UConn men to meet Oklahoma in NCAA first round

STORRS, Conn. – The path to a third consecutive NCAA Tournament title is a bit overgrown and rugged, having not been walked in over half a century.

John Wooden’s UCLA teams won seven national championships in a row from 1967-73, and the trail was a bit wider then. For this UConn men’s basketball team, which went 23-10 after losing four of its five starters from last year’s back-to-back title group, there are fallen trees, boulders and maybe a few streams to cross, only enough visibility to take it one step at a time.

Their defense failing them against Creighton in the Big East Tournament semifinal, the Huskies will begin their journey in an unfavorable position as a No. 8 seed in the West Region, playing the first round in Raleigh, N.C. on Friday.

No. 9 seed Oklahoma will be the first obstacle in the way on Friday, with No. 1 seed Florida lingering just out of earshot. Of course, the Gators would have to chomp No. 16 seed Norfolk State to get into the next round.

Oklahoma finished its season at 20-13 and was 11 spots behind UConn in the NET rankings at No. 43. The Sooners rank No. 38 by KenPom’s efficiency metrics, with the No. 21 offense and No. 70 defense. After going 13-0 through the nonconference, Oklahoma went 7-13 to close its season and lost to Kentucky in the second round of the SEC Tournament.

Only two other programs – Duke (1991-92) and Florida (2006-07) – have won back-to-back national titles since Wooden. The 1993 Blue Devils lost in the second round as a No. 3 seed and the 2008 Gators missed the tournament altogether.

UConn has never been a No. 8 seed in its 24 NCAA Tournament appearances since 1985, when the field expanded to 64 teams. The Huskies have only been lower than a No. 8 seed four times in that span, losing in the second round three times as a No. 9 seed and in the Sweet 16 as a No. 11 seed in 1991.

The lowest-seeded UConn team to win a national title was the seventh-seeded 2014 team, coached by Kevin Ollie.

Last year’s team, the program’s first-ever No. 1 overall seed, tied UConn for the third-most titles all-time with North Carolina, their six behind only UCLA’s 11 and Kentucky’s eight.

Yale, which won the Ivy League Tournament and an automatic bid for the second year in a row, earned a No. 12 seed and will meet No. 4 Texas A&M in the first round in Denver on Thursday. The Bulldogs upset Auburn in the first round last season, and will be making their eighth all-time appearance.