IN-STATE ADVANTAGE

UConn coach Jim Penders uses geography, coaching continuity to build the Huskies into beasts of the Big East

-  BRETT HUDSON

Three years of free tickets and a family connection wasn’t enough to compel Matt Harvey to so much as consider going to Connecticut. Harvey was the top prep prospect in the class of 2007. He played for Fitch High in Groton, Conn., less than 50 miles south of UConn’s campus in Storrs. He was coached by his father Ed, a member of the Huskies’ 1972 College World Series team.

Still, UConn coach Jim Penders couldn’t get a sit-down with Harvey, and when Harvey’s draft stock fell, he left the Nutmeg State for North Carolina, where he went on to become a first-rounder in 2010.

“Today, I think we’d have a good chance at Matt Harvey,” Penders said.

Rightfully so. Penders has led the Huskies to each of the last four NCAA Tournaments, most recently a decisive third game in the Palo Alto Super Regional that could have culminated in UConn’s first CWS trip since 1979. Instead, the Huskies settled for the program’s first 50-win season and back-to-back Big East Conference regular season and tournament championships.

A program that finished better than sixth in its conference only once in the first six years of Penders’ tenure is now a heavy favorite to make it five straight trips to a regional and not an outlandish pick for Omaha. It got there by treating its supposed disadvantages as advantages. Chief among them was geography.

“Geography, we’ve always been told that it’s a disadvantage for us. I’ve always disputed that and just will not accept it,” Penders said. “We live in the greatest part of the country.