The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Sanctions could affect Huskies in recruiting
While nothing was certain when Dan Hurley took over as UConn’s head coach at the end of March, it soon became evident that the Huskies were likely to lose at least a scholarship for next season due to the NCAA investigation into the program.
Nothing is certain still — the NCAA could dock the Huskies another scholarship, though that would seen unlikely — but UConn will be down at least one scholarship for next season. That’s a result of the program’s self-imposed sanctions announced on Friday.
While the loss of one scholarship may not seem like much, it is somewhat penal. When you’re at 12 scholarship players, an injury or two could throw a season out of whack, depleting depth. Just ask SMU, which is in the final season of a four-year reduction of nine total scholarships, a result of violations committed under Larry Brown’s watch. The Mustangs are down two scholarships this season, but coupled with injuries to Jarrey Foster and Everett Ray, are basically playing with nine scholarship players right now. And remember, not every scholarship player is necessarily ready to contribute right away.
It also affects UConn’s recruiting. As things stand now, the program is losing
five players from this year’s team to graduation — Jalen Adams, Eric Cobb, Tarin Smith, Kassoum Yakwe and Kwintin Williams. The Huskies have three players coming in next season — James Bouknight, Jalen Gaffney and Akok Akok (who should be enrolled and practicing with the team this week, though he won’t be playing this season).
That represents 11 of 12 roster spots, meaning the Huskies technically have just one spot to fill. They are going in hard on Precious Achiuwa, a 6-foot-9 power forward from Montverde Academy in Florida. Hurley is expected to watch Achiuwa play on Monday at the Spalding Hoop Hall Classic in Springfield, Massachusetts, where Montverde faces California’s Sierra Canyon High at 3 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPNU.
Achiuwa is the same type of player as Akok — a big wing/combo with elite athleticism and some perimeter skills. But, despite Josh Carlton’s recent strong play, the Huskies need traditional big men, as well.
UConn is heavily recruiting Class of 2019 bigs Tre Mitchell of Woodstock Academy and Qudus Wahab of Flint Hill School in Virginia. Wahab is expected to announce on Jan. 30, and UConn is believed to have a decent shot at landing him, along with Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Virginia Tech. Mitchell appears to be down to UConn, Notre Dame and Illinois. It’s possible he could re-classify to 2020, which could throw UConn off his trail.
And, the Huskies will be scouring the junior college, grad transfer and even regular transfer markets in their continued hunt for some size.
That’s a lot of different potential players for just one available spot. But things happen in college basketball, and while no players transferred after Hurley took over the program, it’s certainly possible players could leave after this season. It was only a couple of years ago that UConn lost three players to transfer, along with its top incoming recruit, in the span of about a month.
There’s no sense speculating which players could depart, but it happens for a variety of reasons to programs around the country. There were, after all, 877 transfers in Division I men’s basketball in 2018. It’s entirely possible the Huskies could have more than one roster spot to fill by the time April rolls around.