On Monday night at Madison Square Garden, a UConn Huskies team that had attracted a great deal of early-season, negative attention, made positive headlines by defeating Syracuse, 52-50. This was easily their best victory of the young season -- their first when not favored by Basketball Power Index (BPI) -- and evened their record at 4-4. The win gave Huskies fans hope that their team has turned the corner after a rough opening stretch. ?As if the season-opening loss to Wagner on their home court wasnt embarrassing enough for the preseason No. 18 team in the country, UConn followed that performance by losing to Northeastern for the first time since Jim Calhoun was the coach of the Huskies -- the Northeastern Huskies. In fact, Connecticut underperformed their predicted point spread according to the BPI in six of their first seven games, and by an average of 7 points per game, which ranked No. 324 in the country.Now, with the positive momentum of the Syracuse win, can we expect to see UConn in the field of 68 come March? The Huskies projected strength of record may offer a clue.ESPNs Strength of Record (SOR) is a metric that explains how difficult a given won-loss record is to achieve. It can be thought of as a combination of wins and losses versus schedule strength, and helps answer the question of who deserves to be in the tournament. While it doesnt necessarily predict who will get in, over the last nine seasons, 91 percent of at-large NCAA Tournament teams were deemed deserving of an at-large bid by SOR. Since 2008, the worst SOR rank to get an at-large bid was VCU in 2011, which had the 71st best SOR on Selection Sunday (and famously justified their inclusion by making a run to the Final Four). In an average year, the lowest SOR rank that deserves to be in the tournament is 48.If we make the assumption that name recognition would help UConns case if it could achieve an SOR rank of 50 or better, we can perform simulations to determine how likely it is that the Huskies can get to that number.Unfortunately for Huskies fans, the simulations still tell a bleak story. Strength-of-record simulations show that UConn has only about a 3 percent chance of having a strong enough résumé to be considered for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Even if they are as fortunate as VCU in 2011, there is only a 12.3 percent chance of having a résumé at least as strong as the Rams that year.The Huskies have been known to redeem weak regular seasons with strong conference tournament (and NCAA) runs in the past, including last season when an improbable AAC Tournament victory got them in the NCAA field despite a subpar regular season résumé. Our numbers say theyll likely need a repeat of that scenario. Although beating Syracuse has them trending in the right direction, that Husky March magic may just be their best shot of reaching the field of 68.For more from ESPN Analytics, visit the ESPN Analytics Index.? Jarred Tinordi Jersey .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Antoine Vermette Jersey . The Olympic champion curler and TSN curling analyst immediately went online to look at the Halls long list of honoured members. Thats when the enormity of the honour sunk in. http://www.hockeycoyotesproshop.com/Coyotes-Brendan-Perlini-Adidas-Jersey/ . But Bourque, who has missed three games with a lower-body injury, wont be in the lineup when the Habs travel to Buffalo to take on the Sabres on Wednesday. Shane Doan Jersey . Vancouver Whitecaps and Toronto FC failed to make the postseason while Montreal Impact fell at the first hurdle losing heavily to Houston Dynamo in the Eastern Conference Knockout Round. Mikkel Boedker Jersey . All of the scoring came in the final 20:04. Lucic scored on a power play at 15:46 of the third period, when he tipped a shot over Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen for a 3-1 lead.Leading Irish rider Jonathan Burke will not require surgery but could be sidelined for around three months following the back injury he suffered in a gallops incident on Tuesday. Burke, who is retained jockey to prominent owners Ann and Alan Potts, sustained fractured vertebrae during a schooling session at his father Liams yard in County Cork.A CT scan on Wednesday morning confirmed Burke had fractured his T6 vertebra and while he will miss the upcoming Punchestown Festival, he is set for a swift return home from hospital. Senior Turf Club medical officer Dr Adrian McGoldrick said on Wednesday evening: Johnny will not require surgery and will be fitted with a brace before being discharged on Thursday.I havent had the full report yet, butt on average it takes around three months, or 12 weeks, to recover from an injury like this.ddddddddddddBurke suffered suffered two compressed vertebrae fractures in a fall at Thurles in January, but was fit enough to ride at both the Cheltenham Festival and in the Crabbies Grand National, in which he finished fifth aboard Goonyella.This injury is a more serious than the compressed fractures he suffered earlier in the year., McGoldrick added.Youre usually at looking at somewhere between two and four months. It could be shorter, it could be longer. Well just have to wait and see. 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