The last time UConn faced Michigan State, a special tradition built on team unity developed. The entire team, at Kevin Ollie's urging, crowded behind Ollie during his postgame ESPN interview with Andy Katz. The Huskies have continued doing it ever since, and that's the the focus of my story for Sunday's Register in advance of their Elite Eight bout with the Spartans on Sunday at 2:20 p.m.

Meantime, here's some video of UConn players talking about that special win over Michigan State on Nov. 9, 2012, and the tradition that started afterwards:





*** A few more odds and ends:

LeBron James sent out this tweet supporting his former Cleveland Cavalier teammate, Kevin Ollie, on Saturday:

Wanna send a HUGE S/O to my former teammate Kevin Ollie and UCONN on advancing to the Elite 8. Keep it going K.O. #StriveForGreatness
— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 29, 2014

*** Ollie was asked about the playful slap to the face he gave Terrence Samuel during his postgame interview on Friday night.

"We were just goofing around," Ollie said. "It wasn't (a) big deal. So we were just goofing around and they play a game, and they were putting bunny ears behind me. It just wasn't (anything)."