SUPER BOWL 2012

It had to be asked. Still, you could see Jim Calhoun readying to pounce as soon as the reporter started asking: “Do you feel like you’ve done enough to make the NCAA tournament?”

“Well, let’s see …” Calhoun began, and what followed was his now daily dissertation on the Huskies’ No. 3 strength of schedule, their 22 games against top-100 RPI teams (and don’t forget tourney-bound UNC-Asheville!), etc., etc.

Bottom line: UConn is in the NCAA tournament. The Huskies may have cinched it with Tuesday’s win over lowly DePaul. If not, Wednesday’s victory over West Virginia likely sealed the deal.

“I’m not going to make a pitch for it,” Calhoun said. “I trust the basketball committee.”

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim not only has the Huskies in – he’s got them going to the Sweet Sixteen, if not further.

“I would be shocked if (the Huskies) don’t win two games in the NCAA tournament at the minimum,” Boeheim said. “At the minimum.”

Entering Thursday, UConn was ranked No. 33 in the RPI and No. 3 in strength of schedule. Both rankings may have raised despite the loss to the Orange, who boast the No. 1 RPI.

Bottom line: the Huskies are likely looking at a No. 9 or 10 seed for the Big Dance.

“I feel confident the way we’ve played the last couple of days in this tournament have pretty much solidified a spot in the tournament,” said Tyler Olander. “If it doesn’t, we’ll go from there, that’s kind of out of our hands.”

Added Calhoun: “I don’t know what else we have to prove that we’re probably one of the top 30 teams in the country. We’re certainly not one of the top 10, 20, but we’re one of the top 30 teams in the country. I don’t make those decisions, but I know who we are. I’ve seen who we’ve beaten.”

Still, Shabazz Napier will be nervous watching the Selection Show on CBS on Sunday.

“I was nervous last year, and I knew we were making it in (after winning the conference tourney),” he said. “I’ll probably be nervous again, that’s just how I am.”

*** Andre Drummond's massive, one-handed putback jam of a Napier missed trey was truly awe-inspiring. It also gave UConn an eight-point lead with 14:02 left, causing Boeheim to burn a timeout.

The Orange clamped down on defense, went ahead for good about 6 ½ minutes later and held on for the 58-55 win over the Huskies – their third win over UConn in the past 26 days.

“Nothing bothers us,” Boeheim said afterwards. “If things were bothering us, we wouldn’t be 31-1.”

Syracuse went ahead for good (48-47) on a Dion Waiters 3-pointer with 5:41 left, led by seven with 26.7 seconds left, then survived a near-miracle UConn comeback.

Napier hit a layup and was fouled with 16.9 ticks remaining, missed the free throws, but Drummond scored on a putback. James Southerland hit a pair of free throws, Drummond countered with a reverse layup with about five seconds left, and the Orange managed a long inbounds pass to run out the clock.

Close but no cigar for a third time meant little to the Huskies.

“That’s our third time playing them, we fell short every time,” Jeremy Lamb pointed out. “First time, OK, we played them (well). Second time, alright … but if you lose again, you can’t get confidence out of that.”

Still, Calhoun – a man who almost never finds satisfaction in a loss – was extremely proud of his team.

“Did we shoot great? No,” he said. “Did we make great decisions? No. Did we play with great heart and great intensity and did we play for us and each other? Without a doubt, and I couldn’t be prouder of them.”

Waiters led all scorers with 18 points. Napier led the Huskies with 15, Drummond had 14 points and 10 rebounds and Lamb netted 10. After surrendering 26 offensive rebounds to West Virginia the day before, UConn outrebounded the Orange, 46-34. Tyler Olander grabbed eight boards.

“We were going to rebound today,” Calhoun said. “Did we have a hard practice to do that? No, we just kind of all collaborated on it last night.”

Last year, of course, behind the heroics of Kemba Walker, UConn won an unprecedented five games in five days to win the tournament championship. The Huskies were hoping for a repeat run, but fatigue – mental, not physical – hindered them. The Hall of Fame coach had returned to coach the team in practice on Friday after missing the previous month on medical leave and undergoing back surgery on Feb. 27.

“Fatigue is the most over-written about thing in sports,” Calhoun said. “Mental fatigue, though, I felt we had a little bit at the end. Emotionally, we’ve been through seven – and we’re going back to Friday – Saturday’s game against Pittsburgh was very emotional and traveling Monday and playing Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and they stood up to it all. We came up a little bit short. Once again, I love them and I’m proud of them.”

Personally, I think it's a bit of a blessing for UConn that it lost Thursday. Now, the Huskies have a few days to collect themselves, take a breather before (almost certainly) getting ready for the NCAA tournament. This team was a bit tired, either mentally or physically, and playing another night or two in New York may not have behooved them as much as getting their legs (and minds) back a little.

*** Calhoun took the loss hard, not for himself but for his players.

“I’m really, really anguished in many, many ways because when I arrived last Friday in the gym, not knowing after four weeks what was going to happen, little did I know that I’d find a new team,” he said. “Not that we were bad or anything else before, but just who we were and what we were was different.”

Napier concurred.

“We’re starting to have fun,” the sophomore point guard said. “We’re out there smiling, no matter what. Team chemistry comes from having fun and doing things that friends do. We all finally started having fun when Coach came back because we all started feeling like a big family again.”

*** Olander had four points, four assists and eight rebounds (his highest total since mid-November). Still, he placed blame on himself for the Huskies’ loss.

“I feel I played well until when it mattered,” he said, “then kind of broke down a little bit, and I think maybe cost us the game a little bit with mental mistakes that can’t happen.”

Down the stretch, Syracuse was playing its guards far out on the perimeter to keep Napier and Jeremy Lamb in check. UConn wanted to get the ball to Olander at the high post, where his passing and shooting ability could be a weapon against the Syracuse zone. But apparently, there were some breakdowns at key spots.

“We just didn’t run the play we were supposed to run,” Napier said of one sequence. “We were supposed to run a quick-pick play. We were unable to do that, so I stood out there forever trying to figure out what we were going to run. We were just confused. It’s my fault, I’m the point guard, I’ve got to tell my team this is the play we’re running, especially in those situations. The moment got too big for me, I guess.”

*** Boeheim was asked about the NCAA investigation into reports that Syracuse had allowed players to practice and play with the team in prior years even after having knowledge that they'd flunked school-administered drug tests.

"This was reported five years ago, and we're waiting for them to finish the process," he said.

He later added: "This is a media, this is you people's thing. This doesn't bother our players or our team or me. This is a media thing, period ... I'm much more concerned aobut my wife being mad at me than I am anything else, to tell you the truth."

Then, he quipped: "I think that Manning should really come to the Jets, too."

*** Many of the usual suspects were at the game cheering on UConn: Andrea Walker (Kemba’s mom), Craig Austrie. Donyell Marshall wasn’t there but was obviously watching, as his frequent Tweets would indicate. New UConn athletic director Warde Manuel was in the house, as was Geno Auriemma – a close friend of Jim. That’s Jim Boeheim, it should be noted.

The feeling, apparently, is mutual with Calhoun.

"I  love Jim Boeheim like a brother," he said, "and through everything else, includding other things that have gone on, he's done an incredible job coaching his team and being unselfish and giving to each other."

*** UCoonn-Syracuse is like Red Sox-Yankees of '03-04: two teams utterly incapable of playing a nice, normal, tidy game. Today wasn't as crazy as normal, but still pretty entertaining.

Sad that it could soon be a thing of the past.

*** Oh, and I'm not crazy about the Orange in the NCAA tourney. Don't you kinda need that star player who's going to lead you and take over when you need it most? Is Dion Waiters that guy? Maybe. But I'd hardly be shocked if the Cuse is done before the Final Four.

We learned that after the Rutgers loss, and we learned it even more after today's bad home loss to Marquette.

Here's what Napier had to say about his teammates:

"I've got to question a lot of these guys' hearts. Just simple stuff like allowing alley-oops at the end of the game, just quitting ... it doesn't look like UConn basketball. You don't quit. It doesn't look like basketball at all. Where I'm from, you ain't getting that alley-oop at the end of the game. You won the game, you won the game. Don't try to embarass us. That's just a measure of your heart. If you've got to knock somebody out of the air, you knock them out of the air. The other team's not going to beat you up physically. It can't happen. It looked like we gave up at the end. That's tough to say, because we're a great team. For those words to be coming out of my mouth, it's just horrendous."

He continued:

"When push comes to shove, it's who's out there and who's not giving it back. Some guys don't want to give it back. Some guys get punched and want to throw a pillow at somebody. It's basketball, you're supposed to go out there and give it your all. This is team basketball, it's not tennis, it's not golf, it's not a one-player sport. You get punched, and some guys are throwing pillows back. You're not supposed to throw pillows back, you're supposed to lock up on defense and do the necessary things to get the win."

"I'm blunt. I told guys all the time what I feel, but sometimes I hold a lot back in ... I don't want to say the wrong things. But at the end of the game, I told the guys, 'I've got to question a lot of your hearts.' You're not giving your all. I make mistakes, but at the same time, I learn from my mistakes, I make sure I apologize for my mistakes, and I tell guys, 'I'm not perfect.' The only reason I'm speaking out is because I'm the captain, and at the end of the day, I"m the only one who wants to speak out. Everybody else, when they get in the locker room, they're so quiet, like we just died."

Napier specifically called out Tyler Olander.



I don't think UConn lacks heart, but when compared to the fire and heart and veteran leadership and smarts displayed by Marquette today, the Huskies sure fell short on just about all counts.



As for UConn: Yeah, they're still in the Big Dance, based on their RPI and strength of schedule. But do they really pass the eye test right now? Are they truly a deserving tourney team, after losing nine of their last 13 games?
Be honest.

A day after the Celtics' 95-91 win over Chicago at the TD BankNorth Garden, Ray Allen found time in his schedule to drive down to Gampel Pavilion to sit through UConn's practice on Monday, then deliver a 20-25 minute speech to the team afterwards in the locker room.

“It was vintage Ray Allen, it was a classic talk," reported associate head coach George Blaney. "That’s what Jim (Calhoun) has built here: the family atmosphere of great, great players that have done tremendous things for the state of Connecticut and have gone on to even do greater things in the NBA, and still have that feeling of closeness to the team."

Allen touched on numerous topics: getting through tough times, how to communicate with teammates, his relationship with current Celtics players and with UConn assistant coach Kevin Ollie, his former UConn teammate.

He also instilled in the team the belief that this season is far from over.

“He said you’ve got to bring it every day," said Ryan Boatright. "Just because we’re down right now doesn’t mean we can’t turn it around. He gave us two examples: the team last year with Kemba, and the New York Giants. They lost four straight in the regular season, now they’re the Super Bowl champs. He told us to keep fighting and we can turn this whole thing around if we come together as a team.”

Tyler Olander said the biggest thing he took from it was "trusting each other, keep playing basketball. He reminded us that in the game of basketball, mistakes happen. Even at his level in the NBA, people shoot air balls, people dribble off their foot, but you’ve got to keep playing through that. We’ve let mistakes get to us and bring us down, so that was good to get our minds on that.”

Blaney pointed out Allen's high praise for Ollie.

"He really went on a lot of different areas: the players on the Celtics team, a lot about Kevin (Ollie), what Kevin meant to him as a player – how Kevin drove him to be better than he was, that Kevin’s work ethic and his ability to make me work harder was something that is still ingrained in me today. To me, that was a great tribute to Kevin.”

And the fact that Allen decided to make the trip to Storrs at all was "a tribute to Jim (Calhoun) and how he’s built this program, and the kind of players that he’s had in this program that still want to give back.”


Added Boatright: “That was good, just to know that the guys that went through here still pay attention to us. For him to take time out of his busy schedule to come talk to us, to try to help us get back on track, we really appreciated it.”

Blaney noted that Allen said when the Celtics played Memphis recently, he and Rudy Gay were talking at midcourt about the UConn game they had watched the night before.

"The college players all watch the NBA," Blaney said, "and the NBA guys all watch college games."

Andre Drummond sat out of Monday's practice with his sore right ankle, but it gave him the chance to talk to Allen throughout practice.

"We were just running through a bunch of topics," Drummond noted. "After practice, he was talking to the guys, saying we’ve got to pick each other up, we can’t talk down to each other. You’ve got to know who to talk to in what ways, and that things will click for us after we start trusting each other more.”


Added Olander: “That was a real good experience, just to have him come, with all his knowledge and experience and all the things he’s accomplished, just to get our minds right again, tell us forget about things that have happened and to move on as a team. It was special to have him there to get us re-focused on what we have to do to get through the rest of the season.”


*** As for UConn's walking wounded, Jeremy Lamb's sprained right toe has improved, according to trainer James Doran, and he was expected to give it a go at practice today. Same with Drummond, though the team is being more cautious with him.

"It tweaks sometimes when I make the wrong step," Drummond said, adding that he'll likely "go in spurts" today in practice.

Drummond said on Sunday, the day after he turned his ankle up in Syracuse, his ankle really hurt and he could barely get out of bed.

“I told James, you might wanna come get me, because I can’t walk," Drummond said with a smile. "I’m struggling to get out of my bed. He loosened it up for me. He’s a great trainer, because if I was on my own, I’d still be stuck in my room to this day.”

Also, Roscoe Smith was pulled out of practice with a sore left Achilles tendon on Monday, and it wasn't known whether he'd practice today.

***UPDATE*** Lamb and Drummond both got through practice on Tuesday, though it was a struggle for both (particularly Lamb). Smith did not practice and appears questionable for Wednesday's bout with DePaul.

Soon after discussing his team’s resounding win over Seton Hall on Saturday afternoon, George Blaney was asked if he’d like to give a few words on Louisville, the Huskies’ next opponent.

“Ummm … no,” Blaney playfully groaned, a somewhat pained expression spread across his face.

It was as if Blaney, once again taking over UConn’s head coaching reins while Jim Calhoun is on indefinite medical leave, wanted to bask in the glow of UConn’s nice victory a few more moments before having to worry about all the problems Louisville will present Monday night.

He finally relented.

“Louisville, to me, always presents much more of a problem at home,” Blaney said. “Pressure works better at home than it does on the road, so we’re going to have to absorb pressure, be able to not allow people to go behind us as we did a couple of times (Saturday).”

Indeed, the Cardinals love to press and run under Rick Pitino, and also largely employ a 2-3 matchup zone. UConn will counter with the three-guard starting lineup it unveiled against Seton Hall, along with Tyler Olander -- its best passing big man -- at the four.

Louisville has won four straight, though not exactly against the iron of the league (at Pitt and Seton Hall, home against Villanova and Rutgers). It averages 9.5 steals per game, second in the Big East and sixth in the nation, and holds opponents to just 37-percent shooting, third nationally.

One thing the Cards aren't, however, is deep. They basically play seven players. No fewere than eight players have missed games due to injury this season, and three key ones (Wayne Blackshear, Rakeem Buckles and Mike Marra) have been lost for the entire season.

*** UConn is 6-6 all-time against Louisville. The Huskies had dropped four straight to the Cards before their 69-66 win in the Big East tournament championship game last March.

*** Pitino is 10-11 all-time against UConn: 0-6 while at Boston University, 4-0 while at Providence and 6-5 at Louisville.

*** Pitino is also 15-8 all-time against Jim Calhoun: 6-3 while Pitino was at BU and Calhoun at Northeastern; 1-0 while Pitino was at PC and Calhoun at Northeastern; 2-0 while Pitino was at PC and Calhoun at UConn; and 6-5 at Louisville.

It's worth mentioning this because, although Calhoun won't be on the sidelines on Monday, the game (and, indeed, all UConn's games while Calhoun is on medical leave) go on Calhoun's record. The three games Calhoun missed while on NCAA suspension this season did not go on his record, instead going to Blaney.

*** Monday night will mark just the third time the two teams have faced each other with neither one ranked. The other two times: Feb. 1, 2010 (an 82-69 Louisville victory) and Jan. 28, 2008 (a 69-67 UConn win in Hartford).

UConn is going with an eighth different starting lineup today -- and let me be the first to say, I like it.

The Huskies are going with a three-guard look: Ryan Boatright, Shabazz Napier and Jeremy Lamb. Andre Drummond's the center and Tyler Olander the power forward.

I think this is the best lineup to get an offensive flow going, especially against a zone defense. Boatright makes things happen, as we saw before he got into foul trouble at Georgetown. He can make Drummond very happy getting him the rock.

Ditto for Olander, the team's best big-man passer who sees the floor well when he gets the ball at the high post and can also pop in a 15-footer.

Not to say Roscoe Smith, Alex Oriakhi, Niels Giffey and DeAndre Daniels don't still have roles on this team, but this starting lineup may be UConn's best right now.

*** The Huskies catch a break as Seton Hall top scorer, rebounder Herb Pope won't play after bruising his rib Tuesday night against Marquette. If UConn doesn't win today ...

*** Karl Hobbs has been bumped up to assistant coach while Jim Calhoun is out. He'll be able to coach the team during practices and, obviously, during games during this span.

*** I wouldn't expect Calhoun to make the trip to Syracuse. Getting on airplanes is one of the worst things for his back right now. (Oh, and so is the stress from losing. Yeah, Syracuse might not be a good remedy).

Wish we could give you more info on Ryan Boatright's situation, but as of right now, there's really nothing new to report.

UConn's compliance staff has been working late hours (until 9 p.m. the other night) trying to get some sort of resolution from Indianapolis, but nothing ... yet.

Here's what Jim Calhoun had to say this afternoon:

"Everybody’s working like crazy, trying to get some resolution right now ... There’s no indication of (whether he'll come back at all), the only indication is we’re trying like crazy to get him back."

"One of the worst parts about it, it hangs there. Ryan has a great day of practice today, it hangs there. It hangs with the kids (saying), ‘If we had him.’ We don’t, right now."

“All of us want to have the best team possible. I think we all would admit – good, bad or indifferent – to not play, to play, to not play can wear on you. I know it wears on me. No one cares about that, nor should they.”

Boatright's teammates obviously want him back, as well.

“He’s the same person. He’s not letting it get him down," said Andre Drummond. "He’s still playing twice as hard in practice. He wants to come back really bad, and I just can’t wait for the day that he gets cleared.”

Elsewhere ...

*** DeAndre Daniels, after "probably the best week of practice of his career," will be back in the starting lineup Sunday, ahead of Niels Giffey.

*** Calhoun said Tyler Olander recently has been "logy. He’s looked logy in games, I don’t know why.”

*** Ex-Huskies Donny Marshall, Kevin Freeman, Kevin Ollie and Tony Robertson have been going against UConn in practice over the past week.


***UConn's Super Bowl predictions:

DRUMMOND: "Patriots. They’ve got Tom Brady, what more could you ask for? I’m from New York, I like the New York Giants, but I think the Patriots might get the best of them.”

JEREMY LAMB: “I kind of want the Giants to win. I don’t really watch too much football … I just want to see a good game. But I think the Giants might be able to pull it off.

CALHOUN: “The Patriots will win, I just can’t give you the (details) … Everybody talks about getting injuries from the Patriots, that’s not gonna happen. When Randy Edsall was here, you were much more likely to get a week in advance injury report from him than you would two hours before the Patriots kick off Super Bowl Sunday.”

Jim Calhoun heavily recruited both Cuonzo Martin and Jarnell Stokes, some 20 years apart.

He didn’t wind up with either. On Saturday, both helped lead Tennessee to a 60-57 victory over the Huskies at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Martin’s hard-nosed, defensive-minded work ethic is starting to rub off on the Vols in his first year at the helm, and it showed on Saturday.

“He was a great kid, he’s obviously evolved into a good coach,” Calhoun said of Martin, who was down to UConn and Purdue before choosing the Boilermakers as a prep recruit back in 1992. “He’s done something that we haven’t done – he’s gotten his team to play hard.”

He later added: “I don’t think Cuonzo needs my advice. I’m not in very much of a position to give advice about teams playing hard.”

UConn’s pursuit of Stokes was far more recent. UConn was one of the final six teams on Stokes’ final list of colleges last spring. Unfortunately for the Huskies, they were sixth.

Just a few days before UConn was slated to have an in-house visit with the Memphis native, Stokes dropped the Huskies from consideration. He wound up selecting Tennessee, and after graduating from high school in December, enrolling at Tennessee just before Christmas and receiving eligibility clearance on Jan. 12, he’s been a force already.

Stokes averaged 10 points in his first two games but easily had his best game against the Huskies, notching a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds. The 6-foot-8, 250-pound Stokes just turned 18 two weeks ago.

“He’s a house. He’s huge, man,” said UConn frosh Andre Drummond. “He keeps playing the way he’s playing, he’s going to make some money in this game.”

Stokes was flattered by UConn’s interest, though he never did visit Storrs.

“I definitely love Coach Calhoun and Kevin Ollie,” he said. “I definitely liked their school. Any time you get recruited by the defending champions, you’ve got to pick up his calls, basically.”

Stokes recalled playing against Drummond one summer at the adidas Nation camp.
“We played against each other. I held my own,” he recalled. “I believe we got in a little tussle on the court, but that had nothing to do with this game right here.”

*** There’s not much more Calhoun can or will say about the Ryan Boatright situation. A New York Times report on Friday shed some more light on the issue, however.

The Huskies clearly miss Boatright, and Saturday provided another reason why: without him, UConn can't press nearly as much as it would like.

Trailing late, UConn was forced to press, and that seemed to rattle the Vols, leading to turnovers that helped fuel the Huskies’ comeback bid. But UConn couldn’t press earlier in the game for fear of losing Shabazz Napier or Jeremy Lamb to foul trouble.

“If we had another player who’s not here, we definitely would have,” Calhoun said. “We saw the Georgia game, the 20 turnovers … we have been, at times, a good pressure-type team. But I can’t afford to have either one of those guards out of the game at this particular point. I was in a quandary, to some degree … To lose them early would have been suicidal, I think.”

Some stats and quotes to chew on:

*** Lamb and Napier combined for 27 of UConn's 30 second-half points. Too often, the Huskies offensive sets were one-and-done possessions consisting entirely of Lamb or Napier taking off-balance jumpers late in the shot clock and the Vols grabbing the offensive board.

There are myriad reasons why, not the least of which is the ineffectiveness of the big men inside. Alex Oriakhi had five points before fouling out. Drummond had six points and nine rebounds (I missed most of the latter).

"You get bumped on a screen or set a screen, you either stay on it or you back off it," said Calhoun. "Those kind of plays, boxing out on a couple of foul shots. Not posting – who are you going to throw it to? Alex occasionally, maybe. Nobody else made a presence in there ... I'm disappointed, perplexed, why some of these guys aren’t growing."

It's also worth noting that Tyler Olander didn't put up a single shot in 18 minutes of action. In fact, UConn got zero points from its four players off the bench.

“In the final analysis of 40 minutes, we got outworked,” Calhoun said afterwards. “That’s something I hate, despise, I don’t sleep (after) saying that. But they outworked us.”

*** Don't blame the refs, either.

“It was a physical game, very well-officiated, in my opinion,” Calhoun noted. “I have no problem with the officiating whatsoever. They allowed the game to be physical, and they were more physical than us. Thus, they won the game.”

*** Napier's not going to get on the big men too much.

“I’m supposed to, but they’ve been getting yelled at all day," he said. "I’m not going to yell at them. I’m going to tell them the truth: they need to score more and rebound more. But there’s a lot of things I need to do better. I need to be a better leader, a better scorer, a better distributor. Just because they had two bad games, they’re going down there and working hard. Everybody has to play better.”

*** UConn doesn't play again until hosting Notre Dame on Jan. 29, giving it eight days to sit on this loss.

“It’s tough to sit on it for a day,” said Napier.

*** Calhoun still has faith in his big men.

“I love those kids, and I’m not giving up on them by any stretch of the imagination.”

*** Gotta seriously consider dropping UConn from my Top 25 this week. Had 'em at 13, so that's a big drop. Lots of other teams lost, and losing to Cincy and Tennessee on the road isn't the worst week ever. Still, can't imagine I'll have them any higher than 22-23, if at all.

We'll have some video a little later. Do come back ...

I could be way off-base here, so give me a minute.

The Cincy-Xavier brawl back on Dec. 10 has been labeled one of college basketball's ugliest incidents in years. Yancy Gates' right hook to Kenny Frease's face certainly is an ugly lasting image of the whole situation. At 6-9, 260 pounds (at least), Gates is lucky he didn't cause further harm to Frease than just the nasty gash under his left eye.

“It was crazy," Jeremy Lamb recalled. "It was a competitive game and stuff got out of hand. I watched it a couple of times.”

Added Andre Drummond: “I heard one thing led to another and bad things happened. It’s a good thing they cleared that whole thing up.”

Oddly, both players were asked if they believed a similar incident could erupt tomorrow night.

“No, I don’t expect to see us fighting, no," a perplexed Lamb responded.

“We’re just going to go out and play basketball," added Drummond. "We’re not looking to fight anybody. We’re just trying to win the basketball game.”

Gates and numerous others were suspended (rightly so, some perhaps not as long as they should have been). It was an ugly incident that has no place in the game of college basketball.

But here's a question I really would appreciate some help on: Why do we get all up in arms about college basketball kids doing something that happens in NHL games every single night. Every. Single. Night.

In all seriousness, if anyone can answer this one, I'd appreciate it. I honestly can't understand why fighting in hockey is encouraged so much, but I could very well be missing something here.

Anyway, on to UConn:

*** Jim Calhoun wasn't overly happy with practice today, cursing and raising his voice at times. He was happier with Monday's practice, however.

*** Cincy has taken the negative of the Xavier brawl and turned it into a positive. With Gates suspended for six games, the Bearcats converted into a pressing, 3-point gunning team, with very positive results.

“They’re an open team now, they put four outside," said Calhoun. "They were forced into it, and by doing so, when you’re forced into a situation, it turns out to be good for you.”

The Bearcats are 14-4 overall and 4-1 in the Big East, their best start in conference play since joining the league in 2005. Cincinnati has won nine of its last 10 games overall and nine of its last 11 Big East regular season games.

Perhaps most impressively, the Bearcats have won six straight and eight of their last nine Big East road games.

Cincy has won five of its last seven regular-season games against ranked foes.

*** Calhoun on the Big East: "It's a league that makes no sense from 2 to 16 ... There’s a one, far and away, and no clear two as I can see it.”

*** DeAndre Daniels turned his ankle during practice and limped off the floor. After about 10 minutes, he rejoined the action and seemed fine. However, he was helped off the court by trainer James Doran and a teammate afterwards.

Also, Tyler Olander still isn't 100-percent but is better than he was Saturday, when he was limited to six minutes against Notre Dame. Calhoun fully expects him to play tomorrow night.

*** No word on Ryan Boatright, but it appears he won't be playing tomorrow. If Shabazz Napier and/or Jeremy Lamb get into foul trouble, would Calhoun have faith in walk-on Brendan Allen, who hasn't played in a month?

“I do have faith in him," the coach said, "he just hasn’t had the experience yet, so he’s hard to throw in the midst of a game. But if need be, we certainly will.”

*** Former UConn guard Tony Robertson played on the "Green Team" in practice today. He's on campus taking some classes in order to graduate.

Robertson looked pretty smooth burying some 3-pointers (though his defensive intensity was, shall we say, less than stellar).

*** Tomorrow night will be UConn's first game at Gampel since a Dec. 8 bout with Harvard. That's a span of some 41 days and eight games.

Nice win by UConn, eh? True, Notre Dame's just not that good, but still. UConn snaps Notre Dame's 29-game home winning streak. Three years earlier the Huskies had snapped Notre Dame's 45-game home streak, its longest ever. Impressive.

Lots of stuff to blog about today. Here we go:

Roscoe Smith insisted that his reduced role in recent times hasn't affected him, and that's believable. The 6-foot-8 sophomore always seems to have the same upbeat, devil-may-care demeanor -- even after going scoreless in three of his prior four games.

“It hasn’t been frustrating,” Smith insisted. “It’s just something I’ve been going through, it’s part of basketball. I went through it in high school and I went through it in middle school. I just love to be around the staff and the players. I just love to be out there and contribute any way I can.”

Smith really came up big for the Huskies today, coming off the bench for 10 points and six rebounds -- including a trio of key offensive boards in the latter half -- in just 15 minutes of action.

What is it that led to Roscoe -- a stalwart on last year's national title team -- to see a grand total of just 22 minutes in UConn's prior four games?

“(Lack of) a position," Jim Calhoun explained. "Before Tyler banged his heel up and maybe a little before that, Tyler was really, really valuable to us – and still is … For the past two days, (Smith) has been with the starting team. That rotation has worked well. He’s earned himself more playing time. It’s like everything else: sometimes, unless it really happens, you don’t believe it’s going to happen."

Smith's best sequence came early in the latter half. On consecutive possessions he grabbed tough offensive rebounds, putting one back for his first basket in three games (and second in five games), and getting fouled and converting both freebies on the other.

A short while later, Smith grabbed an offensive board to keep another possession alive. He wound up sinking a 15-footer on that possession.

"Roscoe, last year, played 25 minutes on a national championship team, started most of our games, and kind of just expected he was going to do that this year," Calhoun continued. "But Tyler had a good summer, and Tyler expected to start. They had a good battle.”

Smith's position this season has primarily been power forward, as opposed to small forward. He's fine with that.

“I just like being on the court," he said. "I’m a basketball player. I don’t really go by numbers. Anything I can do – rebound, play defense – I’m willing to do.”

Can Roscoe continue his good play moving forward?

“I plan on doing it … ‘we’ plan on doing it," he said. "Our new motto is ‘we.’ We plan on doing it.”

*** That's the kind of attitude Olander has always displayed. He was a real gamer today, as a game-time decision with a really sore, bruised right heel. In six short minutes, Olander squeezed in four points and four rebounds -- then plenty of encouragement from the bench.

“It’s the small, little things that make a coach happy,” said Calhoun. “The enthusiasm that Tyler had on the bench. He got into the game, made his two foul shots and twice made us break pressure. That’s what a team’s all about.”

*** Oh, and of course, Alex Oriakhi. Twelve points, seven rebounds. Very active defensively. We're not gonna give you the obligatory "Alex is back" stuff, but ... well, he just may be back after two strong games in a row.

“I never get too, too excited, because you’ve got a game in a few days, he said. "Anything can happen then. I’m just happy I was able to play, and we were able to win.”

Calhoun said Oriakhi looks "happier. He's one of the greatest kids in the world. He was very effective tonight, obviously.”

*** Ryan Boatright apparently really did have about 300 friends and family scattered throughout the building. Dennis Shamblin, a sports booster and graduate of East Aurora (Ill.) High (Boatright's alma mater), was one of them. Shamblin and his wife, Debbie, had dozens of UConn shirts with Boatright's name and number on the back made for the game by Spiritwear Wholesales in St. Charles, Ill., where Debbie is a sales consultant.

The Shamblins were obviously disappointed not to get to see Boatright play. They know about as much as we currently know about what the NCAA is looking into, only that it's something that happened long before he enrolled at UConn.

UConn got the news about Boatright at around 6:30 p.m. on Friday, shortly after arriving at its team hotel in South Bend. Calhoun pulled Boatright out of a team dinner to tell him he'd have to sit out the game -- and possibly many others.

“He was in my arms when I told him," the coach said. "He was in my arms, that’s all I can tell you … I’m not going to do anything that’s going to hurt Ryan Boatright. I feel a lot about it, but I have nothing to say about it.”

His teammates did.

“It’s kind of unfortunate that the NCAA would do that to him, especially a game where it’s close to home for him," said Oriakhi. "He had a lot of people come out to see him play. But we were able to get the win. Coach said guys are going to have to step up without Ryan, and we did that.”

Oriakhi added that Boatright was "upset, like anybody would be. But there’s not much you can do. He just has to wait it out and see what happens. He’s definitely upset, and he had every reason to be.”

Added Shabazz Napier: “It was kind of short notice. I really missed him a lot. He does a lot for this team. He comes out with that energy burst. We had to play without him today, but hopefully we won’t have to play without him at Cincinnati.”

Said Roscoe: "We dedicated this game to Ryan Boatright."

*** Napier played all 40 minutes (as did Jeremy Lamb) and may have to get used to that while Boatright is out.

"Me and Jeremy can’t be too aggressive on defense," he said. "It kinda takes away from our game."

Napier had a team-high 15 points but Lamb had a season-low six points on 3-for-11 shooting. UConn found a way to win, anyway.

“We’re not going to get used to that or anything," Oriakhi grinned. "We know Jeremy’s going to play like the old Jeremy. But it definitely gives us confidence. It shows guys can step up. To get a road win in the Big East is definitely hard.”

*** I showed up to Purcell Pavilion at about 7:45 a.m. on Saturday, and Mike Brey was already in the midst of leading his team through a pretty thorough pregame practice.

UConn showed up around 8:45 a.m. and definitely was vocal and spirited during its shootaround.

“We were energized," Calhoun said. "We had a pretty emotional talk about, ‘It’s about us.’ We can’t control the world, but we can control what we do.”

*** UConn held Notre Dame to 32-percent shooting. The Irish canned five 3-pointers in the first half ut were 1-for-15 from beyond the arc in the latter.

"We really, really defended," said Calhoun.

“When you’re a coach, that’s the biggest thing you want, when your team is thrown a challenge, as we were last night around 6:30, 7 p.m.,” said Calhoun. “I thought we responded great.”

*** An 11 a.m. start (and 6:50 a.m. wake-up call), the Boatright situation, and John Cahill on the whistle. This had the potential to be a cranky day for Calhoun. Instead, he was all smiles afterwards.

“When you’re a coach, that’s the biggest thing you want, when your team is thrown a challenge, as we were last night around 6:30, 7 p.m. I thought we responded great.”

The nation's first real snowstorm of the new year appears to be brewing as we speak, and UConn (and the writers that cover it) will be heading straight into the teeth of it.

Some 10-16 inches of snow are expected to fall in South Bend over the next couple of days. It's supposed to be particularly brutal tonight through tomorrow.

UConn is slated to practice at Gampel tomorrow, then take a 2 p.m. flight out of Bradley straight to South Bend. We'll see.

Saturday's game, of course, is an 11 a.m. start, in an attempt by ESPN to avoid going up against NFL playoff games. Notre Dame coach Mike Brey doesn't see the early start as a big deal.

“I don’t really think it’s a factor," he said. "When you’re practicing preseason, you’re weekend practices are usually 10, 11 a.m."

Alex Oriakhi doesn't think much of it, either.

“You’re not used to playing so early, but we practice pretty early, too, so it’s really not an excuse," he said. "You’ve got to get used to it. We practice at 8 a.m., so it shouldn’t make a difference. It’s basketball.”

But guess who does have a big problem with the 11 a.m. start?

“I’m not crazy about it," said Jim Calhoun. "I continue to say it’s a bad idea for everybody involved. Nine o’clock (p.m.) games are bad for people, and I don’t think 11 a.m. games are good … It’s the way things are, I guess you’ve got to live with it.”

*** UConn may be without Tyler Olander on Saturday. He's sat out the last two practices with a bruised right heel that's hurting him pretty badly. It happened in the West Virginia game.

DeAndre Daniels is expected to reclaim his starting spot over Niels Giffey, and Roscoe Smith will be the first power forward off the bench if Olander can't go.

Said Oriakhi, of the possibility of Olander being out: “I’m just looking at it as an opportulnity to hopefully play more minutes. I’ve got to step in there if he’s not able to go.”

*** Ryan Boatright, who hails from Aurora, Ill., just outside Chicago (about 120 miles from South Bend), says he could have some 400 friends and family at Saturday's game. Yup, 400.

Boatright is most looking forward to seeing his brother, Deahjay McAllister, who's now starting at point guard for Aurora High.

"It’s been a while since I’ve seen my little brother. I haven’t seen him since I left in the summertime ... The fans back at home aren’t really used to seeing me lose.”

*** As always, Shabazz Napier had some interesting things to say:

(on going scoreless in the win over West Virginia)

“I don’t look at how much I score, I look at how much we score. I’m not worried about that ... All my shots, except for the last one, were wide-open. I shot too strong, sometimes too short … Lamb and Andre finished around the basket, so I’m not worried about my shots not going in.”

(on his team's biggest problem)

“We’d be undefeated if we didn’t turn the ball over a lot. That has to do with myself, with Ryan, some of my other teammates.”

(on his comments after the Rutgers game that he didn't feel his teammates viewed him as a leader)

“I’m not even worried about that anymore. If it happens, it happens. We’ll find (a leader) sooner or later. We’re going to win games and lose games without a leader. I feel as though if we play team basketball, we should be fine. Within that, we’ll find a leader.”

As Jim Calhoun had announced yesterday, Niels Giffey is starting tonight for UConn. Calhoun also mentioned on Friday that he wasn't sure if he would start Alex Oriakhi or Tyler Olander at power forward.

The answer: Oriakhi. And here's why: the Huskies need Oriakhi, who has struggled badly this season, and don't want to lose him, so to speak. Moving him to the bench would hurt his confidence even more. Meanwhile, Olander really doesn't care if he starts or comes off the bench. For now, it makes sense to continue to start Oriakhi.

*** With Giffey in the starting five, UConn has now used six different starting lineups in 15 games this season. It also marked the eighth time the Huskies have used a different starting lineup from the previous game.

*** UConn likely won’t get back to campus until about 2 a.m. It will practice at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, in preparation for Monday night’s home bout with West Virginia, which beat Georgetown at home earlier today.

*** Seems Chris Obekpa, a 6-9 power forward out of Centereach, N.Y., has emerged as the Huskies' prime recruiting target from the Class of 2012.

Some interesting stuff from today's conference call with Jim Calhoun:

*** First off, Niels Giffey will start at small forward tomorrow night (for the first time this season) against Rutgers. Calhoun said Giffey has "great, great focus," and hopes he'll give the Huskies more production than what they've been getting from the 3-spot.

By my count, this will be the sixth different starting lineup UConn has used over its first 15 games. Not a stunning amount, but certainly a bit more unsettled than usual. It speaks to two things: the Huskies' depth, and the fact that they still haven't quite found the right rotation to this point.

Giffey will be the eighth different UConn player to start a game.

Also, Tyler Olander may start over Alex Oriakhi at power forward. Calhoun started Oriakhi in practice yesterday, but Olander had a "great practice," so a decision will likely be made after tonight's 6-8 p.m. practice at The RAC.

Shabazz Napier didn't practice yesterday and may not practice tonight. He should be able to play on Saturday night, however, according to Calhoun.

*** Now, this was really interesting: Calhoun said that a big part of his decision not to retire and to return as UConn's head coach for a 26th season stemmed from making sure he took the bullet, so to speak, for the NCAA violations and served his 3-game suspension.

“When I contemplated over the spring and summer about what I was going to do, I had (visions) of being Al Maguire … I always felt this was hanging out there, and we needed to get finality on it," he said. "My own personal opinions about the NCAA (decision) are my own personal feelings. The university, myself included, we were penalized, and I wanted to make sure that I was the guy that sat out, I was the guy that finalized it. As far as I’m concerned, it’s something in the past. What was done was done, it is what it is.”

“Trust me – part of my contemplation during the summer had to do with making sure that there was closure," he added. "As far as I’m concerned, it’s in the rear-view mirror … I love my university, I love my life there, I love my players. I always feel I need to be there when they need me to finish something that, like it or not – and I didn’t like it, necessarily – that I was part of, and let’s move on.”

*** And so, we move on to Rutgers Saturday night. Calhoun has a propensity to insist how difficult it is to play at The RAC -- and certainly, Florida's Billy Donovan would agree.

Still, Calhoun has won nine of the 10 games he's coached there at UConn. UConn has won its last five games at The RAC, its last four by totals of 18, 18, 10 and 22 points, respectively. That’s an average 17-point victory margin. The last time the Huskies were challenged in Piscataway was on Jan. 6, 2004, when they eked out a 75-74 win.

The last time UConn lost at The RAC was on Jan. 30, 2002, a 61-53 setback.
In fact, that’s the only time UConn has lost to the Scarlet Knights, home or away, in the 19 times they’ve met since Rutgers joined the Big East in 2005. The Huskies have won the last 10 meetings overall.

Of course, UConn had also won 11 straight and (eerily) 18 of its last 19 against Seton Hall before being tripped up Tuesday night in Newark.

Bottom line: there is no such thing as an easy road game in the Big East.

*** Forget all the chatter about Napier or Ryan Boatright needing to play better. UConn's biggest problem right now, offensively, is a lack of production from its bigs. Oriakhi's troubles have been well-chronicled -- the ungainly low post moves, the countless missed putbacks and bunnies -- but Andre Drummond hasn't exactly been Tim Duncan on the low post, either.

Drummond has very little offensive skill in the paint. He doesn't make spin moves, doesn't really have a hook shot (like Hasheem Thabeet was able to develop ... sorta) or any other signature low-post shot. Sure, he's made a couple of short baseline jumpers here and there, but his form is still very raw and I'm not convinced he's a real threat from more than a few feet out. Drummond's entire offensive arsenal has largely been slamming home alley-oops, to this point.

"If we have no inside game, we have no outside game," Calhoun surmised. "They're going to go out and play Jeremy's jump shot, they're going to try to take away the drive of Ryan and Shabazz. We can't play like that ... We have a terrific outside game. We’re probably the best 3-point shooting team in the league.”

(When's the last time you could have said that about a UConn team. It may be true, though).

Calhoun said about 75-percent of yesterday's practice focused on the inside game -- making the guards conscious of getting the ball inside, and getting the bigs to execute when they do get the rock.

*** Calhoun said, "If today was the NCAA tournament, we'd be a No. 2 seed."

I'm not so sure about that, but maybe.

*** As for watching the last three games at home on TV (with the volume off), Calhoun said: “I felt attached. I felt the same feelings in my stomach, the television did not … react. I didn’t get a ‘T’ from it … I can’t think of a positive, but it is what it is, and we’re moving on.”

“The price of being a little more refreshed doesn’t offset the anxiety you feel when you’re watching your team on TV … To me, personally, I don’t think you can be removed the way a ‘normal’ person can be removed.”

*** Oh, and apparently UConn is back in the mix for Darrick Wood, who just de-committed from St. John's.

Here are some of the grisly numbers from UConn's 75-63 loss to Seton Hall that wasn't nearly that close:

*** UConn committed 13 first-half turnovers. Just one in the second, but the damage had been done.

*** Seton Hall hit 10 of 20 3-pointers, 6 of 10 in the latter half -- including five during one four-minute stretch that pretty much salted the game away.

*** The Huskies shot just 35.1 percent from the floor, by far their worst of the season. Last time they shot worse? Last year's national championship game (34.5) -- which, you may recall, UConn won.

*** Andre Drummond and Alex Oriakhi combined for just six points. Oriakhi had just two points and two rebounds. Not sure what's going on there. Or with Roscoe Smith, for that matter.

*** Jeremy Lamb had a team-high 19 points, but none over the game's final 15 minutes.

*** Niels Giffey had 11 points -- six of them from the foul line.

*** Shabazz Napier had nearly as many turnovers (five) as points (six). Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said stopping Napier was the key going into the game.

"He really is a catalyst," Willard said of Napier. "He is a heck of a player and we knew it was tough to stop Lamb. He comes off so many screens, he's got such great range, and you kind of almost have to pick your poison. He was a much more important person to stop, because Lamb is going to get his. You have to try to stop one of them and we really tried to put two people on Napier at all times."

*** UConn's 35-22 halftime deficit was its first of the season.

*** UConn had won 11 straight over the Hall, 18 of its last 19 and 25 of its last 27.

*** George Blaney now has as many technical fouls this season as Jim Calhoun: one apiece. Funny, it takes a lot less for the refs to "T" up George than it does to get Calhoun.

Nothing against Blaney, but this is a game where the Huskies truly missed Calhoun. They still might not have won, but things would have been a lot different with his intensity on the sidelines.

*** Seton Hall's Jordan Theodore scored all 19 of his points in the second half and also finished with 11 assists and three steals. Herb Pope had 15 points and eight rebounds, Fuquan Edwin added 12 and 11 and Aaron Cosby netted 12 points.

And a few other things:

UConn fans may not care about this right now, but Willard is quite a character. He was awed by the fact that the Pirates got a postgame locker-room visit from Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz. And he didn't think his players understood the historical impact of finally beating UConn for the first time in 11 years.

“I’ve got three Europeans. They don’t know where New Jersey is," he said. "I didn’t know (about the 11-game losing streak), until I talked to (a writer) yesterday.”

Willard also called the Drummond-Pope controversy "one of the stupidest things" he's ever heard.

"Why would he know?" Willard asked. "He probably just knew who No. 15 was. That’s the way we do it. If I had told Freddie Wilson to go stop (Providence’s) Vincent Council, he’d be like, ‘Who’s that?’ We play so many games against so many great players, it’s just one of those things.”

Oh, and Seton Hall is good. I'll almost certainly be voting for them in my AP Top 25 poll on Sunday -- unless they blow it and lose at Providence (which is hardly out of the question in this wild and whacky Big East).

*** Curiously, Lamb seemed to place some of the blame of the loss on the game's officials.

“We couldn’t get (any) calls," he said afterwards.

When asked about UConn's 13 first-half turnovers, Lamb said: "Some of them we got fouled, didn’t get the call, and some of them we made bad passes. You’ve got to take care of the ball.”

Tyler Olander may have summed things up the best:

"They came back and kind of punched us in the mouth a little bit. We failed to punch back for the rest of the game, really.”

*** Jim Calhoun can return to coaching the team starting tomorrow. His first return to the sidelines will be Saturday at Rutgers.

"It’s always nice to have Coach back, because he tells us exactly what we need to do," Olander said. "He’s our leader, he’s our coach. When your leader goes down, it hurts a little bit, so it’s always good to get him back.”

Leave it to Jim Calhoun to sum up Ryan Boatright's night as follows:

“He played awful tonight,” Calhoun said. “He made a big play (but) he was awful tonight. It’s the first game that I would say, for a really good player, he was awful … he was part of the problem when he came in. He read the scoreboard and thought it was time for us just to go. And he hurt us a little bit. But being the kind of competitor he is, he makes a big shot to put the game away.”

Boatright's 3-pointer was the big shot in UConn's 79-71 win over Fairfield. He followed by grabbing a rebound and hitting Jeremy Lamb with a long pass for a dunk, then hitting a pair of free throws to seal the deal.

“It was wide-open,” Boatright said. “The shot clock was going down, I was in rhythm. I just took it and knocked it down. I’ve been in a lot of pressure situations in my life. I know how to deal with them.”

But Calhoun wasn't pleased with the rest of Boatright's night. He wasn't pleased with watching his team squander a 22-point lead to to just three late in the game, either.

“We looked at the scoreboard and decided it was time to go home for Christmas,” Calhoun said.

Calhoun also was hit with his first technical of the season, by Michael Stephens with about 6 1/2 minutes left in the first half. And he was quite cranky after the game, particularly when asked about the Andre Drummond/Michael Bradley scholarship situation.

“We gave you the information at the time, which was correct," he said. "My first responsibility wasn’t to tell the press what was going on, because It’s none of your business. It’s a private matter between two young men.”

Perhaps Calhoun was most peeved about the fact that this is the last game he'll be able to coach until Jan. 7 at Rutgers. In fact, after a Christmas Night practice, he won't even be able to coach during practices until after the Jan. 3 Seton Hall game.

That's different than what happened last year to Bruce Pearl, who was suspended Tennessee's first eight SEC games for lying to the NCAA but was able to coach during practices -- and even coach a non-conference game vs. UConn in the middle of the penalty.

The difference is that Pearl's penalty was levied by the SEC; Calhoun's by the NCAA.

“Call Indianapolis," Calhoun shrugged. "They sent us an interpretation, telling me simply that I can’t coach the team."

Calhoun will meet back up with his team on Jan. 4 in New York, where the Huskies will be staying in between the Seton Hall and Rutgers games.

"I'm going to miss the team, obviously," he added. "It’ll be very difficult for me, but they’ll be in good hands. We're 10-0 ... and I'll see them in New York."

*** While Tyler Olander’s team got the victory, Ryan Olander got a lot of bragging rights in the battle between brothers. Both players went scoreless in the first half, but Ryan wound up with eight points and eight rebounds, including a powerful dunk late in the game that brought the Stags to within six.

Tyler finished with just two points and two boards.

Worse for Tyler, he was soundly rejected by his brother midway through the second half.

“They’ll be talking about that for a while,” said Stags coach Sydney Johnson.

Said Ryan about the sibling showdown: “It was exciting, but I’m glad it’s over now. It’s an experience not many people can say they’ve had. I’m lucky to share that with my family.”

The Olanders mother, Tracy, led the pregame Pledge of Allegiance, and the entire family wore t-shirts that said “FairConn” on the front.

UConn was focusing squarely on Fairfield at its practice today at Gampel. The Huskies have great respect for the Stags, who have won four straight and have an NBA-type talent in Rakim Sanders.

“This won’t be the easiest team, personnel-wise, that we play the rest of the way," said Jim Calhoun. "I think, from a talent standpoint, they’re better than some of the teams we’ll be playing in the Big East.”

However, talk eventually drifted over to the Huskies' Big East season, which gets underway on Dec. 28 at South Florida. Of course, Calhoun won't be on the sidelines for that game -- or for St. John's on Dec. 31 and Seton Hall on Jan. 3 -- as he sits out an NCAA-imposed three-game suspension stemming from the Nate Miles mess.

Calhoun said sitting out the three games will be "difficult. It's something that, according to the NCAA, happened 5 ½ years ago, some of these kids were probably sophomores in high school. It’s for, I guess, an atmosphere. I’m sitting out three games because – for me, it’s probably an attitude, as opposed to an atmosphere ..."

He added that the school suggested some alternatives to the suspension, but the NCAA didn't want to hear it.

"That’s unfortunate," Calhoun said, "Because I just don’t think you should drag these things on, particularly in light of a lot of things going on in college athletics.”

Calhoun won't travel with the team for the South Florida game.

“You’ve got to start off with somebody running the team and make sure they have a practice and can spend some time down there with the kids," he explained. "It’s nothing that they don’t know, just a different voice. Same system, different voice.”

It's not known whose voice the Huskies will be listening to just yet. George Blaney, of course, has always filled in in the past. Blaney wasn't at practice today while tending to a personal issue. Assistants Kevin Ollie and Glen Miller were also on the road recruiting.

Calhoun said he'll meet Wednesday with compliance director Marielle VanGelde to iron out what he can and can't do during the suspension.

*** Andre Drummond, for one, can't wait to kick off his Big East career.

“I’ve been looking forward to this since the day I stepped on this campus," he said. "I can’t wait to play in the Big East. I can’t wait to play Syracuse, Louisville, Notre Dame … you go down the line of the teams.”

It will be "pretty weird" playing the first three games without Calhoun, he admitted.

"But I think we’re going to be fine. Coach Blaney is also a great coach. Coach Miller, Ollie … anybody can really coach us, it just depends on how we go out there and play.”

*** The big sidebar heading into Thursday's Fairfield game will be the battle of the Olander brothers: Tyler, UConn's sophomore foward, and Ryan, Fairfield's 7-foot senior center.

The two have never really played against each other before, other than in 1-on-1 games in the driveway -- which often got very chippy. So chippy, in fact, that it's impossible to tell who had the upper hand in terms of basketball in those games.

"We'd always get in fights because neither of us wanted to lose," Ryan said. "We never really finished any games, they were always so physical."

We'll have more on the Olanders in a feature story later today.

*** Shabazz Napier appeared to turn his ankle badly at the very end of practice. He was crumpled on the ground, writhing in pain for several moments. Trainer James Doran tended to him, and Napier eventually got up, walked around and appeared fine.

"He wanted to end the drill," joked Calhoun, who never looked concerned even while Napier was down.

Jim Calhoun was talking about Harvard before practice on Wednesday, lauding the unbeaten, 25th-ranked Crimson for their Battle 4 Atlantis tournament title.

"They beat a good Florida State team and then came back and beat Florida Central ... or, Central Florida. I should get used to that.”

Indeed, he should. UCF -- along with San Diego State and Boise State (for football only), and SMU and Houston will all be joining the Big East in 2013. And Calhoun is happy about that.

“It's clearly good for us," Calhoun said. "We need to get some quality teams that show they can get into bowls.”

From a basketball aspect, he doesn’t think any of those teams will replace Syracuse, Pittsburgh and West Virginia. But he understands football drives the bus.

“Boise, frankly, is better than any of those three (Syracusee, Pitt or WVU),” he said.

Calhoun would like to see Temple join the conference in both sports – something that still could happen.

“I think Temple’s natural – I know Jay Wright doesn’t feel that way – but they’ll only help Big East basketball in Philadelphia,” he said.

*** Back to Harvard. This is hardly one of those December non-conference pushover teams -- the kind the Huskies have defeated 101 straight times, dating back to 1973. The Crimson are ranked (No. 25 ... I had them at No. 23) for the first time in the program's long history. They're 8-0, their best start since 1984-85, with those wins over Florida State and Florida Central ... er, rather, Central Florida on their resume.

They're good, and the Huskies know it.

“They’re a really good basketball team,” said Tyler Olander. “They run their stuff really well, they play hard, they value the basketball. They don’t turn it over much, they play really smart.”

Calhoun compares the Crimson to last year’s Butler squad – which, of course, UConn defeated in the national championship game.

“They can play fast – maybe a little faster than Butler – they can play slow,” Calhoun noted. “They’re very good in the last five minutes, they shoot better, they make foul shots and they’re a very confident group.”

In short, the Huskies (7-1) need to be on their ‘A’ game tonight.

“This team is good enough to beat us,” Calhoun said. “Do we have to play the best we’ve ever played? Certainly not. We’ve got to play well, though.”

*** Andre Drummond says he has a “surprise” in store for tonight, regarding the protective face mask he’s been wearing all season. Drummond fractured his nose in practice on Oct. 28 and was told when fitted for the mask a few days later that he’d need to wear it for about six weeks.

Drummond has been begging Calhoun and trainer James Doran to be able to shed the mask for a while now.

"It's killing me, man," he said. "I think I'll feel more comfortable without it on, because I'll be able to see a lot more with my peripheral vision."

*** Though Harvard doesn't start anyone taller than 6-8, Calhoun plans to go with his bigger starting lineup, meaning Drummond and Alex Oriakhi should remain in the starting 5.

*** Speaking of big men, Michael Bradley (ankle) practiced with the team on Wednesday but didn’t participate in any contact drills. He should be able to start practicing at full speed next week.

Today was 'The Boat Show,' no question about it. We'll get to Ryan Boatright (who confirmed that is his nickname) later. For now, let's get to the even bigger surprise of the day.

The UConn beat writer contingent was convinced that Jim Calhoun would come in breathing fire after the game, despite the Huskies' 13-point win over Arkansas. UConn, after all, had been beaten 47-35 on the boards. Worse, they were outrebounded on the offensive glass by a whoppiing 27-4 margin.

Instead, here's how Calhoun started his postgame presser:

"In sum total, I would say that might be our best game."

Huh?

He continued: "The 15 turnovers, which are heading down to where I want them, at least four or five of them were beautiful passes that just went off guys' hands inside the post."

As for the rebounding: “We’ve got to catch the ball inside, and we’ve got to rebound. Otherwise, in a game where we got beat by 12 on the glass, I’m not as disappointed, because I can see the rebounds, I can see our heads under the net. You can’t rebound under the net, and we’ve got to do a much better job of that.”

And, as Arkansas coach Mike Anderson pointed out: “We missed a lot of shots (53), so there were a lot of rebounds to be gotten, I guess.”

True enough. And I can see Calhoun's point. There were a lot of good signs for the Huskies today, starting, of course, with Boatright and moving on to UConn's three-guard attack of Boatright, Napier and Lamb, who were never really rattled by the Razorbacks' aggressive, pressure style.

It's a real good sign, in fact, that Napier seemed perfectly willing to relinquish the scoring burden to Boatright and even Tyler Olander (career-best 12 points) while picking his spots carefully (taking just six shots, making three). Lamb was also saddled with foul trouble, DeAndre Daniels and Roscoe Smith were just about invisible, so it was good for UConn to get scoring from other sources.

And they have a lot of sources. Seems this could be the type of team that will be led by its superstar (Lamb) and get contributions from various other players on any given night.

Niels Giffey was a positive, as well. Shackled to the bench for the entire Florida State game, as well as the first 16 minutes of the first half Saturday, he wound up contributing with four points, two boards and some generally solid overall play -- particularly on defense.

In fact, Calhoun strongly considered starting Giffey over Daniels until backing of at the last minute.

“Niels hasn’t seen the light of day much. He’s had four good practices in a row. We were talking to him about starting him over DeAndre – who we think is going to be a very good player, he just needs to understand the level we’re playing at is highly different.”

“My assistants kept saying to me, and they were 100-percent right – for once – to leave Niels in on defense, because he’s doing a great job."

As for Boatright, what more can you say -- 23 points, six assists, five rebounds, two steals, boundless energy. He's fearless taking the ball to the hole yet looks for his big men inside more than any of UConn's guards. He is the real deal.

“Ryan was pretty special,” said Calhoun. “He has those Allen Iverson kind of things where his athletic ability just allows him to do some pretty special things that you don’t normally see.”

Said Boatright: “I play with heart, so I never surprise myself. I came from high school scoring 40, 50, so I know I can score. But it’s not really about me scoring 23, as long as we got the ‘W’, I don’t care if I had three points, as long as we won, I’d be fine.”

Added Anderson: “He really gave them a big-time lift … I saw the game he played against Florida State and I thought he was the difference in that game, as well. He’s a good, crafty little guard. With Shabazz and him on the same team, and then you’ve got a guy like Lamb that can knock it down at any point in time, that’s a good tandem there.”

No doubt about that.

Calhoun mentioned how Boatright was going up against Ray Allen at Gampel the other day.

“He was saying ‘Ray, I got ya.’ (He was) going into Ray Allen. Not many guys can do that with Ray. They were kidding back and forth, but the point being: all he’s been doing through this whole process is, ‘Coach, get me on the floor.’ He never said a word about starting – obviously, I wouldn’t have listened to him anyway – but still, a lot of kids come back and say things.”

What do you want to know about Wagner, UConn's opponent tomorrow night? Here's all you probably need to know: the Seahawks are coached by the Brothers Hurley: Dan, the former Seton Hall guard, and Bobby -- yes, that Bobby, of Duke fame. Not to be confused with Duke Fame from a little thing I like to call the greatest movie ever made, 'This Is Spinal Tap' ("Duke Fame has this much talent!")

(By the way, I'm still not 100-percent sure why UConn fans hate Duke so much. Please feel free to explain, if you'd like).

Anyway, Wagner returns all five starters from last year's 13-17, 9-9 (Northeast Conference) team. The Seahawks had a nice win in their opener on Saturday, popping Princeton on the road behind 15 points from Tyler Murray, a 6-5 senior guard, and 14 points and nine rebounds off the bench from Josh Thompson, a 6-5 junior forward.

UConn should get a boost from the return of Niels Giffey, who fully participated in both practices this weekend and has been cleared to play tomorrow night. Tyler Olander aside, the Huskies will need to improve their frontcourt play, however.

And the Huskies also have this on their side: they haven't lost a regular season, November or December game in Storrs since Dec. 5, 1973 – a streak that spans 100 games. UConn has never lost at Gampel Pavilion in November or December. That’s 55-0, people.

Who says there's no such thing as a little home cookin'?

It's going to sound like Andre Drummond was making excuses about his UConn debut Friday night, in which he went scoreless in 12 minutes of action.

“That never happened to me before," he said. "Ever."

Drummond said playing with a facemask on bothered him a bit, as did the tendonitis that had him icing his left knee after the game. Not starting also affected him, he said.

“I’m not used to coming off the bench," he said. "That’s one of things I have to get over and get used to doing. I think that’s what’s really throwing me off, too. But it doesn’t really matter … it matters how I perform in the game.”

Indeed, Drummond was probably just a little frustrated that his much-ballyhooed debut didn't go very well, individually. But he seemed ready to put it behind him and get better for Monday against Wagner.

“Everybody has their off days," he added. "I’ve just got to come back tomorrow, have a great practice, have another great practice on Sunday and come out on Monday and play again.”

Tyler Olander said he saw from Drummond "a first college game against a D-I team. I know Andre’s going to respond very well. He knows what to expect now.”

Shabazz Napier offered him some consoling advice afterwards.

“I told him, ‘Don’t allow coach to drill your mistakes in your head. You made a mistake, make up for it.’”

*** Calhoun was peeved at all his bigs (except Olander) after UConn barely outrebounded Columbia 43-41 and allowed 20 offensive boards.

"They outworked us. We don’t have anyone in the frontcourt ready to play right now, except for Tyler, who understands the game of basketball.

“I told Enosch (Wolf), ‘You haven’t done much, but it’s a good time for you to do something right now.’”

Said Olander: “We were getting pushed under the rim a little bit, which shouldn’t happen. The other team worked hard, and we (the frontcourt) kind of failed to respond.”

*** Alex Oriakhi was a virtual no-show, with two points and five boards. He was also a no-show for the postgame press availability, a rarity for him.

*** Fortunately for UConn, Jeremy Lamb and Napier showed up, combining for 51 of the team's 70 points (Lamb's 30 was a career-high).

Columbia coach Kyle Smith said of Lamb: "Here's how good he is: I had no idea he had 30. The game is very easy for him."

Smith also said Napier can do everything. "He's got a little Chris Paul, (with the) floperoos."

*** Calhoun's most telling quote: “I’m looking to the next game – the game where Shabazz has four fouls, the game when Jeremy’s shot doesn’t go. Then what happens?”

*** The coach seems to be getting a bit annoyed by the Ryan Boatright and Niels Giffey situations.

On Boatright: “I’ve not been informed of anything. That’s not unexpected.”

And on Giffey's return: “You’ll have to ask Niels. He says his ankle’s sore.”

he’s capable of, by any means. He’s not going to let that happen again.”

For those who see Jim Calhoun screaming maniacally on the sidelines during games, it may come as a surprise that he’s normally pretty serene during practice.

That changed briefly on Wednesday. Calhoun appeared peeved at something Ryan Boatright had done, and Boatright appeared to talk back to the coach.

“Shut the (bleep) up!” Calhoun loudly exclaimed.

Boatright got quiet in a hurry.

“There are a couple of words you can say to them to let them know you don’t want them speaking, and the conversation has come to an end and (they) just don’t know it,” Calhoun said after practice. “There are certain words you can use to say that are right to the point.”

Calhoun said Boatright is just a little frustrated right now – not so much on the court, but off it. The NCAA has yet to clear him to play due to an eligibility question, and it appears he won’t be able to go in UConn’s season-opener Friday night.

After practice, Boatright said something to the coach about his own play.

“I’m not worried about your play,” Calhoun said. “I’m worried about you getting down.”

“He’s missed two exhibition games,” Calhoun added. “It’s difficult for him.”

It seems Calhoun is a bit frustrated by the situation. He seemed to try to measure his words when talking about the situation on Wednesday.

“The situation’s somewhat simplistic,” he said. “We’re looking at case precedents … We’d love to have him back on Friday, but I have no idea (when) … He will return. When, I don’t know.”

He added that the NCAA has never “formally talked to” the UConn basketball program. “They didn’t include us in any discussions.”

Elsewhere:

*** Niels Giffey spent most of Wednesday’s practice on a stationary bike and appears doubtful for Friday. His ankle is more sore than his knee is, Calhoun said.

*** Calhoun is happy with UConn’s non-conference schedule: “It’s a deceptively tougher schedule than people think.”

*** Alex Oriakhi on his two disappointing exhibition performances: “I could have been more aggressive, as far as rebounding. Hopefully, I’m going to get more minutes than I did in the last game.”


“I feel when I’m on the court, I can get a rhythm. I wasn’t able to get a lot of playing time last time, which was unfortunate. But the rest of our big men stepped up.”

*** Calhoun said likely the same starting five for Friday as Sunday’s exhibition finale: Oriakhi, Shabazz Napier, Roscoe Smith, Tyler Olander and Jeremy Lamb. Yup, that means Andre Drummond makes his collegiate debut off the bench.

Said Drummond: “I’ve come off the bench before. I’m not used to really coming off, but that’s some of the things you’ve got to get adjusted to. I’m not expecting to start or anything like that. I know I need to come in and play my role. Hopefully, one of these games I do end up starting.”

Drummond has been struggling from the foul line in practice and missed his lone attempt in an exhibition game. There’s a reason, he says: “I wasn’t always a bad free throw shooter, but my arms got longer out of nowhere, for some reason. That kind of threw me off a little bit, so I was trying to figure out my muscle memory to get it all back again … It’ll be back shortly.”