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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!

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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
• Get the scouting report on Seton Hall Men’s Basketball thanks to this Q & A
• 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
• UConn Football players are teaming up to make a difference off the field
• 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 the prospect of 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:

On UConn’s Budget Cuts:

It is incredibly disappointing for UConn to have to do this, and our hearts go out to the current Huskies and high school students affected by this decision. When conference realignment plopped UConn into the AAC, administrative leadership made a gamble. They implemented a student subsidy to support the athletic program, running it at a huge loss in hopes of competing in the yacht race that big-time college football has become and earning a “power five” invite. That gamble didn’t pay off, so the new leadership found an alternate path. UConn may have been able to keep all of its sports intact were it not for the shutdowns and financial losses that came with it. Given the number of varsity sports UConn sponsored, something would eventually have to give. It’s a shame that these are the forces that drive college sports.

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U Gotta See This

Video recommendations

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

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UConn, Great Pic

Photos of UConn’s finest

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

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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:

• 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?

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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:

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

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

• In other news, George Springer’s UConn career continues to garner well-deserved praise:

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Big League Buzz

Catch up on former UConn players working across the sports world

• 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:

• 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 join Atlanta Dream teammate Renee Montgomery in opting out of the upcoming WNBA season to fight for social justice reform
• Peep the chart below to see which former UConn players in the WNBA will be participating in the upcoming abbreviated season and which will be sitting out to make a stand:

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FANtastic

Fun expressions of Husky fandom from across the web

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

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

• Everybody could use a little Cool Jonathan in their life:

• Give the people what they want:

• Speaking of the ACC:

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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:

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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:

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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!

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Final Farewell:

In honor of UConn’s Big East return becoming official later this week, join us in saying good riddance to the AAC with some unapologetic shade

• We’ve just been conserving energy for when we’re back where we belong:

• On July 1st, when we pull out of the drive and never look back, they’ll realize just how lucky they were to have us in their lives:

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