Flight issues now behind them, UConn is all business as it lands in Arizona

Dan Hurley addressed media Thursday, less than 12 hours after UConn landed in Arizona for Final Four. (Photo by the Big East Conference)

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Dan Hurley wasted little time addressing the travel issues that plagued his UConn program before arriving in Arizona early Thursday morning, several hours later than intended.

“I had a lot of time to think, just in a stationary situation,” he said with a wry smile. “What goes through your mind once you’re done complaining and cursing and muttering, you just start saying to yourself (that) you don’t really deserve to show entitlement.”

“Who doesn’t deal with problems with the airlines? People deal with it during the holidays, it’s something you’ve just gotta get through. But it sucked.”

After motoring through the first four rounds of the NCAA Tournament with an average margin of victory of nearly 28 points, UConn’s toughest opponent in recent times is arguably the flight snafu that plagued the Huskies Wednesday night into the early hours of what became Thursday morning. That is not a slight toward Alabama, the next in line to dethrone the reigning national champions, and an outfit Hurley praised for its offensive explosiveness.

“It’ll be the best offense that we’ve guarded this year,” Hurley said of the Crimson Tide. “As good as Illinois was, theirs is better. They’re deeper, just more athletic, more guards that can break you down. If we’re not on our identity, we’re vulnerable like everybody else.”

UConn not landing until nearly 4 a.m. local time Thursday pushed most of the Huskies’ itinerary back, save for a 90-minute practice in which Hurley wanted to take advantage of the setting at State Farm Stadium. But with the ordeal of getting into Phoenix now a thing of the past, the focus shifted back to business, and potentially becoming the first team in 17 years to defend its national title.

“We’ve made an incredibly hard tournament to advance in look probably a lot easier than it really is,” Hurley admitted. “We did talk about reigning and defending, more than I was told to. We’re in the Final Four here, man, with a chance to advance, to repeat as national champions. We’re way past that shit.”