HARTFORD, Conn. – So, here is what we have left in college basketball’s Rodney Dangerfield Conference – otherwise known as the American Athletic Conference.
The tournament championship game will be played Sunday (3:15 p.m., ESPN) in the XL Center. The conference’s best team, No. 20 SMU, will be on one bench. At the other end of the floor, coach Kevin Ollie will line up the defending NCAA champions from UConn.
The Huskies entered the tournament needing four wins to grab the AAC automatic bid. You could say they dug themselves into that hole back in 2014, when they lost back-to-back one-point games to Texas and Yale – two teams that seemed NCAA worthy at one time but now could be out of the field.
Or maybe UConn fell out of contention on Feb. 1 with that 70-68 loss at Houston, a 13-19 team with an RPI of 239.
Now the Huskies have won three games in three days to earn one last chance at defending their championship. They aren’t on the bubble. They are not an at-large team – even though the team that beat USF 69-43 and then survived a Cincinnati slugfest 57-54 clearly plays like a Sweet 16 team at times.
Saturday night, in a 47-42 win over Tulsa, there were times the Huskies didn’t look NIT-worthy. They were held scoreless for the first 7:50 of the game. In the second half, UConn’s shot selection often was worse than a last-place sixth-grade CYO team. But the Huskies managed to come alive in the final six minutes and Ryan Boatright worked his magic once again to carry UConn within one victory of its goal.
It’s a big mistake by the AAC to play this game on Sunday afternoon. But at least it will serve as an entertaining and dramatic opening act for today’s prime time special – the Selection Sunday Show. The NCAA men’s basketball committee will want to know the score. If UConn wins, a space must be found in the bracket for the Huskies.
Those are the rules.
It couldn’t have worked out better for the AAC. It should be great TV. The basketball this week at the XL Center has been terrific. The crowds for UConn games have been involved and very, very loud. The UConn players said they have been lifted by the patrons. The only baffling part has been the number of fans. Only 10,114 Saturday night. Boatright said he expects a full house Sunday. Will UConn fans step up for their Huskies?
Why not? I mean, when do you get this kind of drama in your own backyard.
“For me, you know, it’s a scenario where we lose and we don’t get a bid,” UConn coach Kevin Ollie said. “We feel not the pressure but we feel the opportunity. When I get soldiers like this beside me, we can’t lose.”
It has been a season-long struggle for this UConn team, but chemistry has finally developed. It may have cemented itself in the final four minutes Saturday night. The Huskies were huddling right about the time SMU coach Larry Brown and his top assistant Tim Jankovich walked off press row. They didn’t see UConn pull it out. They were beginning their scouting report on Tulsa.
“It’s going to be a fight [against SMU],” Boatright said. “They’re not going to lay down. They’re the best team in our conference for a reason. We’re prepared. We fought too hard to get where we’re at to lay down tomorrow. I truly believe we’re going to come out on top.
“Doubters doubt us. We like it. We’ve got a chip on our shoulder and we love to prove people wrong.”
It’s not easy winning four games in four days. Remember when Kemba Walker’s Huskies did five in five days? Of course you do.
“We’ve got to have energy,” said freshman Daniel Hamilton, who will likely fly to Los Angeles Monday for his grandmother’s funeral either way. She passed away on Friday. “We have no other choice. We came too far to come to Sunday and let it slip away from us.”
There are many factors in Sunday’s game. The teams split the regular season series, both winning at home. It was March 1 that the Huskies played one of their best offensive games to defeat SMU 81-73 at XL Center.
“I don’t look for revenge,” Brown said. “I don’t want anybody to play poorly. I want the best team to win. I love Kevin Ollie. It would be nice if Kevin gets the chance to defend the championship.
“When I saw Boatright miss a free throw [against Cincinnati] and then knock down a 3, you know, he deserves something pretty special to happen to him.”
This game could be decided by any of the players on the floor, but do not forget the top two players in the Rodney Dangerfield Conference will be grinding it out against each other. Boatright and SMU’s Nic Wright were the only unanimous selections by the conference coaches when they selected the All-American first team last week. Thursday, Moore walked away with Player of the Year honors.
“Boatright is tremendous,” Moore, a junior, said. “He has a high basketball IQ. You can’t take a possession off against him. He can shoot. He gets his teammates involved. I’ve got high respect for him.”
They clearly respect each other. But both are intense competitors. Moore is listed at 5-9 and 170. Boatright is not 6-feet, but that is how UConn lists him, and he is 175.
Little guys with big hearts. Both driven to win.
Boatright is the senior with the NCAA championship ring from last year. Moore knows he is headed to the NCAA tourney. Boatright has to play his way in Sunday.
Who will have the biggest moment?
“I just want to win the game,” Boatright said. “[Moore] is competitive. He has a lethal 3-point shot and his quickness. In ways, we’re similar. I think he has a great competitive spirit. He fights to the end.
“But I don’t think there’s nobody like me. So I can’t compare us.”
Speak Your Mind