UCONN Basketball: Where Will Jim Calhoun's Huskies Finish in the Big East?

The Connecticut Huskies are currently ranked fourth in both the Associated Press and USA Today top 25 polls.  

The fact that the Huskies didn’t receive a single top 25 vote in the initial USA Today preseason rankings makes their ascension to the top five that much more remarkable.

Head Coach Jim Calhoun’s Connecticut squad burst onto the scene in a big way in late November while playing in the EA Sports Maui Invitational. Going into the tournament, nobody gave the unranked Huskies much of a chance to emerge as champions from a star—studded field that included No. 2 Michigan State, No. 9 Kentucky and No. 11 Washington.

Connecticut used the preseason tournament as an opportunity to show the nation that they are a team to be reckoned with, as the Huskies first slid past perennial mid—major power Wichita State 82—78, then edged No. 2 Michigan State 70—67 and finally culminated the tournament run with an 84—67 beat down of Kentucky in the championship game.

Since returning from the islands of Hawaii, Connecticut has reeled off five more victories to extend their unblemished record to 10—0. Now the team that was picked 10th in the Big East preseason coaches’ poll and was nowhere to be found in the preseason top 25 rankings is suddenly being mentioned as a team that could contend for the Big East Championship.

Yes, it seems that everyone has jumped on Connecticut’s previously empty bandwagon. Instead of jumping in with both feet and proclaiming my support of unbeaten UCONN, I’m going to play the role of the cynic and state why I’m still skeptical of the Huskies “elite” status.

The first intriguing thing that jumps out at me about Connecticut thus far is their schedule. Yes, the Huskies ran the aforementioned three game gauntlet in Maui in late November, but besides that their competition has been somewhat light. Aside from the Maui Invitational, Connecticut has played all their games at home inside the friendly confines of Gampel Pavilion. The average RPI ranking of Connecticut’s seven home opponents is 203 which is indicative of the smaller schools they have hosted.

In addition the Michigan State victory has now lost some of its shine. The Spartans have limped to an 8—4 record in non—conference play and just recently suffered a 67—55 loss to Texas in East Lansing last Tuesday night. The Michigan State win is still great and will look good on Connecticut’s resume in March, but right now it’s safe to say that UCONN didn’t beat the second best team in the country.

The Kentucky win is still holding up very nicely though and Wichita State is also off to a great start at 9—2 with an RPI ranking of 49. So regardless there is definite meat in the non—conference resume for Jim Calhoun.

Another interesting aspect about Connecticut is just how crucial junior point guard Kemba Walker is to their team. If you look at Walker’s astonishing 26.5 points per game thus far this season you will find that Kemba accounts for 33 percent of Connecticut’s scoring. The only other Huskie that averages double figures in scoring is sophomore center Alex Oriakhi. I won’t dispute the fact that Kemba Walker is one of the country’s best talents and pure scorers, but it is discomforting that Connecticut is so dependent on one player.

You have to wonder if that dependence will hurt UCONN in Big East play if Walker goes through a shooting slump, gets injured or gets in foul trouble.

Another key to Connecticut’s success has been inspired play from their freshman class. Obviously going into this season Jim Calhoun had to replace three starters in Stanley Robinson, Jerome Dyson and Gavin Edwards. That is one of the reasons why the media and coaches initially thought that Connecticut would struggle through a transitional year because of the amount of talent they had to replace. No one doubted that this incoming group of freshman could play at a high level, but not a lot of people thought that they could step in and contribute this quickly.

Freshman guard Shabazz Napier is averaging 8.6 points and 2.8 assists per game in 23 minutes worth of work per game. The same goes for forward Roscoe Smith who is making his presence felt on the glass pulling down 5.9 rebounds per game as a true freshman. Jeremy Lamb is another key cog in that young nucleus, averaging 7.9 points and giving Jim Calhoun great minutes in his first season in Storrs.

Now as I said earlier, seven out of UCONN’s first 10 games this season have been at home and Connecticut hasn’t played a true road game yet this season. How are these freshmen going to respond when they go on the road for the first time and play against Pittsburgh at the Peterson Events Center in front of the dreaded “Oakland Zoo?” In addition to Pitt, Connecticut also has upcoming road games against Louisville, Notre Dame, Texas and West Virginia.

If UCONN has plans on staying atop the Big East standings then they are going to need to continue to get good, consistent production out of their freshmen and that includes when they play in front of the conference’s hostile road crowds.

Clearly Connecticut was grossly undervalued in the preseason by the Big East coaches and the national media. The inside—outside duo of Kemba Walker and Alex Oriakhi has been and will continue to be very difficult for teams to handle. The play of Walker and Oriakhi coupled with contributions from a large freshman class has propelled Jim Calhoun’s squad to this unexpected 10—0 start and No. 4 ranking.

With that being said I’m not sure if this team truly has a chance to finish among the top couple of teams in the Big East conference. There are still a lot of questions surrounding this team in my opinion. I think the freshman are going to show their youth in conference play, especially in some of the Big East’s more raucous road venues. I also think that somewhere down the line this season Kemba Walker is going to cool off. I know that Kemba is an outstanding player, but I’m not convinced that he can keep up this 26.5 points per game pace through conference play.

This team won’t be sitting at 10th in the Big East when it’s all said in done, but I don’t think they will be sitting in the first or second spot either.