Editor's Note: Dick Weiss, a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame, has covered college sports in Philadelphia and New York for more than 40 years. He will be providing regular commentary for the American Athletic Conference during the 2013-14 season.
NEW YORK-- The University of Connecticut was all dressed up with nowhere to go last season.
Despite a roster depleted by the transfers of starting senior forward Alex Oriakhi to Missouri and promising junior forward Roscoe Smith to UNLV and center Andre Drummond and guard Jeremy Lamb, who declared for the NBA early and were first-round selections, coach Kevin Ollie was resourceful enough to win 20 games.
But the Huskies were ruled ineligible for the NCAA tournament because of a sub-par Academic Progress Report that predated anyone on the current roster.
This season, there should be no keeping them out of the Big Dance.
The pre-season AP 18th-ranked Huskies may have as much depth as anyone in the American Athletic Conference, with the possible exception of defending national champion Louisville. That was never more evident than Friday night when UConn defeated Maryland, a solid ACC team, 78-77, in the season opener at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
"We don't really have starters or reserves. I've got 10 guys who can start,'' Ollie claimed afterwards. "I truly believe that. It's the guys I trust who are in at the end of the game. If we take care of the ball and get good shots, we've got a lot of weapons, a lot of guy who can do a lot of things.''
Ollie gave 10 different players meaningful playing time. All 10 scored, nine had at least one rebound.
The Huskies were hanging on after allowing a 67-50 lead melt away to two, guard Shabazz Napier, a first team All Big East selection last year, on the bench for the final three minutes, 12 seconds with five personal fouls and Ollie with only one starter, guard Ryan Boatwright, on the floor. But this UConn team is so deep that 6-9 senior Tyler Olander, a starter in the Huskies' 2011 national championship game, who is essentially the 10th man, can come into the game cold and make a defining play. Olander played only nine minutes, but hit the biggest shot of the game – a 3-pointer with just under two minutes remaining that pushed the Huskies’ lead back to five, 78-73. UConn made two huge defensive stops against future NBA guard Dez Wells, who missed two short jumpers with the game on the line in the final six seconds.
Last year, the Huskies were painfully thin, especially in the frontcourt, and, after a rash of injuries late in the season, Ollie was forced to finish the season with a six-player rotation. He had limited options, relying heavily on his starting backcourt to generate offense. Napier and Boatwright scored 46.3 percent of the team's points and 63.4 percent of their assists. Both averaged 30 plus minutes.
Napier and Boatright combined for 27 points against the Terps.
"Last year, Shabazz and I had to do so much that when we got gassed it seemed like nobody could step up,” Boatright said. "This game, we got a little bit gassed and guys were able to step up."
Ollie has grown nicely into this job since succeeded Calhoun.
He has five returning starters -- Napier, Boatright, sophomore wing Omar Calhoun and forwards Niels Giffey and De'Andre Daniels-- and has upgraded his size and depth with some resourceful recruiting and strong player development from his staff, The Huskies’ biggest problem last year was rebounding. In their opener, they outrebounded Maryland-- the fifth leading rebounding team in the country last year, 36-33, allowing them to play the way Ollie wants in up-tempo transition.
Ollie's biggest problem this season may be to find the best way to utilize his newly acquired treasure trove of versatile talent, particularly Griffey, the improved 6-7 senior forward who gained valuable experience playing for the German national team in the European championships over the summer, and 6-6 guard Lasan Kromah, a fifth-year graduate transfer who averaged double figures for three straight years at George Washington; and find minutes for 7-0 freshman center Amida Bramir, who could be the Huskies' next great player.
Giffey played 12 minutes in the first half, scoring 13 points, and Kromah played nine minutes and scored eight. In the second half, they combined for nine minutes and did not score, as Daniels and Calhoun resumed their roles.
"I know everybody on this team could play a whole different role if we were at a different school," Giffey said. "But that shows the mentality of our guys. Lasan had a great first half, I had a great first half and then we were on the bench for 10 minutes — but it doesn't matter as long as we win."
For Kromah, it has been a reunion of sorts since UConn assistant Karl Hobbs actually recruited Kromah while he was still head coach at GW.
Brimah was born in Ghana and was originally a striker for a local soccer team in his hometown of Accra when he was discovered by Nana Baafi, who played and coached in the United States after leaving that African country. Baafi trained Brimah and then convinced his parents, who are both college educated, to become his legal guardian so he could move to the Miami area and play high school and AAU ball in the States.
Brimah did not play much at first, but began turning heads after his junior year at Archbishop Carroll during a tournament in Indiana and the Florida Fall Festival, where UConn coaches began to notice. He led Archbishop Carroll to a 26-5 record, averaging 16 points, 11.7 rebounds and 7.2 blocks. Schools got involved late. Brimah visited La Salle, South Carolina, but the Huskies sealed the deal during his official visit in January, when he watched the UConn-Louisville game at the XL Center at Hartford.
Brimah arrived on campus in late June and he is on his own, with Baafi back in Miami. He has been working with associate head coach Glen Miller. He is the first true shot blocker UConn has had since Hasheem Thabeet in 2009 and already has better offensive footwork than Thabeet did as a freshman. Brimah had three blocks, five points and three rebounds in 15 minutes, including a rim-rattling dunk midway through the second half before getting into foul trouble.
"He's going to be a force," Ollie said. "The kid is going to be great if he keeps that passion about the game. I tell him he's passionate about his passion. You don't see a lot of people with that love for the game."
There is a renewed energy about this UConn team. And there will be no disappointment to deal with next March.
"Sky's the limit,'' Olander said.