Topic: St. Petersburg Bowl notes: UConn arrives early — not that it had a choice

[biggreenarms]

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — While Marshall players entered their digs at the Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront, UConn players were well settled into their rooms about nine blocks away at the Vinoy Renaissance St. Petersburg Resort and Golf Club.

About 48 hours well-settled, in fact.

The Huskies rolled into St. Pete Sunday afternoon and got practice rolling at Calvary Christian High School in Clearwater on Monday. Marshall’s first workout at Clearwater Central Catholic takes place this morning.

UConn’s early arrival almost was a necessity. It seems that when the school finished its semester last week, the school’s dorms were closed. Very, very closed, and that includes the football team. (So what does the school do with those basketball teams?)

Reports say the school would have put up nearly 600 students, players, band members, cheerleaders and support staff at a local hotel. If you have to do that, you might as well do that in St. Pete, right?

Coach Bob Diaco wasn’t arguing.

“I don’t have anything to do with the calendar; that’s outside my pay grade,” he said. “Bascially, it butted up against our finals. Our academic calendar went a little longer than, for example, a year ago.”

Marshall’s athletic program has to pay for housing and feeding players between the semester’s finish — a week earlier than that of UConn — to the team’s departure for Florida. But the team wasn’t exiled from campus.

For Herd coach Doc Holliday, that is just fine. He doesn’t need an extended vacation.

“I’m not jealous,” he said. “I think the preparation, we have that nice indoor facility so we don’t miss a beat. I don’t want to be anywhere for six nights; four nights is long enough for me. I’m happy with where we are right now.”

http://www.wvgazettemail.com/sports/20151222/st-petersburg-bowl-notes-uconn-arrives-early---not-that-it-had-a-choice