The leaves are starting to turn and football season is in full swing, meaning that we’re not too far from college basketball season. It sneaks up on you, between the length of baseball to the excitement of college football.

Now, we’re less than two months from the opening tip and UConn’s schedule has been released. Many of the opponents and dates were known previously and we still don’t know when and where the home games are happening, but there’s something special about having an official schedule.

Over my next three articles, we’re going to take a look at each of UConn’s 21 opponents briefly and come up with a projected record. Ready? Let’s go.

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The Huskies are getting their season started in-state with a game against Sacred Heart. The sixth banner will be unveiled as UConn puts the hurt on an overmatched Pioneers squad. SHU was bad last year, a bottom 70 team in the country, and one of their top returning players, Tanner Thomas, figures to lead them. A big wild card will be D-III Wilmington transfer Amiri Stewart. He averaged 17.5 points on 44% from deep last year, but it’s highly unlikely it’ll be enough to overcome a blowout. A UConn win is imminent here.

Though the Wildcats had a slightly better 2024 than the Pioneers did, victory in the Nutmeg State appears unlikely. New Hampshire’s top three scorers from last year’s loss to the Huskies have all departed, which leaves 6 points remaining from that game into this year. The team’s highest returning scorer, Trey Woodyard needs to make a big jump from the 7.7 points he averaged this past year. Other than Woodyard, there’s hardly anyone on the team with significant success at the D-I level. Giancarlo Bastianoni has bounced around D-I and D-III while Rex Sunderland was a rotational piece for last year’s wildcat squad. Connecticut won’t be challenged.

From last year’s KenPom rankings, Le Moyne finished even worse than SHU and UNH. And it gets worse. Top players Luke Sutherland and Kaiyem Cleary graduated, leaving Darrick Jones, an 8-point per game scorer, as the top remaining option. Ocypher Owens also figures to help out, another 8-PPG scorer, but they don’t have a ton of great returning talent. And the incoming options isn’t strong either. This one will be uglier than the first two.

Just when you thought the low-major opponents couldn’t get any worse, they do. TAMU Commerce was a bottom 30 team last year and they figure to stay in that zone this year with all of their top scorers gone. Their recruiting class this year is full of unknown prospects, which offers some hope that they might have gotten some diamonds in the rough. Either way, this won’t scare the Huskies who are vying for a 3-peat.

Memphis has been spiraling lately, with members of their coaching staff getting fired left and right at the wrong time. Regardless of the commotion, the Tigers do have a very good roster. Tyrese Hunter, the former Texas and Iowa State guard, is the headliner, while PJ Haggerty of Tulsa was sensational in the AAC last year and will be a great second option. Coach Penny Hardaway also nabbed Colby Rogers from Wichita State, perhaps trying to create an American Conference super team. Hardaway has hardly done anything in March since getting hired, but he’s picked up a few solid wins in November. Even then, it feels like UConn’s going to win this one, since Hurley has never lost the first round of an early-season tournament.

Neither of these teams are projected in the preseason top 25, which makes picking against Connecticut difficult. Colorado is without NBA draft picks Tristan da Silva and KJ Simpson, but they do bring in Andrej Jakimovski, who was a good piece on Washington State. They have a lot of freshmen, none from the Rivals 150. Michigan State could be more of a challenge if they won their first game, returning a promising young core of Jaden Akins, Xavier Booker, Jeremy Fears and Coen Carr. Neither of these teams likely have enough juice to beat the Huskies, but the Spartans have a better shot at making it a game.

Auburn, UNC and Iowa State are all in the top 15 of ESPN’s preseason top 25, meaning that a loss is possible here. Iowa State is going to rely on starters and bench players from last year and a handful of mid-major transfers. They should be very good. JP Pegues is Auburn’s coveted transfer, who was excellent at Furman. He joins Johni Broome, who was a candidate for NPOY. North Carolina is perhaps the scariest of the bunch, bringing back their PG tandem of NPOY candidate RJ Davis, along with Elliot Cadeau. Top 10 recruit Ian Jackson will also turn some heads in his lone collegiate season. Nate Santos and former Big East guard Posh Alexander figure to take Dayton to a great season in the A-10, but Maui will be an uphill climb.

Across these three games, I’ll give one loss to the Huskies, since it’s tough to predict an undefeated early-season tournament.

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