UConn on the court, all is well. Off the court UConn cant get a break in Vegas. After the dirty rooms issue no this.
https://www.nhregister.com/sports/uconn-mens-basketball/article/ncaa-tournament-las-vegas-connecticut-bus-theft-17857039.php?utm_campaign=nhregister_breakingnews_20230324&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=emailUConn men's basketball team has personal items stolen from bus while practicing for NCAA TournamentMike Anthony
March 24, 2023
Updated: March 24, 2023 8:48 a.m.
LAS VEGAS — Before the UConn men’s basketball team used the visible portion of its workweek Thursday night to show that it can and maybe should win a national championship with the way it demolished Arkansas in the Sweet 16, the Huskies found themselves uniquely challenged in trying to settle into NCAA Tournament life on and off the Vegas Strip.
Players and coaches did not figure on having to contact local police regarding the theft of numerous personal belongings from the team bus, for example.
Already on Tuesday the Huskies had checked into one hotel only to find room conditions it considered deplorable, and worked toward finding another. As that process played out over the afternoon hours, the team practiced at the Thomas & Mack Center on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus.
There, several items were stolen off the bus as the Huskies were inside, according to several players, athletic director David Benedict and coach Dan Hurley. A police report was filed, players and Benedict said. The report and further details from police were not immediately available Thursday night.
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“Disaster,” Hurley said after the Huskies swept past the Razorbacks like a desert wind storm, 88-65, to move into an Elite Eight game Saturday against Gonzaga. “Then stuff gets stolen. It was a debacle. Obviously when you play at UConn, you have tremendous resources. The way we travel gives us a chance to pursue championships. It wasn’t what you expected when you got to Las Vegas for the Sweet 16. We didn’t know there would be police reports from day one. We didn’t know we’d be moving with our tails between our legs back into the hotel just to get our bags and leave. It was an awkward situation. But now we’re in a much better place.”
In total, Benedict said, a handful of UConn players were theft victims. Freshman center Donovan Clingan was among them.
“My iPad,” Clingan said. “A manager had his laptop stolen. I had to go buy a new [iPad]. We were practicing at UNLV and my backpack was on the bus. I remember leaving my backpack on the bus, on the seat. I came back, it’s opened up. They didn’t take my Beats [headphones]. They didn’t take my laptop. But my iPad was gone.”
Clingan said he used an app on his phone to track the iPad’s location.
“And there it was, like three miles away,” he said, shaking his head in a UConn locker room, all around him another round of happy basketball conversations taking place. “The only way to turn this week around is to win two games.”
One down.
UConn looked like 1985 Georgetown or 1991 UNLV or, heck, 2004 UConn on Thursday. Adama Sanogo and Jordan Hawkins were today’s version of Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon. The Huskies built a 29-point lead, playing nearly perfect basketball, to move within one victory of the Final Four.
Essentially displaced, then ripped off, they owned the T-Mobile court. The played as an immovable force, suffocating the Razorbacks, who had knocked off top-seeded Kansas in the second round. They rebounded and moved the ball so precisely through all nine options in the rotation, the team’s depth applying the final spin to some narratives or concerns.
Remember in another lifetime, or a week-plus ago, when it was easy to wonder if UConn, given its recent NCAA shortcomings, would get by Rick Pitino and Iona in the first round? How quickly everything has changed with three emphatic victories.
Remember the midseason struggles when this team talked about identity but lost six of eight games while searching for it? The Huskies didn’t need a travel agent or a cop to find it.
Remember when it was fair to wonder if Dan Hurley could win a close game? Well, he hasn’t had to because his team is apparently wired so properly to meet this moment. UConn has planned and executed at an elite level and three opponents have been cast aside as if they were playing a different sport in the decisive moments, which came immediately on Thursday. Arkansas had no chance.
“I just feel like this group, I’ll be honest, had a look about us before we even got to this tournament,” senior guard Nahiem Alleyne said. “We had a devastating loss in the Big East Tournament to Marquette. That really hurt us because we knew we had them, we knew we had that. Coming in, we just had to worry about the little details that would help us win. We’ve done a really good job during all the games.”
UConn, despite what it went through upon arrival, hasn’t looked this ready for a task in years. And they've been better with each passing game.
The Huskies had gotten off to slow starts against Iona and St. Mary's. They wasted no time Thursday. Hawkins, whose first-half struggles had been particularly glaring, had 24 points, 10 before halftime.
“I could see in practice, this guy was going to go off,” Sanogo said.
Sanogo himself is going off. He had 18 points, making 9 of 11 shots, and is now 33-for-44 in the tournament. Alex Karaban was 5-for-5 and had 11 points, one of nine players to score. UConn shot 57.4 percent and had 22 assists.
Long stretches of this game were a show. It was 46-29 at halftime. Arkansas coach Eric Musselman spent a lot of time with his hands on his hips, seemingly perplexed. A Karaban 3-pointer made it 53-31. An Alleyne 3 made it 56-33. A 3 by Hawkins, followed by his making three consecutive free throws because he was fouled on another attempt, made it 62-33 and it was all over.
There was more than 15 minutes remaining. Even a 10-0 Arkansas spurt did nothing to affect the vibe. Hawkins hit a 3, then Alleyne hit another.
“The inside, the outside, and the rebounding dominance,” Hurley said. “Really where we are right now is exactly where we talked about where we would be when we got together.”
By this time last year, the season was over and a rebuilding project had begun.
This is the result. The team is so good.
Hurley mentioned several years ago that, “It’s coming.” It’s here. The program is so solid, first-round losses in 2021 and 2022 just footnotes, if that.
“I apologized to them for not having enough around them in that New Mexico State game in terms of enough shooting and enough different ways to open up things for them, and that I'm going to build a roster around you,” Hurley said of talking to returning core players. “You're going to have enough help around you, both through Donovan and Karaban coming in, and then some strategic additions via transfer that we will not be back in this position feeling like we do again next March.”
UConn is comfortable now. What a week this is becoming, no matter how it started.
“The stuff stolen off the bus, we’re still trying to get to the bottom of it,” said graduate guard Joey Calcaterra, who was not among the victims. “I just feel bad for the guys who had some stuff taken.”
Clingan’s iPad and the manager’s laptop were said to be the most valuable items. Some hats and other such items were stolen, too.
But UConn players could go to sleep Thursday night — in their new, sufficient hotel — knowing that the team is getting, so far, all it wanted out of this trip. The Huskies are playing their best basketball heading into the biggest game in recent program history.
“I think we played good but I think we can definitely do better,” Sanogo said. “I think we can play better than this.”
Already, they’re playing at the level that national champions do.
“When we start clicking, we’re really clicking,” Calcaterra said. “We don’t get too up, don’t get too down. We still have a lot of work to do. The coaches have been killing the scouts and it’s just a locked in group. So we’re not going to get too high on this one. We’re just focused on the Elite Eight now. I feel one coming where we can say that was truly our best 40.”
Written By
Mike Anthony
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Mike Anthony is a reporter with Hearst Connecticut Media Group, focusing on feature writing with a concentration on UConn and college sports. He joined Hearst in February 2021 after 21 years at The Hartford Courant, including three as the lead sports columnist. He has covered all three major UConn sports beats: men's basketball (2005-11), women's basketball (2017-18) and football (2016-18).