The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Win over UCF could go long way
Huskies can bolster seeding prospects for AAC tourney
Even if UConn was to miraculously win its final seven games of the season, then a couple of games in the American Conference tournament, that still probably wouldn’t be enough to earn an NCAA tourney invite.
The Huskies would be 20-13 at that point, and their RPI likely wouldn’t have boosted up enough from its current 142 to keep them from the NIT.
And let’s face it: with SMU, Cincinnati and Memphis still on the schedule, and with road games at Houston and Temple, the Huskies aren’t going unbeaten the rest of the way.
No, UConn’s only route to the Big Dance this year is to win the AAC tournament. And the Huskies’ best chance to do that is to finish among the top five in the league standings. That way, they’d get a first-round bye and only have to win three games in three nights (all at the XL Center in Hartford, of course).
Finishing sixth or lower would mean the Huskies would have to win four games in four nights, a feat they nearly pulled off two years ago in Hartford before succumbing to SMU in the title game.
UConn can take an important step towards earning one of the top five seeds by beating UCF on Saturday (6 p.m., CBS Sports Network) at CFE Arena in Orlando, Florida.
The Huskies (11-12, 6-5 AAC) would currently own the No. 7 seed for the AAC tourney. UCF (15-9, 6-6) would be the sixth seed. If UConn can beat the Knights on Saturday, they’d jump over them in the league standings and own two victories over them this season.
The Huskies might also vault into fifth place if Tulsa loses at home to fourth-place Houston. Tulsa is cur-
FROM PAGE 1 rently 6-5 in league play but owns the tiebreaker over UConn by virtue of its New Year’s Eve win over the Huskies. (Tulsa and UConn only play once this season).
There’s still a month until the AAC tourney, but it’s not too early to say Saturday’s game has big implications for UConn’s flickering postseason hopes.
“Coach emphasized that we need to start winning these games,” sophomore guard Jalen Adams said after UConn’s 97-51 rout of USF on Wednesday night. “We can’t give up on this season yet. We can still put ourselves in a great position in the conference tournament, so we don’t have to play four games.”
If the season ended today, UConn would be the No. 7 seed and have to play No. 10 seed Tulane in a first-round Thursday game. Assuming the Huskies win that one, they’d have to face No. 2 seed SMU the next night. The Mustangs destroyed UConn by 20 points in Dallas a couple of weeks ago, and it wasn’t even that close.
If UConn was able to finish fifth, however, it would have a first-round bye into Friday’s quarterfinals and play the No. 4 seed, which is currently Houston.
It’s hard to imagine UConn climbing anywhere higher than the No. 5 seed. Memphis and Houston are currently No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, and both are 8-4 with prior wins over the Huskies. Of course, UConn does get to play both teams head-to-head once more this season.
Conversely, the Huskies aren’t likely to drop any further than No. 7. Temple is currently No. 8 at 4-8.
UConn put forth one of its better performance of the season in its first meeting with UCF on Jan. 8 at the XL Center, shooting 47 percent from the floor and rolling to a 64-49 win. But the Knights are 11-2 at home, while UConn is 2-6 on the road and just 1-4 in league play.
There’s still a long way to go after Saturday, but beating UCF and jumping over the Knights in the league standings would be an important first step in the Huskies’ slim hopes for an NCAA tourney bid.
“We definitely haven’t given up on this season,” Adams promised. “We’re definitely gonna keep fighting and trying to win some more games.”