Hurley welcomes ‘precious’ chance to face Memphis
MYSTIC — Dan Hurley had perhaps a Freudian slip while speaking with reporters prior the first stop on the UConn Coaches Road Show on Tuesday at Latitude 41 restaurant.
Asked about how he’s likely to fill one more scholarship for next season, he noted that the staff had to decide whether to go with a rotational, back-up player to fill a need, or with a high-end talent that could help more in the future.
“Every scholarship,” Hurley noted, “is precious.”
Ah yes, precious. Not Precious. Precious Achiuwa, the five-star forward that Hurley has spent plenty of recruiting hours trying to woo to Storrs, decided last week he’s heading to Memphis.
He’s not the only top recruit to join former Memphis and NBA star Penny Hardaway with the Tigers. There’s the nation’s consensus No. 1 overall recruit, James Wiseman. There’s a quartet of four-star players, led by Boogie Ellis and DJ Jeffries, that join Wiseman and Achiuwa in what is rated the top 2019 class in the country by most recruiting services.
All that, on top of several high-level players Hardaway brought in with his first recruiting class last year, should make the Tigers a formidable threat. Certainly a program that will garner a lot of attention all season.
Of course, if you didn’t know by now, Memphis plays in the American Athletic Conference alongside UConn. Hurley has raked in a top-20 recruiting class of his own, led by Akok Akok, James Bouknight and Jalen Gaffney. And if he harbors any envy that Hardaway was able to nab Achiuwa to add to his embarrassment of recruiting riches, he didn’t let on on Tuesday.
“I think it’s great for the league,” Hurley said. “I like Penny. Penny put his sweatequity into this game over the course of his life. He’s got, obviously, a lot that young people can learn from him. We all have a program style that we try to recruit to or build our program around. Obviously, he’s doing it in that Kentucky/Duke type of model. With his personality and his background, that probably works great for him.”
All the hoopla surrounding Memphis this season, he added, will be good for the eternally under-appreciated AAC. It will even help UConn’s recruiting. As Hurley noted, other teams in the league already benefit on the recruiting trail by promising the chance to play against the Huskies.
“Hopefully we’ll play them twice next year,” he said of the Tigers. “It’ll be two exciting games. It’s great for our schedule, it’s great for the league. Penny’s a good dude.”
As for his own recruiting class, which is currently ranked No. 19 in the nation by 247Sports:
“I’m thrilled with what we’ve been able to add. We’ve been able to add quality pieces, guys who have the skill-set, the talent, particularly Gaffney, Bouknight, Akok, R.J. (Cole, a Howard University transfer who’ll have to sit out this season). When they get through the development process and mature together, they’re guys that should be playing very prominent roles on championship-level teams.”
Akok, he noted, has acclimated well to college life, “lives in the gym,” and is in the process of building himself up physically and getting more fundamentally sound.
“His 3-point shooting, shot-blocking and athleticism will help us a lot,” Hurley said.
Bouknight, a 6-foot-5 combo guard, and Gaffney, a 6-2 point guard, will arrive on campus on June 3. Both could see major minutes immediately.
“They’ve played a lot of basketball and have a lot of talent,” Hurley said of the two four-star recruits. “And they’re coachable”
Although UConn is at its scholarship allotment of 12 (the program docked itself a scholarship for violations under Kevin Ollie’s tenure), it is still recruiting for one more spot. Nothing’s official about how that final scholarship will open up, but it appears Mamadou Diarra’s basketball career may be over. The 6-7 power forward has been beset by chronic knee problems since high school and played in just two games last season.
“It’s been a tough couple of years for Mamadou,” Hurley said. “He’s a warrior and a winner and a guy that wants to get out on the court, but he’s been just besieged by difficult injury stuff that very few players have to deal with — before he got to UConn, and pretty much since he’s been here.”
Diarra is home for break now and will return to campus for the start of summer classes, at which time some decisions will be made.
“Mo’s a valued member of the program, and we have a lot of respect for Mo,” Hurley said.