Last year, the Connecticut men’s basketball team owned the national champions. This year, its season will be deemed a disappointment if it doesn’t become national champions.

Ranked No. 1 in both the AP and ESPN/USA Today polls, the Huskies have drawn comparisons to everything from great players to legendary teams. The attention is not sitting well with Syracuse (No. 7/7), which has a chance to become the first repeat national champions since Duke in 1991 and ’92.

‘Yeah, they’re getting a lot of hype,’ Syracuse forward Hakim Warrick said. ‘We’re getting kind of tired of it.’

The Husky hype-machine is probably wearing on Warrick more than any other Orangeman. This summer, Warrick went to Florida to try out for U.S. Pan-American Games team. While there, Connecticut’s Ben Gordon badgered him about UConn’s domination of SU.

Now, Warrick has to hear about UConn on television from Dick Vitale and the commentators of the Huskies two televised games against lackluster opponents Yale and Nevada. Warrick has to read about them in ESPN the Magazine, where preseason Big East Player of the Year Emeka Okafor posed for the cover with women’s star Diana Taurasi.

‘The attention has been pretty impressive,’ UConn head coach Jim Calhoun said. ‘I don’t remember the last time we had a practice where there wasn’t an extra person. There’s always someone – either an NBA scout or someone from ESPN.’

The attention is even more omnipresent in Connecticut – where the local media dubs the state’s obsession with basketball ‘Huskymania.’ Calhoun’s mug is plastered on billboards throughout the state.

Students who failed to get student tickets at Gampel Pavilion drown their sorrows with beer at a bar appropriately named Huskies, where students scream or sulk with every basket.

Senior point guard Taliek Brown said he has yet to go an entire day without hearing complements from fans.

‘You go to the mall and people come up to you and tell you how much you mean to them,’ Brown said. ‘They tell you that you’re the reason they’re able to make it through the winter. And the students, we love the support, but when they drink, they love us a little too much.’

While most coaches would reject the high expectations and stick to the clich, ‘one game at a time’ mantra, Calhoun relishes them. During the team’s ‘midnight madness’ ceremony, he pointed to the team’s championship banner from 1998-99.

‘If you look at the banner to my left, what we want to do is put another one right next to it,’ he said, bringing the crowd to its feet.

Calhoun has good reason to set his sights high. Connecticut returns four starters from the team that beat Syracuse, 75-61 and 80-67, in two meetings last year. He thinks Okafor is his second best player to Ben Gordon. And Denham Brown, the team’s starting swingman, outscored Dallas Mavericks guard Steve Nash on Team Canada this summer.

‘I don’t know that there is a more valuable player in college basketball than Emeka Okafor, but Ben might be our best,’ Calhoun said. ‘I mean, what can’t (Ben) do? What can’t he do?’

UConn has also added a trio of impressive freshmen. Charlie Villanueva, who committed to Illinois but changed his mind when coach Bill Self left and then debated turning pro, should eventually start at power forward. The NCAA is currently investigating how Villanueva paid to attend a pair of NBA camps, and he could be suspended for at least part of the year.

Josh Boone, a 6-foot-10 power forward who is starting in Villanueva’s absence, has already drawn comparisons to Okafor. With Boone’s dominant play during the exhibition season, Villanueva – an exquisite passer – may see more time at small forward.

‘The main thing that jumps out at you is our depth,’ Gordon said. ‘Last year, we had eight guys who could actually play. This year, we have 10 guys that could start.’

To make that point, the reserves, led by backup point guard Marcus Williams, downed the starters during their Midnight Madness meeting. Calhoun, usually hesitant to compare freshmen to former greats, has called Williams his best passer since Doron Sheffer.

‘What we really need to do is understand our roles,’ Brown said. ‘Sure, Charlie may want to go pro after this. But he’ll get more recognition by winning than he will by playing 35 minutes a game. We need to know that this is a team.’

Calhoun’s primary concern is that UConn will be unable to put its egos aside. With 10 players who could likely start for most Big East schools, the Huskies are likely the most talented team since the 1995-96 Kentucky Wildcats, who won the national championship and started five players currently in the NBA. Calhoun, though, compares them to his former national champions.

Calhoun hammers away at his point with speeches and with subtlety. A sheet of statistics posted in the UConn locker room reminds players why the ’97-’98 team was successful and why this squad needs to become selfless. That year, UConn had 10 players average more than 10 minutes. Only three averaged more than 30.

‘I’m only a part of this team,’ Okafor said. ‘Ben’s only a part of this team. Everyone needs to ask themselves what they can do to live up to this hype.’

Published on November 20, 2003 at 12:00 pm