Mansfield's Tyler Olander With UConn at Final Four

HOUSTON – Tyler Olander got his first look at Reliant Stadium Thursday afternoon when the UConn Huskies held practice in the home of the NFL Houston Texans.

Olander, the freshman forward from Mansfield, has never even played a game in Syracuse’s Carrier Dome, let alone a massive football stadium configured to seat 77,000 fans for this weekend’s NCAA men's basketball Final Four.

Everything is bigger in Texas. And basketball always seems a bit bigger at the Final Four. Olander says his teammates have truly arrived on the Big Stage.

“Just going out there and seeing how big the arena is was unreal,” Olander said Friday before the Huskies held their public practice session before a crowd of 16,213. “It was just us out there and you could yell out and hear echoes. That’s how big it is.”

Mansfield’s most famous basketball player admits he is still pinching himself. Olander grew up rooting for the Huskies and the first Final Four he remembers watching on television was in 1999, when coach Jim Calhoun led the Huskies to the national championship in Tampa Bay.

As a kid, Olander wore a replica jersey of Khalid El-Amin, the point guard on that championship team. Now this UConn squad has adopted El-Amin’s “Shock the world” slogan as it has marched to an unthinkable nine consecutive postseason wins – five in the Big East championship and four more in the NCAA Tournament.

The Huskies are just two wins away from the school’s third national title. UConn plays Kentucky in one semifinal on Saturday. The winner will meet either Butler or Virginia Commonwealth in Monday night’s national championship game.

“I think we’re all very proud,” Olander said. “At the beginning of the year, no one respected us. Coach [Calhoun] reminded us after we beat Arizona [in the West Regional championship] that in the preseason we weren’t even in the top 68 teams that were supposed to make it into this tournament. And now we’re going to the Final Four.

“It’s unreal [doing this in my freshman year]. You think about all the great players here that have made it to the Final Four. I’m just happy I did it with this team. I love this team. All the guys get along real well. It’s just amazing.”

UConn arrived in Houston Wednesday night and the Huskies have kept busy fulfilling media obligations, practicing, and attending the NCAA Salute dinner – an event that featured former President George H. W. Bush in the front row at Houston’s Wortham Theater.

“It’s crazy,” Olander said. “Practice helps calm our nerves. I’m getting nervous, but it’s a good nervous. It’s a ready-to-go type nervous.”

It has been an interesting freshman season for Olander. When he made the short move from his Mansfield home to Gampel Pavilion, not much was expected. But he quickly captured the attention of Calhoun and the rest of the coaching staff with his hard work and energy. Olander was the sensation of preseason workouts and earned his way into the starting lineup.

He is averaging just 1.5 points and 1.8 rebounds. Like any other freshman, he has had his ups and downs. He slipped out of the starting lineup, his minutes dropped and he didn't play in the regular season finale against Notre Dame or the Big East tournament game against Georgetown.

But when the Huskies needed him against Syracuse in New York, Olander logged 27 minutes and tied his season high with seven points. He also had six rebounds. His ability to pass and play in the high post against Syracuse’s 2-3 was a key to UConn’s victory. Olander knows if a team decides to zone the Huskies in the Final Four, Calhoun could call on him again.

“Tyler had pretty much played himself out of the lineup,” associate head coach George Blaney said. “But [Calhoun] went to him and Tyler responded. The zone says you need to get the ball in the middle. He’s very good with the ball. He knows how to pass. He knows how to throw the ball opposite or throw the ball down and he can shoot the ball.

“We were upset with Tyler that he had played himself out. But that’s what freshmen do. It’s like a yo-yo. Sometimes when they’re down, they can’t get themselves out of it,” Blaney said.

Now Olander is back in the starting lineup. He has started all four NCAA games. And even though he is only averaging 9.5 minutes, he is contributing again. He also knows he could come out of the game and not get back in.

“I’ve really come to terms with it,” Olander said. “I know what I have to do. And I know if I don’t do it then, I may not go back on the court. Coach knows what he’s doing. We’ve made it this far. I’m anxious to help in any way I can and when he calls on me, I’m going to be ready.

“Coach [Andre] LaFleur and Coach [Kevin] Ollie always tell me you’ve got to be ready when your number is called. Opportunity can come to anybody at any moment,” Olander said.

That has been the theme on this UConn team. Blaney said it is very clear what is expected of Olander in the starting lineup. Against Kentucky he needs to set an early positive tone against center Josh Harrelson.

“You want him to rebound,” Blaney said. “You want him to set screens. You want him to come and catch the ball and you want him not to foul. He’s got a tough assignment.”

Olander was at Gampel Pavilion in 2004, with his family and teammates from E.O. Smith High School, when the Huskies returned home with their second national championship. Center Emeka Okafor was the star of that team and Olander spent many days playing ball in his driveway and imagining he was Okafor.

“Blocking shots,” Olander said. “And lowering the rim so I could dunk.”

Olander will have the support of his family in Houston. He said his parents, Skip and Tracy, and siblings, Ryan and Morgan, were expected to arrive Friday. That will make the event even more special for the hometown boy.

“Everybody around the community is real happy for me and obviously my family couldn’t be more happy of me or more proud of me,” he said. “From the beginning, this campus has supported us and believed in us.

“It’s such a respected program. You see the tradition and it’s something you want to be a part of, playing for a Hall of Fame coach. Being in the town you grew up in, it just makes it that much more special.”