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 seems to have realized from that remark, although. Final season, UConn was ranked No. 3 within the preseason ballot. The Huskies ended up ending the yr 24-11 — third within the convention and an 8-seed within the NCAA Match.
This season, UConn will attempt to return to the nationwide title dialog. Regardless of Liam McNeely leaving for the NBA and Hassan Diarra and Samson Johnson graduating, the Huskies have the very best preseason rating amongst Massive East groups. They introduced again a handful of standout upperclassmen, together with Alex Karaban, Solomon Ball, Tarris Reed Jr., Jaylin Stewart and Jayden Ross. Additionally they added a pair of dynamic guards within the switch portal — Silas Demary (Georgia) and Malachi Smith (Dayton).
Hurley additionally instructed reporters that whereas he thinks extremely of this group of Huskies, he is “extra targeted on getting their protection mounted” than worrying concerning the preseason rankings.
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