STORRS, Conn. – When news of UConn’s return to the Big East started to spread, Dan Hurley's cell phone saw an immediate impact.
The official announcement came last Thursday, but already the second-year men’s basketball coach seems to have moved up in the phone books of recruits since UConn decided to leave the American Athletic Conference.
“This just creates much more excitement with the fans and it does, it gives us a great bump in recruiting,” Hurley said on Monday inside the Werth Family Basketball Champions Center.
“Kids are getting back to me a lot quicker and some guys who weren’t being as responsive that I stopped communicating with did come out of the wood work and ask me how I was doing.”
So how is Hurley doing since the news?
While the head Husky is excited about the future, right now his objective is preparing the team for a final run through the AAC.
“With this team, laser focused on making a much better account of ourselves in a really great basketball league that we have not fared very well in and not given a very good account of ourselves,” Hurley said. “If there is a team in the league that should have a chip on their shoulder and an edge, it’s this team.
“It’s got to be an us against the world mentality because I don’t think there’s going to be a lot of love lost for us in the league this year.”
In addition to a return class that includes senior guard Christian Vital, junior point guard Alterique Gilbert and junior center Josh Carlton, the Huskies have reason for optimism with a talented incoming class.
The four newcomers include 6-9 freshman Akok Akok, freshmen guards Jalen Gaffney and James Bouknight along with junior point guard R.J. Cole, who will sit out the season after transferring from Howard University.
“It’s been a great process – I like it here,” said Cole, who played for Hurley’s father, Bob Hurley Sr. at St. Anthony’s High in Jersey City, N.J. “I know everybody and I’m coming out and competing on the court every day.”
The new foursome, which is Hurley’s first recruiting class, already had the head coach believing the program was trending in the right direction before the conference change. Recruiting should only go up from here.
“I hope it makes recruiting easier for us,” Hurley said, of the Big East return.
“I thought we were going in a great direction, but I do think it enhances it – it may allow us to go after a couple guys that were a little more out of reach for us in the American, but I’m not going to stray too far from my plan.”
For players like Bouknight, the conference change isn’t what matters right now – it’s all about becoming a Husky.
“Going back to the Big East is going to be fun and being able to go back home to play,” said Bouknight, who is from Brooklyn, N.Y. “But right now, I’m not really focused on that, I’ll think more about that next year.”
In just a few weeks, Bouknight and Gaffney have become fast friends as they settle into college life as roommates.
“We have a pretty good relationship,” Gaffney said. “We haven’t really played together on the court too much right now but down the line we’ll be really great teammates.”
