by Dick Weiss, for The American
PHILADELPHIA – It was hard to believe. UConn’s men's basketball team, which has won four national championships, has been a perennial NCAA tournament team and produced 30 NBA draft picks in the last 28 years, finished with an uncharacteristic 16-17 record, its first losing season since 1987-88 – and was left out of postseason.
Mick Cronin of Cincinnati, whose team was picked by the coaches to win the American Athletic Conference this year, called UConn's temporary disappearance from the Top 25 an “anomaly.” "They were missing three key players," he said. ”It won't happen again.”
Huskies' coach Kevin Ollie hopes not.
“(Former UConn coach) Coach Dee (Rowe) came to me and said, ‘it's like you're playing with handcuffs,’” Ollie said.
UConn is finally healthy again with 13 scholarship players after going through an injury-ravaged season without two projected starters – Alterique Gilbert and Terry Larrier – along with forward Mamadou Diarra. It is also a team that lost Rodney Purvis, Amida Brimah and Kenton Fancy to graduation in addition to three transfers.
Fans in Storrs are not used to this uncertainty.
How quickly the eight newcomers coach Kevin Ollie has brought in blend with talented junior guard Jalen Adams, sophomore guard Christian Vital, Gilbert, Larrier and Diarra will determine whether the Huskies, who were picked fifth in The American’s preseason poll, are an NCAA team.
“I really don’t care about the rankings, whether they pick us one or two,” Ollie said. ”Some of the guys will see it on social media. Maybe it gives them motivation, but we’ll keep talking about just trying to get better. We're going to try to get them to come out and play UConn basketball. I’m teaching these guys how to jump to the basketball, going back to the basics, so I'm not worried about who's fifth or sixth or first.“
"We know how good our team is and we have our own expectations," Adams said. ”We're not really too worried about the outside world. We know what we've got inside our locker room and what we're capable of doing. Our expectations are to win the conference and first to get in the Top 25 before conference play even starts. Hopefully we can get a few big wins in our non-conference schedule.”
UConn opened last season with two disappointing home losses and dropped other non-conference games to Oklahoma State, Oregon, Ohio State and Georgetown. "We know what happened last year," Adams said, "and we know we can't have those early mistakes because they lead to your downfall.” The Huskies open with home games against Colgate, Stony Brook and Boston University before they head to Portland for the Phil Knight Invitational. UConn will be in the same bracket as Oregon and Michigan State. The Huskies play in Madison Square Garden against Syracuse on Dec. 5 in the Jimmy V Classic, and later have true road games at Arizona and Auburn. In the midst of the conference schedule, UConn plays Villanova at the XL Center in January.
Then there is The American, where several teams have a shot at playing in the postseason. ”It used to be a two-tier league,” Ollie said. ”But Wichita State is a Top 10 team and everybody is getting better, so the RPI for the league should be up.”
At the least, the Huskies, who finished the season practicing with six healthy players, will have a full 13-man roster if freshman Sidney Wilson, who signed with St. John's before changing his mind, receives a waiver from the NCAA to play immediately.
The Huskies strength lies in their backcourt, which should be among the best in the conference. Adams, who averaged 14.4 points and 6.1 assists, made the American first team and is on the Bob Cousy Watch List for the award given to the best point guard in the country, while Gilbert, a 2016 McDonald's All-American, was named The American’s Preseason Rookie of the Year for a second consecutive year.
"We had to hold Alterique out for a couple days to get a stronger, sturdier shoulder brace," Ollie said at the annual Middlesex Chamber of Commerce preseason breakfast. ”But he's practicing right now, full speed, and he's really giving our perimeter players, our guards, that dynamic two-guard look that we always try to have.”
Gilbert was averaging 10.3 points before going down with a season-ending shoulder injury in the third game of the year. His absence forced Ollie to use Adams almost exclusively at the point. Ollie, who coached the Huskies to a national championship in 2014 with Shabazz Napier and Ryan Boatright playing together, believes in the value of having two legitimate point guards together so there will always be multiple facilitators on the floor. Vital will be the third guard.
Larrier has the potential to be an impact swing player, but he hasn't played much in the past two years due to transferring and last year’s injury. ”I kind of call him a 3-D guy,” Ollie said. ”He can shoot the ball, defend multiple positions from 1 through 4 and allows us to spread the floor, which we didn't have last year.” Larrier led the Huskies in scoring with a 16.7 point average through the first three games before suffering a torn ACL and required season-ending surgery. Tyler Polley, a 6-8 freshman should be a competent backup.
The front court offers bigger challenges. Diarra, who came to school with a reputation as a fierce rebounder, is the only big man who has been part of the UConn program, playing 10 minutes in an exhibition game before a knee condition ended his season. ”We're going to need some guys to come in and rebound,” Ollie said. ”He's a rebounding machine when healthy. And we need to find 13 or 14 with Kenton and Amida having graduated.” Ollie also brought in a graduate transfer in 6-9 forward David Onuorah from Cornell and Eric Cobb from Chipola Junior College in hope of filling out the position with big bodies.
It is hard to predict the future for a team with so many questions, especially in a conference that is constantly growing stronger. But UConn has tradition on its side. And the Huskies expect to win.