UConn is ranked No. 4 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 college basketball poll, but that isn’t impressing Huskies coach Dan Hurley.
“There’s nothing more useless than preseason polls and picks,” Hurley said during Big East media day. “Preseason polls are pretty meaningless. I don’t even do mine. I think I told (assistant coach) Luke (Murray) to go do that s—.”
It’s a seemingly ironic statement from a coach who just last season said, “We dominate for the national championship, we lose all the players, and then we’re even better. We dominate even more, we lose all the players … I think we should’ve been voted first. I don’t understand how we don’t just start the season there [at No. 1].”
Hurley appears to have learned from that comment, though. Last season, UConn was ranked No. 3 in the preseason poll. The Huskies ended up finishing the year 24-11 — third in the conference and an 8-seed in the NCAA Tournament.
This season, UConn will try to return to the national title conversation. Despite Liam McNeely leaving for the NBA and Hassan Diarra and Samson Johnson graduating, the Huskies have the highest preseason ranking among Big East teams. They brought back a handful of standout upperclassmen, including Alex Karaban, Solomon Ball, Tarris Reed Jr., Jaylin Stewart and Jayden Ross. They also added a pair of dynamic guards in the transfer portal — Silas Demary (Georgia) and Malachi Smith (Dayton).
Hurley also told reporters that while he thinks highly of this group of Huskies, he’s “more focused on getting their defense fixed” than worrying about the preseason rankings.
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