It’s a New England thing.
Connecticut playing Boston College in basketball says New England like fall foliage, lobster rolls and clam chowder. But we haven’t had this New England rivalry since Jan. 5, 2005. Bad feelings over the Big East, Atlantic Coast Conference, and conference realignment ended a great thing. Everybody knows about Jim Calhoun, hurt feelings, and the Gene DeFilippo wars, so we won’t rehash all that.
The main thing tonight is that UConn and BC are finally playing each other again. Just like the good old days. In New York, at Madison Square Garden – but it’s not the Big East tournament. This will be the 2K Sports Classic. And this time next year, UConn and BC might meet in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. Both were named part of the 2014 field earlier this week.
So the stage is set in New York and possibly in Puerto Rico, as we continue this New England tradition. That’s great news. But it is time to take the next step, time to put this back on the schedule every year. College athletics in the Northeast needs a rivalry like this. Realignment has torn up so much of what fans value. Boston College as a regular opponent for UConn in basketball, football, hockey, baseball or anything would be a highlight on the calendar. And if you haven’t noticed, the Northeast is becoming slightly irrelevant in college athletics.
We will see what happens, but at least coaches Kevin Ollie and Steve Donahue want it to happen. Both have said so during media sessions this week.
Said Donahue: “I would love to play the game. I talked to Kevin about it. I’m probably not a real expert on the rivalry and things like that. I just know they’re a good program and we’re both from up in this area. I just think it makes sense that we play each other. I have great respect for what they’ve accomplished in basketball, really one of the great programs in the country over the last 15 years. I think the opportunity to play each other makes a whole lot of sense.”
Said Ollie: “It’s a great team, right in our region. We had a lot of wars in the Big East. I remember a lot of them when I played at UConn. We’d like to rekindle that rivalry. Coach Steve Donahue is doing a great job, and he’s going to continue to have those guys playing well. We had some great guards and we had some great guards. It was always a battle.”
Ollie said he remembered a game at BC when the Huskies were “down 29 or 30 and came back to win.”
“I might be exaggerating a little bit – I get that from Coach Calhoun,” Ollie said. “I remember that game vividly. We always had some tough battles. I loved the challenge Boston College presented each and every game.”
Ollie was exaggerating a bit. The Huskies trailed by 18 points at BC on Feb. 9, 1994 and won 94-91 in double overtime at Conte Forum. On that night, it did seem the Huskies were down by 25 or more at times. But the decision went UConn’s direction, one of 23 consecutive victories for the Huskies in that stretch of the rivalry.
I remember a couple of things from that game. BC’s Bill Curley was an absolute warrior. Curley was a recruit UConn wanted like no other. He broke the heart of Calhoun and assistant Howie Dickenman when he picked BC. Curley had 32 points and 16 rebounds that night. He played his heart out that night. His knees were wobbling. He could barely stand at the final buzzer. Curley’s will simply wasn’t enough. He couldn’t beat the Huskies.
Guards Ray Allen (16 points), Doron Sheffer (15) and Ollie (14 points, five assists in 34 minutes) combined for 45 points. And their outstanding play opened things up for Donyell Marshall, who had 33 points. The Huskies were 7-for-20 from three-point range. But those were some of the greatest players in Big East history and they put it all on the line that night.
That game would be one of my three top memories from the UConn-BC rivalry.
Back in 1987, in Calhoun’s first season at UConn, stars Cliff Robinson and Phil Gamble were declared academically ineligible after a loss to Providence on Jan. 24 in Hartford. UConn’s next game was Jan. 27, against Boston College at the old Boston Garden.
Calhoun had very few options. Greg Economou, a walk-on and a UConn baseball player, moved into the starting lineup. Brian Hall, a goalkeeper on the UConn soccer team, was added to the roster. The Huskies did not resemble a Big East team heading to Boston. Jeff King, Economou, Gerry Besselink, Steve Pikiell and Tate George started. James Spradling and Robert “Spider” Ursery came off the bench.
With only 3,357 at the Garden, UConn played patient, poised, smart, and deliberate. The Huskies led 36-23 at halftime.
UConn led 36-23 at half before 3,357. The Huskies finished 25 of 39 from the field and BC was 23 of 62. Besselink and Pikiell, two guys with tremendous heart, played all 40 minutes. George scored 15 points, Pikiell 14, Besselink had 13 points and 13 rebounds, King had 10 points and somehow Economou scored nine.
UConn won 66-60. It was one of the first indicators of the magic Calhoun would work during his Hall of Fame career.
Memory No. 3 comes from Madison Square Garden and it featured one of the greatest defensive efforts I ever witnessed. UConn and Boston College met in the semifinals of the National Invitation Tournament on March 29, 1988. The Eagles had Dana Barros, their terrific shooting guard. Barros scored 22 points in the first half and seemed capable of scoring 50 if the Huskies couldn’t guard him.
But the adjustment at halftime was one of the all-time greats. Calhoun put a little Detroit muscle on Barros. Lyman DePriest checked Barros and never let him out of his sight. Barros scored only two points on two shots in the second half.
Robinson scored 29 points and had seven rebounds. Gamble had 15 points. Barros had 20 more points than DePriest, who scored just four. But DePriest will always be the star of that game. UConn rallied from an eight-point halftime deficit, won 73-67 and advanced to the NIT final where the Huskies beat Ohio State for their first national championship.
UConn vs. BC. Bring back the rivalry. It’s a New England thing.
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