UConn women's notebook: Basketball 'the DNA' of Big East schools, scheduling updates from conference and UConn
By Alexa Philippou
Before UConn had even officially rejoined the Big East, Creighton women's basketball coach Jim Flanery was already having stress dreams about having to play the Huskies.
One night in April, Flanery recalled Thursday at Big East media day, he dreamt that his team was playing in a tournament in the Caribbean and was supposed to play UConn in a nonconference matchup. Except he didn't know what day the game was supposed to be. He wandered around the island trying to get some answers before eventually running into associate head coach Chris Dailey and a "6-foot-4" Geno Auriemma who was "built like a linebacker," and he was too scared to ask them for information about the game.
Creighton coach Jim Flanery, left, and UConn coach Geno Auriemma talk before the start Sunday's game at Gampel Pavilion. (David Butler II / USA Today Sports)
Back in reality, playing UConn in conference play may cause some anxiety for Flanery and other Big East coaches, but it won't be a totally nightmarish scenario. At the end of the day, the coaches believe having the Huskies back in the league is only going to make their programs and the conference stronger.
"We played them once, six or seven years ago," Flanery said. "It's a great experience because you're going to find out, one, they have really good players but, two, they play the right way. They play really hard. They make you uncomfortable. There's nothing you don't admire about the way that they play."
Flanery's comments were echoed by his colleagues, both those whose schools appeared toward the bottom of the preseason Big East standings and those whose chances at winning the conference took a big hit when UConn rejoined the league. Georgetown's Jimmy Howard said his teams will benefit enormously from the experience of playing in front of so many fans at Gampel Pavilion or the XL Center. Providence coach Jim Crowley mentioned the Huskies can help draw in attention to a league that flies too much under the radar.
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"I don't know if UConn is the icing on the cake or maybe part of the cake, but I just think they will lift the profile of the league, create a higher standard of excellence for all of our schools and generally help us maintain a leader-like position as we look to have the women's game grow writ-large," echoed Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman.
Just because a conference has UConn in it, though, does not mean that conference automatically becomes better (see: the AAC). But Geno Auriemma thinks — in fact, knows — that the Big East is better suited than most to take advantage of the opportunity in front of them.
"A lot of other places, don't get me wrong, they just don't care about women's basketball. I don't care what the ADs say, I don't care what the presidents say, I've seen it firsthand," Auriemma said. "They just don't care. And I truly believe in my heart, in this conference basketball is a passion of the ADs, of the presidents. It's the DNA of the schools in this league. It's why it's so great to be in this league."
It helps that the conference already features a perennial NCAA Tournament team in DePaul; a rising program in Marquette, which would have made the NCAA Tournament for the fourth-straight year had last season's postseason happened; and others schools like St. John's, Seton Hall and Creighton with proven success.
"Because we're a basketball-centric league, I think as the years go on, each school is going to say, 'Why can't we do that? Maybe not the way Connecticut does it, but why can't we be like DePaul?' when they see all the attention that's going to come,'" Auriemma continued, while pointing out that this very phenomenon helped cause the old Big East to become the basketball powerhouse it was. "'Why can't we be like DePaul, why can't we be like Marquette? Why can't we have this consistency that St. John's has had all these years?'
"We were a strong conference without them. We were top six in [RPI] in the country. Now you add UConn. Why can't we be the best conference in the nation?" Xavier's Melanie Moore added. "So we're excited. To be the best, you've got to play the best. They just make all of us better, and they make us a deeper conference in the end."
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Schedule notes
While the Big East announced 23 December games for their men's basketball programs earlier this week, nothing that specific has been announced for their women's teams, other than that each school will play four games between Dec. 4 and the holidays. UConn is set to play Louisville on Dec. 4 at Mohegan Sun Arena, so will start conference play after that.
Ackerman said Big East play will resume Dec. 30, but that the specific dates, games and format will be finalized later. The conference will closely monitor the spread of COVID-19 and how the string of December games go, which will be conducted within their typical "travel model."
Auriemma said that the Huskies are not likely to add another nonconference matchup, which they have room to do, though he wouldn't be opposed to it.
Alexa Philippou can be reached at aphilippou@courant.com