Tag: big east basketball

UConn star Paige Bueckers lands first of its kind NIL deal with Unrivaled

Paige Bueckers becomes the first college athlete with an ownership stake in a professional sports league in first of its kind NIL deal.

Although she likely would have been among the top players selected in the 2024 WNBA draft, Paige Bueckers opted to return to UConn and run it back for another season and a chance to win a national championship.

It helps that her earning potential through NIL is significant as one of the faces of college basketball, and already the star guard signed a first-of-its-kind deal with the new Unrivaled Basketball league.

Bueckers’ deal makes her the first college athlete with ownership equity in a professional league, and she is expected to play in the Unrivaled league as well as the WNBA after her college career comes to a close, per Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Unrivaled is a three-on-three women’s basketball league set to begin play in January of 2025. It features 30 players on six teams and was founded by former UConn teammates Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier as an alternative for WNBA stars to stay in the country and play during the offseason – rather than going overseas.

“It’s the ability for players to stay home, to be in a market like Miami where we can just be the buzz and create that with the best WNBA players,” Stewart told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. “We can’t keep fighting [the WNBA’s prioritization rule]. It is a rule that takes away our choices, which should never be a thing, especially as women, but it is still a rule.”

Unrivaled plans to offer the “highest average salary in women’s professional sports league history” and has already received financial investments from the likes of Steve Nash, Carmelo Anthony, Alex Morgan, and Megan Rapinoe.

Bueckers, a two-time Big East Player of the Year, has led UConn to the Final Four three times with one national championship appearance in 2022.

Iowa coach Fran McCaffery’s two sons both committed to Butler

The Butler Bulldogs landed 2025 forward Jack McCaffery, the brother of transfer portal addition Patrick and son of Iowa coach Fran McCaffery.

Among the thousands of men’s basketball players who hit the transfer portal to find a new home this offseason, few stand out quite as much as Patrick McCaffery.

McCaffery transferred from Iowa to Butler, which on its face looks like a fairly unsurprising move for the sixth year senior who averaged 8.5 points in 123 games with the Hawkeyes.

However, McCaffery is the son of Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery, leaving his dad’s program after five years. The story gets even more unique with the announcement on Monday that Jack McCaffery, a top 100 recruit in the 2025 class and Patrick’s younger brother, will follow him to Butler rather than playing at Iowa for Fran.

The brothers won’t play together, unless Jack reclassifies to 2024 or Patrick gets a seventh year of eligibility, but nonetheless seeing both pick the same program – and not the one in the Big Ten with dad – is unique.

However, at least according to 247Sports, Jack McCaffery did not receive an offer from Iowa – getting offers from Butler, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest, among others.

The four-star power forward is ranked 113th in the 2025 class at 247 and 90th in the composite rankings, and mentioned coach Thad Matta’s offense and how it runs through the post as a big reason for choosing the Bulldogs, as well as the familial connection.

“My brother goes there too and he likes it a lot so it helped my decision,” McCaffery told 247. “I also built a great relationship with both Coach Joseph and Coach Matta throughout the process.”

Two time national champion point guard signs with Indiana Pacers

Former UConn Huskies point guard Tristen Newton inks two-way deal with Indiana Pacers.

The Indiana Pacers inked former UConn Huskies guard Tristen Newton to a two-way contract on Saturday.

Newton was the 49th player selected in the 2024 NBA draft, joined in the draft class by fellow UConn starters Stephon Castle, Donovan Clingan, and Cam Spencer.

The 6’5 guard averaged 9.0 points, 4.6 assists, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.2 steals across five Summer League games, although he shot just 20% from the field and 18.2% from the three point line.

“Tristen Newton, tremendous [growth] from game one to game five,” Pacers summer league head coach Jannero Pargo said. “Understanding our offense more, playing more confident. Being able to call plays and run our sets and be more comfortable out there.”

Newton averaged over 15 points, six assists, and six rebounds in his final season with UConn, leading Dan Hurley’s team to back-to-back national championships as the primary ball-handler.

Now, his experience, winning mentality, facilitation, and positional rebounding skills will give Indiana additional point guard depth available throughout the season, although Newton will likely spend most of his time in the G League with the Mad Ants.

SMU and Butler agree to home-and-home series starting in 2024

The SMU Mustangs and Butler Bulldogs will square off in November at Hinkle Fieldhouse as part of a home-and-home series.

The SMU Mustangs and Butler Bulldogs agreed to a home-and-home series that will begin at the start of this upcoming college basketball season.

The first matchup will take place at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on November 15, 2024, while the return game will be in Dallas during the 2025-26 season. A date for that game has yet to be announced.

SMU is set to compete in the ACC this season after years in the AAC, and they will be headed up by new coach Andy Enfield who left USC to replace Rob Lanier in Dallas.

The Mustangs overhauled the roster with a litany of talented transfers, including Kevin Miller (Wake Forest) Kario Oquendo (Georgia) and Yohan Traore (Santa Barbara).

They’ll face a nice early season test on the road against the Bulldogs, who went 18-15 last year and 9-11 in the highly competitive Big East. Coach Thad Matta lost guards Posh Alexander and DJ Davis in the transfer portal to Dayton and Washington, respectively, but the team is hoping newcomers Patrick McCaffery (Iowa), Jamie Kaiser (Maryland) and Kolby King (Tulane) can pick up the slack.

Both teams project to be outside the NCAA Tournament next March, but whoever wins this game will have a quality nonconference victory on the resume and a momentum builder at the start of the 2024-25 season.

UConn and Texas agree to home-and-home series starting in 2024

UConn and Texas will meet at home in each of the next two college basketball seasons, starting in Austin this December.

The back-to-back defending champion UConn Huskies have agreed to a non-conference home-and-home series with the Texas Longhorns, an elite matchup between two college basketball powerhouses.

The matchups are already set, with the first game taking place December 8, 2024 in Austin while the return game will be almost exactly one year later on December 12, 2025 in Storrs.

These two programs met last season in the Saatva Empire Classic at Madison Square Garden, with the Huskies securing an 81-71 victory behind 20 points from Alex Karaban and 15 points and eight rebounds off the bench from Samson Johnson.

UConn loves non-conference challenges, having played Kansas, North Carolina, Gonzaga, Alabama, Oregon, Iowa State, and Florida in the past two years alone.

Meanwhile, Texas is looking to spruce up the non-con as they transition into the SEC, where they will go from competing against Kansas, Baylor, Iowa State, and Kansas State to now facing Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, and Florida.

The Huskies and Longhorns have met 10 times in total, with UConn holding a 7-3 advantage after last year’s victory.

Undrafted St. John’s guard shines for Detroit Pistons in NBA Summer League

Daniss Jenkins dropped 26 points on six made three-pointers for the Detroit Pistons, a great Summer League showing for the St. John’s alumni.

The Detroit Pistons are well stocked at the guard position already, with Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Malik Beasley and Marcus Sasser all in the mix.

However, a new contender has emerged in Daniss Jenkins, an undrafted guard who played for Rick Pitino and St. John’s last season. Jenkins already signed a two-way contract, but his performance on Monday in Detroit’s first Summer League victory merits strong consideration for a standard roster spot.

Jenkins dropped 26 points on 8-16 shooting, including 6-11 from the three point line, along with four assists, three rebounds, two blocks, and one steal.

His red hot shooting put a ton of pressure on opposing defenses, and he used his craftiness to make plays for his teammates and get to the rim with ease – carving up the Rockets and making his case as the strongest undrafted member of the 2024 class.

The 6’3 guard was excellent for Pitino and the Red Storm as a senior in 2023-24, averaging 14.9 points, 5.4 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.6 steals while shooting 50% on twos, 35.4% from the three point line, and 85.1% on free throws.

Jenkins followed Pitino from Iona, where he averaged 15.6 points and shot 36.1% from three. Prior to that he spent two years in the WCC at Pacific, averaging 12.2 points as a sophomore in the COVID shortened 2020-21 campaign.

The Dallas native no doubt enjoyed taking down Houston on Monday, and more performances at or near this level should result in him getting a standard NBA contract and securing a spot in Detroit’s rotation when the NBA season gets underway in October.

In Liam McNeeley, UConn has college basketball’s next villain

UConn Huskies freshman wing Liam McNeeley is set to be college basketball’s villain for the 2024-25 season.

After winning back-to-back national championships, Dan Hurley and the UConn Huskies have fully embraced being college basketball’s villains.

Hurley’s extreme reactions on the sidelines and “us against the world” mentality have helped build the villainy, and many of the players who come into the program are taylor made to be college basketball villains – with Rutgers transfer Cam Spencer filling the role admirably last season.

This year, Hurley already identified Spencer’s replacement as incoming freshman Liam McNeeley, the No. 10 ranked player in the 2024 recruiting class who is expected to be a day one starter and one-and-done player who gets taken in the lottery of the 2025 NBA draft.

Hurley spoke to the media on Tuesday and discussed McNeeley’s attitude and confidence, going as far as to say he thinks “opposing fan bases will find him to be an acceptable villain.”

McNeeley is from Richardson, TX and was a McDonald’s All-American who spent time at three different high schools. He originally committed to the Indiana Hoosiers before reopening his recruitment and joining the Huskies as they look for a third straight national title.

Fan bases in Texas and Indiana already have a reason to treat McNeeley like a villain, and soon the rest of the Big East will follow suit – particularly if he plays a big role in UConn continuing to win at an absurdly high rate in 2024-25.

Seton Hall lands high upside guard from Providence via transfer portal

Former Providence guard Garwey Dual committed to play for Shaheen Holloway and Seton Hall out of the transfer portal.

Garwey Dual is staying in the Big East. The former Providence point guard, who tested the NBA draft waters, committed to play for Shaheen Holloway and Seton Hall for his sophomore season.

Dual spent his freshman season playing for Kim English and the Friars, and while he came in with a lot of folks projecting him as a one-and-done talent, the 6’5 guard averaged just 3.3 points, 1.9 assists and 1.3 rebounds in 18.5 minutes per game, shooting 40% on two-pointers and 25% from 3.

Dual admitted he was hoping to find a spot that would allow him to play point guard, which he didn’t do at Providence thanks to the emergence of star Devin Carter, and Seton Hall might be just the place for him.

The Pirates lost Kadary Richmond to another Big East school, St. John’s, while Dre Davis bounced to Ole Miss.

Dual should get an opportunity to play big minutes right away, and Holloway’s hard-nosed, defensive focused style should help elevate his draft stock and allow him to showcase his versatile set of skills.

Holloway is stocking up on sophomores who didn’t play much as freshman, also adding Scotty Middleton from Ohio State, and if his gambles pay off this team may improve on last year’s NIT championship by competing in the Big Dance.

Report: Lakers targeting UConn’s Danny Hurley as next head coach

The Los Angeles Lakers are preparing to make a massive offer to hire UConn Huskies head basketball coach Danny Hurley.

The biggest NBA brand is looking to bring in the most successful college basketball coach, with ESPN reporting the Los Angeles Lakers are targeting UConn’s Danny Hurley for their vacant head coach position.

Hurley led the Huskies to back-to-back NCAA Championships, becoming the first coach to do so since Billy Donovan did it with the Florida Gators in 2007 and 2008.

The Lakers had been targeting former Duke guard and NBA analyst J.J. Redick for the role, but now the team is reportedly preparing to offer Hurley a huge contract to pull him to the NBA.

The 51-year-old would take over a team still hoping to keep their championship window open with 40-year-old LeBron James and veteran big man Anthony Davis in the mix. LA won the title in 2020 but lost twice in the first round, and missed the playoffs altogether, since then.

For UConn, if Hurley does depart the players on the roster will all have 30 days to enter the transfer portal, and all eyes will be on recent NBA draft returnee Alex Karaban as well as incoming freshman Liam McNeeley and transfer portal additions Aidan Mahaney (St. Mary’s) and Tarris Reed (Michigan).

This story is continuing to develop.

Breaking: Marquette star Tyler Kolek to miss remaining regular season games

Marquette will be without star point guard Tyler Kolek for the final two Big East regular season games as he recovers from an oblique injury.

Things went from bad to worst for Shaka Smart and the Marquette Golden Eagles here in March. Not only did Marquette get beat by Creighton over the weekend, they got word that starting point guard and 2022-23 Big East Player of the Year Tyler Kolek will miss the final two games of the regular season due to an oblique injury.

Kolek did not suit up against the Blue Jays in Marquette’s 89-75 loss, and it was clear how much he was missed when the Golden Eagles had seven total assists – where Kolek averages 7.6 assists on his own.

Additionally, Kolek is also averaging a career-high 15 points and 4.7 rebounds while shooting an even 40% from three and 88% from the free throw line.

Smart and Marquette will hope some extra rest can get Kolek healthy enough to participate in the Big East Tournament – although keeping him rested and ready for the Big Dance is likely the more important thing so this program can avoid what happened last year when as a two seed they lost to seven seeded Michigan State in the Round of 32.