Dan Hurley teases ‘monster’ 2025 recruiting class

UConn will enroll three top-25 prospects and a 6-foot-5 wing with serious pro potential

It took a few recruiting cycles, but in 2023, fans finally saw what a perfectly constructed Dan Hurley roster at UConn looked like. That team had one of the most potent offenses and lockdown defenses in the country, could out-athlete most teams, and had enough quality 3-point shooters that it could withstand an off night from its best players.

That team won the National Championship. Hurley then used the momentum to somehow improve on every quality that made the 2023 team great.

Now we’re seeing what the momentum off back-to-back titles can do.

Wednesday was national signing day, which coincided with the Huskies’ 90-49 win over Le Moyne. The postgame presser was Hurley’s first opportunity to openly talk to the media about what to expect from the next group of Huskies.

There are few guarantees in recruiting, but if the scouts and UConn’s staff are to be believed, Hurley got exactly what he needed again.

As it stands, UConn’s incoming class will be made of four players. Darius Adams, Eric Reibe, and Braylon Mullins are all ranked in the top 25 of ESPN’s top 100, and Jacob Furphy is a 6-foot-5 wing from Tasmania who will come to Storrs at age 19 and was just called up to the Australian national team for the upcoming Asia Cup qualifiers.

Hurley explained why they are the type of players who fit the offense he wants to run.

“The thing about Braylin and Darius and the Tassie (Furphy) is they’re big guards,” he said, adding that they’re “able to see the lobs and be able to spray it out to the three-point line.”

Those are the guys that Hurley wants because he knows that his method of roster construction works. He’s seen the benefit of having bigger guards facilitating the offense, leading to either lobs or threes.

For context, through three games this year, UConn has taken only three two-point shots outside of the paint. The rest have either been within feet of the basket or beyond the arc.

“I think the great success that we’ve had here with our guards the last two years and why we’ve been such a dynamic offensive team is we’ve had those bigger guards,” Hurley added. “So they bring the shooting, but I think all three of those guards are underrated in terms of their ability to also facilitate and get into the paint and create.”

Of course it’s not just the guards. Reibe is a 7-foot center from Germany who seems to have the right combination of skill and basketball IQ that could make him an immediate contributor.

“Reibe is as advanced an offensive center as I’ve seen in a while at the high school level,” Hurley said. “This guy is gonna be a crazy weapon.”

Even better, Reibe joins Adams, Mullins, and Furphy as long-distance shooting threats.

“Obviously shooting is at a premium and they’re all super snipers, all four of them,” Hurley teased.

While there’s no question Hurley knows what he wants, the other side of the equation is convincing those players to come to UConn. It gets easier when you win back-to-back titles, yes, but the glory of winning a title comes after a full season of grueling practices and Hurley hysteria.

There needs to be a bigger payoff, and UConn has delivered just that, sending Jordan Hawkins, Andre Jackson Jr., Adama Sanogo, Donovan Clingan, Stephon Castle, Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer to the NBA in the last two years alone.

“We really needed to replenish high-end talent and these guys are all high-end, high-end talent,” Hurley said. “I mean, these are guys that are not going to be here very long.”

Before moving on to more about the Le Moyne game, Hurley left UConn fans with one more message.

“It’s a monster class,” he said.