Preview: Season on the Brink in Quarterfinal Bout with Cincinnati
The UConn Huskies have been down this road before. In last season’s American Athletic Conference Tournament, the reigning national champs needed to win it all or go home. The Huskies made it all the way to the final before losing to SMU and ended up in the NIT.
The one different this season is the Huskies (21-10) limp into the conference tournament on the NCAA bubble, which at least gives them a slightly better shot of making the Big Dance should they fail to win The American.
“To be honest, that taste we had in our mouth last year, we’ll be much more ready this year,” sophomore Daniel Hamilton said. “We are in the same position we were last year. With us losing in the finals like we did and not being able to make the tournament, so I think everybody will be ready to go.
“I’m pretty sure everybody on the team who was here last year and saw us come up short, nobody wants to go down that road again.”
Most bracketologists have the Huskies projected as either a 10th-or-11thseed, or not even making the tournament. And if they do get in, UConn has a good chance of having to head to Dayton, Ohio for the first round.
“We still have some work to do,” UConn coach Kevin Ollie said after last Sunday’s regular-season finale win against the University of Central Florida. “We don’t want to put it in (the NCAA committee’s) hands. We want to make sure we are in there for sure.
So, today’s game against Cincinnati (22-9), which swept UConn in the regular season, could make or break the Huskies. The Bearcats, who also appear to be a bubble team, swiped a win from the Huskies in late January at Hartford, Conn. Gary Clark converted a three-point play – after Shonn Miller was called for a blocking foul on the basket - with 12.1 seconds left in a 58-57 victory.
Cincy also took the rematch last month at home, winning 65-60. The former Big East foes come into today’s meeting as the top two defensive teams in the conference, so it figures to be another grind to the finish.
"They're going to fight you to the death defensively,” Cincy coach Mick Cronin said, during a conference call with the mediaon Monday. "Kevin and I will go take the Maalox and do it again. That's how it is every time we play."
Despite closing the season having won just two of their last five games, fifth-year senior Sterling Gibbs is confident the Huskies can pick it up in the postseason.“To be honest we are just trying to win every game that we play,” he said. “We are not really worried about whether a specific win will solidify the NCAAs, but at the same time, we know if we keep winning, get on a winning streak, we’ll be just fine for the NCAAs.”