NEW YORK — The most decorated college basketball program this century is back in a territory all too familiar.
Six months removed from playing for a national championship for the third time in four seasons, UConn has reloaded in the hope of furthering one of the more impressive stretches in the recent history of the sport, no small feat considering head coach Dan Hurley had to replace a pair of first-round NBA Draft picks this offseason in Alex Karaban and Tarris Reed, Jr.
Hurley’s compatriots seem to believe the two-time champion tactician has done enough to cut down a net, at least within his program’s conference.
The Huskies were selected as the consensus No. 1 in the Big East’s preseason coaches’ poll, released Thursday morning at the conference’s annual media day. UConn earned eight of the 11 first-place votes cast by the league’s coaches, and received 98 points overall, eight clear of two-time reigning Big East champion St. John’s, projected second.
In addition to the team recognition, UConn placed four players on the list of preseason all-conference plaudits. Senior guard Silas Demary, Jr. was selected as the Big East’s Preseason Player of the Year, the first Husky to receive that honor since Adama Sanogo in 2022, months before he led the program to its fifth national championship and first since 2014. Demary returns for his final collegiate campaign on the heels of a first season at UConn in which he averaged 10.2 points, 5.9 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game. The 6-foot-5 point guard played through an injured ankle in the NCAA Tournament, and now enters his last chapter as the Huskies’ leader on and off the floor.
Freshman Colben Landrew, the centerpiece in Hurley’s recruiting class this offseason, was named the Preseason Freshman of the Year. The 6-foot-6 forward from Mississippi is the fourth straight Husky to be voted as the top rookie among the preseason all-conference distinctions, following in the footsteps of Stephon Castle, Liam McNeeley and Braylon Mullins. Castle and McNeeley went on to earn regular-season Freshman of the Year awards.
Mullins, whose 35-foot 3-pointer against Duke in the East Regional final last March capped off a 19-point comeback to send UConn to the Final Four, was a unanimous selection to the preseason all-Big East first team alongside Demary. The sophomore guard returned to Storrs in April for his second season after averaging 12.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game as a freshman. The Husky backcourt makes UConn one of two schools with multiple first-team selections, joining Ian Jackson and Tounde Yessoufou of St. John’s.
Na’jai Hines, who transferred from conference rival Seton Hall this offseason, earned a spot on the preseason all-Big East second team. The 6-foot-11 big man is being counted on to replace Reed as the Huskies’ rim protector and leading rebounder. Hines has spent his time since arriving on campus acclimating to UConn’s intense conditioning program, something Hurley admitted is a natural adjustment process.
“These training camp-type practices are the hardest things they’ve ever been through, in terms of physicality, the focus, the intensity and length of the the practice, and having to sustain it from the beginning to the end at a certain level,” the coach told CT Insider’s David Borges earlier this week. “Being able to concentrate through the fatigue and soreness, it’s a lot to deal with. Our mindset is to train these guys under a lot of pressure and stress and anxiety, so that the games feel a little bit easier for them.”
UConn opens its season at home against Gardner-Webb on November 2, before a rematch with defending national champion Michigan four days later at TD Garden in Boston.
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