Dan Hurley has gotten his second recruit in a week, with Jalen “The Cat” Gaffney* (I will not apologize) committing following his official visit to Storrs over the weekend, according to ESPN.
“Coach [Dan] Hurley laid out five things that stuck with me,” Gaffney told ESPN. “The style of play, opportunity to make an immediate impact, exposure, player development, and trust. I trust Coach Hurley, he’s won everywhere he’s been, and I trust the entire staff and have a great relationship with them.”
1000% COMMITTED HUSKY NATIONNNNNN @UConnHuskies @UConnMBB @BillionBus pic.twitter.com/WXgWT5LRO5
— Jalen Gaffney (@jalengaffney) September 24, 2018
Bob, Sr. was on campus this weekend to add to the family recruiting affair, and it appears that James Bouknight may be taking over for Rodney Purvis as UConn’s In-House Recruiting Ambassador.
“We’ve talked recently,” Gaffney said of Bouknight. “He actually kind of started recruiting me himself. I think our games complement each other. We’re both athletic and able to score. Together we could be that new duo and help the program get back to its glory days. That was definitely part of the allure of it.”
According to the ADB Scouting Report (aka Peter), Gaffney is an undersized combo guard with pretty good quickness and ball-handling. He’s been trending upward of late, recently bumping up to four stars, and breaking into ESPN’s Top 100.
Also there’s this quote from his Team Rio coach Mike Rice: “One of a select few players that you find each year that once his body matures and catches up to his game, the basketball world asks where did this kid come from? He’s a great decision-maker with Russell Westbrook like athleticism.”
While there is some hyperbole there (duh), it does seem that Gaffney is a bit of a late bloomer who could turn into a great player for UConn over the course of his career. With Bouknight’s commitment last week, and three remaining scholarships, UConn will now turn its recruiting attention to big men Akok Akok, Kofi Cockburn and Tre Mitchell.
*h/t to Alex on the nickname, write it down we’re calling him that forever.
