UConn Men, Women Top AP Preseason Polls
No question about it: Connecticut is No. 1. Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams hold the top ranking in the preseason polls by The Associated Press.
“It will provide a benefit to the university community as a whole,” UConn athletic director Jeff Hathaway said. “The excitement from basketball has carried to other sports. The success has really provided a standard of excellence.”
Connecticut has enjoyed this double No. 1 before. Duke is the only other school whose men’s and women’s teams were ranked first simultaneously – for two weeks last January.
UConn men’s coach Jim Calhoun will try to blend one of the nation’s top recruiting classes with the inside-outside combination of Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon.
Women’s coach Geno Auriemma has everyone back from last year’s national championship team. The Huskies, led by national player of the year Diana Taurasi, are aiming for their third straight title and fifth overall.
Since 1995, Connecticut basketball teams have won five national titles. The women did it first with a 35-0 season in 1995 and Calhoun’s team won the NCAA championship in 1999. The programs have shared the No. 1 ranking three times before – for one week in 1995, the 1999-00 preseason and for six straight weeks in the 1998-99 season.
“It’s easier being an underdog, no question. Everybody likes that role,” Calhoun said. “But give me the chance to have a lot of talent and have everything go right. We could have some things go wrong and still be really good because we’re deep. If that transpires the way we want to, it could be a fun year for us.”
Gordon and Okafor average 19.5 points and 15.9 points, respectively. Okafor led the nation with nearly five blocks a game.
“We didn’t win anything yet,” senior guard Taliek Brown said. “That’s just predicting something. We’ve got to come out and prove that we’ve got a good chance to win.”
Gordon says anything less than a Final Four appearance would be a disappointment.
“We have some young players. I don’t think they understand what it takes yet,” Gordon said. “Everybody’s saying they want to win a championship but you’ve got to put work in it and have something to build off it.”
The women return not only with Taurasi but with a more experienced supporting cast. She had four freshman around her last year en route to UConn’s fourth NCAA title. She led the team with 17.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.2 blocks.
“We’re battling the expectations of everybody else,” Auriemma said. “How will this team even be better? My job is to try to get them to enjoy it and get better every day.”