This one hurts.
UConn blew a 13 point lead to Louisville in a game they needed to win (AT HOME!). UConn had the ball in a tie game with 60 seconds to go, and Jerome Dyson failed to come up with a play in the clutch (driving into four defenders underneath the basket, and somehow thinking he could complete a pass). UConn's opponent had the ball in a tie game in the final seconds, and they came through (Edgar Sosa blowing by Kemba Walker, who was otherwise spectacular).
If all that seems familiar, it's because it is. This was UConn's seventh loss of five points or fewer this season, and I'm inclined to believe it's not luck. It's because UConn's senior leader, Dyson, still plays like a freshman. It's because UConn's frontcourt is unbelievably terrible on offense. It's because the many flaws of this team are magnified at winning time.
UConn is what it is at this point, 29 games into a 31-game regular season. Talented, but ridiculously flawed. Capable of outrebounding Louisville by 25, and capable of turning the ball over 22 times. Capable of going up 39-26 after 18 minutes, and capable of giving up 29 points over the next six minutes of game time.
Maddening.
The good news: Even at 17-12, UConn still very much controls their Tournament destiny. Three more wins (at Notre Dame, at South Florida, BET preliminary game) put them in. Two more and I'd wager that UConn is on the very edge of the bubble, but SOS and RPI put them in.
The bad news: Do we have any reason to suspect that this schizophrenic team won't melt down on the road in one of their two remaining regular season games? That they won't fold in MSG, as these players have done in each of the last three seasons?
I think we've been burnt too many times to think otherwise.