STORRS – Last year, when the UConn men’s basketball team received its championship rings in a private ceremony about 20 minutes before the First Night celebration, coach Dan Hurley said the timing was “weird.” It threw him off that while he was obsessing about the new season about to begin, he was celebrating an achievement that was earned six months prior.
At that point, the Huskies were already on to championship No. 6.
This year UConn’s ring ceremony came a day early, with the program hosting a special event Thursday night to celebrate the back-to-back titles.
“I’m thrilled to be able to do that. Wish you could do the banner the same night but you get why you can’t do that,” Hurley said. “You’re just not in that mode, but it’s a nice night. It was a special night for everyone who was there, the fans that got to share it with us, all of our supporters and donors and… everyone that’s involved with the whole operation and makes it go, it was just good to share a night with them.”
The ceremony featured a representative from each of the five prior championship teams, including Khalid El-Amin (1999), Emeka Okafor (2004), Jeremy Lamb (2011, Terrence Samuel (2014) and Joey Calcaterra (2023). Fans in attendance also got their first view of the new-look Gampel Pavilion, where new 120-foot video boards were installed above both end zone sections of the arena.
The men’s team had an early introduction to Connecticut on Monday when it matched up with Rhode Island for a charity exhibition at Mohegan Sun. UConn won the matchup, 102-75, but certainly left room for improvement.
Touted freshman Liam McNeeley didn’t participate in Friday’s festivities because of a lower calf strain that “flared up” midway through Thursday’s practice. Hurley hopes the injury will only keep him out two weeks or so with the Nov. 6 season-opener, and banner night against Sacred Heart, less than three weeks away.
This year’s First Night event included a co-ed 3-point contest and alternating scrimmages with the men’s and women’s teams. Of course, it was all preceded by the wrestling-style team introductions, a fan favorite.
The annual showcase has included a dunk contest in the past, but Hurley decided to do away with it last year – “We’ve missed on those,” he said. “It hasn’t kept the crowd, I think it sent people out the door.”
But not all of Hurley’s ideas were adopted.
“I wanted to do some fun stuff,” Hurley said. “One of my ideas that was shot down was like, have players start and then we’ll have a walk-on spot on the line tonight. You widdle it down over the course of a couple weeks and have them play four-on-four, two-on-two tonight. Or maybe just one-on-one for the spot, people would’ve been all over that. But no one else bought in here… That would’ve been more interesting than the (expletive) dunk contest.
“It would be neat if we had that type of experience for the students. We put our resources toward winning championships here, and I think the students would rather have a celebration in Gampel the night of the national championship than a musical act.”
All about the details
UConn’s new championship rings featured six stones representing the program’s all-time title count, a national championship trophy and the Huskies logo on their face. One side of the ring reads “Dual Champs” with a New York City skyline to represent the Big East regular season and tournament championships, and the other features the national championship logo, the path to the Final Four and the team’s 37-3 overall record. The scores from each tournament game are etched on the inside of the ring, with the team motto – “Everything” – engraved on the outer band.
Another special ring, a first of its kind, was distributed to players and staff members who were part of both national championship teams, featuring the words “BACK 2 BACK CHAMPIONS” and the throwback “CONNECTICUT” wordmark across the face.
Below the lettering, there is a 26-stone border, representing the team’s 18 Big East regular season and eight Big East tournament titles, which surrounds two national championship trophies that include the six stones to represent the program’s title count. The edge of the ring features 16 stones to represent the team’s perfect 16-0 record at home, with the logo and final score from each championship game engraved on each side. Recipient’s names are on the outer band, and the ring opens up to reveal the back-to-back logo, initials of each back-to-back champion, and the mottos from both years: “We Season” and “Everything.”
