Kelly thrived in ‘Bubbleville’ with BC
Rich Kelly was born in Stamford, and he’s lived almost his entire life in Shelton.
For much of the last two weeks, however, his address has been Bubbleville.
Kelly, the former Fairfield Prep and Cheshire Academy standout who starred the past three seasons at Quinnipiac, is finishing his collegiate career this season as a grad transfer at Boston College. The Eagles have played all four of their games so far at Mohegan Sun Arena — a.k.a. “Bubbleville,” where dozens of college teams have sequestered under strict protocols in a “bubble” situation, so that they can get in games with minimal risk of COVID-19 shutdowns.
The players have all the basketball amenities they need, with a couple of practice courts and a weight room set up in the Expo Center. But it hasn’t exactly been what most people might think a couple of weeks at a casino resort would be.
“It’s pretty locked down,” Kelly said. “Your days are pretty regimented. You pretty much go from the meal room or the film room back to your room, back to the gym. You kind of just rotate those three things.”
Every team stays on their own particular floor of the hotel, and there are security guards everywhere. If you want to use the elevator to go somewhere else, you need to have an escort.
Grab a meal at one of Mohegan Sun’s restaurants? Not a chance — though sometimes they’ll deliver to your floor. Play a few hands of blackjack at the casino? Don’t even think about it.
“Sometimes we walk into the (casino) lobby to get to the practice facility,” Kelly reported, “but we’re always guarded by a security guard.”
No fans are allowed at the games, so Kelly’s family couldn’t even make the trip from Shelton to watch him.
A World at Play? Only if you’re playing basketball. Most of Kelly’s downtime has been spent in his hotel
room, watching Netflix. Oh, a couple of nights ago, he did a project presentation via Zoom for his final in his economics class.
“It’s not too bad,” Kelly said. “It’s like a mixture of college basketball and AAU, combined. That’s what it feels like.”
The Eagles concluded their stay in Bubbleville on Thursday night against Florida. BC logged about 10 days at Mohegan, with a two-day return to campus in between.
“If we didn’t go back in between, I’d be going a little crazy,” Kelly said. “It was good to get out for a day or two to get some fresh air. The days can become monotonous. You look outside the window and almost forget what it’s like to be outside. But it’s not too bad. It’s not like the NBA, where they had to be there for, like, 72 days.”
“It’s worth it,” added BC coach Jim Christian. “One thing about here, if you get here and can be safe, with the amount of testing we’ve been doing, you know you’re hopefully going to be able to play the games … And that’s really important for these kids.”
UConn arrived in Bubbleville late Wednesday afternoon and coach Dan Hurley was impressed.
“It was a well-oiled machine, in terms of entry, getting us in, getting us tested,” said Hurley, whose Huskies faced USC on Thursday night, and will play NC State on Saturday at noon in Bubbleville’s final game.
‘BE LIKE WATER’
On the floor, Kelly has made a strong impression with his new team. Entering Thursday night’s game, he was averaging 10.3 points while playing 24.1 minutes per game as one of Christian’s first substitutes off the bench.
“He’s been terrific,” Christian said. “It’s a very difficult situation for anybody, when you’re coming in and trying to play with new guys, learn a new system. His approach to it has been really helpful, I think to everybody. Each game, he gets more and more comfortable. We know all the things he can do as a basketball player. He plays with such confidence and aggressiveness, he understands the game. He’s been everything we thought he would be. His work ethic, he’s in the gym, shoots every morning. He does everything good players do, and that’s why he was such a great player at Quinnipiac and has done a great job for us, as well.”
At Quinnipiac, Kelly made MAAC All-Rookie Team as a freshman and was a Second Team AllMAAC selection the past two seasons, averaging 16.7 points per game a year ago. Taking a big step up in competition, his role has changed.
“There’s not as much required of me when I’m on the court,” he said. “At Quinnipiac, I had a larger responsibility, especially on the offensive end. Here, there are other guys that can make plays, as well. So I have to, like Bruce Lee said, ‘be like water.’ When the moment calls for me to step up, I step up. When it calls for me to make the little plays and not take every shot, I have to be able to do that.”
Kelly would face maybe one Power Five team per season with Quinnipiac (which has also been in Bubbleville and whose team meeting room, ironically, is right next to Boston College’s). Already, Kelly has faced a pair of Big East teams (Villanova and St. John’s) and a good Atlantic 10 team (Rhode Island), with Florida (SEC) still on the docket.
“I thought it was gonna be a lot more different,” he admitted. “Players are still players, it’s still basketball. The only difference I’d say is the pace of the game, and the length of the players. Your windows for everything — getting a shot off, you have to get it off just a little quicker. Cutting a guy off on defense, you’ve got to get there a little quicker. The windows start closing as you get to higher levels.”
“You know,” Christian added, “good players are good players. He was a really good player at Quinnipiac, he’s had success, he’s done very, very well. You can see each game, he’s getting more and more comfortable. He’s feeling confident.”
Of course, the competition will get even tougher once ACC play begins. BC’s first league game is on Dec. 12 at home against Syracuse. Kelly, who grew up a Duke fan (the Eagles are slated to play at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Jan. 6), can’t wait.
“I’m really excited. It’s something that, my whole life growing up, I used to watch the ACC on TV all the time, dreaming of playing in that league. Now I’m here. It’s just staying in the present moment. I’m really excited just to see how we stack up. I think we’re gonna be a little better than people expect us to be this year, so I’m really looking forward to just going out there and having fun.”