St. John's and UConn were two of the biggest storylines of the 2024-25 men's college basketball season, with the Red Storm's resurgence as a top-10 team under Rick Pitino and the Huskies' inconsistency in their quest for a third straight national championship.
Given the work of both programs this spring, neither is leaving the national discussion in 2025-26, with both rising up the rankings during the transfer cycle and settling in behind Purdue at the top of our latest iteration of the early top 25 (Version 4.0, for those counting at home).
The Huskies and Red Storm went about it in different ways.