The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Big East coaches concerned about UConn’s return
NEW YORK — Jay Wright loves the move. Patrick Ewing doesn’t seem to care too much either way.
Kevin Willard seems to approve ... sort of. Ed Cooley? Let’s just say he’s not necessarily rolling out a red carpet from Providence to Storrs for UConn to return to the Big East Conference.
Back in June, the presidents of the 10 current Big East schools voted unanimously to admit UConn back into the league. But if the vote had been up to the league’s coaches, there might not have been such a mandate. That seemed to be the general tenor at Thursday’s Big East Media Day at Madison Square Garden.
With two of the past four national championships (both won by Wright at Villanova) under its belt, the Big East didn’t necessarily UConn back. Still, despite three straight losing seasons, the Huskies, with four national titles in the past 20 years, will certainly bring added sizzle when it rejoins the conference next season.
However, UConn’s return, after seven years in the American Athletic Conference, could make things tougher for certain league schools on the recruiting trail. Particularly programs like Providence, Seton Hall and St. John’s — East Coast schools who are already recruiting against the Huskies.
Now, UConn can sell the Big East as part of its recruiting pitch.
“I can’t tell recruits, ‘You know what it’s like to play at Tulane and East Carolina and those places?,’ ” 10thyear Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said, seemingly halfjokingly. “It doesn’t work anymore. To be honest, it didn’t matter what conference they’re in. They always had great history in this building, in this area. Kemba Walker’s a New York City guard. It adds a different dynamic and layer to the recruiting thing, but they were always gonna be a tough beat.”
The Huskies’ first Class of 2020 commit, national top75 guard Andre Jackson, told Hearst Connecticut Media last week that UConn’s return to the Big East definitely helped his decision.
“I think it’s gonna be a bear to deal with,” said Cooley, entering his ninth year as Providence’s head coach. “They have a very good staff there, and Danny (Hurley) is one of the better coaches in the country. Regionally, with Providence College and Seton Hall, in particular, in the Big East — with a little bit of St.
John’s — we’re gonna have our hands full when it comes to competing against them.”
In fact, Cooley seemed to think the Big East did UConn a favor by taking it back in.
“I think we gave Connecticut new life,” he said. “We gave their fan base new life. They finally came to the conclusion that they are a basketballcentric school. They poured all their money in football, and in my opinion, it was going into a hole.”
“When you’ve become a national brand in one sport and try to parlay into something it isn’t,” Cooley added, “shame on you for making the decision upfront.”
While Ewing was leading Georgetown to three national championship game appearances in four years in the early 1980s and dominating the center position as it hasn’t been since, UConn was still a Big East doormat. The Huskies didn’t become a national powerhouse until nearly a decade after Ewing had graduated.
Now in his third year as Georgetown’s head coach, Ewing didn’t seem too focused on UConn’s return to the league.
“Thats a long way away,” he said. “Right now, I’m worried about this year.”
“It definitely helps the league,” he added. “They can sell the Big East, but all the other teams in the Big East can sell their conference. It is what it is. They’re here, they’re here to stay, and it’s our job as coaches to recruit and try to get the best players we can for our programs. And the players, it’s their job to compete and play against whoever’s there.”
Willard, of course, coaches Hurley’s alma mater and sits smack dab in the UConn coach’s recruiting wheelhouse of northern New Jersey. He seemed to recognize that, while UConn’s return is overall good for the league, it might not be the best for Seton Hall.
“No one asked me, but I would not have given them the vote,” he said, again seemingly halfjokinly. “I would have told them to stay away. Just because I know what type of job Danny’s gonna do. I know what a great program it is. We’re now going to a 20game schedule in this league, so it’s gonna make the conference better and harder. But I think overall, everyone’s excited to bring them back.”
Then there’s Wright, the dean of Big East coaches and owner of those two national championship rings. Is he worried that the Huskies can steal his program’s thunder as the undisputed kings of the Big East?
Not at all.
“I think everything’s positive, I really do,” said Wright, who’s entering his 19th season as Villanova’s head coach. “I don’t think we would have unanimously supported their entrance if it wasn’t all positive. I look back to the years when we went to 16 (teams) and we all thought, ‘Oh no, we’re gonna eat each other up.’ And what it really did was make us all better. We got 11 teams in the tournament (in 2011).”
Wright noted that, back in the late 1980s — before he was hired as a Villanova assistant — players that wanted to go to thenpowerhouses Georgetown and Syracuse often wound up at Villanova when there simply wasn’t enough room. They simply wanted to play in the Big East.
He believes something similar will happen now.
“I think it enhances the brand,” he said. “In recruiting, Connecticut will get involved with all the guys we’re all involved with, and we all compete against each other. It’s just gonna increase the pool.”
Wright added: “There will be kids growing up in Connecticut, following the Big East, and they might wind up playing at Georgetown. That’s what happened in the old Big East, and I think the same thing’s gonna happen.”
RIM RATTLINGS
⏩ Georgetown sophomore point guard James Akinjo had committed to UConn in the fall of 2017, but decommitted after Kevin Ollie was fired in March, 2018. Hurley and his staff tried to rerecruit him, but Ewing had already swooped in.
“Coach Pat made it a real easy decision,” he said. “After I decommitted from UConn, he showed the most interest in me and made sure I felt really at home with Georgetown.”
In fact, Ewing was on a flight to the West Coast when he learned that Akinjo had been released from his national letter of intent. He had the flight diverted so that he could fly straight to Akinjo’s home town of Oakland.
“He wanted to be on the East Coast,” said Ewing, “and we needed a point guard.”
⏩ St. John’s Mustapha Heron, who grew up in West Haven and Waterbury, was named to the preseason AllBig East Second Team.
“It’s an honor to have your name mentioned,” he said. “We’ve got great players in this conference. I’m definitely shooting for first team, so just gotta go out every night, play hard and try to win games.”
Heron transferred from Auburn to St. John’s last season and got an NCAA waiver to play right away. He said he considered tranferring to UConn, but the Huskies had run out of scholarships at the time.
⏩ Bridgeport’s Quincy McKnight enters his senior year at Seton Hall after averaging 8.9 points per game last season. McKnight played his first two seasons at Sacred Heart, where he averaged 18.9 points per game as a sophomore.
“I thought he had a phenomenal year last year,” Willard said. “He was our backbone on the defensive end, he did a great job in leadership. But I think everyone’s gonna see, almost what he was at Sacred Heart, a little more of a scorer. Just because he’s a little more confident in what he can do, a little more confident in what we need him to do. And I think transfers, the second year after they sit out, they always have a good year.”
⏩ Bloomfield’s Tyrique Jones, a senior at Xavier, could face his hometown school this season in the Charleston Classic. UConn would play Xavier if both teams win (or lose) their first games of the tournament.
“That would be kind of cool,” said Jones. “I love UConn basketball. I always wanted to go to UConn, but the opportunity at Xavier presented itself and I feel like I made the right decision. Kinda bummed that next year we get to play at UConn, but I’m just happy that UConn is back in the Big East. It’s a great conference.”