Can UConn Make an AAC Tournament Run?
The Story: The men’s basketball team is headed to the AAC tournament as the ninth seed and there are several teams in the conference with plenty to prove. The Huskies would need another postseason miracle of winning four games in four days. Can it happen? Sure. But the odds are against them as the rest of the AAC has the same dream.
FIGHTING FOR SOME SEEDING: The AAC has three teams that are locks to be in the NCAA tournament in Houston, Cincinnati and UCF. Seeding is all that’s left to worry about.
Houston is 29-2 and ranked No. 11 in the country and is playing for seeding. The Cougars are a likely No. 3 seed right now but if they go out early, they could drop to a No. 4 seed, which is something that a Final Four hopeful does not want to do.
Cincinnati has had a habit of flaming out in March and Sunday’s disastrous performance against Houston isn’t a good sign. Can the Bearcats regroup and make a run in Memphis and then the NCAAs?
UCF remains one of the better defensive teams in the country and playing against Tacko Fall in the NCAAs will make the Knights a potential pitfall for a possible No. 1 seed. They appear destined to an 8/9 game.
ON THE BUBBLE: Temple should be in the NCAAs, but it’s not a guarantee. That’s why the Owls could use an AAC run to buttress their resume. A four-bid league for the AAC is a good showing for the conference.
CAN HUSKIES BREAK THROUGH? The Huskies, of course, are going to need to knock off USF tomorrow and then take out the No. 1 seed, Houston, on Friday to even dare to dream about running the table. Tall task? Yes, but this is a different team than the one that went 1-7 without Jalen Adams. He is back and has a game under his belt and remains one of the top talents in the AAC.
Add to that the breakout play of Josh Carlton (who was named the AAC’s most improved player yesterday) and Tyler Polley and the Huskies have something to work with. If Christian Vital gets hot and Alterique Gilbert can recover from a concussion, the Huskies could be a problem … but that’s a lot of things that have to happen.
REALISTIC OUTLOOK? Is it too much to ask? Yes. UConn just needs to beat USF tomorrow and then roll the dice against Houston on Friday. The Huskies still have the same flaws they had when everyone is healthy and, at 6-12 in the conference, are the No. 9 seed for a reason. USF is going to be a tough enough game to win that we can’t even fathom an upset of Houston.
Huska Exits, Clearing Up Goalie Situation
The Story: Junior goaltender Adam Huska signed an amateur tryout agreement, essentially an entry-level contract, with the New York Rangers on Saturday before his debut for the Hartford Wolf Pack in a 5-3 loss to the Hershey Bears a day later.
HE DID WHAT? Those unfamiliar with the nuances of hockey’s draft protocol may find the timing of Huska’s decision a bit strange, but what he did is fairly standard. The Rangers drafted Huska in the seventh round in 2015 and, when a player decides to attend college rather than join an organization, the team keeps his rights for four years.
Perhaps the most notable example is Johnny Gaudreau, who won the Hobey Baker Award for the 2013-14 season. Hours after the ceremony, the Boston College winger signed a contract with the Calgary Flames, then joined up with the team and made his NHL debut two days later.
WHY NOW? Huska, from Slovakia, arrived at UConn with plenty of promise but had a rather inconsistent career. He made 21 starts during his rookie season, wrestling the starting role away from Rob Nichols, and was statistically among the best freshman goaltenders in the country. But he struggled during his sophomore season, then was Wally Pipped by Tanner Creel when he went down with an unspecified injury and the Huskies rattled off seven consecutive wins.
With freshman Tomas Vomacka, a Nashville Predators prospect, taking over as UConn’s starter late in the season, it seemed more than likely Vomacka would enter next season with a firm grip on that role. Thus, Huska took the opportunity he was given and bolted … all the way back to the XL Center. He could make his home debut as soon as tonight when Hartford hosts the Binghamton Devils.
Morning Reads
WAITING PATIENTLY: Although it took him longer than he hoped, former UConn forward Kevin Freeman is looking forward to his first Big Ten tournament as an assistant coach at Penn State. (The Day)
NEW YORK’S FINEST: A day after being named to the WBCA All-America team, Aubrey Griffin, the women’s basketball team’s lone recruit for next season, was named Miss New York Basketball. (NewYorkSportswriters.org)
FOXX JOINS W&L: Former UConn wide receiver DeShon Foxx has been named the wide receivers coach at Washington & Lee, a Division III school in Virginia. (DeShon Foxx on Twitter)
WOMEN’S RATINGS BEAT RED SOX: How big of a draw is the women’s basketball team? It beat the Boston Red Sox in the Hartford/New Haven media market this season, earning a 6.0 rating for the games on SNY. The men’s team, which had a handful of games on SNY in December, had a 2.6 rating. (Hartford Courant)
