Team: Connecticut Huskies
2025-26 Record: 34-6, 17-3 Big East
2025-26 Big East Finish: Second, one game behind St. John’s.
Final 2025-26 Computer Rankings
NET: #9
KenPom.com: #9
BartTorvik.com: #9
Postseason: After getting walloped by 20 by the Red Storm in the Big East championship game, UConn was still good enough to get a #2 seed in the NCAA tournament. They had to squeak past Michigan State and then get handed the gift of all gifts by Duke in order to reach the Final Four, then beat Illinois by nine to get to the national championship game. There they suffered their first loss in a national championship game in program history, which is kind of impressive, because they had won the first six times they got there, all since 1999.
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Notable Departures: We’re going to talk about a lot of additions to this roster eventually, but the Huskies aren’t losing that much in terms of every night rotation guys. Yes, they’re still losing a lot, just not as much as the additions make it look like it is. Lotta dudes playing less than 100 minutes all year.
Technically, UConn is losing all of their top three scorers from last season. I say “technically” because their #3 scorer this past year was Solo Ball at 12.8 points per game and he’s still at UConn, but he probably won’t be playing in 2026-27. He needed wrist surgery to repair something that he was dealing with all of last season — he shot just 30% from three-point land after a 41% campaign as a sophomore — and so the plan, as of April, was for him to miss the entire season while he rehabbed the injury. However, since then, the NCAA has approved the five years/five seasons eligibility model, so it’s not like Ball is going to actually gain anything from sitting out the entire year. I would have to presume it’s possible that we see him back on the court before the 2026-27 season ends…. but maybe not?
We know UConn will be without Tarris Reed and Alex Karaban, who went #1 and #2 on the scoring chart respectively at 14.7 and 13.2 points per game. They also went in that order in the NBA Draft in June, with Reed going #26 overall to San Antonio and Karaban going #29 to Sacramento. Reed was a double-double threat at all times, averaging 9.0 rebounds, but also dishing 2.3 assists and swatting 2.0 blocks per game. Karaban goes into the record books as one of the most successful Huskies of all time, winning two national championships and playing in a third title game. He leaves Storrs with 1,880 points, 758 rebounds, and 309 assists, which I am sure leaves him amongst some very exclusive company.
UConn loses another senior in Malachi Smith. The Dayton transfer was only with the Huskies for one season, and given his averages with the Flyers (10.4 points, 5.3 assists in 28 minutes as a junior), his time in the Big East is a slight disappointment. He played in all 40 games, starting twice, but averaged just 15.9 minutes and had counting stats to match: 3.6 points, 1.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists. He started off strong enough — 21.1 minutes per game in November — but his playing time dwindled as the season went along.
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There’s also two rotation guys that headed out through the transfer portal. Jaylin Stewart is gone after three seasons at UConn, ending up at SMU. That’s not a closer to home thing, as he hails from Seattle… although I guess Dallas is closer than Storrs? In any case, he started off this past season in the starting lineup for the Huskies, but eventually lost that job as a teammate got healthy. Stewart missed eight games late in the year due to a knee injury but was able to chip in off the bench in the last four contests in the NCAA tournament. Before that injury, Stewart was averaging 4.5 points and 2.8 rebounds in 17.8 minutes per game, but it’s clear that he’s not the best playing time option going forward. The other transfer is Eric Reibe, and the 7’1″ German is at USC after just one year with UConn. He was getting 13.8 minutes per game, although that was helped out by five starts in place of Tarris Reed along the way, and he averaged 5.9 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. You’d think that Reed going in the draft would open things up for him on the roster, but apparently the former top 30 prospect disagreed.
Notable Returners: There’s just three rotation players returning for UConn, at least for opening night. For me, that list starts with Silas Demary, who led the Big East with 5.9 assists per game. He was also a double digit scorer at 10.1 per night and a heck of a rebounder for his position at 4.5 per game. When he wasn’t dishing it, it was a massive threat to shoot it, connecting on over 38% of his three-point attempts, third best on the team.
The next guy we have to mention is probably the most famous of the three, because I think that anyone who was watching the UConn/Duke Final Four game is going to remember Braylon Mullins forever.
Shouts to Silas Demary for that free throw, by the way. Ice in his veins stuff right there.
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Mullins is the guy who got healthy from a preseason injury and took Jaylin Stewart’s starting spot. He came off the bench for his first four college games and then started in the remainder of his appearances during his freshman season. The former top 20 prospect was UConn’s #4 scorer at 12.0 points per game, which makes him UConn’s top returning scorer without Ball in the lineup. He finished the year shooting 33.5% long range, but he did hit nearly 38% in 19 Big East games….. which includes a 1-for-10 in Marquette’s 68-62 victory over the Huskies at Fiserv Forum.
The last returning rotation guy is Jayden Ross. He’s seen his minutes go up in each of his three years in Storrs, ending up at 4.6 points and 2.5 rebounds per game in 17.4 minutes this past year. While I can’t say for certain what his role might be next season, I think the fact that his younger brother Jacob was a redshirt freshman this past year plays a role in Jayden sticking around for another year.
RELATED: Jacob Ross is the only other player returning next season.
Key Additions: Yes, UConn’s top end talent is gone, and yes, UConn’s depth is completely gone, too. With that said, the Huskies aren’t exactly going short on talent this winter. That starts with Colben Landrew (6’6″, 236 lb. freshman forward, McComb, Mississippi) and Junior County (6’5″, 205 lb. freshman guard, Highland Park, Utah), a pair of top 50 freshmen according to the 247 Sports Composite Rankings. Landrew is the higher ranked of the two at #27, and he’s your favorite for Big East Preseason Freshman of the Year since he’s the top ranked recruit in the entire conference. SPOILER ALERT: County is #2 on that list, so there may be some wagering value there if you’re a a real sicko like that.
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What do you want to take from Connecticut signing up Egor Amosov, a 6’8″, 236 pound Russian forward, in early July? He’s the 15th player to join the roster with a roster limit of 15, so it’s not like they were shorthanded without him, but also: Why sign him up if you don’t expect him to contribute with a lack of proven players available? He’s got a pretty long list of playing for youth club teams across Europe, but that’s not a guarantee that he’s ready to contribute right away.
That brings us to the seven transfers that the Huskies are bringing in. Four of them come in after just one year somewhere else, and one of them played just 16 minutes at Arkansas, so let’s not presume he’s going to be amazing immediately. The most notable name on a national level out of the other three is Nik Khamenia (6’8″, 225 lb. forward, Tarzana, California), who didn’t quite turn his top 20 ranking as a prospect into a major role at Duke last year. A role, yes, of course, at just under 20 minutes a game, but just 5.7 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. The most familiar name to Big East fans is Na’jai Hines (6’11”, 278 lb. center, Plainfield, New Jersey), who takes up the mantle as the Kadary Richmond Transfer Of The Year, aka “Guy who left Seton Hall probably because of money and went to another Big East team.” Hines was actually the most prolific shot blocker in the conference last year, averaging 2.2 per game even though he never started a game and averaged just 18.0 minutes a game. 6.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest is tremendous for his level of playing time, so no knock on him there at all. The third and final “I’d like something new after one year” guy is Oskar Giltay (6’11”, 240 lb. center, Blizen, Belgium), who started off college action at Stanford. Playing 14.6 minutes a game as a freshman is good, starting five times in 32 games is good, averaging 3.3 points and 4.1 rebounds…. well, the rebounds part is pretty good given the playing time. I would like to point out the heights and weights on Hines and Giltay and ask you if you really think the 7-footer from Arkansas is going to play this year?
Out of the other three transfers, Nils Machowski (6’4″, 190 lb. guard, Berlin, Germany) is the most proven, but he proved it at Wofford. There’s not much to say about his two years at UCF, but after being given a starting spot with the Terriers, he blew up. Machowski averaged 17.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game, and he shot 38% from behind the three-point line as well. The question is, of course, if that translates to the Big East. Jaye Nash (6’2″, 193 lb. guard, Memphis, Tennessee) started a bit early and a bit late for Jacksonville State this past season after not much of anything at Tulsa as a freshman, but ended up averaging 5.1 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game in less than 26 minutes a night. His playing time didn’t change much whether he was starting or not, and the assists would be the most intriguing part here if I didn’t know that Silas Demary was going to play as much as he wants. Finally, there’s Isaiah Shaw (6’8″, 207 lb. forward, Phoenix, Arizona), who had one shortened first season out of two and Grand Canyon, then one at Valparaiso, and then last year at Northern Arizona. He did start 22 times for the Lumberjacks and in 18.3 minutes overall, he added 8.1 points and 2.1 rebounds per game. If he can match his career average of 37.7% three-point shooting, he can play for the Huskies…. and if he can match last year’s shooting percentage of 46.4%, he’s going to be the most annoying Huskies player by a long shot. Get it? Long shot??
Coach: Dan Hurley, entering his eighth season with Connecticut and 16th season as a Division 1 head coach. He has a record of 199-75 with the Huskies and 350-180 overall.
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Outlook: Connecticut returns two starters from a team that went to the national championship game and almost nothing else…. and BartTorvik.com’s preseason projections have UConn as the #10 team in the country. Before you ask: Yes, that’s without Solo Ball in the lineup at all. You would have to figure that if Ball’s original timeline of “won’t play” is more like “would be available on Valentine’s Day,” there’s enough of a reason to treat him like a trade deadline acquisition and get him out there to contribute. That would obviously raise UConn’s ceiling, even if starting at “top ten team” doesn’t leave much to actually raise.
So this brings us to this point: I’m all for giving Dan Hurley his flowers as a coach, but is this going too far? Heck, Gary Parrish from CBS Sports has the Huskies at #4 in his most recent Top 25 & 1 rankings, so you could even argue that #10 according to the computer algorithm is underestimating UConn here.
But I’m reminded of what things looked like going into the 2024-25 season, when UConn was coming off their back-to-back national championships. Torvik had the Huskies at #12, and Parrish had them at #5. It’s all right there in the Vibe Check I wrote that summer. And what happened? They started out the year #3 in the AP poll and by Valentine’s Day, UConn was unranked and 16-7 overall. They never got back in the AP poll, went into the NCAA tournament as a #8 seed and lost in the second round. Even with Alex Karaban and Solo Ball returning and adding Tarris Reed and Liam McNeeley, Dan Hurley never got his arms around that season. Hardly a failure in the big picture, but everyone and everything was overestimating the Huskies going into the year.
This feels similar. “They got Nik Khamenia!” He was Duke’s #7 scorer and #8 in minutes per game. “They got Na’jai Hines!” He couldn’t start for a team that went 10-10 in Big East play and missed the NCAA tournament, partially because they got season swept by DePaul. “They got a 17 point a game scorer from Wofford!” Wofford went 11-7 in the SoCon. “They have two top 50 freshmen!” The 2024-25 team had two top 40 freshmen, and one of them played 115 minutes before transferring to VCU, where he also did not play very much this past season.
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Is UConn going to be bad? I’d bet a mortgage payment against that idea, we can trust Dan Hurley to make this into a good team having a good season by anyone’s measure…. but I wouldn’t go so far as to back the Huskies as a national championship contender, not until I see the ball in the air a few times in November.
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