Hartford’s Valley ready for first game
Morgan Valley has had to wait … and wait … and wait some more to get her second season at the University of Hartford underway.
“I’m excited for Tuesday. It’s been a long nine months,” Valley said.
Tuesday — assuming there are no COVID-related interruptions — is when the Hawks will finally, yes finally, play an actual game. They’ll dive right into America East play against Maine.
“We should’ve opened up against Maine (Saturday),” Valley said, “but because they couldn’t do gatherings of more than 50 people, we had to play here.”
Tipoff will be 1 p.m. at Chase Arena. At least that’s the plan.
Hartford, as you might’ve guessed, is on the long list of college basketball programs affected by the coronavirus. Workouts started Sept. 21, but lasted only seven days after a few players tested positive. Weeks later there was another shutdown.
“We had players coming back at different times,” Valley said. “We had three players come back, then two more players.”
Two others opted out due to COVID concerns.
She still doesn’t know her lineup for Tuesday.
“We’ve had a total of about 18 practices now and just really trying to stay together,” Valley said. “I really have sympathy and empathy for what (my players) are going through as college students because it’s just not normal. I couldn’t imagine
being 18 or 22 and trying to experience college, and not being able to experience any of those things.”
If anyone’s practiced in the art of patience, it’s Valley, the former UConn guard whowaited nearly an entire season to collect her first head-coaching win. The Hawks lost their first 27 games in 2019-20 before shocking America East favorite Stony Brook, 70-67, in their regular-season finale.
Hartford was picked eighth in this year’s America East preseason poll.
“We have a lot of really, really good pieces,” Valley said. “We’re going to surprise some people. We’re in a really good space. We have a bunch of kids who want to be here, who are tough.”
Valley, 39, is tough, too. Coaching is a demanding gig during a normal season, let alone amid a pandemic. She stopped having in-person meetings — besides practice, of course — two months ago, and has spent way too much time on Zoom.
She misses the human element of the profession, the interactions with players away from the court.
“I don’t like it at all,” she said of Zoom. “When you interact with other human beings, you can read people. Emotionally, if someone’s having a bad day or if someone’s excited, you can’t even feel something on Zoom. When you’re in my office and we’re having a meeting, the door’s shut and it’s just us. …
“It’s been incredibly emotional and mentally draining for (our players). It’s really hard to learn remotely. They’re really being warriors with all this. I applaud their resilience and just their level of commitment.”
The Hawks were supposed to open against UMass on Dec. 4, then visit Rhode Island on Dec. 6, but Valley had to cancel both games. Her players, she said, weren’t physically ready to compete.
“We’ve been plugging away one day at a time,” she said. “We’re trying to keep things short, keep things engaged.” How will it all work out? “We’ll find out on Tuesday,” she said.
ANOTHER WEEK, ANOTHER HONOR FOR BUECKERS
For the second straight week, UConn’s Paige Bueckers was named Big East freshman of the week.
Bueckers averaged 18.3 points, 6.3 assists, 5.0 rebounds and shot 59.5 percent during the third-ranked Huskies’ wins over Seton Hall, Creighton and Xavier.
Through her first four games, the 5-foot-11 point guard is averaging 18.0 points, 6.0 assists and 2.8 steals.