UConn may have its train back on the right track

Steve Carp

Monday, March 15, 1999 | 11:43 a.m.

DENVER -- Maybe the polls weren't lying back in December and January when Connecticut sat at the top, looking down on Duke and the rest of the college basketball world.

Maybe it wasn't all hype coming from the 30-plus newspapers that cover the team on a regular basis.

Maybe UConn is this good.

So far, Jim Calhoun has had little to complain about, other than his health, as the Huskies rolled through the NCAA Tournament's West subregional at McNichols Arena like a team befitting its top-seed status.

Surely New Mexico is still trying to get the license plate of the truck that ran over it Saturday. After falling behind 17-0 at the start and having UConn run out 12-0 to start the second half, Lobos coach Dave Bliss probably thought it was deja Utah all over again.

"It sure seemed that way," Bliss said after his team was crushed 78-56.

But Bliss isn't alone. The Huskies appear to have things back on track. That 73-71 loss to Miami back on Feb. 20 may have been just the thing for Connecticut to get itself re-energized to earn the school's first Final Four berth.

In its last four games, UConn's average margin of victory has been 21 points. Suddenly, the Road to the Final Four doesn't look all that imposing with fifth-seeded Iowa up next at Thursday's West Regional at Phoenix and No. 6 Florida meeting Cinderella Gonzaga, the No. 10 seed, in the other West semi.

"This team's good enough to keep going," Calhoun said in his heavy New England brogue. "Whether or not we get to the Final Four, it's going to be hard to be disappointed.

"We're 30-2. It's been a good ride so far. We just want to take it as far as we can."

The difference for this year's UConn team may be Calhoun's recent decision to extend his bench rather than shorten it as the pressure games of the Big East tournament and the NCAAs approached.

Most coaches prefer to pare their lineup and keep the rotation to seven. Calhoun played nine people nine minutes or more Saturday with Richard Hamilton getting the most time at 33 minutes.

"We've been trying to play a lot of people and keep Khalid (El-Amin) and Rip (Hamilton) between 28-30 minutes," said Calhoun, who was back on the sidelines after a bout with stomach flu kept him in his hotel room for the first-round game with Texas-San Antonio on Thursday.

"We did it going into the Big East tournament but I think we had to do it out here (in Denver) with the altitude. When we got here Monday and we practiced at Air Force, we were hurting, no question. But we got used to it. We loved Denver. But we're looking forward to Phoenix."

The players think Calhoun made a wise move.

"I feel great," said Hamilton, who missed two games with a leg injury in February. "I haven't thought about my leg since Providence (Feb. 22).

"It helps us when guys come off the bench. When they step up, it takes a lot of pressure off me and Khalid. The last couple of minutes, you feel energized."

Getting 19 productive minutes out of Edmund Saunders (10 points, 10 rebounds) and 14 sound minutes from E.J. Harrison (three points, three assists), Connecticut not only gave its two stars a respite, but the bench guys a sense of belonging and contributing. That can only help team morale.

El-Amin, who had 21 points and seven rebounds in the New Mexico win, said that when the team plays defense the way it did Saturday and everyone's contributing, Connecticut is a hard team to beat.

"I don't think we're trying to send any messages," he said. "We're just trying to play Connecticut basketball.

"We expect to play like that."

Forward Kevin Freeman said what UConn has done in the tournament so far doesn't surprise him.

"It's so competitive in practice," he said. "Anytime you have the best players as well as quality players coming in and pushing them, you're going to be better."

Center Jake Voskuhl said the play of the bench has given everyone a boost in the chemistry department.

"As a team, everyone's happy right now," said Voskuhl, who held New Mexico's Kenny Thomas to a career-low one point.

"I think all teams go through ups and downs during the season. It's about peaking at the right time. Look at Arizona two years ago."

Given what it has done with seven straight wins heading into Thursday's regional semifinal, is Connecticut peaking?

"We're getting there," Voskuhl said. "But we're not there yet. What's missing? I don't really know."