The great UConn 2-seed panic of 2019 is over

STORRS, CT — In the waning seconds of the first quarter, already trailing 31-7, Towson guard Danielle Durjan sped up the court, trying to get one open look before the Tigers’ first-round game against UConn reached the first buzzer.

She was met by a trap, Napheesa Collier and Crystal Dangerfield, and her attempt to even take an uncontested shot from 35 feet away was met with an insistent swat away by Collier.

The buzzer sounded. Connecticut galloped to the bench. Durjan just shook her head. There’d be nothing easy, not on a night Connecticut was disrespected, given a lowly two seed (that’s what qualifies as disrespect in Connecticut women’s basketball), but dispatching Towson, 110-61 on Friday night.

“Underdog Huskies? I always enjoy this time of the year, it doesn’t matter if we’re undefeated and we have a team no one thinks they can beat, I’ve been there,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “Or having a team where some people are counting us out. I enjoy both.”

“We know, even if we play our best game, we can lose,” Auriemma said in the postgame. “Which is okay! Because then the goal is, let’s see how close we can come to playing our best game.”

By the end of the opening onslaught, Collier had 12 points and six rebounds. Connecticut had 11 field goals, 10 of them assisted. It was vintage Huskies basketball.

“I don’t think the way we prepared for games is any different,” Collier said after the win. “We don’t obviously agree with the seeding, but we’re going to control the things we can control.”

The night served as an important reminder to all that even if Connecticut isn’t a team at the level of, say, UConn teams of the recent past — Breanna Stewart’s four titles in four seasons group set a standard that, frankly, no one may ever meet — these Huskies have lost twice all season, to No. 1 seeds Baylor and Louisville, both on the road, and in many ways are a significantly better team now than when they did so.

Collier is the best two-way player in the country. Dangerfield is among the best point guards, only overshadowed by her senior teammates, Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson. The younger Huskies, like Megan Walker, Christyn Williams and Olivia Nelson-Ododa, were highly-sought recruits figuring out what Auriemma and Chris Dailey teach. Sometimes, with levels of understanding, it takes longer.

One thing is certain: Connecticut was unhappy about its seed, in a way that Huskies teams generally don’t discuss seeding. Auriemma sarcastically noted they’d lost twice and said he expected they’d be “a four or a five seed”, adding that the message from the committee was clear: go undefeated, or else.

Katie Lou Samuelson, meanwhile, made her feelings clear on Instagram:

The great Two Seed Panic of 2019 appears to be overblown. I turned to someone with a sense of Connecticut history, former Huskies guard and current Atlanta Dream guard Renee Montgomery, to ask her just how worried the fan base was the last time UConn didn’t receive a one seed, back in 2006. Montgomery was a UConn player at the time.

“I’m not really sure how the fans reacted when we weren’t a No. 1 seed,” Montgomery said. “I’ve made a habit of trying to stay removed to a certain extent of the media and/or negativity when it involves my particular team. Also, when I was at UConn, it was way easier to do that because Facebook was the main social media and I was rarely on there.”

There’s a reason for that: Twitter wasn’t created until March 21, 2006, after the 2006 bracket reveal. Instagram didn’t start until 2010. It’s been that long.

Early in the second quarter, Samuelson got on the scoreboard, a three from the top of the key. She hit another, showing little sign that she’d ever been injured at all, not surprising from a woman who once scored 23 points against Maryland in a game when she’d thrown up on the sidelines, but a further sign of invincibility on this Friday night, and indeed, for anyone who intends to take down UConn.

She managed the thing Geno Auriemma was most worried about, the issue anyone with a back injury always faces — how she’d do after playing, then stopping. She came out sprightly to open the third quarter, and sank another three on the wing, just after getting taken down by a Towson player fighting for an offensive rebound. She got up arguing for a foul. Katie Lou Samuelson was present in every way. The scenarios where Samuelson isn’t a two-way game changer were cast aside by opposing coaches after this one.

By the half, Connecticut was 25-for-37 from the field. All five starters had multiple assists. The 64-24 score was no more or less indicative of the gap in this one. UConn was truly winning by 40 in a half.

Montgomery wasn’t surprised, knowing Auriemma would use the two seed, just as he always finds something to drive his team.

“Coach Auriemma is a master motivator, so I know he will have the troops fired up and ready to go,” Montgomery said. “I honestly don’t remember what he said while I was there. I just know that every year around this time everyone understands what you did during the season and who you might’ve already beat doesn’t matter.”

By 5:23 to go in the third, all five UConn starters were in double figures. Towson didn’t stop going at UConn, Kionna Jeter finishing an And-1 with a flourish, the Tigers outrebounding Connecticut, giving the Huskies license to keep playing at full speed themselves. Auriemma paced back and forth, hands in his pockets, calling out plays, as his Huskies resumed maxing out what they do best: running the motion offense, finding open teammates, harassing on the defensive end.

It shouldn’t be that surprising that Connecticut has recovered from the massive shock of not getting a one seed this time around. After all, they followed that 2006 trauma with 11 consecutive Final Fours, a streak that is still active, and looks like it may well continue, even if the Huskies face Louisville, the one seed, in the Elite Eight.

Montgomery thinks they’ll weather this one, too.

“This year is one of those years where we need a couple of breaks, and to get lucky, and we still might win,” Auriemma said. “What’s been good about it is I only look towards Sunday. Other years I was looking to Sunday at the Final Four. And I like it better that way.”