Greetings from Gampel, where things really start to kick into gear now for the UConn men's basketball team.

Over the next 2 1/2 weeks, the Huskies will play seven games (two of them exhibitions) on two different continents, two countries and a U.S. territory.

The Huskies play American International College Thursday at 7 p.m. in an exhibition at Gampel, the first time someone not named Jim Calhoun is at the helm since March 5, 1986. Then, they play UMass-Lowell on Sumday at 1 in Hartford. On Tuesday, the Huskies bus down to New York City and fly to Frankfurt, Germany, for their showdown with Michigan State in the Armed Forces Classic on Friday. On Saturday at 1 p.m. local time, UConn flies out of Germany for a nine-hour flight back to NYC.

On Tuesday, Nov. 13, UConn hosts Vermont in its first regular-season game at Gampel. The following day, the Huskies jet down to the U.S. Virgin Islands for three games in four days.

Phew! Get tired just writing that.

It's a lot of basketball for this bunch, and don't be surprised if they're dragging by those final couple of games in the Paradise Jam. But it certainly kicks Kevin Ollie's coaching careeer into high gear from the start.

One interesting caveat to the Paradise Jam: there is talk of a certain Jim Calhoun joining Joe D'Ambrosio as color man for the games. Calhoun will be going to both Germany and the Virgin Isles, and since Joe D's longtime radio partner Wayne Norman will be back in the States for UConn football, he may need some help with the radio broadcast.

Calhoun certainly would be an interesting and entertaining choice, but don't hold me to it: it's all very, very preliminary.

*** Elsewhere, Enosch Wolf is participating in non-contact drills only today and won't play in tomorrow night's exhibition. However, he is expected to practice fully on Saturday and play in Sunday's exhibition.

And, here's Dan Shaughnessy's take on Kevin Garnett's cold shoulder to Ray Allen last night in Miami.