Mike Pegues, who spent the last four years as an assistant for Thad Matta at Butler, was hired to fill the position previously occupied by Luke Murray, who took the head coaching job at Boston College this spring.

UConn also announced the hiring of Naugatuck native Justin McClelland, who will take over as director of men’s basketball strength and conditioning following Gavin Roberts’ departure to Oklahoma State.

Hurley took his time before landing on Pegues, who spent three seasons on Chris Mack’s staff at Louisville alongside Murray ahead of his last stint with the Bulldogs. He stayed with the Cardinals for the 2021-22 season, after Murray moved on to UConn, and filled in as interim head coach after Mack was fired midway through the year.

“Excited to add a coach of Mike’s caliber to our organization,” Hurley said in a release. “He has proven throughout his career to be an excellent coach and a tireless recruiter. His ability to help develop our big men and his high-major experience, especially in the BIG EAST, will be huge for us. Mike is a well-respected figure in basketball circles who has succeeded at a high level for a long time.”

A former Washington D.C. high school standout at powerhouse DeMatha Catholic, Pegues played for Hall of Fame coach Morgan Wootten and went to Delaware before his short professional career, which included time overseas and with the Connecticut Pride of the CBA. A knee injury led him to coaching, which he began at Friendship Collegiate Academy in D.C., where, similar to Hurley’s start, he was also teaching. He went on to Bishop O’Connell High and was an assistant under Wootten’s son, Joe, before taking his first college job as a video coordinator at VCU for the 2009-10 season.

Pegues returned to his alma mater as an assistant under Delaware head coach Monté Ross before joining Mack at Xavier, where he spent six seasons before following Mack to Louisville. He went to Butler and spent the last four years on staff as an assistant until Matta retired and was replaced by Ronald Nored this offseason.

With his DMV recruiting ties and experience coaching big men, Pegues is a strong fit for the role previously held by Murray on staff with associate head coach Kimani Young and assistant Mike Nardi, who came on from Villanova last summer.

UConn underwent significant changes in its frontcourt this offseason with Alex Karaban and Tarris Reed Jr. leaving for the NBA, and Eric Reibe and Jaylin Stewart entering the transfer portal. The Huskies added Najai Hines and Oskar Giltay to man the center position, along with Nik Khamenia to play the four. They are still looking to add a backup four out of the portal.

McClelland’s previous stops include Villanova, Clemson, East Carolina and Florida. He attended West Woods Christian Academy in Hamden before playing basketball and earning an exercise science degree at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pa.

“We’re confident that Justin will carry the championship-level expectations we have in all aspects of our program to our strength and conditioning unit,” Hurley said. “His experience preparing athletes at the highest level in the best leagues in the country will have a huge impact in ensuring our guys are physically and mentally ready to continue to compete for titles.”

The Huskies’ frontcourt duo has been all over the country in recent weeks, visiting and working out for potential suitors. Both expect to hear their name called from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn at some point late in the first round on June 23 or early in the second round the next day.

Both Karaban and Reed stood out at the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago last month, which helped their stock. Karaban was the best shooter across the board, making nearly 75% of his shots in the various workouts, while Reed showed the versatility and force he can bring to an NBA organization.

A number of different teams have had Karaban in for workouts, though UConn general manager Tom Moore named the Spurs, Kings and Celtics among those with the most mutual interest. The Spurs hosted the Huskies’ captain before Game 1 of the NBA Finals, but he’s also been out in Sacramento and visited with his hometown Celtics.

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“Just a champion, a winner, a culture-setter. It sounds trite to go back to that whole setting a culture and establishing a culture, but geez, like, when you’re in a locker room with that kid and he is working as hard as he works on a day-in and day-out basis, you feel guilty if you’re not at least coming close to what he does,” Moore said at the UConn Coaches Road Show event last week.

“What Dan (Hurley) felt about Alex was that he sort of unlocked our offense. We were somewhat limited offensively with the way we wanted to play in terms of that four position until Alex got in and it just opened up the whole offense and sort of unlocked Dan’s ability to call a game and unlocked Luke (Murray’s) ability to help him. It just put us on such a trajectory. So he forever is an absolute legend in our eyes.”

Reed also visited with the Celtics about a month ago.

“I know he’s doing well,” Moore said. “I know he worked out for the Celtics right after they lost and Luke Murray was up there and went over and watched to support him, and talked to Brad Stevens afterward and Brad said very good things about him. So it’s an exciting time. These guys could go so many different places, it’s nerve-wracking, but you’re excited for the kids and their families.”

The Celtics could be eyeing a former Husky with the No. 27 overall pick, where Karaban is projected to be selected by USA Today. Boston also holds the No. 40 overall pick, where NBADraft.net sees Karaban being taken, though Yahoo! Sports projected him as the No. 31 overall selection, first in the second round, to the Knicks. Bleacher Report has Karaban going No. 34 overall to the Kings.

“NBA teams know Alex Karaban’s strengths, limitations and potential pro role after 151 college games and three Final Fours,” wrote Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman, who compared Karaban to Sam Hauser. “But to see him improve athletically, which this year’s combine tests show after weak results in 2024, has been deemed very encouraging. He could earn late first-round looks from teams that see an NBA-ready shooter, cutter and professional.”

There are also some first round projections for Reed, whose stock rose significantly after he led UConn back to the national championship game with a dominant run through the NCAA Tournament. He was projected at No. 29 overall to the Cavaliers by The Associated Press. Other projections have him coming off the board early on the second day, with both Bleacher Report and NBADraft.net projecting Reed as the No. 32 overall pick of the Grizzlies. Yahoo! Sports has him going one pick later, at No. 33 overall to the Nets.

“Reed is a throwback center who played at his best on the biggest stage on UConn’s way to the national title game,” wrote Yahoo!’s Kevin O’Connor. “He does all the dirty work inside the paint as a finisher and rebounder and shot-blocker. But beyond his ability to screen and pass, he isn’t all too comfortable on the perimeter as a shooter or defender. So there are questions about his upside, especially since he’ll be 23 as a rookie.

“For the Nets, though, adding a rock-solid center could simply help raise the floor of this team to make them more competent.”

Alongside Geno Auriemma, softball coach Laura Valentino and first-year football coach Jason Candle, Moore dished on last season’s run to a third Final Four in four years, the Braylon Mullins shot that punched UConn’s ticket and the last two months of putting together a roster that can get back.

“Speaking for Dan and our staff, it wasn’t as dominant as the ’24 season, but we really liked how the kids bounced back from the St. John’s loss in the Big East Tournament to play really well for six games – even the Michigan game we played really well,” Moore said, noting that the Huskies were only a few made shots away from having the Wolverines on their heels in the national championship game.

On the flight back the next day, it was what Hurley called “Tom Moore time.”

“Dan’s turned around to me and he’s like, ‘How much money do we have? Who will we talk to? Who are we gonna to talk to? What’s the plan?'” Moore said. “It’s the new reality and you have to become good at it. You can’t say ‘woe is me,’ you can’t shy from it, you have to figure out ways to attack it and be good in it. And I think we’ve done a pretty good job the last couple of years of having that mindset toward it. Because you have to, or it will sort of eat you up.”

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UConn saw five players leave through the transfer portal and five others who ran out of eligibility – including NBA Draft prospects Alex Karaban and Tarris Reed Jr., who are deep into the process of working out for teams all over the country. Karaban, Moore said, worked out with the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday before they hosted Game 1 of the NBA Finals and has also seen strong interest from both the Sacramento Kings and Boston Celtics. Reed worked out with the Celtics right after their season ended and had former UConn assistant, now Boston College head coach Luke Murray there watching in support.

Both are projected to hear their name called near the end of the first round or early in the second round later this month.

But in Storrs, almost all of the new roster – five returners (including Solo Ball, who will sit out as a medical redshirt), seven transfers (so far), and a pair of incoming freshmen – has been assembled for summer workouts. Freshman Colben Landrew, who has a real shot at competing for a starting spot right away, is in Mexico competing in the FIBA U18 AmeriCup for USA Basketball. Moore said associate head coach Kimani Young went down to see him.

Speaking with reporters after the hour-long panel discussion, Moore provided some updates on the Huskies’ offseason:

Roster nearly complete

Headlined by the return of Braylon Mullins and point guard Silas Demary Jr., UConn’s roster for the 2026-27 season is good enough on paper for the Huskies to land on the top five in many of the “way-too-early” national rankings.

But Hurley, Moore and the staff aren’t done just yet. They are still looking to add another rotational forward who can back up Duke transfer Nik Khamenia.

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“Dan is so good at the roster construction. So good at evaluating what we lose and knowing what we need, and then just brilliant at, like, screening the type of players we need to fill the positions we lost. So we’re really excited about the fits at every position,” Moore said. “Recruiting is a different science than it was way back, where these last two or three guys that we signed (Jaye Nash, Isaiah Shaw, Elmir Dzafic), they’re going to be guys that we need to be great in practice and great in the locker room. So people have to understand it’s really scientific as to the role we have for these guys, the money we allocate to these guys at every single position, a lot of strategy goes into who we bring in. But on the high end, really excited about Nik Khamenia, really excited about Najai (Hines) and Oskar (Giltay) up front, and then Nils (Machowski) too with some combo guard depth.”

Another loaded nonconference schedule

Once again, UConn will play the best of the best in its nonconference schedule. The Huskies even upped the ante by scheduling seven “tough” games against top-ranked teams, including Michigan, Duke, Illinois, Kansas, Arizona, Virginia and Ohio State.

“We like the way it’s worked for us the last couple of years. And it’s hard because we want to play just the elite brands, and it’s amazing how quickly you run out of, like, elite-level brands where you don’t feel like you’re going down,” Moore said. “The analytics tell you when it comes to seeding that you don’t get really penalized for losing those games. You can’t lose all of them, but you don’t get hurt too much by those losses. We’ve been fortunate, we’ve been ambitious and we’ve also won at a great clip. So it tests you and it’ll test us again this year and have us ready for the Big East.”

UConn is still working on finalizing its bye games, which also involves some “scientific” analysis.

“We like to look at how they play defensively, what their tempo is, how they did in bye games last year, what percentage of offense they get from 3s… We go into a lot of analytical study on that. And then everything else has to add up, like the dates have to line up, they have to want to play us, the money has to be right. It’s a really complicated thing, but we’re getting there,” Moore said.

Assistant coach search still ongoing

The job postings for an assistant coach to replace Luke Murray and a full-time Director of Strength and Conditioning to replace Gavin Roberts, who’s gone on to Oklahoma State, are no longer on the UConn website. However, Moore said, they haven’t yet been filled.

“Coach is gonna be really deliberate on it,” he said, specifically on the assistant coach position. “Whoever it is has big shoes to fill.”

Hurley Sr. will appear at The Shops at Evergreen Walk on Thursday, June 11, for a live Q&A session with fans, and will sign autographs after. The event is free and open to the public.

Festivities will begin at 6:30 p.m. on the green, as Hurley will share stories and insights from his legendary high school coaching career at St. Anthony in New Jersey, as well as memories of raising his two sons, Dan and Bobby, both of whom have gone on to make their own indelible impact on the basketball world. The interactive conversation will be hosted by a special guest emcee, according to a press release.

Hurley will then sign autographs at The Gampel Collection, a retailer for UConn memorabilia, from 6:30-7:30 p.m.

No tickets or registration is required for the event.

But this isn’t about a Jersey City guy and a love affair with the darlings of Madison Square Garden. This is about UConn basketball family, now. The Knicks may be in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999, may be going for their first championship since 1973, but they’d have to beat Stephon Castle to do it.

“No, I’m not torn,” Hurley said told The Courant on Tuesday morning. “I mean, I love the Knicks. They have always been my favorite NBA team. I’m obviously going with … I’m rolling with Steph, there’s no question about that.”

Castle was a one-and-done at UConn in 2023-24, growing before our eyes over the course of that season and playing a huge role in the Huskies’ repeat as national champions. A lot of freshmen are ready to be drafted into the NBA, projected to be something special; Castle was ready to play in the NBA at age 19. He was rookie of the year last season, and played a major role in turning the Spurs around, almost 180 degrees, in his second season.

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Now San Antonio, having knocked off the defending champion Thunder in the Western Conference Finals, faces the Knicks, who have won 11 straight playoff games in the East, for the championship, the seven-game series starts Wednesday night.

“One of the more appealing finals we’ve seen,” Hurley said. “You’ve got the Knicks and the history of the Knicks, a more veteran group, versus this young and talented, ahead-of-schedule Spurs team.”

Hurley and Castle shared a long, tight hug when Castle walked off the court in Glendale, Ariz., the championship game against Purdue secured in UConn’s hand on April 8, 2024. Castle averaged 10.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 2.8 assists during that tournament, scoring 21 in the semifinals against Alabama. More important than those numbers, he functioned as part of Hurley’s designs, playing disruptive defense, playing well within a group of stars and fitting in with the culture. Hurley used to call him “the anti-five-star” recruit.

“It starts, as it usually does, at home with the parents Steph was blessed to have, Stacey and Quannette,” Hurley said. “Just a great inner circle that stayed small. He just never was concerned about rankings or draft positioning, it was just humility about him. Being coachable, working hard, getting better. I know it sounds corny, but they were demanding parents, they didn’t manage his career, they held him accountable they wanted him to be coached hard. … We put him in a great structure and he was able to develop championship habits.”

Meanwhile, the Spurs, who won five championships between 1999 and 2014, had missed the playoffs five years in a row going into the 2024 NBA Draft. They were eyeing Castle with the No. 4 pick.

“Any time you deal with an early entry,” Hurley said, “you know some of them are not no-brainers. Some of them are, ‘Let’s talk about this. … I’m leaning towards, you should come back,’  and ‘Hey, you have a hard decision to make.’ Then you look at how (Castle) played in the Final Four, how he played in March Madness, whether it was defense, all-around performance, and a couple of days after the season’s over you have nothing left to talk about. It’s like, ‘There’s no decision to be made, you’re ready. So let’s hug, and good luck.'”

Castle, 6 feet 6, joined Victor Wembanyama, 7-4, top pick in the previous draft and one of The Association’s fast rising superstars, and a franchise that was getting the draft picks right. Hall of Famer Gregg Popovich was ailing and stepped aside as coach, Mitch Johnson took over, with former UConn walk-on Mike Noyes as one of his assistants, and the Spurs went 62-20 this past regular season. Castle averaged 16.3 points, 7.4 assists and 5.3 rebounds.

“He could play in the backcourt with with any type of other guard,” Hurley said. “That’s what allowed him to make it work. He can play on-ball, he can play off-ball, so his ability to fit with (Dylan) Harper and (De’Aaron) Fox, and be able to be versatile with them. When the lineup changes and he needs to be the primary on-ball, it’s similar to what it was at UConn with Cam Spencer and Tristen (Newton). I think for Steph, he’s he’s all about winning, it’s not about ego. He could play with any type of roster.”

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Since Castle has been in the NBA, LeBron James has gone out of his way to seek him out after games, and praise him on social media, saying many of the things Hurley always has. James gave him a signed jersey inscribed, “I love everything about you. Keep going up. Strive for greatness.”

“He’s a warrior,” Hurley said. “He plays as hard as anyone and he’s got the game, he’s got the skills. It’s rare that a player appeals to the old school, the players that play with great intensity, and then the new school that love the skill. He plays like the old school and the new school, and fans of basketball love the way he plays.”

The widely-held perception in the NBA is that the West is the much stronger of the two conferences, but the Jalen Brunson-led Knicks (53-29), the No. 3 seed in the East have caught fire, losing two tight games to Atlanta in the first round, then blowing out the Hawks the next three, and sweeping the 76ers and Cavaliers. The Spurs come off a grueling series against top-seed Oklahoma City, winning Game 7 on the road.

“The Knicks remind me of the way we were playing in the (2023 and ’24) NCAA Tournaments,” Hurley said. “Their confidence, the dominance. When you talk to your basketball friends, what you’re asking is, ‘Is the East that much worse than the West, or are the Knicks just playing that well?’  … I do believe the Spurs are going to need to make the Knicks uncomfortable, pressuring them by getting up the court. Pick Brunson up full court and really make it a lot tougher on them than it was with the Cavaliers and the Sixers. Use that young athleticism and that length on the perimeter, does that end up bothering Brunson?”

How much the more grueling road to The Finals has taken out of the Spurs could be a key to the series, Hurley noted. But if it comes down to a Knicks ride down Wall Street’s Canyon of Heroes or another championship ring for Stephon Castle’s collection, there’s no doubt about Hurley’s allegiance.

“You know, there is obviously tremendous pride in one of your own,” he said.

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The incoming Huskies freshman, a powerful four-star wing with a football background, made a strong impression as USA Basketball beat up on Argentina for an 88-58 win in its opening game Monday night. Landrew made a pair of 3-pointers, one from straight on, another from the corner, as he finished with eight points, five rebounds, an assist, a block and a steal.

Though it wasn’t the best shooting night for the 6-foot-6 Alabama native, who went just 2-for-9 from the field and rushed a few of his layup attempts, it was clear what attracted UConn coach Dan Hurley and his staff as Landrew wasn’t afraid to get active on the boards and go after loose balls. He will likely be in the running for a starting spot with the Huskies as a freshman.

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He was in the starting lineup for Team USA alongside Kansas signee Taylen Kinney, incoming Miami freshman Caleb Gaskins, future Michigan State center Ethan Taylor and Adan Diggs, a consensus top-five player in the 2027 class. The team is coached by Anthony Grant (University of Dayton) and assistants Matt Langel (Colgate University) and Nate Oats (University of Alabama).

Team USA will continue its run in Group A with a game against Mexico at 10 p.m. Tuesday night and then conclude with Brazil at 5 p.m. on Thursday. The winners of both groups – with Group B made up of Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Canada – will advance to the semifinal round on June 6 with the medal games scheduled for June 7.

All games in the FIBA U18 AmeriCup are streamed live for free on the FIBA Basketball YouTube channel.

Dzafic joins a frontcourt group that was retooled completely through the transfer portal this offseason after the Huskies lost Alex Karaban and Tarris Reed Jr. to the NBA Draft, and both Jaylin Stewart (SMU) and Eric Reibe (USC) to the transfer portal. He will likely serve as a depth piece behind former Seton Hall center Najai Hines and former Stanford big Oskar Giltay.

The Huskies also added Nik Khamenia from Duke to fill Karaban’s spot at the four and Isaiah Shaw from Northern Arizona for added depth.

Dan Hurley and his staff will likely continue looking to add another power forward into the mix.

Dzafic, who goes by the nickname “EJ” and pronounces his last name “JAWF-ich,” played in seven games for Calipari and the Razorbacks last season. He scored a total of three points, all coming from the free throw line, where he went 3-for-6 on the year. He has yet to attempt a shot from the field at the college level.

Dzafic averaged 13.1 points and 10 rebounds in eight games at the 2023 U-18 European Championship Division B while representing Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The 2026-27 UConn roster, headlined by the trio of returners that includes Braylon Mullins, Silas Demary Jr. and Jayden Ross, began moving onto campus this week for summer classes and workouts. That does not include incoming freshman Colben Landrew, who is competing for the USA Basketball Junior National Team at the FIBA U18 AmeriCup in Mexico this week.

The 21-year-old in his second pro season, just two years removed from celebrating the 2024 national championship as a freshman in Storrs, will be the 10th former Husky to be part of an NBA Finals run and the first since Hall of Famer Ray Allen in 2014. Allen is the last Husky to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy, having done so with the Miami Heat in 2013.

Castle, proving himself as a budding star with the San Antonio Spurs alongside 7-foot-4 French sensation Victor Wembanyama, had 16 points with six rebounds and six assists on Saturday night to beat the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder – coached by former UConn student manager Mark Daigneault – in a thrilling seven-game Western Conference Finals series.

“It’s surreal. It don’t feel real,” Castle told reporters in Oklahoma City on Saturday after a 111-103 win. “It’s something we’ve been dreaming about, but having to go out there and earn it is a way better feeling than having it given to you. It feels really good, but we’ve got to understand that our job isn’t finished yet, so we can’t be satisfied.”

.@StephonCastle @paigebueckers1 pic.twitter.com/PlLJTJsa74

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) May 31, 2026

Only five former UConn players have won an NBA championship ring.

Castle, the 2025 NBA Rookie of the Year, finished the series averaging 18.0 points, 7.6 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game and is entering the NBA Finals tied with Lebron James for the second-most playoff games (nine, two behind Magic Johnson) with at least 15 points, five rebounds and five assists before turning 22 years old.

Castle’s Spurs will host the New York Knicks for the first two games of the NBA Finals, beginning on Wednesday (8:30 p.m. ABC). Games 3 and 4 will take place in Madison Square Garden, which hasn’t hosted a finals game since 1999, when the Spurs took down the Knicks in five games.

The Knicks haven’t won a championship since 1973.

Here’s a look at the nine previous Huskies whose teams have made the NBA Finals:

Ray Allen (2008, 2010, 2013, 2014)

The only UConn men’s player in the Basketball Hall of Fame, Allen made the NBA Finals four times, twice each with the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat. Teamed up with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, Allen helped the Celtics to their first title since 1986 when he made seven 3-pointers to win Game Six and clinch the 2008 series over the Los Angeles Lakers. Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol got their revenge in 2010, beating Allen’s Celtics in seven games.

Allen signed with the Heat ahead of the 2012-13 season and helped Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh to their second-consecutive championship. He famously saved the series against the Spurs with a corner 3-pointer that tied Game Six with seconds remaining and led to an overtime victory for the Heat, who went on to win in seven games for his second championship. Allen made the Finals again with the Heat in 2014 and lost to the Spurs in five games, which ended up being the final five games of his career.

UConn’s only two-time NBA champion, Allen averaged 13.9 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.9 assists over 25 career Finals games.

Caron Butler (2011)

Butler played 14 seasons in the NBA and was a key part of the 2011 Dallas Mavericks team that ultimately upset James, Wade and Bosh in the Finals, though he ruptured his patellar tendon in January of that year and was unable to play out the season. He started and averaged 15 points in 29 games that season before the injury.

Donyell Marshall (2007)

The unanimous 1994 Big East Player of the Year, Marshall made one Finals appearance in his 15-year NBA career as a member of the 2007 Cleveland Cavaliers, who were swept by the Spurs in four games. Marshall played 15.3 minutes per game off the bench and averaged 3.8 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists in that series.

Richard ‘Rip’ Hamilton (2004, 2005)

The second men’s player to have his jersey number retired to the rafters in Gampel Pavilion, Hamilton’s 14-year NBA career featured a pair of Finals appearances with the Detroit Pistons. The 1999 NCAA champion averaged 21.4 points per game in leading the Pistons to a stunning five-game Finals win over Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and the Lakers in 2004. He returned to the Finals the next season and lost to the Spurs in seven games.

Hamilton averaged 18.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 12 career NBA Finals games.

Donny Marshall (2002, 2003)

A second round draft pick in 1995, Marshall’s unconventional pro career included an NBA Finals appearance with the New Jersey Nets in 2002 after a short stint with the Connecticut Pride of the CBA. He didn’t see much action in the series as the Nets were swept by the Lakers. The Nets returned to the Finals in 2003, though Marshall didn’t see any game action as they lost to the Spurs in six games.

Kevin Ollie (2001)

Before returning to Storrs and coaching the Huskies to their fourth NCAA championship in 2014, Ollie made one Finals appearance in his 13-year NBA career. He saw limited action as a reserve for the Philadelphia 76ers as they fell to the Lakers in 2001. Ollie averaged 1.0 point, 0.2 rebounds and 0.2 assists in the five-game series.

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Travis Knight (2000)

A seven-year pro, Knight was part of the Lakers team that won the 2000 NBA Finals in six games over the Indiana Pacers. Coming off the bench in 63 games that season, Knight played limited minutes in four Finals games and averaged 1.3 points and 0.5 rebounds as Shaq and Kobe won their first NBA title.

Scott Burrell (1998)

A role player on Michael Jordan’s last championship squad, Burrell averaged 3.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.2 steals as the Chicago Bulls took down the Utah Jazz in six games in 1998. He played over 24 minutes in a blowout Game Three victory, coming one rebound shy of a double-double.

Clifford Robinson (1990, 1992)

The first UConn player to appear in the NBA Finals, Robinson reached the sport’s biggest stage in his first year in the league as the Portland Trail Blazers fell to the Pistons in 1990. He returned to the Finals two years later but ran into Jordan in the beginning of the Bulls’ dynasty and lost the 1992 series in six games. Robinson averaged 7.4 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 11 Finals games.

Landrew was selected to play for the USA Basketball U18 National Team at the 2026 FIBA U18 AmeriCup, which will take place from June 1-7 in Leon, Mexico. The new Husky was one of 12 selected by the committee from a group of 32 players who participated in a six-day training camp at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

The team will be led by head coach Anthony Grant (University of Dayton) and assistant coaches Matt Langel (Colgate University) and Nate Oats (University of Alabama).

Summer classes are set to begin at UConn on June 1, likely along with summer workouts.

A 6-foot-6, 235-pound wing from Alabaster, Alabama, Landrew was ranked No. 25 in his class by 247Sports and No. 32 by ESPN as he wrapped up his senior season at Wheeler High in Georgia. He missed out on a nod to the McDonald’s All-America game, though he was named Georgia’s Gatorade Player of the Year after averaging 23.9 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.8 steals per game, leading Wheeler to back-to-back state championships this past season.

One of two incoming freshmen along with Junior County, Landrew could compete for a starting spot once he returns from Mexico.

Team USA, in Group A, will begin its run in the AmeriCup with a game against Argentina at 7:30 p.m. on June 1, and then face Mexico at 10 p.m. on June 2. Group A play will conclude with a game against Brazil at 5 p.m. on June 4. The winners of both groups – with Group B made up of Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Canada – will advance to the semifinal round on June 6 with the medal games scheduled for June 7.

The tournament will be live streamed on FIBA’s YouTube channel.

New job opening

Not only will the Huskies continue to look to replace assistant coach Luke Murray, who took the head coaching job at Boston College this spring, they will also be hiring a full-time Director of Strength and Conditioning for the men’s basketball program this offseason.

According to the job posting, responsibilities will include: “The development and administration of the strength/conditioning program for the UConn men’s basketball team; assistance with practice and game-day duties including pre-game/practice warm-ups; collaboration with Athletic Training staff as to the monitoring and rehabilitation of student-athletes with injuries; assistance with communication of strength program organization to prospective student-athletes and parents; and strict compliance with NCAA regulations and policies of the University and the BIG EAST Conference.”

Castle, Spurs facing elimination in NBA playoffs

Former UConn star Stephon Castle and the San Antonio Spurs are facing elimination in the Western Conference Finals after going down 3-2 in the thrilling series with the reigning NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night.

Head coach Mark Daigneault, a former UConn student manager, and the Thunder can close the series and advance to their second straight NBA Finals with a win in Game Six on Thursday night (8:30 p.m. on NBC/Peacock) in San Antonio.

Castle had a team-high 24 points on 7-for-11 shooting, along with six assists, five rebounds and three steals in the 127-114 loss for the Spurs on Tuesday. He is averaging 19.5 points, 6.6 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game throughout the playoffs.

The winner of the series will meet the New York Knicks with a chance to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

NBA Draft update

UConn’s frontcourt duo of Alex Karaban and Tarris Reed Jr. remains projected to be off the board early in the second round of the NBA Draft, which will take place on June 23 and 24 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

ESPN has Karaban going with the first pick in the second round, No. 31 overall, to the Knicks, with Reed following as the No. 37 overall pick of the Thunder. Bleacher Report has the pair of Huskies going one after another with Karaban headed to the Spurs as the No. 35 overall pick and Reed to the Los Angeles Clippers at No. 36, while NBADraft.net has Reed off the board first at No. 34 to the Sacramento Kings, followed by Karaban at No. 36 to the Clippers.

The Wildcats were ranked No. 1 in the country. UConn, destined for a 14-18 season and a coaching change, was in the American Athletic Conference, but a sellout crowd showed up hoping for a miracle and a little nostalgia.

You know what those folks got? Jalen Brunson — a full dose of Jalen Brunson. Villanova humiliated UConn, winning 81-61, after building out a 31-point lead. It got so bad at times, when Dan Hurley replaced Kevin Ollie as coach after the season, he showed the team film of that game, stopping to blurt out, “THAT CAN’T HAPPEN” over and over.

“You just keep shooting,” Brunson said that day, after scoring 23 points, going 9 for 16, including 5 for 11 on threes. “Just keep shooting and don’t worry about it.”

‘Think globally, act locally’: Jason Candle shares vision for guiding UConn football into the future

Ollie, who’d played with Rick Brunson, said Jalen was “a little better than his Dad.”

Mikal Bridges was also with Villanova that day, and Donte DiVincenzo, others who later joined Brunson on the “Nova Knicks.” The Wildcats went on to win the national championship, their last under Jay Wright. The Knicks, by way of intersection, lost to the Lakers the next night, 127-107, en route to a 29-53 season, one of their long line of forgettable seasons.

Outside of Villanova doing great things that year, it would have been hard to imagine all the rest that has happened since that dreary day for the fans in Hartford, that eight years later Brunson, still shooting and not worrying about it, Bridges and another ex-Wildcat Josh Hart would be together with the Knicks, and Brunson would be the leader as the franchise shed decades of mediocrity and disappointment and reached the NBA Finals. They’ve won 11 in a row against the Hawks, 76ers and Cavaliers and now await the Western survivor, Oklahoma City or San Antonio, to play for the championship. And there are all kinds of random thoughts floating around:

‘Think globally, act locally’: Jason Candle shares vision for guiding UConn football into the future

These are strange days, indeed, and in the best possible meaning of the phrase for the Knicks. Full disclosure, I am among those who, roughly a year ago, lambasted the Knicks’ decision to fire New Britain’s Tom Thibodeau as head coach. I said it, I wrote it, I was wrong and I own it. I just decided to take a half dozen or so paragraphs to get around to admitting it here.

However, there is always a certain amount of serendipity in sports, especially at moments like this. If you recall, the Knicks were targeting Jason Kidd to replace Thibodeau, but Dallas would not let Kidd leave. The Knicks turned to experienced Mike Brown, which came off like Plan B at best, but while Brown has done a masterful job in coaching to his personnel’s strengths and leading the franchise over the playoff hump that tripped up Thibs, the Mavericks flamed out and fired Kidd last week. So now he’s available. Strange days, indeed.

It’s also strange, perhaps, that Madison Square Garden is called “The World’s Most Famous Arena,” and “The Mecca of Basketball,” and yet its occupants, flagship NHL and NBA franchises, have passed this way so seldom. The Rangers have won one Stanley Cup since 1940, even though they were in a six-team league for much of that time. I confess to being alive when the Knicks won their championships in 1970 and ’73, with no memory of the first, vivid memories of the second. Even those born years after can name the starters: Walt “Clyde” Frazier,  Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, “Dollar Bill” Bradley, Dave DeBusschere and Willis Reed. When they were all out there healthy, symphonically executing Red Holzman’s strategy, the Knicks were near unbeatable. They caught a break for sure when the Celtics’ John Havlicek injured his shoulder in Game 3 of the Eastern finals, but dismantled the Lakers of Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Gale Goodrich and … Pat Riley in five games in the last round.

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You can’t overstate what the championship teams of that period, those Knicks, the 1969 Mets, Super Bowl III champion Jets, the 1977-78 Yankees, meant to the city, which was decaying everywhere at the time, careening toward bankruptcy and the famous tabloid headline, “Ford to City: Drop Dead.”

The Knicks’ runs to The Finals in 1994 and ’99 were overshadowed, the first by O.J. Simpson’s white Ford Bronco and Hakeem Olajuwon’s Rockets, the latter by the Spurs’ Tim Duncan-led dynasty.

The Liberty’s WNBA title a couple of years ago interrupted a long championship drought among the city’s pro teams, and the vibe right now tells you what an eruption it would be, what a spectacular Canyon of Heroes parade would ensue if the Knicks could pull this off.

… But this is Connecticut and back to UConn we must loop like a Seinfeld episode. There are UConn-made obstacles between the Knicks and the ticker-tape parade New York covets. Oklahoma City, the defending champ, had the look of a dawning dynasty when it beat Indiana in The Finals last year. Head coach Mark Daigneault started as a student manager at UConn, and got into coaching with the mentorship of Jim Calhoun and George Blaney — who played for the Knicks in 1961-62.

The Spurs have one of the league’s rising stars in UConn’s Stephon Castle, whose one year in Storrs was 2023-24, year of the repeat championship, one of the greatest college basketball teams of the generation. Assistant coach Mike Noyes was a walk-on at UConn, and he was there on the bench on Jan. 20, 2018, the day Brunson and the future Nova Knicks clobbered the Huskies in Hartford.

Maybe all of this represents some cosmic full-circle moment, the Knicks’ time come at last. … Maybe it’s just a series of disjointed coincidences and factoids. … Maybe it’s that splendid serendipity of sports. … Or maybe we should just be watching and enjoying the moment.

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