DAYTON, Ohio — Wednesday night time might be emotional for Caleb McConnell, however not simply because it might be his final recreation as a Rutgers basketball participant.
It should even be a homecoming for the Large Ten Defensive Participant of the 12 months. The senior wing grew up in Dayton, attended native highschool Dunbar and as soon as lower down the nets at UD Enviornment.
“This place may be very near my coronary heart,” McConnell stated on Tuesday in that very constructing, as Rutgers ready to face Notre Dame on Wednesday within the NCAA Match’s First 4. “By no means ever would I've thought that I'd have gotten an opportunity to play in Dayton in my collegiate profession, and right here it's. So this entire time I used to be simply considering it’s actually loopy simply how life takes you in a full circle.”
As a freshman, McConnell was on a group that received 4 straight video games at UD Enviornment and acquired to chop down the nets. His junior yr he led Dunbar to a district title there, earlier than finishing his highschool profession at Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio.
“It’s positively an emotional feeling,” he stated. “I’m glad to be again dwelling.”
McConnell isn’t the one Scarlet Knight with Dayton roots. Ron Harper Jr. spent portion of his childhood within the metropolis the place his well-known father, five-time NBA champion Ron Harper Sr., grew up. Harper Jr. and McConnell all the time joked about visiting Dayton collectively sooner or later. They discovered the right option to do it.
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“I believe that is one of the simplest ways me and Caleb might have ever come again to go to,” Harper stated.
Two key Scarlet Knights, coach Steve Pikiell and guard Paul Mulcahy, are very aware of their opponent on Wednesday. They each grew up following Notre Dame soccer, and Mulcahy was recruited by Irish coach Mike Brey. Pikiell confronted Notre Dame 3 times when he was the coach at Stony Brook, shedding all three video games by lopsided scores.
“These had been massive video games for my dad after we performed Notre Dame again in these days,” Pikiell stated. “However [coming from an] Irish Catholic household, clearly, Notre Dame is a college that's talked about rather a lot round the home whenever you get along with households and all that. Saturdays had been Notre Dame soccer. My dad, entrance and middle.”
The Notre Dame-Rutgers winner meets sixth-seeded Alabama on Friday in San Diego in a West Area first-round recreation.
Jared Grasso, the Bryant coach within the NCAA Match for the primary time operating his personal program, mirrored on his late’s father Fred’s reminiscence, and his impression on his life. Fred Grasso, a longtime highschool and faculty coach who as soon as labored underneath Rick Pitino with the Knicks, handed away in November 2017 on the age of 72.
“He’s all the time part of this,” stated Grasso, a Lengthy Island native who was Tim Cluess’ assistant at Iona for 9 years. “I've an image of him in my pocket each recreation I coach. And I’ve devoted all of this to him. It wouldn’t be potential with out him.”
Grasso and Northeast Convention-champion Bryant meet fellow No. 16 seed Wright State on Wednesday night time in a First 4 recreation.
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