Rare opening-week title game rematch doubles as a familiar warning: UConn is yet again a national title threat

BOSTON — Having a national title game rematch in the opening week of the college basketball season is about as common as a comet. 

Thankfully, we got it Friday night when No. 4 Connecticut squared up against the reigning champs/16th-ranked Michigan at TD Garden, with the Huskies winning 85-77. The matchup marked the earliest tilt between the previous season's men's title game participants since Duke and UConn played just days into the season at Madison Square Garden in November 1999. Friday's contest was only the second time in the past 17 seasons that men's college basketball replayed the natty the ensuing season. It also featured the teams responsible for three of the past four NCAA trophies.

The two big questions surrounding one of the biggest games of November:

1. How would Michigan look without Dusty May, who took the Dallas Mavericks job more than a third of the way through the offseason?

2. Could Dan Hurley really have another national title contender again?

The majority of this column will deal with a resounding answer to No. 2, so let's address No. 1 in short order first. The game was a whistle-plagued, foul-infested affair that tallied 59 free throws on 48 hacks and took nearly two and a half hours to play. It wasn't a cosmetic masterpiece, just like the last time these two played at Lucas Oil Stadium (when the teams combined to shoot 34.1%, the second-worst accuracy in a national title game since 1950).

And though Michigan was clearly the inferior squad, it's not hard to see how it could play its way to top-four status in the Big Ten. U-M should have one of the nation's best sophomores (Trey McKenney, who scored all of his team-high 22 points in the second half) and figures more likely than not to author a respectable follow-up season to one of the greatest championship struts in the modern era. 

"This team isn't defending a national championship," Wolverines coach Mike Boynton said following the loss. "They're trying to establish their own legacy." 

The crowd split felt 80/20 in favor of UConn, which is hardly a shock given the drivability for Huskies fans from around New England.

"Today was a road game for us," Michigan fifth-year wing Roddy Gayle said. 

Michigan's loss meant that, for the first time since 2000-01, the Wolverines failed to begin a season 2-0. What's more, UConn was Michigan's first ranked opponent this early into a season since 1993. Boynton's team has a lot of opportunities to validate itself this month, starting with Marquette next Wednesday, then Villanova on the road Nov. 21, followed by the 16-team Players Era field in Las Vegas the week of Thanksgiving. Much more to come on the fellas in Maize and Blue soon enough.

Let's pivot to Hurley's Huskies, who again seem to have all the pieces to make another Final Four. Hurley has a way of dropping hints about the confidence level in his teams. When the two-time national champion says the following after a 41.8% shooting night that included inducing 13 fouls to three of Michigan's starters, it's a promising sign of what's to come. 

"I think we're one of the best teams in the country, kind of a game that you should win by 15 and you win by eight," He said. "We're great at that." 

Sardonic Hurley portends many good days ahead. The Huskies won by keeping Michigan at arm's length thanks to shooting nearly as well from 3 (40.9% on 9-of-22 shooting) as they did from the field (41.8%; 23-of-55). Sinking 30 out of 36 free throws wound up being significant — as was Michigan's 7-for-28 showing from beyond the arc. 

The story on Friday night in Boston was the guard play, though. UConn's backcourt of Silas Demary Jr. and Braylon Mullins look ready to quickly stake a verifiable claim as the best 1-2 backcourt duo in the sport. After both struggled mightily in the national championship game — Demary due to a severely sprained ankle — they combined for 44 points, 11 rebounds and three steals here. The shooting wasn't efficient, but the tandem outplayed Elliott Cadeau and McKenney, the former of which was a shell of the player we saw win Final Four MOP in Indy. (Nineteen points back in April, but just eight points, plus five turnovers and a foul-out in the follow-up.)

"It was gonna be a game where the guys that can go make plays off the dribble were gonna have to do that vs. that particular defense, and he's the best guy that we got doing that," Hurley said of Demary.

UConn's rugged senior point guard didn't watch clips of the title game — and Hurley didn't let him watch. Had Demary not been what he said was at 50% effectiveness seven months ago, maybe things would go differently. Demary told CBS Sports he couldn't plant his foot with any kind of conviction due to the nature of the sprain. The taping around his ankle and all the painkillers administered didn't have a positive impact on his effectiveness. He scored just two points and fouled out. 

No point in living in the past and no point in even watching that kind of failure. So he's got no interest in ever watching it.

"It's hard to see you get that close to your end goal and come up that short," Demary told CBS Sports. "You don't want to relive those same moments that you went through in the moment. I had this game circled since we lost." 

The preseason pick for Big East Player of the Year, Demary said he needs to be the vocal leader that Alex Karaban and Tarris Reed Jr. were last season.

"I've had enough experience to be around the right guys and be around the right people to know how to lead a team," he told CBS Sports. "I have one of the, if not the best, leaders in the country that knows how to do it. He's helped me along the way. Coach Kimani (Young) has helped me along the way, and I think I've taken on that responsibility of being a guy that everybody goes to, no matter what the game presents. I feel like I got to lead this team in every huddle, talking them through each and everything, seeing what I'm seeing and trying to communicate as much as I can." 

Mullins is off to a nice start as well. After sinking the winning 3 to get UConn over top-seeded Duke in the East Regional final, the power of that shot vaulted his profile to a national level, making him one of the most recognizable players in the game. He's had back-to-back games of 20-plus points. His 23 on Friday led all others.

But Demary is the dude. He's at 12 assists and zero turnovers through two games, and Mullins told CBS Sports everything on this deep UConn team flows from Demary at the top.

"He's gonna do big things this year, and we need him for every single game," Mullins said. "I'm gonna try to be up to his standard as much as I can, but I mean he does a lot for us."

Then there's Colben Landrew, the next NBA-level talent to pick Hurley's program as his launching pad to the pros.

"You can see just the talent and the different things he could do, driving the ball, making a 3, getting on the offensive glass," Hurley said of Landrew. "The guy's just, he's a stud. I mean, 22 minutes, eight rebounds, six defensive and his level of physicality from freshmen is, it's a different level."

We're almost a week into the season. Duke has looked ridiculous and might win 20 games this season by 20-plus points. Preseason No. 1 Florida absolutely looks the part, as does No. 3 Illinois, which is averaging 116 points through two games and down two of its six best players. 

Connecticut is in the top tier with those teams as well. An obvious win against a ranked team was necessary, just to be sure. Hurley called the win "a confidence builder" for a non-con slate that ranks among the best you'll find. (Ohio State, Arizona and Duke await later this month.)

"There was an enormous amount of pressure on us to win this game today, not because of what happened in April," he said. "There's no get-backs on that. It was just, with what we got coming up with our schedule, like, we really needed to win this game today." 

Winning these types of games has become the expectation. Connecticut's now at 10 straight regular-season, neutral-site victories over ranked opponents. Hurley has the reputation of this program hovering over the sport, with potentially the best backcourt in college basketball — and reinforcements on the way. Before the game, veteran shooting guard Solo Ball was active in warmups. His broken wrist was initially supposed to keep him out this season. Instead, a return in the next month or so appears likely.

So here we are again with UConn owning prominent real estate atop the sport and ready to map out another route to another Final Four.