Dan Hurley, UConn Receive Head-Turning ESPN Prediction

The 2024-25 basketball season is well in the books, but through the recruiting and Transfer Portal scene, UConn Huskies fans can begin to look ahead to another promising season ahead. After all, the Huskies still stand among the sport’s elite programs.

ESPN’s bracketologists headed up by Joe Lunardi are already hard at work crunching the numbers to project the top teams for next season. UConn, to no surprise, finds themselves projected as a No. 1 seed.

Dan Hurley’s roster is in great shape, especially with two of his top players returning after entertaining the NBA Draft, Alex Karaban and Silas Demary Jr. Of course, Solo Ball, Tarris Reed Jr., and freshman Braylon Mullins will be heavy contributors as well.

It’s a strong starting lineup that ESPN already projected to be worthy of the No. 2 spot in their early Top 25 rankings in early May. Now that the starting 5 is confirmed, the anticipation for a new season is brewing in Connecticut.

After back-to-back national championship seasons for the men’s squad, a second-round exit in the 2025 NCAA Tournament left a bad taste in the mouth of UConn and its fanbase. But clearly, expectations for Hurley’s impressive squad aren’t waning just yet with the lofty projection of claiming another top seed.

Still, as Lunardi pointed out, UConn still has the chance to make history next season. While it remains that no team has ever won three straight NCAA Tournaments, winning three out of four is still an unprecedented achievement firmly in UConn’s grasp. 

Overall, the Big East was well-represented in the first edition of next season’s Bracketology. St. John’s was forecasted to grab a 2-seed, Creighton a 9-seed and Marquette a 10-seed. Villanova was mentioned among the Next Four Out group. 

As for the other 1-seeds, Houston, Duke, and Purdue stand tall alongside UConn.