Big-Time Attitude
By DESMOND CONNER
The Hartford Courant
March 18, 2001
STORRS - The Huskies were bouncing around Saturday morning at Gampel Pavilion as if they were starting a new season.
The spirited practice ran from around 8:30 to 10 a.m. The Huskies went hard and there was a little fun at the end. There was a shooting contest between the post players and the guards and the losers had to run sprints.
The guards ran.
But this didn't look like the team that was so dejected it wasn't selected for the NCAA Tournament. It didn't look like the team that appeared to spend the first 35 minutes against South Carolina realizing they were still in a one-and-done situation. UConn did manage to beat the Gamecocks 72-65 in the opening round of the NIT at Gampel Pavilion Wednesday night.
No, there didn't appear to be any remnants of disappointment Saturday.
And freshman point guard Taliek Brown said the team has been rather excited about playing in the NIT for the past couple of days.
"I think when we played South Carolina people were still thinking about it [not making the NCAAs]," said Brown, who had eight points and eight assists against South Carolina. "But now it's over. So we're just going to go out, play hard and try to win the NIT. The last two days, practices have been real good. Everybody has been going real hard."
Why the quick change in attitude? Because the Huskies (20-11) are now of the mindset that they can get to the NIT final four in New York.
Offensive-wizard Rashad Phillips and the Detroit-Mercy Titans (23-10) of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference will present a challenge.
But if the Huskies can bring that upbeat attitude they should be in good shape.
"I think all the animosity we had with people for not making the tournament, not being there and seeing teams playing it, I think that's all gone away,'' Caron Butler said. "We've got a chance to do something special in the NIT. We don't want to ruin that chance, so we're going to just go ahead and play and try to get through this one.''
The Huskies have been watching the NCAA Tournament, paying close attention to the teams they felt they deserved to be selected over, such as first-round losers Georgia and Creighton.
And as one would imagine some of the Huskies are angry. But at the same time, they're using that anger, in part, as motivation.
"I think we're still a little mad,'' Johnnie Selvie said. "Because as I see the teams playing in the NCAAs, I'm thinking we could be one of the teams in there, so sometimes I don't even watch it because I'll get mad. But for the most part it's out of our minds. We just have to win games and play every game like it's our last game. I know I don't want to go home. I want to keep playing and I know the rest of the team does.''
But the Titans are probably feeling the same way. They lost to Butler 53-38 in the MCC title game. And Butler raked Wake Forest over the coals 79-63 in a first-round game Friday, its first NCAA Tournament win in 19 years.
The Titans would love to knock off a UConn team that won the national championship two years ago, especially at UConn. The Huskies have lost only once at home this season - to Villanova at the Civic Center. The Huskies are 8-0 at Gampel.
"Obviously we're very excited about this opportunity to continue our season and look forward to the challenge of playing UConn,'' UDM coach Perry Watson said.
Detroit is coming off a 68-49 victory at Bradley.
"[Detroit] won't have any problem getting up and I hope we don't either,'' UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. "I'm looking forward to a good game and an opportunity to keep on playing and when it's all said and done that's what you have to keep on doing. Just like everybody else that's playing today.''
By DESMOND CONNER
The Hartford Courant
March 18, 2001
STORRS - The Huskies were bouncing around Saturday morning at Gampel Pavilion as if they were starting a new season.
The spirited practice ran from around 8:30 to 10 a.m. The Huskies went hard and there was a little fun at the end. There was a shooting contest between the post players and the guards and the losers had to run sprints.
The guards ran.
But this didn't look like the team that was so dejected it wasn't selected for the NCAA Tournament. It didn't look like the team that appeared to spend the first 35 minutes against South Carolina realizing they were still in a one-and-done situation. UConn did manage to beat the Gamecocks 72-65 in the opening round of the NIT at Gampel Pavilion Wednesday night.
No, there didn't appear to be any remnants of disappointment Saturday.
And freshman point guard Taliek Brown said the team has been rather excited about playing in the NIT for the past couple of days.
"I think when we played South Carolina people were still thinking about it [not making the NCAAs]," said Brown, who had eight points and eight assists against South Carolina. "But now it's over. So we're just going to go out, play hard and try to win the NIT. The last two days, practices have been real good. Everybody has been going real hard."
Why the quick change in attitude? Because the Huskies (20-11) are now of the mindset that they can get to the NIT final four in New York.
Offensive-wizard Rashad Phillips and the Detroit-Mercy Titans (23-10) of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference will present a challenge.
But if the Huskies can bring that upbeat attitude they should be in good shape.
"I think all the animosity we had with people for not making the tournament, not being there and seeing teams playing it, I think that's all gone away,'' Caron Butler said. "We've got a chance to do something special in the NIT. We don't want to ruin that chance, so we're going to just go ahead and play and try to get through this one.''
The Huskies have been watching the NCAA Tournament, paying close attention to the teams they felt they deserved to be selected over, such as first-round losers Georgia and Creighton.
And as one would imagine some of the Huskies are angry. But at the same time, they're using that anger, in part, as motivation.
"I think we're still a little mad,'' Johnnie Selvie said. "Because as I see the teams playing in the NCAAs, I'm thinking we could be one of the teams in there, so sometimes I don't even watch it because I'll get mad. But for the most part it's out of our minds. We just have to win games and play every game like it's our last game. I know I don't want to go home. I want to keep playing and I know the rest of the team does.''
But the Titans are probably feeling the same way. They lost to Butler 53-38 in the MCC title game. And Butler raked Wake Forest over the coals 79-63 in a first-round game Friday, its first NCAA Tournament win in 19 years.
The Titans would love to knock off a UConn team that won the national championship two years ago, especially at UConn. The Huskies have lost only once at home this season - to Villanova at the Civic Center. The Huskies are 8-0 at Gampel.
"Obviously we're very excited about this opportunity to continue our season and look forward to the challenge of playing UConn,'' UDM coach Perry Watson said.
Detroit is coming off a 68-49 victory at Bradley.
"[Detroit] won't have any problem getting up and I hope we don't either,'' UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. "I'm looking forward to a good game and an opportunity to keep on playing and when it's all said and done that's what you have to keep on doing. Just like everybody else that's playing today.''
