Photo courtesy of Dave’s Joint
By David Cordova
During the summer time, college athletics programs are doing workouts and building camaraderie, getting ready for the upcoming school year and the impending season. This year, the defending national champions had an open practice on August 3rd at their on-campus arena, Gampel Pavilion, out in Storrs, Connecticut.
On this hot, sunny Saturday afternoon in the boondocks, thousands of Huskies fans came out to check out the new-look squads. The event started as the team came through the mezzanine past the crowd as there were cheers from their supporters.
When they got on the court, it was all business, as they went through drills that were executed flawlessly with head coach Dan Hurley and the rest of the coaching staff watching, and also teaching along the way.
And then before losing, the team came through and scrimmaged for specific period of time. Both teams treated it as if there was a game. When many say that the hardest games are practices, it is imperative to believe the adage, because it’s the truth. There were some nifty plays on both ends of the floor. There were also some special plays, including dunks at the rim.
When all was said and done, Coach Hurley thanked the fans for coming out during the summer and the fans got ready for the NIL autograph session afterwards. All in all, it was a great day out at Gampel Pavilion. And just a sneak peek at what is to come this upcoming season.
After winning the national championship in 2023, last year’s Huskies squad came out looking more dominant and stronger than their predecessors. Every where they went, the champs had a bullseye on their backs, but nothing fazed them, as they went 37-3 and were rated at No. 1 from mid-January to late February. They would win the Empire Classic, the Big East regular season and tournament championship and lastly, their second straight national championship, their sixth in program history.
From last year’s team, four players were drafted: Stephon Castle went at No. 4 to the San Antonio Spurs and Donovan Clingan went at No. 7 to the Portland Trail Blazers. While in the second round, Tristen Newton went at No. 49 to the Indiana Pacers and Cam Spencer was drafted at No. 53 to the Detroit Pistons, only to be traded to the Memphis Grizzlies, where he will begin his rookie season this fall.
With Apostolos Roumoglou (University of Richmond) and Andre Johnson, Jr. (Utah Valley) transferring, that cleared the way for a few newcomers with freshmen such as McDonald’s All-American forward Liam McNeeley, guard Ahmad Nowell and forward Isaiah Abraham, and transfers such as Tarris Reed (University of Michigan) and Aidan Mahoney (Saint Mary’s).
The returners are junior forward Alex Karaban (13.3 points & 5.1 rebounds per game), graduate student & guard Hassan Diarrhea (6.1 points per game), sophomore guard Solomon Ball (3.3 points per game), sophomore forward Jaylin Stewart (2.5 points per game). Two other sophomores that didn’t see much time, but will be fighting for minutes are forward Youssouf Singare and guard Jayden Ross.
Just like last season, wherever they go, the Huskies will be a hot ticket to catch, especially now since they’re the two-time defending national champions.
Later this month, the Huskies will be meeting up against another New England foe in Rhode Island in a charity exhibition game on Oct. 14th at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
As many know, the Huskies play half of their home games at the aforementioned Gampel Pavilion and also the XL Center in downtown Hartford.
The Huskies will open their season on Nov. 6th at Gampel against their in-state counterpart in Sacred Heart. Other non-conference games will be against Texas A&M-Commerce (Nov. 19th), and a highly-anticipated matchup against Baylor on Dec. 4th as part of the Big East-Big 12 Battle. During the Big East portion of play, they will have Providence (Jan. 5th), Creighton (Jan. 18th), St. John’s (Feb. 7th), Marquette (March 4th) and Seton Hall (March 8th).
At the XL Center, the Huskies will have their non-conference slate starting off with New Hampshire (Nov. 9th), LeMoyne (Nov. 13th) and Maryland-Eastern Shore (Nov. 30th), and their Big East schedule will have them playing Xavier (Dec. 18th), Butler (Jan. 21st), DePaul (Jan. 29th), Villanova (Feb. 18th), Georgetown (Feb. 26th).
However, that will be just one out of a couple of times that they will be playing in the World’s Most Famous Arena, as they will be playing a road game during conference play against St. John’s on Feb. 23rd and will be back at the Garden during the week of the Big East Tournament during the week of March 11-15.
As far as other non-conference games, the Huskies will be playing in the Maui Invitational in Hawaii during the week of Nov. 25-27, where they will draw opponents such as Memphis, and potentially Michigan State or Colorado. On Dec. 14th, the Huskies will be playing in an event that is a part of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame series at Madison Square Garden in New York City, as they will be playing against Gonzaga.
The biggest question now is: Can the Huskies do a three-peat? Time will tell, as the program has a new group of players and it will take time for them to jell together and flow into the system. No road is an easy one and championships aren’t won during the early months, but rather in the month of April.
It isn’t always how you start, but rather the final outcome. How one finishes is all that everyone remembers. The Huskies have been finishing on top the last two years and have successfully made it to the White House the past two summers. If they can win it all again, it will be talked about for ages and ages. If they don’t win it all, they’ll have to go back to the drawing board. But for now, the season is here. The hunt is on.
Dave's JOINT 
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