UConn picked up the third-largest victory in NCAA Tournament history as they destroyed Chattanooga, 103-47, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Thursday.
Jim Calhoun wasn't there, but Sticks, Hasheem and A.J. all were. And after a slow start, UConn went on a ridiculous 46-5 (or close to it) run.
Robinson scored 24, and looked frankly awesome. He had a sequence of about 60 seconds of game time in which he dunked spectacularly three times and had a monster block. I hate asking this every time Sticks does anything good, but is this the Stanley Robinson we've been expecting all along? That's two straight exceptional games, and three out of the last five.
But I don't want to take too much from this game. It was a blowout against a way-overmatched 16th-seed. Although Donnell Beverley looked pretty solid off the bench in garbage time. And the Blane-man let them work through early mistakes until they started rolling like the UConn women (and in more ways than just on the scoreboard - UConn had an amazing 28 assists on 37 shots).
Next up: a Saturday afternoon tilt with ninth-seeded Texas A&M, most likely at approximately 3:35 p.m. (since Nova-UCLA is a great matchup for the 1:00 national TV slot). I'll have my preview up late tonight.
In the meantime, let's all take a deep breath and be thankful the Huskies got that 'no postseason win' thing off their backs. Yesterday was a performance to be proud of, and hopefully, it will carry over to the second round and beyond.
Get well soon, Jim.