STORRS, Conn. — The UConn men’s basketball team entered this year’s NCAA Tournament feeling the pressure to just advance past the first round having not done it in nine years.
After cruising past that preliminary goal, the team proceeded with a loose confidence and swagger that allowed it to dominate its way into the Final Four.
Now the Huskies are heavy favorites (-125) to win the whole thing.
“I don’t think there’s pressure around that, I think there was definitely more pressure around the first round,” redshirt freshman Alex Karaban said Tuesday. “But right now, I don’t think so, I think we’ve blocked out the noise and I wouldn’t consider us heavy favorites. I think the other three teams in this tournament are just as heavy favorites as we are so we’re going in there as like a clean, even slate.”
UConn, as a No. 4, is the highest seeded team remaining. Miami and San Diego State are both fives that have had to beat top-seeded teams along the way, and Florida Atlantic is a No. 9 that has had plenty of exciting results — the Owls (35-3) also have the most wins in the country.
But the Huskies have beaten every one of their opponents by 15 points or more and have been able to step back and take it all in during the final moments rather than sweat through the madness that March presents.
At the same time head coach Dan Hurley and his team know they’re not invincible.
“The struggles during the Big East play I think is a great reminder and something that we can reflect on, that if we get away from our identity — hardest-playing team on the court, play defense at an elite level, move the ball offensively and win the rebounding — if we get away from that, we’re as vulnerable as anyone else,” Hurley said, referring to the Huskies’ stretch of six losses in eight games in the middle of the season.
“We’ve already experienced it. And again, we were not a ranked team in the preseason. That was something that we utilized a lot early on, I guess it’s harder now because we’ve had a great season to this point. But we didn’t set out for the season, setting a goal of going to the Final Four — it’s an incredible accomplishment, but we want to play for a national championship on Monday.”
The team got back to campus a bit later than expected on Sunday after the plane had to be diverted to Providence thanks to fog at Bradley Airport, and any little bit of jet lag that may have accrued was immediately drilled out of them by Hurley once they got into the practice gym on Tuesday.
“He woke us up,” Karaban said. “And he kinda brought us back to reality because you can hear all the outside noise and all the compliments that you get, but he’s someone that brings you back.”
“I jumped them [Tuesday] in practice because they’ve gotta get their heads out of their phones,” Hurley said. “There’s obviously a lot of media and attention that comes with this that’s great for the university, it’s great for the basketball program. When you get on this stage it’s a great opportunity for everyone but we’ve got to be focused on the work, we’ve got, like, 101 hours or something — no one’s counting, but like 101 hours until we play. And we need to be completely immersed in our work and in preparation for a great Miami team.”
UConn has matched up with Miami 25 times in the program’s history and won 17. The last time the two programs played was in the 2019 Charleston Classic and UConn won, 80-55. The Final Four and the title game will be hosted at the 71,000-seat NRG Stadium in Houston, home of the NFL’s Texans.
UConn is 4-1 all time in national semifinals.
Meanwhile, Hurley has gone to his well of experienced voices in the industry, including the one who’s been in his shoes before, accumulating advice on coaching in his first Final Four.
“I’ve been just mining Coach Calhoun for information, advice, wisdom, especially in the last month but recently on overdrive, just to try to squeeze every bit of information from him. He’s been a fixture here and he’ll be back before we go for one last message for the boys and then he’ll be with us (in Houston),” Hurley said.
“Obviously Geno (Auriemma, the UConn women’s coach) has been an incredible resource since I’ve been here and he’s obviously been helpful to get ready for this weekend. Then for me, Jay Wright’s been great to me, Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski), with their Final Four experience. And then I have my own people: my brother, my dad, (ESPN college basketball analyst and former head coach) Seth Greenberg — the people that give me great advice just as a coach, really smart people that I respect.”
Future Husky on display
While the UConn men’s basketball team of now prepares for the Final Four in Houston, one Husky of the future, Stephon Castle, is displaying his talent in the same city a few days early.
Before the McDonald’s All-America game Tuesday night (9 p.m. ESPN), Castle put on a show during the East vs. West scrimmage on Monday and participated in the dunk contest — though Hurley says the incoming point guard has some work to do before First Night next season.
“I will be watching,” Hurley said, “Steph was unbelievable in the scrimmage, I don’t know if I could put him in First Night dunk after (Monday) night. I just think he made some strategic mistakes, he tried to go off the backboard first which now you’re relying on another person to help you. I don’t think he had great strategy with his dunk contest thing, but more importantly, he’s been great. People are raving about him this week. And the fact that he’s in Houston is pretty cool.”
