When Trevecca Nazarene coach Chad Hibdon had trouble locking down a local Division I opponent for an exhibition game leading up to this season, he had to think outside the box to come up with different possibilities.
He eventually landed on UConn, the 11-time national championship program that just so happened to be home of one of his former high school players, Crystal Dangerfield.
Hibdon was Dangerfield's coach at Blackman High in Murfreesboro, Tenn., where the pair won Class AAA state titles during Dangerfield's sophomore and junior seasons. Blackman was also named the national champion and runner-up those two seasons, after which Hibdon left for the college ranks, spending one year at Truett-McConnell College (NAIA) before taking the reins at Division II Trevecca Nazarene in 2016.
Meanwhile, Dangerfield, the No. 3 recruit of her class in high school, is now a three-year starter and the senior floor general of a No. 5 UConn team that's made the Final Four in each of her three seasons. Not that that's surprising to her old coach.
"If you give her the challenge, she's going to do whatever it takes to step up," Hibdon said.
Hibdon saw this for himself at Blackman, where he challenged her early on to learn the intricacies of her teammates so she could be the most effective point guard and leader for a team looking to become a state powerhouse. Dangerfield says Hibdon also helped her learn to be comfortable with who she was.
"I was always kind of shy and catered to my teammates, and it was holding me back as a player, and they were like, 'They need you to be who you are because that will elevate their games,' Dangerfield, a three-time Gatorade Tennessee player of the year, recalls. "Once I understood that and what he was really asking from that standpoint, it all kind of clicked."
Hibdon and his team are taking full advantage of Wednesday's matchup: They traveled to New York Monday evening and planned to spend Tuesday exploring the city before making their way east. While the exhibition will be held at the XL Center in Hartford, the team will also get the opportunity to visit Storrs before heading back to Tennessee. Hopefully, the coach says, his players will use the contest as an opportunity to bond and to get better on the court before their season starts.
With Hibdon having struggled to make it to any of Dangerfield's previous collegiate games, Wednesday's reunion will be all the more meaningful.
"It still doesn't feel real," Dangerfield said. "I feel like we were both still at Blackman just a few short years ago. He's a great guy, and he's going to be in my life forever, so I feel like having this moment to share with him is going to be pretty cool."
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