The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Huskies have been a lot of things lately, but lucky isn’t one of them
There are myriad reasons why UConn has essentially fallen off the face of the Earth the past three seasons.
Lack of talent, losing culture, occasional lethargic play, lack of leadership, inability to win on the road — heck, even conference realignment. All are factors, and most have been referenced by Dan Hurley as the Huskies are in danger of a third straight losing season for the first time in 32 years.
Bad luck is not one of the reasons why the Huskies have fallen hard times. It’s a loser’s lament, much like blaming the officials (which UConn fans, along with every other fanbase in America, are all-too quick to do after a loss).
Still, let’s face it: between injuries, an array of unlikely game-winning shots by opponents and other bad breaks at the end of games, the basketball gods haven’t exactly been smiling down on the Huskies over the past few seasons. Look no further than Sunday afternoon at the XL Center.
When Cane Broome’s 30-footer at the shot-clock buzzer left his hands with 12 seconds left and the Bearcats clinging to a one-point lead, there was a feeling of herewe-go-again inevitability. Somehow, you knew the shot was going in.
And, of course, it did, despite what Christian Vital called “one of our better defensive possessions” of the game. Was Broome’s shot lucky? No, he deserves credit. But 30-footers at the shotclock buzzer aren’t exactly what Mick Cronin was looking for in that possession.
That it was taken by Broome, who grew up about 15 minutes from the XL Center in East Hartford and was hoping for a scholarship offer from UConn a few years ago, only added to the Huskies’ woes.
While UConn has had a whole slew of blowout losses the past few years, it seems that in any close games, every late-game shot by an opponent goes in. Of course Broome, a 27-percent 3-point shooter, hits a pair of huge treys in the final 90 seconds on Sunday. Of course Aubrey Dawkins, who couldn’t buy a basket all night, hits a 3-pointer to put UCF up five with 1:42 left in an eventual victory. Of course Corey Henderson, Jr. hits an offbalance 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime (where Tulsa would eventually win) last season. Some of this, of course, is poor defense. But not all of it.
And the Huskies have been hurt by some spotty officiating down the stretch, as well. What if Gerry Pollard doesn’t mistakenly blow his whistle for a shot-clock violation late in the game against Houston, nullifying a UConn run-out that could have brought it to within four? What if Vital isn’t called for a questionable offensive foul in the final seconds of overtime at Cincinnati last month? What if, what if?
Still, you make your own good luck. When’s the last time UConn has hit a gamealtering shot in the waning seconds? Alterique Gilbert’s runner at the buzzer sent that Jan. 12 game at Cincinnati into overtime comes to mind, but the Huskies still lost. Adams’s driving layup in the final seconds at Temple two years ago is probably their last true game-winner.
Of course, injuries haven’t helped, either. From (Udoka) Azubuike to Zion (Williamson), every team has them. UConn hasn’t been the most injury-cursed program in the country. Heck, it’s not even the most injury-cursed program in its own conference. SMU, already down two scholarships due to NCAA sanctions, was without its best all-around player, Jarrey Foster, as well as Everett Ray when it clobbered UConn by 18 on Thursday night in Dallas. Both players are likely gone for the season.
In fact, both those players were also out last season, along with soon-to-be NBA draft pick Shake Milton, when SMU ran the Huskies out of the building in a firstround AAC tournament game — Kevin Ollie’s last as head coach.
UCF was probably an NCAA tournament team a year ago if not for devastating injuries to Dawkins, Tacko Fall and B.J. Taylor. Injuries happen.
But UConn has certainly been snakebit. The Huskies are 0-5 since Adams, the team’s best player and leading scorer, suffered a sprained MCL. He’s working hard to get back this season (don’t rule out Senior Night on March 7), but nothing is certain. Gilbert missed four games after injuring his surgically-repaired shoulder on Jan. 26 and has been rusty since his return on Thursday night. Kassoum Yakwe, expected to be the type of long-armed shotblocker Hurley needs, is out for the season, and it appears Mamadou Diarra essentially is, as well.
Gilbert, of course, missed nearly all the prior two seasons with his shoulder woes. Terry Larrier missed a decent chunk of time last season, as well. In fact, you could make the argument that Ollie deserved at least one more year at the helm with a (presumably) healthy roster. According to at least one source, Ollie believed he did. But let’s not go there.
If karma is a thing, maybe UConn used up its allotment of good luck over the prior decade. Look no further than Adams’s 75-footer against Cincinnati three years ago. Amida Brimah’s conventional 3-point play in the 2014 NCAA tourney wasn’t luck, per se, but let’s face it: offensive rebound putbacks and foul shooting weren’t exactly the big guy’s forte the rest of his career. If Arizona makes either of a pair of wide-open 3-point attempts in the waning seconds of the 2011 Elite Eight, Kemba Walker is ... well, still Kemba Walker, but maybe not Kemba — no last name needed.
Again, no one is claiming bad luck is the reason the UConn program is where it is right now. And no one — certainly not Mick Cronin — is feeling sorry for the Huskies.
But you might say the basketball gods owe UConn a break here or there moving forward.