UConn’s Big East rebirth a win not only for Huskies, but conference at large

Geno Auriemma and UConn finally return to Big East after seven-year absence Wednesday. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

By Ray Floriani (@rfloriani)

July 1 marks a new fiscal year for many corporations. The books are closed at the end of the June 30 business day. July gives the opportunity to start anew. 

In the Big East Conference, the first day of July brings in a new beginning, a welcome back to a familiar face and charter member from decades back. The University of Connecticut is now back in the fold. The men and women’s basketball programs will have an impact from day one.

Here is a look at what the presence of the Huskies’ women’s team will mean to the conference, and to UConn as well:

BACKGROUND

Geno Auriemma arrived in Storrs in August of 1985. After a 12-15 first year, his only losing season at UConn, the program turned the corner and never looked back. This is a program with 19 Final Four appearances, 11 national championships, countless accolades, and a number of outstanding players having passed through its ranks. 
    
Auriemma has never apologized for a success regarded as beyond unprecedented. The UConn mentor has said others are free to use the model and challenge the Huskies. Recruiting is a major part of the story, no doubt. Beyond securing outstanding talent is a task of molding it into a cohesive unit, a unit with everyone buying into the philosophy and accepting their designated roles, not an easy feat and even more remarkable considering it’s been that way — and a big part of the run — for a good three decades-plus in the Nutmeg State.

During their time (31 years) in the Big East, the Huskies captured 19 regular season championships. The first year ending with a conference postseason title was 1983. The Huskies virtually turned the postseason tournament into a UConn Invitational, winning 18 titles. The last seven years saw the Huskies cut through American Athletic Conference competition like a hot knife through butter. Seven years, seven regular season and postseason titles. 

Opponents will be circling the dates for their meetings with UConn. There was a time the opposition did the same, but for different reasons. 

“We always checked the date we faced UConn,” said ESPN’s Doris Burke (Doris Sable in her playing days). She was an all conference guard for Providence in the mid-1980s, and she recalled, “UConn was not very good. It was virtually an automatic victory.” A win and a chance to pad personal stats. No more. 

It is safe to say conference opponents will still be circling the dates they meet the Huskies, but with a different mindset than that of Burke and her Providence teammates. No automatic wins over a weak link, but rather the opportunity to get a marquee victory, by virtue of upset,  over an established national power, not to mention, a succinct reminder to bring your A-game — or better — on those nights. 

PERCEPTION 

UConn left the Big East following the 2012-13 season. Louisville and Notre Dame did as well, relocating to the Atlantic Coast Conference. Suddenly, the powerful Big East was minus several Fortune 500-caliber programs. In addition, consistently strong teams the likes of West Virginia, Syracuse, South Florida and Rutgers were also exiting. The conference regrouped, featuring several respectable programs to form a 10-member group that was competitive, but on the national scene often, and unfairly, overlooked. 

UConn’s return changes that. Now, there is the presence of a consistently dominant program capable of continuing regular trips to college basketball’s final weekend. That is a situation that can only help, as the conference would stand to have a presence and recognition as postseason play progresses. 

COMPETITION

As noted, and not surprising, UConn’s return will mean a significant competitive step up. It is safe to say the Huskies will be a preseason favorite in the Big East. There will be challenges. DePaul, Seton Hall and St. John’s all played UConn in recent seasons and are keenly aware of what to expect. For all the other member schools, it is an exciting time. Those in programs as Providence and Butler, working their way up the ranks, will get an up-close look at what makes a perennial national contender tick. For all teams, it is an opportunity to face a program of legendary status at least twice a year, and if you can knock them off on that given night, an instant boost of credibility and gravitas.

RECRUITING

The Big East maintains a solid reputation of strong programs, strong academics and much better than average exposure in the media. Want another selling point? Telling a prospective student-athlete that she will have the opportunity to test herself at least twice a year against a perennial Top 5 program.  

FANS

Each year is a guaranteed visit from UConn, and outstanding draw, though this season will hinge upon how COVID-19 plays out. Personnel, as usual, is impressive. For the upcoming season, Megan Walker is no longer on board. A junior, Walker left Storrs early to enter the WNBA Draft, and was chosen ninth overall by the New York Liberty. Coming to an arena near you, the Huskies are led by Christyn Williams and Olivia Nelson-Ododa, joined by the nation’s second-ranked recruiting class (behind Oregon) per ESPN, featuring highly-touted freshman Paige Bueckers. On the sidelines, the ubiquitous Auriemma will begin his 36th year at the helm. UConn recruits nationally. Looking at it closer, Philadelphia or New York-based talent weighing a big decision may find the Big East, with its competition and geography, a bit more appealing than UConn’s prior conference address. 

Auriemma knows his group will be the target. The UConn coach relishes the scenario, and night in and night out, will get everyone’s best shot. The school is back in the conference where, as previously noted, it enjoyed charter membership. In the Huskies’ most recent address, rivalries were virtually nonexistent, as the AAC was a geographic patchwork quilt of members. In the Big East, there are a number of schools the Huskies enjoyed years of competitive rivalry with. Those schools are not too far geographically from Storrs, giving alums a chance to see their Huskies without making the trip to the Nutmeg State. Seton Hall, St. John’s, Providence and Villanova are a few. In recent seasons, DePaul has provided opposition, as Auriemma and Blue Demons head coach Doug Bruno are very good friends who coached together on United States national teams.  
    
For the last few years, the Big East tournament has been in the midwest, notably Chicago’s Wintrust Arena. With UConn’s return, the conference can head back east on a rotating basis, as UConn has Hartford’s XL Center and Mohegan Sun Arena at its disposal.

For the Big East and UConn, July 1 signals not a beginning, but a rebirth. UConn should never have left the Big East. That is in the past. The issue is closed. After seven years the Huskies are, as the Maxine Nightingale song says, “right back where we started from.” 

For both parties, it’s great.

For UConn, Big East return is truly a family reunion

Some of UConn's greatest memories, such as 2011 Big East championship above, will be rekindled Wednesday when Huskies’ return to their longtime conference becomes official. (Photo by UConn Athletic Communications)

Martin and Lewis. Carson and McMahon. Abbott and Costello.

Connecticut and the Big East.

Some things just cannot be mentioned without the other, and Wednesday morning, the latter two are once again reunited after a seven-year divorce brought about by football and its tendency to drive the bus in athletic spending. Yet down the long and winding road traveled since 2013, the American Athletic Conference is all but a distant memory now as UConn has given its fans — and on a larger scale, the college basketball world — reason to smile in the form of the Huskies’ return to the Big East stage as the COVID-19 pandemic completes a fourth month of wreaking havoc on the country.

“We’re very excited about it,” assistant coach Tom Moore, now in his second stint at UConn after spending 13 years on Jim Calhoun’s staff before becoming the head coach at Quinnipiac in 2007, said of UConn’s long-awaited homecoming. “I think the coaching staff is more excited about it than our players, because it hasn’t hit the players yet as to what this will mean. I think they’re going to realize it when they start to see the difference in crowds, God willing that we have crowds this year, and of course, the first Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden. I don’t think they’ll realize the enormity of this move until we play a couple of Big East games.”

“They’re going to feel how important this is to our fans, because our fans are going to go crazy about this. Our fans are nuts about this and how excited they are, and how anxious they’ve been for this to happen for such a long time. I’ve talked to so many fans I knew from the first time I was here, that I’ve sort of reconnected with since I’ve been back, and the first thing out of their mouth was, ‘When can we go back to the Big East?’ The guys that are from New York, New Jersey, the DMV, what they don’t realize is there are no pro sports teams in Connecticut. UConn is THE pro sports team. I can’t wait for our guys to experience that. It’s going to be much bigger than they can imagine.”

While UConn’s players are experiencing newfound territory, the coaches guiding them are not. Head coach Dan Hurley played in the Big East at Seton Hall, Moore helped develop all-conference talent the likes of Ray Allen, Richard Hamilton, Caron Butler, Ben Gordon and Emeka Okafor during his first tenure in Storrs, Taliek Brown won a national championship in 2004 — and hit an iconic half-court shot in the Big East tournament two years prior, and Kimani Young briefly served on Norm Roberts’ staff at St. John’s in the late 2000s. But for all the experience in the league on the Huskies’ leadership group, the evolution of the conference since the Big East’s reformation in 2013 has made an even stronger impression.

“All of us coaches, when we have an off night, we’re college basketball fans for that night, and it always seemed like there was one or two great Big East games on every night,” said Moore, highlighting the Big East’s television contract with Fox Sports. “They do a really good job, I think, of making the Big East a really well-packaged product. You’re watching that great game on Wednesday, and they’re talking about the doubleheader they have on Saturday. That’s impressive to me, and from a basketball standpoint, the thing that I’ve been impressed with is the schools in the Midwest that they’ve added.”

“They’ve all brought something of value to the league, and that’s why I think it’s one of the best basketball conferences in the country. So even though we lost great programs when the football thing hit, we also gained some really good basketball schools that are more than holding up their end of the bargain.“

Where Butler, Creighton and Xavier have made immediate impacts upon joining the Big East, UConn is positioned to do the same in its second act. Already projected as a top-half team in the league, the Huskies’ mix of veterans and youth, led by potential all-conference guard James Bouknight, is a lethal combination.

“I’m glad we’re doing this in year three rather than year one or year two,” Moore admitted with regard to the conference realignment. “We just feel, internally, much more ready for something like this now than we would have been when we just got here. We just feel like it’s more of our program. From top to bottom, we have a little more of our culture imprinted and stamped on the program. We’re young and old. We’ve got some older players who’ve been around and are going to help us a lot like Josh Carlton, Isaiah Whaley, Tyler Polley, but we have some really exciting young players, too, James Bouknight, Akok Akok, Andre Jackson, R.J. Cole, Jalen Gaffney and Adama Sanogo.”

“We’ve got really talented young guys who are going to have to grow up quick, but I do think — for the first time — we’ve got real quality depth, and we also have a mix of old and young. We have more talent up and down the roster and more balance, but I think it’s going to be eye-opening. It’ll be a real test for both our old and young players.”

As the time draws closer for a return to familiar surroundings, the celebration of reaching the promised land, for the time being, takes on greater precedence, and rightfully so. With the past having been a glorious time to be a UConn fan, and with greater things bound to arrive in the future, there really is no time like the present to usher the Huskies back to the Big East.

“People don’t realize it,” Moore reiterated. “People don’t realize how crazy our fans are. They take over, they all come down on the train and they all skip work. We’re their pro team and it’s their chance to shine. It really is neat. You’ll see guys my age with their fathers, and you’ll see a 50-year-old guy with a 75-year-old father, and they’ll be like, ‘We’ve been going for 30 years! I used to take him when he was a baby!’ It’s just something that sort of bonds Connecticut people.”