Big East Basketball: 2020-21 power rankings heading into New Year

3. UConn 4-1 (1-1)

While the sample size is still small, UConn has done just about everything asked of them in their first five games as a member of the new Big East. A 2-point early-season win over USC is one of the best non-conference wins the conference has, and the Huskies pushed Creighton but lost in overtime for its only blemish of the season.

James Bouknight has lived up to high expectations about as well as any player in this young college basketball season. He’s putting up 23 points and 5.0 boards per game while shooting at a 48% field goal clip, an improvement from 2019-20 while taking five more shots per game.

Howard transfer, RJ Cole (10.6 Pts, 1.8 Reb, 3.8 Ast) has been a formidable running mate for Bouknight in the backcourt as well.

While there are still questions about UConn and the Huskies’ ability to get through a conference gauntlet much tougher than the AAC, the early season has been a success. The scary thing is that because of the long pauses they’ve had to endure due to COVID protocols, these guys haven’t scratched the surface yet and could get a lot better with more time on the floor together and in full.

Top-100 freshmen Adama Sanogo and Andre Jackson still have not been completely integrated into the rotation and sophomore and former top 70 recruit Akok Akok has yet to return from an Achilles injury suffered at the end of last season.

It’s hard to wrap your head around an average team from the AAC jumping into the Big East and being a contender in year one, but early reads on these Huskies are very positive.