Mohegan Sun ‘bubbleville’ schedule includes 40 teams, 45 games in 11 days

By Dom Amore

The schedule for college basketball inside the Mohegan Sun’s bubble is complete. It will bring 40 teams onto the property to play 45 games in 11 days.

The schedule, as announced Thursday, includes three games each for the UConn men and the third-ranked UConn women.

For the men, the Legends Classic games start with a matchup against Vanderbilt on Dec. 1 at about 5 p.m., the second part of a doubleheader that starts at 2:30. That game will be on ESPN2. Depending on the result, the Huskies will then play either Southern Cal or BYU on Dec. 3, at 7 p.m. on

ESPN, or 9 p.m. on ESPN2. These games were originally schedule to be played at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

The bubble schedule also lists a game between UConn and NC State on Dec. 5 at 2 p.m., the last game in “bubbleville.” UConn has not yet announced details for that game, and television details are to be determined. The UConn men are currently in the middle of a quarantine that began Nov. 5, when a player tested positive for COVID. Coach Dan Hurley said Thursday his plans for nonconference games are not final, as he will be unlikely to hold a full practice before Nov. 19, and his priority is getting ready for Big East Conference play which begins Dec. 11.

has landed the kids he targeted. He and his staff are winning in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, zooming through the Zoom meetings of pandemic recruiting, taking momentum into whatever becomes of the 2020-21 season and beyond.

UConn has been a national name since Jim Calhoun made it so. But it hasn’t been so visible in recent years, hidden in the American Athletic Conference, at the bottom of the standings, out of the NCAA Tournament, behind that wall of recent mediocrity.

“That first recruiting class, you’re kind of riding the wave of the hope of a new staff,” Hurley said. “You’re selling the dream or the process or climb back to the top. You’re showing them a lot of press conference sound bites and ‘Here’s what I did at Rhode Island, Wagner, St. Benedict’s. Here, look, I have a history of winning. See? We can do that here.’ ”

Hurley gave history lessons, too, making sure potential players understood UConn’s rich tradition and the launching pad it has been for so many NBA players.

“But really trying to avoid talking about the conference a lot, because it [didn’t] really fit where a kid from Philly or Brooklyn or Jersey dreams of playing in college,” he said. “Obviously that changed when the Big East happened for us, which has really changed the way we present our vision to players: playing in potentially the best basketball conference in the country.”

Hurley’s only recruit

The UConn women are in for the Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase, a game against Quinnipiac on Nov. 28 at 12:30 p.m. Maine and No. 6 Mississippi State are also in the event, with a consolation game at 9:30 a.m. on Nov. 29, the championship game at 3 p.m. on ESPN. TV for other games is TBA. The Huskies also have a game against No. 5 Louisville on Dec. 4 at 7 p.m., the Jimmy V Women’s Classic on ESPN.

Other state schools are heading into the Mohegan bubble for games. The Central Connecticut men will play Maine on Nov. 27 at 7 p.m. The Quinnipiac men will play Drexel in the Hall of Fame tip-off on Dec. 2 at 8 p.m., and Albany on Dec. 4 at 4 p.m.

UConn is not alone in these trying circumstances, unique for even the most experienced coaches. Among the new Big East rivals, Villanova and Marquette had to quarantine for 14 days earlier this fall. On Thursday, Seton Hall, which is scheduled to open at Louisville on Nov 25, announced it had positive tests and went into quarantine.

After those two in-state games at Gampel Pavilion, the Huskies would go into a “bubble” at Mohegan Sun to play Vanderbilt on Dec. 1, either BYU or Southern Cal on Dec. 3 and possibly NC State on Dec. 5. None of that can be considered certain.

“We were put in a position to take care of these guys, these players,” Hurley said. “That’s your No.1 responsibility, to take great care of these players. We’ve got to make decisions with scheduling based on what’s in the best interest of our players and their welfare. Everything’s on the table for us right now.”

Big East play is to start Dec. 11 at Gampel Pavilion against St. John’s, with five games before Dec. 23, three on the road.

“We’re evaluating,” Hurley said. “What can we do leading into the most important part of our season, and the most likely part of our season, which is Big East play? That’s what we want to try to put ourselves in position to be as close to full strength for.”

On Thursday, UConn’s COVID-19 dashboard showed 13 new cases on campus and 12 off campus. Of the 13 on campus, seven were already in quarantine. There are 37 active cases among 5,000 students, and a positive rate of 0.74%.

After Nov. 20, the university is to switch to online classes only until the end of January, so winter sports athletes in competition have the campus largely to themselves.

“Potentially our ecosystem is going to shrink,” Hurley said, “and become maybe more conducive to the virus not spreading and that will provide us more

for 2018-19 was guard Brendan Adams, who had previously committed to Hurley at Rhode Island. Last year, James Bouknight, Akok Akok, Jalen Gaffney and Richie Springs (an academic redshirt who will debut this season) entered the fold. The next class, now freshmen, included Andre Jackson, Javonte Brown and Adama Sanogo.

Along the way, Hurley picked up two experienced transfers in Tyrese Martin and R.J. Cole, both juniors who will debut this season. He pieced together the 2021 class with commitments from Diggins in July, and Hawkins and Johnson in a four-day August window.

The consensus is that they’re really good. The website www.247sports. com, for instance, rates this year’s three-player collection as the eighthbest recruiting class in the nation, though that could change as other highly-touted players announce their plans.

None of it matters, ultimately.

What matters is that Hurley has been able to build a team and program to fit his vision, the one he’s still developing, still selling — successfully, on both fronts.

Obviously, Hurley is to be trusted, given his success elsewhere and now here. UConn looks and feels like UConn again.

“That class with Akok and Bouk and Gaffney and R.J. will prove to be the class that really turned things around here with the help of [returners],” Hurley said. “That [first] full class was a big one.”

The 11-day series of games includes early season tournaments, or multiteam events, run by the Naismith Hall of Fame and the Gazelle Group. They began working together with Mohegan Sun two months ago in an effort to salvage nonconference play for the 2020-21 season. A similar plan for Orlando, Fla., fell through, due to differing testing protocols among conferences.

At Mohegan Sun, the teams will stay in the hotel on the property, and will move between their rooms, the arena, and practice and meeting spaces via private corridors without exposure to the public. Hartford Healthcare will manage COVID testing as teams arrive.

time to have practice and be able to play games.”

The timing and length of the shutdown, Hurley said, has slowed the recovery process for Akok Akok, who is in the late stages of rehabbing a ruptured Achilles, and Brendan Adams, who was about to return to practices after recovering from a foot injury.

Hurley received signed National Letters of Intent from his 2021 recruits, Rahsool Diggins, Jordan Hawkins and Samson Johnson on Wednesday, a group analysts rank in the top 10 nationally and could be Hurley’s best class yet.

Hurley envisions Johnson, 6-foot10, and Adama Sanogo, 6-9, playing in the frontcourt together at UConn, as they did briefly at The Patrick School in New Jersey.

“[Associate head coach] Kimani Young and I loved [Johnson] right away,” Hurley said. “He projects to be not only a great player here, but potentially an NBA-level talent.”

Diggins, a 6-foot point guard from Philadelphia, reminds Hurley of Fatts Russell, who played for him at Rhode Island. “Rahsool is the type if point guard will all types of game and skill and feel,” Hurley said. “With Philly toughness, Philly grit and Philly confidence. Every time he steps on the court he feels he’s the best player. The kind of moxie you want in your quarterback.”

Of Hawkins, 6-5 shooting guard from DeMatha Classic, outside D.C, Hurley said, “He’s central casting for the type of prototypical athletic shooter with great length and all types of upside. He’s just the perfect type of wing prospect that’s going to be incredibly dynamic. A next-level prospect.”

Dom Amore can be reached at damore@courant.com

UConn is stacking them up now.

Bouknight can be great. Akok, too. Gaffney is good.

Martin and Cole will contribute immediately.

Jackson, Brown and Sanogo have high ceilings.

The latest three bring more hype, and balance.

Hurley said of Diggins: “Point guard with all types of game and skill and feel and Philly toughness, Philly grit, Philly confidence. Every time he steps on the floor, he believes he’s the best player.”

He said of Johnson: “A guy who could be a great player here and projects to be potentially an NBA talent.”

He said of Hawkins: “Central casting for the type of prototypical athlete, shooter with great length and all types of upside … a next-level prospect.”

Hurley spoke in general about the class’ potential. He spoke about tradition and even a fan base so hungry, so on board the train, making all kinds of noise heard from New England to Washington D.C.

“Huge social media presence, and that’s important,” Hurley said. “When it’s positive.”

Some of the players we’ll be introduced to this year and next will be better than we expected.

Some won’t live up to expectations.

That’s how it goes.

But when you’re bringing in exactly who you want, year after year, a vision starts to become a reality, recent struggles start to feel like an aberration, walls to what is possible are torn down.