Connecticut Huskies Football Tickets

It was an uncharacteristically ugly year for the Connecticut Huskies, who failed to make the NCAA Tournament and were blown out in the first round of the Big East Tournament by Syracuse.

UConn barely finished above .500 overall (17-14), went 6-10 in the Big East and failed to beat one ranked team all season long. It's hard to imagine any team coached by Jim Calhoun to struggle so mightily.

Following a year in which the Huskies were heavy favorites to win the national championship but fell short by losing to Cinderella-story George Mason in the Elite Eight, the team struggled with the loss of many of its top players.

Several underclassmen left early to enter the NBA while others graduated, leaving UConn shorthanded and full of young, inexperienced players who weren't exactly ready for the limelight.

Point guard Marcus Williams, swingman Rudy Gay and center Josh Boone are just a few of the key players UConn lost. It's tough for any coach to prepare to lose nearly half of his roster after one season.

With Connecticut, you can't expect them to be down long. Instead of rebuilding, Calhoun simply reloads by infusing his roster with a number of talented recruits, and 2007 will be no different. He is known as a great recruiter as well as a terrific basketball coach, so it doesn't take long for him to get his teams back on top after a couple of down seasons.

Key players returning for 2007 include Jeff Adrien, A.J. Price and Jerome Dyson. Sophomore center Hasheem Thabeet is an interesting project because of his size (7' 3"). He certainly has talent, so if he continues to develop, UConn could have a very intimidating presence in the low post.

Don't expect miracles from this team in 2007, but Connecticut will show marked improvement and should be back in the NCAA Tournament, where it rightfully belongs.