The Associated Press preseason poll put UConn at No. 4 on Monday, and that kind of early seasoning is nice - but it doesn’t tell you much about what will happen when the real games start.
That’s the basic truth of preseason rankings: they’re educated guesses, built from what voters can see before anyone has played for keeps. For Dan Hurley’s Huskies, the number beside their name is a reason to feel good, not a reason to feel settled.
Florida sits at No. 1 after collecting 47 of the 59 first-place votes. Duke is right behind at No. 2 with 10, Illinois checks in at No. 3 with two, then comes UConn at No. 4 and Arizona at No.
- It’s a top-heavy group that looks familiar, too - every team in that top five except Florida made last season’s Final Four.
Michigan, meanwhile, arrives at No. 16 after winning the national championship over UConn in April. The Wolverines lost key players and head coach Dusty May, which explains the slide, but they’re still in the mix.
So how do AP voters sort this all out before a team has played a meaningful game? According to a 2023 AP explanation, they lean heavily on returning starters, though that only carries major weight if the team was good the year before.
They also factor in transfer portal movement and the quality of the coaching staff. Some voters also rely on computer rankings, predictive analytics, depth charts and even preseason magazines.
For UConn, the short version is simple: No. 4 means very little in the grand scheme. History backs that up. The Huskies have won six national titles - in 1999, 2004 and 2011 under Jim Calhoun; in 2014 with Kevin Ollie; and in 2023 and 2024 under Hurley.
And their preseason spots before those title runs? No. 2 in 1999, No. 1 in 2004, unranked in 2011, No. 18 in 2014, unranked in 2023 and No. 6 in 2024.
That’s the point. UConn has started everywhere from the top of the poll to outside it entirely and still ended with confetti. The only number that matters is the one that comes after the final game.
The rest of the preseason AP Top 25 looks like this: Florida, Duke, Illinois, UConn, Arizona, Michigan State, Texas, Tennessee, Virginia, Houston, Louisville, Arkansas, St. John’s, Miami (FL), Gonzaga, Michigan, Kansas, Iowa State, Texas Tech, Alabama, Southern California, UCLA, Kentucky, Vanderbilt and BYU.
The teams in italics on UConn’s regular-season schedule are included in that list, and the Huskies will see Michigan State in a preseason game Tuesday night in East Lansing, Mich.
In Other News...
Michigan States Early UConn Test Comes With One Big Unknown
UConns trip to East Lansing for an exhibition against Michigan State offers an early measuring stick for both programs, and it comes at a time when the Huskies are still sorting through lineup questions. These preseason games are less about the final score than the picture they provide, giving coaches a chance to see which combinations work and which roles still need clarity before the regular season begins.
One of the biggest questions hanging over the matchup involves guard Braylon Mullins, who sat out UConns exhibition opener against Syracuse because of an undisclosed injury. His availability for Tuesday had not been confirmed by Monday, and Dan Hurley had not said whether he would take the floor, leaving UConn to navigate another tune-up without knowing exactly what it will have in hand. [Read more 🡒]
UConn Just Got An Early Glimpse Of Its Dangerous Ceiling
The preseason meeting with Texas offered an early look at just how high UConns ceiling can rise this year. At PeoplesBank Arena, Sarah Strong and freshman Jovana Popovic gave the Huskies a pair of answers on offense, while a second-half defensive step forward helped turn a tight matchup into an 83-61 win over a fellow Final Four-caliber opponent.
Strong finished with 27 points and Popovic added 22 points, five assists and six rebounds, reinforcing why this group already looks dangerous even before the games begin to matter. For UConn, the encouraging part may not just be the margin, but the way it handled a heavyweight test against a Texas team that should be part of the national conversation again in 2025 and 2026. [Read more 🡒]
UConn Football Just Got More Urgency In One Crucial Search
The playoff picture in college football keeps shifting, and that matters for UConn in a very real way. With the postseason landscape moving toward a broader format and conference realignment continuing to reshape the sport, athletic director David Benedict has been candid about the challenge facing the Huskies as an independent program trying to improve its path into the mix.
For UConn, the issue is not just scheduling or branding, but access. An expanded playoff could open more doors across the FBS, yet the Huskies would still be navigating that road from outside a conference structure unless they find a league home, and that leaves the program in a familiar spot: needing the right circumstances to get a foothold in a changing postseason race. [Read more 🡒]