As UConn walked on to the TD Garden court for the first time early Wednesday afternoon, freshman guard Stephon Castle stopped to admire his new surroundings. He looked up to the rafters and spotted the Celtics championship banners, counting each one of them with his right index finger.
It was a brief moment of quiet before some madness ensued.
Then walked in loud-mouthed coach Dan Hurley, barking instructions to his team as practice began without a moment of silence. During a 15-minute window open to the media, everyone – from coaches to players and student managers – filled the arena with noise. Hurley, wearing a white long sleeve shirt with the words “OUR TIME” emblazoned on the front, set the tone. A fiery, intense start to practice had a soundtrack to popular UConn chants, belted by players spread out across the court.
It was a preview, a small sampling of what will come Thursday night, when UConn continues its chase for a second consecutive championship a 90-minute drive away from their campus in Storrs. The Huskies will have a clear home-court advantage when they face San Diego State in the Sweet 16. There was a vision to this.
After winning the championship last April, UConn turned its attention to becoming the first back-to-back champion since Florida in 2007. The Huskies knew a path existed where they could play games in Brooklyn and Boston to advance to the Final Four. That fueled them in their accomplished quest of claiming the No. 1 overall seed in this year’s tournament.
“We’ve earned that by the season that we’ve had,” Hurley said. “This wasn’t some gift by the committee to try to make it as easy as possible for us. We’ve earned our position. We’ve manifested Brooklyn to Boston since really April. …
“We’ve worked incredibly hard over that time period to earn the opportunity to play in front of hopefully a 60 percent UConn type of crowd.”
“It’s super important for us,” added Alex Karaban. “That’s why we worked so hard this year.”
The proof is in the results, in the 33-3 record and Top 10 offense and defense.
Before its dominant run to the championship last spring, UConn may have snuck up on some people. The Huskies were a No. 4 seed. They weren’t exactly flawless during the regular season. Not the case this year.
UConn has taken everybody’s best shot and mostly overcome it all. The Huskies are unquestionably the best team in the country, not only rich with NBA prospects but deep and experienced. They’re not only beating everyone in their way, but dominating them by double digits on a nightly basis. ESPN host Mike Greenberg tried suggesting that they could beat an NBA team. “That’s crazy talk,” Hurley said.
But he certainly loves his team.
“This team fits,” Hurley said. “I just think the pieces fit so well. …
“You can’t deny when you watch this team play that it’s a fun team to watch because the ball moves, and we share it, and we play for each other. You can see the culture. You can see the energy. You can see the commitment to defense. You can see the personalities up and down the organization.”
San Diego State knows it has its hands full on Thursday. The Aztecs are excited to have another chance to take down UConn after losing by 17 in last year’s national title game. They took down the No. 1 overall seed last year when they beat Alabama in the Sweet 16.
But UConn is a different beast. Even coach Brian Dutcher had to acknowledge the odds are stacked against his team. He joked Wednesday that he wishes this game was being played in Louisville instead of Boston. He recalled last season’s title game, when his team trailed by five with five minutes left before the Huskies took care of the rest.
“So hopefully (Thursday) we’ll do the same thing,” Dutcher said. “Hopefully with five minutes to go in the game we’ll have an opportunity to win.”
Hurley insists his team could lose. “We’re vulnerable. This is not a best-of-five or best-of-seven. You have one off night, you know, where everything falls apart, you could be the best team in the country and not win the tournament.”
Except the Huskies have won on those off nights. They’ve created a large margin for error. They went 3-for-22 from 3-point land in the second round against Northwestern and still won by 17. If Castle or Donovan Clingan have a bad night, they have more than enough with All-American guard Tristen Newton or the rest of their supporting cast.
This didn’t happen overnight. “A lot of it’s been trial and error,” said Hurley, who went through some growing pains in his first few seasons at UConn. But now in his sixth season, he’s restored the standard at a proud, championship program. He said on Wednesday that he believes he’s found the “secret sauce.”
The ingredients don’t just include getting virtual home games in the NCAA Tournament, but how they got to that point. Building a Top 10 offense and defense, creating the depth necessary to survive and advance, finding the right personalities that fit together and the ability to win in so many different ways.
On Thursday, they’re ready to showcase that – in front of a crowd that reflects all that work poured in.
“It’s been a great team,” Hurley said. “It’s just been a fun team. I think we’ve got … we finally have kind of figured out the formula.”
