The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Men’s basketball: UConn’s league slate features tough, 12 punch
Huskies face Cincinnati, USF to start New Year
It’ll be like a month of Sundays for UConn this season. Or, more like four months of Sundays.
At long last, the American Athletic Conference released its 201920 schedule on Friday morning. UConn will kick off its final season in the league at Cincinnati on New Year’s Day, followed by a bout with South Florida on Jan. 4 in Tampa.
Cincinnati has made the NCAA tournament nine straight years and should make it 10 straight this season. USF boasts perhaps the best returning trio in the league and is a serious threat to break into the top four of the AAC this season.
So scheduling two NCAA tournamentquality opponents, on the road, to open the season is a clear example of the AAC trying to stick it to the Huskies before they head back to the Big East for the 202021 season, right?
No, not really.
“I assure you that this is the exact same schedule they would have got if they were staying in the league,” said Tom Odjakjian, who’s been putting together TV schedules for the league for more than 20 years, when it was still called the Big East. “In fact, we went out of our way ... we wanted to make sure, even if somebody doesn’t like something about the schedule, that we make it an extragood schedule to minimize that. We really wanted to hold our heads up high. We did that with the other schools (West Virginia, Syracuse, Louisville, Rutgers) when they left, too.”
One of the more interesting quirks to this year’s schedule is that every UConn weekend home game — conference and nonconference — will be played on a Sunday.
So why will UConn fans be forced to choose between watching NFL playoff games at home and going to Husky games this winter? A variety of reasons: TV, the availability of the XL Center and the spacing of the schedule (so UConn doesn’t have any ThursdaySaturday or SundayTuesday backtobacks) among them.
There’s also the fact the UConn women’s team’s schedule features four nonconference games — Baylor, Tennessee, Oregon and South Carolina — in the midst of the league slate. And, though not official yet, an exhibition game against the U.S. women’s national team (which will feature several former UConn players) is expected to be hosted by UConn on Jan. 27. All of that forced the AAC to move one of the UConn women’s league bouts with Temple to Nov. 17, but still created a difficult clog when trying to accomodate both teams’ schedules — especially when trying to keep both teams from playing at home on the same weekend day.
“Nobody’s had the challenge of doing the women’s schedule like this — ever,” said Odjakjian, who added that the only time he recalled something similar on the men’s side was when Jim Calhoun scheduled nonleague games against North Carolina, Oklahoma and Arizona in January one year.
Add in the UConn men’s nonleague bout at Villanova on Jan. 18, and scheduling weekend conference home games for the Huskies was a tough task, and certainly contributed to the league schedule being released relatively late. In fact, the AAC slate arrives later than all the other “Major 7” conferences, though the Big 12 only beat it by a couple of days and the SEC and ACC still have numerous start times and TV information to fill.
The Huskies will also play a challenging nonconference slate that includes a home game against Florida on Nov. 17, a trip to South Carolina for the Charleston Classic a week later that begins against Buffalo and could see a rematch with the Gators, a bout with Indiana in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 10 and a final nonleague matchup at Villanova, before the teams become Big East rivals again next season.
Here’s a breakdown of the Huskies’ entire 201920 slate:
TEN TOP (NOT NECESSARILY TOP TEN) PLAYERS UCONN WILL FACE THIS SEASON:
James Wiseman, 71 Fr. C, Memphis: The No. 1 recruit in all the land spurned Kentucky to join Penny at Memphis. Could be the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NBA draft, too.
Jarron Cumberland, 65 Sr. G/F, Cincinnati: Could be come second player to defend his AAC Player of the Year crown (SMU’s Nic Moore was the first).
Scottie Lewis, 65 Fr. G, Florida: Fivestar frosh was an AAU teammate of UConn frosh Jalen Gaffney.
Kerry Blackshear, 610 Sr. F, Florida: Grad transfer from Virginia Tech makes Gators a legit Final Four threat.
Bryan Antoine, 65 Fr. G, Villanova: Also an AAU teammate of Lewis and Gaffney.
Andrew Nembhard, 65 So. G, Florida: Posted 196 assists last season, secondmost in Gator history by a freshman.
D.J. Jeffries, 69 Fr. F, Memphis: Became John Calipari’s firstever decommit at Kentucky, in order to join Penny at Memphis.
Precious Achiuwa, 68 Fr. F, Memphis: This one really smarts. Was Dan Hurley’s prime recruiting target before instead pledging to Penny. Dominated McDonald’s AllAmerican Game.
Quinton Rose, 68 Sr. G, Temple: Big guard averaged 16.3 points per game last season for Owls.
DeJon Jarreau, 65 RJr. G, Houston: Last year’s AAC Sixth Man of Year is ready to blossom as a starter.
FIVE MOST INTRIGUING OPPONENTS:
1. Florida: Gators will be a nearconsensus preseason top10 team, led by super sophomore point guard Andrew Nembhard, Virginia Tech grad transfer Kerry Blackshear, Jr. and dynamic freshman guard Scottie Lewis, a McDonald’s AllAmerican.
2. Villanova: Last of a threegame series (the first two played in Hartford and at Madison Square Garden) before the two become Big East rivals once again next season. Wildcats will be a preseason top15 team, led by shooter Collin Gillespie, forward Saddiq Bey and a terrific freshman class paced by Bryan Antoine and Jeremiah RobinsonEarl.
3. Memphis: Huskies only played Tigers once last season (on the road), but this is a great year to get them twice, as Penny Hardaway has the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class and No. 1 recruit (7foot1 center James Wiseman) in tow. Game at Memphis will be a CBS Sunday matchup.
4. Cincinnati: It’ll be strange not seeing Mick Cronin stalking the sidelines, but the Bearcats got a big break when AAC Player of the Year Jarron Cumberland eschewed the NBA Draft at the last minute to return for his senior season.
5. Indiana: The Hoosiers were an NIT last season and they lost their top two players (Romeo Langford, Juwan Morgan) to the NBA. But any game at the World’s Most Famous Arena, against a Big 10 opponent, promises to be electric.
FIVE BEST HOME GAMES
1. Florida (Nov. 17, 3 p.m., at Gampel): Scottie Lewis, one of the top incoming frosh in the nation, was an AAU teammate of UConn freshman Jalen Gaffney.
2. Memphis (Feb. 16, 3 p.m. at XL Center)): Penny’s Road Show hits Hartford, but can the Tigers live up to the hype?
3. Cincinnati (Feb. 9, noon at Gampel): Last meeting as league mates with program that was probably Huskies’ top AAC rival. No Mick Cronin, though. He’s now at UCLA. John Brannen has made the 15minute trip from Northern Kentucky to take over the Bearcats’ reins.
4. Houston (March 5, 7 p.m. at Gampel): Cougars lose two top scorers from last year’s Sweet 16 team, but should be among AAC’s elite again behind DeJon Jarreau and Nate Hinton.
5. South Florida (Feb. 23, 2 p.m. at Gampel): Not a misprint. The Bulls could be this year’s UCF, with enough talent to finish in top four of the league and earn an NCAA tournament berth.