Bu≠ s await red- hot UConn club in NCAA Tournament opener

boulder » It’s a familiar adage to be wary of teams that enter the NCAA Tournament on a hot streak.

Unfortunately for the Colorado Buffaloes, few teams enter the 68- team fray riding a hotter streak than the UConn Huskies.

Despite finishing the regular season in the No. 6 slot in the American Athletic Conference, the Huskies ran the table in their league tournament, notching awin for the ages in a fourovertime odyssey in the opener against Cincinnati.

Granted, the AAC Tournament field did not include second- place finisher SMU, a top- 25 team for most of the season. But UConn still seemed unaffected by playing an entire extra half in the opener while advancing to defeat top- seeded Temple in the semifinals and Memphis in the championship game.

The eighth- seeded Buffs ( 22- 11) and ninth- seeded Huskies ( 24- 10) meet Thursday in Des Moines, Iowa, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The game begins at 11: 30 a. m. MDT.

“I know that they’ve got very good players and they’re extremely talented,” CU coach Tad Boyle said of the Huskies. “They have been inconsistent, like we have been inconsistent at times this year. They’re a team that can shoot the ball from three. They have some very dangerous 3- point shooters. Some really good guard play, and they’ve got a shot blocker inside ( 7- footer Amida Brimah) that really protects that rim.”

UConn, a four- time NCAA championship program, was No. 20 in the preseason Associated Press top- 25 poll and started the season with four consecutive wins, including a 74- 60 victory over Michigan in the Bahamas. Yet the Huskies lost three of their next four and their star slowly dimmed on the national stage, despite an impressive road win Dec. 29 against a Texas club that soon would knock off some of the nation’s best in Big 12 play.

Boyle noted the Huskies are similar to his team, and also compared them to Pac12 member Washington. Like the Buffs, UConn led its conference in free- throw shooting at 78.7 percent. While the Buffs led the Pac12 in 3- point percentage, UConn ranked second in the AAC (. 362) and will pose a threat to CU with its league- leading defensive field- goal percentage (. 382).