Adrien, seniors ready for last chance

By: Justin Verrier

Posted: 11/14/08

Every time Kemba Walker steps on the court for the No. 2 Huskies and sees all-conference players and future pros all around him, he can't contain his excitement.

Walker's big, schoolboy grin never left his face in the postgame interviews following his first preseason game in a UConn uniform.

"It was exciting," Walker said after UConn's 83-58 exhibition win over AIC. "I came out, and the student section was saying my name. I just couldn't wait to get out there. "

But for seniors Jeff Adrien, A.J. Price and Craig Austrie, the excitement - if there was any - was contained.

Sure, there were a few smiles flashed and jokes thrown around as, for the fourth - in Price's case, fifth - year, they began the grind of sitting around the UConn weightroom for half-hour fielding questions from a horde of reporters.

But while Walker's joy comes as a product of the start of something new, something exciting, Adrien, Price and Austrie are all looking to finish something that slipped through their grasps in the past - a trip to the Final Four.

"We've been waiting six or seven months for this to start," Adrien said in a calm, monotone voice last week. "We ready."

Forgive Adrien if he doesn't share the same youthful exuberance as Walker.

He's now been through four summers filled with weights and pick-up, played in nearly 100 games, felt the highs of being on top of the standings and the lows of being left sitting at home during Selection Sunday.

So while a No. 2 ranking in a preseason is a nice honor, Adrien knows not to get too far ahead of himself.

"We're ready to have one of the great years like we had our freshman year," Adrien said. "But get even further than that."

For Adrien, Price and Austrie, their final seasons not only mark their last go-round after three years of hard work and sacrifice, but a shot at redemption as well.

After being forced to wade through two seasons of rebuilding, the Huskies are finally players on the national scene and this is their only chance - and most likely the team's only window for a few years - to bring home a national title.

Each offseason has become a guessing game as to whether not Hasheem Thabeet will make the jump to the pros, but this spring's sideshow appears to be the last.

The 7-foot-3 center waited until the last day before underclassmen had to put their names into the NBA, and with a generally weak class expected for next season's draft, Thabeet seems to be a sure-fire lottery pick.

And with Walker, who looks like a future All-American after averaging 10.5 points and 4.5 assists in the preseason while commanding the floor like a seasoned vet, and Jerome Dyson only having to play in supporting roles, now may be UConn's last shot before another retooling effort is needed.

"[Thabeet's] going to be a lottery pick," Walker said. "Most everybody on our team is going to get to that level, so that's definitely going to be a tremendous feeling."

Adrien, Price and Austrie, know the frustration of rebuilding all too well.

The Huskies' 2006 team might have been one of the most talented rosters of the past decade. While even fringe prospects were willing to forego college to chase after the dollar signs flashing in front of them, the Huskies were able to hold on to not only key players, but assemble a team chock full of blue-chippers.

UConn's roster would've made a competitive NBA franchise. But all the talent in the world wasn't enough.

Adrien will be the first to admit that.

The forward had his coming-out party in the Huskies' Elite Eight loss to George Mason in 2006, scoring a then-career-high 17 points, but was still catching a plane back to Storrs the next day.

Coach Jim Calhoun expects Adrien to use that experience, and the sting he felt afterward, as motivation to get back there again

That's why after Adrien and Price put in less-than-stellar performances against AIC, Calhoun said he needed a bit more from two players that could decide the Huskies' fate.

"Just think of Jeff Adrien's career: No. 1 in the country, 30 wins, final eight, a good year last year and when we were lousy in '07, knocked out of both the Big East and NCAA tournaments - and now a chance," Calhoun said. "I expect him to be hungrier than that. I'm not just blaming Jeff. I expect A.J. to be hungrier; I expect everybody to be hungrier."