The SEEDS, in so many ways, were planted publicly and painfully 53 weeks ago.
It was there, sitting behind a microphone on a stage inside Buffalo’s KeyBank Center that Danny Hurley laid bare the raw emotions of disappointment. His fifth-seeded Connecticut Huskies had lost to New Mexico State, a No. 12 seed, in a staggering NCAA Tournament first-round upset.
It wasn’t even the biggest stunner of the night; at the same time, in Indianapolis, Saint Peter’s was beginning its pixie-dusted run to glory by stunning Kentucky, a No. 15 seed upsetting a No. 2 seed that echoed all across the country.
But in Buffalo, it was UConn that had been bitten.
And it was Hurley who lent an eloquent voice to that agony.
“It’s hard,” he said that night. “It’s hard to sit up here after what this group has done for the program the last couple of years. I think these guys have had a couple of really, really good seasons to get this program back in a really good spot, but we played poorly in the NCAA Tournament.”
He shook his head.
“If you are going to be judged by just one game and in a single-elimination tournament where pretty much anybody can lose to anybody, if that is the only way that your season is validated, then I’ll allow media or other people to do that. I love this team. I’ve loved coaching this team. It’s a special group of guys. They took a lot of big steps, you know, for us as a program. Obviously, there are steps that we need to continue to take.”
In the stands, Hurley’s father, Bob, the Hall of Fame high school coach at Jersey City’s St. Anthony, suffered with every second as the game bled away.
“It’s hard to lose as a coach,” he said. “It’s impossible as a coach’s father. But I know Danny. I know he’ll be back swinging. So will his team.”
And so it was.
A year and a week later, the team that conquered UConn last year, New Mexico State, is in chaos, its program shut down early and its new coach fired amid a crazy season. But UConn was still standing in the Elite Eight on Saturday night, preparing to play Gonzaga in the West Region final in Las Vegas. For those who care about such things, it seemed a hopeful harbinger: 24 years ago, on the way to its first-ever NCAA Championship, UConn had to beat the then-Cinderella Zags in the West Region final to make the Final Four.
All these years later, UConn was the lower seed, but the hotter team, riding the crest of three straight blowout wins, first against Iona and most recently against Arkansas. Hurley found himself Saturday 40 minutes from a Final Four for the first time as a player or a coach, and a thousand miles removed from the bitterness of Buffalo.
And hoping his tight-knit Huskies could keep on top of that roll.
“You’re family,” he said. “And to do this together is special, not just the great moments, but having to pick each other up after great failures. Just doing it all together, the roller-coaster ride. It’s like it’s a bond that you have with other people that most people don’t get to experience.”