On Friday, Duke men’s basketball coach Jon Scheyer appeared on the Inside College Basketball Now podcast with Jon Rothstein.
As part of that podcast, he talked a lot about his incoming group, his relationship with Coach K, and the state of his program. But Rothstein also asked him if he’d watched the tape yet of Duke’s Elite Eight loss to the UConn Huskies in last year’s NCAA Tournament.
As Huskies fans will pleasantly remember, that featured one of the best endings in NCAA Tournament history: UConn trailed 74-72 with under 10 seconds to play, but stole the ball from the Blue Devils around half court. Eventually, with 0.3 seconds left, Braylon Mullins hit a game-winning three-pointer just inside half court to send the Huskies back to the Final Four.
Scheyer said he watched the game, and he will take lessons from the loss and that his players will learn from it as well. However, he said he had only watched it recently. Clearly it wasn’t something he was super eager to relive.
Don’t worry, Jon, UConn fans will do that for you.
The Huskies eventually lost in the national title game to Michigan, but they have been to three title games in the last four years. The two teams will play in the regular season this year as part of UConn’s supercharged regular season schedule, with that meeting coming on Nov. 25, the day before Thanksgiving.
Both teams figure to be excellent again this season, but there are questions about both. Cam Boozer, one of the top players in the country, left Duke for the NBA. Alex Karaban and Tarris Reed Jr. both left UConn for the NBA as well (graduation). Guard Solo Ball is reportedly out for the season with a wrist injury. How do the teams replace these standouts?
The Huskies football team is back in action on Saturday night (7 p.m. ET) against Southern Miss. It’s the first road game of the year for Jason Candle’s team as they are coming off a tough loss at home against Maryland.
Southern Miss is also 1-1 following a 43-8 defeat against Auburn.
You can read our full game preview, including information on how to watch, here. And though UConn has only played two games so far, something has become abundantly clear. We’ll see if it continues on Saturday.
