Liam McNeeley adds to UConn’s growing NBA representation

NEW YORK – If all goes according to plan, Liam McNeeley will be the fifth UConn men’s basketball player taken in the first round of the NBA Draft since Dan Hurley took over in 2018, and the 24th in program history. He will be the ninth draft pick during Hurley’s tenure with the Huskies, and will join Stephon Castle and Andre Drummond as only the third one-and-done in the program’s history.

That was the expectation when he committed to jump on board and join the hunt for a three-peat at UConn. That goal went unrealized, but his exit meeting with Hurley didn’t involve a conversation about whether or not to come back, rather an exchange of thank-yous.

“I loved playing for him and he loved coaching me,” McNeeley said on Tuesday, a day before Hurley and assistants Kimani Young and Luke Murray joined him to hear his name called at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

McNeeley says he will “forever bleed blue,” and that bloodline in the NBA is growing rapidly.

“The most recent (lottery picks), Steph Castle and Donovan Clingan, even Jordan Hawkins the year before. I mean, Steph was Rookie of the Year, he was Freshman of the Year in the Big East, a national champion. Donovan’s a two-time national champion. Like, they know how to win and they know how to produce and they have been so far,” McNeeley said.

“I’ve talked to Donovan a lot, just because he’s kind of older (Clingan turned 21 in February). He had a great rookie season. He’s just always been telling me to stay positive and enjoy it, don’t get down on myself regardless of the situation.”

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The situation, the best fit, is on McNeeley’s mind more than when he’ll hear his name called. He has a skillset built to fit anywhere in the NBA as a 3-point shooter and a floor-spacer. Now that he’s fully healthy, McNeeley feels his athleticism, his ability to make plays in the lane and hold his own as a defender, will be more effective than it appeared at times in college.

“I miss playing with Liam a lot, he’s one of the best players I’ve ever played with,” said Cooper Flagg, the presumptive No. 1 overall pick, after McNeeley joined the large scrum and asked his high school teammate from Maine if he likes lobster rolls.

“When the lights were off behind the scenes, this is a kid who, every time Connecticut is wrapping up a shootaround or getting through a workout, at one end of the court is Alex Karaban – that’s no surprise – on the other end of the court was Liam McNeeley. Just a tireless worker, and the way that he conducts himself is a pro,” FOX broadcaster John Fanta said. “That’s who this kid is, that’s who this young man will be.”

Before Hurley arrived, Shabazz Napier was UConn’s last first-round pick, in 2014. James Bouknight was Hurley’s first player drafted out of UConn in 2021 and the Huskies’ first lottery pick since Drummond in 2012. Tyrese Martin, who came over with Hurley from Rhode Island, went in the second round in 2022 and established himself with the Brooklyn Nets last year. The 2023 national championship team placed three players in the NBA: Hawkins, the 14th overall pick, Andre Jackson Jr. (No. 36 overall) and Adama Sanogo (undrafted). Last year Castle went fourth overall, Clingan went seventh, Tristen Newton went 49th and Cam Spencer 53rd.

McNeeley challenged himself to be the next before he ever stepped on campus.

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He chose to spend his final two high school years at Montverde Academy, determined to prove himself to an exceptionally demanding coach and one of the best of all time in Kevin Boyle while standing out amongst players like Flagg, Derik Queen and Asa Newell, then got to UConn, where Hurley “took it to another level.”

He went down with an ankle injury and hurried back to the court before he was 100% healthy because his talent was necessary for winning, and took on a role different than he imagined, as tough and pressure-packed as that of any freshman in the country. He followed Castle as UConn’s second-consecutive Big East Freshman of the Year winner.

“I do think he’s been kind of baptized by fire with what he’s had to go through the last couple of years,” ESPN draft expert Bobby Marks said.

But it all made him better, a more complete player, ready at 19 years old for the next big challenge.

“I got to experience that pressure already playing for UConn, back-to-back national champions, (now) every game is going to be like a Madison Square Garden type of atmosphere,” McNeeley said. “So I’m very blessed and grateful to have done that.”