Oriakhi, Napier Developing as Leaders

A couple of UConn tidbits this evening:

*** Worried about the leadership vacuum created by the departure of Kemba Walker and Donnell Beverly? Don't be. At least for now. Alex Oriakhi and Shabazz Napier have been named de facto captains this summer, and both are showing tremendous leadership skills, according to Jim Calhoun and George Blaney.

*** Kevin Ollie did a tremendous job in leading the charge in recruiting DeAndre Daniels. It involved a lot of footwork, a lot of work overall, but it has obviously paid off. Now's as good a time as any to remind you all of what a great hire Ollie was for the program.

*** Jim Calhoun attended a two-day NCAA seminar down in Tampa earlier this week, with college coaches from across the land. He said he spent much of his time with Rich Rodriguez, talking about "life in general."

"It was semi-interesting, semi-boring," he said of the seminars, which lasted eight hours the first day and five the second and had to do mostly with rule changes and things like that.

*** As of right now, Calhoun doesn't believe there will be any more departures from the roster. Of course, that could always change by the end of the summer.

*** With Walker gone, Calhoun noted, the team had the choice of going with more size or more offense. It has chosen the latter.