UConn commit Alex Karaban dealing with wrist injury
NEW HAVEN — Alex Karaban could only sit and watch from the bench as IMG Academy squandered a lead in spectacular fashion and lost to Northfield Mount Hermon on Saturday evening at the National Prep Showcase at Albertus Magnus College.
Karaban, the Class of 2022 forward who committed to UConn over the summer, has been sidelined the past three weeks with a broken left wrist. He was in a cast for the past few weeks, but his hand was in a brace Saturday during IMG’s loss. Karaban is scheduled to have an X-ray on Nov. 30, and if that’s good, he will need another week or so of rehab before he can start playing again
The 6-foot-8 wing believes he may have first injured the wrist over the summer while playing in the GymRat Challenge in Albany, New York. He kept playing, however, and may have broken it five weeks ago while playing in another event.
“I didn’t feel any pain, didn’t feel it break,” Karaban reported, “so I figured I’d just keep playing on it.”
Finally, a few weeks ago, he got it checked out, and X-rays revealed a “bad break.”
Karaban said he’s never met recent Class of 2023 commit Stephon Castle, but texted the 6-foot-6 guard from Georgia shortly after he committed on Friday, saying “I can’t wait to play with you. Super excited.”
“I’ve watched highlights; he looks like an amazing kid,” Karaban said. “I’ve heard he’s an amazing player. He seems like a perfect fit for us.”
Karaban hopes to be back on the court within the next few weeks. Whether he’s playing for IMG remains a question. Karaban said he’s considering enrolling early at UConn for the second semester, which begins in January, and has discussed it with the UConn staff.
“Not too sure yet,” he said. “I’ve still got to talk to my parents, but I’ve been thinking about it. Definitely a possibility.”
Coach Dan Hurley has done similar things in the past. Three years ago, Akok Akok enrolled in January but didn’t play for the Huskies until the following season. More recently, Class of 2022 guard Corey Floyd Jr. reclassified to the Class of 2021 and joined UConn for this season, during which he’ll redshirt.
All 13 of UConn’s scholarships are currently filled, so it’s unclear how Karaban’s early enrollment would be handled — if it happens at all.
BROWN BACK IN TOWN
Avery Brown, the Beacon Falls product, had a bit of a homecoming at the National Prep Showcase. Brown, a Class of 2022 guard at Northfield Mount Hermon, got to play two games in front of “lots of friends and family. It was a great atmosphere.”
Brown has made official visits to Colorado and Nebraska and is considering visits to UNLV and Cal, though nothing is set up at this point. He figures he’ll make his college decision sometime in early 2022.
“Right now, I’m taking my time with everything,” Brown said. “I took my visits over the summer, so I’m seeing what comes this season.”
BIG EAST COMING UP BIG
The Big East had only two teams (Villanova and UConn) in the preseason AP Top 25. When the Wooden Award preseason top 50 watch list was released Nov. 9, only two Big East players (Collin Gillespie and Julian Champagnie) made the cut. The Big 10 (10), SEC (8), Big 12 (7), Pac-12 (5) and American (5) each had more than twice that amount.
And this is coming off a 2020-21 season when the league was essentially a three-bid league, before Georgetown stole a bid by winning the conference tournament. The conventional wisdom was that this might be a down year for the conference. So far, nothing could be further from the truth.
Despite Villanova’s loss to Purdue on Sunday at Mohegan Sun Arena, the Big East was a remarkable 39-5 overall heading into Sunday evening’s action. The league went 6-2 against Big Ten teams in the Gavitt Games, including wins by Marquette over Illinois, Xavier over Ohio State and Seton Hall at Michigan. And that’s without UConn or Villanova participating in this year’s Games.
“With the Shaka (Smart) hire (at Marquette), you knew that was the perfect partnership there,” Hurley said. “I think we knew the league was going to be far, far better than it was this past year. We look like a six-, seven-bid league, which is absolutely awesome, because it gives you a chance to win a lot of Quad 1 games. It gives you a ton of Quad 1 and Quad 2 games and (fewer) really bad games. It was scary last year when we were playing Quad 3 and Quad 4 conference games. It’s awesome. You want your league to be as absolutely strong as possible.”
PEARL’S WISDOM
Auburn coach Bruce Pearl marveled at the field for the Battle 4 Atlantis on a Zoom call Sunday, noting the presence of the defending national champion (Baylor), Hall of Fame coaches like Jim Boeheim (Syracuse) and Tom Izzo (Michigan State) and other top teams.
“And UConn,” Pearl said, “might be the best team of all of them.”
Pearl will find out firsthand on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m., when Auburn faces UConn in their first game.
“You talk about stepping up in class ... they’re No. 5 (in the nation) in scoring defense,” Pearl said of the Huskies. “They’re rebounding most of their misses. Their first-shot offense is good, their second-shot offense is even better. Then they’ve got a bunch of guys that are big, strong, physical, athletic, tough, old. So we’re gonna have to be able to handle the physicality. There are certain trademarks of certain cultures and teams, and Dan Hurley’s teams are always gonna be physical defensively. They’re always gonna rebound and get high-percentage looks.”