Alex Karaban commits to UConn

Dan Hurley and his staff have the UConn Huskies back in the top-10 -- for the recruiting rankings at least.

The Huskies scored another major victory on Monday night with the addition of 6-foot-8 Alex Karaban to the Class of 2022. Karaban is rated three stars on Rivals but is an ESPN top-50 recruit and a four-star recruit in other rankings.

The forward from IMG Academy joins 7-1 center Donovan Clingan (Bristol Central - CT) and 6-4 guard Corey Floyd Jr. (Roselle Catholic - NJ) to give the Huskies their highest-ranked incoming class since 2016.

In the last month, the Huskies have added Karaban and the 44th-ranked Clingan (July 2) to the mix for 2022 to join Floyd (109th), who committed in January.

While the current trend in college basketball is to load up on transfers due to looser NCAA rules, the Huskies have remained committed to building primarily with high school and prep players.

“A lot of college programs talk about player development as a recruiting pitch - we live it,” Hurley said, last month. “We are maybe less a transfer portal and relying more on our younger players to get on the court and perform for us early on in their career.”

Hurley and staff continue to infuse better talent into the program, something previous head coach Kevin Ollie struggled to do despite winning a national championship.

Hurley’s recruit run started with the 2019 Class that included guard James Bouknight, who was a lottery pick by the Charlotte Hornets (11th overall) in last month’s NBA Draft.

Bouknight’s class also contained current Huskies Jalen Gaffney and Akok Akok, who is returning from a torn left Achilles’ tendon.

In 2020, the Huskies added forward Adama Sanogo, who was named to the Big East all-freshman team, and with explosive guard Andre Jackson.

This year, UConn brought in top-100 talents Jordan Hawkins (45th ranked), Rahsool Diggins (46th), and 6-10 Samson Johnson (77th).

UConn still has two openings for the Class of 2022.