The UConn Fast Break - 11/11/2022

Basketball season is under way, and the Icebus keeps rolling!

November 11, 2022

Welcome to this week’s Fast Break, and thank you for being a subscriber. Happy Veteran’s Day.

This weekly newsletter is brought to you by the folks who run The UConn Blog on SB Nation and the UConn WBB Weekly, UConn Hockey Hub and Husky Football Forum newsletters on Substack! Please consider sharing or supporting our work!

Women’s basketball gets season has started

After men’s basketball took victory on Monday to get the 2022-23 season started, Thursday marked the commencement of the women’s basketball season, with the Huskies earning a convincing victory over Northeastern.

While injury woes are high, between Paige Bueckers and Ice Brady each missing the entire season and Caroline Ducharme out on Thursday with neck stiffness, UConn is still a high-quality team capable of making its 15th consecutive Final Four.

Geno Auriemma put together another challenging schedule, with several national title contenders and teams worthy of a top-25 ranking, with few true cupcakes on the docket.

The UConn Blog and UConn WBB Weekly will be all over the Huskies all season and in addition to schedule previews, looked at the frontcourt and backcourt as well, highlighting each player on the roster.

Weekly Rewind

Men’s Basketball

Huskies drop Stonehill - UConn’s size advantage proved vital in a 31-point victory on Monday night, as Donavan Clingan and Alex Karaban were bright spots.

Boston University preview - The Huskies take on the Terriers at Gampel Pavilion on Friday.

Class of 2023 goes official - All five members of the Class of 2023, having dubbed themselves the Fab Five, have signed their national letters of intent and are officially part of the program.

Women’s Basketball

Battle of the Huskies - UConn took down Northeastern to open the 2022-23 season.

Chasing Perfection - The podcast crew takes a look ahead at the upcoming season.

UConn WBB Weekly - Read about what Geno Auriemma has to say about his team.

Jana El Alfy signs - There was one signing day surprise, as the Egyptian forward signed with the Huskies on Wednesday.

Class of 2023 signees - Learn about each of the newest women’s basketball signees.

Exhibition victory - What did we learn from the Huskies’ exhibition victory over Division II Kutztown?

Swin Cash number retirement - The UConn legend will have her No. 32 retired Nov. 14.

Men’s Hockey

Maine swept - The top-10 #icebus rolls on with a pair of wins over Maine, taking two 3-2 victories, in overtime on Friday and regulation on Saturday.

The Forecheck - This week’s men’s hockey newsletter focuses on National Signing Day.

Football

Success beyond analytics - While the football team has made only modest gains in advanced metrics, the achievements of this team are still significant.

Liberty preview - One win away from bowl eligibility, the Huskies will celebrate Senior Day against the Flames. Check out how to watch and what to watch for.

Victory over UMass - The cross-border battle belongs to UConn after a 27-10 win, while we also discussed takeaways from the contest.

Future opponents - With just two weeks to go, the Huskies are getting down to the end of the season.

Future football schedules - UConn has four games to fill out between 2024 and 2026. Who could they play?

Support the most in-depth coverage of UConn men’s hockey around!

Highlights

In the closing seconds of the first half, Azzi Fudd had a nice Euro step to get the lay-up and push UConn across the 50-point threshold before halftime against Northeastern on Thursday.

Memory Lane

We’ll throw it back to 10 years ago, when a certain women’s basketball player from upstate New York made her debut to start an illustrious collegiate and professional career.

Breanna Stewart suited up for the Huskies for the first time on Nov. 11, 2012 against the College of Charleston. The 6-foot-4 forward scored a team-leading 21 points in just 23 minutes, adding five rebounds, four steals, and a block as part of a 103-39 win to begin a national championship season.

Here’s UConn’s recap from the contest!

UConn, Great Pic

Women’s basketball got its season rolling with a dominant win over Northeastern. Check out some pics from our own Ian Bethune!

Parting Thoughts

Sometimes it’s hard to remember just how dominant UConn women’s basketball has been and just how rare this run of dominance is over any amount of time, let alone the amount of time Geno Auriemma has had UConn at the pinnacle of its sport.

A year without a national championship can feel like a disappointment, but the current streak of Final Fours is downright absurd. Since the Huskies won their first NCAA crown in 1995, just eight other programs have won a national title and 19 have even made a national championship game. In that span, UConn has won 11 Division I championships and lost the season’s final game once, representing 44.4 percent of all participants.

Auriemma’s teams also have the two longest winning streaks in collegiate basketball history and three of the longest four, while also going undefeated in its American Athletic Conference membership.

While UConn lost its first national championship game this year and hasn’t raised the trophy since 2016, the program is still playing at an elite level. The Huskies still have 14 straight Final Fours, 16 straight Elite Eights, 28 consecutive Sweet 16s, and nine conference tournament and regular season titles in a row.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime run. Let’s remember that a little more often.

If you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, please consider sharing it with a friend or two - it would mean a lot to us!

Be sure to follow The UConn Blog!

Reply

or to participate.