Huskies Hang by a Hair after 78-76 loss to Louisville

No one can fault UCONN's effort after Sunday afternoon's heartbreaking 78-76 loss to the Louisville Cardinal. The Huskies left nothing on the floor on Senior Day, but succumbed to Louisville's 3 point shooting and the same three fundamental lacks they have had all season. Louisville made 10 three's to the Huskies 5(4 by Kemba Walker); that is a fifteen point difference to make up which the Huskies tried valiantly to do. Add to that no real 3 point shooters, no back up guard and one bigman short and the difference becomes insurmountable.
The Huskies came out smoking and took an early 13 point lead on the strength of excellent defense, strong transitions and Kemba Walker's continued sensational play. The lead might have been even larger if Stanley Robinson had not committed 2 turn overs and one blown tap in in the first two minutes of the game. He let a perfect fast break lead pass go through his fingers and threw a ball out of bounds as well as bobbling an easy tap in. Robinson went on to total 5 turnovers, two in the second half where he threw passes directly out of bounds with no Husky player in sight. Do you think that's worth more than the two point margin of defeat?
In the last ten minutes of the first half Louisville stiffened up their defense and started hitting threes as they whittled the lead to 5 at the half.
In the first half the Huskies attacked Louisville's 2-3 zone by making their first pass in the half-court to Gavin Edwards at the foul line. Edwards either made nice interior passes, good kick backs or turned and shot his nice 15 foot jump shot.
At the start of the Second half Pitino, a great game coach, switched to a smaller, quicker line up and they swarmed around Edwards whenever he received the first pass. this resulted in UCONN turnovers (22 for the game) and cut down Edward's effectiveness. Calhoun never made a counter adjustment as the game started to slip away. UConn fell behind but came back to tie the game with eight seconds left when Samuel's scored on a lay up. Walker took the in bounds pass, drove the length of the floor and threw up a desperation off balance, off the mark drive to end the contest Nevetheless, Walker continued his sensational play and certainly looks like he has finally arrived at the next level up.
Where does that leave the Huskies? Here are the Big East standings as of 3/1/10.
(4) Syracuse Orange 14-2 27-2
(7) Villanova Wildcats 12-4 23-5
(8) West Virginia Mountaineers 11-5 22-6
(12) Pittsburgh Panthers 11-5 22-7
Marquette Golden Eagles 10-6 19-9
Louisville Cardinals 10-6 19-10
(11) Georgetown Hoyas 9-7 19-8
Notre Dame Fighting Irish 8-8 19-10
South Florida Bulls 7-9 17-11
Seton Hall Pirates 7-9 16-11
Connecticut Huskies 7-9 17-12
Cincinnati Bearcats 7-9 16-12
St. John's Red Storm 5-11 15-13
Rutgers Scarlet Knights 5-11 15-14
Providence Friars 4-12 12-16
DePaul Blue Demons 1-15 8-
Again, if we assume the big East will get 8 teams in, Wednesday night's game against Notre Dame is critical. If the Huskies win and go on to win their last game of the season, they will have the same or better record than Notre Dame and they have the highest RPI amongst ND, South Florida, Seton hall and Cincinnatti. If this is the case they may have to win at least two, possibly three Games in the Big East Tournament. As I said they are hanging on to the NCAA chances by a very weak hair.