UConn Men's Basketball Could Be on Verge of Huge Return to Lineup

The UConn Huskies men's basketball team beat Michigan 85-77 in a national title game rematch on Friday night in Boston, and the Huskies appear to get even better in short order.

According to Matt Norlander of CBS Sports, guard Solo Ball is nearing a return to the lineup in the next month or so.

His broken wrist was initially supposed to keep him out this season. Instead, a return in the next month or so appears likely.

Indeed. Ball had surgery on his left wrist at the conclusion of the 2025-26 season and was supposed to miss the entirety of this year with a medical redshirt, but him coming back will be a big boost to an already excellent backcourt. And if he does return in the timeline that Norlander laid out, he'll be back right before the start of Big East play.

The rules, clearly. At the time that UConn announced Ball would miss the season, there was the presumption that he could retain this year of eligibility through a medical redshirt.

Well, a few weeks later, the NCAA adopted the "Five in Five" rule, meaning that players have five years to play five seasons, and there are no more medical redshirts or "sit out" redshirts. If you can't play, you simply burn a year of eligibility.

As a result, Ball is going to lose this year on his clock no matter what. If he can come back for 20 games, it's worth it. If he could have played five, it was worth it once the rules changed.

He'll have another full year of eligibility as well.

The questions will all be about fit and role. Obviously, UConn will have cultivated a playing identity and a rotation this summer, fall and early season without him. How quickly will he be able to assimilate back in?

Does Dan Hurley start him right away? Who does he take a spot from? Does he give him big minutes right away? Who does he take them away from? Does he ease him in gently? How does a player with a real successful resume like Ball feel about not getting big minutes if it goes that way?

All of those questions are things that Hurley and his staff will need to answer moving forward.

A rising senior from Virginia, Ball averaged 12.8 ppg for the Huskies last year. He played in all 39 games, also pulling down three rebounds and dishing out more than one assist per game. He helped UConn get to the national title game.

With Silas Demary in the fold at point guard, Ball was able to play at the shooting guard spot, but his shooting numbers regressed, presumably as a result of the injury. He was just 30 percent from three-point range after leading the Big East in the same category (41.4 percent) as a sophomore.

He won the national title with the Huskies as a freshman in 2023-24.