Through Oct. 31, Sports Illustrated will count down its preseason college basketball Top 25 with overviews of each team. Here are the full rankings so far.
From its collapse in Maui to some uncharacteristic stumbles in Big East play, UConn didn’t reach the impossibly high standard set for itself after back-to-back national championships. And yet despite all that, the Huskies were somehow very much in it until the end against eventual champion Florida. Doing that with a team that had clear limitations and got hampered further by injuries should have Huskies fans excited about getting back to the top of the sport this year with a reloaded roster.
UConn kept the nucleus of last year’s team in place and supplemented to fill the holes. Solo Ball is back after emerging as one of the nation’s best shooters last season, making 99 threes at a 41% clip. He can be spacey at times on the defensive end, but he’s a game-changing offensive player with room to grow. Tarris Reed was a valuable portal pickup a year ago from Michigan and by the end of last season was clearly UConn’s best big. On a per-minute basis last season, he was incredibly productive and could be one of the top centers in the sport this season and post regular double-doubles. Alex Karaban struggled at times last season with the weight of being a star, but can fall back into being the elite role player that helped UConn win two championships. And retaining Jaylin Stewart and Jayden Ross was sneaky important, especially with how complicated UConn’s system can be on both ends of the floor.
Projected Starting Lineup
- PG Silas Demary
- SG Solo Ball
- SF Braylon Mullins
- PF Alex Karaban
- C Tarris Reed
Key Reserves: PG Malachi Smith, W Jaylin Stewart, C Eric Reibe
Key Additions
The clearest flaw in UConn’s 2024–25 formula was its point guard play. Saint Mary’s transfer Aidan Mahaney never proved he could be a tablesetter in Hurley’s system, and veteran Hassan Diarra just didn’t provide enough offensive firepower while dealing with nagging injuries. Hurley and his staff were aggressive this spring in solving that problem and landed one of the most proven portal PGs in Georgia transfer Silas Demary, who willed the Bulldogs to the NCAA tournament with a strong finish last season. His size and the unique pace he plays with will remind some fans of Tristen Newton, though Demary’s a bit more of a score-first player than Newton. He should help defensively too given his positional size and physicality. Malachi Smith could also factor in at the point after transferring in from Dayton. He’s a steady backup option who takes care of the ball and leads.
Having Ball, Karaban and Demary on the floor already meant UConn was going to be one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country. Freshman Braylon Mullins is the icing on the cake. He was the best off-movement shooter in his high school class, tailor-made to play in Hurley’s offense that runs beautiful screening actions for shooters. An ankle injury suffered in practice will have him sidelined until December, but when healthy, Mullins gives this offense yet another elite weapon. The amount of pressure that quartet of shooters will put on the defense (all with a bruiser in Reed down low) will be immense. And until Mullins returns, UConn can play bigger with Stewart or get added ballhandling on the floor with Smith.
Fellow top freshman Eric Reibe’s impact might get felt more down the line than in Year 1, but he’s a name to know moving forward. Highly skilled 7-footers don’t grow on trees, and he should have a path to some rotation minutes behind Reed as a freshman.
Causes For Concern
UConn’s defense was rough last season, finishing No. 75 nationally per KenPom. Fouling too much was the biggest flaw, sending teams to the line at one of the highest rates nationally. That was particularly a problem in its frontcourt, with Reed fouling 5.5 times per 40 minutes. UConn built elite defenses in 2023 and ‘24 but had outstanding personnel, with Andre Jackson flying around on the first title team and Donovan Clingan dominating at the rim on both squads. Getting back into the top 10ish nationally on that end of the floor is the easiest path to the Huskies being serious title contenders again, but that’s a big jump especially given how much continuity they have from a personnel perspective.
The Bottom Line
UConn has one of the most talented lineups in the country, with an argument to be made that the Huskies’ starting group features top-20 players at every position in the sport. As long as Demary takes to the Huskies offense quickly, they should be absolutely lethal on that end of the floor. There are more concerns defensively, but if Hurley can find some answers at that end UConn could end up celebrating another title next April.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Sports Illustrated’s Men’s College Basketball Preseason Top 25: No. 2 UConn.