A life beyond the Ws
Auriemma, Wright appreciate victories that still exist in sports, with or without games
Geno Auriemma spent many spring days in solitude at UConn’s Werth Champions Center.
“I would come to the office probably every day in March, April, May — every other day, at least — and there would be no one here,” Auriemma said. “And you felt alone, lonely, out of place. Because this is where you come to interact, to feel the connection between you and the coaching and staff and your athletes.
“Sometimes when you’ve been coaching as long as we have, you take it for granted. Then all of the sudden you’re here and looking at this big building and you’re all alone. It’s a scary place to be. It made me think about how many people in the world are alone, and not just alone but lonely. Now that we get a chance to interact [again], I think we understand how fortunate we are to have this lifestyle that allows us this kind of connection with other people.”
There are victories during a pandemic, no matter how complete or incomplete the W and L columns in the basketball standings will look a few months from now.
There are moments of
“We’re going to have to make hard decisions on who to start,” Hurley said, “as opposed to the last couple of years where we were just trying to find five guys to throw out there.”
The players are feeling it. “It’s really fun,” senior Isaiah Whaley said. “It’s really competitive. Everybody is competing for a spot, there is competition at every position, so nobody can really slack off. If you slack off, the other person looks better than you, so it is super competitive at every position.”
Said James Bouknight: “Our practices are really intense, fast-paced. We’re just getting after it. We haven’t played a game since March, R.J. [Cole] hasn’t played a game in two years. We’re understanding how to play as a team, it’s helping a lot.”
Huskies sizing up
Many players are bigger and stronger, or in some cases streamlined, and credit Mike Rehfeldt, who came aboard as director of sports performance in the spring. Rehfeldt had been at Cincinnati, where the physicality of the Bearcats had long impressed Hurley.
“Everybody’s been super locked in with his program,” Whaley said, “especially going to the Big East, everybody knows they’ve got to get their bodies better. Everybody’s been working really hard in the weight room, eating well, sleeping well and doing all the right stuff, hydrating. Everybody has been taking to heart every little detail he’s been giving us.”
Bouknight believes he is bigger, faster, more explosive.
“When ‘Coach Mike’ first got here I was 172 pounds,” Bouknight said, “now I’m up to 195 with under five percent body fat. Coach Mike has been helping everyone, everyone is much stronger, much faster, you can see it in people’s movements. Coach Mike is helping us in a big way, he’s helping us take our game to the next level.”
New, familiar faces in Big East
The pandemic gave Hurley and his staff extra time to prepare for the 10 new conference opponents. The better geographical fit means UConn players and coaches already know many of them very well.
“COVID allowed us to break down every Big East team,” Hurley said. “We found, like when we played Xavier or Villanova last year, more familiarity than with AAC opponents. The guys we’re recruiting, they played high school basketball or prep school or AAU against guys on Villanova. There is a high level of familiarity between our players and players at Big East schools. Me, as a coach, I’ve studied a lot of the guys in the Big East.”
Chemistry lessons
The COVID restrictions have made it difficult for players to just hang out and talk basketball, college life. An important part of team building, therefore, is impaired.
“It’s been a little difficult,”
Whaley said, “because you can’t go out to public spaces as a team. But we still try to figure out ways to get together at our apartments. It’s weird because this is the closest team we’ve had since I’ve been here and yet there is still the [pandemic], so we’re still trying to figure out little ways to get together.”
Unlike past UConn teams, Whaley said, the current Huskies have the trust in each other to be able to challenge, call each other out, when needed.
Fans of the fans
Hurley, Whaley and Bouknight, all available during Big East media day, seemed to be hoping there will be big crowds allowed at this season, even though the prospect of that seems bleak at the moment.
“Our home court situation is so unique,” Hurley said, “to be on campus, 10,000plus, intimate, fans on top of you, student section on top of you, to have the XL center, NBA style, [15,000plus]. Whenever we don’t get to play at home, it hurts because we have one of the best fan bases in the county and one of the toughest places to play.”
Bouknight: “The anticipation for the season and how we’re going to play this year is at an all-time high. If you’ve been in Gampel, you know what it’s like with the fans there, I feel like if we have fans in student section and sold out crowds it’s going to be huge advantage for us.” … Jayden Lemond, a point guard from Englewood, N.J., Class of 2022, had a zoom call with UConn coaches this week, according to The Athletic’s Andrew Slater. … Hurley said Adams could be back at practice “shortly,” so the Huskies are close to full strength. … UConn players saw some old Big East film of Hurley playing for Seton Hall. “We were curious to see how he played,” Whaley said. “He still had the same demeanor and swagger on the court that he’s got now. It was funny to see that.”