UConn was not even ranked at the beginning of this season. The whole country missed in their evaluation of the Husky basketball program
have a different perspective than most folks on this board. I have been in Indiana alum for 40 plus years. But I am also a UConn grad for even longer.
When I was in the Storrs, the Huskies played on rolled out bleachers in a field house in front of about 3,000 fans. We played in the Yankee Conference against teams like Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Boston University etc. To put things in perspective Yale was a big game every year. Meanwhile Bobby Knight was making the Indiana program legendary.
Jim Calhoun came to UConn after having tremendous success at Northeastern University, to a large extent having Reggie Lewis on his team. You may remember that Reggie was a rising star on the Boston Celtics when he tragically dropped dead from a heart ailment.
This may not sit well with Hoosier fans but Jim Calhoun had a coaching career that easily rivaled the success of Bob Knight. Calhoun went to UConn when the Big East was formed. In the Big East's infancy in 1985 Georgetown, St John's and Villanova were all in the Final Four. Georgetown, Villanova, Connecticut and Syracuse all went on to be national champions. Seton Hall also made it to the championship game those early years. So although Calhoun did not have immediate success in the Big East it was because he took over a second tier team in a conference that was much better than the Big 10.
When Calhoun retired, assistant coach Kevin Ollie was handed the reins to a team that was put on probation primarily due to issues related to lack of academic advancement. But in Kevin's next season he won the national championship.
After that the UConn program went into a bit of disarray. And that was due primarily due to the reshuffling of conferences that resulted some television contracts. There were only a couple of schools in the Big East that had halfway decent football programs and some had no football programs at all. Ever heard about Georgetown football or St John's football? Syracuse and Boston College could not get into a decent football conference unless unless they brought the basketball programs with them. For a couple of years Miami join the Big East but the conference collapsed after Miami, Syracuse and Boston College left the conference for more television money.
UConn ended up in the newly formed American Athletic Conference which lacked a big television contract and consequently did not attract top-level talent. The Huskies were now struggling and Kevin Ollie was not winning.
Enter Dan Hurley. Now the Big East conference has been resurrected and in a relatively short period of time UConn has been transformed into the best team in the country. And they did that with a couple of freshmen from Connecticut, some international students and some transfers from second-tier programs. Their starting point guard this year was not even really a point guard and last year he played for East Carolina.
Watching the Huskies in the NCAA tournament this year I wondered how many Hoosiers would even be on the Husky roster. It was a short list. Even if they have three underclassmen enter the draft, they're bringing in the fourth best recruiting class in the country next year and we have seen what they can do in the portal. You could not tell that the national champions this year was a cut and paste team with a bunch of players that did not even play on the same team last year. And that is because Dan Hurley is a fantastic coach who got everybody to buy in on their offensive strategy and their defensive strategy. It was a team with no weaknesses that look like they were playing together for years.
And kudos to Florida Atlantic, Miami and San Diego State. By the way San Diego State has won at least 20 games for 15 consecutive years. A lot of people were disappointed that there were no Blue Bloods in the final four. That is because they all got whooped in the tournament.
I am a huge Indiana fan and have been for decades and for the most part I have kept my mouth shut about UConn basketball on this board because the program had disappeared for a few years.
In my opinion the Big ten needs to retool its basketball philosophy. They are not losing in the NCAA tournament every year because they beat each other up all season long. They are not winning because the game has changed and the conference has not. End of rant.
have a different perspective than most folks on this board. I have been in Indiana alum for 40 plus years. But I am also a UConn grad for even longer.
When I was in the Storrs, the Huskies played on rolled out bleachers in a field house in front of about 3,000 fans. We played in the Yankee Conference against teams like Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Boston University etc. To put things in perspective Yale was a big game every year. Meanwhile Bobby Knight was making the Indiana program legendary.
Jim Calhoun came to UConn after having tremendous success at Northeastern University, to a large extent having Reggie Lewis on his team. You may remember that Reggie was a rising star on the Boston Celtics when he tragically dropped dead from a heart ailment.
This may not sit well with Hoosier fans but Jim Calhoun had a coaching career that easily rivaled the success of Bob Knight. Calhoun went to UConn when the Big East was formed. In the Big East's infancy in 1985 Georgetown, St John's and Villanova were all in the Final Four. Georgetown, Villanova, Connecticut and Syracuse all went on to be national champions. Seton Hall also made it to the championship game those early years. So although Calhoun did not have immediate success in the Big East it was because he took over a second tier team in a conference that was much better than the Big 10.
When Calhoun retired, assistant coach Kevin Ollie was handed the reins to a team that was put on probation primarily due to issues related to lack of academic advancement. But in Kevin's next season he won the national championship.
After that the UConn program went into a bit of disarray. And that was due primarily due to the reshuffling of conferences that resulted some television contracts. There were only a couple of schools in the Big East that had halfway decent football programs and some had no football programs at all. Ever heard about Georgetown football or St John's football? Syracuse and Boston College could not get into a decent football conference unless unless they brought the basketball programs with them. For a couple of years Miami join the Big East but the conference collapsed after Miami, Syracuse and Boston College left the conference for more television money.
UConn ended up in the newly formed American Athletic Conference which lacked a big television contract and consequently did not attract top-level talent. The Huskies were now struggling and Kevin Ollie was not winning.
Enter Dan Hurley. Now the Big East conference has been resurrected and in a relatively short period of time UConn has been transformed into the best team in the country. And they did that with a couple of freshmen from Connecticut, some international students and some transfers from second-tier programs. Their starting point guard this year was not even really a point guard and last year he played for East Carolina.
Watching the Huskies in the NCAA tournament this year I wondered how many Hoosiers would even be on the Husky roster. It was a short list. Even if they have three underclassmen enter the draft, they're bringing in the fourth best recruiting class in the country next year and we have seen what they can do in the portal. You could not tell that the national champions this year was a cut and paste team with a bunch of players that did not even play on the same team last year. And that is because Dan Hurley is a fantastic coach who got everybody to buy in on their offensive strategy and their defensive strategy. It was a team with no weaknesses that look like they were playing together for years.
And kudos to Florida Atlantic, Miami and San Diego State. By the way San Diego State has won at least 20 games for 15 consecutive years. A lot of people were disappointed that there were no Blue Bloods in the final four. That is because they all got whooped in the tournament.
I am a huge Indiana fan and have been for decades and for the most part I have kept my mouth shut about UConn basketball on this board because the program had disappeared for a few years.
In my opinion the Big ten needs to retool its basketball philosophy. They are not losing in the NCAA tournament every year because they beat each other up all season long. They are not winning because the game has changed and the conference has not. End of rant.
