Why UConn hopes to get more out of Armed Forces Classic than just basketball

UConn women’s basketball is supposed to be in Germany right now. If all went according to plan, the Huskies departed on Friday night in order to spend a few days with US service members at Ramstein Air Base before taking on Louisville in the Armed Forces Classic on Tuesday.

Then came the government shutdown, which threw up logistical hurdles that ultimately proved insurmountable. So less than two weeks before tip-off, ESPN moved to the game stateside to the US Naval Academy in Annapolis.

“It would have been a really cool experience for the entire program, all the people that would make the trip. But we live in a strange world right now,” Geno Auriemma said on Friday. “So the alternative is pretty darn good, though. To be at a place like the US Naval Academy is pretty special. If that's a consolation prize, then I feel pretty good about it.”

The venue change makes life significantly easier for UConn. Instead of traversing on their longest journey of its season, the Huskies only have to travel to Maryland. The game will also start at a reasonable hour — tip-off was set for 11:30 p.m. local time in Germany, now it’s 5:30 p.m. — in an arena built for basketball.

But for a game billed as the Armed Forces Classic, the armed forces in Germany are the ones who will miss out.

“Those service members that are stationed over there and all the people that live over there on the base, that would have been a great time for them,” Auriemma said. “So as much as it would have benefited us to be there, I think they would have gotten a kick out of it.”

UConn is also doing far less around the game in Annapolis compared to Germany. The Huskies were originally scheduled for four days worth of events on the base but now, they’ll have to try to fit as much as they can in on Monday.

“It would all be different. They'll have a little bit of an experience (in Annapolis), so to speak, but not like we would have there (in Germany),” Auriemma said. “We would have gotten there three or four days ahead of time. We would have been involved in an awful lot of things that they had planned for us over there. Obviously, that's not going to be available.”

Despite the shortened schedule, Auriemma believes his players will still get something out of the experience beyond basketball.

“We're there such a short period of time,” Auriemma said. “There's not a lot of time but hopefully we can cram in a few things with the Midshipmen. I like our players to see kids their age going about trying to be great at something other than basketball, and how they go about it.”

This isn’t the first time UConn has done something related to the military. The Huskies visited Pearl Harbor a few times when they traveled to Hawaii for the Wahine Classic over Thanksgiving in 1991-92, 1995-96 and 2002-03. When they played at San Diego State in 2007-08, they went on board the USS Ronald Reagan, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier.

“It was fun to ask the people working on the ship, the carrier, about their duties and our players listening to that, ‘This is what my job is. This is what my responsibility is.’ And looking at the players’ faces, like ‘You're in charge of catching those planes when they land on the carrier?’ ‘Yeah, I gotta make sure of that, what about you?’ ‘I gotta rotate over and box-out on the jump shot.’ That's a little bit of a different vibe there,” Auriemma laughed.

UConn also practiced at West Point — home of the US Military Academy, colloquially known as Army — for a day during the 2018 preseason.

“They got to experience a little bit of a day in the life of a cadet,” Auriemma said. “They're just shaking their heads and the thing you hear all the time is, ‘Man, I couldn't do this,’ … It's an eye opener for how other people their age live.”

The current crop of Huskies will now get that type of experience, just at the Naval Academy this time.

Halloween fun

UConn’s three players who spoke to the media on Friday all had subtle Halloween costumes on. Sarah Strong dressed as Jana El Alfy, Jana El Alfy went as Sarah Strong while Ayanna Patterson showed up as Caroline Ducharme. They mostly just swapped practice jerseys with each other, although Patterson held Ducharme’s protective headband while she spoke.

El Alfy joked that she’ll only respond to questions with a smile and thumbs up — poking fun at Strong’s notoriously short answers — while Patterson wanted to be like Ducharme on the court, too.

“Hopefully I'm gonna go to practice and shoot some threes,” she laughed.

Auriemma, sporting a black long sleeve and jeans, declared that he was dressed as “a happy person.”

Cheli still sidelined

According to Auriemma, there’s “no new updates” on sophomore Morgan Cheli, who missed the entire preseason while working her way back from ankle surgery in February.

“I have no idea yet when that's going to be resolved,” Auriemma said in his previous update on Cheli. “I don’t know what her timetable is.”

UConn among finalists for top-10 recruit

On the recruiting front, UConn is one of five finalists for Haylen Ayers, the No. 7 prospect in the class of 2027. Duke, Kentucky, Texas and Vanderbilt are also in the mix for the 6-0 guard from Jackson, Tennessee.

The Huskies don’t yet have a 2027 commitment, though they’ve also shown interest in Kaleena Smith (No. 1), Ivanna Wilson-Manyacka (No. 2), Jordyn Palmer (No. 6) and Lauren Hassell (No. 11).