UConn Draws Inspiration from Ohio State Football; Boatright: "Why Can't That Be Us?"

Hey, did you know that UConn is banned from postseason play this season?

You're probably about as sick of reading that by now as I am of writing it. Still, I was interested to see if UConn players and coaches draw any inspiration from what the Ohio State football team pulled off this season, despite its postseason bowl ban.

“Yeah, I do," said Ryan Boatright. "I say that all the time. I knew going into the football season, they got banned from the postseason. Then, they came out and had a spectacular year. I was like, ‘Why can’t that be us?’ They made a lot of people mad that they came out and did what they did, went undefeated. Even though we lost one game, we can still have a great and successful season and move on to the next year.”

There are a lot of similarities between the two programs -- from the postseason bans to energetic new coaches at the helm ... heck, even to respective victories over Michigan State! Of course, not everything is a parallel -- different reasons for the postseason bans, different reasons for prior coaches leaving, different sports.

But most of all, it seems UConn has established a sort of "us-against-the-world" attitude this season in that they've got not a whole lot to play for themselves. And that's something they can definitely take from Ohio State's example.

Anyway, here's my story from today's Register.