Editor's Note: Dick Weiss, a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame, has covered college sports in Philadelphia and New York for more than 40 years. He will be providing regular commentary for the American Athletic Conference during the 2014-15 season.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.-- The American arguably had the best March of any basketball league in the country last year, with the UConn men's and women's teams winning NCAA championships.
But the UConn men are a team in transition this season after losing three key starters, including unstoppable All-American guard Shabazz Napier, who was the Most Outstanding Player in the Final Four.
That has not stopped Huskies' coach Kevin Ollie from agreeing to play another challenging nonleague schedule in an effort to boost his team's RPI. It is admirable and speaks to the great tradition of this elite program. The Huskies have played two top-10 teams (Texas and Duke), Ivy League contender Yale and vastly improved West Virginia.
They are still looking for that first signature win.
When second-ranked Duke, the most talented team in the Atlantic Coast Conference, defeated UConn, 66-56, here Thursday night in an NCAA-type atmosphere before a crowd of 16,541 at the Izod Center, we saw a team that is still a work in progress.
"Connecticut played their butts off," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "They played like the championship program they are. It was a fight. We just played better at the end to win."
Duke has history in this building. The North Jersey arena has been their home away from home for the Devils in NCAA regional and big nonconference games. But the Huskies’ aggressive defensive game plan that kept them competitive against the best team they will play this season, double teaming Duke's gifted 6-11 freshman center Jahlil Okafor, making the proper rotations and contesting enough of the Blue Devils' shots to limit them to 37-percent shooting. UConn also forced Duke into 19 turnovers, staying in the game by holding the Blue Devils to 30 points in the first half.
But this UConn team is desperately searching for some knock-down shooters to provide offensive support to mercurial senior guard Ryan Boatright, the American’s preseason Player of the Year, who along with Nic Moore of SMU, is the hardest player to guard in the conference.
Boatright lived up to the hype against Duke, scoring 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting, grabbing seven rebounds and coming up with three steals and two assists. "He's the best guard we've played against,'' Krzyzewski said. Boatright made the type of big shots that kept the Huskies in the game. But he is carrying a heavier weight on his shoulders than either Kemba Walker of Napier did when they led the Huskies on Cinderella runs through the 2011 and 2014 tournaments.
"Teams are going to double team me, especially when I get to scoring,'' he said. "They are going to get the ball out of my hands and Coach just said (in the locker room) that we need the next guard to make plays, either scoring or making plays for other people kind of of like I did for Shabazz last year. I just have to challenge my teammates. Hopefully, they take it the right way.”
UConn only figures to become more successful the once the league season begins and center Amida Brimah blossoms into an elite big man. The American is filled with young players at traditional powerhouses like Memphis, Cincinnati, UConn and Temple and this program -- which has won four national championships – is built on pride. But the Huskies were not ready for a rare talent like Okafor. Even though they limited him to five shots, Okafor got to the line 11 times, finished with 12 points and eight rebounds and forced the Huskies into deep foul trouble when they tried to guard him.
Brimah, the Huskies' 7-0 sophomore center who scored 40 points against Coppin State on Sunday, was no factor and fouled out with 1:24 to play. He had no points and one rebound in 13 minutes. He picked up a foul on Duke's first possession and went to the bench. "(The fouls) took me out of the game," Brimah said, "but I can't blame the officials."
When he returned, Brimah immediately picked up another foul. He played less than a minute in the first half.
Forwards Kentan Facey and Phillip Nolan also picked up two personals trying to guard Okafor.
Facey, a promising 6-9 sophomore, did his best, to pick up the slack, scoring 14 points and grabbing nine rebounds. But without Brimah in the game as a shot blocker/rim protector, Duke was able to get to the line 34 times, making 25 free throws; and outrebounding the Huskies, 40-29.
"Amida is a big part of our success,” Boatright said. "When he was out, that hurt us, but it just called for the next man to step up and I think Kentan did a hell of a job. We just have to get better in crunchtime situations.''
The Huskies, who lost to both Texas and Yale by a point at home, are an uncharacteristic 4-4 after losing four nonleague games for the first time since 1986-87 and are struggling to score points, getting just 44 against Yale and 54 against the Longhorns .
But the Huskies showed signs of improvement against Duke, tying the game at 30-30 and then making a couple late runs after the Blue Devils went on a 15-2 run to take 45-32 lead. UConn got as close as 62-56 when Boatright hit one of his three second-half 3-pointers with a minute to play, but Duke freshman forward Justice Winslow followed the second of two missed free throws by Okafor with a rebound follow. In the end, Duke, which put all five starters in double figures, had too much balance.
"There are games within games and there are situations where we are not able to make plays," Ollie said. "You can't keep blaming it on youth. We have to grow up and make those game-winning plays."
Ollie has developed a reputation for developing chemistry since he took this job three years ago. He played for UConn's Hall of Fame Jim Calhoun and brings a lot of Calhoun's basketball IQ to the court. But it is up to the players to execute his offense. "When the shot clock gets low and the crowd gets loud, it's a pressure situation,” Boatright said. "And we just have to get better and get into our offense quicker.”
In the end, the ability of guards Rodney Purvis and Terrence Samuel and freshman wing Daniel Hamilton to make shots will determine the destiny of this particular UConn team. Boatright was the only UConn player to make a 3-pointer against Duke.
"I tell our guys all the time, 'You got the best coach in America. He lets you all play. There are no restrictions,’” Boatright said. "He lets you go out and be who you want to be. I want to live. If they double-team me and I get into the lane and kick it out and you'll got a shot, take it. It's when we pump fake and drive to the middle and they double team and they're smacking the ball out of our hand. There's a time and place where you need to pump fake and get into the lane. If you're wide open, you have to have enough confidence to shoot the ball.''
In terms of the big picture, Boatright feels like UConn is starting to put pressure on itself to solidify its resume for another deep tournament run. The Huskies have two more marquee non-league road games left next month – at Stanford and Florida.
"It's pressure,'' he said. "We can’t rely on the conference to get us in the tournament. Coach told us we're starting to run out of opportunities and we need to look at ourselves in the mirror and figure what we can do better.”