In search of a three-peat

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Good morning! Hope our readers in the Southeast are recovering from Hurricane Helene. The damage from that storm was substantial and the effects will be felt for weeks, if not months. The small effect on college hoops: Southern Conference media day has been postponed from Oct. 1 to a yet-to-be-named later date.

Stay safe out there everyone.

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1. Does UConn have the right pieces for another title?

Winning back-to-back NCAA Tournaments — let alone in dominant fashion — is enough to place UConn among the all-time elite runs in the last 40 years of men’s college hoops.

Beyond winning 68 games and all 12 NCAA tourney games by double figures, they also produced three NBA lottery picks and five draft selections, meaning a lot of elite talent (most of it developed by the UConn staff) is no longer around.

Replacing four starters is one thing. Replacing four guys who are now playing professionally? That’s something else.

And, as Rob Dauster and John Fanta discuss in our Offseason Grades, it’s the biggest question surrounding the Huskies entering the 2024-25 season. How quickly can all the pieces mesh together in Storrs?

Dan Hurley didn’t turn down the Lakers for just a routine, solid season. The coach won’t be satisfied with anything less than perfection. That’s one of the reasons why the Huskies have thrived.

So maybe let’s start with a different question: Who runs the point of attack?

Is it super senior Hassan Diarra? Saint Mary’s transfer Aiden Mahaney? Freshman Ahmad Nowell? Some other combination? Whoever initiates the offense will dictate much of UConn’s success, which really clicked once Tristan Newton found his footing in late January of 2023. Thankfully, I can kick to the DTF crew to discuss this one.

Then there’s the development question. Forward Alex Karaban is the lone returning starter, while upperclassmen such as Diarra and big man Samson Johnson are expected to fill specific roles. Who picks up the scoring slack? Is it Mahaney? Freshman sharpshooter Liam McNeeley? Or is it a pair of sophomores in wings Jaylin Stewart and Solomon Ball?

Sounds like Hurley already ID’d one candidate.

Ball and Stewart didn’t play a ton as freshmen. They were fairly productive while on the court, but nothing spectacular. (Ball’s best game was 13 points in 29 minutes vs. UNC, while Stewart’s two 11-minute stints in the Big East tourney vs. St. John’s and Marquette were probably his best.)

If either were unhappy with that playing time, they would’ve transferred. But they stayed, worked on their game, and are now trying to work their way into the starting lineup. Significant summer improvement is one of Hurley’s basic requirements. It’s how he’ll cull his core team from the bench. Scrapping for playing time now pays dividends in March.

“In your mind you have people that you want to win it,” Hurley said on Friday, via the Hartford Courant. “But they’ve got to earn it. Because if you don’t start the people that have been the best, you lose the respect of the team and everyone in that circle. So you can’t gift it, it’s got to be earned.

“It’s just months and months of reps that you’ve seen, and you’ve seen the best of people, the worst of people. See how people fit each other, you see the way that we want to play, some players have more upside than others if you go with them too in certain spots. There’s a lot, but there’s definitely people I want to win it.”

Hurley’s gonna solve that roster puzzle. And he’ll keep pushing those pieces toward another March run. Whether it turns into history … well, nobody’s solved that since John Wooden.

2. Saint Louis already dealing with significant injury

Preseason injuries are the worst, Part 327. This version’s at Saint Louis.

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