15: Connecticut
After some hard times, the maturing Huskies are out to
prove
themselves
There were occasions last year when point guard Ricky Moore wondered
if he
was participating in a recurring nightmare. Coming off an
impressive freshman season, Moore was expected to take over
the playmaking duties for a Connecticut team that had
depended on Doron Sheffer and Ray Allen the year before.
Instead he was beset by
injuries. Moore underwent surgery for a shoulder separation in
April 1996, strained a ligament in his left hand on the first day
of practice last fall (it would later require surgery),
suffered a broken nose and a concussion when he took an
elbow from Indiana's Richard Mandeville in the season
opener and later sprained
his right ankle. Moore played through the pain and
didn't miss a game until January, when he was hit by
something he couldn't play
through.
Moore and teammate Kirk King were suspended by the NCAA for
accepting plane tickets from Hartford to their homes, in
Augusta, Ga., and Baton Rouge, respectively, from agent
John Lounsbury. King, who was a
senior, was booted from the Huskies for lying
about the violation; Moore was shelved for five games.
Although Moore
returned for UConn's final 14 games, he wasn't the player
he had
been.
"I don't think people realize how much pressure I was
under," says Moore, who ended up averaging 9.0 points
and 5.4
assists a game. "I was supposed to be the leader of a
young team, and I tried to do too much. The NCAA thing was
a terrible mistake on
my part. I let people down because I couldn't say no; I was
never myself after
that."
Moore and UConn grew up a lot last year. Coach Jim Calhoun
started a trio of freshmen for much of the season, and the
Huskies took their licks. UConn jumped out to an 11-3 start
before the suspensions and then went 3-11 before finishing
strong with a
third-place showing in the
NIT.
Connecticut will again be young, but it has five starters
back from an 18-15 team that held opponents to 38.3%
shooting, eighth lowest in the nation. Sophomore swingman
Richard Hamilton (15.9 points a game last season) emerged
as the Huskies' biggest
scoring threat, aided ably by junior guard Rashamel Jones
(13.0). Calhoun also expects talented
5'10" freshman point guard Khalid El-Amin, a
McDonald's All-America and two-time Minnesota player of the
year, to give the Huskies the flexibility to go with a
three-guard lineup.
"At one point we were a six-man team with four
first-year players last season," says Calhoun. "I
would never want to go through what we did last year again,
but this group now understands what it
takes."
|
Last Year | 18-15 |
|
Returning Starters | 5 |
| Points Per Game '96-97 | 65.8 |
| PPG By All Returning Players | 57.1 | Moore also understands how to turn the disappointments of
the past into motivation. "This is a big year for me
and this team," he says. "I haven't lived up to
my end of the bargain here. I know I'm a much better player
than I have
shown."—B.J. Schecter
Next: Illinois State
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