UConn Huskies: Let down not in their vocabulary

Despite all of the adversity that the University of Connecticut has had to overcome, the team is now in the Final Four, two wins away from once again becoming National Champions.

Back in February 13th when Jerome Dyson, the team’s leading scorer and top defender got hurt, the consensus was that UConn still had enough talent to be one of the top teams in the Nation.

A few weeks later, and three losses in a span of six games, made even the most optimistic of Huskies supporter believe the team was not good enough to get far, yet as we enter the final stretch of the NCAA Tournament, UConn finds itself among the top four teams in the country, fighting to repeat on its championships of 1999 and 2004.

During the NCAA Tournament UConn is outscoring its opponents by an average margin of 25 ppg and outside of its last win (Missouri) has looked very much like a title contender. A big part of this turnaround is the emergence of Stanley Robinson who has established himself as a nice scoring option outside of A.J. Price and Hasheem Thabeet.

Robinson, a junior from Birmingham, Alabama, came into the Big East Tournament, averaging six points a game, but has since scored in double figures in all five games. He has been active on the boards at both ends and is playing with a lot of confidence.

Another player that has emerged from out of no where is Kemba Walker, who was having a good freshman season, but is now making plays like those you would see from a seasoned veteran. Walker tied his career-high with 23 points in the 82-75 Elite 8 victory over Missouri. His clutch plays and poise kept Uconn in front all throughout the game, withstanding the runs by Missouri.

Up next for UConn will be the Michigan State Spartans in what will be as close to as a road game as you can get. The game will be held in Detroit’s Ford Field, only miles away from their campus.

If you think the hostile environment will affect the Connecticut players, think again. UConn has already had to deal with the loss of their coach for the first game of the Tournament. Jim Calhoun had to be hospitalized after suffering from dehydration. More recently, information surfaced about recruiting violations and through it all, the team has been able to make it this far.

At this stage of the game however, it is the Spartans team and their experienced coach Tom Izzo who should be a worry to UConn. In a peculiar stat, these schools met twice before in their history and each time, the winner of the game went on to win the National Championship. This time again, either team has the talent to repeat this feat.

The game will be held Saturday, April 4th at 6:00 pm and televised by CBS. The other Final Four matchup features North Carolina and Villanova, that game will be played on the same night at 8:50 pm.