UConn March Madness steamroller could be start of a new era

HOUSTON (AP) — There was a short list ofbelievers in the potential of a rebuilt UConn roster before theseason started.

It was made up mostly of the UConn players and coachesthemselves.

The team that was among “others receiving votes” in the first APpoll of the season ended up cutting down nets after the last game —as sure a sign as any that in the new college landscapereconstituted by the transfer portal and name, image and likenessdeals, anything is possible.

For anyone.

The Huskies not only won the title but won it in one ofhistory’s most dominating runs through the NCAA Tournament. Theywon their six games by an average of 20 points, closing it outMonday night with a 76-59 pasting of San Diego State.

“We came into the season unranked,” coach Dan Hurley said. “Sowe had an edge to us to start the year to prove people wrong.”

Nobody could really blame fans and pundits for overlookingUConn, just as it might have been hard to blame them for pumping upNorth Carolina, a national runner-up the year before that wasbringing back the core of its roster.

UConn won the title. UNC didn’t even make the tournament.

It’s a testament to how quickly things can change in an era thatlooks more like NFL free agency than anything college sports hasever seen.

Hurley said he went back to work the day after the Huskies lostto New Mexico State in the first round last season and startedlooking at retooling his roster. The goal was to add more optionsfrom the perimeter. So, he got four new players, including JoeyCalcaterra (two 3s for 6 points in the final), who had spent fouryears at University of San Diego, and Tristen Newton (19 points, 10rebounds), who had spent three years at East Carolina.

Big East coaches still picked UConn to finish fourth in theconference. Even if the talent is there, it’s hard to gauge how itmight all come together.

The UConn story played out in different ways at different placesall across the sport this season, and had a lot to do with a FinalFour that included three underdog programs, seeded fifth (SDSU),fifth (Miami) and ninth (Florida Atlantic), that had never made itto the final weekend.

The Aztecs had two new players this year joining two others whocame to San Diego State the year before.

Elsewhere, Kansas State was picked last in the Big 12 and endedup three points shy of making the Final Four, with the help ofKeyontae Johnson, a transfer from Florida who was named athird-team AP All-American.

Creighton made its own run to the Elite Eight with big help froma transfer from South Dakota State, Baylor Scheierman, who was alsogetting looks from Duke and other bluebloods.

Texas withstood the midseason firing of its coach and made theElite Eight with two transfer-portal players: Tyrese Hunter fromIowa State and Sir’Jabari Rice from New Mexico State.

Arkansas made its third straight Sweet 16 with a semi-rebuiltroster.

“I promise I wouldn’t be sitting here if it wasn’t for thetransfer portal,” Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman said earlier inthe tournament. “Really interesting, because eight years ago, whensomebody was transferring, the process was a lot different.”

Instead of having to sit out a year, players can now go freelyfrom one school to another. Some coaches find it too destabilizing,too transactional.

No longer, however, is it a matter of faith that veteran teamsthat stick together — say, as recently as Villanova’s 2018 teamthat crushed everyone on the way to the title — have a betterchance of winning.

And even though FanDuel Sportsbook is listing UConn (11-1) andDuke (13-1) as the early favorites to win it all next season,there’s little reason to put much stock in any “way too early”looks at next year’s top teams.

“We don’t really know rosters, or how different players aregoing to fit in,” said ESPN analyst Jay Bilas. “Will they blossom,will they not? And preseason polls are done for fan interest andnothing else. You can’t really predict anything based onthose.”

Certainly, nobody was picking Florida Atlantic, Miami or SanDiego State to make the Final Four back in October.

And UConn with all those new players to win it all? Nobody sawthat coming either.

Well, almost nobody.

“We knew we were the best team in the tournament going in,”Hurley said. “We just had to play to our level.”