Connecticut Huskies: The Most Perplexing Team in College Basketball

The UConn Huskies have recently been continuously killed by college basketball fans everywhere.  They have lost five of their last seven games, the only wins coming against the worst team in the Big East, DePaul, and the No. 3 ranked Villanova Wildcats.  

The Huskies came into the season ranked 12th and 14th in the AP and ESPN/USA Today Polls respectively.  Since, the Huskies have gone 14-11, just 4-8 in the Big East.  

First off, let me just start by saying what all this says about the depth and dominance of this conference.  

UConn has three out of conference losses.  Those losses include one to Kentucky (in which they almost won), Duke (came within single digits), and Michigan (not a good loss, but hey, at least this was close too).  They also crushed then No. 1 Texas.  

Outside of the conference, Big East teams are 161-38, an 81 percent winning percentage.  This shows that situations like Rutgers beating Georgetown, Louisville beating Syracuse, and now Connecticut beating Villanova, don't mean the conference is overrated.  

The out of conference victories show rather that the Big East has a wide range of capable and amazing teams.  Not one Big East team is under .500 out of conference. Even DePaul is 7-5.  

So with all this, is UConn really that bad a team with their losing five out of seven?  

I still don't think so.  After all, the Huskies are in a conference where no team is exceedingly bad.  Except maybe DePaul.  

But this doesn't mean they're good.  Or does it?  At this point, what do we know about this team?  

We know they beat Texas.  

We know they beat Nova.  

We know they lost to Cincinnati (twice), Louisville, Providence, Marquette, and Michigan.  

So what can we find out about the Huskies?  

The lack of quality victories and big time losses leaves us a bit of a question mark.  

In my opinion, they're pretty good.  At least, when they want to be good.  

We've seen them get crushed by Cincinnati.  Last Saturday, they scored the fewest points in the Calhoun era.  They played like a top 25 team at Syracuse last week, and lost on a bad call.  Tonight, they defeated No. 3 Villanova.  

The Huskies play when they want to.  If they start doing that on a nightly basis, we should see a good run down the stretch, and a possible NCAA tournament bid.  

And if they don't get an at-large?  It may be a huge stretch, but I don't see it as impossible for the Huskies to win the Big East tournament.  They held a large lead over Georgetown for a while, nearly beating them.  

They played Pittsburgh pretty well.  They almost beat Syracuse.  They beat Nova. We'll see what happens with West Virginia too.  Those are the best teams in the conference.  It's possible.  Probably extremely unlikely, but possible it is.  

Now how about their chances at an at-large.  What if they win out in the regular season?  

Their NCAA resume would consist of wins at Nova, at home vs. Texas, and at home vs. West Virginia.  Key losses would be at Michigan, at Providence, and other somewhat smaller key losses against Cincy, Louisville, and Marquette.  

They would finish with 20 wins, winning their last six.  This situation seems relatively rational.  Even if they lose to a team like Louisville, they would still finish 19-12 with a decent resume.  

Will they get in?  

Who knows.  

I have faith.  I think they will.  

I know I'm alone in a group of me and some other die-hard Husky fans.  But I see it as it will happen, especially the way they played against Syracuse and Villanova.  

The Huskies aren't done yet.