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The Connecticut Basketball Conference is an invite-only league with the goal of promoting basketball as a means to help young people develop positive life skills and a sense of community. The league includes several tournaments, such as the Turkey Shoot and the MLK One-Day Classic, which serve as qualifiers for the New England Championships. At the college level, the University of Connecticut's men's basketball team, the UConn Huskies, competes in the NCAA Division I and is currently part of the Big East Conference. The Huskies have established themselves as a dominant force in college basketball, with numerous conference and national championships to their name. In addition, Central Connecticut Conference basketball tournaments are also held, with schools like East Catholic and Northwest Catholic vying for the championship title.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Name | Connecticut Basketball Conference |
| Teams | Towns and teams that are not currently members must apply for membership |
| Tournaments | The Turkey Shoot, MLK One Day Classic |
| Goal | Promote basketball as an avenue to help young people develop a positive self-image, a sense of pride toward the community, respect for others, and good training skills and healthy habits |
| Type | Competitive program with an emphasis on individual basketball skills in a team atmosphere |
| University Team | UConn Huskies |
| UConn Huskies Men's Basketball Conference | Big East Conference |
| UConn Huskies Women's Basketball Conference | American Athletic Conference |
| Central Connecticut Conference Tournament | CCC Boys Basketball Tournament |
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What You'll Learn
UConn Huskies men's basketball team
The UConn Huskies men's basketball team is the NCAA Division I men's college basketball team of the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut. The team is currently coached by Dan Hurley and plays in the Big East Conference.
The UConn Huskies men's basketball team began its first season in 1901, playing their first game against Willimantic High School, which they won 17-12. In 1923, Sumner Dole was named head coach, and he led the team to back-to-back New England Conference championships in 1925 and 1926. In 1945, Blair Gullion took over as head coach, but he left the team midway through the 1946-47 season, when Connecticut joined the Yankee Conference. The modern era of UConn basketball is considered to have begun in 1946 when Hugh Greer became head coach.
In 1979, UConn became a charter member of the newly formed Big East Conference, marking the beginning of their emergence as a national powerhouse. In 1988, they won their first national postseason championship in the NIT, and in 1999, they won their first NCAA championship. Since then, the Huskies have won six national championships in total (in 1999, 2004, 2011, 2014, 2023, and 2024), eight Big East tournament championships, and 11 Big East regular-season championships. UConn has also made 37 NCAA Tournament appearances, played in seven Final Fours, 13 Elite Eights, and 19 Sweet Sixteens.
In 2014, the Huskies, led by Shabazz Napier, became the first #7 seed to win the NCAA Championship, defeating several higher-ranked teams before ultimately besting the Kentucky Wildcats 60-54 in the final game. UConn's success has been recognised by sports media outlets, with Fox Sports dubbing the team's sustained success "the greatest run of the 21st century".
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Central Connecticut Conference
The Central Connecticut Conference (CCC) is an interscholastic athletic conference in the Greater Hartford region of Connecticut, USA. The CCC underwent a significant expansion in 2009, with 32 schools participating in the conference. The conference includes towns and teams like Avon, Bloomfield, Bristol Central, Bristol Eastern, Farmington, Hall, and Simsbury.
The CCC hosts three tournaments to augment its regular season schedule: The Turkey Shoot (a Thanksgiving Pre-Season Tourney), the MLK One Day Classic, and the New Year One Day Tourney. All tournaments are qualifier events for the New England Championships.
Connecticut Basketball, including the CCC, promotes the sport as an avenue to help young people develop positive self-image, a sense of pride in their community, respect for others, and good training and healthy habits.
The University of Connecticut (UConn) Huskies men's basketball team is a separate entity, playing in the NCAA Division I in the Big East Conference. The team has won six national championships and 45 conference titles and is considered one of the best college basketball programs.
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New England Championships
The New England Championships is a qualifier-based basketball tournament for travel, community, and school teams from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The tournament features top competition from across New England, with over 150 teams and players from 222 different towns expected to compete. The 2025 Regional Championship welcomed players from 256 zip codes across the region.
The New England Championships is the culmination of Connecticut Basketball's regular season and its three additional tournaments: The Turkey Shoot (Thanksgiving Pre-Season Tourney), the MLK One Day Classic, and the Connecticut Basketball One Day Tourney. All four tournaments are qualifier events for the New England Championships, with teams that make it to a Championship Game in any tourney qualifying for the New England Championships.
The New England Championships is a chance for teams from across Connecticut to compete against fresh faces from all corners of the New England area. The tournament is not an ordinary league event but an opportunity for young people to develop a positive self-image, a sense of pride toward the community, and respect for others through competitive sport.
Connecticut has a rich basketball history, with the UConn Huskies men's basketball program at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut, currently playing in the Big East Conference. The program has won six national championships and 45 conference titles and is considered one of the best in college basketball. Connecticut Basketball, meanwhile, has a long-standing tradition of hosting competitive tournaments and fostering community engagement and athletic excellence.
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Big East Conference
The University of Connecticut's men's basketball team, the UConn Huskies, plays in the Big East Conference. The Huskies are currently coached by Dan Hurley and are considered one of the top college basketball programs in the country.
The Big East Conference was founded in 1979 by Providence College basketball coach Dave Gavitt, who aimed to create an east coast basketball-centric collegiate athletic conference. The original core of the Big East included Providence, St. John's, Georgetown, and Syracuse, who invited Seton Hall, Connecticut (UConn), Holy Cross, Rutgers, and Boston College (BC) to join. Holy Cross and Rutgers initially declined the invitation, while BC, Seton Hall, and UConn accepted. Villanova and Pittsburgh also joined the conference soon after its formation.
The Big East Conference experienced significant changes in 2013, when the conference split due to tension between football-sponsoring and non-football schools. The conference's seven non-FBS schools, known as the "Catholic 7," separated from the football-playing members, who formed the American Athletic Conference (AAC). The new conference purchased the Big East name, logos, basketball records, and the rights to the Big East Men's Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden.
In 2019, the Big East invited UConn to "re-join" the conference, and UConn made the move from the AAC on July 1, 2020. UConn is the only member of the Big East with a varsity football team in the top-level Division I FBS.
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Yankee Conference
The Yankee Conference was a collegiate sports conference in the eastern United States. It was formed in December 1946, with athletic competition beginning in the 1947–48 school year. The conference consisted of six charter members, each of which was the flagship public university of its state: Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts State College, and the University of Vermont. The conference sponsored competition in many sports, including basketball, baseball, and football.
The UConn Huskies men's basketball team was a dominant force in the Yankee Conference, winning 18 conference championships between 1947 and 1975, including 12 under the coaching of Hugh Greer. Greer led UConn to its first seven NCAA berths and one NIT appearance, compiling an impressive overall head coaching record of 286–112. UConn's success continued under the leadership of Dee Rowe, who took over as head coach in 1969. In his first year, Rowe guided the Huskies to a Yankee Conference title, and during his tenure, they reached the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament on four occasions.
However, the Yankee Conference underwent significant changes in the 1970s. In 1974, Vermont announced it would drop its football program, and in 1975, the conference allowed its members to choose conference participation on a sport-by-sport basis. As a result, the Yankee Conference opted to drop sponsorship of all sports except football after the 1975–76 season, marking the end of basketball in the conference. UConn found itself independent of the conference, and Rowe coached the team through their first season as independents before retiring due to health issues.
In 1976, the Yankee Conference became a football-only league, and it continued to operate exclusively for football until its dissolution in 1996. UConn men's basketball continued to thrive, joining the Big East Conference and winning multiple championships. Today, UConn men's basketball is considered one of the blue bloods of college basketball, with six national championships and 45 conference titles to their name.
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Frequently asked questions
The UConn Huskies men's basketball team is in the Big East Conference.
The UConn Huskies men's basketball team was in the Yankee Conference when it was first formed in 1946. They also played in the American Athletic Conference in 2014.
The Central Connecticut Boys Basketball Tournament is in the Central Connecticut Conference (CCC).
