UConn men’s basketball receives votes in 2022 AP Preseason Poll

UConn men’s basketball came in with 101 votes in the Preseason AP Top 25 poll on Monday, the second-highest for a school outside of the Top 25 behind Texas A&M, who garnered 112 votes. North Carolina was voted as the preseason No. 1, while Creighton (No. 9) and Villanova (No. 16) represented the Big East. Xavier joined UConn in the receiving votes section with 29 votes.

The Huskies’ AP Poll ranking more or less tracks with their preseason ranking on common analytics sites. KenPom has UConn at No. 27 in its preseason rankings, while EvanMiya.com has the Huskies at No. 34. By not appearing in the top 25 this preseason, the Huskies are unranked in the preseason top 25 in back to back years for the first time since the 2016-17 season.

With the Huskies losing a majority of last year’s scoring with the loss of RJ Cole, Tyrese Martin, Isaiah Whaley and Tyler Polley all moving on due to graduation, UConn reloaded with impact transfers such Tristen Newton, Nahiem Alleyne and Hassan Diarra but remain a bit unknown, especially with the starting lineup still in flux.

Fortunately for UConn, the Huskies will have plenty of early opportunities to creep into ranked section of the poll. UConn will take on No. 21 Oregon in the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland, Oregon on Nov. 24 and could face No. 20 Alabama a day later. The Huskies will also head to Gainesville on Dec. 7 in their final non-conference road game of the season to take on a Florida squad that received three votes in this year’s preseason poll.