STORRS, Conn. — A day before the 2024 national championship game, UConn men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley quipped that his biggest motivation to keep winning was so that he could delay having to deal with the chaos of the transfer portal. He could “hide behind” the fact that his team was still playing while programs around the country scrambled to get their puzzle pieces in order.

The tone was different on Wednesday, when Hurley spoke for about a half hour recapping the 2024-25 season and the challenges on and off the court that had a hand in a potential run being snuffed out by top-seeded Florida in the Round of 32, a day before the portal opened.

There will be no hiding from it this year.

“It’ll be nice to go back to hunting and not being hunted,” Hurley said, facing an offseason that will be his most challenging yet, given all of the moving parts and dollar signs.

“Without going into too much detail, it’s become the NBA or the G League,” he said. “If your college team is not functioning like an NBA front office right now, you’re just swimming in it this time of year and you’re completely lost.”

More than 1,100 players had entered the portal as of Thursday morning. Some have already committed to their new schools, many have been in talks with several.

Hurley said UConn is always going to get off to a later start because “we’re not the school that’s recruiting players off other people’s team’s while the season’s going on.” He remains determined to bring in players who fit the mold and the culture that has proven to have success at the highest level, but that has only become more difficult with the dollar amounts thrown around in the bidding process.

“Our responsibility is to put together a championship team,” he said, the goal remaining the same. “We’ve got to put together a championship roster with championship-level players and makeup. That’s got to be your goal every year. Because it’s a year-to-year thing now.”

Hurley didn’t get into specifics on any positions the Huskies are looking to fill. But he did say defense would be a main area of focus after struggling at that end of the court throughout the regular season. Strong defensive players — Andre Jackson Jr., Donovan Clingan, Stephon Castle — were keys to the back-to-back title teams.

“When we guarded at the end of the year in spots, we were a different team. But if you don’t do it the whole year you end up as an 8 seed playing the No. 1 seed in the second round,” he said. “Some of it’s gonna get affected by who stays and who goes. … Just (focused on) getting back to being an elite defensive team that scores off its defense the way we’ve been.”

So, who stays and who goes?

Hurley wouldn’t get into specifics on that either. Part of it being due to the fact that he allows players to announce their own moves. The other part being that it’s still early — and while he knows more than anyone outside the program, as he pointed out, even he can’t be sure of what offers may come in to pluck his players.

“I think you have an idea. I think overall, you know the people that want to be here and then the people that it makes sense for them to turn pro, or to transfer,” he said. “These guys all fit into different buckets. Some of these guys have an easy decision based on NBA or, ‘Should I leave?’ Some of them have no-brainers to stay and some of them have harder choices to make.”

Hassan Diarra and Samson Johnson are the only Huskies without decisions to make, having exhausted their eligibility.

Five-star freshman Liam McNeeley came in with the feeling of a one-and-done, lottery-pick type of prospect, similar to Castle in that regard. He was projected to be a first-round pick throughout the season and if that remains the case, his decision would likely be one of the easy ones. Solo Ball appeared on some mock drafts toward the end of the season, but Hurley insinuated that he is likely to stay for another season of development and potentially be counted on as a leader in his third year with the program.

Alex Karaban’s decision appears much more difficult.

“Alex has accomplished everything you can in college and more with what he’s been able to do. I mean, no one wins one national championship, he won two in a row. And then he came back with honor to try to get a third and he fought and led and was awesome. It’s a life choice for him at this point,” Hurley said. “NIL has made it for these kids where, unless you’re going to be a lottery pick or you’ve got to do the first round thing and it’s a great spot for you, now it’s a tougher decision for these kids that are (projected to be picked at the) end of the first round, into the second round on, ‘What do I do?’ It’s more complex that way.”

Whatever Karaban decides to do could have a domino effect on a large part of the roster. UConn loaded up with forwards going into the season, creating a logjam at the position where Jaylin Stewart, Jayden Ross and Isaiah Abraham didn’t have as much opportunity as they may have expected. Abraham announced his decision to enter the portal on Thursday.

Tarris Reed Jr. developed into a formidable low-post player in his first year at UConn, after spending his first two at Michigan. That is both good and bad for the Huskies, as he will likely attract big-money offers to go elsewhere.

Will Aidan Mahaney stick around after a tough, pressure-packed season? Will Ahmad Nowell look for a different opportunity after very little usage in his freshman year?

UConn has the nation’s third-ranked recruiting class set to come in, headlined by three McDonald’s All-Americans: guards Braylon Mullins and Darius Adams, and 7-footer Eric Reibe, in addition to a hard-nosed Australian guard in Jacob Furphy. But the current college landscape doesn’t often bode well for young rosters – maybe a bigger, veteran point guard could be the perfect portal addition.

Time will tell.

“Things are a little more intense right now,” Hurley said. “There’s areas that we know we need to address, and we love the recruiting class. You value all of the players and want them all to return, but you know that that’s not reality. You want to return the people that you really need to stay, and then supplement in the portal.

“But we’ve got to put together a championship team this year.”

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