On the basketball court, No. 4 seed UConn -- dancing into the Elite Eight after three consecutive double-digit wins and an 88-65 beatdown of Arkansas in the Sweet 16 -- has just about everything going right for it. Off the court, though, the Huskies can't seem to catch a break.
On the same day they were forced to leave their team hotel in Las Vegas after reportedly finding, among other things, dirt and vomit in their hotel rooms, the Huskies also had personal items stolen from the team bus on Tuesday while practicing in advance of their Sweet 16 appearance, according to CT Insider.
"Disaster," coach Dan Hurley said after the game Thursday of the hotel situation earlier in the week. "Then stuff gets stolen. It was a debacle."
UConn freshman Donovan Clingan said his iPad was stolen from the team bus, while a team manager claimed his laptop was stolen. The theft apparently took place while UConn was practicing Tuesday afternoon at UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center, forcing the team to contact local police over the incident.
On the court, UConn committed its own basketball version of thievery in stealing No. 8 seed Arkansas' soul Thursday in the Sweet 16. Despite the distractions off the court, the Huskies led wire-to-wire, ousting the Razorbacks by 23 points. It was the third win for UConn this NCAA Tournament by 15 points or more, which no other team left standing has done (though Alabama, with a win of 15 or more points Friday vs. San Diego State, can also do the same).
"I thought obviously we just played pretty much exactly to our team identity," said Hurley postgame. "We played elite defense. Offensively the 22 assists, the inside, the outside, and the rebounding dominance, and really where we are right now is exactly where we talked about where we would be."