UConn men’s basketball moves up to No. 22 in AP Poll

After easily dispatching LIU and Binghamton at home this week, UConn men’s basketball moved up one spot in this week’s AP Poll to No. 22. Despite the two wins for UConn (4-0) this week, the Huskies dropped one spot in KenPom to No. 22, largely due to having the easiest schedule out of any team in KenPom’s top 30.

Seton Hall (No. 21) and Xavier (No. 25) are new to the poll this week, giving the Big East four ranked members, including the Huskies and No. 7 Villanova. Auburn, UConn’s upcoming opponent in the opening round of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, moved up two spots to No. 19. Michigan State and Loyola-Chicago, potential opponents for the Huskies in round two, both received votes.

Although UConn has played largely inferior opponents and been the better team in just about every single way, it’s been encouraging to see the Huskies take care of business. UConn has won two games by 50+ points, one game by 35, and its “closest” game of the season by 24 to Binghamton on Saturday, where the Huskies overcame a slow offensive start to easily cruise to a win.

We’ll learn a lot more about this year’s team during the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, where the competition will be much stiffer, and the Huskies will have to play multiple good teams in consecutive days, much like the NCAA Tournament. But as of now, UConn appears to be as good as initially advertised, if not better. The Huskies should be able to stick around in the Top 25 for most of the season and contend for the Big East title against the likes of the other three ranked Big East teams.