Captain Sanogo!
The Story: The men’s basketball team has overhauled more than half its roster, and with practice kicking off, Dan Hurley is looking for some old hands to help lead the team.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The basketball team began practice this week and Hurley interestingly named Adama Sanogo and Andre Jackson captains.
• What’s interesting isn’t that Sanogo and Jackson were named captains. That’s a no-brainer considering their time with the team. What’s different is that Hurley’s naming captains at all.
• Hurley has never had captains but decided to switch up the team dynamic this year with his veterans. Now, what does a captain actually do? We aren’t exactly sure of their duties besides meeting at halfcourt to begin the game, but we do hope there is some kind of dinner out of it.
• Hurley has more grandiose notions of what the captaincy means and basically, it’s also an acknowledgement that the chemistry of the team needs work and some peer-to-peer leadership heading into the season.
WHAT DID HURLEY SAY?“I think that in the end, that a big part of our Achilles heel last year, was that I don’t know that there was definitely a captain mentality on the team in terms of wanting that total responsibility for the group and handing it to a player. It was probably a coaching mistake that I made where I should have thrown that on the lap of the older players, but I’ve never really had to do it in my career. But now you know, obviously, feel compelled to do it.”
NEW ROSTER: The Huskies are going to need that leadership and chemistry on the court with an overhauled roster that is expected to be near the top of the Big East this season.
• UConn has seven new scholarship players, and eight if you count Alex Karaban, who enrolled last spring and didn’t play. The players have been training and playing pickup games throughout the summer, but as formal practices get into gear, Hurley wants the hierarchy to be clear and put the onus on his veteran players.
CALHOUN STOPS BY: Once a coach, always a coach. Jim Calhoun spent some time at practice yesterday and huddled with Hurley and assistant Tom Moore after practice.
• Calhoun’s early season practices were legendary in their grueling physical requirements. We aren’t sure they are that stressful anymore, but Calhoun did note that Hurley’s “animated demeanor” would have even given a young Calhoun a run for his money.
XL CENTER BACK IN PLAY: UConn has approved a one-year deal worth $1.8 million to rent out the XL Center for the season for men’s and women’s basketball and men’s hockey games.
• Eight men’s basketball games and seven women’s basketball games will be played at the XL Center.
• The men’s hockey team, which will open the new Toscano Ice Forum on campus in January, will still play 12 games in Hartford. UConn rents out the XL Center from Global Spectrum, which runs the arena that is owned by the state.
Morning Reads
• Radenka Maric, who had been serving as UConn’s interim president for nearly 10 months, was named the 17th president of the university after the Board of Trustees unanimously appointed her to the position yesterday. Is this a sports story? No, but the university president is going to have a big say on what UConn athletics will look like in the future. She’s been at UConn since 2010 and is the first internal hire since Harry Hartley. (The UConn Blog)
• The soccer pitch at Morrone Stadium will now be known as Ray Reid Field to honor the recently retired men’s soccer coach. (Hartford Courant)
• Speaking of soccer, the women’s soccer team will host No. 19 Georgetown tonight in Storrs. (UConnHuskies.com)
Top photo: UConn warms up prior to a game against CCSU on Nov. 25, 2020. (David Butler II/USA Today)
