Sports

A REAL OKAFOR-CE: THERE’S NO STOPPING UCONN – IF EMEKA’S BACK HOLDS UP

BUFFALO – There is no one else like him anywhere in the country, no one with his skills, his height, his presence. Opposing coaches have spent three seasons trying to figure out Emeka Okafor, fiddling with their Xs and their Os, tricking up their offenses, gimmicking up their defenses.

Nothing worked. Okafor kept blocking shots. He kept grabbing rebounds. He kept making 60 percent of his shots from the field, his game evolving, seemingly, every few minutes. Gone were the rough edges of his freshman year. Gone went all those fancy Xs and the Os. No one player could contain him. No one coach could stop him.

Only his spine could do that, it turns out. Only a most disagreeable fifth lumbar vertebra could do that. For the University of Connecticut, it sure was a lousy time for someone to find a few nuggets of kryptonite.

“It feels better every day,” Okafor, the All-American center, said yesterday. “I’m doing everything I can to get it where it needs to be. I’m not worried. I’ll be ready to play.”

On the first day of this NCAA Tournament, you should understand that there is really only one question you need to ask before filling out your brackets, and it’s a simple one: Will Emeka Okafor’s back hold out on him for six more games?

If it does, then it may be no use picking anyone else in this NCAA Tournament, because it will be Connecticut’s to lose.

Oh, the Huskies stumbled now and again during the endless exhibition that is the NCAA’s regular season. They looked vulnerable in some spots, sloppy in others, acting a little too disinterested than a team made of championship timber should ever look.

But when they were on? “Scary,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said last week.

“Devastating,” Boston College Al Skinner added.

“When we didn’t have him during the Big East Tournament, it allowed some of our other guys a chance to step forward, and they did,” UConn coach Jim Calhoun said yesterday. “But I’d rather not do that again. Because with him we are as strong a team as we’ve had here.”

These Huskies are, potentially, the greatest team Calhoun has ever assembled in Storrs, but until they match the 1998-99 team’s six-game blitzkrieg through the tournament, they won’t ever earn that stripe. UConn is plenty good enough to advance deep in this tournament with Okafor. Ben Gordon proved that last week at Madison Square Garden. Taliek Brown is a tough, tournament-tested point guard. They can survive.

But the goal for Connecticut this year has never been about mere survival. From the start, the Huskies had greater ambitions than that. From the start, it was clear they would go as far as Okafor would carry them. That reality hasn’t changed. Only Okafor’s physical ability to carry out the task has.

In many ways, the Huskies couldn’t have asked for a better opening-round opponent today at HSBC Arena. Vermont isn’t going to eliminate them, no matter how much rust remains on Okafor’s game. But the Catamounts do have a wonderful 6-foot-9 horse named Taylor Coppenrath, fresh off a 43-point outburst against Maine in the America East Tournament championship. Okafor will not dip his toe into the Tournament. Coppenrath will see to it he jumps in the whole way.

“It’s a good test for him,” Calhoun said. “This is a guy who’s coming off the game of his life, playing with a lot of confidence. I think he’ll see where he is right away.”

If that happens to be the same plane on which he spent so much of this season, what you may see is the first part of a six-part assault on a second NCAA Tournament trophy in six years. If not? Calhoun shuddered at the thought. An entire state shudders with him.

Phoenix Region

No. 2 Connecticut (27-6)

Vs.

No. 15 Vermont (22-8)

Tonight, 7:10, Ch. 2, at Buffalo

Rolling an 11

Jim Calhoun has been the UConn men’s basketball coach for 18 seasons. He has guided the Huskies to 11 NCAA Tournament berths and is 11-0 in first-round games.

Here’s a look at those 11 games, and how far the team advanced in each tournament:

Year Seed Opponent Result Advanced

1990 No. 1, East No. 16 Boston University W, 76-52 Elite Eight

1991 No. 11, Midwest No. 6 LSU W, 79-62 Sweet 16

1992 No. 9, Southeast No. 8 Nebraska W, 86-65 Second Round

1994 No. 2, East No. 15 Rider W, 64-46 Sweet 16

1995 No. 2, West No. 15 Tenn.-Chat. W, 100-71 Elite Eight

1996 No. 1, Southeast No. 16 Colgate W, 68-59 Sweet 16

1998 No. 2, East No. 15 FDU W, 93-85 Elite Eight

1999 No. 1, West No. 16 Texas-San. An. W, 91-66 National Champions

2000 No. 5, South No. 12 Utah State W, 75-67 Second Round

2002 No. 2, East No. 15 Hampton W, 78-67 Elite Eight

2003 No. 5, South No. 12 BYU W, 58-53 Sweet 16

2004 No. 2, Phoenix No. 15 Vermont TBD