Three of the four teams in the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four have reached Phoenix for Saturday’s games.
The one team that has not, No. 1 overall seed UConn — Alabama basketball’s Final Four opponent — as the program is facing issues regarding its flight slowing down its arrival, per Matt Norlander of CBS Sports. Huskies’ coach Dan Hurley told Norlander that the team does not have a plan to fly on at the time due to logistical and mechanical issues with a flight coming in from Kansas City.
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UConn Sports Information told USA TODAY Network it did not have any further details at the time of this article.
Alabama, UConn’s opponent on Friday at 8:49 p.m., arrived Tuesday, as did Purdue. NC State’s plane arrived earlier in the day Wednesday. The Huskies are unlikely to reach Phoenix tonight, while the other three teams have already arrived. Media availability is scheduled to start Thursday for the men’s tournament.
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One of the problems, according to Norlander, is that the flight crew coming from Kansas City would be over their FAA hours and can’t fly UConn immediately to Arizona. The earliest the Huskies could get a smaller plane from Cincinatti would be 12:45 a.m. ET and would not land until 5 a.m. In that case, the Huskies would arrive in Phoenix with hours to spare ahead of media day.
If UConn waits for the flight crew from Kansas City, the earliest that could crew would be 10 a.m. Thursday. The NCAA handles all travel for the NCAA Tournament.
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