ESPN has continued with the lack of love for head coach Dan Hurley’s UConn men’s basketball team.
The first bracketology predictions for the men’s NCAA Tournament from ESPN came out five weeks ago, and the network issued its next way-too-early bracket projections on Tuesday.
Again, bracketologist Joe Lunardi put the Huskies on the No. 3 seed line, giving the No. 1 seeds to Duke, Florida, Illinois and Arizona. Duke is listed as the No. 1 seed.
Anchoring the No. 2 lines are Michigan State, Texas, defending champion Michigan and Louisville.
Why a 3 seed?
Lunardi didn’t detail his reasons for this lower-than-expected projection, but we can surmise some reasons why.
1. The Huskies finished the regular season and conference tournament schedule in 2025-26 with a 29-5 record, 17-3 in the Big East. They added a 5-1 record in the tournament, the loss coming to Michigan in the NCAA title game.
They were a No. 2 seed.
If you called last season’s nonconference schedule hard, the upcoming one is herculean. After a rematch with Michigan in the second game of the season, the Huskies face the gauntlet of Arizona, Duke and Illinois in successive games – two of the three outside Connecticut.
And three of the four projected No. 1 seeds.
2. The retooled roster. Alex Karaban, the winner of two NCAA championships and the leader of the team the past two seasons, is off to the NBA. So is Tarris Reed Jr., who led the Huskies last season with 14.7 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. Another championship winner, Solo Ball, will miss the season as he recovers from wrist surgery.
3. Inexperience. It’s also a young roster, with five seniors, one junior, six sophomores and three freshmen – and few players who have been through the rigors of a long run in the NCAA Tournament. That would be seniors Silas Demary Jr. and Jayden Ross, along with sophomore Braylon Mullins. Nik Khamenia, a transfer from Duke, was on the Blue Devils team that was knocked out of the tournament by Mullins’ 3-point heroics to win the teams’ Elite Eight matchup.
Sophomore Jacob Ross, Jayden’s younger brother, was with the Huskies last season but did not see game action.
Another elite region?
Last season, the NCAA Tournament selection committee put UConn in the East Region, joined by Hall of Fame coaches and blue-blood programs.
No. 1 overall seed Duke, a five-time champion. UCLA, once the king of the sport.
Tom Izzo and Michigan State. Bill Self and Kansas. Rick Pitino and St. John’s.
Lunardi again slotted Duke as the top seed in the East for the upcoming season, and he entered UConn as the No. 3 in this bracket, where the regional final will be played in New York City.
Two Hall of Fame coaches and their teams show up in this bracket – Izzo and Michigan State again, and John Calipari and Arkansas. Storied programs Kentucky, Indiana Villanova and Providence also are in this group, as is coach Matt Painter and Purdue.
Lunardi’s projection sends UConn to Minneapolis for the first two rounds and lists Yale as the opening opponent. A win potentially would pit the Huskies against Purdue, North Carolina State or Cincinnati, under this scenario.
We’ve got a long time to figure this all out. The opening round (play-in) games will be played March 16 and 17, with the first round scheduled to start March 18.
The Final Four games are set for April 3 and 5 at Ford Field in Detroit.