By Dan­ny Barletta
The Dai­ly Campus
Octo­ber 29, 2020

James Bouknight han­dles the ball for the UConn men’s bas­ket­ball team in a win against Prov­i­dence. Pho­to by David But­ler II/USA Today

UConn is back in the Big East con­fer­ence, where it was an orig­i­nal mem­ber from 1979–2013. We’ve known this for a while now, but on Wednes­day, the Big East bas­ket­ball com­mu­ni­ty got togeth­er (vir­tu­al­ly) for the first time with UConn includ­ed for media day with the men’s bas­ket­ball programs. 

UConn was a top­ic of con­ver­sa­tion around the con­fer­ence, with most­ly every­one wel­com­ing the Huskies back with open arms. 

“We could not be hap­pi­er to have the Huskies back at home,” Big East com­mis­sion­er Val Ack­er­man said to open the day. “For the first time since our realign­ment sev­en years ago, we have a new school, but it real­ly is an old school … The tran­si­tion of UConn back into the Big East — coro­n­avirus notwith­stand­ing — has gone very smooth­ly, and we’re cer­tain that Husky bas­ket­ball, men and women, will help allow us to main­tain our high perch in the col­lege bas­ket­ball world for many years to come.” 

Dur­ing his avail­abil­i­ty, head coach Dan Hur­ley talked about what it means for the con­fer­ence to have UConn back. 

“UConn is gonna add one of the most pas­sion­ate fan­bas­es in the coun­try,” Hur­ley said. “You’re adding a recent tra­di­tion in the last 20 years, which is top five in the coun­try in terms of Nation­al Cham­pi­onships and pro­duc­ing lot­tery picks and first round picks [in the NBA Draft]. I see UConn doing noth­ing but enhanc­ing the league.” 

Many of the coach­es around the con­fer­ence agree with that sen­ti­ment, includ­ing the Big East’s longest tenured and most respect­ed head coach, Jay Wright of Villanova. 

“The beau­ty of the Big East is the authen­tic­i­ty of the Big East that every school is a bas­ket­ball school,” Wright said. “We are bas­ket­ball schools, it’s the biggest thing that’s hap­pen­ing on cam­pus. So to add UConn to that, which is a great bas­ket­ball school … it just mul­ti­plies the val­ue of the Big East.” 

DePaul’s head coach Dave Leitao, who spent two sep­a­rate tenures as an assis­tant coach at UConn under Jim Cal­houn, also praised UConn’s return, as well as Hurley’s rebuild of the program. 

“Them enter­ing back into the Big East is mon­u­men­tal because of the suc­cess that they’ve had as a major force in this league,” Leitao said. “The things that UConn has stood for, [Hur­ley] has quick­ly returned to, as well as hav­ing a real­ly good team … I’m look­ing for­ward to see­ing some old faces and just enjoy­ing the expe­ri­ence, because I know the pos­i­tiv­i­ty of UConn in the Big East has been such a won­der­ful thing nation­al­ly for col­lege basketball.” 

In addi­tion, head coach Ed Coo­ley from Prov­i­dence, UConn’s most local oppo­nent in the con­fer­ence, is look­ing for­ward to renew­ing the region­al rivalry. 

“Excit­ed to have Con­necti­cut back as it’s a region­al game for us,” Coo­ley said.“They’re an orig­i­nal Big East mem­ber. It’s a nat­ur­al fit. It’s gonna be excit­ing to com­pete, to go to Gam­pel and/or Hart­ford. The fan­base on both sides will be excit­ed to play one anoth­er … It’ll be a lot of fun, and I’m look­ing for­ward to com­pet­ing against a very, very good bas­ket­ball team.” 

Head coach Travis Steele from Xavier, who beat UConn last year in a dou­ble over­time thriller in the Charleston Clas­sic, said he told Hur­ley after the game that it was a pre­view of the Big East. He said it just feels right now that UConn is offi­cial­ly back. 

“I think it was only right that UConn’s in the Big East, it should be,” Steele said. “You think of all the great play­ers, coach­es … all the big-time shots at Madi­son Square Gar­den dur­ing the Big East Tour­na­ment. UConn’s had huge moments and is a huge part of the Big East and the his­to­ry of the Big East. To get them back is awe­some. We’re excit­ed. It’s only gonna make the best league in the coun­try even that much better.” 

The excite­ment doesn’t stop with the coach­es either. Both James Bouknight and Isa­iah Wha­ley, two of UConn’s expect­ed top per­form­ers this sea­son, said that play­ing in the Big East means a lot to them. 

“Being from New York, play­ing in the Big East has always been a dream of mine,” Bouknight said. “Just being able to play at home in front of my fam­i­ly … Just play­ing in the North­east has always been a dream of mine.” 

“For me, being some­one who stud­ies the his­to­ry of bas­ket­ball and col­lege bas­ket­ball, know­ing the rival­ries between the Big East schools, it’s super excit­ing,” Wha­ley said. “Espe­cial­ly being a part of it is gonna be real­ly excit­ing for us. So just know­ing the his­to­ry makes it a lot more exciting.” 

Bouknight added that the move to the Big East fac­tored into his deci­sion to return to UConn for his sopho­more year. 

Oth­er play­ers around the con­fer­ence expressed their excite­ment to play UConn, includ­ing the pre­sea­son pick for Big East Play­er of the Year, Mar­cus Zegarows­ki from Creighton. He grew up in Hamil­ton, Mass­a­chu­setts, and became very famil­iar with UConn when his broth­er Michael Carter-Williams played at Syra­cuse, the Huskies’ old Big East rival. 

“I think it’s a great addi­tion,” Zegarows­ki said. “UConn is a great pro­gram. They were in the Big East. I grew up watch­ing them. I grew up watch­ing Kem­ba [Walk­er] … It’s awe­some. They’re a great pro­gram, they got a lot of great play­ers and I’m excit­ed for the battles.” 

For some play­ers like Xavier senior cap­tain Jason Carter, it’s the mem­o­ry of play­ing UConn in the past that gen­er­ates excitement. 

“I know for me per­son­al­ly, see­ing the fan­bas­es and how into the game they were, espe­cial­ly it being a neu­tral site, the fan­bas­es showed up [in Charleston] and made that game so much more intense,” Carter said. “I know I’m excit­ed to play them twice a year now. I think they’re a great add for the con­fer­ence, and I think it’s gonna be a great rival­ry going for­ward. I know I can’t wait for those games.” 

For oth­ers like St. John’s sopho­more Julian Cham­pag­nie, it’s more of the sense of famil­iar­i­ty with both indi­vid­ual play­ers and the pro­gram as a whole that makes him eager to play against UConn. 

“It’s cool stuff,” Cham­pag­nie said. “Grow­ing up, I watched UConn a lot. I know a cou­ple of play­ers on UConn and some of the coach­es. So hav­ing them back in the con­fer­ence is gonna be fun. It just adds anoth­er team to the list that we can’t wait to play.” 

Cham­pag­nie said he knows Bouknight, Richie Springs and Tyrese Mar­tin either from high school or through mutu­al friends. Hur­ley said this region­al famil­iar­i­ty with play­ers is exact­ly what makes recruit­ing and engage­ment bet­ter in the Big East. 

Hur­ley knows the Big East extreme­ly well, grow­ing up in New Jer­sey, play­ing at Seton Hall and spend­ing the entire­ty of his coach­ing career in the North­east. He said the best part of play­ing in the Big East is that every game is high-profile. 

“Everyone’s watch­ing Big East bas­ket­ball,” Hur­ley said. “This is nation­al stage games. This is absolute­ly no nights off home or away. You could lose any game because top to bot­tom, there’s just no nights off in a con­fer­ence like this.” 

It seems that everyone’s on board with UConn return­ing to the con­fer­ence where they had so much suc­cess for over two decades. The Huskies will offi­cial­ly make their “re-debut” in the Big East when they host St. John’s on Dec. 11. There was a lot of talk about UConn at media day, but per­haps nobody summed it up bet­ter than Bouknight. 

“UConn belongs in the Big East. Every­one knows that.”