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Message: [QUOTE="Palatine, post: 3481133, member: 974"] No list of great UConn teams is complete without the 1963-64 Huskies. The first UConn team to reach the Elite Eight. They beat URI by one point in the Yankee Conference playoff game to reach the NCAA. The teams had ended the season tied for the crown. Then the Yankee Conference Champs beat favored Temple in the opening round and had to face the Princeton Tigers in the Sweet Sixteen. The Tigers were lead by All American Bill Bradley who had averaged 33 points a game. The Huskies were led by 6-8 center Toby Kimball who had averaged he averaged 20 points and 16 boards in the regular season. This night he would score 16 points and grab 13 rebounds. Danny "the Spider" Hesford (one of the greatest nicknames in Husky history) held Bradley to 22 points. And future Husky head coach Dom Perno stole the ball from Bradley with 18 seconds left and the Huskies dribbled out the clock. Final. Huskies 52. Princeton 50. UConn was coached by Fred Scabel who had been an assistant coach at Elite Eight opponent Duke the previous year. It has been reported that before the game against Duke that Scabel told his Huskies they had "no chance." That's how they played and they were bounced from the tourney. As a footnote, this was Scabel's first year at the helm of the Huskies. The previous coach Hugh Greer (he of the Hugh S. Greer Field House on Hillside Road) died of a heat attack in January of 1963. Greer had compiled a career 286-112 record led the Huskies to six NCAA berths.This was really his team. No coach would enjoy the level of success of Hugh Greer until Jim Calhoun showed up. The 1963-64 Huskies showed what was possible at UConn. And it still gets my goat when fans say UConn basketball was "nothing" before the Big East. It was a strong regional power under Greer. The foundation and fan interest were there. When a world class coach showed up in 1986, it was time to reach that promise that we first glimpsed thanks to the Huskies of 1963-64. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach