Hi and welcome to The Dream Season Podcast, an oral history of the 1989-90 UConn men’s basketball season, also known as, The Dream Season.
This Episode 13, The Big Dance Begins
Not long after the Huskies left the Madison Square Garden floor after celebrating the Big East Tournament Championship, their attention turned to the NCAA Tournament.
The NCAA Tournament had changed drastically since the last time UConn made the tournament, in March of 1979.
That year, only 40 teams participated, with 24 of those teams receiving byes into the second round. In 1985, the tournament expanded to 64 teams and all byes were eliminated.
Before the 1989-90 season began, UConn was the only member of the Big East who had not made an NCAA Tournament since the conference was established in the 1979-80 season.
As the Huskies progressed through the regular season and an NCAA Tournament bid became a near-certainty, speculation began about where UConn would be sent for their first round game.
As luck would have it, the Hartford Civic Center was one of the host sites for the East Region of the tournament. However, NCAA Tournament rules stated “For all preliminary-round sessions, institutions shall not be assigned to their home court.”
The good news for UConn? The NCAA defines a home court as the court where a team plays more than half of its regular season games. Thanks to Gampel Pavilion opening in the middle of the season, the Huskies had only played 8 of their 18 home games at the Civic Center.
The bad news was that the NCAA Selection Committee had frowned upon giving teams a home-court advantage in recent years. But winning the Big East Tournament may have forced the NCAA’s hand.
Here’s the beginning of the 1990 Selection Show:
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As expected, the Huskies earned the #1 seed and were placed in the East Region in the Hartford subregional. Their opponent would be the 16 seed Boston University Terriers on Thursday, March 15.
In his role as UConn’s director of Athletics Communications, Tim Tolokan had been preparing for the NCAA Tournament games in Hartford for months. UConn, as the host school, had to handle nearly all the logistics related to the six games being played over the first two rounds. Tim and his staff were responsible for all of the incoming media.
Here’s Tim recalling that Sunday evening following the Big East Championship:
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Mike Enright, who worked under Tim at the time, also recalls the whirlwind that was March of 1990:
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Jim Calhoun was pleasantly surprised by the Selection Committee’s decision. [QUOTE] “I’ve been saying all week that I never thought we’d play in Hartford. I really didn’t. Based on history, I felt it wouldn’t come about. In turn, I think moving the team that just won the Big East Tournament out of the East wouldn’t have made much sense. Therefore, I think we sort of forced the committee to go by the rulebook.” [END QUOTE]
Five other Big East teams made the tournament: Syracuse, Georgetown, St. John’s, Villanova and Providence.
On Monday, the good news continued for UConn. The Associated Press released their final Top 25 poll of the season and the Huskies, with a record of 28-5, were ranked #3, their highest ranking ever.
UConn’s opponent in the first round, Boston University, qualified for the NCAA Tournament by winning the North Atlantic Conference Tournament, defeating Vermont 75-57.
Bob Picozzi and WTNH Sports detail the rivalry between BU coach Mike Jarvis and Jim Calhoun.
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Assistant Coach Dave Leitao downplayed the reported animosity between the two coaches:
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The Huskies were listed as 18 point favorites over BU. Jim Calhoun knew that wouldn’t make a difference once the game tipped off. Here he breaks down the Terriers with Ken Strayhorn:
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The Huskies were looking forward to regaining the services of Rod Sellers. Sellers, who did manage to play two minutes in the Big East Championship game, was reporting that his knee was feeling better and an MRI showed only a partial tear of his medial collateral ligament, which should heal on its own.
On Wednesday afternoon, each team in the Hartford sub regional, with the exception of Indiana, held an open practice at the Civic Center. For many fans, this would be their only chance to see UConn or any other team, as tickets for each session had sold out long before UConn was slated to play in Hartford.
The issue of acquiring tickets even trickled down to the players. When asked about the pressure of playing in the NCAA Tournament, here’s how Tate George responded:
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Mike Gorman and Ron Perry set the stage from the Civic Center.
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UConn started the same five who carried the team down the stretch of the season. The two freshmen Scott Burrell and Nadav Henefeld at forward, Tate George and Chris Smith in the backcourt and at center, Rod Sellers.
Both teams started the game tight, missing their first 8 shots combined.
But then the Huskies started to click, both offensively and defensively.
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Scott Burrell sank the free throw to put UConn up 10-0 at the 16:19 mark of the first half.
But the Terriers hung around, using their 3-2 zone defense to dare UConn to shoot from the outside. The strategy worked, as the Huskies struggled to make shots.
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Steven Key’s 3 pointer cut the UConn lead to just 3, 19-16.
Key stayed hot, hitting another 3 to trim the lead to one with under 3 minutes left in the first half.
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UConn would push the lead back up to four, but BU cut it back to one as the half ended:
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The halftime score had a lot of UConn fans on edge.
Since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, a 16 seed had never beaten a 1 seed. Just a year prior, two number 1 seeds came close to losing, each managing to squeak out a one point victory. The most memorable of those close calls involved another Big East team, the Georgetown Hoyas, who escaped with a 50-49 win over Princeton.
The second half seemed to start exactly how UConn needed it to, with Chris Smith draining a wide-open 3 pointer to extend UConn’s lead to 4, 32-28. But any good feelings the quick 3 brought to UConn fans quickly disappeared.
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With 16:15 left in the game, BU led 41-38 and Jim Calhoun called time-out.
After that, things turned around in a flash.
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The first Smith 3 pointer began a 21-1 Husky run that lasted just under 5 minutes of game time.
The game-changing run may have been started by Smith but was engineered by Nadav Henefeld. In those five minutes, Nadav scored 13 of his 19 total points, including 8 straight.
The run ended any thoughts of a BU upset, as the Terriers would never get closer than 13 points. From the time Calhoun called time out with 16:15 remaining, BU would only score 11 more points the rest of the game.
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After the final minute played out, the final score was UConn 76, Boston University 52.
The Steal Curtain Defense forced 27 BU turnovers, 16 of those coming in the second half. The Huskies also nabbed 19 steals, setting a record for most steals in an East Regional first or second round game, as well as tying the mark for any region in the first or second round.
UConn shot 39% from the game and only made 9 of 30 shots from the floor in the first half, which prevented them from setting up their full-court press. More made shots in the second half led to more turnovers, which led to the eventual blowout.
Nadav Henefeld and Chris Smith each scored 19 to lead all scorers. Henefeld also added 7 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 assists. John Gwynn was the only other Husky to crack double figures, scoring 10.
It was UConn's first NCAA Tournament win since March 13, 1976, when they defeated Hosftra, 80-78 in overtime.
Chris Smith and Jim Calhoun joined Ron Perry following the game:
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Assistant coach Howie Dickenman breaks down the win with WFSB’s Phil Andrews:
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The Huskies had advanced to the second round of the tournament. Their opponent on Saturday, March 17th? The California Golden Bears from the Pac-10, who defeated Indiana 65-63.
The Cal/UConn matchup was a rematch from last season’s NIT second round, also played at the Hartford Civic Center. The Huskies won that game, 73-72, despite trailing by six points with just under three minutes remaining. Tate George hit two free throws with five seconds left to clinch the win.
The 1989-90 version of Cal were 22-9 and finished 3rd in the Pac 10. They were led by 6’ 4” senior guard Keith Smith, who averaged 36 minutes per game and 16.8 points per game. He was also Cal’s all-time assist leader.
Smith felt confident heading into the game. He had scored 19 points in the win over Indiana, including two free throws to win the game. He also said that he wasn’t too worried about the UConn defense, saying that [QUOTE] “Only one guy can guard me at a time” [END QUOTE] and that while he heard that the Huskies defense was good, the Bears were ready, having played against Oregon State’s defense, which was similar to UConn’s, only quicker.
James Brown, Bill Raftery and UConn’s public address announcer Roger Baker kicked things off on St. Patrick’s Day in Hartford:
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Cal scored on their initial possession to take a 2-0 lead.
UConn countered and then took off.
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The 17-0 run, started and ended with Chris Smith 3 pointers, took only 4 minutes and 13 seconds of gametime and surely made the Golden Bears believers in the Husky defense.
Keith Smith, hounded by Chris Smith defensively, was limited to just one missed field goal attempt in the first half, scoring his two points from the free throw line.
The Huskies eventually built a 21 point lead at 34-13 on a Scott Burrell offensive putback and foul with 6:10 left in the half.
The halftime score was UConn 42, Cal 26.
The Huskies were 28-0 when leading at the half on the season and that mark would not be sullied on this day.
However, there was some bad news for UConn. Early in the second half, Rod Sellers re-injured his left knee and did not return. After the game, Sellers said it felt fine, but that he would have it re-examined early in the week.
In the second half, the Husky lead would never dip below 12 points, as they cruised into the Sweet Sixteen, 74-54, much to the delight of the Civic Center crowd.
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Chris Smith led all scorers with 24 points, including 5 3 pointers, while also holding Keith Smith to just 9 points, 8 below his average. Scott Burrell added 13, while Tate George and Nadav Henefeld chipped in with 10 apiece.
As with so many other games this season, the difference in the game was the UConn defense. Cal entered the game averaging only 13 turnovers per game, but the Huskies forced them into a season-high 28, including 16 steals. The 28 forced turnovers also equaled a season-high for UConn, tying the mark set against both Auburn and Hartford.
Here’s Wayne Norman’s postgame summary from the Connecticut Radio Network:
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Jim Calhoun recalls the words of Keith Smith motivating his team. [QUOTE] “You’ve got to be very careful about what you say. They kept saying ‘I’m sure it won’t be like the Oregon State press.’ That’s the kind of thing you give the needle to the kids about. Oregon State probably has a tremendous press. I’m sure they do. But…” [END QUOTE]
Here’s assistant coach Dave Leitao again:
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Former Norwich Bulletin UConn beat reporter Pete Abraham, who now covers the Boston Red Sox for the Boston Globe, was not surprised that Calhoun found something he could use to motivate his team:
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Chris Smith knew that Cal didn’t stand a chance of pulling the upset:
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Here’s Tim Tolokan again, following the conclusion of the first two rounds of the tournament:
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The Huskies were now 30-5, reaching the 30 win plateau for the first time in school history. They were off to East Rutherford, New Jersey for the East Regional Finals at The Meadowlands.
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Coming up on the next episode of The Dream Season Podcast, the Huskies square off with the ACC regular season champion Clemson Tigers in the Sweet Sixteen.
The Dream Season Podcast is researched, written & produced by me, Matt Edwards.
Written sources for this episode are the Hartford Courant archives and the Norwich Bulletin. Audio content is from interviews I conducted and YouTube.
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If you have any memories to share about anything I just mentioned, want to correct me on something I screwed up or just have general feedback to give, send me an email at dreamseasonpodATgmail.com or call and leave me a message at (903) 884 - EIGHTY NINE NINETY.
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As always, thank you so much for listening!!