MARCH MADNESS IS COMING
The Spartans have been incredible this season. In arguably the best conference in the country, they have dominated against their opponents with their All-American point guard Mateen Cleaves and a supporting cast which is experienced and cohesive. Unfortunately, a lack of big talent may cost the Spartans later, as they have lost convincing games to Duke and Connecticut.
UConn has not been UConn without Richard Hamilton playing his brand of basketball. Since losing the Pre-Season All-American and favorite for Player of the Year against Syracuse, the Huskies have not been playing dominating or solid basketball. On paper, they have an excellent, deep team capable of blowing your average team out every night. Then Rip fell down with an injury, as did the heavily underrated Jake Voshkul, and star point guard Khalid El-Amin needed to step up and lead his team to victory at home over Syracuse. They didn't, and the 19-0 season was over, as the Huskies dropped to No. 2, and people wondered whether the Huskies could rebound after a humiliating 59-42 final score. The next week, El-Amin made people think twice when UConn soundly beat then No. 4 Stanford to make its case for No. 1. But Duke overwhelmingly received the vote, and when the Huskies suffered another letdown at home against Miami, the Huskies dropped to No. 4. During this time, Richard Hamilton was not shooting well, scoring well, or playing well, period, and this hampered the Huskies. Then, on Sunday, it was off to the Carrier Dome for a rematch against the Orangemen in Syracuse. Going up against a team with revenge planned, Syracuse and their talented Jason Hart and Etan Thomas could not keep up with the explosive Huskies, who played stingy D and were led by Richard Hamilton with 26 points and Khalid El-Amin, who had 21. The Huskies won the Big East title for the 5th time in six years, and moved the Huskies back to No. 3. For UConn to challenge Duke this season in March Madness, Hamilton, El-Amin, and star forward Kevin Freeman will have to step up.
If you can see a UConn, Duke game in the future, a William Avery-Trajan Langdon matchup against Khalid El-Amin and Richard Hamilton would make the headlines. But in the end, those guys would probably neutralize each other, making the other matchups even more important. Ricky Moore for UConn is the key for the Huskies in their
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