The Big East has already handed UConn men’s basketball its conference slate, but the women are still waiting for theirs to drop.
That leaves the Huskies with only the outline of what’s ahead, and the non-conference calendar already looks demanding with LSU and South Carolina on it. There’s no official release date yet for the women’s schedule, but last season offers a pretty clear clue: the Big East unveiled that slate on Sept. 19, eight days after the men’s schedule came out on Sept. 11.
If that pattern holds, UConn’s women should learn their conference opponents early next week. That would put the release roughly five weeks before the regular season starts on Nov. 3.
The timing matters because the women’s league schedule can get rolling well before the men’s. The men are set to begin Big East play on Dec. 23, while UConn’s women started conference action much earlier last year, opening on Nov. 30 with a 104-39 win over Xavier. They played three league games before Christmas.
This year’s UConn team looks familiar in one sense and very different in another. The Huskies are still expected to be strong, but the group that went 38-1 and ran the regular season without a loss is gone in key spots.
Azzi Fudd is no longer there after being taken with the No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft, and her departure leaves real questions in the backcourt. Sarah Strong, the reigning National Player of the Year, gives UConn a foundation in the frontcourt, where she pairs with Blanca Quinones. That gives the Huskies a chance to overwhelm teams inside, even if the perimeter is less settled.
First-year Olivia Vukosa is another name to watch. She represented Croatia in international play this summer and arrived as the No. 1 recruit in the country for the Class of 2026. But she’s also a post player, which means she’ll be working in the same interior space as Strong and Quinones rather than solving the wing issues.
Elsewhere in UConn athletics, the football team is back on the road after a loss to Maryland on Saturday. The Huskies, now 1-1, will face Southern Miss on Saturday night.
Southern Miss is also 1-1 after opening with a 49-3 win over Alcorn State and then falling 43-8 to Auburn on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. ET.
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For UConn fans, the move is an easy one to follow because Boatright has never really stopped feeling like part of the programs extended family. His path to USF came together through a personal connection to coach Chris Gerlufsen, and the fit makes sense for someone trying to turn his playing experience into a long-term coaching future. The challenge now is building that new career one stop at a time, and this one gives him a meaningful place to start. [Read more 🡒]
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UConns Big East Schedule Just Set Up A Real Dan Hurley Test
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Among the highlights are a visit from St. Johns at Madison Square Garden and a pair of matchups with Villanova, the sort of dates that usually help define where a team sits in the Big East pecking order. The full schedule does not offer many easy breathers, and the way it stacks up suggests UConn will have to be sharp almost every week to stay on track in a league that rarely hands out much margin for error. [Read more 🡒]