The UConn Fast Break - 6/29/20

All the UConn sports news you need to know. Not affiliated with the University of Connecticut.

Jun 29, 2020

This week in The Fast Break: Some tough news for the athletic department, some happier news in the future (two days, not that anyone’s counting), and a whole lot more excitement in the world of UConn sports!

Weekly Rewind

The latest UConn athletics news

From The UConn Blog:

UConn Men’s XC, Men’s Swimming & Diving, Men’s Tennis, and Women’s Rowing become budget cut casualties
Find out what out to expect from UConn Baseball and Softball this season and what their competition will look like as they join the Big East
UConn Women’s Basketball solidifies future dates with Texas and Tennessee
A lot has happened for both programs since UConn men’s basketball shut down Butler to win the 2011 ‘ship. Get the lowdown on the current Bulldogs squad, who the Huskies will now face as conference foes
Batouly Camara wins Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award through the work of her non-profit, Women and Children Empowerment:

From Other Sources:

In the wake of budget cuts, find out why UConn is so committed to making football work
UConn Women’s Basketball commit Saylor Poffenbarger recovering after hip surgery
Jon Rothstein shares his Big East Men’s Basketball preseason insights
Huskies lure Mike Rehfeldt from Cincy to take over Men’s Basketball strength and conditioning
After rumors had him taking the MLB route, Ben Casparius announced his plans to suit up for UConn Baseball after all. And while playing home games in state-of-the-art Elliot Ballpark may not have been what lured him back to Storrs, it definitely didn’t hurt. See below for an aerial tour of the newly-completed stadium Casparius and his teammates will be breaking in when play begins:

Shit Bsb Players Say @ShitBsbPlyrsSay

UConn’s New Stadium 😍

U Gotta See This

Video recommendations

ESPN’s Top 10 College Basketball Players of All Time features some familiar faces:

UConn, Great Pic

Photos of UConn’s finest

It appears that Katie Lou Samuelson has achieved the highest form of evolution:

Dallas Wings @DallasWings

𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥. 𝘖𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘳 (@33katielou), 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮... #WallpaperWednesday #TheLastAirbender

Coach’s Corner

Find out what the UConn coaches are up to on and off the court

21 Big East assistant coaches of color join forces to establish a new social justice coalition:

Kimani Young @CoachKimani

Big East assistants form Coaches For Action, push for Black Lives Matter patches on uniforms #committedtochange

cbssports.comBig East assistants form Coaches For Action, push for Black Lives Matter patches on uniformsMinority assistant coaches in the Big East quickly form group to provide awareness of social injustice

Last week we included an article where Geno spoke glowingly about Diana. This week, take a closer look at their special bond through the eyes of an outsider with the inside scoop
Get Coach Hurley’s take on UConn’s imminent return to the Big East
Why aren’t you tuning in every week for Geno’s sage advice?

NABC @NABC1927

"I wanted to be a star in my own program at that particular time." Stop obsessing over your next job and make the big time where you're at, says @UConnWBB coach Geno Auriemma!

What They’re Chirpin’ About

Highlights from the UConn Twitter-verse

UConn’s return to the Big East was announced a year ago and becomes official this week. Let’s revisit some initial thoughts on this polarizing move courtesy of the one and only SVP:

Stanford Steve @StanfordSteve82

SVP with a couple words on UConn going back to the Big East.

Here are some other reactions from the world of sports media collected right after the Big East news broke
There were plenty of pundits not pleased with UConn’s abrupt announcement. AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco was certainly one of them:

UConn is home @NoEscalators

Happy Anniversary to Mike Aresco cancelling his vacation

While we’re on the topic of anniversaries, we might as well relive this moment that transpired the following day:

UConn Football @UConnFootball

It's been a year since we unveiled the beautiful Fraser Family Locker Room. Thank you to the Fraser Family for your generosity and for providing us with such a great home! #BleedBlue

Big League Buzz

Catch up on former UConn players working across the sports world

For many years, Tiffany Hayes has worked to improve her community and dreamed of turning South Atlanta into a basketball hotbed. When protests against police brutality immersed the country, she was inspired to do even more and recently announced her plan to opt-out of the upcoming WNBA season to fight for social justice reform
Ray Allen dishes on racism and his basketball career during recent video chat with Utah Valley University Men’s Basketball
Former UConn Women’s Soccer goalkeeper and current Canadian National Team goalie, Stephanie Labbe, shines during interview for Canada’s leading sports network
Pardon the French and click play to hear Jalen Adams speak glowingly about UConn in a message to his new fans:

Châlons-Reims @CCRBASKET

🎥🎙️ Les premiers mots de Jalen Adams sur son arrivée au club. Il a hâte de découvrir la région et de pouvoir disputer ses 1ères minutes sous les couleurs du @CCRBASKET. A très vite Jalen !

FANtastic

Fun expressions of Husky fandom from across the web

“Hello, America. My name’s Stanley, but my friends call me Sticks.”

Husky Highlights @UConnHighlights

March 19, 2009: America is introduced to "The Stanley Robinson Show" as UConn dominates Tennessee-Chattanooga 103-47 in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament

What we would give to be jumping around Gampel to the sound of this album:

CTMike @CTMike78

The last remaining copy of this CD is still used at every UConn basketball game. True story.

Rustin Dodd @rustindodd

Twenty-five years ago this summer, the “Jock Jams” compilation CD debuted. I wrote about its 90s origins, how it came to define a genre, and the history of music at sporting events: (Cue Michael Buffer) https://t.co/VTTPs1GyXr

Everybody could use a little Cool Jonathan in their life:

Penfield @BpenfieldJ

It’s really Hot out so here is some Cool Jonathan for you

Give the people what they want:

Memory Lane

Revisiting the history of UConn sports

Some people are calling Storrs the basketball capital of the world. This might be why:

Find out how international players have fared throughout the storied history of UConn Women’s Basketball
A wealth of information on each of UConn Men’s Basketball’s 4 national championship seasons
What you see when you look up “consistency” in the dictionary:

FOX College Hoops @CBBonFOX

This is not a typo 😅 @UConnWBB has been ranked every single week since 1994! 🤯👏

Weekly Fancast

Once UConn sports return, we’ll provide info for the week’s upcoming games in this space. Until then, enjoy some classic recommendations from the vault.

Relive UConn Baseball’s rollercoaster trip to the 2019 College World Series, where they made a run at the national championship before falling just shy of the Super Regionals:

Cause We Care:

Learn about non-profits and charitable causes benefiting the great people of Connecticut

This week, we put a worthy spotlight on Coaches for Action, a newly-formed coalition inspired by the recent protests against police brutality and social injustice. Their mission statement is as follows:

“Coaches For Action was founded by 21 Assistant Coaches in the Big East conference on a shared mission to use the platform of athletics to educate and bring awareness to social injustices. We seek to generate sustainable action plans to eliminate prejudice, discrimination, and oppression against people of color.”

CLICK HERE to learn how you can help Coaches For Action achieve actionable change!