Mailbag: UConn's 2025 recruiting, Notre Dame, Cincy a Big 12 threat?
It’s the first week of December.
High school basketball season is underway which means recruiting is still in effect, the college basketball season is already breezing by, and the hoops world is moving at an all-time high right now.
This week, we’re bringing back our Mailbag series, where every week I’ll answer questions that came directly from you guys.
On this week’s edition of Mailbag, I take a look at UConn’s recruiting for 2025, Notre Dame's recruiting, who is UNC recruiting in 2025, and whether is Cincinnati a real threat in the Big 12.
What direction is UConn headed in for the 2025 recruiting class?
I think after missing out on Ngongba, Flagg, and Betsey, and signing Abraham and Nowell for 2024, UConn will move its focus onto the 2025 class where they already have some early momentum on guys. The staff has done an excellent job of getting in on the 2025 guys early. I don’t expect UConn to be one of those schools that just offers every guy they see, more so one of those schools that recruits solely based on fit.
Two guys I think they have good momentum with early are Meleek Thomas and Joson Sanon. Thomas was the first 2025 prospect to land an offer from Hurley and his staff and they’ve remained active in his recruitment ever since.
Thomas is a 6-foot-4 guard from Pennsylvania who won a state championship last season and was one of the most electrifying players in the Nike EYBL circuit.
Sanon was offered by UConn in April and Kimani Young has remained active in recruiting Sanon, along with the rest of the staff. I believe that these two guys will continue to draw a lot of attention from UConn.
How has Micah Shrewsberry & Co. been doing on the recruiting trail?
I think if you take a look at Micah Shrewsberry’s pit stop at Penn State you could walk away and say that it went fairly well considering the time he was on the job, which is why he was able to land at a school like Notre Dame to replace a coaching legend in Mike Brey.
It started when Brey stepped down and the Irish lost 2/3 signings that they had for this past incoming recruiting class. The one guy he kept? Markus Burton has become an instant impact for the Fighting Irish as a true freshman.
Nobody expected the Fighting Irish to be terrific this season as Shrewsberry is helping rebuild a program that went 11-21 last season. Added some pieces this past off-season and has a talented 2024 recruiting class coming in that could end up having three Top-100 prospects on it in Sir Mohammed, Cole Certa, and Garrett Sundra.
I think considering the situation he walked into, I think he’s put together a great staff, and next season they could be in line to be a sleeper in the ACC due to having a current young roster and with the talent they’ll be adding next summer.
Is Cincinnati a possible threat in the Big 12?
I don’t think this is far-fetched at all. I spoke on it many times over the last few months, and the culture of UC basketball has taken a major shift in a good way. They had plenty of solid pieces before the waiver of Aziz Bandago got approved, but, have already seen improvements since adding him into the fold.
The Bearcats are 7-0 and have the chance to win plenty of games in December. They do faceoff with crosstown rival Xavier this Saturday at Xavier which will be a huge road test. The Bearcats have proven to be a high-powered offense and I think have a legit shot to be one of the sleepers in the Big 12.
They begin conference play on January 6th at BYU and I think by then, they’ll be fully adjusted to this new roster and will be in a good spot to win some key road games in January.
Where does UNC fare in 2025 recruiting?
The question here is who is most likely to commit to the Tar Heels in the 2025 class. I think it’s 1) a tad too soon to answer that question and 2) they’re in line to possibly have a huge recruiting class in 2025.
Caleb Wilson, a Top-10 prospect in 2025 has been in reclass rumors and has mentioned that he’d like to reschedule his previously planned visit to Chapel Hill. In addition, Jasper Johnson is also someone who has mentioned UNC and how he’d like to plan a visit down there.
If I had no choice but to answer this question today, I’d say that Sadiq White could be the guy most likely to commit to the Tar Heels. The in-state priority has been on the UNC radar for quite some time and will have some other programs to compete with, but it always is some sort of factor when you’re an in-state target for a national program like UNC.