Can the Huskies Close the Deal?
The Story: The UConn men have a lot going for them in the Final Four. Now it comes down to finishing off a remarkable run starting tomorrow against Miami in Houston (8:50 p.m., CBS).
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The Huskies, as we have been hammering all week, are the huge favorites to cut down the nets and secure their fifth NCAA title — one more than Kansas, tied with Duke and Indiana, and one behind North Carolina.
• As Jim Calhoun said to the Huskies on Wednesday in another pep talk, “win the doubleheader,” and if they can bring home two more wins, the players will never be forgotten.
• This isn’t the UConn Invitational, and Miami is good enough to knock off the Huskies. So, while it’s great to enjoy the atmosphere, Dan Hurley is adamant about keeping his players focused.
• The Huskies are -5.5 and -260 on the money line. They’re 7-1 in their last eight games against the spread.
WHY UCONN WILL WIN: Miami is a legitimate team, the ACC regular-season champion, and we reckon if their jerseys didn’t have “Hurricanes” written across the chest, they would have been better than a No. 5 seed.
• That said, Miami isn’t good on defense. It’s ranked No. 104 and not particularly deep. To beat the Huskies, you have to pressure the ball and hold your own on the boards. We aren’t sure Miami can do either against a front line of Adama Sanogo, Alex Karaban and Donovan Clingan.
• Sanogo has played the best basketball of his career and leads all players in the NCAA Tournament with 80 points. He’s averaging 9.8 rebounds per game and shooting 66 percent. He’s the best big man remaining and may be looking to close out his career in style.
• Jordan Hawkins is making Hurley look like a soothsayer when describing the sophomore as a lottery pick. Hawkins has looked the part and was the Most Outstanding Player of the West Region as he scored 44 points.
• The Huskies’ stars, Hawkins and Sanogo, are backed up by depth and elite shooting. Karaban, Joey Calcaterra and Naheim Alleyne are shooting well. Inside, Clingan is the best backup big man in the country and he changes the game with his size. That inside-outside ability, with quality depth, is something that not only no team at the Final Four has, but few teams had in the entire country all season.
• UConn is 18-0 against teams not in the Big East and has won every game out of conference by double digits.
WHAT DID HURLEY SAY? “We’re able to play at a pretty relentlessly fashion defensively on the backboard and then attacking you offensively because we were able to keep people fresh. Adama Sanogo has been one of the best players in the NCAA Tournament in large part because we’ve been able to keep him fresh this year. Last year this time of year, he was playing 34, 35 minutes a game as a big guy. This year, Donovan Clingan being able to keep him fresh has been a big reason he’s been able to dominate and that we’re still playing.”
WHY MIAMI CAN WIN: Offense. The Hurricanes are athletic, explosive off the dribble and shoot a ton of 3-pointers. The Hurricanes beat Texas despite going 2-for-20 from 3-point range and are due for a high-volume, high-accuracy shooting game.
• Miami is playing fast in the NCAA Tournament and has scored more than 80 points in its last three games. Xavier, another top offensive team, beat UConn twice this year, as did another good offensive team in Marquette. Jordan Miller and Isaiah Wong are the two to worry about, but all five starters for the Hurricanes can score.
• Miami doesn’t have a ton of marquee wins outside of the ACC, but it lost to Maryland by 18 on Nov. 20 and has not lost a game by double digits since. The Hurricanes have played close games all year and at 28-7 are not going to fear the uniform.
CAPTAIN JACKSON: Andre Jackson, one of the first captains under Hurley, is never going to win a scoring title. That’s certainly not going to hurt him when NBA executives view his game. Jackson is a glue guy, a high-energy defender who can move the ball in the pro game, and Hurley knows that the right NBA people are fans.
GAFFNEY’S CHANGE: Jalen Gaffney left UConn, watched his old team get to the Final Four, and isn’t feeling any FOMO. The Florida Atlantic guard is joining his old teammates in the Final Four and couldn’t be happier with his difficult decision to transfer.
BOTTOM LINE: The hoopla of the Final Four is immense and waiting until 9 p.m. tomorrow night is excruciating to fans and players alike.
• We expect the Huskies to play well. That’s all we can do. Sure, they could struggle with their shooting and play a poor floor game and turn the ball over. If they do that, they are susceptible. But nothing we’ve seen over the last month has led us to believe that’s the case. We worry about a very poor shooting game. That’s about it. If the Huskies play well, no team in the country has touched them all year.
— John Silver
Top photo: Andre Jackson dunks the ball in the Huskies’ Big East tournament game against Providence at Madison Square Garden. (Ian Bethune for The UConn Daily)
