Stranded in Storrs
The Story: The college basketball world found a way to stop the No. 1 UConn men from winning a national title — prevent them from showing up at the Final Four.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: UConn was set to fly to Phoenix last night via charter and was stranded because of mechanical and logistical issues, including the flight crew being over FAA mandated hours. The Huskies were expected to take a smaller jet later that night that, after a pit stop in Cincinnati, would get them to Phoenix at around 2 a.m. local time.
• This comes on the heels of the Huskies having issues in Las Vegas last year, when their rooms were robbed while they were away from the hotel. The NCAA takes care of all travel arrangements for the NCAA Tournament, and it looks like once again, the least efficient organization in all of sports has laid an egg.
BENEDICT RIPS NCAA: Athletic director Dave Benedict was breathing fire last night during an appearance on the “Field of 68” podcast. The Huskies are now behind the eight ball and off schedule entering the biggest weekend of the year.
LEGENDARY COMPARISONS: If the Huskies make it to Arizona for Saturday night’s game, they will be chasing the ghosts of some of the greatest teams of the past.
• UConn’s run is being compared to the runs by Florida in 2006-07, Kentucky in 1995-96 and even UNLV in 1990-91.
• In fact, UNLV featured Larry Johnson, Stacy Augmon and Greg Anthony and was undefeated after winning the national title. It fell to Duke in the Final Four one of the bigger upsets in NCAA Tournament history. The Rebels are still considered by many to have had the best season since the tournament went to 64 teams in 1983.
• There’s one other team that UConn resembles, and we don’t like to admit it. Duke had only one loss in 1998-99 before running through the NCAA Tournament. It was the largest favorite in NCAA Tournament history, over UConn, the second-best team in the country. We know how that worked out, and we see another powerful team in Purdue across the bracket. If we actually believed in karma and irony in sports, we’d definitely be worried.
• We, however, believe in talent, and the Huskies are as good of a team as you will see. The only thing that can prevent them from running over Alabama on Saturday appears to be the NCAA’s travel agent.
— John Silver
Geno: Injuries Have Made UConn Stronger
The Story: Geno Auriemma said that UConn’s injury situation this season has brought his players closer together and that their collective toughness is the reason why they’ll face Iowa on Friday night in the Final Four.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: UConn has five players out for the season in Azzi Fudd, Caroline Ducharme, Aubrey Griffin, Ayanna Patterson and Jana El Alfy, and the status of a sixth, Amari DeBerry, is uncertain. That has left the Huskies with eight healthy players, and three of them — Paige Bueckers, Aaliyah Edwards and Nika Muhl — played all 40 minutes in the Elite Eight win over USC on Monday.
• Geno compared the situation to a “house of cards,” acknowledging that if someone else were to have gotten hurt, it’s likely that the Huskies would not be back in the Final Four.
NOTHING NORMAL: Bueckers, Edwards, Muhl and Griffin have dealt with nothing but a bizarre college experience. Griffin was a freshman in 2019-20, when the postseason was canceled at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Bueckers, Edwards and Muhl were freshmen the following year, when crowds were limited, cardboard cutouts were in the stands and the NCAA Tournament was played in a bubble.
• Bueckers and Griffin each missed a full season, then most of another; Edwards broke her nose prior to last season and then again in the Big East Tournament, and Muhl, well, knock on wood nothing happens to her.
WHAT DID GENO SAY? “Everything that’s happened to them has just made them stronger, it’s made them tougher, it’s made them come together more. There’s a bond between these kids that’s as strong, if not stronger, than any other group I’ve ever coached. That’s not to say that the talent [isn’t there]. … Will it hold up in the Final Four? I don’t know. Talent takes over in the Final Four. We’ll see what happens, but that’s been the story of this group for the last three years.”
AN ACTIVE BENCH: Even though six players have been unable to play in the NCAA Tournament this season, that’s not to say they’re merely spectators. They’re just as active in celebrating their teammates’ successes, like when El Alfy leapt off the bench in excitement when Ice Brady made a 3-pointer against USC.
WHAT ELSE DID GENO SAY? “Everybody talks about what players missing does to the team. Yeah, you only have seven players available, let’s say. ‘Wow, it must be a real strain on those seven players that are available.’ But very few people talk about what’s it doing to the ones that aren’t playing. hat effect does it have on them? It’s something that they’ve worked for their whole life as a basketball player to be able to participate in events like this, and so they can’t.”
A CAIRO CONUNDRUM: Geno had high praise for El Alfy, the 6-foot-5 redshirt freshman from Egypt who has yet to play a game at UConn, and hinted that there’s something, well, massive to come for the Huskies once she’s finally healthy.
• “I can’t say enough about her as a person,” Geno said. “Myself, the staff, the players, and everyone associated with our program has been really truly, truly blessed that she’s come into our life because I can honestly say in 40 years, I’ve never coached anybody better at Connecticut, never, in my life.”
• Old friend David Kull surfaced some highlights of El Alfy representing Egypt in the FIBA U-19 Women’s World Cup last summer and, yeah, we’re absolutely excited to see her play.
— Zac Boyer
Morning Reads
• Kate Shaffer had three goals and an assist as the women’s lacrosse team defeated Villanova 16-6 at home yesterday afternoon.
• It was fitting that the Blue Jays’ George Springer celebrated 10 years in the major leagues this week with a road series against the Astros, given that he spent his first seven seasons playing for them.
• The football team received its first commitment from a player in the Class of 2025 — and he’ll play baseball, too. Jordan Rich, a 5-foot-10, 175-pound prospect from Plantation, Fla., will play defensive back and in the outfield.
Top photo: Dan Hurley yells during the Huskies’ win over Northern Arizona. (Ian Bethune for The UConn Daily)
