Big East Tournament Bracket 2012: UConn Will Catch Fire with Jim Calhoun Back

The young Huskies are going to surprise a lot of people in the Big East tournament. They have gone from one of the most highly-regarded teams in the nation, to a team that could easily miss the NCAA tournament.

Both labels have been well deserved.

This team is so talented:

From Ryan Boatright and Shabazz Napier to Jeremy Lamb and Andre Drummond, this team has tons of NBA-level talent, so what's wrong?

Why are they on the wrong side of the bubble with a 19-12 record and an 8-10 regular season mark in the Big East?

It's simple: lack of leadership. Well, the Huskies have recently received a dose of that in a major way. Their primary leader has returned.

Head Coach Jim Calhoun has been suffering from various physical ailments that have caused him to be absent from his talented but young team.

With Calhoun absent from the sidelines the Huskies were 3-5, and that ran through a difficult stretch where they appeared to lose their confidence in late January and most of February.

The biggest difference is on the defensive end of the floor. During the five games the Huskies loss without Calhoun, they surrendered 77.8 points per game. In the two games since he returned, they have allowed only 66 points per game. 

With Calhoun back, the Huskies have begun their defense of their Big East Tournament title with a win over lowly DePaul. The best is yet to come for the Huskies.  This is their tournament until proven otherwise, and they have the talent to play with any team.

Drummond is getting better and better and becoming more of a presence in the middle every game. He blocked four shots and scored 12 points against DePaul, while Boatright and Lamb combined for 44 points.

That is what the Huskies were expected to deliver all season, but the consistency hasn't been there because they are young, and for eight games they didn't have their stabilizing force.

Now he's back and the Huskies are going to make a deep run in this tournament. Examining the bracket shows a path that is negotiable for this team, if they hope to impress enough to reach the big dance.

They need one more win to attain the all-important 20 victories that looks attractive on a team's resume when the selection committee is deliberating. The fact that they play in the Big East is even more appealing.

The Huskies have West Virginia next, and this is a winnable game. 

They have already defeated the Mountaineers in the regular season, by a score of 64-57 on January 9th.

If they defeat Bob Huggins's team again, it will be their 20th win of the season. Don't expect them to stop there—next up is the Syracuse Orange. I know, they are one of the nations' true juggernauts, but UConn has played them tough already this season.

The Orange narrowly escaped in Storrs with a 71-69 victory on February 25th. In the first match-up, Syracuse won by 18, but that was amidst the Huskies' huge slide, and of course, without Calhoun.

It is very difficult to defeat a team of similar talent three times in the same season, and I'm predicting the Huskies take this one. With Calhoun's leadership and ability to make adjustments, the Huskies will have the ammunition to pull the upset.

These two teams have played some classic match-ups in the Big East tournament, most notably the six-overtime thriller the Orange won in 2009. Both Calhoun and Orange coach Jim Boeheim have had their moments in this rivalry, but this one will belong to the Huskies. 

This will undoubtedly put them in the NCAA tournament, no matter what happens for the rest of the tournament.

The Huskies caught fire this time last season, winning 11 games in a row to win the national championship.

I'm not predicting another national championship, but I am predicting they will win the Big East tournament. That is pretty bold considering where they were last month.