UConn’s Return ‘Sucks’ for Other Teams
The Story: The men’s basketball team hasn’t even played its first Big East game and there is just a little dread about what to expect. In what is designed to be a no-news media kickoff, Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said having the Huskies back in the Big East “sucks for us.”
WHAT DID WILLARD SAY? “Well, it sucks for us, to be honest with you. I voted against it, so I’m still not happy about it. No one in this league listens to me, so I’m not getting my way. In general, for the league, it’s great. I’m a big fan of what Dan [Hurley] does.”
𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞. 𝐖𝐞. 𝐆𝐨. 🥁🥁🥁
Announcing the 2020 #BIGEASThoops Preseason Coaches Poll: pic.twitter.com/BYohoTb34C
— BIG EAST MBB (@BIGEASTMBB) October 28, 2020
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Willard’s comments are music to our years because he is right. The Huskies, picked to finish fourth in the preseason media poll, are not trying to renew acquaintances. They want to get back to their perch atop the college basketball world. Stepping all over Seton Hall, which has done very well for itself since UConn left the Big East, is the goal. Willard could have been kidding but the Big East knows what’s coming.
HURLEY’S RESPONSE: Hurley, a Seton Hall grad and New Jersey high school legend, was flummoxed by the comment. He didn’t hear it, nor the context, and had a really impressive passive-aggressive response, saying it didn’t make sense and he isn’t the Seton Hall coach. Our take is simple: It was probably tongue-in-cheek and that kind of sarcasm gets lost on large-scale video conferences. But we loved it anyway.
BOUKNIGHT HONORED: The only UConn player honored on the coaches’ all-preseason teams was James Bouknight, who made the second team. That may be a bit of a slight to Bouknight, who emerged as a special player as a freshman, but we’ll just assume that’s because the coaches don’t know any better. They won’t make that mistake at the end of the season.
INITIAL SCHEDULE REVEAL: The Big East, for some reason, decided to unveil only the first few games of the schedule, with conference games starting Dec. 11 at home against St. John’s. UConn will play at Georgetown on Dec. 13, at Providence on Dec. 17, home against Creighton on Dec. 20 and at DePaul on Dec. 23. Because of the pandemic, teams will be playing in front of small crowds (if any at all), so it should be business as usual for Providence.
BOTTOM LINE: UConn is back in the Big East and yesterday, it was the topic of discussion. DePaul coach Dave Leitao, a former associate head coach under Jim Calhoun, called UConn returning “monumental.” Every other coach genuflected at the altar of the Huskies, which is an action worthy of a four-time national champion. Willard was the exception and we know he was just being sarcastic … or was he?
