We can't even beat Providence...YES PROVIDENCE!

What happened to the Connecticut Huskies that I have known and loved for 9 years? What happened to the team that has won 2 National Championships in the last 8 years? Not only have we fell out of the top 25 for the first time in 4 years, we can't even win a game anymore. We have lost our last 4 games and 7 of our last 9.

We absolutely killed all of the weaker competition earlier in the year and things were looking good, coming into our first road game(yes, our first 11 games were home games) against West Virginia we were ranked #11 and 11-0.

So obviously I was excited, running around the streets of St.Louis with no shirt and some spandex shorts, that didn't really hide my boner to say the least. I mean when my teams are winning I tend to take the celebration a little to far. A frightened Chimpanzee at the St.Louis Zoo knows exactly what i'm talking about. Apparently the cops and the trainers don't like it when you strip off all your clothes and get into the ape cages and spoon with the monkeys. Who knew?
Basically what I'm trying to say is, I bought into all they hype, I looked into all the players and liked what I saw, I liked our potential. Although I have admitted that I don't think were a powerhouse like we were last year, but I felt that we would win 20+ games, make the NCAA Tournament and create some buzz. I was wrong. We can't hold a lead against teams in the second half. We give up long scoring streaks that put us out of the game. We can't defend that well. And we have no real "scorer".

We have alot of talent but at this point we can't close out games. We have had leads or been right there in all of loses at halftime and then we blow it in the second half. We have given up a 12-0 run to Pittsburgh(aka Shitsburgh) and Marquette, a 12-2 run to LSU, and a 15-3 run to Louisville...all in the second half. And then again today against Providence, we had an 11 point lead going into halftime and to start the second half, the Friars went on a 16-0 run. WE GOT BEAT BY FUCKING FRIARS...WHAT THE HELL! The same Providence team that lost to Senton Hall and Brown. Yes the Ivy League school.

I love Jim Calhoun, but it is apparent that he can't find a winning starting line up. He has tried combos such as:

C-Hasheem Thabeet, F-Jeff Adrien, F-Marcus Johnson, G-Jerome Dyson, G-A.J. Price
C-Hasheem Thabeet, F-Jeff Adrien, F-Stanley Robinson, G-Jerome Dyson, G-Doug Wiggins
C-Hasheem Thabeet, F-Jeff Adrien, F-Stanley Robinson, G-Jerome Dyson, G-A.J. Price
F-Jeff Adrien, F-Stanley Robinson, G-Jerome Dyson, G-A.J. Price G-Doug Wiggins

Another weakness is our lack of ability to defend the 3-point shot. Although overall our 3-point pct. is better(ours-.333 opp-.308), we don't shoot that many a game, and our opponets shoot alot. Also our free throw shooting is abismal. Right now UConn is shooting .638 from the FT line. That isn't going to cut it.

I'm going to go ahead and say it. Although I love Hasheem Thabeet's shot blocking ability, he looks like a bust this year. He is 7'3" 265 lbs but he has no mucle on him. He is long and skinny and he just gets over powered down low which is why he's only averaging 6.9 ppg and 6.5 rpg. I still think he can be great, but this offseason their is alot that he needs to work on, like packing on some muscle, work on his downlow presence and just get stronger.

With all that said, I think we will defintely win our next two games guaranteed. We travel to Depaul(12-9) and then we have Rutgers(8-12) at home. We need to win at least 7 or 8 of our remaining 10 games and we need to do well in the Big East Tournament if we have any hope to make the NCAA Tournament.

06-07 Schedule

11/10- Quinnipiac (53-46 W)
11/17- Cen. Arkansas (88-59 W)
11/18- Fairfield (74-49 W)
11/19- Ole Miss (77-59 W)
11/26- Albany (86-55 W)
11/29- Sacred Heart (89-46 W)
12/03- Texas South (106-55 W)
12/06- N'Eastern (81-53 W)
12/17- St. Mary's (89-73 W)
12/20- Pepperdine (88-66 W)
12/27- Coppin St. (84-41 W)
12/30- @ West Virginia (81-71 L)
01/02- South Florida (69-50 W)
01/06- @ #19 LSU (66-49 L)
01/10- Marquette (73-69 L)
01/13- @ St. John's (68-59 W)
01/16- @ #6 Pittsburgh (63-54 L)
01/20- Indiana (77-73 L)
01/22- @ Louisville (68-54 L)
01/27- Providence (84-72 )
01/31- @ Depaul (12-9, 3-4)
02/03- Rutgers (8-12, 1-6)
02/05- Syracuse (15-5, 4-2)
02/11- @ Ga Tech (13-6)
02/14- Senton Hall (11-8, 3-4)
02/17- @ Syracuse (15-5, 4-2)
02/21- @ Rutgers (8-12, 1-6)
02/25- Louisville (14-6, 4-2)
02/28- Villanova (14-5, 3-3)
03/03- @ Georgetown (15-5, 5-2)

We have a tough road ahead of us, but hopefully Jim Calhoun can right the ship and turn this team around to make a late run. Hopefully.