Big East Media Day: UConn Predicted to Finish 10th in Preseason Poll

The UConn's men's basketball program has been under the spotlight recently, due to impending NCAA sanctions.  Last week, Coach Jim Calhoun, AD Jeff Hathaway and Interim President Phillip Austin, met with NCAA Infractions Committees to discuss the allegations.

Today was the annual Big East Media Day at Madison Square Garden. The coaches and media voted UConn to finish tenth in the conference this season, an unusual place for a program that has won two national titles and been to three final fours over the last eleven years.

Junior captain, point guard Kemba Walker, was voted preseason first-team Big East.  He was the only Husky to be honored.  This doesn't come as a surprise, since Walker returns to lead a rather unproven and young squad.

There seems to be a lot of controversy over the departure of forward Ater Majok.  Majok has moved overseas and is currently playing professionally, for international squad in Turkey.

The Huskies also replaced coaches Beau Archibald and Pat Sellers with Glen Miller and former UConn Star Kevin Ollie.  Ollie, an NBA veteran, brings a wealth of knowledge to Calhoun's bench.

This UConn team will be tested early, with a trip to Maui in late November.  The Huskies open play with an experienced Witchita State squad.  If UConn beats them, they would most likely play Michigan State and potentially Kentucky, if they advanced to the Championship game.

The prediction to finish tenth in the Big East has to motivate a team that is eager to prove all of their doubters wrong.  Clearly from this vote, many people expect Calhoun to struggle with the loss of seniors and a rather inexperienced group of players.

UConn's success will depend on their ability to rebound the basketball.  Forward Alex Oriakhi has put in double workouts this off-season.  His motivation to improve on his freshman year has been evident in his work ethic.

His high-school teammate, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel, struggled shooting from three last season, but has made his jump-shot a priority, while playing basketball over the summer.  Coombs-McDaniel made some threes last year, but has to regain his confidence and find consistency.

Optimism is rampant, as Calhoun preached about his team's fight and desire only four practices into the season.  He has made it a point that these kids aren't worried about what the NCAA is going to decide to do.  They don't have any control over it.

UConn basketball is preparing for the season.  Winning basketball games will be the best cure for all the negativity, blame and bad-mouthing towards one of the finest basketball programs in the Big East.

Calhoun spoke today and said the following:

"I like our culture at UConn. We've made some adjustments in our culture certainly," he said. "There's been changes that have been necessitated, but nevertheless, our culture over 30, 25 years at UConn has been a very good one. Mistakes have been made. We're human beings."

That's in the past and this UConn team is getting focused for what should be a very interesting season.