BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana’s men’s basketball team made a concerted effort to bring the highest-profile Indiana-based recruits from the Class of 2025 to Bloomington as future Hoosiers.

But for the second time in three tries, Indiana was left at the altar again.

Braylon Mullins, a highly-touted recruit from Greenfield, Ind., made his college decision on Wednesday as he chose to play at Connecticut.

Indiana was one of three finalists for Mullins, who is a 6-5 shooting guard. North Carolina was the other finalist.

Mullins made his announcement in the Greenfield-Central high school gym and his commitment choice was nationally broadcast by 247 Sports.

“I thought it was the best spot for me out of the three finalists I had. I didn’t want to play for any other coach other than Coach (Dan) Hurley. He’s a players’ coach and player development was definitely a key piece for my development. I knew he would get me somewhere with my goals, so I wanted to play for him,” Mullins said after he made his announcement.

“You win back-to-back national championships … why would you not want to play for someone who wins?” Mullins later said.

Mullins is the second five-star in-state recruit from the Class of 2025 to name Indiana as a finalist, but who chose to go elsewhere. Jalen Haralson cast his lot with Notre Dame in September.

While Woodson has had success bringing high-profile recruits to Bloomington, and successfully recruited Lincoln City’s Trent Sisley in September, Woodson has not been successful otherwise in getting big-name Indiana-based recruits.

The only other in-state recruit Woodson has signed is C.J. Gunn, but that was a case of re-recruiting Dunn, who originally committed when Archie Miller was coach.

Mullins visited Indiana for the final time over the weekend of Sept. 21. He was part of a trio of Hoosiers to visit that weekend. Trent Sisley and Eric Reibe were the other two recruits who were on-campus.

Sisley has committed to Indiana. Reibe committed to UConn last week.

Mullins is ranked 16th nationally by 247Sports.com, good enough for five-star status. An elite-level shooter, he converted 43% of his 3-point attempts at Greenfield-Central in 2024. During his sophomore season, Mullins drained 47% of his 3-point shots.

Mullins’ star began to rise in 2023. After getting initial mid-major offers in the summer of 2023, Mullins’ successful season with the AAU Indiana Elite team during the same summer garnered the attention of higher profile programs.

High-major programs began to consistently make offers to Mullins starting in August 2023. Indiana offered in September 2023. Another successful summer season in 2024 only served to raise Mullins’ profile further.

Playing for the Indiana Elite AAU team, Mullins was among the 11 players nationwide named to the adidas 3SSB Spring All-Circuit first team. With a 13-0 record, Mullins averaged 19.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.7 steals per game while shooting 50.8% from the field.