The UConn Fast Break - 9/26/2023

While football struggles, basketball and hockey are on the way.

September 26, 2023

Welcome to this week’s Fast Break, and thank you for being a subscriber. Don't worry folks, it's almost basketball season.

This weekly newsletter is brought to you by the folks who run The UConn Blog on SB Nation and the UConn WBB Weekly, UConn Hockey Hub, Hook C Baseball, and Husky Football Forum newsletters! Please consider sharing or supporting our work!

UConn football struggles

It’s an unfortunate and familiar place for UConn football, as the Huskies are 0-4 to start the 2023 season.

Last year’s team was not great but showed plenty of promise in a 6-7 campaign that anyone would call an overwhelming success in Jim Mora's first season.

This year, with a lot of returning starters and some solid transfers coming in, the expectation was to compete better on the field.

That has not happened.

UConn is one of five FBS programs without a win through Week 4, along with Buffalo (0-4), FBS newbie Sam Houston (0-3), Nevada (0-4), and Virginia (0-4). Efficiency rankings have the Huskies near the very bottom of the FBS.

Development is not always linear and Mora needed to drag the program from historically bad depths. However, UConn football went from seemingly competent last year to something much worse right now. They need to figure it out quickly before things get uglier. Fans are crowing for changes in the coaching ranks after such an uninspired start, and rightfully so.

The UConn men's basketball season opener is Monday, November 6, in case you were wondering… and First Night is on October 13.

Weekly Rewind

Football

Big Duke loss - The Huskies were out of it by the second quarter. | Photos

UConn Football Pod - Hard to find optimism after rough losses to Georgia State and FIU.

Mora on the offense - The head man knows his offense needs to get better.

Future opponents - UConn’s next four opponents faced off in a pair of matchups this week.

Women’s Basketball

Fudd’s basketball camp - Why her focus wasn’t on basketball.

USF back on the schedule - The Huskies and Bulls will play a home-and-home starting in 2024-25.

Men’s Basketball

1951 was Hugh Greer’s breakthrough - Read all about one of the important early UConn teams.

2023-2024 Full Schedule - Circle every single date on the calendar, a chance to watch the reigning national champs!

Men’s Hockey

New assistant coach - Vince Stalletti has been promoted from volunteer coach to a full-time assistant. How will his role change?

Goaltending update - Mike Cavanaugh will likely rotate his goaltenders to start the year.

Podcast - The crew is back for the season and recaps the off-season.

Women’s Soccer

Can performances match results? - The Huskies had an uneven start to the season, despite strong performances.

Photos - The Huskies are off to a good start in Big East play, with victories over Creighton and St. John’s.

Men’s Soccer

Photos - The Huskies secured victory over CCSU on Tuesday.

Support the most in-depth coverage of UConn men’s hockey around!

Highlights

UConn women’s soccer loves scoring awesome goals, including this impressive tally against St. John’s at a rainy Morrone Stadium.

Memory Lane

It’s now been seven years and two weeks since the infamous Bob Diaco goal-line debacle in 2016, but we cannot let September pass without remembering this moment that perfectly encapsulated the Diaco era.

Diaco spent his final timeout to avoid a delay of game penalty before a review took place and called a run with time ticking away. Ron Johnson was stopped just outside the goal line. UConn was unable to run another play. Game over.

After the game, to quote the great David Byrne, Diaco was “talking a lot,” but “not saying anything.”

Later in the week, he addressed the issue for 13 more minutes, saying that he thought his team would get the snap off but called timeout with three seconds left on the play clock anyway. I don’t think he can seem to face up to the facts. He was tense and nervous and couldn’t relax.

UConn, Great Pic

Cue the theme song! A team of women’s basketball players took home the title at SUBOG’s Family Feud Night. Surely, Chris Dailey carried the squad.

Photo Credit: Twitter - @UConnWBB

Parting Thoughts

We’re just a few weeks away from the winter sports season. Women’s hockey gets it started this weekend with a road series against Penn State, while the men’s side plays at Colgate on Oct. 6 and 7.

The teams will play a doubleheader at Toscano Family Ice Forum on Oct. 14, which is one day after First Night, the unofficial opening of the basketball season.

UConn women’s hockey was picked fourth in Hockey East and received a first-place vote, as Chris MacKenzie looks to break through to the NCAA Tournament for the first time after an 18-13-4 season last year that ended in the Hockey East quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, men’s hockey is slotted at fifth in the preseason Hockey East poll. Mike Cavanaugh is still looking for his first NCAA berth as well, as the Huskies dropped a Hockey East quarterfinal last year, too.

The women’s soccer program has also started out well in Big East play and is up to No. 80 in the RPI, which is fifth in the conference. The Huskies haven’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2016. Men's soccer recently notched a big win over St. John's and is also hosting a $2 Miller Lite night this Friday.

Also, Volleyball has started playing in the building formerly known as the Freitas Ice Forum, an exciting new home for the program.

UConn’s athletic department has a lot more entertainment to offer than the programs on TV. Try checking out a volleyball, hockey, or soccer game, it’s usually a good time!

If you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, please consider sharing it with a friend or two - it would mean a lot to us!

Be sure to follow The UConn Blog!

Reply

or to participate.