- Note: I originally posted this content, as two separate posts, last Friday evening, but there was a technical glitch and it was lost. We identified the problem and recovered the text. Some of this was in the Saturday Courant, but there’s some other stuff you might like to discuss. Here it is again …
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STORRS – Some notes, quotes and thoughts from “Decision Day” at Gampel Pavilion …
Ryan Boatright stopped in at Gampel on Friday, knowing it will be his home gym for one more year.
“One more, man,” he said. “One more.”
Boatright, a sophomore, came in a year ago on a mission to make 2012-13 his last year in college. But while his season had its high notes, he realized he needs another year at UConn to be ready for the NBA Draft. Like Shabazz Napier and DeAndre Daniels, Boatright let it be known he is staying.
“It was tough,” he said, “I really had my mind set on going, that’s what I really worked for this year. … But I didn’t want to put myself in a harder situation than it’s got to be. It’s not like I’m a senior and I’ve got to go. I had the opportunity to come back and make it a better situation.”
Boatright talked with Kevin Ollie, and trusted his coach to be straight about his chances for the draft. He sought information elsewhere, too.
“I pretty much heard the same thing from everybody,” he said. “It’s a little different coming from the coaches
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Q: Will the new league have a automatic bid to the NCAA tournament for next year or will they have to wait? Also wht do you think the chances of holding the tournament in Hartford in the future will be?
Mark
Lebanon, Conn.
A: Yes, Mark, the American Athletic Conference, AAC or Americon, will have an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. It has a new name, but as far as the NCAA is concerned, it is the old Big East and inherits that slot, with all the automatic bids in all sports. The “new Big East,” the league with the non-football playing schools, et al, is the new entity. It will have automatic bids, too, but has to go through a process of applying for them.
So for UConn, nothing changes as far as automatic tournament bids.
The XL Center, I have been told, is working on a proposal to host the AAC men’s Tournament. I
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HARTFORD – A few notes, quotes and thoughts from the men’s basketball side at Husky Day at the State Capitol …
Shabazz Napier passed the word that he was not yet ready make, or at least announce his decision regarding the NBA Draft. He has had long talks with both Kevin Ollie and Jim Calhoun, and he has sought advice from others with NBA connections. Napier is sticking to the timetable he laid out last week, and plans to announce a decision on Thursday or Friday. UConn insiders are still confident he will return, but until the deadline passes …
“He’s trying to make the best decision for him and we give him that respect. Hopefully, he makes the right decision at the end.”
Ollie said he thinks DeAndre Daniels and Ryan Boatright are “leaning toward coming back, but nothing is etched in stone.”
The final deadline for entering the draft is Sunday, April 28.
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UConn is still working on its men’s basketball schedule for next year. The talk is, a series with Stanford is close to being finalized, and a series with Florida is in the works. UConn has had some discussions with former Big East
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Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemma are joining an exclusive group on Wednesday.
It includes Noah Webster, Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Igor Sikorsky, Jackie Robinson, Paul Newman, Kate Hepburn and others. It’s the Connecticut Hall of Fame, as administered by the Connecticut General Assembly.
All those famous folks have a connection to Connecticut, lived here for a time. Auriemma, who arrived in 1985, and Calhoun, who came a year later, have made their mark in state history and on Connecticut’s culture, and they will be honored for it together at 2 p.m. in the state Legislative Office Building. Calhoun, who led the men to three national championships, retired in September. Auriemma just led the women to their eighth championship. Word got out Tuesday that Calhoun and Auriemma will be the new inductees.
Husky Day at the State Capitol will follow next at 3 p.m., the annual visit of the men’s and women’s basketball teams and the football team to meet and greet.
Amida Brimah, the 6-foot-11 center from Miami’s Archbishop Carroll High, signed his national letter of intent to play for the UConn men’s basketball team on Monday, making him a full-fledged member of the program.
The signing was expected. Brimah verbally committed to UConn in January, when he came to visit the school and watch the Huskies play Louisville. Last weekend, he traveled to New York to watch fellow incoming freshmen Kentan Facey and Terrence Samuel play in an all-star game, a strong indication of his investment in the program. Brimah, originally from Ghana, is expected to begin classes at UConn in early July.
“Amida was one of the most passionate basketball players I saw during the entire recruiting period, and I fell in
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According to an ESPN report, the ACC presidents have signed a grant of media rights deal that carries through 2026-27.
The net effect of it, as intended, is to prevent an exodus of ACC schools to the SEC or Big Ten, something that has been rumored for the last couple of months. It will now be impossible, or at least extremely expensive for schools to leave the ACC, because their TV rights and revenue would remain with the ACC.
This statement from ACC commissioner John Swofford:
“This announcement further highlights the continued solidarity and commitment by our member institutions. The Council of Presidents has shown tremendous leadership in insuring the ACC is extremely well positioned with unlimited potential.”
Here is entire post on ESPN.com
If schools like Florida State, Clemson, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, or others who may have been looking for a way out, are now locked in, that would probably close off the ACC as a landing spot for UConn for the foreseeable future. However, it also means that other conferences looking to raid the ACC now have more limited options and could look UConn’s way. … So you never know for sure how it will play out.
But at first blush: not good news for UConn. We pass it along here.
The NBA regular season ended on April 17. Here is a look at how UConn players fared this year:
Ray Allen – Heat
79 games off the bench for defending champs, averaged 10.9 points in 25.8 minutes, Shot 44.9 percent from three-point range. Scored 63 in four games vs. Celtics.
Caron Butler – Clippers
Started 78 games for Division champs. Averaged 10.4 points, 24 minutes. Scored 33 vs. New Orleans on Nov. 26. Steal on a “fake high five” duped Jonas Valanciunas in Feb. a YouTube moment.
Andre Drummond – Pistons
60 games, 10 starts, 7.9 points, 7.6 assists in 20.7 minutes. Missed 22 games with knee injury, but had a
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SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Kevin Ollie’s public speaking skills are impressive, but especially when he is speaking to young people. The audience of about 150 at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday afternoon was mostly kids, on vacation from school this week.
Ollie broke down his message on terms they can understand. He started out by telling them to think positive thoughts. “If you ask yourself a dumb question, you’re going to give yourself a dumb answer,” he said.
He told of the day Jim Calhoun told him he was retiring. “He said, ‘Kevin, I’m retiring. I’m going to pass this baton on to you. Don’t follow in my footsteps – make your own.’” And he concluded by telling kids to take charge of their lives. “You are the CEO of your own life,” he said. “… write your own book, don’t let anyone write it for you.”
(Ironically, a large photo of Jim Calhoun, part of the mural on the wall behind him, seemed to be looking over Ollie’s shoulder as he spoke.)
After Ollie took some questions and signed autographs, I caught up with him on his way out. He was thrilled to have Rodney Purvis officially in the fold. Purvis signed his financial aid agreement Friday, completing the necessary paperwork for his transfer from NC State to UConn.
“We knew he was a great talent. When he sat in our office [as a recruit in August 2011], we saw what type of
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Want to meet Kevin Ollie? Have a question? The UConn coach is going to be speaking at the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in Springfield on Friday, from 1 to 2 p.m. He will discuss his playing and coaching career, take questions and sign some autographs.
Sounds like a nice day-trip. Here’s more info from the Hall of Fame website.
Ollie gave his take on the new UConn look as walk-on Tor Watts modeled the new uniforms at Gampel. “It has an edginess to it,” he said.
Shabazz Napier was originally to represent the men’s team at the presentation, but, I was told, he had a class. Kelly Faris and Bria Hartley were there from the women’s team. Going forward, both teams will have identitcal uniforms.
Lots on the new logo on our main website. … You can vote for your favorite logo here.
And here is our picture gallery.
Kelly Faris on the “old” Husky: “Thought it was cute, but that’s not really what you’re going for in sports.”
STORRS – Enosch Wolf’s future with the UConn men’s basketball team is still uncertain, though coach Kevin Ollie was a little more willing to talk about Wolf than he has been since his arrest on Feb. 11. And he spoke about Tyler Olander’s misadventures in Florida.
On Wolf, who is still suspended indefinitely from the team:
“He is getting treatment for the problems he is dealing with,” Ollie said, following the groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday. “He has been doing an exception job of getting studies done, bringing his [grade-point average] up. We are all monitoring his progress, the president’s office, community standards and the AD, so it is not just my decision [whether he returns].”
Wolf, the 7-foot-1 junior from Germany, was having his best season at UConn before his arrest. Early in the morning of Feb. 11 he was arrested and charged with third-degree burglary, criminal trespass and disorderly conduct after campus police arrived at the apartment of a female student Wolf had been dating. According to the police report, Wolf grabbed the victims hair and slapper her, knocking her glasses off.
Wolf’s case was referred to family relations, a department within Rockville Superior Court, and ordered to begin its domestic violence diversion program. His next court date in April 24. If he completes the program and charges are dropped, he is then subject to the University’s review process.
“All the different [reports] I’ve been getting say he has been doing a tremendous job getting to his appointments on time, staying there and completing them, ” Ollie said, “and showing true maturity.”
Ollie expects a decision could come after the end of the spring semester.
Tyler Olander, meanwhile, was arrested in Florida during spring break at 2 a.m. on March 21 for trespassing, after
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