UConn appears to be finally living up to expectations

When Pitt guard Julius Page missed a desperation shot as time expired in the Big East… When Pitt guard Julius Page missed a desperation shot as time expired in the Big East Tournament Championship game back on March 13, I sat in the press box at Madison Square Garden wondering how Pitt lost to UConn 61-58.

After beating the Huskies 75-68 at the Petersen Events Center in February, I was convinced that Pitt was the better team. During the season, UConn lost to Providence at home and then, when they lost to Syracuse in the last game of the season, my mind was pretty much made up that UConn was overrated.

Yes, Pitt lost to the Orangemen, but the Panthers lost because of their inability to shoot at times. If Pitt had a reasonable day shooting the ball it would have beaten Syracuse. Furthermore, Syracuse did not break the 50-point mark in either of its contests with the Panthers.

UConn is built differently than the Panthers, as the Huskies are a pretty reliable shooting team along with being a strong defensive team. These qualities are good enough to win a championship and if the Panthers possessed both qualities they would be almost unbeatable.

Now that I have witnessed the Huskies overcome a 12-point deficit in the second half to go on to beat Pitt — a team that is lights out on defense — in the waning minutes of games along with their play in the NCAA Tournament so far causes me to reconsider my thinking. The Huskies have had an easy road to the Final Four, but they have been dominant.

After all, UConn was ranked the No.-1 team in college basketball in the preseason polls. I guess on paper they do appear to have the most talent. It was just a matter of the talented players pulling together and putting the product on the court that most expected.

The Huskies have two legitimate big men with center Emeka Okafor and forward Josh Boone. Both players are 6-foot, 10-inches tall. Okafor was first in the Big East with an average of 4.21 blocked shots per game while Boon was seventh, blocking an average of 1.75 shots per game. These two players gave UConn the inside presence that a national title contender needs.

Too often, the Huskies have been knocked for not having a point guard. Apparently the play of point guard Taliek Brown had not been up to par. But despite only averaging 6.2 points per game, Brown actually leads the Big East in assists per game with 6.65. A point guard’s role focuses more on setting up good shots for the offense anyway.

Guard Ben Gordon has also stepped up. As a matter of fact, he put UConn on his back and drove them past the Panthers in its Big East Tournament Championship game victory. He was able to hit up Page, who is one of the better defenders in the country, for 23 points.

In some cases Gordon was able to score on Page even when Page could not have defended him any better. Gordon has had a huge presence from outside along with forward Rashad Anderson as they lead their team in three-point percentage connecting on 43.7 and 41 percent of their attempts.

UConn’s outside game is arguably the main reason that it is traveling to San Antonio, Texas to play in the Final Four while the Panthers are home for the season. The Huskies lead the Big East in three-point field goal percentage at 40.3 percent while Pitt was No. 13 out of 14 teams as a result of shooting at 30.6 percent clip from three-point range.

Pitt led its conference in the least amount of points allowed per game with 56.4 while the Huskies on average gave up 63.3 per game, putting them third in the Big East. However, UConn is first in the conference in points scored with an average of 78.7 and the Panthers were No. 10 in the conference with an average of 67.9 points.

With all of these things on the Huskies’ resume, they should be able to beat a Duke squad that barely got past Xavier on Sunday. Don’t be surprised to see UConn win the national title.

If UConn is able to go on to the Finals and win the national title, it will show that Pitt legitimately contended for the national championship along with defeating college basketball’s best team once and having them beat in their final meeting.

Kevin Nash is the assistant sports editor for The Pitt News.