NCAA Basketball: Unlikeliest Conference Tournament runs of the Decade
By Joey Loose
1. Connecticut (2011 Big East, 9-seed) (21-9, 9-9)
Five days, five games, five wins.h
With respect to teams like Butler and Xavier, who joined after realignment, the old Big East was an incredible basketball conference. In 2011, the league was as deep and as talented as it had ever been, with 11 teams making the NCAA Tournament. Connecticut’s .500 record in this intense conference seemed much better than it was, and they were certainly still a threat as a 9-seed.
That being said, they faced a ridiculous challenge. Since they finished in the bottom half of the conference, they would be forced to win five games in a row to win the Big East Tournament. Running the gauntlet in this impressive conference posed an incredible challenge, but a challenge from which the Huskies did not shy away.
They dispatched of 16-seed DePaul with relative ease, shooting 60% from the field and getting 26 points from Kemba Walker. The following day, they made easy work of 8-seed Georgetown as well, shooting 50% to knock off the 22nd ranked Hoyas. Walker (28 points) played like a star once more, but their journey was only just getting started.
Their next challenge was 1-seed Pittsburgh, the 3rd ranked team in the country. The Panthers had handed the Huskies their first loss of the year a few months earlier. Walker and Pitt guard Ashton Gibbs both played outstanding games, but it was Walker who had the last laugh. His step-back shot at the buzzer gave the Huskies the victory. Walker had 24 points in sending his team to the Big East semifinals.
Against 4-seed Syracuse, the challenge continued, as the Huskies took the court for the fourth day in a row. Unsurprisingly, for the fourth straight day, Walker came to play, dropping 33 points and 12 rebounds against the Orange. The two teams played tight, confident basketball, with forty minutes not enough to decide the outcome. Unlike two years earlier, six overtimes were not necessary, as Walker and the Huskies pulled away in the first, winning 78-73.
Louisville, the 2-seed, was waiting in the Big East title game, but this Connecticut team was ready. Walker had 19 points and Jeremy Lamb had 13 points en route to another Huskies win, a game they led at the half and fought hard to prevent a Cardinals comeback. Walker was the obvious tournament MVP and it’s almost improbable what he and this team did in a five-day stretch, knocking off four ranked teams along the way.
As we know, this is not where the story ends. It was historic and unparalleled for the Huskies to win 5 games in 5 days, but they still had a lot of magic left in the tank. The 3-seed Huskies would get another half a dozen impressive performances from Walker, knocking off 14-seed Bucknell, 6-seed Cincinnati, 2-seed San Diego State, 5-seed Arizona, 4-seed Kentucky and 8-seed Butler to win the national championship.
Next. Top NCAA Tournament upsets since 2000. dark
The Huskies would’ve made the NCAA Tournament without winning the Big East Tournament, but the momentum from that run prepared them for quite a magical March. Every single one of these teams were afterthoughts to some extent in their conference tournaments, or at least not expected to win. The bottom line is that anything can happen in March. Which teams will pull off incredible upset runs this season?