Had the chance to spend a few minutes on the phone with Northeastern coach Bill Coen in advance of his team’s NIT meeting with UConn Tuesday night.
Here’s a quick sampling of his comments:
– UConn may have ended the season on a low note but Coen is wary of what the Nutmeg State’s Huskies can do.
“When they’re playing at the top of their game, they’re capable of beating the Villanovas of the worlds and the Texases,” Coen said. “When they’re playing at that level, there as good as any team in the country. I fully expect coach (Jim) Calhoun will have his team playing at that level.”
– The last time UConn and Northeastern met was in Gampel Pavilion on Dec. 6, 2007. UConn won 69-60 but the game was memorable for two reasons.
First, then-sophomore Matt Janning scored a game-high 29 points for Northeastern in what was a surprisingly competitive game.
Second, UConn coach Jim Calhoun received a pair of technical fouls and after the game referred to one of the officials as incompetent. The latter statement drew a reprimand from the Big East Conference.
Northeastern is obviously a veteran team. Four of the players who started that 2007 game in Storrs will also be in the starting lineup Tuesday in the return.
“We’ll probably have four starters returning from that team,” Coen said. “This is a team that’s kind of played in that environment before. Hopefully that experience will help us.”
– Coen, from his days as an assistant at Boston College to his early days as a head coach at Northeastern (he’s been there four years), is very familiar with UConn. Calhoun, who has kept tabs on his former employer over the years, knows Northeastern too.
“There’s familiarity that goes both ways. They’re familiar with our club, as we are with there’s,” Coen siad. “Of course even if you know what’s coming, you still have to stop it. Jim’s teams have been so great in transition and so great rebounding the ball. Those are hard things to stop.”
– If things had played out differently, Coen may have matched up in this event with his former colleague in Ed Cooley and Fairfield. But the Stags didn’t quite make the NIT field.
“I’m great friends with coach Cooley. He and I worked togther for 10-plus years,” said Coen, who worked with Cooley under Al Skinner at BC and Rhode Island. “I was rooting like crazy for them throughout the season.”
- Neill
