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As for his connection to the summer league, it all started in the mid-1990s, when Higgins said he attended a summer league game down south that featured a very young Allen Iverson, an NBA hall-of-famer.

Enthralled by the action, Higgins’ avocation became organizing summer league games in his home state, something he’s done for years.

But it nearly disappeared a few years ago.

Resurrection

After financial difficulties and the COVID-19 pandemic stopped operations of the summer league, the balls started bouncing again at the pro-am a year ago at USJ.

In 2024, the joint is jumping even further at the small, Division III college and its bright, shiny, and recently refurbished gym (which has a very unique nickname).

In the middle of it all is Higgins, who meets with corporate sponsors (Hartford Healthcare is the main league sponsor), irons out team rosters, and is a friendly goodwill ambassador at the games, which started June 15.

At Monday night’s doubleheader program, Higgins was hanging out with local hoops hero Pete Simpson, a longtime baller from back in the day who is now one of the coaches in the 12-team league.

They were discussing the evolution of “trash talk” on the court … namely the absence of it among modern pro-am players, who grew up talking trash on social media, not on the court.

“The guys are too nice nowadays,” Higgins said with a smile and laugh. “It’s not the same. They’re all love now.”

The on-court competition may be more loving than, say, a couple of decades ago.

But the recently renamed pro-am is not an exhibition, nor are the players simply really good playground ballers from their neighborhood.

After all, there is a reason why the league is called a pro-am league. It’s for professionals and top-level amateurs.

Pro-am history

Back in the 1990s, Higgins said the league — which was called the Greater Hartford Pro-Am until this year — featured more big names than today.

The absence of superstars is a byproduct of the financial ramifications of big-time NBA basketball players and top-level college players.

The NBA has its own, very popular summer league, while major college coaches (like the University of Connecticut’s Dan Hurley) have players at their disposal during the summer for regular practices as allowed by the NCAA.

Higgins and Simpson recalled the night Ray Allen played in a few summer league games when they were at Bulkely High School in Hartford in the late 1990s, when he played in the NBA en route to the hall of fame.

Other names showing up, they said, were Kevin Ollie, who had a long NBA career after starring at UConn, coaching them to the 2014 national title; Marcus Camby of Hartford (who went to UMass before a long NBA career); and several other big names from Connecticut basketball history (Kemba Walker, Jeremy Lamb, A.J. Price).

Back then, UConn coaching legend Jim Calhoun, Higgins said, gave his players the blessing to play summer league ball.

This is all the more reason why USJ’s James A. Calhoun Gymnasium (aka “The Jim”) is the site of the current summer league.

Following his retirement after three national titles at UConn, Calhoun founded the men’s basketball program at USJ after it went co-educational in 2018.

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He’s put his name behind the tournament in the arena that bears his name.

Talent still abounds

These days, the league might not feature the huge stars of Division I and the NBA, but the players are still jaw-droppingly talented.

Many attend or used to attend Division I schools, others play in the NBA’s G-League, a developmental league, and there are even a few top high school stars in the pro-am.

As for running the league, Higgins said that can get complicated and time-consuming. There are insurance issues, security guards to hire, referees to hire, and helpers to put on the show.

All working for Higgins have a love for the game, which, he said, is a requirement of the players too, many of whom are looking to play a game they would do just for fun.

Higgins said as long as the players play, he can operate the summer league and grow it.

“What we do have is a ‘love-of-the-game’ clause,” Higgins said of his players and the league. “As long as we’re playing basketball, we can do that.”

As for the on-court product, the style of play and the atmosphere speaks for itself.

The games feature four, 10-minute quarters (similar to college hoops).

But unlike college hoops, there are no TV timeouts, fewer team timeouts, and no gimmicky defenses.

You’ll just see man-to-man, a 24-second shot clock that isn’t needed, and a heaping helping of balls tickling the twine, whether from three-point land or jammed through the rim.

On Monday night, for example, a team sponsored by LAZ Parking defeated another sponsored by Wentworth-DeAngelis Inc., 120-112, in front of several hundred fans.

All game long, the play was frenetic and entertaining. Think of the ABA in the 1970s or Loyola-Marymount in the 1990s NCAA scene.

But despite the high score, the games don’t feature modern, NBA All-Star game defense. They want to win.

Fans coming out

Higgins said the fans are returning this year as well.

“After COVID, a lot of people just got used to staying in the house,” he said. “Now that they know we’re back, they can say ‘yes’ to the pro-am.”

Even better, Higgins said, is the diversity in the seats, where men and women of all races and socio-economic backgrounds mix and mingle. Most know each other.

It’s a place where men in suits joke around with men in shorts, where aunts, mothers, and girlfriends root for their favorite players, and where little children cheer on uncles, big brothers and, even, fathers.

But what’s even better is the price of attending a summer league game. They are free.

Higgins said since the league is NCAA-sanctioned, he can’t charge admission. The league is also NBA-sanctioned, something that, hypothetically, means some top talent can play.

Since the games started on Saturday, June 15, with an opening day tripleheader, the league has played regularly on Sundays, Mondays, and Wednesdays.

Sundays feature tripleheaders, three games in a row, while evening doubleheaders are scheduled on Mondays and Wednesdays.

It all culminates with an end-of-season playoff tournament and a two-out-of-three championship series in early August.

Sans the time-consuming delays of modern, televised hoops, summer league games last about 90 minutes each, so two or three games in a row is doable for most fans.

And while this is no-frills basketball (no concessions, no programs), the games themselves are professionally run and played.

There’s even a “voice” of the summer league and his name is Jamal Folston, who is part public address announcer/part play-by-play man/part statistician.

His poetic narratives provide a constant backdrop to the games, with proverbial oohs and aahs, along with all sorts of creative player nicknames.

The vibe is more Rucker Park in New York than Gampel Pavilion in Storrs.

There’s a hip-hop soundtrack playing in the background that is not enough to drown out the sounds of the game, but enough to provide a beat in tune with the style of play.

Overall, a visit to the summer league — renamed for the state’s status as the “Basketball Capital of the World” after 17 UConn men’s and women’s national titles — provides a hall-of-fame experience.

It is definitely worth going to.

For more information on the Basketball Capital Pro-Am, including game schedules, click on this link.

For more information on the University of Saint Joseph Blue Jays’ basketball facility, located on campus at 1678 Asylum Ave., West Hartford, click on this link.

From June 11: ‘Major Summer Basketball League Starts Play In West Hartford Saturday’

From Feb. 29: ‘CT Hoops Havens: State College Basketball More Than Just UConn’

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