UConn Men’s Basketball AAC Tournament Preview

While UConn Men’s Basketball ended its regular season on Sunday, it has still been an eventful week.

On Wednesday, the American Conference announced its yearly honors and a pair of Huskies received recognition.

Jalen Adams was named to the All-Conference First Team after a breakout sophomore campaign. He finished conference play with 12.1 points-per-game and 6.7 assists-per-game, tops in the conference. Against Temple, Adams hit a game-winner with 2.9 seconds after the Huskies trailed for most of the game.

Despite dealing with a concussion and ankle injury, the Roxbury, Mass. native became the third UConn player in the last four years to make the All-Conference First Team.

Additionally, Vance Jackson’s strong freshman campaign earned him a spot on the conference’s All-Rookie team. Jackson was unstoppable from behind the arc, hitting 48% from three during conference play while contributing 12.1 ppg.

It was a bit surprising that Christian Vital did not make the All-Rookie team. After coming in without much fanfare, the injury to Alterique Gilbert forced the New Yorker into a larger role and the freshman answered the call, scoring 9.7 points-per-game and hitting 39% from three. The final addition to the class of 2016 will be a factor heading into the American Conference Tournament and beyond.

On Tuesday, Kevin Ollie added another player to the class of 2017 in junior college prospect Eric Cobb. The 6-foot-9 power forward started his career at South Carolina but was dismissed from the team after being arrested for issues stemming from a BB gun incident.

Cobb ended up at Chiopola College, the same school Sam Cassell Jr. attended before UConn. He is listed as 6-foot-9, 276-pounds and was rated a 3-star recruit out of high school. He will add depth and experience to a front court that will include Steven Enoch, Juwan Durham, Mamadou Diarra, Tyler Poley and Josh Carlton.

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On Thursday, the Huskies face-off against the USF Bulls in the first round of the AAC Tournament in Hartford. UConn swept the Bulls in the regular season, including a 97-51 drubbing in early-February.

There’s no question the Huskies need to win the conference tournament in order to reach the NCAA Tournament, but the path to the auto-bid is not going to be easy.

UConn will likely have to go through Houston, Cincinnati and SMU, teams the Huskies went 0-6 against this season, losing by an average margin of 14 points. It’s going to take a Herculean effort from this team to win four games in four day against those teams.

But then again, it is March and UConn has a propensity for exceeding expectations this time of year. That’s why they play the game.