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UConn Basketball: 3 reasons why Huskies will make 2020 NCAA Tournament

By Ben Andreatta

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 15: NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 15: Connecticut Huskies head coach Dan Hurley reacts as the Connecticut Huskies bench celebrates after the Huskies rebound in the first half of the game against Syracuse Orange during the 2k Empire Classic at Madison Square Garden on November 15, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 15: NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 15: Connecticut Huskies head coach Dan Hurley reacts as the Connecticut Huskies bench celebrates after the Huskies rebound in the first half of the game against Syracuse Orange during the 2k Empire Classic at Madison Square Garden on November 15, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) /
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INDIANAPOLIS, IN – APRIL 03: Jonathan the Husky, mascot for the Connecticut Huskies, performs against the Oregon State Beavers in the second quarter during the semifinals of the 2016 NCAA Women’s Final Four Basketball Championship at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on April 3, 2016, in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – APRIL 03: Jonathan the Husky, mascot for the Connecticut Huskies, performs against the Oregon State Beavers in the second quarter during the semifinals of the 2016 NCAA Women’s Final Four Basketball Championship at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on April 3, 2016, in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

UConn Basketball hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament after a few years. Here are some reasons why they’ll end the drought this upcoming season.

Preparation for year two of the Dan Hurley era has kicked off up in Storrs Connecticut for UConn Basketball, a team that hasn’t made an appearance in the NCAA tournament since 2016. Hurley inherited a program that has won four NCAA titles since 1999 but was seemingly falling apart under disgraced former head coach Kevin Ollie. Husky fans are desperate for their team to return to relevance ahead of a move back to the Big East starting in the summer of 2020.

It’s been a busy summer for everyone around the program both on and off the court, Hurley is busy trying to prep his guys for the upcoming season with summer workouts while also hoping that his program will avoid sanctions from the NCAA. At the conclusion of an NCAA investigation into UConn basketball and Kevin Ollie, it was determined by the Committee of Infractions that prior head coach Kevin Ollie had “violated NCAA head coach responsibility rules when he failed to monitor his staff and did not promote an atmosphere of compliance”.

It was announced in early July that because of the violations that occurred during Ollie’s tenure, Ollie would face a three-year ban while the Huskies would be put on probation for two years as well as lose one scholarship spot for the upcoming 2019/20 season.

With Hurley and the Huskies looking to put that whole mess behind them, the Huskies will want to make a dramatic improvement from last year. A very poor 2018/19 campaign saw the Huskies finish at 16-17 and go a third consecutive year without a tournament appearance. Things will be different this season, we’ll take a look at three reasons you should expect to see UConn make a return to the dance in 2020.