NCAA Basketball: Most overhyped power conference teams for 2020-21
UConn Huskies
A return to the Big East massively increases the visibility of the Huskies in its hopes to reclaim its spot as one of college basketball’s elite programs. It has already seemingly increased the expectations and attention that they are now getting from the national pundits. Many have Dan Hurley’s team either in the top-25 or as a team knocking on the door despite the loss of leading scorer Christian Vital to graduation (16.4 Pts, 6.3 Reb, 2.6 Ast) and two former top 100 recruits, Alterique Gilbert and Sid Wilson as transfers.
Shooting Guard James Bouknight (13.0 Pts, 4.1 Reb, 1.3 Ast) returns, however, fresh off an electric freshman season and he will be joined by junior transfer RJ Cole from Howard, which on paper will make for one of the better backcourts in the Big East. Cole scored over 20 points per game in each of his two seasons in the MEAC but expect those numbers to come down a little bit with the jump. In order for the Cole experiment in Connecticut to be successful, he is going to need to cut down on his turnovers. Thus far in his career, he has averaged 3.5 per game. UConn finished 11th in the AAC in turnovers a season ago so I wouldn’t exactly call this the perfect marriage.
A handful of other contributors from last seasons 5th place roster in the AAC are back and in typical UConn fashion, Hurley signed a couple of top 100 recruits in Andre Jackson and Adama Sanogo so there is reason to be optimistic in Storrs for the future of this program. That said, I can’t quite wrap my arms around any prediction that has this team in the top-4 of the Big East or in any national rankings when they haven’t been able to achieve either in their last four seasons in a lesser conference with teams that had similar makeups.
An under the radar storyline for the Huskies is how the front line of 6’11 Josh Carlton (7.8 Pts, 6.1 Reb, 0.7 Ast) and 6’9 Akok Akok (5.8 Pts, 5.5 Reb, 0.4 Ast) will transition into the Big East. The conference lost a lot of productive big men from a year ago and if Carlton and Akok can take that next step UConn just might have an advantage in the post in every game it plays, with the exception of Villanova. Thus far in their careers, they’ve been inconsistent but if either can emerge as a legitimate power forward alongside the 6’9 freshman Sanogo, Hurley’s squad will have a chance to match some of these high expectations.
The future is very bright for the Huskies and Hurley has a lot to work with heading into the Big East, but anyone who thinks they will come in and push for a conference title right off the bat is probably wrong. Their results in the AAC have just not been there to warrant a preseason ranking and it’s best to take a wait and see approach with UConn as they step up a level in competition.