Huskies’ confidence shouldn’t be shaken
For five games and about 51⁄2 minutes — 2051⁄2 minutes of basketball — UConn looked like not only the best team in the Big East but, to hear some talk, one of the very best in the country.
Gonzaga? Baylor? Illinois? Whatever. Once the Huskies got through rolling to a Big East tournament title, the Final Four could very well be their next destination, according to at least one veteran college hoops pundit.
Five straight wins by double digits completed UConn’s regular season, seven wins in eight games overall. James Bouknight and the rest of the team was healthy. The band was back together again.
The momentum continued with a 34-point rout of DePaul in a quarterfinal Big East tourney game that wasn’t even that close.
You could see a team clicking at just the right time, and feel its confidence. Hear it, too.
“To beat us,” Tyrese Martin said after the DePaul game, “you’re gonna have to do a lot of things. I don’t think there’s a team right now that can do
that.”
Bouknight’s severe cramping was the only concern, but coach Dan Hurley didn’t seem overly worried. And sure enough, Bouknight was back in the starting lineup on Friday against Creighton. Looked good on a conventional 3-point play that helped stake the Huskies a 13-2 lead 51⁄2 minutes into the game.
UConn’s beat continued on.
Then, Creighton reminded us all that there are other good teams in college basketball. Other good teams in the Big East. The Bluejays reminded us that they had already defeated UConn twice in the regular season. They went out and did “a lot of things” — namely rebound, tighten up their defense and hit a few big shots.
And just like that, the most highly-touted No. 3 seed in Big East tournament history had lost for the first time in nearly three weeks.
Clearly, the Huskies felt this was their tournament. Awaiting in the championship game was Georgetown, a team UConn had already defeated twice, including a convincing 16point win a week earlier.
UConn oozed confidence. Not cockiness. There was nothing fake about the Huskies’ bravado. They had earned the right to be confident, and the national praise they were getting — everyone from Donny Marshall to Donny Osmond seemed to pick them to win the Big East — probably contributed.
“We used that as fuel,” Creighton’s Damien Jefferson noted.
UConn lost. And maybe that’s not such a bad thing for this team. Not that a teary-eyed R.J. Cole or Isaiah Whaley or anyone else in a “crushed” locker room wanted to hear that. Hurley either. No coach worth his salt ever believes in a “good loss.”
The loss shouldn’t ease the Huskies’ confidence, but it could serve to show them that if they don’t bring their ‘A’ game every night in Indiana, where this year’s NCAA tournament will be held, their season could be over in a New York minute.
“This one stings,” Hurley said late Friday night. “But this is what the opening game is gonna feel like next week. I think as a program, we needed to experience the tension and intensity of a high-level game in March. We hadn’t been in one of those in years.”
SELECT COMPANY
As recommended by the NCAA, UConn is remaining in New York through Sunday’s Selection Show and will fly to Indiana either Sunday night or, more likely, Monday morning.
So what awaits the Huskies on Sunday? An NCAA tourney invite for the first time in six years is certain, but what seed will the Huskies get? A six seed? That’s what CBSSports.com’s Jerry Palm says. An eight seed? That’s what ESPN’s Joe Lunardi says. Maybe a seven? Maybe a nine?
Hard to say. Let’s be honest, while the Huskies’ team sheet looks pretty good (No. 30 NET, No. 18 KenPom, No. 15 BPI), the Huskies went just 1-4 against teams in the NET Top 30 and 0-5 against the other three top finishers in the Big East (the three losses to Creighton marked the first time UConn’s lost to an opponent three times in a season since 2016-17 against Cincinnati).
Husky fans will hope the Huskies can avoid an eight or nine seed, because that would mean, with a win, a likely bout with a No. 1 seed. Without question, the four likely No. 1 seeds — Gonzaga, Baylor, Illinois and, to a lesser degree, Michigan — have distanced themselves from the rest of the field.
But that’s all a bit overrated. If the Huskies truly want to be a Final Four team, there’s a good chance they’ll have to knock off one of those teams along the way at some point. Why not the second round?
UConn shouldn’t fear any team. No one is unbeatable (well, Gonzaga has been to this point, but still). Just look at all the higher seeds winning in New York this past week. Chaos has reigned throughout this COVID-19 season, and who doesn’t believe it will do so in Indiana?
So the Huskies will dry their eyes and feel good about themselves on Sunday when they learn their NCAA tournament fate. Who’ll be their first opponent? What will their seed be? Who cares. Bring ‘em on.
“We feel like we can play with anybody,” Hurley said on Friday, “and potentially beat anybody.”