It’s Friday. UConn scored a big win last night. Every member of the A Dime Back staff is wearing maroon pants today. It’s time to mailbag.
Remember: If your question wasn’t answered or you’ve been living under a rock and are just hearing about this, you can submit your questions here or on Twitter (@ADimeBack).
Tim asks: on a scale of 1 to Zach Brown’s weight how concerned are you about him? Also My amateur eye doesn’t love his highlight reel fwiw
Mildly. On a scale of 1-10, let’s put it at a 4.5, with the caveat that we do not know everything that happened. What we do know: Brown got into a fight after a PSA game, PSA has a zero-tolerance policy and threw him out, Brown was scheduled to go to Florida anyway, but is now staying there. What we don’t know: the particulars of the altercation, why Brown needed to be in Florida, what happens next.
The good news is that Brown still has a year and a half before he comes to Storrs. There’s time for this to be straightened out. We also know that Kevin Ollie has been evaluating Brown for a long time and clearly sees something in him. UConn has taken on players with far worse histories who have gone on to do great things. The classic example of this is now in the Huskies of Honor.
Jeff asks: You’re in a nuclear fallout shelter. Would you rather be with a Syracuse fan, BC fan, Rutgers fan or Jeff Hathaway?
We don’t want the Cuse fan in the shelter with us. Even though we used to hang out a lot, he never shuts up about that one cool thing he did that one time 13 years ago and that would get real old real fast in such close quarters.
We don’t want the Rutgers fan, either. No one even knows how he got into the fallout shelter, including the Rutgers fan. And even though he smells like garbage and brought absolutely nothing of value with him, we cannot figure out how to get him the fuck out of our fallout shelter.
We don’t want Hathaway because he’d forget to close the door and we’d all be incinerated.
So the answer is the BC fan, because BC fans are purely fictional, and we’d just end up chilling out in our fallout shelter with a cardboard cut-out of Doug Flutie and that’s definitely the best option.
Vancat asks: what’s the latest on the Gampel roof tile repair? other than dimming the lights
These are actually two separate projects. As you’ve likely noticed, the new lights are in. Personally, I think they make the arena look strange — half-dark, half-illuminated. If you’re going to light the court and dim the stands (like the Staples Center), just do that. If you want to have the whole place lit up like a nuclear reaction (think Gampel’s old lighting system), just do that. No half-measures.
The roof is a different story. The university set aside $10 million to repair Gampel’s peeling and battered ceiling. The bulk of that project will happen soon after basketball season is over and is expected to be completed this year, according to UConn’s latest construction status report. It’s about time. The university’s lack of investment into their hallmark arena was becoming embarrassing. Hopefully when First Night rolls along in November we can all compliment the facelift.
