Abdou Toure asked his classmates to react as he lifted the ballcaps lined up in front of him. UConn got a muted response, Providence a little louder, Arkansas a substantial eruption.
Hmmm. The kids at Notre Dame apparently knew what Toure would confirm a couple of minutes later, when he donned the Razorbacks hat and sweatshirt. The best basketball player in school history, the top recruit in Connecticut at the moment, was leaving home to play for John Calipari.
“It was a tough decision, UConn and Providence were right there,” said Mamoudou Toure, Abdou’s father. “They did everything to try to get us, especially Providence, they did a lot. Their coach was over our house until midnight. It wasn’t an easy decision. … Calipari, he’s a good salesman, I can tell you.”
CT’s best high school basketball player makes college choice and it’s not UConn
So good, that nearly all the recruiting analysts had Toure going to Providence, with the chance to be a centerpiece star in the Big East and play close to home. UConn, Toure’s “dream school” when the process began, never showed the same level of interest, and focused its attention on other recruits.
“These past two years I see what they’re about and didn’t see myself playing there,” Toure said, “didn’t see my future there, so I chose Arkansas. That’s the better place for me to develop and become the player I want to be.” ”
Toure said he did not make his decision until Friday, the morning he was scheduled to announce it. Something moved the needle. You can make of that what you will.
The recruiting game has never been uncomplicated, but now, more than ever, it’s chess over checkers. Name-image-likeness money, the revenue sharing settlement and rules that are changing year to year make it so. It’s not only a bidding war, but one in which college coaches must decide how to allocate their resources, assign values to players and positions, now that players come back for fourth and fifth seasons, and experienced transfers are available every year. The strength of one recruiting class, vs. the coming years, must be factored into long-term decisions. The days are gone when a UConn, for example, might pull out all the stops to get an in-state player just because he’s an in-state player.
“This year is extremely different because the rules of NIL are changing,” Notre Dame coach Jason Shea said. “A lot of coaches began the recruitment on last year’s NIL rules, but are ending it on next year’s NIL rules. So it’s a learning curve. My normal conversation with college coaches for most of my kids is, ‘Please offer him, he’s going to be a great player.’ Now, all of our conversations are, ‘We love your program, what do you think about this,’ … and then we have to talk about that.”
And that is the money, which always bears following, but doesn’t have to be the decisive factor.
“When we began with 30 schools, probably the ones you would think have the highest NIL we eliminated because they weren’t the right basketball situation,” Shea said.
Recruits have to play chess, too. Do you take the best financial offer up front, or play the longer game. Calipari is in the Hall of Fame, in large part, because of his knack for attracting one-and-done type players to Kentucky and his other stops, a long list. Calipari hit the high note with Toure, a 6-foot-6 wing known for his midrange game, when he told him he could be like Malik Monk, who played at Kentucky and is now with Sacramento.
“John Calipari, his history speaks for itself,” Mamoudou said. “It’s like going to a doctor … for surgery. Are you going to go to a doctor who just started? Or a doctor who has been there for years and years and years.”
Toure is an impressive, charismatic teenager, and his teams at Notre Dame have won 53 of their last 55 games, state championships each of the last two years. He averaged 25.2 points per game as a junior, and had 27 points, 20 rebounds against St. Bernard-Montville in the state championship game.
He also remained at Notre Dame, a CIAC school of choice, rather than jump to a high-profile prep school. Toure would get his pay day anywhere he chose, and his family, at first, hoped he’s stay close to home. But Arkansas, flush with SEC football cash, armed with the conference’s basketball reputation — 14 teams in the NCAA Tournament in 2025 — along with a style of play that fit and a Hall of Fame coach, offered the best overall set of conditions. So Toure, reveling in his moment, is off to Fayetteville, Ark., 1,400 miles away.
Arkansas, checkmate. … Abdou Toure, checkmate. Now they are teammates.
“You’ve got to have people around you that you trust,” Abdou said. “The people in my circle, I trust, I would trust them with anything. It came down to what my heart felt.”
More for your Sunday Read
Dom Amore: For Red Sox, Yankees a new October narrative about to be written
An instant classic in the Bronx
The Red Sox and Yankees staged another classic, each side with new heroes and villains. Here are some random thoughts as the Yankees, who won 2 of 3, advance to the next round.
*Aaron Boone was roasted for taking out Max Fried with a 1-0 lead in Game 1, not unfairly. The Red Sox were having longer at-bats in Fried’s last couple of innings, he’d lost just enough to where he was laboring to put hitters away. Boone trusted his bullpen, it didn’t work out. He left Cam Schlittler in for eight innings in Game 3 because the rookie was still putting hitters away easily. Schlittler threw only five more pitches than Fried (107 vs. 102), but got five outs closer to the finish line. No one will give Boone credit, but he pushed most of the right buttons.
*It could have been a different series if Roman Anthony didn’t get hurt. And don’t do anything but credit Connelly Early, making only his fifth MLB start in Game 3. He probably should have been asked only to get through the lineup once. When it fell apart second time through, his defense deserted him. Boston needs one more bat, one more starter, but will be back.
*The Yankees did what they haven’t done in the recent past: Make all the plays on defense, shorten innings, shorten at-bats. They will have to sustain that against heavier-hitting Toronto.
*Anthony Volpe looks like a different player since getting a cortisone shot in his ailing left shoulder, injured on May 3. So why did the Yankees wait until mid-September to address it? They hung the kid out to dry all summer but, tell you what, he’s a tough kid.
*The series showed that, in 2025, it may be better to bring up young, powerful pitchers from the farm system rather than acquire washed-up junk-ballers for the postseason. Funny, guys who throw 100 MPH seem to be so poised, fearless. Why shouldn’t they be?
*Have we gotten all the adolescent puns on Schlittler’s name out of our system? I get it, it rhymes with a word we’re not supposed to say. No Schlitt, Sherlock!
Dan Hurley’s new book, ‘Never Stop,’ dives deep into champion coach’s self-improvement journey
Sunday short takes
*Amber Bretton, a sophomore pitcher for UConn’s softball team, and Abby Turnpaugh, who plays for Manhattan, hosted an event at the Northeast Sports Card Expo in Stamford Sept. 14 and donated a portion of their NIL earnings from the appearance, raising funds and awareness for raise awareness and funds for NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the largest grassroots mental health organization in the U.S. “This was a great event for us to raise awareness and funds for NAMI and talk about the importance of mental health,” said Bretton, a national ambassador for NAMI. “I am looking forward to partnering with (Northeast Cards Expo) again in the future.” Both athletes have NIL representation with Maine-based Pliable Marketing.
*With Bill Schmidt out, the Rockies search for a new GM could include Conard-West Hartford grad Rob Metzler, long-time front office exec with the Rays and Tigers, where he’s been assistant GM since 2022. Seems to fit player-development pedigree the Yard Goats parent club needs.
(Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
*Maybe “M*A*S*H” survived without McLean Stevenson, “Cheers” went on without Shelley Long, but will ESPN’s “First Take” thrive without Cheshire native, Quinnipiac and UConn alum Molly Qerim, who skillfully kept Dan Hurley on point during his chat in Storrs Wednesday night? I wouldn’t bet the ranch on it.
*Marcus Pinto, 15, of Greenwich won five gold medals at the South American Fencing Championships, where he was representing Brazil. Pinto, who trains with Olympic silver medalist Tim Morehouse is the first to sweep all the gold medals in his age category.
*Jim Calhoun’s new book, “More Than A Game,” in which I co-authored, will be hitting bookstores on Tuesday. The coach and I are planning book-signing events across the state over the coming weeks, which we’ll be announcing soon.
*Fun fact: Schlittler began this season with Double A Somerset, pitching the season opener at Dunkin Park. The Yard Goats’ Kyle Karros homered off him, and Hartford won, but he got no decision.
*From my days covering the Giants for The Courant, there were great and not-so-great moments, as there are now, but the fundamental decency of the Mara family prevailed. John Mara, 70, who succeeded his father as team patriarch, has carried on that legacy. He announced this week he has been diagnosed with cancer, and I can only wish him the very best of luck and every confidence he’ll beat it.
UConn women’s fans will now have to pay to watch entire Big East tournament. Here’s why
Last word
So, UConn women’s basketball fans, do you miss SNY-TV yet? All good things must come to an end, but not before they get good and screwed up. The Huskies’ association with CPTV was great, the SNY years even greater, perhaps. Now, we learn that 16 men’s and women’s games will next year will be behind the Peacock streaming service paywall, including the entire Big East women’s tournament, and numerous men’s games, including the big one vs. St, John’s in February. You may need multiple subscriptions to see all the game. This is essentially beyond UConn’s control, its happy marriage with the Mets cable network broken up by the Big East’s six-year deal with NBC, and it’s a dollar-sign of the times, the conference needs to bring in more revenue. But that doesn’t mean anyone around here has to like it.
Originally Published: October 5, 2025 at 6:00 AM EDT
