The No. 2 team in the country passed its first test of the season. UConn outlasted Arkansas in another high-scoring affair against the Razorbacks 95-80 behind a career day from the National Player of the Year Paige Bueckers. The sophomore began the year with a career-high 34 points on an absurd 15-of-19 shooting with six rebounds, four assists, two steals and no turnovers.
Though unranked, Arkansas is the first of what is many difficult non-conference games for the Huskies in 2021-22. Unlikely to be challenged more than a handful of times in Big East play, Connecticut loading up on tough opponents is nothing new, and here are the six toughest:
6) UCLA (Saturday, Dec. 11 - in Newark, NJ): The Bruins are a top-25 team, and would be higher without the early season injury bug kicking in. In UCLA's season-opening win over Pepperdine the Bruins were without seven (!!) players. Not out, though, is Charisma Osborne, who averaged 17 points a game and nearly six rebounds despite standing at just 5-foot-8. Health will play a big factor for UCLA as they make the cross-country trip to Prudential Center in three weeks.
5) South Florida (likely Sunday, Nov. 17 - Bahamas): The Huskies play in the loaded Battle 4 Atlantis field this weekend. And assuming they beat an okay Minnesota team, coached by Lindsay Whalen, the next opponent is likely USF. The Bulls were consistently the other good team in the American during UConn's time in the conference, and they got the full-throttle Huskies experience on a few occasions (think Katie Lou Samuelson's 10-for-10 from three performance). But Jose Fernandez has the team on the rise, ranked in the top-25 and narrowly missing out on an upset of Tennessee on Monday, losing 52-49. It will be a nice test for UConn before what is expected to be a colossal championship showdown (more to come on that).
4) Tennessee (Sunday, Feb. 6 - XL Center): Last year the young Huskies went to Knoxville and held off the Lady Vols (remember Bueckers struggling all game and getting hurt, only to hit the dagger three?). Now it's the return trip in what was once the game's biggest rivalry. Now in Kellie Harper's third season, Tennessee is still trying to climb back to the upper echelon of the sport. Leading scorer Rennia Davis is gone, but the Lady Vols are still long and have proven talent in guard Jordan Horston (19 points, 10 rebounds per game) and the stretch-four Rae Burrell. Turnovers are still an issue - they have 51 through three games and had 60 more giveaways than takeaways last year - but they are trending in the right direction.
3) Louisville (Sunday, Dec. 19 - Mohegan Sun): It's a "neutral site" game in name only, as it will be 90 percent UConn fans for the Basketball Hall of Fame Showcase. It's a new era in Louisville, as the torch was passed from Asia Durr a few years ago to Dana Evans the last two seasons. Now it's Hailey Van Lith's team. After a good freshman season, there's a strong chance she leads the Cardinals in scoring, assists, three-point makes and percentage and free throw shooting. There are questions about secondary scoring behind her, though, that could be an issue later in the season.
2) Oregon (Monday, Jan. 17 - Eugene, OR): There's a chance the two teams meet in the championship game at the Battle 4 Atlantis on Monday, but for now we'll assume they'll only meet at Matthew Knight Arena in January. Sabrina Ionescu and the Ducks came to Gampel two years ago and handily beat the Huskies, but this is a different Oregon team. Kelly Graves had a very young team last year that struggled during the season, but found its footing in March and made a surprise Sweet 16 run. Now just about everyone is back, including forward Sedona Prince and wing Nyara Sabally. They'll be even more dangerous once Te-Hina Paopao returns from an injury.
1) South Carolina (Monday, Nov. 18 - Bahamas; Thursday, Jan. 27 - Columbia, SC): The consensus is that there are two teams ahead of everyone else: the Huskies and the Gamecocks. Like UConn, South Carolina not only brings back everybody from last year's Final Four team, but they've added. In addition to the best post player in the country in Aliyah Boston, South Carolina went and added 6-foot-7 ACC Freshman of the Year Kamilla Cardoso (and already had Victaria Saxton and Laeticia Amihere). Inside scoring against the Gamecocks ain't happening.
In the backcourt Zia Cooke and Destanni Henderson are All-American caliber players, and they added the No. 2 freshman in the nation in Raven Johnson (though she's hurt), while also signing the Nos. 3, 4 and 14 freshmen in the country. UConn will likely see them in the Battle 4 Atlantis title game on Monday, then again in January at Colonial Life Arena... then again in Minneapolis at the Final Four? Give us Gamecocks vs. Huskies three times, please.