After a short stint and – and six-hour drive home – Buffalo, a few observations from a distance at the NCAA Tournament.
The team on which Dan Hurley wanted to model the Huskies is still playing
“That’s what we hope to see in a few years.”
Dan Hurley said that three years ago, the day before UConn (13-11 at the time) against Houston (23-1, ranked 9th in the nation at the time) at the XL Center.
A few years later, the Huskies were a reasonable facsimile of that Cougar team – hard defense, strong rebounding, high level talent. Of course, Houston went into the Final Four last year, and coach Kelvin Sampson may have done even better this season.
The Cougars had lost two of their best players (Marcus Sasser, Tramon Mark) to season-ending injury through December. And yet, Sampson & Co. Remember that if you cherry pick some players have Huskies without Adama Sanogo and / or Tyrese Martin. Injuries happen, the team still has to endure. Frot Houston. Or Creighton. Or Baylor. Or UCLA …
Sampson recruited everything along with a group of usually three or four stars, along with a few key transfers. Which brings us to our next topic …
Josh Carlton is still playing
Carlton used his extra COVID year of qualifying to transfer from UConn after graduating in May, and landed in Houston.
It does not seem to fit well at first glance, with Houston known as a guard-oriented program focused on athleticism and offensive rebounding. But Carlton, the 6-foot-10 center, dropped a ton of weight, emerged as the starting point for the Coogs and averaged 11.8 points and a team-high 6.3 rebounds per game.
It would be easy to criticize Hurley for letting him go, but that’s not fair. This was a win-win for both sides. Adama Sanogo emerged as one of the best great men in the nation and clearly deserved to play over Carlton. Sure, Carlton would have been a great backup for Sanogo, but of course he had more to offer.
Carlton is certainly not bitter.
“I was (at UConn) four years old, had some of the best moments of my life there,” he told Hearst Connecticut Media back in January. “I got my degree from there, so I’m an alumni. No hard feelings.”
A former Seton Hall standout point guard from New Jersey is still training
Shaheen Holloway took over for Hurley as Seton Hall’s starting point guard in the late 1990s.
“(Hurley) was the Star Point Guard when they recruited me, and I replaced him somehow,” Holloway told Hearst CT Media back in 2019.
You could say that Holloway also surpassed Hurley. Hurley was a 1,000-point career scorer for the Pirates, averaging a career-best 14.2 ppg as a senior in 1995-96. Holloway came in and averaged 17.3 ppg as a freshman and scored 1,588 career points, leading Hal to a sweet 16 as a senior.
“I think he’s number 15 a lot better than me,” Hurley said two seasons ago.
Now Holloway has outscored Hurley at least once again in this tournament. He guided 15th-seeded St. Peter to victory over no.
It’s the worst-kept secret in college basketball that Holloway will take over parts of Seton Hall after the Peacocks’ tour ends, replacing Kevin Willard, who was named the new Maryland coach on Monday. This will build up many match-ups between Hurley and Holloway in the following years, even though they have already met once: On December 18, 2019, UConn defeated St. Louis. Peter 66-56 at Gampel Pavilion.
Providence and Villanova are still playing
So how do we rate the Big East in this year’s tournament? The league received six offers, and three of them – UConn, Marquette and Seton Hall – were withdrawn in the first round. UConn was one of the larger upsets, while Marquette and Seton Hall of North Carolina and TCU were beaten, respectively.
Creighton won his first round game in an overtime classic over San Diego State, then fought the No. 1 seeded Kansas brave, despite losing 7-foot, Big East Defensive Player of the Year Ryan Kalkbrenner late in the San Diego State game . No shame there.
Providence, the Big East regular season champion, and Villanova, the league tournament champion, have advanced to the Sweet 16. These teams have combined 3-1 against UConn this season.
PC was unfairly referred to as the “lucky” team all season, but there was no luck involved in reaching South Dakota State in the first round, followed by Richmond (who defeated No. 3 seed Iowa) in the second.
And Villanova continues to march only with clinical precision, with impressive wins over Delaware and Ohio State. Collin Gillespie will not be an All-American of the first team, but he should be. This is college basketball, not the NBA.
Adama Sanogo is still very good
Sanogo is one of five finalists for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year award, and Hurley joined a conference call Monday with Jabbar and award committee members to present Sanogo’s case.
The other finalists are Kentucky Oscar Tshiebwe, Gonzaga Drew Timme, Illinois Kofi Cockburn and Auburn Walker Kessler. Sanogo scored 30 points on Kessler and UConn’s double overtime victory over Auburn in Battle 4 Atlantis in November.
Hurley, by the way, will meet with the media sometime in the next few days so that some more questions about the future of the Huskies at that time can be clarified.
david.borges@hearstmediact.com
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