Andre Jackson Jr. and Joey Calcaterra had done their waivers and were itching to practice with the UConn men’s basketball team on the new Gampel Pavilion floor on Friday. Adama Sanogo was there as well, though he didn’t plead to play. Jordan Hawkins couldn’t make it.
Coach Dan Hurley wouldn’t let them risk an injury ahead of the NBA season, so they stood and yelled from the sideline.
The departed champions returned to Connecticut for a championship dinner on Thursday night hosted by the Bleeding Blue for Good NIL collective and the UConn Club, and they decided to push flights back and stay around a little longer.
Always great to get the gang back together. #HU5KIES pic.twitter.com/UsunI2JdNR
— UConn Men’s Basketball (@UConnMBB) September 8, 2023
Hurley realized while this year’s team was on its foreign tour in Europe just how much those players will be missed in the upcoming season.
As the Huskies try to defend the title, Jackson will be with the Milwaukee Bucks organization, Sanogo the Chicago Bulls and Hawkins, the lottery pick, will be in New Orleans with the Pelicans. Calcaterra is figuring out his path into the professional level as well.
“I learned during the whole summer that (we have) a talented team, that we’ve got a lot of really exciting pieces again and the potential is definitely gonna be there for us again to have a big season,” Hurley said. “But what you learn from a negative standpoint is just how great of leaders Andre and Adama were and how important Joey’s personality was and Jordan’s confidence and approach, how we’ve got to kind of replace those tangible and intangible things.”
The void was felt during the three games UConn played in Europe – granted they dominated the foreign competition in mostly empty gyms – when it was quiet in the locker room and in huddles. A similar concern was expressed when Jackson was out injured for the first few nonconference games last season, but the team evolved and additional leaders emerged.
“The returning Big Three (Donovan Clingan, Tristen Newton and Alex Karaban), they gotta carry the burden that Jordan, Adama and Andre carried last year and they can never have a bad day, emotionally or relative to coming in and doing the work,” Hurley said.
It’s something they’re working on, and it takes time.
Karaban, who started as a redshirt freshman last season, sought out advice from Jackson while he was in town. Karaban says Jackson knows him better than anyone after last year’s joy ride.
“(He was) just giving me advice on what I should do or just how I should carry in my own way because I’m not gonna copy exactly what Andre does, so just try to do it my own way,” Karaban said. “Same thing with Adama, I asked him right after practice what he thought, what he saw, and he’s given me advice as well.”
Jackson, Sanogo and Calcaterra also spoke with the team as a group at practice, sharing their experience during the championship run with the freshmen and new graduate transfer Cam Spencer.
“They just spoke about pretty much having the talent, but then putting the pieces together when you need to and they really touched on team chemistry and the energy that they played with toward the end of the season,” Spencer said. “And that’s what we’re trying to figure out right now with this new group.”
Nonconference schedule on a ‘whole ‘nuther level’
The defending national champs will face Indiana, either Texas or Louisville, Kansas, North Carolina and Gonzaga before even diving into Big East competition this season. All of those games will be on the road or at a neutral site.
“You wish that you had that great nonconference home game for the fans, but those five games we’re playing, there’s no one in the country that’s playing the five like we’re gonna play in the nonconference, especially considering none of them are home,” Hurley said.
“And when calculating where we think the league is gonna be this year, far superior than it’s been. As good as the league was last year – we had four of the best eight teams in the country last year – but I think there’s gonna be more depth at the top, and then I think the middle and bottom are going to be even better. But our five nonconference big games, no one’s playing probably a more appealing five than we’re playing.”
Karaban thought last year’s nonconference slate, highlighted by Oregon, Alabama, Iowa State, Oklahoma State and Florida, was hard, but “it’s just a whole ‘nother level right now,” he said Friday.
The team is looking forward to embracing having a target on its back – everyone wants to beat the champs.
“The coaching staff does a great job knowing that we do have a target on our back and I think they’re really trying to emphasize it on us when we practice, but I think everyone’s just starting to understand everything,” Karaban said. “Definitely a huge target.”