Defending national champion UConn finally touched down in Arizona for the Final Four at 3:15 a.m. Thursday after a long delay and a red-eye flight. The Huskies are scheduled to play Alabama on Saturday night in the semifinals at State Farm Stadium in Glendale. The championship game is Monday night. Alabama and Purdue arrived in Arizona on Tuesday night, and North Carolina State came in Wednesday afternoon. Published reports on the Alabama/UConn game are making the case in the Tide versus Huskies.
ESPN and CBS are among the media sources making predictions for the Alabama/UConn Final Four game, and things aren’t looking good for the Crimson Tide. Published reports uniformly give the Huskies a double-digit edge over Alabama. The best chance ESPN is giving Nate Oates and his team from Tuscaloosa is one prediction with the final score being 88-75 for UConn.
CBS appears equally in favor of the Huskies, with perhaps this caveat.
The network thinks Alabama coach Nate Oats is among the rising stars in the sport, pointing to the massive contract extension he received from the University of Alabama, which CBS says will make him among the top-five paid coaches in the country. Oats led the Tide to the Sweet 16 twice in his first four seasons, which is something that hasn’t happened in Tuscaloosa since 2004. Saturday’s game against UConn will be the first Final Four appearance for Alabama in program history.
CBS also describes Oats as having a reputation of being a giant killer previously in his career. During his four years at Buffalo, he led the Bulls to three NCAA Tournament appearances and reached the second round twice. Buffalo hasn’t returned since Oates departure. Saturday’s game against UConn will his chance to repeat that feat on a much bigger national stage. Coach Oates sounded upbeat when speaking with the press.
“You know, we had to sell our guys that we can make the run, you know before the tournament now that we've made the run to get to the Final Four, you know.” He said. “I want our guys playing loose and free but I want to think that we got a chance to win. I mean, I mean, if you guys know me, I'm not going to this game just happy to be here. Like, I mean, UConn is great and he's done a great job.” Oates was referring to UConn head coach Dan Hurley.
The reigning national champion Huskies were supposed to leave Connecticut around 6 p.m. EDT Wednesday, but their plane had mechanical issues getting to the East Coast. Hurley sent his players back to campus instead of waiting for what was supposed to be an 11:30 p.m. departure, only to be delayed again by another mechanical issue and bad weather once they returned to Hartford's Bradley International Airport. UConn's flight finally left around 1:45 a.m. and landed at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport at 3:15 a.m. local time.
"What goes through your mind when you're done kind of complaining, cursing and muttering, you just start saying to yourself you don't really deserve to show entitlement," Hurley said. "Such an honor to get a chance, a once-in-a-lifetime experience to play in a Final Four, coach in a Final Four that once the edge kind of wore off, lucky to be here."
The delays put the Huskies behind schedule — at least for now -- for this weekend's Final Four. Alabama and Purdue arrived in Arizona on Tuesday night, and North Carolina State came in Wednesday afternoon.
