Thinking out loud… while wondering if I’m too indecisive. But now I’m not sure.
UConn’s Dan Hurley told CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander on Monday night that his Huskies were “pretty bulletproof” under the March lights. Which could qualify these players and coaches as supermen.
Because they were.
It probably pains some Faithful Friars that Big Brother of the West has had the success it has had in recent seasons.
Yes, the PC has a lot of tradition. They have Dave Gavitt, the founder of the Grand Orient and life as we know it. But UConn has credibility for the ages for what it has done in the last 25 years.
Consecutive Natty’s? SIX crowns since 1999? That’s not just blue blood status – when you consider the efforts to create parity that the sport has faced over the last 25 years.
That’s superhero status. At least for UConn fans, of course. But let’s include Coach Hurley and his team; finding the right players, teaching and coaching the right strategies and, above all, finding talented athletes who play selflessly and shoot the ball with great precision.
Emphasis on throwing the ball. Kim English (and every other coach, for that matter) now has a blue-blood Huskies plan on how to win at the highest level. Take a competent big, surround him with guys who shoot (and score) without conscience and defend like wild dogs.
Easy, right? In short: you can never have enough shooters. The Huskies were relentless on the floor and off the bench. They had answers for every attempt thrown at them. The game plan to beat a very good Purdue team was stunning in its simplicity – have someone other than National Player of the Year Zach Edey beat them.
Nobody did that.
This Connecticut team might be the best college basketball team in a generation — at least since the last undefeated Indiana team in 1976, nearly half a century ago.
∎Do you think Dr. James Naismith would recognize the game he invented 133 years ago? I think he’d be surprised by what Hurley did with his offensive sets and defensive intensity, even if he was put off by some of the, um, behavior.
∎Perhaps a little credit should be given to URI athletic director Thorr Bjorn, who initially recognized Coach Hurley’s drive and talent coming from Wagner College in 2012, letting him “grow” and learn in Kingston before Hurley accepted the challenge in Storrs.
∎And let’s not forget — although Hurley and his Huskies will likely downplay it — UConn has benefited enormously from the AAC’s Big East rescue mission. With all due respect to the American, it never was and never will be “The Grand Orient”. This is why there was a split more than a decade ago.
∎“Requiem for the Big East,” as ESPN titled its ‘infamous ’30 for 30′ series in 2014, was hardly a death knell. The Huskies’ reunion of familiar friends and foes sparked a match in the reconstituted league and set fire to it, following the growth and success of Villanova and Marquette along with the revitalization of Providence, Seton Hall and St. and Butler.
The Big East now has four national titles in its signature sport over the past eight years. The Big Ten hasn’t won ONE since that ‘thing’ known as Y2K.
Was he snubbed? Go get the whole enchilada. And add the NIT too, while you’re at it. Seton Hall’s win of the consolation prize is the first time a league has won both championships in the same season since 2006 (Florida – NCAA and South Carolina – SEC NIT) and the second time in history.
∎No wonder, but the City College of New York won BOTH titles in the same year, in 1950. Classes must not have been a priority back then, like in some places I know now.
∎And yet every year, college basketball’s powers that be (looking directly at you, Selection Committee) continue to drool over the flotsam and jetsam from Indiana, Iowa, Illinois and the sundry flotsam that now stretches from the left coast to Piscataway , New Jersey.
Please. This isn’t even a conference anymore. It’s a consortium committed to just one thing – making $$$ – while destroying amateurism as we knew it.
And if you think that’s wrong, listen to what one of your own, Purdue’s Matt Painter, said this week about Name, Image and Likeness $$$ ruining the sport as we knew it. Sometimes Goliath deserves to be hit by a rock thrown from a slingshot.
∎X Week I post by @AndyGold24: “The Big East now has as many championships in the last eight years (4) as the Big Ten has in the last 42 years.”
∎But wait, there’s more:
∎If anything, or anyone, could take the spotlight away from the national title game this week, it would be former UMass, Memphis and now former Kentucky coach John Calipari. And he did, overshadowing UConn’s coronation with his late-night jaunt to the Land of ‘Woo Pig, Sooie!’
I have to give credit to Coach Cal. He was always one step ahead of the group.
∎One move begat another, however, and Dan Hurley’s name was mentioned prominently in the search to replace Calipari at Kentucky. But why trade one blue blood for another – unless it’s purely about the Benjamins?
∎Coaching changes: Totaling 60 in men’s Division I, with five coming from the Missouri Valley at last count. Just one in the Big East (Chris Holtmann to DePaul), two in the Atlantic-10 (Saint Louis, Duquesne), one in Ivy (Cornell) and none in the America East. Until here.
∎Is the popularity of women’s hoops growing? 18.9 million watched natty, an all-time high for women. The men’s championship, by comparison, drew 14.8 million viewers…a 4% increase from the previous year…and surpassed the women’s semi-finals. Just saying’.
More: As women’s basketball grows in popularity, Providence and Rhode Island hope to follow suit
∎The Iowa-South Carolina game was the most-watched basketball game – men’s or women’s, college or professional – since 2019.
∎Caitlin Clark is certainly an internal catalyst. But this nonsense about her joining the NBA or getting drafted? Let’s go. This has been done before as little more than publicity stunts with two very good players, Ann Meyers and Nancy Lieberman, in the past. Don’t fall for the rhetoric.
∎No wonder, Part II: The NIT final between Seton Hall and Indiana State, in a packed Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, was also the most-watched NIT championship game.
∎Portal update: More than 1,500 players at the Division 1 men’s basketball level midweek, including DePaul’s entire roster from last season. I can’t remember a time when a DI team changed an entire roster from one year to the next. Even though St. John’s almost did it (only two players left) a year ago.
Eight former URI players remain in the transfer portal, which includes Zek Montgomery arriving at Bradley. And Bryant’s Earl Timberlake decided to stay at Smithfield his senior year.
∎CBS’ Jon Rothstein posted this week from sources that the Big East-Big 12 Battle will run its course and will not be renewed beyond next season. Coupled with Gavitt Games’ recently concluded series with the Big Ten, is this an early sign of changing scheduling strategies…especially in the Big East?
∎ Let’s just hope, as the Big East posted this week on “X,” that teams (and TV too) remember “iron sharpens iron.”
∎ Lost in the hustle and bustle during Final Four week was Providence athletic director Steve Napolillo’s decision to extend head coach Kim English’s contract by one year, keeping him on a six-year deal. It’s good to be proactive, but it’s better to be prepared when future suitors show up with more money on the table. And they will.
∎I thought it was really cool this week to watch some NBA games – at least plausibly interesting with the postseason approaching – and see former PC guard Justin Minaya (Portland) and former Rhody guard Jeff Dowtin (Philadelphia) showing off.
∎X Week III post from @BostonSportsInf: “Manny Ramirez will receive more money from the Red Sox this year than 20 of the 26 players on the Red Sox’s 2024 active MLB roster.”
∎Watching Brianna, daughter of Tim and Stacy Wakefield, throw out the first pitch for Fenway’s opener – to Jason Varitek, no less – was the most emotional scene I can remember. Wake passed on the final day of last season; His wife died less than five months later.
I mean, the Red Sox’s start to the season out West has been great, but…
…(Trevor’s) story is already over. It had been during the year following shoulder surgery. Lucas Giolito is out, Nick Pivetta on the IL, younger players forced to substitute and make mistakes. Yes, it was fun for a week.
∎Sorry, I just didn’t understand. I watch a lot of college football, and of course JJ McCarthy won at Michigan. He had a loaded team. Are the Patriots going to spend the third pick on a guy they think can make it in the NFL, especially without a loaded team?
The more I see trade rumors with Minnesota, the more I like them over taking McCarthy at three years if he is the pick of the day. Multiple first-rounders this year and another 2025 first-round pick for the third spot in the draft? Do it.
∎I’m just not sure how to frame OJ Simpson’s passing this week. Then, I will not go. I’m not even sure what to think. I know this: as a player, Orenthal James knew ball. As an announcer, “Juice” had charisma x 1000. As a person? How to be human? This is now between Simpson and his creator.
∎David in Providence wrote this week to mention the passing of Pete Wilk of Barrington from brain cancer earlier this month: “A good friend of mine…Pete grew up in Barrington and graduated from BHS. He was the head baseball coach at Georgetown for over 20 years and is the winningest coach in Georgetown baseball history. He was currently the head coach of the Vermont Lake Monsters in the Futures League and led his team to that championship several years ago.
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This article originally appeared in The Providence Journal: UConn Huskies Could Be the Best Men’s College Basketball Team Since ’76
