Who I Watched (3/23): Liam McNeeley, Alijah Martin, Solo Ball, Jaylin Stewart
Part 1 of March Madness thoughts on UConn vs. Florida.
Here is Part 1 of some draft-related thoughts from UConn vs. Florida on March 23, 2025.
As a reminder, I’m publishing daily notes about March Madness action, so make sure to subscribe!
Liam McNeeley (UConn)
BOX SCORE: 22 PTS (6/16 FG, 2/8 3PT, 8/8 FT), 2 DREB, 3 AST, 1 TOV, 2 STL, 0 BLK, 1 PF in 36 MINS
This game was a good example of why Liam McNeeley has fallen out of my lottery range into the late first round. The UConn freshman is too limited on offense while not adding enough in other areas at a high level.
I thought this was very apparent with his ballhandling and driving process against Florida. McNeeley can only attack the basket in a straight line, and he really lacks wiggle with his body control N/S/E/W and handle.
I didn’t love McNeeley’s process even on the drives that he finished. It’s pretty one-dimensional with line drives, although that’s not to say there isn’t use to this.
McNeeley is going to shoot the three well and he’s big at around 6-foot-8. I think he’ll definitely be able to draw closeouts and then attack them. It’s just that the way he goes about this lacks versatility and efficiency.
The Huskies prospect finished the season shooting 45.6% at the rim (52/114), which needs to improve. That goes down to 43.3% (39/90) in the half-court at the basket.
I think the scouting report on McNeeley’s shooting is well-known by now, so I’ll just add two notes.
He scored 11 of his 22 points in the last 30 seconds of the game.
How does McNeeley pitch in when his spot-ups aren’t falling?
Things like this connective read and this cut are exactly what he needs to do.
I like the pass, especially, since McNeeley shows good body control by stopping short when the big tries to meet him and accuracy with his delivery.
However, there’s no viable self-creation right now. McNeeley can only move in a straight line and his handle lacks functionality. The couple of pull-up attempts he had looked pretty unnatural.
To be honest, I think UConn has asked a bit too much from McNeeley. He’s more of a play finisher out of spot-ups than a creator of any sorts.
Asking McNeeley to expand his role has exposed some inefficiencies in his game that places the Huskies freshman in the top 25-30 range of my personal board.
Alijah Martin (Florida)
BOX SCORE: 18 PTS (7/12 FG, 2/4 3P, 2/4 FT), 4 REB (3o/1d), 3 AST, 0 TOV, 1 STL, 0 BLK, 0 PF in 35 MINS
Alijah Martin kicked off the game with this huge dunk and I immediately had to go look up his numbers. Guys his (small) size don’t usually leap like that, and they don’t have his jacked frame either.
This is what I found on Synergy:
The conversion on the dunks would ideally be a bit better, but 26 dunks on 32 attempts and 66.4% at the rim on 122 attempts is impressive volume. Keep in mind that Martin is listed at 6-foot-2 by the Gators, and he might even be a bit smaller.
Clearly, though, Martin is an excellent vertical athlete relative to his size.
He finished a lob in transition, attempted a crazy dunk in the open court, and pitched in on the offensive glass with a team-high 3 boards on that end.
Broadly, Martin plays bigger than he is.
We can see that in this first clip here when he takes on and scores on Liam McNeeley. The Florida guard is a heady and stubborn driver; however, there can be size limitations, and they’d be amplified in an NBA setting.
But Martin is honestly more of an off-ball guard or a small wing connector who doesn’t require the rock in his hands. I think he’d largely be attacking the rim out of closeouts and generally off the catch. Martin just needs to ensure that he’d do so quickly and without holding onto the ball for an extra beat.
The Gators prospect spends most of his time spotting up or in transition (140 and 115 possessions, compared to 90 handling in the pick-and-roll), and he’s an okay volume spot-up shooter. Martin is shooting 34.8 3P% (56/161) on catch-and-shoots for the season, compared to 34 3P% (16/47) on threes taken off the dribble.
I don’t see a whole lot of on-ball creation in Martin’s future if the goal is to reach the NBA.
Against UConn, I thought his process was a little clunky at times, even if he technically ended the game with zero turnovers.
Even this assist out of a dribble hand-off inside the three-point line is pretty unorthodox for a guard-sized prospect.
On defense, Martin tough and plays bigger than his height, but his size can ultimately limit him in certain situations or against players who are ultimately just downright bigger.
Ultimately, the basic evaluation is fairly similar on both ends. For instance, Martin does well in this clip to stay in front of Liam McNeeley and not even sweat it when the UConn freshman tries to bump him. McNeeley just kind of bounces off Martin’s chiseled frame.
Here, the defense and the size limitations both show up. Martin disrupts the inbound and subsequently receives the ball in transition when Florida recovers it. He can’t initially finish against length, but he sticks with the play, rebounds his miss, and eventually scores.
At the same time, Martin’s size is a factor that’s impossible to ignore. He rotates on time here, but he isn’t big enough to make a difference against the rolling big.
Or above: Martin just has no chance of getting to this lobbed entry pass over his head.
Solo Ball (UConn)
BOX SCORE: 8 PTS (2/11 FG, 2/9 3P, 2/3 FT), 4 REB (1o/3d), 3 AST, 2 TOV, 1 STL, 0 BLK, 3 PF in 32 MINS
I kept thinking about Solo Ball as a new-ish version of Jordan Hawkins when I watched this game.
Ball’s shot diet was a consistent barrage of high-difficulty movement threes. The UConn guard didn’t have a good shooting night (2/9 from three), but the comfort level and willingness to take these complicated shots evidently exists.
Then, the hope is that Ball can also leverage that shot diet to make ancillary decisions as a playmaker. For instance, how reliable is he off the catch as a finisher and passer?
Also, can Ball diversify his shot diet? Even these steadier one/two-dribble pull-ups out of hand-offs or pitch-offs can be important, rather than always relying on tough catch-and-shoots.
Jaylin Stewart (UConn)
BOX SCORE: 6 PTS (2/4 FG, 1/2 3P, 1/1 FT), 1 OREB, 0 AST, 0 TOV, 0 STL, 1 BLK, 1 PF in 15 MINS
I thought Jaylin Stewart would get a little bit more shine in his sophomore season, but a breakout is still possible as a junior. He has the positional size and frame of an NBA wing, and he’s looked solid in spurts despite rarely being featured on offense (14.2 USG%).
Stewart finished this season making 77.8% (35/45) of his shots at the rim and 37.5% (21/56) of his catch-and-shoot threes in 35 games. The numbers are good, but the volume is tiny. Hopefully we can see more next year.
Part 2 of this post tomorrow (March 26) will feature notes on Alex Karaban, Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh, and Walter Clayton Jr.