UConn basketball went under .500 last season. Can they move forward and bounce back to the NCAA Tournament in the 2017-18 season?
Last season had high expectations for the Connecticut Huskies with a number of talented recruits and transfers coming in. It wasn’t just the fans who thought highly of the team, but the AP poll had them ranked No. 18 to start the season.
It took basically a week for everything to unravel. In just the first few games of the season, the team suffered miserable back-to-back losses to Northeastern and Wagner. If there were any hopes of salvaging the season, season-ending injuries to the top players dashed those hopes.
For the rest of the season, it was treading water for head coach Kevin Ollie, who gave more minutes to players who might not have gotten them otherwise. The final record for the Huskies was under .500 at 16-17 (9-9). They still managed to finished fifth in the league, but still far behind the likes of SMU and Cincinnati.
The basketball program may have been the biggest loser of the 2011 football-based realignment, where they’ve been separated from schools who either moved into the ACC or Big East. They still play some of their longtime rivals, but playing in the AAC may have had more of an effect on the program than we realized.
With the addition of Wichita State, another barrier stands between Connecticut and the top of the league. But with everyone back and now healthy, plus a few more additions, this may be the chance for this program to be where they belong in the AAC.