Storrs — Dan Hurley walked out the back door of the Werth Family UConn Basketball Champions Center on Friday afternoon and into his first in-person press conference since March 2020.

After briefly chatting with assembled media, Hurley sat down behind a table set up outdoors.

"This is weird, right?" said Hurley, who completed his third season as UConn head coach in March. "Awkward. I'm a little nervous."

Goodbye to the Zoom world.

Hello to UConn basketball life returning to almost normal.

The Huskies are rejuvenated by finally getting a chance to spend time at home with family and friends, something they were unable to do for long stretches during the pandemic. After a mentally and physically challenging season that featured three COVID-related shutdowns, they've settled back into their usual off-season routine.

They're gearing up for a big summer.

"A lot of guys went home for a couple weeks," Hurley said. "Adama (Sanogo) went to Mali, which is a beautiful thing for him. And we were able to take a little bit of a break and recharge and regroup and then get ready for a huge, huge summer for us — recruiting and player development. Just getting back to functioning normally."

The entire team, including the highly-regarded recruiting class of Rahsool Diggins, Jordan Hawkins and Samson Johnson, is on campus and working out. Every player is either fully vaccinated or in the two-week waiting period after receiving the second shot.

Hurley loves getting back to the up-close and personal approach that he takes with his team.

There is no more social distancing and spending prolonged periods of time apart.

"It's awesome," he said. "Sitting next to (Jalen) Gaffney (Thursday) in study hall and asking him about his class, going into the training room and interacting with the guys. Getting a chance to talk to a couple of the women's players. Getting a hug from Akok (Akok) and a handshake. It's been fist bumps and awkward social distancing. So, it feels good."

It's a busy time for the coaching staff.

Practice is four times a week, about an hour per session. It is a fast-paced, competitive workout, according to Hurley, who is implementing an attacking style that will take advantage of his team's athleticism and depth. Players also are spending four hours a week with new director of sports performance Gavin Roberts.

Potential future Huskies are visiting campus once again. Coaches can also recruit on the road.

"Looking at the amount of kids visiting campus, the recruiting on the road and the practice calendar, between those things, it's almost like the 18 months that we've been not functioning normally we're condensing it into these two months in June and July," Hurley said.

"The June calendar, July and into August is crazy busy. I've never been more excited in my life to be this crazy busy."

This is an important off-season for veterans Tyler Polley and Akok, who both never fully bounced back last season from injuries suffered during 2019-20.

Akok, a redshirt junior forward, was limited to just 29 minutes in seven brief appearances.

"Coming back last year, even though he was cleared, it was a very difficult situation because you get cleared at 11 months (after surgery) but you're not back to yourself or better than you were until the 18-month mark," Hurley said. "At times, he had a hard time dealing with the reality of that. As coaches, that was a tough thing to manage.

"But he looks great. He's moving around the court that way he did. This is a big year for him."

On the comeback road from a knee injury last season, Polley was inconsistent. He played well for stretches, including on the road in early January with star James Bouknight out with an injury. Polley elected to take advantage of the extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA while Bouknight has moved on, preparing for the NBA Draft in July.

"Last summer, he had to focus on his health," Hurley said. "This summer he can focus on his game and his body, which is a huge thing."

Hurley has always stressed player development as a coach. College basketball was robbed of valuable time last year, before and during the season.

That won't be the case this off-season.

"It's going to help players across the country, I think, significantly," Hurley said. "But I think it's more of an advantage for us because of how much our staff and players all put in during the summer. We take full advantage of every second we can spend together. A lot of college programs talk about player development as part of a recruiting pitch. We live it."

Expect to hear a lot about 45:07 in the upcoming months.

In case you didn't know, 45:07 stands for the last 5:07 of the Big East semifinal loss to Creighton plus all 40 minutes of the Huskies' NCAA tournament loss to Maryland.

Hurley has made 45:07 the team motto. He had t-shirts made up with that number on the front as a reminder of the painful season-ending stretch. The 45:07 is on the scoreboard in the Werth practice facility.

The program made another step forward last season, finishing third in the Big East and qualifying for the NCAA tournament for the first time in five years. But the Huskies are driven by the sour taste left behind by a disappointing postseason.

"There's not a program in the country that's going to have a bigger chip on their shoulder going into the year," Hurley said. "There's no one complacent here. We all feel confident that we achieved some goals, but we're not walking around the building patting ourselves on the back about how we did last year.

"You need things that are driving you. These guys are in a lift and somebody doesn't want to finish their last set on the bench, somebody's got to be in there yelling, '45:07.' You don't want to watch film as a coach on July 3 at 6 o'clock because you want to go food shopping for a barbeque the next day, 45:07."

g.keefe@theday.com