Last season was comparatively a massive disappointment for UConn, but it’s easy to say that after the Huskies won back-to-back national championships. Dan Hurley’s squad bowed out in the second round of last season’s NCAA Tournament, though this was still a very talented team that ran into a buzzsaw or two during their journey. Whatever the future may bring, these Huskies just might have the talent to threaten at the national level again this season.
While freshman great Liam McNeeley is off to the NBA, the Huskies do return three of their four top scorers. Solo Ball is back for his junior season after taking a defined step forward in a bigger role as a sophomore while Alex Karaban joined him by averaging 14 points per game. Tarris Reed Jr. fit in nicely and played a big role in the frontcourt and that role will only increase moving forward, while a few other forwards move up the depth chart and could have expanded opportunities.
Hurley landed a 5-star guard in Braylon Mullins and got more frontcourt depth from his recruiting class, but the transfer class really boosts that backcourt even further. Most recently, the Huskies landed Alec Millender after a coaching change at IU Indy and will appreciate his depth. One massive gain was former Dayton point guard Malachi Smith who could play important minutes for the Huskies in his final collegiate campaign.
Much of the offseason attention landed on Silas Demary Jr., a 6-5 guard from Raleigh who joins the Huskies after recent work down at Georgia. A former 4-star recruit, Demary took a solid step forward as a sophomore, averaging 13.5 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 3.1 assists for the Bulldogs last season while making 37% of his 3-pointers.
Demary steps into a major role as UConn’s new point guard while he’ll also eat major minutes at the 2 as well. He was highly-regarded coming out of high school and has chance to really blossom in Hurley’s system. We saw him take that expected step forward as a sophomore and now he might do that again as an upperclassman with the Huskies.
Putting Ball, Demary, and Mullins on the court at the same time could just be the lethal combination this team needs to be in the national title conversation again. There’s immense raw talent here on this roster and it’ll be intriguing to see how it all comes together. UConn knows what they’re getting from the likes of Ball and Karaban, but can Demary live up to heightened expectations and be that missing piece to lead this charge?