It’s getting late early for Connecticut.
The University of Connecticut limps into Wednesday afternoon’s game against Oregon in the Maui Invitational. These Huskies have bruised bodies and bruises egos and if they don’t play better and get healthier, this season will be a lost cause.
You can’t win the national championship in November, but you can certainly play your way out of the NCAA Tournament field with early terrible losses. No team in the nation has endured a more baffling and disappointing start than UConn (2-3).
Tuesday’s 93-82 victory over Division II Chaminade won’t inspire any confidence (the score was tied at 45 at halftime). But with only eight available healthy players, the Huskies were in survive-and-advance mode. Will that be enough to overcome No. 12 Oregon (3-2), the Pac-12 favorite and a national championship hopeful? UConn is running out of chances to pick up quality non-conference wins.
“It’s just ‘everybody, hands on deck’ and come in the game and have energy, play with effort, and keep believing,” Ollie told reporters, including the Hartford Courant‘s Dom Amore. “That’s my motto. You know. You’ve been around me for a long time. I’m not going to give in. I’m not going to quit. I’m not going to let those guys quit whether we have five guys and we have walk-ons.”
Guard Alterique Gilbert (dislocated shoulder) hasn’t played at all in Maui. Swingman Terry Larrier (sprained knee) missed Tuesday’s game and may not play Wednesday. However, even before the rash of injuries depleted the roster, UConn was in trouble.
Even Ollie called it “a dark time.” Losing the season-opener at home to Wagner was bad enough. Losing the next game at home against Northeastern was catastrophic. The Huskies, off to their worst start since 1968, were ranked No. 18 in the Associated Press preseason poll. OK, so maybe Wagner might be decent – the Seahawks were picked to finish second in the Northeast Conference. But Northeastern was picked seventh in the Colonial Athletic Association.
https://twitter.com/UCONNBarstool/status/801186610205204480
Some teams recover from puzzling non-conference home losses to mid-majors (see Wisconsin from last year). Some don’t (see UCLA from last year). UConn has put itself in a position where it can’t afford many more bad losses. Not if it aspires to get an at-large NCAA tournament bid.
Imagine a winter in Connecticut without a realistic shot at the NCAA tournament (shudder).
Storrs, Connecticut can be a dreary place. The one thing the locals annually look forward to is college basketball. Connecticut is the nouveau riche among basketball powers. All of four of their championships have come since 1999. Nobody – not even Duke – can boast that run of success.
If you’re old enough, you might remember a time when UConn couldn’t even compete in the Big East. People laughed at Huskies hoops the way people now mock Rutgers. Jim Calhoun (three NCAA championships) built a monster and Kevin Ollie continued to feed it by shockingly winning the 2014 NCAA title as a No. 7 seed.
That victory bought Ollie credibility and he is routinely mentioned as a college coach who may be tempted to make the jump to the NBA.
https://twitter.com/JosephNardone/status/801186328805310464
But for the foreseeable future, he’s the man in charge at UConn and it’s up to him to fix these Huskies. Perhaps doing a recent TV interview with scotch tape on his face was a harbinger of bad things to come.
Somebody save Kevin Ollie: https://t.co/c7007cIulq pic.twitter.com/XjsW2IfF8r
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) October 24, 2016
As of Tuesday night, Kenpom.com ranked UConn No. 69, with its strength of schedule No. 188. March is a long way away. However, you can play your way right out of a potential at-large bid in the NCAA tournament with one bad non-conference loss. The Huskies already have two and its victories are against Loyola Marymount (65-62) and Chaminade.
What’s gone wrong? Before Maui, it was the offense. The Huskies were No. 98 in offensive efficiency, hadn’t cracked 70 points and were shooting 37.5 percent. They were No. 297 out of 347 teams in field-goal percentage and No. 265 in free-throw percentage (62.1).
Now the defense is leaking. Oklahoma State shot 45.9 percent on Monday. Chaminade shot 46 percent yesterday. Seven-foot shot-blocker Amida Brimah can only do so much.
UConn should be better than this. It was picked to finished second in the AAC to Cincinnati. Sophomore guard Jalen Adams was a second-team all-conference pick. Gilbert was named the Preseason Rookie of the Year and VCU transfer Terry Larrier can be an impact player.
Assuming UConn gets healthy, it will get three more chances to get quality non-conference victories. The Huskies play Syracuse, Ohio State and Auburn in December before opening up league play at home against Houston.
This is a critical time for UConn as a school. It has sustained collateral damage in conference realignment. The university is “stuck” in the AAC after failing to gain entry into the Big 12. That option was denied when the league decided not to expand. For now, the Huskies remain on the outside of the Power 5 conferences – the true power-brokers in college sports. Keeping the men’s basketball program relevant is vital for any future chance to break in.
This season is far from over but if the Huskies don’t start beating good teams, the end might come quicker than anyone would have predicted. Defeating Oregon would be a step in the right direction.
“We’re definitely looking forward to playing a top 20 team,” Adams said, via the New Haven Register‘s David Borges. “It’s a good challenge for our team, see where we’re at. We think we can compete with the best of them. We’re anxious to play that team.”
