STORRS – There didn’t need to be an offseason meeting where Dan Hurley handed the keys to the UConn men’s basketball locker room over to Alex Karaban, Hassan Diarra and Samson Johnson.
It went without saying that the veteran trio would take over the leadership of the team after so many of their teammates left for the pros.
“Because of where the program’s been, that mantle has just been passed to those guys,” Hurley said. “Didn’t need to necessarily have a conversation; it was assumed that they would just take it and lead.”
Hurley had to have the conversation with Andre Jackson Jr., Adama Sanogo and Jordan Hawkins in the spring before the 2022-23 championship season as a way to cue them in on all of the change that would be happening that offseason.
One of the roster-building moves was to get Diarra out of the transfer portal from Texas A&M. Johnson, a high school teammate of Sanogo’s, had just completed his freshman year and Karaban had been there for half the season, but couldn’t participate in games as a redshirt.
Almost three years later, the trio will be recognized together on Senior Day before they wrap the regular season against Seton Hall Saturday (2:30 p.m., FOX).
While there was no formal meeting declaring them the new “Big Three,” several informal sit downs throughout this rollercoaster ride of a season have helped them learn to navigate the unfamiliar position together.
“Offseason in the summer we talked a lot, just trying to figure out this team. After the loss at Seton Hall we sat down and we talked with each other, after the loss here against Creighton us three sat down and talked with each other,” Karaban recalled. “We’ve actually had a good amount of meetings that I remember off the top of my head.”
Most of them were called to figure out how to best help the team as leaders, whether the focus of the conversation was on specific teammates or the collective group.
“Some meetings are what us three have got to do collectively and we’ll tell each other what we need to do better as teammates and as people off the court,” Karaban said. “Every meeting has just been how can we help the team and that’s all we ever talk about – maybe there was one meeting about going to hibachi as a team but other than that, that’s it.”
Karaban, a redshirt junior, has a year of eligibility remaining but will take part in the ceremony as he is set to earn his degree in economics in May. He says he hasn’t given any thought to the fact that it may be his last-ever game in Connecticut. It will be the second Senior Day ceremony for Diarra, who has been roommates with both Karaban and Johnson and will receive his graduate degree in urban and community studies – “It’ll be a little different, because I know I definitely can’t do it again,” he said.
Johnson will be the first four-year player recruited by Hurley to enroll and graduate from UConn, and he’ll earn a communications degree.
“There’s been a lot of pressure on Hassan and Samson and Alex this year. Last year was more of a collective – we were incredibly strong across the board and deep and confident and we had done it,” Hurley said. “We had lost so many players the last two years that this year, there’s just been so much pressure on those three guys to lead… They’ve had more on their shoulders to lead the team than (players on) the last two teams had to.”
Entering the year at No. 3 in the AP Preseason Poll, the entire UConn program was quickly reminded of just how difficult it really is to have a season like they had in 2023-24, with four NBA Draft picks in the starting lineup.
Karaban, Diarra and Johnson were each expected to step into roles they’d never seen before and now, with the thick of March approaching fast, everything seems to be finally starting to mesh.
It has been a challenging ride, but the Huskies could still finish top-three in the Big East with a win in their final regular season game and roll into tournament play on a four-game winning streak. “Tomorrow is a big game for us to get to 14-6 in the league, in a down year I guess for us,” Hurley said, tongue in cheek. “A year where we stink. To get to 14-6 in the league would be good for us.”
Wherever the team goes from here, its three veterans will have everything to do with it.
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“Coming into the season, there were a lot of expectations,” said Johnson, who had one of the best games of his career on Wednesday against Marquette. “High expectations for our team, a lot of guys had to step up into some big roles… Just going through this experience with those two guys has been amazing. We really support each other, we’re always there for each other. Those two guys, I love them to death, man.”
“Just the resilience of those guys, it’s a blessing. It’s just been a blessing to be part of their journey,” Diarra added.
Thinking about the ovation they might receive before Saturday’s game, each with loved ones in attendance, Hurley expects legs to get tired.
“I don’t know how long you could stand for a standing ovation for players that have delivered you (two national championships),” he said. “I mean, obviously you’re spoiled here in basketball, especially in the last 25-30 years. Most places, if they get a sniff of the Final Four, if they win one national championship in a long span of time… It’s incredible, they have a chance tomorrow night to honor back-to-back champions, I mean, no one wins one, nevermind back-to-back.”
