AVON — Dan Hurley, like he usually does as the weather starts getting colder, had a familiar nervous energy at the Golf Club of Avon on Monday for the annual Connecticut Basketball Coaches Breakfast, hosted by ESPN’s Seth Greenberg to benefit the Jimmy V Foundation.
For Hurley the event, like First Night and the team’s not-so-secret weekend trip, was another reminder that the start of the season – and UConn’s incredibly tough nonconference schedule – is only a few weeks away.
The Huskies got an early look at how they stack up, even without star center Donovan Clingan, when they played Virginia in a closed-door, “secret scrimmage,” on Saturday. While keeping scores and statistics close to the vest, Hurley said redshirt sophomore forward Alex Karaban and freshman guard Stephon Castle stood out.
He also noted it was a “really positive performance” from center Samson Johnson, who thrived in a scrimmage with Virginia a year ago. Johnson is expected to fill a critical role alongside Clingan to form a new version of the one-two punch that Clingan and Adama Sanogo provided last season.
“When you’re hoping to have what we had last year in terms of two guys at that position that don’t give the other team a break, two centers that can really maintain an incredibly high level for you, we feel really good about that,” Hurley said. “I think (Johnson) has greater potential to play with Donovan maybe than we had with Adama and Donovan because of the movement and athleticism.”
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But, as to be expected, Hurley had mixed feelings about the team’s performance as a whole.
“I think the type of shots we took in the game were reminiscent of the type of shots that we want to take. I was happy with the way that the ball moved for us, we were very high-assist,” he said. “But our (ball security) was not where we need it to be, particularly with our perimeter people, which was disappointing.”
The Huskies will have to figure things out quickly before a four-week stretch of high-major games starting in mid-November with Indiana and Texas or Louisville in the Empire Classic, then preseason No. 1 Kansas, No. 19 North Carolina and No. 11 Gonzaga in December.
“Listen, our nonconference schedule is a monster. No one else in the country is playing five games like that, none at home, all mutual or away, so it’s a great challenge,” Hurley said. “We really wanted those type of games, we couldn’t get them our first couple of years here because the brand was down and we were coming off of a couple tough years that we were part of. So we had to build the program back up to get nonconference opportunities like this. We’re happy to play fun, exciting, difficult games.”
The main concerns now are leadership and bench depth, though Hurley expects the team, with its center healthy and some chemistry built through the first few games, to be ready for those early tests.
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“Hopefully by that point (Clingan’s) game is sharp and he’s feeling great,” he said. “The freshmen, these guys are gonna have to grow up quickly. And then obviously when Donovan is back and healthy and a guy like Samson is coming off the bench for us, that’s gonna help.”
Monday’s event, an opportunity to raise money for cancer research, annually brings together all of the men’s Division I head coaches in Connecticut for some light-hearted banter as they preview the season.
Hurley also received the state’s Coach of the Year Award, his first.
“We’ve got some great coaches and some great programs in the state. You get a chance to see other coaches who are also two weeks out and also have a little bit of that nervous energy to them,” Hurley said. “It’s good to see other people that are experiencing the same feelings you are as you’re approaching tip-off.
“The Jimmy V Foundation and the good it does in cancer research, all the efforts that Seth makes for this breakfast is a really cool thing that really gears up Connecticut and the state for college basketball coming soon.”
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