Enough of the
2025-26 college basketball season has passed for analysts to recognize the
draft potential of players across the NCAA.
Wednesday’s
opinion comes from Sam
Vecenie of The Athletic, which published its first 2026 NBA Draft Big Board.
Vecenie ranked the top 100 prospects, which included four UConn starters.
No UConn player
was projected in the top three, with those honors going to AJ Dybantsa of BYU,
Darryn Peterson of Kansas and Cameron Boozer of Duke.
UConn and Duke
have not met this season, but Peterson was out with injury on Dec. 21 when the
Huskies defeated the Jayhawks 61-56. Dybantsa, tied for tops in the nation in
scoring (23.1 points per game), had 25 points and six rebounds when UConn narrowly
beat BYU 86-84 on Nov. 15.
UConn freshman
Brylon Mullins, whose career start was delayed by an ankle injury, did not play
against BYU and has been limited to just nine games for the Huskies (14-1).
Still, the
sample size was large enough for The Athletic to rank Mullins as the Huskies’
top prospect, sliding him in at No. 17.
Mullins has
shown great promise as head coach Dan Hurley has worked Mullins into first,
the rotation, and now the starting lineup. Indiana’s “Mr. Basketball” and a
McDonald’s All-American in 2025, Mullins is averaging 9.9 points and 3.6
rebounds in 22.3 minutes per game. He is shooting 34% from 3-point range.
So just where
did the rest of UConn’s terrific starting five land on The Athletic’s list?
Redshirt senior
forward Alex
Karaban, who could become the rarest of players to win three national championships,
is next on the top-100 list at No. 34.
On the season,
the 6-foot-8 Karaban is averaging 13.2 points and 5.5 rebounds and shooting
41.8% from long distance in 15 games.
Hurley gave Karaban high praise last week after he scored 19 points to lead the Huskies over
Xavier.
“Alex set
a tone,” he said, per
David Borges of CT Insider. “He’s been a Big East Player of the
Year/All-American-level player for us this year. Just another typical Alex
Karaban. The most under-appreciated great player in college basketball …
Captain America.”
Coming in at No.
43 was big man Tarris Reed Jr., the 6-11 senior. Injuries have limited him to
10 games, but he’s been key in the middle, averaging 13.9 points per game on
63.3% shooting and adding 7.7 boards.
More UConn
stories:
UConn
Officially Loses Star Running Back in Transfer Portal
Ex-UConn
Stars Set the Tone for Unrivaled Season
Upcoming
UConn WBB game with Notre Dame could have interesting twist
And at No. 57
is junior guard Silas Demary Jr., a Georgia transfer who has excelled at running
the offense this season. He’s averaging 5.7 assists to go with 9.1 points and
4.5 rebounds.
Noticeably
absent from the list is 6-4 junior guard Solo Ball, who leads UConn with 15.6 points per game. Here’s the reasoning behind that from Vecenie,
who clearly thinks Ball should spend a final season at UConn.
“I also don’t
rank underclassmen outside of the top 70. As R.J. Luis learned last year, there
is no reason to declare for the NBA Draft if you aren’t going to be selected —
or even if you are selected but end up on a two-way contract,” he wrote. “You
will likely make three times as much money in college as you would on a two-way
contract. Players who this rule impacted this time around include San Diego
State wing Miles Byrd, Arkansas wing Karter Knox, Connecticut guard Solo Ball,
Iowa forward Alvaro Folgueiras, Purdue big Daniel Jacobsen and dozens of
others.”
The rankings can
be fickle with more than five months still to go until the draft. Stay tuned.
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