After becoming the first men's college basketball program to win consecutive NCAA Tournaments, head coach Dan Hurley and the UConn Huskies have a chance to put themselves in rarified air by pulling off a three-peat, etching their name in history books alongside the late and great John Wooden and the UCLA Bruins.
Wooden guided UCLA to seven straight national titles from 1967-73, a feat we feel confident saying will never be accomplished again. But Hurley and the Huskies could be the closest thing to a modern-day college basketball dynasty by defending their back-to-back championship crown, becoming the first team to do so since the Bruins dominated March Madness for nearly a decade.
But it won't be easy for Hurley and the Huskies, as they must recover from losing several critical contributors to the upcoming NBA Draft, like projected lottery picks Donovan Clingan and Stephon Castle in addition to redshirt sophomore Alex Karaban (who also retained his collegiate eligibility), meaning UConn potentially has three spots to fill in their starting lineup for the 2024-25 season.
Moreover, graduate guards Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer exhausted their five years of eligibility, so the Huskies have an entire starting five to fill. With that in mind, who will Hurley look toward to take the places of Clingan, Castle, Karaban and company? Here is our early projection for how the UConn depth chart will shake out.
Projected early UConn Huskies starting lineup, depth chart for 2024-25 season
- Guard: Hassan Diarra, Ahmad Nowell*, Andrew Hurley
- Guard: Aidan Mahaney, Solomon Ball, Andre Johnson
- Forward: Liam McNeeley*, Isaiah Abraham*, Apostolos Roumoglou
- Forward: Jaylin Stewart, Jayden Ross
- Forward: Samson Johnson, Youssouf Singare
The bolded players are the projected starters, and those with asterisks are freshmen recruits of the 2024 class.
Not many familiar faces are returning to Storrs as they pursue a three-peat. But Hurley worked his magic via the transfer portal and incoming recruiting class, landing former St. Mary and two-time All-WCC guard Aidan Mahaney and sharpshooting wing Liam McNeeley (the No. 9-ranked incoming freshman on ESPN's 2024 top 100 recruiting database rankings). Returning players like Hassan Diarra, Jaylin Stewart and Samson Johnson figure to slide into the starting five alongside them.
Additionally, we could see Hurley's son, Andrew, return for his fifth and final year of eligibility. Alternatively, he hasn't ruled out becoming a graduate assistant coach, potentially having the two on the sidelines together in 2024-25.