STORRS, Conn. – During his four seasons at UConn, guard Ryan Boatright never has given up on any task. He is part dreamer and part competitor. But he also is a realist.
Boatright faced the media after Thursday’s 54-53 loss to Memphis. Every answer to every question started with him shaking his head. In disbelief. In disappointment. In resignation.
If it wasn’t the case already, he was asked, is it the case now that UConn must win the American Athletic Conference tournament in order to reach the NCAA tournament?
“That was the case three games ago,” Boatright admitted. “It’s no surprise to us. We know what we’ve got to do. . . . The season comes down to the tournament.”
After an impressive victory over SMU last Sunday, there was some speculation that UConn might be able play its way into an at-large bid. That line of thinking included victories over Memphis and Temple to close out the regular season, a first-round bye in the tournament, and a minimum of two wins next week when the conference gathers at the XL Center in Hartford.
The loss to Memphis – another last-second setback at Gample Pavilion – eliminated that scenario from the short list of opportunities. The Huskies (17-12, 10-7 AAC) now face an incredibly quick turnaround before playing Saturday at Temple (2 p.m., ESPN2). UConn’s first order of business should be returning to the type of basketball the Huskies played against SMU. If they execute better offensively, they could repay Temple for that 57-53 overtime loss in Hartford on Dec. 31.
UConn needs a win over the Owls and a Memphis loss to Cincinnati on Sunday to claim the No. 5 seed and the final first-round bye in the AAC tournament. Otherwise the Huskies will face the task of winning four tournament games to receive the AAC’s automatic bid. UConn’s longest winning streak this season is three games. The Huskies have done that four times but never extended one of those streaks to four.
Inconsistency has been part of the story for the defending national champions. The past two games are just another reminder that the Huskies haven’t been able to find their groove.
“They came in and took the game,” UConn coach Kevin Ollie said Thursday as the clock came close to striking midnight. “They played with a sense of urgency and we didn’t right from the tap. The guys just forgot what we did against SMU. We shared the basketball, we played together [on Sunday]. I just thought there was a little bit too much selfishness out there today, on the offensive and defensive end.”
UConn shot 27.8 percent from the field against Memphis. Despite going to the free throw line 20 times more than Memphis and outscoring the Tigers 18-2 from the line, the Huskies found themselves praying for a last-second miracle. Boatright made a mad dash after Memphis went ahead with 8.1 seconds left but could only manage just an off-balance jumper that missed.
“I just didn’t get off a good shot,” Boatright said. “I’m not making any excuse. I could have gotten a better shot off than that.”
Texas and Yale both beat UConn at Gampel on last-second 3-point shots earlier in the season. This time Memphis won on Shaq Goodwin’s short jumper that taunted the sellout crowd on the rim before falling into the basket.
“The basketball Gods had the ball bounce six or seven times on the rim,” Memphis coach Josh Pastner said. “A few of those went the other way, against us, this year.”
It was hard to even imagine UConn being in that position after such a solid game against SMU. The 81 points UConn scored Sunday were the most against SMU this season. And was UConn’s only victory over a ranked team this season. There’s no doubt the Huskies could win at least one NCAA game playing that way.
“This is a quality win for Connecticut,” SMU coach Larry Brown said Sunday. “I don’t know how [the NCAA selection committee will] look at it. They might just think we’re SMU, like SMU was years ago. [UConn is] good, you’ve got [Ryan] Boatright, you’ve got a shot blocker [Amida Brimah], you’ve got a freshman [Daniel Hamilton] who is as good as any freshman around. If [Rodney] Purvis and [Omar] Calhoun can play and their big [men] can come in and take fouls … and they’ve got a great young coach [Kevin Ollie] that does things the right way.”
It is possible the AAC will have only three teams in the NCAA field. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has SMU, Cincinnati and Temple in before weekend play. Tulsa, playing SMU for the No. 1 seed in the AAC tourney is currently one of the first four teams out. UConn hasn’t been on the list of teams under consideration for a few weeks. Temple is barely in, despite a victory this season over Kansas, the No. 2 team in the RPI.
Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, the AAC breaks down this way by RPI:
SMU – 19
Tulsa -35
Cincinnati – 38
Tulsa – 47
UConn – 76
Memphis – 82
Tulane -199
East Carolina -222
UCF -237
Houston -250
South Florida -262
The bottom five, just last last season, give the AAC a bad reputation as a weak conference and damage the RPI of the top teams. UConn’s loss to No. 250 Houston is very damaging to the Huskies. Their best win, other than SMU, came against Dayton (28 RPI) on Nov. 21.
Brown is still bitter that SMU was left out of the NCAA tournament last season with a 23-9 record (12-6 in the AAC).
“I don’t know if anybody knows what conference we’re in,” Brown said Sunday. “I don’t even know what the criteria is, to be honest with you. I never said anything last year about us not going in because I didn’t want to not be appreciative of some other team that got in.
Speak Your Mind