The UConn men’s basketball team is making early-season noise in a way we haven’t seen since the 2008-09 campaign - and that’s saying something for a program with championship pedigree. For the fifth straight week, the Huskies find themselves sitting inside the top 5 of the Associated Press poll, a feat they hadn’t matched since that '08-'09 squad made a run to the Final Four.
This week, UConn holds steady at No. 5, the same spot as last week. And while that might seem like a missed opportunity to climb, it’s less about what the Huskies didn’t do and more about what Michigan did.
The Wolverines jumped from No. 7 to No. 3 after a pair of statement wins - a 30-point blowout over No. 21 Auburn and a 40-point dismantling of No.
12 Gonzaga. Toss in an earlier win over then-No.
5 St. John’s, and it’s easy to see why Michigan surged ahead with 15 first-place votes to their name.
Still, UConn is in elite company. The four teams ahead of them - Purdue (No.
1), Arizona (No. 2), Michigan (No. 3), and Duke (No. 4) - are all undefeated.
Purdue, now 7-0, leads the pack with 40 first-place votes, while Arizona (also 7-0) pulled in six. Duke, meanwhile, quietly improved to 8-0 to maintain its spot just ahead of the Huskies.
Just behind UConn, the pressure isn’t letting up. No.
6 Louisville and No. 7 Michigan State are both unbeaten at 7-0.
Houston, which dropped to No. 8 after a loss, sits at 7-1, followed by BYU (6-1) and Iowa State (7-0) to round out the top 10.
UConn’s resume, though, is building nicely. Last week, they handled business against No.
13 Illinois, winning 74-61 in a game that showcased their two-way strength. That marked their second win over a top-15 opponent already this season, the other being a victory over then-No.
7 BYU back on Nov. 15.
The Huskies started the year ranked No. 4, climbed to No. 3 for a couple of weeks, then dropped to No. 5 after a home loss to No. 4 Arizona.
But here’s the thing: they’ve already navigated some early adversity. Injuries to key pieces like Tarris Reed Jr. and Braylon Mullins could’ve derailed momentum, but now, for the first time this season, the full roster is healthy.
All 15 players suited up in the win over Illinois - and that’s a big deal with a tough stretch ahead.
The schedule doesn’t get any easier. UConn travels to No.
21 Kansas on Tuesday night, a true road test against a ranked opponent. Then comes a brief breather against East Texas A&M on Friday before a marquee matchup against defending national champion Florida, currently ranked No. 15, at Madison Square Garden in the Jimmy V Classic on Dec.
It’s a defining stretch. Two big games in the next week, both at full strength, give UConn a chance to not just maintain their top-5 status, but potentially climb even higher. And if they keep stacking ranked wins, the poll voters will have no choice but to take notice.
Recent history offers some perspective on how rare this level of consistency is for the Huskies. Last season, UConn started hot - top 3 for the first few weeks - before the wheels briefly came off during the Maui Invitational, where they dropped three straight to unranked teams and tumbled to No.
- Of course, they rebounded in a big way, eventually winning the national championship after spending much of the season back in the top 5, including eight weeks at No.
In 2022-23, they started even further back in the pack - No. 25 in the preseason - and climbed their way up with a dominant early stretch. They cracked the top 10 by Week 3, spent time as high as No. 2, and weathered a rough January before finishing the regular season back at No.
- That team also cut down the nets in April.
Going further back, the 2008-09 squad - the last to open the season with this kind of top-5 consistency - started No. 2 and stayed there for eight weeks before eventually climbing to No. 1. They spent four weeks at the top and 10 weeks at No. 2, never falling below No. 5 in the regular season.
The gold standard for UConn in terms of sustained poll dominance might still be the 2005-06 team. That group never dropped lower than No. 4, held the No. 1 spot for five weeks, and lived between No. 2 and No. 3 the rest of the way.
And let’s not forget the 2003-04 team, which started the season as the preseason No. 1 and held that spot for seven of the first nine polls. Even after slipping in mid-January, they never fell out of the top 10 - and they ended the year with a national title.
So while it’s still early December, UConn’s current trajectory is steeped in historical echoes. The Huskies are healthy, battle-tested, and sitting in the top 5 with a chance to prove they belong even higher. The next week could tell us a lot about where this season is headed - and whether we’re watching the early stages of another championship-caliber run.