NEW YORK — Eleven tables wrap around the Madison Square Garden court at Big East media day. At 10 locations, reporters flit in and out to interview coaches and players. At the UConn table, a three-deep throng of media camps out without budging, long before any Huskies representatives arrive.Dan Hurley was the main attraction Wednesday as the two-time defending national champion coach returned to the arena synonymous with Big East basketball, where he and the Huskies cut down the nets last March before tearing through the NCAA Tournament.Hurley hasn’t been shy about what he dubbed the elephant in the room, reminding his players since June about UConn’s opportunity to be the first three-peat champion since John Wooden’s UCLA teams ran the table from 1967-73.Hurley’s message: “The season that we’re gonna embark on is gonna be rare in terms of what we can accomplish,” he said, “to literally join those UCLA teams from a history of the game, historical opportunity, and how you (must) give everything that you absolutely have to reach that level of sport.”Two weeks ahead of the new college basketball season — and 4 1/2 months removed from declining a job offer from the Los Angeles Lakers — Hurley performed the balancing act of defending the Big East and UConn from a national “lack of respect” while fielding questions about his university’s recent flirtation with the Big 12.Discussions stalled in September, but they indicated UConn’s continued and public interest in searching for a future home that benefits football as well as basketball.”I understand those conversations that are going on externally, but I have very little influence on those things,” Hurley said. “By the same token, there’s not a better fit than the Big East for UConn from a basketball standpoint. It’s a perfect fit between both parties.”Hurley was in touch with Big East commissioner Val Ackerman while the Big 12-UConn talks were percolating and expressed to her how much he loved coaching in the Big East.”I can already see it in the AP poll, the lack of respect that the Big East gets from that standpoint,” Hurley said. “… We got buried by the committee last year. That was clear, once the tournament started, too, based on those results.”Perhaps fittingly, UConn begins its three-peat quest ranked No. 3, behind Kansas and Alabama. Working against the Huskies is the loss of four starters to the NBA: Stephon Castle, Donovan Clingan, Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer. It could have been all five, but forward Alex Karaban decided to return to Storrs in pursuit of his third title.For the Huskies, who had similar turnover after the 2023 championship, that’s old hat.”I guess maybe with just losing four starters to the NBA, we still believe — based on everything we lost the year before, losing three with two key bench pieces — that we’re not in uncharted territory,” Hurley said. “We’re very comfortable having lost a lot, because we just lost a lot and were even better.”Aidan Mahaney, a career 37.5 percent 3-point shooter from Saint Mary’s, projects as this year’s Spencer. Samson Johnson will fill more of a “point center” role in contrast to big men Clingan and Adama Sanogo before him.Then there’s Karaban, the do-it-all wing who had already returned to UConn when Hurley entertained the Lakers’ interest in him. Karaban felt the Huskies are stronger having gone through that wait-and-see period.”It was stressful. It’s obviously not the news that you’d want to hear, selfishly,” Karaban said. “But for Coach Hurley I was beyond happy because he’s changed my life, he’s changed countless other players’ lives, too. He deserved to go out there and make a decision for himself and his family. We were all just happy that he did that, and we were all happy that he came back.”UConn will have plenty of challengers during its bid for another Big East banner. Here are the three teams with the best shot and dethroning the Huskies:Marquette