Dan Hurley said he wasn’t going to give out any “clickbait” a day before his top-ranked UConn men’s basketball team makes its fourth trip of the season to Madison Square Garden for a matchup with Rick Pitino and St. John’s.
The Huskies’ sixth-year head coach was anticipating the inevitable questions about a budding rivalry between head coaches, given Pitino’s attempt to move next year’s matchup to Carnesecca Arena. Pitino has also made separate, indirect comments on what he believes is the proper sideline demeanor for coaches, saying that arguing with referees and inciting crowds – two things Hurley has become synonymous with – is “a form of cheating.”
Hurley responded to the idea of moving next year’s game by saying he’s obsessed with his next opponent – “The last thing I’m thinking about is where I’m playing somebody next year,” he said on New Year’s Day. That was a day before the teams met in Hartford for what was a 69-65 UConn win. He also said St. John’s is doing what it needs to build its program up and cited recent success, or lack thereof: “Everyone’s trying to get what we have,” he said.
On a Zoom call Friday, leading into the second matchup of the year between the programs, Hurley said he doesn’t pay attention to opposing coaches “unless they’ve crossed over to (his) side of half court.” But he understands that a coaching rivalry – something the Big East has been known for since the very beginning – can help bring eyes to what he called “one of the worst marketed major sports that we have.”
“Listen, if it takes bad blood between me and another coach to get us over a million viewers for our game (Saturday) and for a sold out arena at MSG – I love college basketball, I think college basketball is the best form of basketball because we are life and death about winning the game and it’s not about getting numbers or accumulating numbers, it’s about just pure desperation to win games to either get into the NCAA Tournament or improve your seeding,” Hurley said.
“We do a (bad) job of marketing college basketball so, I don’t know, maybe I should… Nope, no clicks.”
Asked whether he thinks there is “bad blood” between him and Pitino, Hurley expanded on his point:
“The Big East, these games are the most compelling games in my opinion. … It looks like you’ve got multiple teams that are competing to get to a Final Four or could win a national championship,…
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