Allie Ziebell. But hey, after last season, you can never have too much depth.
WHAT’S NEXT? UConn has one more scholarship open and is highly pursuing former Oregon State center Raegan Beers, who will be a junior in the fall. Beers, who would immediately start if she chose to play for the Huskies, has reportedly narrowed her options to UConn and Oklahoma.
MEANWHILE, A NEW HOME: Former UConn forward Amari DeBerry has found her next school as she’ll transfer to Maryland. DeBerry, who rarely played for the Huskies over three seasons, was a top-15 recruit in the Class of 2021. Coincidentally, she’ll join former UConn teammate Saylor Poffenbarger, who is joining the Terrapins after two years at Arkansas.
— Zac Boyer
Haynes Heading to the Pacific Northwest
The Story: Only one UConn player heard his name called in the NFL Draft, and that was right guard Christian Haynes, who was chosen by the Seahawks in the third round on Friday.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Haynes was taken with the No. 81 pick by Seattle, which needs to identify a starter at left guard and right guard. That gives Haynes, who started 49 consecutive games for the Huskies, a chance to make an impact early.
• The Seahawks’ starter on the right side last season, Anthony Bradford, was a rookie fourth-round pick who didn’t open the season in that role but played more than 600 snaps at the position. His hold on the spot is tenuous at best.
• Seahawks GM John Schneider called Haynes “smart, tough, reliable,” and said “there was a little panic there” when offensive linemen started going off the board as Seattle neared its pick.
• Haynes said he had a lot of contact with the Seahawks in the pre-draft process and had them on his short list of teams that he thought would choose him.
WHO ELSE MOVES ON? UConn figured to have another player drafted over the weekend, but defensive end Eric Watts, who was projected to be a fifth- or sixth-round pick, instead went undrafted.
• Watts signed a contract with the Jets, while linebacker Jackson Mitchell will join the Panthers. And Geordon Porter, who spent just last season with the Huskies after transferring from New Mexico, will try out for the Giants and Jets at their upcoming rookie minicamps.
— Zac Boyer
Morning Reads
• The football team landed another commitment over the weekend in Nathaniel Wallace-Dilling, a punter from Riverside City College in California who’s from Columbus, Ohio and was a freshman last season.
• Maya Moore was inducted into the National Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame over the weekend, five years after she walked away from basketball to help now-husband Jonathan Irons win his release from prison by getting a 50-year sentence overturned in 2020.
• The baseball team beat Villanova 10-8 yesterday afternoon and completed a three-game Big East sweep as Korey Morton hit a two-run walk-off home run in front of a record crowd of 1,527 at Elliot Ballpark. The Huskies (25-18, 10-2 Big East) have won eight games in a row and 15 of their last 17.
• A 4-2 loss to Villanova yesterday afternoon in the deciding game of a three-game series left the softball team at 27-22 and 13-8 in the Big East.
