THE NEXT BIG THING
Will Jordan Hawkins be UConn’s next March star?
We all know the names, forever emblazoned in UConn men's basketball history as heroes of March. Kemba Walker. Shabazz Napier. Emeka Okafor. Richard Hamilton. All national champions. All named Most Outstanding Player of their respective NCAA tournaments.
As UConn begins its march to what it hopes is a fifth NCAA tourney title, who could step up and complete that starting five of Husky championship heroes? There are multiple candidates on this deep, talented team: Adama Sanogo, the first-team All-Big East center. Andre Jackson Jr., the multi-dimensional athlete who's been playing some of his best basketball lately. Heck, Donovan Clingan, Sanogo's 7-foot-2 freshman back-up, was named MVP of UConn's title run at the highly competitive PK Invitational in November.
However, the most obvious candidate is Jordan Hawkins. Also a first-team All-Big East pick, the 6-foot-5 sophomore finishes as the league's leading scorer in league play (17.3 ppg). He hit 88 percent of his free throws, 38 percent of his 3-pointers and has displayed dazzling athleticism on both ends of the floor.
He's even improved defensively, second on the team in charges taken with eight. And, of course, Hawkins leads the world in getting fouled while taking a 3-pointer (unofficial tally: 17 and counting).
“He's showing right now why he's a superstar in the Big East,” freshman teammate Alex Karaban said. “He's so dangerous: his shot, he can put it on the deck, he's defending better now. He's just a star in this league.”
Now, as the NCAA Tournament beckons, can Jordan Hawkins go nationwide? You won't find many who don't think so.
“He's a special player,” Jackson Jr. said. “I love to play alongside him, I love to play him in practice and teach him little things. He teaches me a lot of things just from watching him play. It's great to be around him. I can't wait to see what he does in March.”
There is one thing that stands out among the list of UConn's NCAA tourney Most Outstanding Players. Kemba and Shabazz were point guards. Okafor was a center, Hamilton a wing. While a shooting guard would fit in perfectly to complete this fabled starting five, that position isn't heavily represented when it comes to heroes of March.
Point guards like Kemba, Shabazz, Mateen Cleaves, even Khalid El-Amin, or bigger players like Okafor, Danny Manning, Carmelo Anthony, Anthony Davis and Joakim Noah often stick out as March monarchs. Shooting guards? Not as much. Even Ray Allen, arguably UConn's greatest all-time player, never got to the Final Four.
But times are changing. The analytics-driven, fourout style of basketball that treasures 3-pointers and dunks/layups — and little to nothing in between — has shifted the importance of certain positions.
In fact, four of the last six NCAA tournament Most Outstanding Players (Baylor's Jared Butler, Virginia's
Kyle Guy and Villanova's Donte DiVincenzo and Ryan Arcidiacono) have been shooting guards.
“To advance in these tournaments in both the conference and the NCAA, you've got to have the perimeter guy that can go off and get you 20 or more and show up with that firepower,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “(Hawkins) believes that he's going to have a big March. I think our team's make-up is really good for tournament play, and I think his mindset … he's going to step up on the stage that we haven't been able to come through on yet.”
Hawkins had an up-and-down, injury-riddled freshman season, to the point where Hurley quipped that at times the staff was playing him “because we didn't want him to transfer.” He wound up averaging 5.8 points per game while shooting just 33.3 percent from 3, but Hurley sensed he's have a breakout sophomore campaign, even predicting that he's averaged 16.5 points per game. Hawkins averaged 16.4 per game this season. “He's a genius,” said Hawkins, who's also pretty good at buttering up his coach.
UConn hasn't always had to rely on Hawkins this season. In the PK Invitational championship game, Hawkins got into early foul trouble and scored just two points in a season-low five minutes. Clingan, Karaban & Co. picked up the slack in a 71-53 UConn victory.
But he's also come up big in big games: 26 points in a win over Oklahoma State, 24 in last week's win at Villanova, arguably the Huskies' biggest road win of the season.
Hawkins is already considered a likely 2023 firstround NBA draft pick.
“We like him a lot,” one Eastern Conference NBA
scout told Hearst Connecticut Media recently. “We think he's really talented, has big upside. I think he's more athletic and stronger than people think. He's become a really good player.”
A strong performance in a deep run through March could boost Hawkins' stock, possibly even into lotterypick territory. But the soft-spoken star isn't worried about any of that right now.
“I've always wanted to win a championship with this team,” he said. “We want to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.”
Hawkins had to miss the final two weeks of last season while in concussion protocol and could only sit and watch as the Huskies fell to New Mexico State in an NCAA tournament upset loss. The Huskies could have used him in that game, as they shot just 7-for-23 from 3 and never seemed comfortable.
“Not having him for the NCAA Tournament hurt us,” Hurley said. “When he didn't play, it hurt us a lot, especially when we were offensively-challenged last year at times from the 3-point line. He's gunning for a big month.”
Indeed, Jordan Hawkins is ready to make up for lost time.
“Jordan's not going to lose sleep the night before these games,” Hurley said. “He's a gunslinger, and he believes March is going to be a big month for us and for him. I don't think he has any doubt in his mind that he's going to get on the big stage and perform at a high level.”