STORRS – Dan Hurley started to find the blueprint to creating a national championship college basketball team in 2023. The plans were refined in 2024.
And after winning two in a row, he found out last year that the right pieces need to fit into those plans in order for them to come together.
“There was just this feeling that the group had that just because everyone had signed on to come play for us at UConn, that there was some type of magic dust or something that we’re gonna sprinkle in their Powerade,” Hurley said. “We thought we could do it with absolutely anyone.”
This year, he says the pursuit is going to be different.
And it shows in the build of the 2025-26 roster, which closely resembles the makeup of the 2022-23 first championship squad. The staff has learned what works and what doesn’t over the last three years, and the plan is to take that knowledge back to base camp before they restart the climb.
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It starts with a big three.
Andre Jackson Jr., Adama Sanogo and Jordan Hawkins returned to campus in the fall of 2022 and their roles were already established. Not only did they have to be productive on the court and make sizeable jumps from the year before, they were also responsible for leading the locker room, helping newcomers adjust to Hurley’s hard coaching and keeping their peers focused.
Last year, most of the weight of leadership was on Alex Karaban’s shoulders. An old soul, he was the only returning player from both championship teams, the only starter from either, and had the respect of his teammates. But at times the burden grew too heavy.
Hurley describes his relationship with Karaban to be “kind of strange.”
“I got on him a little bit in the huddle and then I almost felt like apologizing after,” he said after the team’s first official practice on Tuesday. “We’ve just been through so much together. The incredible highs and then a disappointing last year, then you go through these decision-making processes that he’s had to deal with and we just bonded so closely through everything together. So I just cherish this last year with Alex, in particular.”
Now Solo Ball and Tarris Reed Jr. have stepped into the category with Karaban as core players expected to be held to the highest standard, to be consistent on and off the court every day.
“That trio of guys, Solo, Alex, Tarris, these have to be leading men. They’ve got to be like the Hawk, Andre, Adama big three that we had,” Hurley said.
The Sanogo comparison started even before Reed ever put on a UConn uniform. Reed used to spend time watching film of the former Huskies big man, studying ways to stand out as a scoring and rebounding force while at Michigan. Now he’ll have a young 7-footer learning from him in Eric Reibe, like Sanogo did with Donovan Clingan.
“I have to be a great example, a great role model on the court, knowing what to do at all times,” Reed said. “There’s not areas where I can slip because if I slip, they’re gonna slip and it falls to me at the end of the day.”
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The Ball-Hawkins comparison is an obvious one, too, given their shooting prowess. And Karaban is now a version of himself that has been developed and refined for three years.
Outside of that core, UConn brought size back to the point guard spot in Silas Demary Jr., who has a versatile playstyle much like Tristen Newton. The Huskies are confident in their depth after bringing in Malachi Smith from Dayton. Smith could’ve decided to take on a larger role elsewhere, but he accepted a sixth-man role that will look similar to Hassan Diarra’s in 2024.
“My last four years, I’ve been to the tournament once and I loved that feeling,” Smith said Tuesday, cleared to fully participate after his minor knee procedure this summer. “I just wanted to make sure my last year I would come to a program where we could win a championship. I think this is the right program for it. We come in here every day to work, the coaches are phenomenal, the players are phenomenal leaders, they’re doing a good job of keeping me focused.”
UConn has multiple options to fill the fifth starting spot which, in comparison to the 2022-23 team, would be Jackson’s. Five-star freshman Braylon Mullins, a “flame thrower,” as described by Hurley, and a sneaky athlete, and Jaylin Stewart, who is looking to make a jump and find consistency in his third year with the program, seem to be the top options.
“And then you’ve just got real depth,” Hurley said. “The ninth and 10th guys who are likely to probably get squeezed here are like really, really good players. Like really, really good players that would help other high-majors this year. So I think the strength of this team is the depth, like that team where off the bench it was Nahiem (Alleyne), it was Joey (Calcaterra), it was Donovan, it was Hassan. We went nine-deep, and that’s what made that group special.”
The depth is even greater this year with rosters expanded to 15 for the first time.
“You’re gonna have to earn your role,” Hurley said. “I think one of the mistakes I made early last year was I had a vision of how I wanted the team to look, and I probably should’ve sent a different team out there to start the year.”
Jayden Ross, also in his third year looking to break through, and Jacob Furphy, the talented Australian freshman, could fill out the ninth and 10th spots in the rotation. But the Huskies also have five additional players who could challenge the rotation as they develop and help the team practice and stay fresh.
“I think ever since the summer you can kind of get a sense of what your role will be,” Karaban said. “(Hurley’s) met with everybody, he’s given everybody clear instruction on what you can bring to the team, how you can continue to get better every single day… But roles are still being defined right now and really no roles are set, but each player should get an idea of what they should bring to the team.”
Originally Published: September 24, 2025 at 3:21 PM EDT
