When Dan Hurley and his mentees were prepping for this season, they were clear that they wanted to go for the three-peat. Then during the first four games of the regular season, the Huskies showed their mettle and won each one of them. However, what transpired in the last three days in the Maui Invitational has put their claim to the third consecutive Championship title at stake, and these are not the reflections of a worried fan, but of a UConn Insider.

On Thursday, UConn Blogger Dan Madigan shared his views on the difficult phase the men’s basketball seems to be going through and the collapse that has stunned all analysts.

“Overall, the Huskies’ trip to Maui was a failure. Instead of coming home with a trophy, UConn finished in eighth place out of eight teams and never looked like the No. 2 team in the country. Against higher-quality competition, UConn’s defensive struggles and fouling tendencies were magnified, and the Huskies’ high-powered offense couldn’t muster up the strength to overcome those flaws,” Madigan wrote in an article for The UConn Blog.

The Huskies are ranked second in the AP men’s basketball polls, only next to the Kansas Jayhawks. When the Maui Invitational commenced on Monday, fans expected the Huskies to go for the kill and pick up the trophy. However, the team suffered a series of losses and ended at the last position, despite being the top-ranked team in the tourney.

The Huskies lost three back-to-back games against the Memphis Tigers, the Colorado Buffaloes, and the Dayton Flyers, two of which were against unranked teams. While in the first game, they suffered an upset against the Tigers despite hitting 97 points as their opponents scored 99, in the next they lost by a 73-72 margin. Whereas, the last game was a low-scoring one for the Huskies who could only hit 67 points but conceded 85.

Another tally that shows their defense wasn’t up to the mark is that they let their opponents score an average of 85.6 points, and all of their opponents had 50% or better from the floor. Even, Hurley admitted to the team’s mistakes, pointing out “offensively, I think we’ll be fine. Defensively, it’s just been a disaster.” The same issue was pointed out by another analyst.

Basketball analysts point out UConn’s issue

It is said that when Hurley won back-to-back National Championships, he on his flight from Phoenix watched the “One Shining Moment” montage for the last time and then immediately started examining his roster for the next season. Even one of the mainstay of the squad Alex Karaban revealed that “He (Hurley) reminds us that we’re chasing after historic things.” Therefore, when the Storr-based team faltered it came as a shock to everyone.

“Yeah, I mean, I’ll start by saying I’m not out on UConn. I don’t think they’re gonna three-peat, but again, Big East still feels like it’s up for grabs. Look, the big questions, right, it’s at the point guard spot, it’s perimeter defense, and to me, it’s the effectiveness, what type of effectiveness you’re gonna get from that kind of rotation at the five spot,” Mike LaTulip stated on The Field of 68 After Dark podcast. Notably, UConn though seventh in the offensive efficiency in the KenPom is placed at a humiliating 84th position.

The best rebounder for the Huskies is Tarris Reed Jr. who has an average of 8.6 boards per game and is placed at the 57th position in the list of this season’s rebounders. Not the best position for a team that is ranked at the second spot in the AP rankings. Hopefully, now that Hurley has found the issue with his team, he will go back and try to make a difference.