UConn coach Dan Hurley gushes on Liam McNeeley addition

Last week on Twitter, Liam McNeeley, the #9 player in the 2024 high school basketball recruiting class, “dialed in from Storrs” and announced his decision to head to UConn for his freshman season of basketball. McNeeley, who was described by 247’s Adam Finkelstein as having, “one of the best combinations of skill and basketball acumen in the national class,” should theoretically fit like a glove in a UConn system that has been carefully crafted by head coach Dan Hurley and his staff. And as he announced his decision, McNeeley explained that Connecticut’s system was a big reason why he chose the Huskies over Indiana — where McNeeley originally committed — Kansas, and Texas, among other schools.

“It felt like a perfect fit,” McNeeley said, according to Jonathan Givony of ESPN.com. “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.”

Today, after McNeeley signed his National Letter of Intent, Dan Hurley spoke just as highly of the latest addition to his Huskies basketball program.

“Liam is one of the best players in high school basketball, and we are tremendously excited to add him to our UConn family,” Connecticut head coach Dan Hurley said on Tuesday afternoon, per Joe Arruda of the Hartford Courant. “He is blessed with elite skill and positional size, along with the championship pedigree that we so value at Connecticut. Liam has the potential to be a star here.”

There’s no doubt that Liam McNeeley has the skillset and potential to become a full-blown star at the college level, and that’s especially the case if he’s part of a Connecticut team that brings a third consecutive National Championship to Storrs. Even if McNeeley’s tenure at UConn is only one season, he and the rest of the team would be immortalized if they could make once-in-a-generation history next season.

UConn’s Quest for a Three-Peat 

Only one program in men’s college basketball history has completed a three-peat, and you have to go back over fifty years to find it. The UCLA Bruins, under legendary head coach John Wooden, won a whopping seven National Championships in a row from 1967 to 1973, thanks in large part to the presence of a pair of Basketball Hall of Fame inductees: first of Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and then Bill Walton. The last two teams that had the opportunity to win a third straight championship were the 1992-93 Duke Blue Devils (lost in the 2nd Round of the NCAA Tournament to freshman Jason Kidd and the Cal Golden Bears) and the 2007-08 Florida Gators (lost in the NIT semifinals).

Despite likely losing all five starters from last year’s title team — there’s still a glimmer of hope that Alex Karaban could decide to return to UConn after testing the NBA Draft waters — Dan Hurley and the Huskies coaching staff have done a marvelous job of setting the program up to have a legitimate shot at a three-peat next season.

Liam McNeeley is one of three top 100 recruits that UConn will be bringing in next season, joining combo guard Ahmad Nowell (#31 ranked recruit per 247 Sports) and small forward Isaiah Abraham (#81). That trio will be joining incoming transfers Aidan Mahaney (Saint Mary’s) and Tarris Reed (Michigan), as well as key returning bench contributors Hassan Diarra, Samson Johnson, Jaylin Stewart and Solomon Ball, establishing what looks to be a rock solid rotation for the 2024-25 season.