Houston lays blueprint for UConn
After a short stint in — and six-hour drive home from — Buffalo, a few observations from a distance on the NCAA tournament.
The UConn men’s basketball team may no longer be in the Big Dance. However …
THE TEAM THAT DAN HURLEY WANTED TO MODEL THE HUSKIES AFTER IS STILL PLAYING
“This is what we hope to look like in a couple of years.”
Dan Hurley said that three years ago, the day before UConn (13-11 at the time) was set to face Houston (23-1, ranked No. 9 in the nation at the time) at XL Center.
A couple of years later, the Huskies were a reasonable facsimile of that Cougar team — tough defense, strong rebounding, highlevel talent. Of course, Houston went to the Final Four last year, and head coach Kelvin Sampson has done perhaps an even better job this season.
The Cougars had lost two of their best players (Marcus Sasser, Tramon Mark) to season-ending injury by December. Yet Sampson & Co. forged ahead, making no excuses, and the Cougars are back in the Sweet 16 for a third straight year. Remember that, when you cherrypick a few games the Huskies were without Adama Sanogo and/or Tyrese Martin. Injuries happen, teams still have to persevere. Ask Houston. Or Creighton. Or Baylor. Or UCLA ...
Sampson put it all together with a group of mostly three- or four-star recruits, along with some key transfers. Which brings us to our next subject …
JOSH CARLTON IS STILL PLAYING
Carlton used his extra COVID year of eligibility to transfer from UConn after graduating in May, and landed in Houston.
It didn’t appear to be a great fit at first, with Houston known as a guard-oriented program thriving on athleticism and offensive rebounding. But Carlton, the 6-foot-10 center, dropped a ton of weight, emerged as the Coogs’ starting center and averaged 11.8 points and a team-high 6.3 rebounds per game.