It's been just a little over a month since the UConn Huskies basketball program made history in Glendale, Arizona, becoming the first men's team to win back-to-back titles in nearly two decades. Sparking that run was a dominant starting five that made a habit of breaking their opponent's will with both beautifully crafted and executed offense along with downright suffocating defense. Following the school's 12th consecutive double-digit win in NCAA Tournament play, all five starters from that championship team — Donovan Clingan, Stephon Castle, Tristen Newton, Alex Karaban and Cam Spencer — declared for the NBA Draft.
Unsurprisingly, all five UConn starters were among the 78 players who were invited to the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago, Illinois. How did each of the National Champs fare?
Donovan Clingan
It's amazing what one season and a handful of utterly dominant postseason performances could do for a player's draft stock, isn't it? Heading into the 2023-24 season, one of the primary concerns among Huskies fans who were hoping for a repeat was whether Donovan Clingan would be able to fill the shoes of Adama Sanogo, the 2023 Final Four Most Outstanding Player. Not only did Clingan step into those shoes, but he used them to walk right out of Sanogo's shadow, reaching heights that few modern collegiate big men ever have.
Clingan had his share of big-time offensive performances throughout the season — 21 points against Gonzaga, 22 points against Marquette in the Big East Tournament Final, 22 points in the Elite Eight versus Illinois — but what really stood out was Clingan's defense, which had become impenetrable by the end of the season.
Just note the pair of masterful defensive performances that Donovan Clingan put forth against Northwestern and Illinois in the NCAA Tournament. Against the Wildcats, Clingan swatted eight shots and helped hold Northwestern to 58 points, their fourth-lowest total of the season. Two rounds later, Clingan was somehow even better, blocking five shots and holding Illinois to 0-for-19 shooting at the basket in Clingan's 22 minutes on the floor.
It was those defensive highlights that propelled “Cling Kong” into the lottery of the NBA Draft, but as the NBA Draft Combine began, the thing that most scouts were looking for from Clingan was any semblance of three-point range. Clingan didn't disappoint.
“Clingan was tops among the bigs in Shooting off the Dribble, knocking down 19 of 30 3-pointers (63.3 percent). In Spot-Up Shooting, Clingan went 14-for-25 (56 percent), second only to [Alex] Sarr (60 percent),” according to Dave Borges of CT Insider.
If Clingan continues to develop a consistent outside shot — think about Brook Lopez's offensive progression from the time he left Stanford to now — he could very well end up being the best player in the 2024 NBA Draft class. He's going to be an elite-level drop coverage big and rim protector who has a more polished offensive game than anyone seems to be giving him credit for. And coming in at just a shade under 7'2″ with the longest standing reach and second-longest wingspan of all prospects in Chicago, Clingan's got the kind of size that NBA scouts and GM's will love.
Cam Spencer
Back in April, Cam Spencer was referred to as a “Shit-talking lunatic” by Barstool Sports, and I honestly couldn't think of a better way to describe the Huskies' fifth-year transfer who came to Storrs a virtual unknown and left as a bonafide Huskies legend. But as far as Spencer's NBA Draft prospects, he's by far the iffiest of the five Huskies starters, and his Combine performance, particularly in two scrimmages, hasn't helped his draft stock either.
On Tuesday, Cam Spencer scored five points, grabbed five rebounds and had three assists, but was 2-for-12 shooting in a loss. After the scrimmage, Cam wasn't interested in masking his disappointment.
“I can’t hide it, it’s just who I am,” Spencer noted, according to Dave Borges of The Middletown Press. “I didn’t come here for fun, honestly. I came here to win. We didn’t get the win (Tuesday), I was pretty mad about that.”
On Wednesday, Cam Spencer's squad did come away with the win, but he didn't perform any better than he did on Tuesday. Thanks to immediate foul trouble, Spencer was never able to get in much of a groove, and he once again finished with only five points. Where Cam Spencer shined was in the shooting drills, where he hit 26 of 30 three-pointers in the Shooting off the Dribble drill, and then hit 72 percent of his shots from long-distance in the Star Drill.
Spencer, who measured at 6'3″ at the Combine, rebounds incredibly well for his size. For the season at Connecticut, he averaged just under 5 rebounds per game. In the NCAA Tournament, his rebounding numbers ballooned up to 7 per game, including 28 total in the Huskies final three games of the tournament. When you're as unafraid to mix it up as Cam Spencer is, it makes sense that he'd punch above his weight, so to speak. He's a crafty finisher in the paint and around the basket who showed a knack for getting defenders in the air and drawing contact, and when he gets going, the crowd will too.
Alex Karaban
For all of the Huskies fans out there who were hopeful that Alex Karaban might decide to come back to UConn for one more year — and I include myself in this group — don't hold your breath. Yes, Karaban does remain undecided as of Tuesday, when he told reporters, “I don't know what my decision will be just yet. I'm just going to wait to get feedback from teams and go through a couple workouts. I want to really go through the process and weigh all my options before I decide,” (h/t Krysten Peek of Yahoo! Sports). But given how he's performed in Chicago, I would be surprised if Alex Karaban doesn't get a 1st round promise from a team that will picking in the late-20s.
After a rough outing in scrimmages on Tuesday, Karaban bounced back on Wednesday, leaving the day as one of the standouts on a team that also featured Bronny James, who led all players on his team with 13 points. Karaban was not far behind… the borderline 1st-round prospect finished with 12 points in 20 minutes of action. Not to mention, he shot the lights out in the 3-Point Star Shooting Drill, which is what scouts will fall in love with the most in the pre-draft process.
Karaban was listed at 6'8″ but came in just a sliver over 6'6″ when measured at the Combine. Still, he's a tremendous cutter, a really heady player who has a great feel for the game, and he competes like hell — a must for any player who is going to suit up for Dan Hurley. In fact, it's fair to say that Karaban is undoubtedly one of Coach Hurley's favorites.
“He may be the smartest player in the country,” Hurley told reporters back in January, according to Joe Zone of WFSB. “I mean he’s just a problem solver. I mean he solves so many things out on the court. He has such work ethic and in the classroom and just in everything that he does. I mean, he’s not mean, he’s like too good to be true, and it’s gonna suck when he’s done here.”
Tristen Newton
Donovan Clingan may have been the most dominant player in the Huskies starting lineup, and Stephon Castle may have the highest NBA upside, but point guard Tristen Newton is the one who made the whole thing work. Newton was a chameleon who could be anything Dan Hurley needed him to be. Need him to score? Sure. Need him to facilitate? 6 assists per game is pretty solid. Need him to pull down a big defensive rebound and then push the ball in transition? He was among the best in the country. There's very good reason why Newton became just the third UConn player ever — joining fellow championship and MOP-winning guards Kemba Walker and Shabazz Napier — to be enshrined in the Huskies of Honor while still on a student on campus.
Newton's place in UConn lore is perfectly secure, but his draft stock is still a bit of a mystery. Although Newton is a player who could be classified as very good at a lot of things, he's not necessarily great at anything. He's not a lights out three-point shooter. He's not the prototypical NBA point guard. He's also not an eye-popping athlete. But Newton himself wasn't expecting to turn any heads at the Combine.
“Everybody knows I’m not a freak athlete or anything like that,” Newton said, per David Borges. “Standing there, trying to touch the (marker) … I don’t know. The lane drill (10.96 seconds), sprint, I did pretty well. Shooting was alright, could’ve done better. But I’m satisfied with my performance.”
At the advice of his agent, Newton opted not to participate in any of the scrimmages, but he did shoot the ball pretty well and he posted one of the fastest times at the Combine (2.84 seconds) in the shuttle run. What Tristen Newton feels is his greatest asset is his age and experience.
“I feel like I’m NBA-ready now. There’s a lot of point guards in the draft, a lot of young ones. But, if you take me, you’ve got a pro-ready player right now. I can go in there right now, help the team win, run the offense for you, instead of waiting a couple of years for a young guy to develop.”
I don't disagree. My hope for Tristen Newton is that he finds himself drafted by a stable organization with a coach who will utilize him the right way. Imagining Newton getting minutes for a team like Golden State, who thrives on both player and ball movement much like UConn has the last two years, feels like a perfect fit.
Stephon Castle
Stephon Castle was the lone freshman in UConn's starting five, but you would've never guessed that if you didn't know any better. Not only is Castle not at all built like a freshman — he measured out at just under 6'6″ and weighed 208 lbs. at the Combine — but he also rarely played like a freshman, particularly one who was a five-star recruit and very easily could've grown frustrated by sometimes being the fifth scoring option on the floor.
Stephon Castle was content using his length, strength and athleticism to become one of the best perimeter defenders in the country, consistently being asked to guard the best perimeter player on the opposing team, while also picking his spots offensively — he scored a season-high 21 points in the Huskies' Final Four matchup versus Alabama. He'll walk into the league as an NBA-ready defender, which should allow him to get some early playing time while his offense continues to come along.
It's not as if Castle is lost offensively, either. He rarely forced shots, proved that he could facilitate the offense, and was nearly unstoppable when he put his head down and attacked the basket. It feels like it's a foregone conclusion that there's All-Star potential here if he can turn himself into a reliable outside shooter, and if the Combine showed scouts anything, it's that that lights-out jumper is hiding somewhere in there.
Castle hit only 27 percent of his three's during his one season at UConn, but remember, Kawhi Leonard was a 25 percent three-point shooter during his two seasons at San Diego State. Tyrese Maxey hit only 29 percent of his three's during his freshman year at Kentucky. By no means am I suggesting that Stephon Castle is the next Kawhi Leonard or Tyrese Maxey, but we'd be naive to think that he couldn't eventually become a career 39 percent three-point shooter as a pro, just as both Kawhi and Maxey have.
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