UCONN’s head men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley speaks with another coach during Nike EYBL at the Memphis Sports & Events Center on Saturday, May 17, 2025. Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

UConn Earns High Praise in Coaches Poll

Originally posted on UConn Huskies on SI
By Connor Mardian | Last updated Sep 24, 2025 7:00 AM ET

With the crisp fall air incoming, combined with collegiate basketball right around the corner, it is time to start sifting through your closet to find your UConn gear and proudly taunt it as this Huskies team has been littered with preseason expectations.

Not only is the hype around the potential for this revamped roster, but it is also around five-star freshman Braylon Mullins, who has made waves recently.

Fans and pundits will quickly find out the resolve of this side as a stacked non-conference schedule awaits a usually daunting Big East slate.

Barring the number of elite matchups UConn is presented with this season, CBS Sports writers Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander published their yearly series, Candid Coaches, where they gather the anonymous opinions of college basketball coaches from across the country. Their first edition took a question every fan is pining to know. “Who will be the best men's college basketball team this season?”

Norlander and Parrish’s answers were filled with a number of teams and UConn racked in 5% of votes for best team in college basketball. Florida was the only other team with 5% and Michigan, BYU, Kentucky, Louisville, Illinois and Texas Tech were given lower chances than the Huskies.

Here is a quote from an unnamed collegiate coach.

“Love what Danny Hurley and his staff have done with their roster. They have an excellent blend of returners, homegrown, impact transfers, older, and incoming freshmen. Three out of four? Hope not!"

How accurate has the poll been previously?

In 2024, the Huskies were given 7.7% of the votes yet finished with a relatively disappointing 24-11 mark.

In 2023, UConn was given a 1.9% piece of the best team pie, and UConn took that to the bank, collecting its most recent National Title. The year before that, UConn didn’t even register a single vote, and the Huskies once again claimed a National Championship.

Norlander and Parrish finished the report with this note.

“Keep in mind that coaches are informed in large part by offseason rankings put together by the media. There were only a couple of schools that were truly outside-the-box choices.”

The first chance to catch the Huskies is November 3rd, as they take on New Haven. New Haven was a former Division II school that officially got called up the Division I on July 1st. Tipoff takes place in Storrs, Conn.

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