UConn has secured the commitment of St. John’s grad transfer Kassoum Yakwe, according to The Athletic’s Andrew Slater. Yakwe will receive the final open scholarship of Dan Hurley’s first season as coach of the Huskies after visiting campus this past weekend. He joins freshman Brendan Adams and Duquesne grad transfer Tarin Smith as newcomers for the 2018-19 season.
Yakwe led the Big East in blocked shots as a freshman, when he averaged 2.4 per game to accompany 7.1 points and 5.3 rebounds. He started 30 games as a sophomore but couldn’t duplicate the same level of productivity. Last season, as a junior, injuries and ineffectiveness relegated him to the bench where he barely contributed on a bad St. John’s team.
As the last member of the roster, Hurley is clearly hoping Yakwe can regain some of the potential he showed as a freshman, and as a four-star recruit. At a minimum, Yakwe offers another option for a UConn team that struggled mightily on defense last year.
Most notably, by filling the 13th scholarship with another grad transfer, Hurley has left himself four open spots in the 2019 recruiting class and, by completing his roster so early in the spring, has left plenty of time for him and his staff to evaluate, target and recruit the northeast in hopes of landing a signature group of prospects before next season.
There are some obvious areas of concern on the newly completed roster. Three-point shooting issues figure to carry over from last year and offensive output generally looks like it might be hard to come by.
A lot of responsibility will fall on the shoulders of freshman Sid Wilson, who sat out last year after transferring, and is the only true SF on the roster. Tyler Polley showed an ability to hit threes late in the season but will have to take a gigantic step forward to be viewed as a dependable backup (he shot 13 percent on two-point attempts in conference play).
Hurley will likely employ a lot of three guard lineups — which is good! — and give Jalen Adams every opportunity to carry the team. Josh Carlton figures to get most of the playing time at the center position and the quarter of Yakwe, Isaiah Whaley, Mamadou Diarra and Kwintin Williams should all find chances to prove themselves in the frontcourt. Also, Eric Cobb still exists.
The three critical questions about this roster seem to be: Can Jalen Adams be a Conference Player of the Year level star? Can Sid Wilson immediately be the scorer we all hoped Terry Larrier would be last year? What, if anything, can Alterique Gilbert contribute?
The answers to those questions will largely determine how successful Hurley and UConn can be this season.
It’s worth mentioning how remarkable it is that Hurley didn’t lose a single returning player from the roster (we’re not counting Larrier since he declared for the draft before Ollie was fired). His first job as coach was to recruit his own inherited players and he certainly did that successfully while still bringing in some of his own guys. Hurley also deserves credit for completely filling the roster. We’ve seen how important depth can be in the recent years and it’s encouraging that Hurley and his staff have filled every scholarship in mid-April.
To really gain momentum though, the Huskies will have to start landing some serious talent on the recruiting trail. Fortunately, Hurley and his staff have already begun working and have a talent-rich group of northeastern high schoolers to choose from.
