March Madness: Tournament newcomer Stetson, defending champ UConn battle in Brooklyn

DELAND — The stage is set and could not be bigger for Stetson's men's basketball program. Two weeks' worth of fantasizing ends Friday afternoon, and reality will sink in at tipoff.

The 16th-seeded Hatters (22-12) are indeed taking part in March Madness for the first time, and paired with defending national champion Connecticut (31-3) for a 2:45 p.m. East Region battle at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. According to BetMGM's betting lines Wednesday afternoon, Stetson enters as a 26½-point underdog against an opponent that romped through last year's tournament with six consecutive double-digit victories.

"It's a great opportunity for us to play someone as good as UConn," said junior guard Jalen Blackmon, whose 43-point performance against Austin Peay in the ASUN final assured the Hatters' first tournament berth in the school's 53-year Division I history.

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"We're up against a great team. They have five guys in their starting lineup, and they all average double figures. They move the ball well, and they defend well. We've got a lot on our plate, but we are going to work as hard as we can to get ready for it."

UConn, the pre-tournament favorite to defend its crown, rolled through a record-setting regular season. The Huskies won 21 of their 23 games against Big East rivals and posted 13 victories overall against Quad 1 opposition. They lead the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.88), are second in scoring margin (17.1 ppg) and rank among the top-25 nationally in scoring offense and defense.

Graduate guard Tristen Newton, one of two returning starters, earned Associated Press First Team All-America honors after averaging 15.2 points, seven rebounds and six assists per game. Bleacher Report listed two more Huskies — freshman guard Stephon Castle and sophomore center Donovan Clingan — as top-10 picks in its 2024 NBA mock draft.

Asked what it might take to slow UConn down, Stetson coach Donnie Jones replied that the process starts when the Hatters are instead in control of the basketball.

"You can't hurt yourself," said Jones, who will make his NCAA tournament debut as head coach after recording 233 wins at Marshall, UCF and Stetson. "You've can't take bad shots … or don't turn over live-ball turnovers. That turns into dunks and layups. And you've got to make sure on your (defensive) end to play that type of game — be consistent, not giving third and fourth shots. You've got be able to make sure you are effective with your possessions to be able to control the game as much as you can."

Stetson ended the year 209th in the NET rankings, posting a 1-2 record against Quad 1 teams. The Hatters upset Big 12 newcomer UCF in Orlando, and lost on the road in November to UNLV and Houston — another No. 1 seed, albeit in the South Region.

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Three-point shooting is the Hatters' greatest weapon; they rank 28th in Division I in percentage (37.04%) and 34th in field goals per game (9.1) from beyond the arc. Blackmon scores 21.5 points per game, tops among four players averaging double figures: Stephan Swenson (13.8), Aubin Gateretse (11.8) and Alec Oglesby (10.9).

"The scary part about our team is it can be anybody's night any day," Blackmon said. "Against Jacksonville, it was Steph. Against Austin Peay, it was me. You never know who is going to step up for us."

History, of course, is unkind to 16-seeds. Maryland-Baltimore County snapped a 135-game losing streak for 16-seeds when it toppled No. 1 Virginia in 2018. And the monumental feat was repeated last year when Fairleigh Dickinson took down Purdue.

It's highly improbable, but no longer viewed as impossible. And the Hatters hope to be the next relative unknown to create college basketball chaos with a simple formula.

"Grit, heart and brotherhood," Gateretse said. "We have such a strong bond between our guys and have so much fun on the floor.

"We want this win more than anybody."

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: March Madness: Stetson Hatters, UConn Huskies battle in Brooklyn