The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Fear the Friars?
Is UConn-Providence burgeoning rivalry? Depends who you ask
There is no current team in the Big East that the UConn men’s basketball team has played more often than Providence.
When they first met, Babe Ruth’s 1927 Yankees were still the reigning World Series champions. Two of the seven original members of the Big East — a league created by former Friars coach Dave Gavitt — they’ve clashed 75 times since and 63 times as conference opponents. UConn owns a significant head-tohead advantage overall (45-30), in Big East play (38-25) and, of course, in national titles (4-0). Still, the Friars have had a few spurts of dominance and have often been a tick in the Huskies’ fur, even besting some of UConn’s championship teams (Ryan Gomes, anyone?).
Separated by merely a 50-mile bus ride down Route 6, and back together as Big East foes after an eight-year respite due to conference alignment, UConn-PC would appear to be a natural, burgeoning rivalry. But is it?
“I would say by geography, Connecticut’s got to be up there,” PC coach Ed Cooley said. “I think Villanova is definitely up there. Those two come to mind right away, for me. You’re looking at two of the bigger brand-name teams in the Big East. I don’t know if those schools or fan bases will see that, but from my eyes as the head coach, as far as proximity and region, those two stand out for me.”
UConn coach Dan Hurley wasn’t quite ready to go there, however. In fact, Hurley’s not sure the Huskies have a true rival at all.
“Not when you’re at UConn,” he stated. “With the history of this place, and the brand and notoriety and respect with the four national championships and all the NBA players, one of the greatest coaches of all time ( Jim Calhoun), and everything that’s gone on with women’s basketball … every game, you feel like it’s the other team’s Super Bowl.”
Asked specifically about Providence, Hurley still wouldn’t budge.
“St. John’s feels like a rival, Seton Hall feels like a rival,” he noted. “I think everyone in your conference feels like a rival. For UConn, it’s different, because of the brand. It doesn’t have anything to do with any of us that are coaching or playing here right now. We weren’t a part of all that success. But every game for us feels like a rivalry game, because we get everyone’s ‘A’ game every night.”
Still, PC has to be getting under Hurley’s skin a little bit lately. Providence beat UConn — which was playing without injured Adama Sanogo — in the Huskies’ first game back in the Big East in front of fans on Dec. 18 in Hartford.
The rematch slated for Jan. 15 in Providence was postponed due to COVID issues within the Friars program, and the game was never rescheduled. While a sizable chunk of Huskies fans seem to believe that PC was ducking the rematch, the fact is the league was responsible for all rescheduling, and the only available date (Feb. 3) would have entailed UConn playing three games in five days, sandwiching the Friars between bouts with Creighton and at Villanova.
UConn wanted no part of that.
When UConn got popped in the first round of the NCAA Tournament while Providence advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 25 years, Cooley seemed ubiquitous in the media — no doubt an advantage in subsequent recruiting that couldn’t have pleased Hurley.
But the kicker may have come last month, when out of nowhere, Corey Floyd Jr. transferred from UConn to PC. Suddenly, UConn’s (hopefully) two games with Providence next season got a whole lot more interesting.
“It’s definitely going to put some spice to the game,” Cooley conceded.
NEW WRINKLE TO RIVALRY
Indeed, this one seemed to resonate with UConn fans more than past defections to Friar Town. When Andre LaFleur left the UConn staff practically on the eve of the Huskies’ national championship parade in April 2011, it certainly didn’t please Jim Calhoun. But it was hardly Wade Boggs or Johnny Damon leaving Boston for New York.
When recruit Makai Ashton-Langford decommitted from UConn and pledged to the Friars in March 2017, it was merely part of a mass exodus from Kevin Ollie’s sub-.500 team. And has anybody even realized that Brian Blaney, son of longtime UConn assistant George Blaney, has been on Cooley’s staff for 14 years?
Floyd, a 6-foot-4 guard, sat out this past season as a redshirt freshman, despite pestering Hurley a few times to drop the redshirt and let him play. The staff told him he should be good for at least 15-20 minutes per game next season. It seems Floyd wanted more.
“We recruited the hell out of him and he chose Connecticut the first time around, which was a great fit for him at that point in time,” Cooley said. “People’s minds change, circumstances change. It doesn’t make him a bad guy or the coaching staff … things change in today’s world. With this portal and immediate eligibility, people are looking for an opportunity to play. The kid wanted to play. Not that he wouldn’t have played at Connecticut.
Who knows what happens to these kids in these situations? I don’t think you look at it as a negative, because at the end of the day, it’s all about the student-athlete.”
Since Floyd’s transfer, Cooley has brought in a slew of other high-level transfer guards and wings. Will Floyd play next season at Providence?
“In all honesty, I don’t know,” Cooley insisted. “I’m gonna have seven or eight new dudes. Honestly, I hope he does. But I’m not gonna know until he’s here on a daily basis. That’s the truth.”
So a new wrinkle has been added to a rivalry that may or may not exist, depending on who you ask.
“I think it takes a bunch of battles on the court, and recruiting battles and all different things to create the true animosity,” Hurley said.
Certainly, the programs have battled for recruits over the years. Besides Gomes, Providence snared New London’s Kris Dunn
from under Calhoun’s nose. More recently, the Friars beat out the Huskies for A.J. Reeves, while UConn has won battles for PC targets like Akok Akok and Donovan Clingan.
Who knows, maybe Floyd’s transfer will be like New Haven’s own Sly Williams, who verbally committed to Providence but signed a letter of intent to play at Rhode Island at the last minute, intensifying that rivalry to a new level. Or maybe not.
“I’m not going to look at it any different, and I’m pretty sure Danny’s not going to look at it any different,” Cooley said. “It’s a hard enough game as it is. It’s good for the game, it’s good for the region, it has some zest around it, and you’re hoping it will be really competitive every time you play. To me, it’s more about the game than it is the individuals, if that makes sense.”