Are the Huskies a Blue Blood? … Who Cares?
The Story: There are a lot of upset stomachs around college basketball about the Final Four’s lack of “blue bloods” as UConn, Miami, Florida Atlantic and San Diego State aren’t who the smart people expected to see in Houston.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Who cares what the pundits say? If there’s anything that annoys us more than college basketball purists, it’s the regional media folks who think if certain programs are not around, the Final Four isn’t attractive. This is framed as an unattractive Final Four that lacks blue blood programs. Says who?
• Wait a minute, you say. Isn’t UConn a blue blood? We don’t care. It is better than the blue bloods. The Huskies have won four national titles in the last 25 years and now been to six Final Fours. They have won more titles than any other team in that span.
• This mythical blue blood argument is just Old Money versus New Money in college hoops. UCLA has one title in 40-plus years. North Carolina has won six NCAA titles and Kansas has won four. Kentucky, with its eight titles, and Duke, with its five, are considered the other blue bloods, but UConn has regularly dispatched them in the NCAA Tournament. Indiana used to be a blue blood but no longer is.
• Miami coach Jim Larranaga stepped into the fray yesterday when he was asked about no blue bloods being in the Final Four. He said, of course, that UConn is a blue blood.
OUR TAKE: Who cares? Because James Naismith coached at Kansas, it is somehow superior? Why does what your program did 60 years ago matter? Duke’s first title was won in 1991, only eight years before UConn’s, and Indiana’s last title was won in 1987. If that’s the standard, why doesn’t Oklahoma State’s back-to-back titles in 1945 and 1946 make them royalty?
• If the Huskies can pull off their fifth title this week, they will move into a tie for fourth place in NCAA titles with Duke and Indiana.
BOTTOM LINE: We’ll take UConn’s success over the last 35 years over all of them at this point. Because, whether you are New Money or Old Money, it all counts the same at the bank.
CHANNELING GEORGE MASON: It’s ancient history, we say, but Larranaga was coaching George Mason in 2006 when it upset top-seeded UConn and Rudy Gay in the Elite Eight. Larranaga said Miami reminds him of that season.
HURLEY’S WINDFALL: Dan Hurley is getting a $200,000 bonus and had his contract extended, and he has a chance at even more by getting the Huskies to the Final Four.
FIRST LOOK AT MIAMI: The Huskies are going to have their hands full defensively as Miami, led by Jordan Miller and Isaiah Wong, have one of the best offenses in the country.
— John Silver
How Will We Remember the Huskies?
The Story: The UConn women faced exceptional challenges all season, culminating in an unforeseen loss to Ohio State on Saturday in the Sweet 16. Given all they went through, how will we look back at what the Huskies accomplished?
A SEASON OF STRUGGLE: The Huskies finished 31-6, a record most programs would aspire to achieve, and went 18-2 in the Big East as they won the regular-season and tournament titles. It’s a far cry from their successes of the past — and granted, that’s a remarkably high standard — but they fought to the finish line.
• Only two main contributors, Aaliyah Edwards and Lou Lopez Senechal, didn’t miss a game this season because of injury. That doesn’t mean they were healthy; Edwards broke her nose in October and wore a protective mask all season, and Lopez Senechal battled a variety of bumps and bruises tied to her physical play, including what appeared to be a right knee injury on Saturday.
PRAISEWORTHY PERFORMANCES: That UConn got as far as it did is a credit to its players, a few of whom we’ll single out for further mention:
• Edwards emerged from a disappointing sophomore season to dominate as a junior. She led the Huskies with 16.6 points per game to go with nine rebounds a game, was named a third-team All-American and the Big East Most Improved Player and Big East Tournament Most Outstanding Player, and is one of 10 candidates for the Naismith Women’s College Player of the Year Award.
• Nika Muhl set the Huskies’ single-season record with 284 assists, which ranked second only to Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, who has 8.6. That’s a fairly incredible feat for a player who was thrust into starting duties when Paige Bueckers went down with a torn ACL in August.
• Lopez Senechal will go down as the Huskies’ greatest transfer ever — though that’s a very limited pool. After four standout seasons at Fairfield, including her selection as the MAAC Player of the Year last season, Lopez Senechal figured to be a rotation player for the Huskies but snagged a starting role early in the season because of all the injuries and never looked back. She finished averaging 15.5 points per game and shot 47.6 percent, including 44 percent from 3-point range — marks that were among the best in the country.
WHAT DID GENO SAY? “I think that the other thing that you take from it is how incredibly difficult it is to win in March in the NCAA Tournament and because we made it look so routine and so easy, we gave the impression that it’s very easy to do. It’s a reminder that, no, it’s not. It’s very difficult to do. So, you appreciate what we had, what we did, and, you know, you have to start another one next year.”
— Zac Boyer
Morning Reads
• James Bouknight is back with the Hornets after spending long stretches of the season in the G League and had five points and three rebounds in 10 minutes on Sunday. (Charlotte Observer)
• The baseball team entered the rankings at No. 20 and immediately gets a challenge in the form of No. 14 Boston College, which visits Elliot Ballpark this afternoon. (UConnHuskies.com)
Top photo: Tristen Newton passes the ball during the Huskies’ game against Marquette at the XL Center. (Ian Bethune for The UConn Daily)
