UConn can earn favorable geographic protection in March Madness if it sustains success into conference play

Shown here after winning East Regional in 2024, UConn can return to Final Four this season without leaving Eastern time zone, provided Huskies can maintain their strong start through Big East play. (Photo by Jaden Daly/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

NEW YORK — Philly to D.C. to Indy?

If UConn is able to carry its current form into conference play when the Big East season begins next week, the fifth-ranked Huskies could very well run through March Madness without venturing outside the Eastern time zone.

In 2024, UConn enjoyed measured homecourt advantages at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center and TD Garden in Boston before sweeping through the Final Four in Arizona to capture its second straight national championship and sixth overall. Head coach Dan Hurley is cognizant of the path his team could take to get back to the heights it enjoyed in each of the two seasons prior to last, and admitted it has entered his stream of consciousness.

“We’re looking at it,” he said after UConn defeated Kansas on December 2, the program’s first-ever win against the Jayhawks. “You’ve gotta earn the right and win enough games across the first couple months of the year to then start talking your team about the East Region and where we want to be. But we’re getting closer for that to start being a conversation. We’ve got a lot of improvements to make.”

Presently, UConn stands 9-1, with its sole loss coming by four points at home to an Arizona team now ranked No. 1 in the country. The Huskies were undermanned in that contest against the Wildcats on November 19, however, as senior center Tarris Reed, Jr. missed the game with an ankle injury. UConn’s resume, which includes wins on the road at Kansas, and on neutral floors against a trio of Top 20 teams in BYU, Illinois and Florida, is among the best in the nation.

In ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi’s latest projection this week, UConn was listed as the No. 2 seed in the East, with Duke as the top seed. If the Huskies are anywhere on the top four seed lines, they will almost certainly be placed in Philadelphia, the closest first and second-round site to their Storrs campus, with the East Regional semifinals and final in Washington, D.C. if UConn advances that far. The Final Four will be contested at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis next April.

Florida head coach Todd Golden, whose Gators just played UConn Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, and defeated the Huskies in the NCAA Tournament last season on their way to a national championship, believes UConn has the tools to cut the nets for a third time in four seasons. Golden also praised last year’s UConn team, saying the Huskies did not look like a typical No. 8 seed last March.

“I thought that team (last year) was pretty good too, man,” Golden said. “They dealt with a lot of injuries last year, (Liam) McNeeley was out, they were missing some guys, then we ran into a healthy UConn team in the second round. That didn’t feel like an 8-seed, to be honest, that felt like a lot of experienced winners. Obviously (Hurley is) a fantastic head coach and a really tough program.”

“This UConn team is very good also. Obviously, I think they’re a Top 5, Top 6 team right now, and they’re going to win a lot of games this year. They’ve got great players across the board. UConn and where they are as a program now, you can’t take any of those guys for granted.”

UConn closes its non-conference schedule Friday night as it hosts Texas in the second game of a home-and-home series started last December in Austin. Although the Longhorns are not ranked within the Top 25, Hurley did not shy away from the magnitude of the showdown with head coach Sean Miller, highlighting its importance as the year continues on.

“Every game in college basketball is a playoff game,” Hurley said. “It feels like a game seven because you’re playing for positioning. You’re playing for Quad 1s and road wins and NET, all this stuff. You’re playing to build a resume, you’re playing to build a team that is bulletproof and can win in any type of game.”