2024 Recruiting: Liam McNeeley

[Umami Zen]

Just referencing JC's words on KEA.. He was never the scorer.. Always the facilitator. Ricky was off the charts in other ways. Rip was Rip..

Per your point- If he had stayed another year. Another NC

 

[Fishy]

Per your point- If he had stayed another year. Another NC

Honestly, if he doesn’t roll an ankle against Utah State, that tournament had cracked wide open for UConn.

With Khalid, we beat Tennessee easily. After that, it’s 8-seed UNC in the sweet 16 and 7-seed Tulsa in the elite eight.

 

[Umami Zen]

Honestly, if he doesn’t roll an ankle against Utah State, that tournament had cracked wide open for UConn.

With Khalid, we beat Tennessee easily. After that, it’s 8-seed UNC in the sweet 16 and 7-seed Tulsa in the elite eight.

I'm with you dude. Always felt it was a missed opportunity. Woulda/Coulda/Shoulda

 

[tzznandrew]

Honestly, if he doesn’t roll an ankle against Utah State, that tournament had cracked wide open for UConn.

With Khalid, we beat Tennessee easily. After that, it’s 8-seed UNC in the sweet 16 and 7-seed Tulsa in the elite eight.

It's exactly the sort of thing that never broke for us from 1990-2003 that began to from 2004-2023.

 

[tzznandrew]

Well, no, not really.

He came in and was our second scoring option behind Rip and the secondary ball handler next to Ricky. Khalid was great, but he stepped into an amazing situation.

Biggest what-if with Khalid…what if he had stuck around for one more year and got to pair with Caron for a season?

It's sort of the same with Doron. He came in and was awesome, but we also had a junior Kevin Ollie. Just as KEA was a better offensive player than Ricky, but the duo complemented each other well, so Doron to KO.

 

[Mike Honcho]

It's exactly the sort of thing that never broke for us from 1990-2003 that began to from 2004-2023.

07-09 we had decently bad injury luck. AJ tore his ACL in that first round game against USD in 2008 (we were a 4 seed, JC's first first round exit if I recall correctly).

And then Dyson and his meniscus the following year. We still made the final 4 but we would have beaten MSU and given UNC a game had Dyson been healthy.

 

[Fan1978]

You are going to have to grow a few more arms liam

 

[Fishy]

You are going to have to grow a few more arms liam

I love when recruiting sites offer such inside nuggets like, his mom will be a factor in his recruitment. Man…where do I subscribe?

 

[Umami Zen]

Sometimes things work out. And then they don't.. Injuries are part of the deal. The last two years we've had an awesome run with a team that was wired for winning and we didn't have any significant injuries. 2 NCs

 

[Umami Zen]

I love when recruiting sites offer such inside nuggets like, his mom will be a factor in his recruitment. Man…where do I subscribe?

Bro-Apparently Reed's Mom is into the Sax.Grover Washington Jr or Najee or Danny Hurley?

 

[tzznandrew]

07-09 we had decently bad injury luck. AJ tore his ACL in that first round game against USD in 2008 (we were a 4 seed, JC's first first round exit if I recall correctly).

And then Dyson and his meniscus the following year. We still made the final 4 but we would have beaten MSU and given UNC a game had Dyson been healthy.

Fair. I meant more breaks in the bracket that we could take advantage of.

Like, in 1994, BC upset UNC as the 1-seed in our bracket and made the E8. But we, as a 2-seed, missed FTs to win the game to Florida in Florida.

In 2004, our 1 seed lost and we got an 8 in the E8 and a 3 in the Finals. That finally started to even out. Even in 2008, we weren't beating UCLA even if we didn't lose that game. Still, a S16 would have been better than an upset.

2009? Yeah, that one stings. But hey, a Final Four is a successful season and we have as many national championships as UNC.

 

[JesusAllen11]

Nowell and Diarra on floor together, double point. Similar to the double big, but better.

The ball pressure they will create on defense will be amazing. The turnovers they’ll create , then with Stewart and Johnson running down the court will be fun times.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[HooperScooper]

I love when recruiting sites offer such inside nuggets like, his mom will be a factor in his recruitment. Man…where do I subscribe?

His mother played D1 basketball. At Rice. And she's a single mom. So that's a couple reasons why she's probably heavily involved.

Just keep her away from Mrs. Flagg.

 

[Son of Robert]

Yes! The first visit from McNeely. How good would this be.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Getting him in before Bama is big.

 

[businesslawyer]

I was going to mention Doron but that was such a unique situation. He was 22 years old when he came to UConn and had already played professionally for years.

He was also a combo guard and not a point. KO was the pure point at that point.

 

[ju6381]

His mother played D1 basketball. At Rice. And she's a single mom. So that's a couple reasons why she's probably heavily involved.

Just keep her away from Mrs. Flagg.

Thoought she had a lot of good things to say about UConn, haven't thought about them for a while...

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Biggest what-if with Khalid…what if he had stuck around for one more year and got to pair with Caron for a season?

There’s a couple of what-ifs throughout the 2000s as far as connecting the PG tree.

KEA stays one more year to mentor Taliek

Marcus stays out of trouble to get a full year in 04 with Taliek

AJ doesn’t have his surgery in 2006 to get a year with Marcus

Could’ve especially used AJ in 2006

 

[AntG168]

Here we go.

Don’t let him off campus without a commitment .

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

Getting him in before Bama is big.

I don't think he'll even take the Bama visit.

 

[Stew Crew]

Taliek Brown started every game his freshman year. Out of necessity. But to your point, he wasn't that good and got better through his 4 years.

Can't remember if there were any other freshmen who started right of the gate like Taliek and Khalid.

Tate George, but that was almost out of desperation. I think that is the year Cliff Robinson and Phil Gamble were declared ineligible for the 2nd semester. Absolute low point in Connecticut basketball.

 

[tuvent08]

 

[HailUConn]

Make Momma happy while at it.

 

[HuskyHoosier]

if there was NIL when KEA was around he would have definitely stayed 4 years.