In Liam McNeeley, UConn has college basketball’s next villain

UConn Huskies freshman wing Liam McNeeley is set to be college basketball’s villain for the 2024-25 season.

After winning back-to-back national championships, Dan Hurley and the UConn Huskies have fully embraced being college basketball’s villains.

Hurley’s extreme reactions on the sidelines and “us against the world” mentality have helped build the villainy, and many of the players who come into the program are taylor made to be college basketball villains – with Rutgers transfer Cam Spencer filling the role admirably last season.

This year, Hurley already identified Spencer’s replacement as incoming freshman Liam McNeeley, the No. 10 ranked player in the 2024 recruiting class who is expected to be a day one starter and one-and-done player who gets taken in the lottery of the 2025 NBA draft.

Hurley spoke to the media on Tuesday and discussed McNeeley’s attitude and confidence, going as far as to say he thinks “opposing fan bases will find him to be an acceptable villain.”

McNeeley is from Richardson, TX and was a McDonald’s All-American who spent time at three different high schools. He originally committed to the Indiana Hoosiers before reopening his recruitment and joining the Huskies as they look for a third straight national title.

Fan bases in Texas and Indiana already have a reason to treat McNeeley like a villain, and soon the rest of the Big East will follow suit – particularly if he plays a big role in UConn continuing to win at an absurdly high rate in 2024-25.

Dan Hurley turns down the Lakers, shifting some focus back on UConn’s recruiting class

Will Dan Hurley’s decision not to join the Los Angeles Lakers impact UConn’s strong recruiting class?

With back-to-back NCAA Men’s Basketball championships and four straight March Madness appearances, Dan Hurley set UConn up for continued success by recruiting one of the best incoming freshman classes in the nation. It is currently ranked No. 10 in the class of 2024 recruiting cycle, with three top-100 players, one of whom is a five-star prospect.

There was just one flaw in the three-peat process: A colossal, celebrated franchise at the highest level of the game with one of the greatest players on the other end of the line, offering Hurley tens of millions of dollars to move away from the Huskies and go to Los Angeles.

After days of consideration and speculation, ESPN reported on Monday afternoon that Hurley turned down the offer from the LA Lakers. He will officially return to UConn, taking charge of the unit competing for its third championship in a row.

If the last few days of speculation were intense for fans of basketball and the individual teams, it may have been more so for the No. 10-ranked UConn recruiting class who joined to play under Hurley.

Huskies’ incoming Class of 2024 (so far)

Liam McNeeley is a five-star, 6-foot-7 small forward who played a crucial role in Montverde Academy’s (Fla.) undefeated Super 25 championship season. Ranked No. 17 on the 247Sports Composite, McNeeley had 22 offers.

He was previously committed to Indiana but decommitted in March. Over the next month and a half, McNeeley debated before choosing UConn in late April. In an interview with ESPN, he explained his rationale, citing the coaching staff and style of play:

“It felt like a perfect fit,” McNeeley said. “Coach Hurley is a hard-nosed coach. That’s the kind of coach I thrive under. The offensive system they run is perfect for my game. The culture of the team. The sets they run. They are going to help me get better on both sides of the ball. The whole coaching staff are good people.”

McNeeley was one of the best shooters in high school, stretching the floor and providing size that gives him legit NBA potential.

Four-star combo guard Ahmad Nowell has been a long-time commit of UConn. The 6-foot-0, 180-pound player announced his plans in July 2023 and has not faltered since, watching his school of choice run to a second straight title.

There’s no need to falter now, with Hurley staying. Nowell is known as an aggressive defender, and averaged 21.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.0 steals per game last season as he was named Pennsylvania’s MaxPreps Player of the Year. He can be a lead guard and hassle the best guard on the opposing team on the other end of the court.

The first commit of the 2024 class will also be remaining until the very end. Isaiah Abraham, a four-star power forward, was the first commit of UConn’s class, choosing the program a little over a week before Nowell. He had 19 offers; his finalists were Virginia Tech, Marquette, and Providence, in addition to the Huskies program.

Like McNeeley at Montverde and Nowell at Imhotep (Philadelphia, Pa.), Abraham has experience playing for a dynamic team with a schedule full of national opponents. Paul VI (Chantilly, Va.) is consistently among the best in the nation, and Abraham’s role helped the Panthers go 35-3 last season. He said to Zags Blog after committing that he chose the team in part due to his connection with the staff:

“I feel like the whole coaching staff and the program is a winning organization, not just because they won but because of their mentality,” Abraham said. “They just talk a lot about winning and how much they care about winning. I like winning.”

With Hurley staying, any thoughts of departure among these three players sail away along with the Lakers’ hopes of luring the head coach. With Hurley remaining at UConn as the key cog of the franchise, the Huskies have a chance to do something special with the help of this new class.

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Kentucky pursues top recruit after decommitting from Indiana

Kentucky is one of the teams interested in Liam McNeeley after he decommitted from Indiana

The Kentucky Wildcats and coach John Calipari are always in recruiting mode. They have the number two class in 2024, but a recent decommitment has them looking to add to it.

Top 15 player Liam McNeeley committed to Indiana in October of 2023, and signed his letter of intent the following month. In early March, however, the forward announced he wouldn’t be playing for the Hoosiers.

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McNeeley is a terrific shooter from three point range, and moves well without the ball. He is also a very good passer.

Kentucky didn’t originally offer McNeeley, but according to 247sports, they have contacted him recently. Kansas, Connecticut, Tennessee and others all have interest along with the Wildcats. Kansas is considered the favorite at the moment.

If he were to choose Kentucky, McNeeley would likely push the Wildcats into the number one spot in the team rankings. He doesn’t appear to be in a rush to make a choice, so Kentucky and the others will wait for now.

With 15-0 record, Montverde Academy is dominating start of season

Montverde boys basketball, led by Cooper Flagg and Derik Queen, have won its first 15 games of the seasons over tough opponents.

Montverde Academy (Fla.) entered this season with sky-high expectations stemming from its seven rostered players ranked as three-star or better, four of whom have five-star ratings.

Fifteen games into the season, the Eagles are more than meeting them.

On Friday, Montverde’s 93-51 win over Gonzaga (Washington, D.C.) was a blowout over what is arguably another top 5-to-10 team in the nation. The Eagles scored the first 12 points of the game before taking a 24-4 lead into the second quarter. They never trailed and raised their record to 15-0 halfway through the season.

The schedule has been as demanding as any other team in the country.

Several teams Montverde beat are under consideration for the USA TODAY Sports Super 25: Huntsville (Ala.), which is 21-1, suffered its sole loss to the Eagles. Wasatch Academy fell by 35 points. Montverde beat IMG Academy and Columbus, whose rosters contain four- and five-star players such as Darius Acuff Jr., Donnie Freeman, Khani Rooths, and Cameron and Cayden Boozer, and then Link Academy, who has about a half-dozen ranked prospects of its own. AZ Compass Prep managed to keep the score within a dozen before Archbishop Stepinac fell by 40.

(USA TODAY Network)

In the City of Palms Classic, Montverde played against what are likely the second- and third-best teams in the nation in Paul VI and Long Island Lutheran. In the semifinals, Montverde took down Paul VI 69-62 before outplaying LoLu and winning by 14 in the championship.

MaxPreps has 13 games worth of stats for Montverde in its system. According to the outlet, five-star senior Derik Queen leads the team in scoring with 16.8 points per game to go along with 7.2 rebounds in those games. Five-star senior Cooper Flagg is averaging 15.5 points, 7.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.3 steals and 2.1 blocks per game.

Asa Newell, a five-star forward, is averaging 12 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per game, while fellow five-star player Liam McNeeley is posting 13.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game.

With the Eagles led by that group of highly touted prospects, they have run through their schedule with minimal challenge. Through 15 games, it’s unclear if any team can present a serious threat to this group.

(USA TODAY Network)

2024 5-Star SF Liam McNeeley lists Alabama in top 6

2024 small forward Liam McNeeley recently released his top-six schools. Among those listed was the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Small forward Liam McNeeley of the 2024 class released his top schools’ list on Saturday. Alabama made the cut as a finalist to land his commitment.

McNeeley is a native of Richardson, Texas but plays for Montverde Academy in Montverde, Florida. The school is known for generating some of the nation’s top talent.

As a junior, McNeeley averaged 12.4 points per game, 4.0 rebounds per game, and 2.2 assists per game. He also shot an efficient 50% from the floor.

Thus far, McNeeley has not taken a visit to Alabama. That could change, however. In a previous interview with On3, McNeeley had this to say:

“They got all new coaches. Coach (Christian) Pino just hit me up a few days ago, and we’re starting to grow that relationship. I saw them watching me this April.”

There aren’t current plans for McNeeley to visit Alabama, but that could change as the relationship between McNeeley and the coaching staff develops.

Roll Tide Wire breaks down Liam McNeeley’s recruiting profile.

Tigers offer 5-star small forward in 2024 class

The Tigers are throwing their hat in the ring for Liam McNeely, one of the top players in the country in the 2024 cycle.

[autotag]Liam McNeeley[/autotag] is a 6-foot-7, 190-pound small forward from Montverde Academy in Montverde, Florida. Montverde is one of the best high school basketball teams in the country, finishing last season 23-4, and it produces top college prospects every year.

McNeeley is transferring to Montverde Academy from John Paul II High School in Plano, Texas. The Cardinals finished last season 31-7 and won the TAPPS 6A State Championship with a 66-56 win over Concordia Lutheran.

Film Analysis: McNeeley is a young guy with a very smooth shot from the perimeter. He does a great job of using his length to grab rebounds and create more space on the floor on the offensive side.

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