Spencer stays focused amid Final Four hoopla
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Dan Hurley made the adjustment after Uconn was knocked out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament two years in a row. The Huskies were coming into the dance far too stressed, not enjoying the event for the spectacle that it is.
Last season the team came in loose and was able to have some fun. And the results spoke for themselves.
Despite the well-documented travel issues — not an “enjoyable experience,” Alex Karaban said — the team was able to get shots up in State Farm Stadium after they got in on Thursday and attended Fan Fest that night.
“You get new life when you come into this arena, you get new life when you see all of the Final Four signs and you just get super excited. We’re all super excited, we’re super blessed and we just can’t wait to play (Saturday),” Karaban said. “(Hurley is) really making sure we really just enjoy everything that comes with the Final Four and, in a way it’s a little bit of a celebration, but at the same time he’s definitely still the same coach. The intensity is there and if we’re not living up to the standard in practice he’s gonna let us know.”
If any of Hurley’s intensity dropped, the one he’s called “mini me,” Cam Spencer, would be right there to pick it up.
Spencer, a fifth-year who transferred in from Rutgers, wants more than anything to experience winning a national championship like his coach and several teammates.
“All of the other stuff is great but, you know, I came here to win,” Spencer said. “I’m really focused on beating Alabama (Saturday) night. I think time for reflection is for another time. We came here to win two games and that’s really what I’m focused on and I think we all are as a team.”
‘We’ll be back’:
It is the first Final Four experience for Uconn freshmen Stephon Castle and Jaylin Stewart, but they each have recent basketball memories that were made in Phoenix and at State Farm Stadium in Glendale.
Stewart played in the Section 7 basketball tournament in the stadium when he was in high school in Seattle. The event includes 400 high school teams from 12 different western states. “It’s crazy to look around (in the NFL stadium) and see that much space,” he said.
Castle made his trip to the desert in August and attended Milwaukee Bucks star Damian Lillard’s Formula Zero camp with 39 other college and high school basketball prospects. The camp refers to college players as “counselors,” and that included Castle, who had moved into Storrs for his freshman season. He was named the “Most Improved Counselor” after the four days.
“I told them when I was there, ‘We’ll be back for the Final Four,’ Castle said. “And here we are.”
Trainer James Doran on baby duty, did not make trip:
James Doran, Uconn’s associate head athletic trainer for the last 19 years, did not make the trip as he and his wife, Annie, were expecting their first child, a daughter. Annie had the baby, named Maddie, on Tuesday night. In his place is Tavarus Ferguson, the Huskies’ associate athletic trainer who largely focuses on the men’s soccer and women’s rowing teams.
Dan Hurley on lie detector:
The Huskies weren’t expected to have this much success – beating teams by an average of 27.8 points in the tournament – after their national championship last year, losing five of their top eight players. Hurley admitted Friday he may not have thought they’d play this well either.
“Coming into the year, I don’t think people on outside expected us to play this well. I don’t know if you stuck a lie detector on me if I thought we’d play this well, especially in a tournament that’s so hard. It’s so hard to advance in this tournament and get to a Final Four,” he said. “I mean, look at the biggest brands, the best programs historically have a hard time getting to a Final Four in recent history. I get it. We’ve been brilliant. We’ve played great.
“The thing about this tournament, though, none of that matters on Saturday. We are going to have this two-hour game versus Alabama. If we’re not on point, we won’t play on Monday.”
Purdue’s Zach Edey wins second AP Player of the Year award:
Edey, the Boilermakers’ dominant 7-foot-4 center, was named AP Player of the Year for the second year in a row on Friday. He is the first back-to-back winner since Ralph Sampson won three in a row at Virginia from 1981-83 and the sixth player to win multiple times, joining Lew Alcindor (UCLA), Bill Walton (UCLA), David Thompson (NC State) and Jerry Lucas (Ohio State).
Edey averaged 25 points, 12.2 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game as he lead Purdue to the Final Four, where it meets NC State at 6:09 p.m. on Saturday. He received 57 of 62 votes, with Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht receiving three and Houston’s Shead earning two.