UConn men’s basketball opens the 2026-27 season ranked as the No. 11 team in Ken Pomeroy’s initial KenPom rankings. The Huskies finished No. 9 overall last season after reaching the national title game for the third time in four seasons before losing to Michigan. UConn ranks No. 29 in offensive efficiency and No. 6 in defensive efficiency. Last season, the Huskies ranked 29th and seventh respectively.
Given how much turnover the program experienced this offseason, it’s a pretty fair ranking of the Huskies’ talent and a testament to Dan Hurley’s roster-building skills. Even with coaches Luke Murray and Tom Moore moving on and the departures of stars like Alex Karaban and Tarris Reed Jr., KenPom expects the Huskies to operate similarly to how they did last season despite only returning two starters in Silas Demary Jr. and Braylon Mullins.
The No. 11 ranking is the lowest preseason KenPom ranking for UConn since the 2022-23 season, but the Huskies are still tabbed as the top team in the Big East. St. John’s is the next closest school at No. 23, while Creighton is next at No. 30. Villanova is next at No. 32, followed closely by Marquette at No. 34. Providence (No. 39) is the only other Big East school in the Top 50. Overall, the Big East is projected as the No. 4 conference in college basketball this season, ahead of ACC but behind the SEC, Big 12 and Big Ten.
UConn’s ridiculously strong strength of schedule is backed up by KenPom, with the Huskies set to play four of the preseason top 10 teams as part of the nonconference slate. UConn travels to Tucson to take on No. 5 Arizona on Nov. 18, then plays No. 1 Duke a week later in Las Vegas. Ten days later, the Huskies will take on No. 4 Illinois in Chicago and also welcome No. 8 Kansas to Gampel Pavilion on Dec. 12. Aside from these marquee matchups, UConn also plays defending champion No. 28 Michigan on Nov. 6 in Boston and No. 15 Virginia at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 20.
To balance some of those heavyweights out, UConn has some buy games sandwiched between them, namely matchups against No. 365 Mississippi Valley State (between Illinois and Kansas on Dec. 8) and No. 364 Delaware State (between Kansas and Virginia on Dec. 15). UConn and Texas Tech are the only schools in the country projected to play both the top team in KenPom and the worst team in Division I.