The Huskies are battling for their third national title in four years.
Despite losing their first league game of the season on Friday night against St. John's and falling to No. 6 in the national poll on Monday, the University of Connecticut men's basketball program is still in a good spot entering the final full month of the college basketball regular season.
The Huskies are 22-2 and 12-1 inside Big East play and they appear a strong contender to win their third national title in the last four years.
And ESPN's lead bracketologist Joe Lunardi agrees, as he gave the Huskies a No. 1 seed in his most recent bracket projections, which came out on Tuesday.
Lunardi has the Huskies as the fourth of four No. 1 seeds, joining top seed Arizona, Michigan and Duke. Ironically, three of those four teams just suffered losses, with UConn falling to St. John's, Arizona falling to Kansas and Duke falling to North Carolina.
The No. 2 seeds are Houston, Illinois, Iowa State and Nebraska. In this hypothetical bracket, the Huskies would play a regional final against Houston.
What's left for UConn?
UConn will visit Butler on Wednesday, Feb. 11 while hosting Georgetown on a Feb. 14 Valentine's Day special. They'll host Creighton on Feb. 18, which is when Emeka Okafor will get his No. 50 retired. They'll travel to Villanova on Feb. 21 and then host the re-match with St. John's on Feb. 25. They'll play against Seton Hall on Feb. 28 and then travel to Marquette on March 7 before the Big East Tournament from March 11-14.
That stretch of Villanova-St. John's-Seton Hall is going to be the most difficult of the regular season for Dan Hurley's squad.
Was anything exposed in loss to St. John's?
Not necessarily, but it's clear that the Red Storm played harder than the Huskies did. If anything, it was a reminder about always playing aggressive. Rick Pitino's team attacked UConn defensively and was all over the glass as well, showcasing their athleticism. The Huskies were out-rebounded by six and committed 15 turnovers.
Also on campus
The following comes from our own Jami Leabow in a full story you can read here.
--Defensive line coach LaTroy Lewis apparently is leaving head coach Jason Candle’s first football staff at UConn, even before the spring game.
Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports reported late Monday that Lewis is expected to be hired by the Atlanta Falcons as their assistant defensive line coach.
Lewis, 32, was one of 15 assistant coaches announced by UConn on Jan. 2. At least 10 of them have ties to Toledo, where Candle spent 10 seasons as head coach before accepting the UConn job in early December.
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