SPOKANE, Wash. — With all the media attention given NCAA Tournament seedings and Sunday play, one might thing the BYU basketball team has had little time to focus on first-round opponent Connecticut this week.
Not so, says BYU coach Steve Cleveland, who with his staff and players have been pouring over UConn game film and making team preparations for Thursday's 12:40 p.m. MST game at Spokane Arena.
"It's not us talking about it, it's the ESPNs of the world," said Cleveland of the Cougars' eyebrow-raising No. 12 seed in the South Region and the initial assignment to possibly face a Sunday game if BYU advanced to the region finals.
Once again, the plan is to keep BYU in its assigned bracket through the first two rounds. If the Cougars win both Thursday and again Saturday against the winner of the Stanford-San Diego pairing, they'll be reassigned to the Midwest Regional semifinals and finals, which are on a Thursday-Saturday schedule.
Which has not been much of a topic with the BYU team, with the coaches and players instead following the proverbial "take it one game at a time" mantra.
"It's not anything we've talked about with the players," said Cleveland of Sunday issue. "It hasn't been a distraction to the team."
Rather, all attention has been given the Huskies, a Big East Conference team with a storied postseason tradition — including the 1999 NCAA championship — and the No. 5 seed.
"It will be like playing Wyoming, but with better talent and a better team overall," said Cleveland.
The Huskies rely considerably on ball screens and dribble penetration and boast a transition game that Cleveland labels as "lethal." UConn's transition attack is most apparent when opponents turn the ball over or take quick shots.
"They want as many possessions as possible," said Cleveland of the Huskies, who are averaging 80 points a game. "The more possessions, the more opportunities they have to score." The key for the Cougars then will be to stop transition baskets, to effectively block out and to eliminate UConn from second- and third-chance shots.
Also, BYU will need to be effective in its shooting - particularly from the perimeter. "We're going to have to knock down our jump shots," Cleveland said.
The Cougar coach said his team will not back down from trying to match the Huskies in transition attack, as long as BYU isn't just running to keep up or match the pace. That includes shooting the open 3-pointers in transition, which Cleveland welcomes - as opposed to his players opting to shoot 3s early in the shot clock when the defense is set and an inside option has gone untested.
Boasting a quick and potent backcourt, UConn is led by 6-foot-2 sophomore guard Ben Gordon, who is averaging 19.5 points and 5.0 assists a game; 6-2 senior guard Tony Robertson, who scores at a 10.3-point clip; and 6-1 junior guard Taliek Brown, good for 7.8 points and 4.8 assists a game.
But the player Cleveland is most concerned about is 6-9 sophomore center Emeka Okafor, who is averaging a double-double at 15.5 points and 11.0 rebounds and is one of the nation's premier shot-blockers at 4.7 a game.
Likening Okafor to former NBA and college great Hakeem Olajuwon, Cleveland has been prepping Rafael Araujo, BYU's 6-11 junior center, for Thursday's matchup.
"We can't create Okafor in practice," said Cleveland, who has explained to Araujo the need to get his post touches in deep and close to the basket and understand to not get down and frustrated if he has some shots blocked.
BYU players boast relatively little NCAA Tournament experience — senior guard Hansen as a reserve with the Cougars two years ago and junior center Dan Howard a brief stint in the same lopsided loss to Cincinnati. And reserve guard Ricky Bower saw a little playing time with Wisconsin in the Badgers' own first-round loss two years ago.
However, Cleveland and the coaches are using their experiences of two years ago in being more protective for the players and more focused in preparations leading to Thursday's game. Travel time, down time and all the hoopla accompanying the NCAAs have been more closely scrutinized by Cleveland and his staff in their second trip to the tournament.
"We're not giddy about just being there," he said. "We're going there to go play our best."
NOTES: BYU arrived in Spokane late Tuesday night . . . The Cougars were scheduled to for Wednesday's first practice session at Spokane Arena, beginning at noon . . . There are some familiarities with other tournament teams in Spokane. BYU beat San Diego in regular season play and lost to Weber State; the Cougars beat Stanford in a neutral-site game in Las Vegas last season .... This is the first-ever meeting of BYU and UConn.
BYU Cougars (23-8, No. 12 seed)
Probable starters
Name Ht. Yr. PPG
F Mark Bigelow 6-7 Jr. 14.0
F Jared Jensen 6-9 So. 7.6
C Rafael Araujo 6-11 Jr. 12.2
G Travis Hansen 6-6 Sr. 16.6
G Kevin Woodberry 6-0 Jr. 6.3
Connecticut Huskies (21-9, No. 5 seed)
Probable starters
Name Ht. Yr. PPG
F Hilton Armstrong 6-10 Fr. 3.0
F Rashard Anderson 6-5 Fr. 8.4
C Emeka Okafor 6-9 So. 15.5
G Taliek Brown 6-1 Jr. 7.8
G Ben Gordon 6-2 So. 19.5
Thursday, 12:40 p.m. MST
Spokane Arena (12,309)
TV: CBS, KUTV, Ch. 2, ESPN+Plus
Radio: KSL 1160-AM
E-mail: taylor@desnews.com