By Shane McCarthy on February 12, 2012
The 2010-2011 regular season conference play of the Connecticut Huskies was not exactly the start of a dream season for the team that eventually went on to win the national championship. They were flawless in non-conference play, but went 9-9 in the Big East, forcing them to play on day one of the conference tournament. We all know what happened next, they won five games in five days en route to a three seed in the NCAA Tournament, which they ran through on their way to a national title.
Entering the 2011-2012 season the UConn Huskies were returning four starters from the team that played in the title game (Jeremy Lamb, Alex Oriakhi, Roscoe Smith and Tyler Olander with Shabazz Napier getting significant playing time as well), and they brought in the number #2 overall recruit in the 2011 class and #1 rated center in Andre Drummond, and the #74 overall recruit in point guard Ryan Boatright. Given the talent level, experience, and their legendary coach, Coach Calhoun, they earned a #4 preseason ranking and tagged with a legitimate chance to repeat as national champions. They were just missing one piece from last year - their engine, their fight, and their leader - Kemba Walker.
It may not seem like this year's team has had someone step into the Kemba role, but when you watch this team you'll notice that Alex Oriakhi has stepped up. It was a bit easier for Kemba to do it last year because the offense ran through him. He was the facilitator, play-maker and scorer of the team, especially in each of tournaments. And he became oh so clutch in crunch-time. Oriakhi is a big-man who willingly does the dirty work down low and depends on his teammates to distribute him the ball. Not quite as easy for him to take the ball up the court and drain a pull up three.
As this year's team has struggled it has become very easy to see the frustration in the body language of all the players but Oriakhi. During timeouts the players tend to disperse into different directions, but you always see Oriakhi calling the team together. And he's open to adjusting his role for the better of the team as he was willing to come off the bench for a few games. During the Louisville game this past Tuesday when UConn was down more than 20 most of the second half, Oriakhi was the only player on the team that showed energy and fight.
This team is currently 5-7 in conference and 15-9 overall with six games remaining, four home and two away. Their only bad loss on the season was to the University of Central Florida. Some of their other losses including at Seton Hall, Rutgers and Tennessee don't really look that bad as all of those teams are respectable, especially on the road. And most of their losses are low scoring affairs in which they lost by single digits (with the exception of the Louisville massacre) due to poor shooting (which has plagued them throughout the season). Even the Syracuse loss wasn't a bad loss as it was a two point game with five minutes to go before Scoop Jardine made an announcement to the UConn bus driver to warm it up.
The way I see it, they should win their two remaining road games (Villanova and Providence) and split their remaining home games (DePaul, Marquette, Syracuse and Pittsburgh) to get to 9-9 in conference play, same as last year. And if they beat Syracuse, which is very possible - they'll get into the dance with little debate.
This team hasn't even come close to playing to its potential as they haven't been able to get into a rhythm all season. This team is bound to start shooting better, Jeremy Lamb is bound to start showing up as he is too talented to continue to get lost on the court, and Alex Oriakhi and Andre Drummond are bound to play like the dual big-men dominant force they are capable of being. Even though they lost at Syracuse it was encouraging that they showed a lot of resolve after practically quitting at Louisville, and Drummond was finally finishing inside, dunking on people and getting position like he is capable of doing. He rolled his ankle in the second half and wasn't the same explosive player when he came back in. But the fact that he came back in leads me to believe that it isn't a long-term injury.
We can't forget that this is the same loaded team that we all had high expectations for entering this season. They have taken some tough close losses, they've battled some off the court issues and they've lacked confidence far too often. But that leads me to believe that they are due to get hot shooting the ball and get their confidence back. And what better time than right now, late February turning to March, the same thing these guys went through last year. Oriakhi is all about winning, and if he can get this team to start clicking - watch out. I don't think there is a team in the country that would want to face the Huskies when they are hitting their stride.
Four weeks till Selection Sunday!
@shane_t_mac
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