Each year, the Big East basketball conference holds a tournament where each team competes for the championship trophy at Mohegan Sun.
As the Associate Sports Editor of The Daily Campus, I am one of the beat writers for the UConn women’s basketball team, which competes in this tournament.
Here is a look into a weekend in my life as a sports reporter at the Big East tournament.
Saturday
The women’s squad had a first round bye, so they didn’t play their first game until the second day on Saturday.
For this quarterfinal round, as the No. 1 seed in the tournament, the basketball team took on the Georgetown Hoyas. My co-beat writer Jake and I take turns on who does the preview (previewing the game and the opponent) or recap (recapping the game in full with quotes), so for this matchup against Georgetown I had the preview.
In my preview, I talked about the tournament and players UConn should look out for.
9 A.m.
My co-beat writer and I like to get to the game around two hours early, so I picked up Jake at around 9 a.m. to head to Mohegan Sun. It was an early start to the day, so we played some ABBA to get us pumped for the tournament that was ahead of us.
10 A.M.
Once we arrived at Mohegan Sun, we got situated with our media seats and talked to some of our media members. Often times, before a game, I like to make a little post on my X account for my followers letting them know about the game ahead and to stay tuned for any updates!
12 P.m.
Before the game kicked off, the Big East honored the award winners on UConn’s squad including Sarah Strong, Blanca Quiñonez, Azzi Fudd, and KK Arnold.
After that, it was game time.
Usually, during every game, I tweet play-by-play updates all on X to update my followers and the fans of the team what is going on during the game.
For this matchup, UConn ended up with the win over Georgetown 84-39.
3 p.m.
After the game ended, we headed to the press conference to hear from UConn head coach Geno Auriemma and players from the team. Then, it’s time to head home. But first, my co-beat writer and I have a tradition where we get a Krispy Kreme donut after every win at Mohegan.
Sunday
After resting up back at UConn from the day before, it was time to head back to Mohegan Sun.
11:30 A.M.
Since the game had a later start than the day before, we left at 11:30 a.m. to get to Mohegan around noon for the game at 2:30 p.m.
For the semifinals, we played the Creighton Bluejays and since I had the preview for the day before, I had the recap for this game.
Jake and I had the media meal beforehand and then headed to our seats to lock in and get ready for the game.
2:30 P.M.
Once it was time for the game, I tweeted my play-by-play updates as usual and took notes on the game for important or newsworthy moments to include in my recap.
With dominant defense from the Huskies, they defeated Creighton 100-51 to advance to the Big East Tournament Championship.
5 P.M.
Once the game was over, I headed to the press conference to get quotes from Auriemma and some of the players for my story. Once, I was finished with everything, I put the finishing touches on my recap and sent it in the The Daily Campus!
MONDAY (CHAMPIONSHIP DAY!)
After a day of classes, it was time to head back to Mohegan once more for the Championship game against Villanova. Since I had the recap the day before, I had the game to get some content done for both my X and my TikTok.
5 p.m.
Since the game was at 7 p.m. we got to the game around 5 to get our things together and go to our seats. Like the past games, I posted lots of content on my X for fans who maybe weren’t able to make it to the game.
7 p.m.
Once the game started, I was tweeting updates on the game, as well as looking at stats on the game and noting them for future games in the postseason.
The Huskies won the game 90-51, and it was time for the confetti celebration!
Once the game ended, we headed to the press conference as usual and treated ourselves to Krispy Kreme for a job well done.
Overall, it was so rewarding to cover my second Big East Tournament. This team is super special, and I can’t wait to update you all about my travels for March Madness!