The Huskies breezed through the first two rounds of the Big East Tournament, only to lose badly to St. John’s in the final.
Does UConn have what it takes to make a deep NCAA Tournament run? Despite a 29-5 record and a stellar run through non-conference play, some doubts have emerged around this team.
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The Boogeyman
Martin: UConn finishes the regular season with the 30th-ranked offense on KenPom. It’s looked downright brilliant at times, and unwatchable at others.
You can have all of the off-ball movement, slips, pindowns, and decoys you want, but if you can’t deprogram it on occasion, it becomes a book too easily read by a scout. Rick Pitino is among the best in the business at taking away your strengths. He knows that the top-locking and ball pressure grinds UConn’s offense down to a halt, and he has the athletes up and down the roster to apply that pressure consistently throughout a game without wearing out.
This isn’t a novel concept; Hurley’s talked about deprograming the offense for the last 12 months. Silas Demary Jr was supposed to be that downhill, go-get-a-bucket guy. But to do it against a defense like St. John’s, they need more than just one person on the roster who can break the first line of ball pressure comfortably.
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But that’s a discussion for May. The good news for Husky fans is that not many teams 1. have Rick Pitino and 2. the talent to pull off that type of strategy.
Which leads me to my second takeaway…
This Feels Familiar
Martin: Hurley has been adamant all year about avoiding comparisons of the 2023 and 2024 teams. That’s smart. But there are parallels with the season dynamic.
People forget, that was Marquette’s Big East. UConn was overmatched in that title game. And that 2023 team blew through the non-con, struggled a bit in the Big East, was exposed in the Big East final, and even struggled a little vs. Iona before, well, you know.
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But the same questions about UConn that people have now, people had on Selection Sunday in 2023. “Those wins vs. Alabama and Iowa State were a long time ago.” “They didn’t cruise through the Big East.” “They can’t beat a team like Marquette.”
Don’t be surprised if UConn looks like an entirely different team away from the Big East. The Huskies’ inability to handle the Big East is a conversation for another time. Right now, there’s a world where this sour feeling is gone in a week.
Bigger than the result
Wilson: While it would have been nice to see UConn cut down the nets on Saturday night and fulfill one of its many goals this year, especially after missing out on one the week prior, the result is secondary to the injury news of Silas Demary Jr.
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Demary went down twice in the second half, both times going back to the locker room, with what looked like a lower-body injury. After the game, Hurley confirmed that it seemed like it was a mild ankle sprain, which is amazing news for Husky fans after their last vision of him was Alec Millender and the team trainer helping him off the floor at MSG.
X-rays came back negative on Demary’s ankle and he was spotted on Sunday at the team’s Selection Sunday watch party walking without a boot, which is also a great sign. With the NCAA Tournament starting later this week, any injury is a bad injury for every player, especially your starting point guard.
Should Demary have gone back into the game after his initial fall after getting blocked (and probably fouled) by Zuby Ejiofor? Seeing how they had to stop play and wait a good couple minutes before he could get up, that would have been a sign for him to sit for the rest of what ended up as a 20 point loss. The Huskies dodged a bullet if he is ok, but things could have been a lot worse.
Still Very Inconsistent
Wilson: The Huskies have been playing as inconsistently as any top team in the country the past few weeks. Starting really with the shocking home loss to Creighton, UConn has turned in some great performances, followed by head-scratchers.
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In a 10-day span, they beat St. John’s by 32 and lost on the road against a bottom-feeding Marquette squad with a comeback win over Seton Hall in between. They had a dominant win and a blow out loss against the Red Storm in a two-and-a-half week span. They followed up the loss to the Bluejays by winning by double digits on the road against an NCAA Tournament team in Villanova.
When asked about why the team hasn’t been able to put it together as of late, Alex Karaban didn’t really have an answer.
“I’m not sure what the inconsistency is,” Karaban said after the loss Saturday. “It might be turnovers. We had a lot of turnovers today. I think in all those losses, we had a bunch of turnovers. We just didn’t defend at the level that we typically would defend at.”
If you don’t defend in the NCAA Tournament, you won’t be going very far. We’ve seen the Huskies at their peak this year earlier this winter when they beat Illinois, Kansas and Florida in succession. If that UConn team shows up, it will have a bunch of success. It’s on Hurley and the staff to reignite whatever fire the team had in November and December.
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Turnovers May Not Go Away in the NCAAs
Kidwai: While I believe that the Huskies will look better when they’re not being mauled in front of Big East refs, I don’t know if that will address the turnovers or the lack of a go-to scorer when things aren’t going right.
As the Huskies prepare for the NCAA Tournament, it’s clear that the top tier of competition in the country is looking pretty fierce. UConn still should make it out of the first weekend, but after that, anything can happen. They’re in Duke’s region and could meet 3-seeded Michigan State or 6-seed Louisville in the Sweet 16 and No. 4 Kansas, No. 5 St. John’s, or the Blue Devils in the Elite Eight.
While the NCAA Tournament matters most, winning a league crown is one of the ways to mark success for your season no matter what happens in the Big Dance. The Huskies missed out on two opportunities to capture on of those titles this year, leaving doubts as to their ability to win a big game. They’ve had a lot of close games, coming out on top in most, so if it gets there in the tourney they should hold up, unless foul shooting and inbounding become issues again.
