The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Games and doldrums
Huskies fighting redundancy of COVID-impacted season
Paige Bueckers hit a wall. She doesn’t remember exactly when or for how long, just that it was sometime during that stretch when all the Huskies could do was practice. Maybe December? Possibly January?
“It was just, I just kind of wasn’t there mentally, and I didn’t bring as much energy as I should and didn’t do as much as I could in practice,” the freshman explained Monday. “I don’t know whether it was I was tired of practicing and not playing games or I just, I don’t know, something wasn’t clicking.”
Whatever was bothering her, she snapped out of it.
That said, the repetitive nature of this season is still something every Husky, including Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma, is struggling to cope with.
“It’s been very, very difficult to say, ‘Let’s build momentum,’ ” Auriemma said. “There is no momentum, I don’t think. There’s just game, and then doldrums, and then game, doldrums, game, doldrums.”
Added Bueckers: “For seven months straight, it’s basically been all-basketball and obviously school. But even then, we’re always with each other, we’re always with our teammates and coaches. It seems as if every day is wake up, go to practice, do school, and then repeat.”
Games are a welcomed change of pace. But, without fans in the stands, even those are just not the same.
Auriemma was asked how he keeps his team mentally ready during this unconventional season.
“I just had this conversation with a friend of mine because I asked the same question,” Auriem
ma said. “I said, ‘Is it me or is everybody in the country having a hard time getting their players to play at a certain energy level, intensity level, awareness level? Is it just me?’
“They said, ‘Listen, this idea of nobody in the stands, this environment that you guys are trying to play in, it’s real. The impact that it’s having is real. The affect that it has on players and coaches, it’s real. The cumulative effect that it has is real.’
“You’re on the sidelines and you feel it. You’re in the locker room at halftime and you feel the deadness of it, and you’re trying so hard to change it and make it what you remember it to be. It’s been a big struggle
for every coach, every player.”
Because of COVID restrictions, players are severely limited in where they can spend their time. And it’s been that way since July. It’s mainly either the gym or their apartments.
“Getting to the gym is kind of a refuge. But then you need a refuge from the refuge,” Auriemma said. “Where do you go? You go back to the same thing over and over and over and over again. It becomes very Groundhog Day. You get up in the morning, you do this, you go home. The next day, get up, do this. Nothing changes. Hey, ‘Let’s go do this today.’ Nope, sorry, can’t do that. I think it’s taken its toll.”
UConn (16-1) returned to No. 1 in the AP poll on Monday. It’s the ninth straight season the Huskies have been ranked first and the 22nd in 27
seasons, beginning with their first national championship in 1994-95.
And yet, Auriemma has had to recalibrate some of his expectations. He realized some time ago that he can’t coach this team, with seven freshmen, like any other over his 36 seasons in Storrs.
“What makes this season different?” Auriemma asked. “Is it COVID? Yeah. Is it because they’re young? Yeah. It is because they’re young and COVID? Yeah.”
Would an older roster handle it better?
“I don’t know,” he said. “But I know for me, the coaching is different — less to do with COVID, more to do with it’s just harder these days.”