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Colleges

UConn Basketball Won't Play In Bridgeport This Season Despite Solid Attendance Last Year

The UConn men's and women's basketball teams "will not return to Webster Bank Arena this winter to play any regular-season games," according to Brian Koonz of the CONNECTICUT POST. While school officials "insist they’re leaving the door open to play future games in Bridgeport, this year’s omission is glaring and disappointing." Last season's men's basketball game against Columbia and women's game against DePaul "each sold more than 9,000 tickets in a 10,000-seat building." UConn Senior Associate AD/Communications Mike Enright said, "Quite honestly, it became a logistics thing where we couldn’t find dates that worked. We still think it’s a viable option, but maybe skipping a year isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes, it’s important to keep things fresh." He added that Fairfield County "represented only" 5% of basketball season-ticket sales last year, though those figures "do not include students or corporate sponsors" (CONNECTICUT POST, 8/23).

FLYIN' HIGH: In Illinois, Mark Tupper notes the Univ. of Illinois on Monday honored former basketball coach Lou Henson with the "naming of 'Lou Henson Court' at the State Farm Center, complete with a unique logo featuring Henson’s hand-written signature, a pair of wings commemorating his 'Flyin’ Illini' team and a likeness of the orange coat." The renovated State Farm Center "reopens on Dec. 2 for a game against Notre Dame." A formal ceremony "will be held that night to unveil the court" (Decatur HERALD & REVIEW, 8/25).

WE'RE JAMMIN': In San Diego, Mark Zeigler noted San Diego State's $15M basketball practice facility, the Jeff Jacobs JAM Center, opened Sunday and "will be operational 24/7." The center’s namesake is Jeff Jacobs, the son of Qualcomm co-Founder Irwin Jacobs who gave the initial $1M and "subsequently another $500,000" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 8/24).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

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SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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