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2008 Connecticut Basketball Picks & Predictions

Written by Luke Knight on November 6, 2008

The UConn Huskies return four of five starters from last season and the roster has a potent mix of talent, athleticism, experience, and impact freshmen. Jim Calhoun’s team went 24-9 overall last season and 13-5 in the Big East, but the Huskies haven’t won a Big East Championship since 2005-2006, which classifies as a drought for Husky fans. This season, however, Calhoun expects the Huskies to be competing for not only a conference title, but an NCAA Championship as well. Keep reading our NCAA basketball predictions to see if we think UConn will be a national title contender this season. Check out BetUS where the Huskies are at +200 odds to win the Big East Championship.

The UConn frontcourt took a hit when incoming freshman Nate Miles was expelled from the school earlier in October and has since enrolled at College of Southern Idaho. Luckily for the Huskies, this is a big, strong, and deep frontcourt which also features a national Defensive Player of the Year and an All-Big East first-team pick. Center HasheemThabeet, a 7’3” 263-pound junior, was the Big East and NABC National Defensive Player of the Year last season and after contemplating going pro, Thabeet has returned to continue to improve his basketball game. Thabeet has expanded his offensive game by adding low-post power moves and working on a short jump shot. He ranked third in the nation in blocks last season and has the potential to be the most dominating player in the league. Jeff Adrien, a returning starter and All-Big East first-team pick, led the team in scoring with 14.8 points and rebounding with 9.1 last season. Adrien is a rugged power forward and will set the tone for toughness for UConn. Small forward Stanley Robinson will be out at least until January after returning home to deal with personal issues. Miles would have filled this void, but instead the Huskies will look to some combination of forwards Gavin Edwards and Ater Majok or centers Jonathan Mandelove and Charles Okwandu.

All-America Candidate A.J. Price spent the offseason recovering from knee surgery, but he is expected to be ready for the season opener. Price emerged last season as an influential leader for the Huskies. He will once again be expected to lead this backcourt. Starting shooting guard Jerome Dyson seems to have put last year’s off-court problems behind him, and he spent the offseason working on refining his basketball skills, particularly his ball-handling skills. Senior Craig Austrie can play either guard position off the bench and has appeared in 95 games in three seasons. The Huskies also have two incoming freshman who are expected to make an impact. Scottie Haralson is a dangerous perimeter shooter and has been compared to ex-UConn Rashad Anderson. Kemba Walker is a McDonald’s All-American and is a smart, speedy, charismatic point guard who plays a fast tempo game and can set up shooters.

Final Analysis

The Huskies have had two straight disappointing seasons after making the Elite Eight in 2006. UConn failed to make the postseason in 2007 and got bounced in the first round of the NCAA Tournament by San Diego last year. The Huskies will hope that Stanley Robinson returns in January to now fill the void left by Nate Miles (who was filling the void left by Robinson), but if that doesn’t happen they will need someone like Gavin Edwards or Ater Majok to step up. UConn should be a better perimeter shooting team this season with the addition of Haralson, but they will need a go-to 3-point shooter to emerge. With our college basketball picks we still expect the Huskies to be competitive not only for the Big East Championship, but also the NCAA Title. Even without Nate Miles, the Huskies should be at the top of the Big East and get an NCAA bid. The Huskies are at +1200 odds to win the NCAA Championship this season at BetUS.

Our experts spend hours going over the college basketball lines so you have the best chance of winning with your NCAA basketball betting.

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