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6. Connecticut

SI Scouting Reports 1. Auburn 2. North Carolina 3. Michigan State 4. Florida 5. Ohio State 6. Connecticut 7. Cincinnati 8. Temple 9. Arizona 10. UCLA 11. Kentucky 12. Gonzaga 13. Syracuse 14. Duke 15. Utah 16. Tennessee 17. Kansas 18. DePaul 19. Georgetown 20. Texas 21. Illinois 22. Valparaiso 23. Purdue 24. Oklahoma State 25. St. John's ----------------- The Rest of the Best ----------------- All Century Team ----------------- CNN/SI Preview

By Grant Wahl

If there's one lesson for Connecticut fans to take from the Huskies' masterly upset of Duke last March, it's that faith is ultimately, sweetly rewarded. That faith -- in coach Jim Calhoun, who so decisively shed the best-coach-never-to-have-gone-to-a-Final-Four label, and in the Huskies, who fulfilled point guard Khalid El-Amin's Ali-esque prediction that they would "shock the world" -- is easily shaken, however. Only eight months later, senior forward Kevin Freeman can sense a contagion of nonbelief in Connecticut. "I still feel there are a lot of doubters out there," he says. "We have a lot to prove."

The national champs lost their best scorer (Richard Hamilton) and their top defender (Ricky Moore), and in doing so, skeptics say, they lost their moorings. Not true. They still have junior guard Albert Mouring, a crack three-point shooter who has the task of replacing Hamilton. "One thing we don't have is a certified point-maker," says Calhoun. "Albert has a chance to be that guy."

Moreover, three starters -- Freeman, El-Amin and burly center Jake Voskuhl -- return to the lineup, where they're joined by Sudanese freshman Ajou Deng, a 6'10" small forward blessed with versatile moves. Yet while these Huskies are taller and deeper than last year's bunch, Calhoun isn't sold yet on their chances of repeating. "Last year I didn't know if we would win the national championship, but I thought we could," he says. "So far this year I really don't know."

Word to Freeman: looks like another doubter.

Issue date: November 15, 1999

SI Scouting Reports 1. Auburn 2. North Carolina 3. Michigan State 4. Florida 5. Ohio State 6. Connecticut 7. Cincinnati 8. Temple 9. Arizona 10. UCLA 11. Kentucky 12. Gonzaga 13. Syracuse 14. Duke 15. Utah 16. Tennessee 17. Kansas 18. DePaul 19. Georgetown 20. Texas 21. Illinois 22. Valparaiso 23. Purdue 24. Oklahoma State 25. St. John's ----------------- The Rest of the Best ----------------- All Century Team ----------------- CNN/SI Preview

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