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After dominating March Insanity final yr, the UConn Huskies are doing a lot of the identical this yr.
UConn received their fifth nationwide title final yr, and of their six video games, they received every recreation by a minimum of 13 factors.
They’re midway by going back-to-back, and of their first three video games on this yr’s match, they’ve crushed their opponents by 39, 17 and 30. Even in that 75-58 victory over No. 8 Northwestern, they led by as many as 30.
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Head coach Rick Pitino of the Iona Gaels shakes palms with head coach Dan Hurley of the Connecticut Huskies earlier than the primary spherical of the 2023 NCAA Males’s Basketball Event held at MVP Area on March 17, 2023, in Albany, New York. (C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Images through Getty Pictures)
Of their final 9 March Insanity video games, they’ve received by a median of 28.9 factors, which explains why they’re the highest-ranked staff within the match.
The Huskies have a shot at making the Ultimate 4 on Saturday towards No. 3 Illinois, they usually enter as 8.5-point favorites.
They’re 34-3 this season, and Rick Pitino, the pinnacle coach of Huge East rival St. John’s, is predicting a repeat.
“I don’t see a weak point,” Pitino advised the New York Submit. “They should have an off capturing evening, and it’s important to have an ideal capturing evening to beat them.”
UConn guard Tristen Newton (2) and his teammates react within the last seconds of the second half of a second-round faculty basketball recreation towards Northwestern within the NCAA Event, Sunday, March 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Picture/Mary Altaffer)
“It’s going to take a particular efficiency,” he added of the Illini’s possibilities of profitable. “They’ll play in so many alternative methods. [Cam] Spencer’s the pinnacle of the snake, as a result of he’s all the time in movement, he’s all the time creating the go that results in an ideal shot, he’s all the time getting the offensive rebound that’s key. However then you definately received [Tristen] Newton and [Stephon] Fortress and [Donovan] Clingan who’re all [projected] first-round draft decisions, they usually’re all large in their very own proper.
“Then they bring about in a backup heart [Samson Johnson] who’s pretty much as good as a [backup] heart as there may be in faculty basketball, and he’s taking part in nice. Then you’ve gotten [Alex] Karaban, the remainder of the fellows they bring about off the bench. They’re a deadly basketball staff.”
St. John’s was snubbed out of the match regardless of rating twenty fifth within the KenPom rankings, the highest-rated staff to overlook the match. They misplaced to UConn, 95-90, within the Huge East match semifinals.
With a win, will probably be UConn’s seventh Ultimate 4 look, and the primary time they’ve ever made it in back-to-back years. That is their thirteenth time within the Elite Eight, they usually had not made it in consecutive years since 1998 and 1999.
UConn heart Donovan Clingan reacts after dunking in the course of the second half of an NCAA faculty basketball recreation within the championship towards Marquette of the Huge East Convention match, Saturday, March 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Picture/Mary Altaffer)
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Pitino was the pinnacle coach of Iona final yr, UConn’s first opponent en path to profitable the championship.
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