CBB Rank 2025: No. 7, UConn Basketball

UConn basketball has reloaded its roster and is ready to make another run at a title.

The tradition continues! It’s another year of our countdown of the top 100 preseason teams in college basketball until the start of the season. Each day, we will reveal the next team until we reach the team slotted at number one. Up next: UConn basketball.

For the first time since the 2022-23 season, UConn basketball is not the defending champion. Last year’s pursuit of the three-peat was disappointing as the Huskies opened the season as title favorites yet ended up not making the second weekend of the tournament.

The pressure of the history that Dan Hurley and his players were pursuing seemed to be too much for a team that was relying on many pieces to take that next step. Ultimately, it was the defense that let the team down as they had one of the worst defensive ratings of the Hurley era in Connecticut. This season, it appears as though a heavy emphasis was put on that side of the ball when recruiting, and the new-look Huskies are ready to make a statement.

Dan Hurley enters his 16th season as a head coach and his eighth season leading UConn basketball. He has found incredible success in Connecticut, including two national championships, a 70.5% winning percentage, and 9 NBA draft selections. With that being said, the struggles from last season are well documented, and Hurley has been quite open about the shifts in his coaching mentality as he continues to look towards keeping UConn basketball as one of the premier programs in the country.

The 2025-26 UConn basketball roster is highlighted by some notable returning players as well as some new, yet experienced, faces. Alex Karaban, Solo Ball, Jaylin Stewart, and Tarris Reed Jr. are all coming back to Storrs, with most of them poised for even bigger roles than they had last year. The exception is Karaban, who has already been operating as one of the leaders for this team and will continue to do so. The fresh faces include star freshmen Braylon Mullins and Eric Reibe, as well as some experienced transfers, namely Silas Demary Jr. and Malachi Smith.

The college basketball season is a marathon, not a sprint. Don’t be surprised if this team has some growing pains early on, between Mullins’ injury (ankle, sidelined for six weeks) and everyone settling into their roles. One thing is for sure, though, Hurley will have his team ready by the time March comes around, and when you’ve got “Connecticut” on the front of your jersey, that is the month that truly matters.

Head Coach: Dan Hurley (8th season at UConn, 16th season overall)

2024-25 Record: 24-11 (14-6)

2025 postseason finish: Lost to Florida (77-75) in second round of NCAA Tournament

Notable Departures:

• Hassan Diarra (7.7 PPG, 5.7 APG, 3.7 RPG)
• Liam McNeeley (14.5 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 2.3 APG)
• Samson Johnson (7.5 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 1.0 APG)
• Aidan Mahaney (4.5 PPG, 1.3 APG, 0.8 RPG)

Notable non-conference games:

• vs. BYU (Nov. 15) – Boston, MA
• vs. Arizona (Nov. 19)
• vs. Illinois (Nov. 28) – Madison Square Garden
• at Kansas (Dec. 2)
• vs. Florida (Dec. 9) – Madison Square Garden
• vs. Texas (Dec. 12)

Projected Rotation

PG: Silas Demary Jr. ( 6-4, 195, Jr.)

2024-25 stats: 13.5 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 3.1 APG, 1.7 SPG (Georgia)

SG: Solo Ball ( 6-4, 200, Jr.)

2024-25 stats: 14.4 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 1.6 APG, 41.4 3P%

SF: Braylon Mullins (6-6, 196, Fr.)

247Sports Composite #15-ranked recruit

PF: Alex Karaban (6-8, 230, R-Sr.)

2024-25 stats: 14.3 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 2.8 APG, 1.5 BPG

C: Tarris Reed Jr. (6-11, 265, Sr.)

2024-25 stats: 9.6 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 1.0 APG, 1.6 BPG, 67.0% FG%

6: Malachi Smith (6-1, 180, R-Sr.)

2024-25 stats: 10.4 PPG, 5.3 APG, 2.9 RPG, 1.0 SPG (Dayton)

7: Jaylin Stewart (6-7, 225, Jr.)

2024-25 stats: 5.4 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 0.9 APG

8: Eric Reibe (7-1, 260, Fr.)

247Sports Composite #28-ranked recruit

9: Jayden Ross (6-7, 205, Jr.)

2024-25 stats: 2.4 PPG, 1.5 RPG, 0.8 APG

10: Dwayne Koroma (6-8, 212, R-Sr.)

2024-25 stats: 11.5 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.4 SPG (Le Moyne)

UConn Basketball team MVP: Alex Karaban

Alex Karaban has been the one consistent part of the Huskies’ success. He was a starter as a freshman on the first championship team and has only become more and more important as his career goes on. He is now in his last season of eligibility and looking to end on a high note.

Last year, there was a lot of pressure on him to lead the team in just about every way. With this roster, hopefully Karaban is not relied on to shoulder the load nearly as much, with multiple other players capable of having big nights. Surely that won’t stop Hurley from playing him for 35+ minutes per game, but it seems like the goal is to surround Karaban with enough playmakers that he won’t need to create his own opportunities as often.

Karaban embodies the effort level that Dan Hurley wants from every one of his players, not taking any possessions off. He continues to evolve his offensive game so that not only is he a threat from deep, but he can also drive to the rim and score, too. His best moments come from running complex offensive sets that get him the ball in both catch-and-shoot scenarios as well as cuts to the paint.

Alex Karaban has a chance to put his name amongst the UConn greats this season with a real chance to set the program record in games played, games won, and three-pointers made. Combine that with the dream of winning his third NCAA championship, and Karaban could have a career that few in the sport can rival.

UConn Basketball make-or-break player: Silas Demary Jr.

While it may be strange to call the starting point guard the “make-or-break” player, this was a huge struggle for the Huskies last year. It is incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to replicate what Tristen Newton did for UConn basketball, but if Silas Demary Jr. can come even a little close to that, then this team will see a lot of success.

Having a prolific guard just seems like the Husky way. Offensively, Demary Jr. can hold his own from deep, but where he can really add some value this season is his ability to penetrate and draw fouls. Last season, he averaged 4.8 free throws attempted per game, which would have led the Huskies. Defensively, it’s expected that he will make an even larger impact, considering Dan Hurley has already made comments calling him the team’s best backcourt defender.

Elite guard play is nearly an essential if you want to make a run in March, and if Demary Jr. can provide that then UConn basketball could see themselves playing late in the tournament.

Key analytic: Fouls

While a very unsexy statistic, this essentially reflects whether the Huskies are locked in defensively or not. While this statistic last season wasn’t significantly higher than either of the championship teams, it still showed how sloppy that side of the ball was. The Huskies consistently bailed out their opponents with plenty of trips to the free throw line which didn’t allow them to build any momentum defensively.

A staple of the championship teams was the Evan Miya patented “Killshot” (a scoring run of 10-0 or better) that would seemingly come in every big game UConn basketball played in. There’s no doubt that this year’s team has the offensive talent to make those happen, but they need the defensive effort and execution that creates those game-breaking moments.

UConn Basketball 2025-26 projections:

Projected conference finish: 2nd in the Big East

Projected postseason ceiling: NCAA Tournament champions