For a second consecutive year, fans of the UConn men’s basketball team are furious over the perception that their team is being treated unfairly during the NCAA Tournament.
UConn finally arrived in Glendale, Ariz., on Thursday morning after having some unfortunate travel issues. Alabama, UConn’s opponent for Saturday night’s Final Four game, got to Arizona on Tuesday. Purdue also arrived on Tuesday and their opponent, NC State, was in Glendale as of early in the day on Wednesday.
The Huskies were supposed to depart Connecticut at 3:00 pm ET on Wednesday, but there was a mechanical issue with their plane that was coming from Kansas City. They then waited for another plane from Cincinnati, but then there was a weather delay. The Huskies finally took off at around 1:30 am Thursday morning and arrived in Arizona at 6:00 am local time.
And now, for the accommodations. Once Dan Hurley’s team arrived at their hotel, a couple of UConn players shared photos of their beds via social media.
At least they get cool blankets pic.twitter.com/cT2fqBZcok
— Pat LeneFan (@patlenehan14) April 4, 2024
It appeared as though players were sharing rooms, which is not unusual. However, a photo that NC State star DJ Burns shared showed that he had his own room with a king-size bed.
Oh, but they do!! Just not the number one overall seed and the reigning national champs. LOL pic.twitter.com/1dGnL8Xd5d
— T. (@xmonielove) April 4, 2024
For those who think the issues are being blown out of proportion by social media, it should be noted that UConn is not happy. Athletic director David Benedict said of Wednesday’s travel issues that the Huskies were not being treated to a “championship experienced” and wondered why the NCAA did not have contingency plans.
UConn had multiple issues in Las Vegas during the Sweet 16 last year, which is why fans are even more annoyed this year. The good news is last year’s inconveniences did not stop the Huskies from blowing the doors off of every opponent they faced. They have done the same in this year’s tournament, and you can expect Hurley to use the travel issues to further fuel his “us against the world” narrative.
