What’s next for UConn after early March Madness exit? Three massive pivot points for Dan Hurley’s offseason

There will be no three-peat. Top-seeded Florida outlasted UConn 77-75 in Sunday’s second-round heavyweight fight. UConn had the Gators sweating early in the second half, but Walter Clayton Jr. would not be denied. Florida’s All-American guard delivered two enormous 3-pointers in the final three minutes, eliciting a classic “Onions!” call from legendary CBS Sports broadcaster Bill Raftery.

The Big East, who has taken center stage in each of the past two NCAA Tournaments, will have no representation in the Sweet 16 after UConn, Marquette, Creighton, Xavier and St. John’s bowed out in the last 48 hours. 

Dan Hurley will have no time to rest. The transfer portal has been simmering for weeks, but it officially opens Monday. UConn has as consequential an offseason as any program in college basketball. So, what’s next for the Huskies?

Point guard void looms large

Veteran Hassan Diarra exhausted eligibility and prized Saint Mary’s transfer Aidan Mahaney had a turbulent first season in Storrs. UConn will certainly be looking to upgrade the point guard position in a major way. It should have room in its budget to make a major splash, and Hurley has to hit in a big way. 

Transparently, UConn did not get good enough play out of its top-two options at point guard this season. Diarra was banged up, turned it over too much and didn’t offer much as a floor-spacer. Mahaney looked completely out of sorts athletically and struggled to guard the ball early and often in his first year at a high-major program.

Hurley has connected on grand slams in the transfer portal before (see: Spencer, Cam), and he needs to dial up another up in his next at-bat. 

Retention, retention, retention

This UConn roster needs to look vastly different next season, but retention is always going to be important in a development-first program like Hurley’s. Liam McNeeley looks every bit the part of a first-round pick, and he is not expected back in Storrs for his sophomore season. But Solo Ball, Tarris Reed and Alex Karaban are three rotation staples who could return. Karaban returned to UConn to chase a third-straight banner and cement himself as an all-time winner in college basketball history while improving his NBA Draft stock. 

Obviously, that didn’t happen. Karaban did not live up to the preseason All-American hype, but there still may be room in the NBA for a sharp processor who has a three-year sample size of shooting north of 35% from downtown. UConn should have a lucrative deal with his name on it should he choose to run it back, but the feedback from NBA front offices will be everything. Ball, one of the top sharpshooters in the sport, should be back for his junior season. He’ll be a popular preseason All-Big East selection next winter. Reed is a bit more complicated. On paper, he has the path to be a full-time starter for UConn next season now that Samson Johnson is out of eligibility. Does UConn want him back? Remember, those mid-January days were rocky. But the Year 2 transfer jump is a real thing, and a tuned-up Reed can be a double-double machine. Fellow toolsy sophomore wings like Jaylin Stewart and Jayden Ross will also have decisions to make rather quickly.

Dan Hurley has UConn’s next wave of stars lined up, but how much of the old guard will stick around?

Eric Bossi

If UConn gets a few familiar faces back to pair with its third-ranked 2025 recruiting class and a splashy portal class, it will be positioned near the top of the Big East yet again.

Can UConn keep its staff together?

Texas choosing to fire Rodney Terry has a ripple effect on UConn. Texas is expected to make a major run at Xavier coach Sean Miller, and the Xavier brass would be silly not to be interested in UConn prized assistant Luke Murray. Fellow UConn staffer Kimani Young is also generating buzz for some vacancies.

Hurley believes he has the best coaching staff in the country. Can he keep the band together after a painful March exit?