Don’t expect to see the UConn Huskies in any early-season basketball tournaments anytime soon.
UConn head men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley left no doubt about his opinions on the multi-team events (MTEs) during a recent press conference.
Dan Hurley reflects on Maui:
“I’m not doing another 3-game MTE again. Moving forward, we will only play home-and-homes or single-game events… I don’t think I’ll ever do a 3-game MTE again. There’s zero chance I ever do that again” pic.twitter.com/PAogpBHNi6
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) December 1, 2024
“I’m not doing another three-game MTE again. Moving forward, we will only play home-and-homes or single-game events in big-time arenas. I don’t think I’ll ever do a three-game MTE again. Unless I’m not coaching here at some point, somewhere else. There’s zero chance I’ll do that again.”
The comments come after the Huskies entered the Maui Invitational last week as the No. 2 ranked team in the country. They left the island with a three-game losing streak after falling to Memphis, Colorado, and Dayton in consecutive days.
The irony of Hurley’s comments, of course, is that these early-season tournaments are often the highlight of the men’s college basketball regular season. Outside of these MTEs, the schedules for major conference teams are mostly filled with low-major cupcakes of little interest to the casual fan.
Assembling a nonconference schedule without an MTE would prove challenging, even for a program with the pedigree of UConn. Hurley did specify he has particular issue with MTEs of the three-game variety. There are plenty of two-game tournaments that are played around Thanksgiving as well, though they’re generally of less prestige.
Nevertheless, this simply seems like the reaction of a coach that hasn’t gotten over how poorly things went for his team last week. His blame may be better placed at the hands of his players or coaching staff, rather than the format of the event. But that wouldn’t really be Hurley’s forte, would it?
[X/@TheFieldOf68]
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.