Despite being picked to finish second in the preseason Big East poll, the No. 4 UConn men’s basketball team’s starting five earned preseason honors at Big East Media Day.
Defending Big East champion St. John’s was picked to repeat over the Huskies, despite Connecticut being one spot higher in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.
“I think there’s nothing probably more useless than preseason polls and picks,” UConn head coach Dan Hurley said. “I don’t even do mine. I think I told Luke [Murray] to go do that.”
Solo Ball, Alex Karaban and Tarris Reed Jr. were all named to the preseason All-Big East first team, marking the first time a Big East team had three players on the preseason first team since the Villanova Wildcats ahead of the 2005-06 season (Randy Foye, Allan Ray, Curtis Sumpter).
“[UConn] could’ve had more [players on first team],” Providence head coach Kim English said. “Could’ve had Silas [Demary Jr.] … They’ve got a good thing going, some really good players.”
Ball and Karaban earned spots on the first team after both landed on the All-Big East second team during the 2024-25 season.
“I think what Alex is, he’s just a ball player,” Hurley said. “He represents what’s great about sports — it’s work ethic, it’s sacrifice, it’s winning, it’s being responsible, it’s leading by example.”
Ball had his breakout season during the 2024-25 campaign, emerging as one of the top sharpshooters in college basketball. Last season, the Leesburg, Va. native knocked down 99 3-pointers with a shooting percentage of 41.4%.
“Solo Ball shoots the heck out of it,” Marquette head coach Shaka Smart said. “He’s gotten really, really good at shooting on the move and making decisions, and he’s tough to deal with coming off screening actions.”
Karaban was considered a preseason All-American heading into the 2024-25 season but struggled to help the Huskies in their historic hopes of three consecutive national championships. However, the statistics argue against that, as the Southborough, Mass. native posted a career-high 14.3 points per game along with 5.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.5 blocks per game.
“Karaban is a winner,” Smart said. “I mean, he’s just the ultimate winner to me. He does whatever it takes to win. He’s a guy that, of all the people here [at Big East Media Day], you could ask any coach, and they would say ‘That guy right there, he affects winning.’”
Reed, on the other hand, serves as the defending Big East Sixth Man of the Year this season. He will spend his final year as the starting center this season.
“We played against him in a scrimmage when he was at Michigan, and he’s always had a great combination of brute strength and physicality, but then also [his] touch around the basket and the ability to make a read and make a play,” Smart said.
The former Michigan Wolverine averaged 9.6 points and 1.6 blocks per game and led the team in rebounds per game with 7.3. The St. Louis native shot 67% overall while coming off the bench, averaging 19 minutes per contest. He did not appear in the exhibition game against Boston College due to a hamstring injury that has continued to sideline him.
“[I am impressed with] his physicality, the way he battled [Julian Reese], because Ju was really physical,” new Villanova head coach Kevin Willard said on facing him at Michigan. “His physicality was really impressive because he was younger than Ju when he was there. I thought he held up in the Big Ten. Being a big guy in the Big Ten is not easy. It’s really, really hard, and I thought his consistency was really good.”
In addition to a whopping three players named preseason All-Big East caliber players, Silas Demary Jr. was named to the preseason All-Big East second team. The former Georgia Bulldog has yet to appear in the white and blue for Connecticut, but is coming off a tenure in which he averaged 11.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game over two seasons in Athens, Ga.
Demary is dealing with a calf injury but is back practicing again and looks to be ready for the Huskies’ final exhibition game against No. 22 Michigan State on Oct. 28. It was the Raleigh, N.C. native’s first conference honor since being named to the SEC All-Freshman team during the 2023-24 season.
Freshman Braylon Mullins was named the preseason Big East Freshman of the Year, making it the third-consecutive season that a Husky has been named the Big East’s top freshman going into the season (Stephon Castle, Liam McNeeley).
The Greenfield, Ind. native tore it up at Greenfield-Central High School, setting the all-time scoring record at the school and earning McDonald’s All-American and Indiana Mr. Basketball honors.
“Bray has been great for us,” Ball said. “He’s an incredible shot maker, incredible player, and even better person off the court.”
Other honors on Big East Media Day included preseason Player of the Year, which was awarded to St. John’s forward Zuby Ejiofor, the conference’s reigning Most Improved Player.
Other players who made the preseason All-Big East first team included Creighton forward Owen Freeman, Marquette guard Chase Ross and St. John’s wing Bryce Hopkins.
Joining Demary on the second team were Creighton guard Josh Dix, Georgetown guard KJ Lewis, Providence guard Jason Edwards and St. John’s guard Ian Jackson.
Rounding out the preseason All-Big East honors included a third team of Creighton’s Nik Graves and Jackson McAndrew, DePaul guard CJ Gunn, Georgetown guard Malik Mack and Providence forward Oswin Erhunmwunse. St. John’s had two players named to the third team: forward Dillon Mitchell and guard Joson Sanon.
After the Michigan State exhibition game, the Huskies begin their regular season at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion against New Haven on Nov. 3.