2010–11 Connecticut Huskies men's basketball team

Before the season

The Huskies were coming off of a tumultuous 2009–10 season in which they failed to earn a berth in the NCAA tournament for the second time in four years, and amidst an NCAA investigation into alleged recruiting violations involving Nate Miles. As a result of the investigation, assistant coaches Patrick Sellers and Beau Archibald resigned from their positions. Later that summer, Kevin Ollie was hired to take Sellers' role as assistant coach, and Glen Miller was brought on as Director of Basketball Operations, replacing Archibald. Both men have previous links with Jim Calhoun. Ollie played for the Huskies under Calhoun from 1991 to 1995, while Miller was an assistant coach under Calhoun from 1986 until 1992.

In addition to the coaching changes, the Huskies also needed to replace three graduating starters: Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson and Gavin Edwards. Reserve forward Ater Majok also left the school before the season began.

Prior to the start of the season, the Huskies were picked by both the Big East coaches and writers to finish tenth in the conference. The team was not ranked in the top 25 in any major national poll, although they did receive votes in the Preseason AP Poll.

With regards to individual honors, Kemba Walker was selected to the Preseason All Big East first team, and was named to both the Wooden and Naismith award preseason watchlists.

Recruiting class

Roster

• Jim Calhoun
• George Blaney
• Andre LaFleur
• Kevin Ollie}}

Regular season

After a pair of exhibition games, the Huskies began the regular season with non-conference wins over America East teams, Stony Brook and Vermont. In the win against Vermont, Kemba Walker tied a UConn XL Center record by scoring 42 points.

The team next travelled to Hawaii to play in the 2010 Maui Invitational Tournament. They last participated in the tournament in 2005, when they won the championship. To open the current tournament, they played Wichita State. Walker scored 29 of his 31 points in the second in the 83–79 win. The victory meant they would match up with Michigan State, who was ranked No. 2 in the AP poll at the time. Walker scored 30 points, the third straight game that he eclipsed the 30 point mark, as the Huskies won 70–67. In the championship game, the Huskies outscored Kentucky 21–2 at the end of the first half, and defeated the Wildcats, 84–67. Walker, who scored 29 points in the final, was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. His 90 points was just three points short of the Maui Invitational record. Alex Oriakhi was also named to the all-tournament team.

Postseason

The Huskies entered the Big East tournament as the No. 9 seed, just missing the cut to earn a First round bye. UConn went on to win five games in five consecutive days to earn the Tournament Championship, and an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. In the Big East tournament, UConn defeated four teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25.

UConn received a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament's West Region. They continued their winning streak all the way to the National Championship, finishing the season with eleven consecutive wins. As a result of having to play 5 games to win their conference tournament, they became the first team in Division I history to play 41 games in a season.

Schedule

|- !colspan=8 style=| Exhibition |- !colspan=8 style=| Regular Season |- !colspan=9 style=| 2011 Big East tournament |- !colspan=10 style=| 2011 NCAA Tournament

Players drafted into the NBA

Notes

References

1. Anthony, Mike. (May 28, 2010). "UConn Assistants Sellers, Archibald Out In Light Of NCAA Violations". Hartford Courant.
2. Katz, Andy. (July 2, 2010). "Ollie says he's joining UConn's staff". ESPN.
3. Divver, Mark. (July 2, 2011). "UConn adds former Brown coach Glen Miller to staff". The Providence Journal.
4. O'Neil, Dana. (September 1, 2010). "Majok gives UConn more bad news". ESPN.
5. [http://www.bigeast.org/News/tabid/435/Article/214542/pittsburgh-chosen-as-big-east-hoops-favorite.aspx "Pittsburgh Chosen As BIG EAST Hoops Favorite"] {{Webarchive. link. (October 22, 2010 . Bigeast.org. Published 10-20-2010. Retrieved 05-28-2011)
6. [http://blog.syracuse.com/orangebasketball/2010/10/pitt_picked_to_win_big_east_an.html "Pitt picked to win Big East, Syracuse picked to finish 3rd in Post-Standard's annual preseason writers poll"]. Syracuse.com. Published 10-19-2010. Retrieved May 28, 2011
7. (October 28, 2010). "NCAA Division I: AP Top 25 (Oct. 28)". ESPN.
8. [http://www.bigeast.org/News/tabid/435/Article/214544/Freeman-Selected-BIG-EAST-Preseason-Player-of-the-Year.aspx "Freeman Selected BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year"] {{Webarchive. link. (October 22, 2010 . Bigeast.org. Published 10-20-2010. Retrieved 05-28-2011)
9. (October 4, 2010). "Wooden Award Preseason 2010–11 Watch List". [[FanHouse]].
10. (December 16, 2010). "DUKE UNIVERSITY LEADS A DIVERSE PACK ON THE NAISMITH PRESEASON WATCH LIST". [[Naismith Award]].
11. Borges, David. (November 17, 2011). "UCONN MEN'S BASKETBALL: They'll Rememba Kemba; Walker matches record with 42 in win over Vermont". New Haven Register.
12. (November 22, 2010). "UConn's Kemba Walker scores 29 of his 31 points in second half". ESPN.
13. (November 23, 2010). "Kemba Walker's 30 points power Huskies past second-ranked Spartans". ESPN.
14. Marshall, John. (November 25, 2010). "Walker leads UConn to Maui title over Kentucky".
15. (November 25, 2010). "Kemba Walker scores 29 points as UConn upsets Kentucky, wins Maui Invitational". ESPN.
16. (March 7, 2011). "2011 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings – AP Top 25 Week 18 (Mar. 7)". ESPN.
17. "Season Schedule/Results & Leaders". University of Connecticut.
18. "2011 NBA Draft on databaseBasketball.com".
19. "2012 NBA draft".
20. "Alex Oriakhi Headed to Phoenix in NBA Draft - MUTIGERS.COM - the University of Missouri Official Athletic Site".
21. "2014 NBA draft".