Karaban, a Massachusetts native, played two seasons at the New Hampton School, earning the New Hampshire Gatorade Player of the year for the 2021-22 season. After committing to play at UConn last August, Karaban played part of a post-grad year at IMG Academy in Florida before joining UConn during the spring semester. Karaban got the opportunity to work out, compete in practice and watch his older teammates from the bench during games.
During his senior season at New Hampton, Karaban averaged 25.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.9 blocks per game while connecting on 60.3% of his field-goal attempts. He led the school to the NEPSAC Class AAA tournament championship, being names the MVP of the title game. As a member of the AAU team Expressions Elite, he averaged 18.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.6 blocks and earned selection to the All-Peach Jam Second Team. At the time of his commitment, Karaban was ranked 42nd in his class by ESPN.
Karaban is a 6-8 forward and entered UConn weighing 230 but had since lost 15 pounds as of the middle of August. He is a high-quality midrange and outside shooter but can also use his bulk to beat defenders at the rim. Karaban is also considered a solid passer and is an outstanding free throw shooter. He should develop into a strong rebounder for the Huskies, and multiple writers have particularly singled out Karaban’s work on the offensive glass.
Karaban will be a work-in-progress on defense at the start of his career. He was considered a solid defender in high school, particularly when playing team defense. Karaban will likely most have to work on developing more speed and improving footwork. His basketball IQ, which was signaled out for praise by Dan Hurley when Karaban committed, should help in this area and allow Karaban to adjust to different defensive schemes. It will be interesting to see if Karaban becomes an effective shot blocker over the course of his UConn career.
Karaban’s stock has only risen since the team has returned to consistently practicing over the last two months. Much of the information coming out of practice has indicated that Karaban has consistently impressed the team with his shooting, rebounding and overall effort and basketball IQ. Hurley admitted a few days ago that Karaban had a solid chance to start at forward. Although I believe Samson Johnson will be the nominal starter at the four to start the year, I’m very confident the pair will split starter’s minutes while Andre Jackson is out with injury the first two weeks of the season.
While Karaban may not be the most acclaimed recruit Hurley has recruited to Storrs during his tenure, he may be the one I am most excited to watch. The ability Karaban could have to stretch the floor makes him stand out from any other freshman big man. When you add on Karaban’s ability to score and rebound around the rim as well and basketball IQ, he could quickly become something special. If Karaban is successful, it will only help UConn’s ability to attract top recruits in the Northeast and more versatile bigs. Now just become more refined on defense, Alex.
HUSKY NATION 