How will UConn round out next season’s roster?
Isaiah Whaley is back for a fifth season. Josh Carlton is off to Houston, Brendan Adams to George Washington University.
James Bouknight is off to whichever NBA team selects him in this year’s draft .
That’s what we know so far about UConn’s offseason “transactions,” and if that seems like a lot, it really isn’t. Not when there are over 1,400 names (and counting) in the NCAA’s transfer portal, a result largely of two factors: all winter athletes getting an extra year of eligibility this year due to COVID-19 disruptions, and the NCAA’s expected decision to allow all student-athletes to transfer to another school one time without penalty.
The next burgeoning question is if Tyler Polley, like Whaley, plans to return for a fifth and final season in Storrs. The 6-foot-9 forward is having a tough time making his decision, according to Adam Ross, who coached Polley for four years at The Sagemont School in Florida.
“Tyler is doing some real thinking on the topic,” Ross said in a text message, “is in regular contact with Coach (Dan) Hurley and will make a decision in the coming weeks.”
Polley could elect to go pro, perhaps even hope for an NBA workout or two. He could transfer to another school. His decision will almost certainly affect how the Huskies move forward in terms of filling out their three open scholarships for next season.
Hurley has said UConn is looking to bring more skilled scorers into the
program, and several of the Huskies’ transfer targets fit that bill. Players like Florida’s Noah Locke, a 6-foot-3 guard who’s a career 40.3-percent 3-point shooter; Rocket Watts, a oncehighly recruited guard who has struggled in his two seasons at Michigan State; and Bryce Hamilton, a 6-4 junior guard who averaged 17.9 points last season at UNLV are the type of immediate-impact transfers that could be among the Huskies’ top scorers next season and also fit into the team’s culture, something strongly valued by Hurley.
Still, the transfer portal isn’t exactly Hurley and his staff’s cup of tea. Hurley stated a couple of weeks ago that he didn’t want UConn to become “Transfer U.” He’d prefer to build a program largely through recruiting top high school talent, mixing in a quality transfer here and there.
With that in mind, UConn is still mining for high school talent for next season. It could come in the form of a player who reclassifies from the 2022 graduating class, or a player who could use a year of development as a sit-out and wouldn’t immediately be in search of minutes.
It could also be a junior-college transfer. The Huskies are in the market for a few different juco players, who would also likely have three years of eligibility left due to NCAA rule changes.
UConn could also bank one of its remaining scholarships, particularly if Polley decides to return. Managing a roster with 15 scholarship players wouldn’t be easy.
Whaley’s return likely changed the Huskies’ focus of bringing in another power forward-type. UConn had contacted a few of those players on the “transfer wire,” but with Whaley back, along with Big East All-Rookie Adama Sanogo, a presumably healthy Akok Akok, rising sophomore Richie Springs and talented incoming freshman Samson Johnson, the Huskies boast some pretty good frontcourt depth.
The Huskies could be in the market for an athletic small forward/power forward type of player. Interestingly, two of the players UConn had contacted that fit two of their potential needs — skilled scoring wing, skilled power forward — committed to Seton Hall over the past few days: Kadary Richmond, a 6-5 wing who just finished his freshman season at Syracuse, and Alexis Yetna, the 6-8, 240pound Putnam Science Academy product who played three seasons at South Florida (though he’s more of a classic four-man rather than a skilled, stretch four).
Perhaps Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard, who has famously voiced his opposition to UConn’s return to the Big East and lost out on Sanogo at the last minute in May, feels a sense of revenge.
Among the other players UConn has reportedly reached out to include Marcus Carr, a high-scoring point guard from Minnesota who, like Hamilton, intends to first test the NBA draft waters; Seth Lundy, a 6-6 forward from Penn State who shot 39 percent from 3 as a freshman but dipped to 32 percent this past season; David Collins, a veteran guard familiar to UConn fans from his USF days but who isn’t particularly skilled;
Tyler Kolek, a 6-3 Rhode Island native who was the Atlantic-10 Rookie of the Year at George Mason this season; and Tre Mitchell, a mega-talented 6-9 UMass sophomore whom the Huskies recruited heavily out of Woodstock Academy.
Kolek, who averaged 10.8 points and shot 35.8 percent from 3, has also been courted by Providence, Marquette and a few more Big East schools, among others, but is in no hurry to make his decision.
“I’m going through the process, there are new schools daily,” he said. “I’m looking for a place where I have a chance to have the right opportunity and hopefully go to the NCAA tournament.”
Mitchell has more pressing personal concerns: a fire last month destroyed his home, and his family has been displaced ever since. His stepfather, Tony Bergeron, coached him at Woodstock Academy and came along with him to UMass two years ago as an assistant coach (though he won’t be an assistant there next year).
As far as Mitchell’s recruitment, Bergeron said: “Let’s put it this way — it would be easier to say who hasn’t offered than who has. We’re looking at what’s best for Tre ... It isn’t hard to figure out who wants you.”
Whaley’s return (and Sanogo’s progress as a freshman) would make Mitchell highly unlikely for UConn. Typically, prioritized transfer prospects have heard from other head coaches by now. It’s worth nothing that, as of late this week, both Mitchell and Kolek have heard from UConn assistant Tom Moore, but not from Hurley.