The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Benedict sees value in playing Big East tourneys
UConn coach Geno Auriemma doesn’t care “one iota” if the Big East forgoes holding its women’s basketball tournament this season.
However, as first reported by Hearst Connecticut Media, the conference’s athletic directors have voted in favor of going through with the event.
So, barring a significant change, the Big East will crown a champion next month at Mohegan Sun Arena.
UConn athletic director David Benedict sees value in keeping that plan intact.
“You have to take this into consideration in the broader context of not just UConn, but as a league and all the teams that are playing in it,” Benedict said. “The regular season is a preparation for the postseason, and for a lot of student-athletes that are going through this period of time that’s really difficult, they want to have a chance to compete in the tournament.”
The tournament was held in Hartford from 2004-13 following a run of 21 years at on-campus arenas, and during that decade, the Big East led the nation in conference postseason attendance nine times.
But because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s tournament, scheduled for March 5-8, may be played without fans. Should that be the case, Auriemma wonders whether it’ll be something players actually enjoy — especially teams like the Huskies, who are a virtual lock to make the NCAA Tournament.
“It’s supposed to be a players’ experience,” Auriemma said. “Well, there is no players’ experi
ence this year. The only experience is exactly the same experience they’ve had every day for the last six months — cooped up in a hotel room, can’t go out, no interaction with anybody, nothing, with the understanding that if something happens, which is no guarantee that it won’t, a team that does have or has already assured themselves of a spot in the NCAA tournament now gets shut down.”
Benedict doesn’t want to make that same assumption.
“Things are completely different in a lot of ways, and you can certainly suggest that the experience is not the same, there’s no question,” Benedict said. “But a lot of these kids that have put in a lot of time and effort into getting ready for this season and were impacted last year that didn’t necessarily get to play out their season (because of COVID), a championship opportunity is important. …
“To take that away, whether it’s a conference or an NCAA tournament, I think that would impact
how students felt about going through this.”
FANS IN THE STANDS AT GAMPEL?
It sounds like the door may be shut on allowing fans into Gampel Pavilion this season.
“If things change and we’re in a place where we can have more people in the building, we certainly would love to be able to do that for everybody,” Benedict said. “We obviously know that it’s a challenging time for everybody, and it would be an escape for some people to be able to come out and personally
attend a (game). But right now, we’re going to do what we’re being advised to do.”
At the request of state public health officials, UConn has kept attendance limited to family members of players and coaches over the course of the season.
UConn recently began returning students to its Storrs campus for the spring semester. As of noon Sunday, there were 34 positive cases of COVID-19 on campus, according to the school’s dashboard.