Throwback Thursday: The 1987-88 UConn Huskies

Click here for David Griggs’ daily News and Notes that includes tonight’s matchups

Click here for Chad Sherwood’s Under The Radar Game of the Day between Jacksonville and North Florida (River City Rumble)

Finally, click here for the season finale of the Under The Radar Podcast – we are also 4 days away from the season premiere of Championship Week notebooks!

It’s not often that we focus on a team in the modern NCAA era that won the NIT, but this UConn team definitely fits the bill of a team and program that evolved from such a championship. It’s even stranger to focus on a team that finished dead last in its conference, but that is a testament to just how strong the original incarnation of the Big East was back then – this was a league that included Georgetown, Villanova, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Providence and Boston College.

And it’s not like UConn had been a completely hopeless program – they were kings of the old Yankee Conference that included the likes of UMass, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. They actually made it to the NCAA Tournament a whopping 13 times before the formation of the Big East. They were simply a team that was not able to overcome programs like Georgetown, Villanova, Syracuse and St. John’s in their zenith. After the 1985-86 season, they hired Jim Calhoun from nearby Northeastern University as head coach for UConn.

After a rough debut that included a 9-19 record in his first season at UConn, Calhoun’s team managed to improve by 5 wins in the regular season and even managed a win in the Big East tournament against Providence before losing in the semifinals to Pittsburgh. UConn’s star players on this team were Cliff Robinson, Phil Gamble and Tate George, and even included current Stony Brook head coach Steve Pikiell on the roster. While the Huskies only went 4-12 in Big East play, 9 of their 12 losses were by less than 10 points – this was a team still in its infancy. 2 of their 4 wins in the Big East came against Top 25 teams – one was at #9 Syracuse; one was at home against #14 Georgetown. They also had some notable wins away from home against Princeton and Pepperdine.

When the NIT did come calling, UConn didn’t waste any time advancing – they won their opener in overtime against West Virginia 62-57. After a win against Louisiana Tech at home, the Huskies hit the road to play VCU – they would defeat the Rams 72-61 to earn a trip to the NIT Final Four at Madison Square Garden. They would win the rubber match against Boston College 73-67 (as the two teams split during the regular season) and then defeat Ohio State 72-67 the following night to clinch the program’s first postseason title in its history.

This was a preview of great things to come for UConn – only 2 years later did UConn take the jump from NIT all the way to a Big East tournament championship AND a #1 seed in the East Regional for the first time in program history. What happened in East Rutherford can simply be described as the best of times and the worst of times; you can click here to see UConn’s thrilling comeback against Clemson in the Sweet 16. There was also heartbreak in the form of the Duke Blue Devils – click here to see Christian Laettner’s “other” miracle shot that vaulted Duke into the Final 4 that season. But the final foundation for UConn’s program had been laid – they would go on to win 4 national championships beginning in 1999 and 6 more Big East tournament championships.