March Madness continues this week for Husky basketball fans, with the men’s team beginning play in the NCAA Tournament on Thursday (9:20 p.m., TBS) as the No. 9 seed in the south region against No. 8 Iowa State of the Big 12 Conference in Louisville, Ky., and the women’s team returning to the Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport, Conn., as the No. 1 seed in the east region Saturday (approx. 2 p.m., ESPN2) against No. 16 Prairie View A&M of the South West Athletic Conference.

The Men

Jim Calhoun’s team struggled with inconsistent play over the last weeks of the regular season while their coach was off the sidelines with a serious back problem, but rebounded once the Hall of Famer returned to the sideline in time for the Big East Tournament, where the Huskies (20-13) won two games.

“The most singularly important thing is to get an opportunity,” Calhoun said Sunday after the NCAA announced its men’s tournament selection, which included nine Big East teams. “We had an opportunity last year and took great advantage of it.”

Iowa State (22-10) is a team that shot nearly 750 three-pointers during the season, making 38 percent of them, an average of almost nine per game. The Huskies have not defended the three-point shot well this season. Iowa State’s leading scorer is sophomore forward Royce White, averaging 13.1 points and 9.2 rebounds per game.

“We will have to chase them off the arc,” Calhoun said. “Our defense looks to be very different than theirs. It is hard to calculate, given our different leagues and different schedules. They beat Kansas State [No. 8 seed in the east] twice and beat Baylor [No. 3 seed in the south region]. We are focused on beating a very good Iowa State team.”

The Huskies, who defied last year’s tournament predictions by making a historic run to UConn’s third national championship said their experience will be an advantage.

“Experience is a great thing to have,” said Jeremy Lamb ’14 (CLAS), an All-Big East First Team selection. “Our experience can only help us. We have to work on contesting shots and make them take shots other than three-pointers.”

Sophomore guard Shabazz Napier ’14 (CLAS), who has emerged as the gritty, vocal leader of the team, said he never questioned that the Huskies would earn an NCAA invitation.

“Despite going through our rough stretch, I never doubted we would make the tournament,” he said. “We are excited to be in the tournament and face Iowa State.”

Calhoun added, “This is the best time of year. The kids came down the stretch and earned this. We had some tough wins that showed the NCAA we deserved to get in. Miracles are going to happen. Great things are going to happen. By miracles I don’t necessarily mean something magical. I just mean that all of a sudden a team can find their selves and start playing well.”

If the Huskies advance, they will play the winner of the No. 1 Kentucky-No. 16 Mississippi Valley State/Western Kentucky game in the Atlanta region. The men’s Final Four is in New Orleans from March 31 to April 2.

The Women

Even as Geno Auriemma’s team (29-4) continued to win, the young squad also sought to find answers to its own lack of consistency and confidence before coming together in winning the Big East Tournament by beating Notre Dame after two earlier losses.

“We had a freshman [Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis ’15 (CLAS)] win Outstanding Player in the Big East tournament. If we had an experienced, really good team with lots of veterans, that wouldn’t have happened,” Auriemma said Monday, after the women’s tournament was selected. “So the fact that a freshman had to do all that to help us win, that means going forward other people are going to have to do a lot more than they’ve done.”

Senior Tiffany Hayes ’12 (CLAS), the most experienced player for the Huskies, was diagnosed with stress fractures in her right foot, which began to bother her just before the Big East Tournament. She said she expects to play Saturday.

“You’ve got to give it all you got, especially me,” Hayes said of her final NCAA Tournament. “This is my last go round. You got to leave it all on the court. You don’t want your chips to end short. It’s not been too bad where I couldn’t play. I will be good for Saturday.”

Prairie View A&M had a six-game winning streak during a 17-15 season, before earning its NCAA bid by winning the SWAC Tournament by defeating Alcorn State 63-50. The Panthers average 60.1 points per game, giving up 60.2 points. Junior forward Latia Williams and junior guard Kiara Etienne, both All-Conference selections, are two of the team’s four double-digit scorers.

“This is March, this is the time,” said junior Kelly Faris ’13 (ED), who draws the assignment of guarding an opponent’s top scorer. “If you get in the tournament, you’re ready to go, you’re excited, confident and you’re going to play your best game all season. We may not know much about a lot of the teams in our side of the bracket, but it’s a lot of fun to play teams you haven’t played yet. We just have to expect the best from them.”

Center Stefanie Dolson ’14 (CLAS) said she expects to maintain the consistency she displayed in the Big East Tournament.

“I think for me even though there are expectations or pressure, I don’t focus on that. I focus on playing well, playing my game,” Dolson said. “The last couple of days, I think that’s where I really got [my confidence] back. Playing how I feel should play. I kind of refocused my mind and realized in order for our team to win, I had to play well. We need an inside post presence.”

Auriemma said the NCAA Tournament remains a challenge because the most experienced teams play deep into the tournament, which includes eight Big East teams.

“Everybody’s bracket is hard. Winning six games is really, really hard,” Auriemma said. “The one difference between the men’s and women’s tournament – it’s good and bad – is the number of upsets. You have so many veteran teams in women’s basketball because nobody leaves early, [so] the best teams are always around at the end. You know going in, there’s a pretty good chance you’re going to have to beat two top five teams in the country to get wherever you’re going. That’s pretty much been the case every year we’ve played in the tournament.”

If the Huskies advance, they would face the winner of the No. 8 Kansas State-No. 9 Princeton game, with the winner moving on to the regional game in Kingston, R.I. The women’s Final Four is in Denver, April 1-3.