After a couple of years at Waterbury's Crosby High, the Greater Hartford Pro-Am officially returns to ... well ... Hartford on Wednesday night. Games will be played at the Sport & Medical Sciences Academy at 208 Huyshope Ave. in Hartford.

The GHPA's 2015 season kicks off at 6:30 p.m., with Attorney Deron Freeman (led by Tobin Carberry and a host of players from Central Connecticut) facing Pauly Chute Slamm (which will be led by a pair of terrific New Haven guards past and present -- Bobby Moore and Tremont Waters. Waters, a UConn target, won't be at Wednesday night's game. Stanley Robinson is also on the team).

At 8:15 p.m., New York's Hot 93.7 (last year's scoring champ Doug Herring, Anthony Cox) will face two-time defending champion BJM Law Firm (Ryan Gomes, Keith Cothran, Lamonte Ulmer, Kelvin Davis).

Other top players expected to compete in the 11-team league include Jerome Dyson, Doug Wiggins and A.J. Price. The league could get some special guest appearances: on Aug. 1-2, Nate Robinson is expected to play. Other possible players throughout the summer could include Andre Drummond, Rudy Gay, Kemba Walker, Jeremy Lamb and Wes Matthews.

And, as always, several current UConn players are expected to play throughout the summer.

Ray Allen, Kemba Walker, Andre Drummond, Ben Gordon and Rudy Gay are among the former UConn greats expected to participate in the seventh Jim Calhoun Charity All-Star Game on Friday at Mohegan Sun Arena.

Other likely participants: Richard Hamilton, Caron Butler, DeAndre Daniels, Khalid El-Amin, Donyell Marshall, Donny Marshall, Charlie Villanueva, Scott Burrell, Taliek Brown, A.J. Price, Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson, John Gwynn, Lyman DePriest and Rod Sellers. Shabazz Napier is a "hopeful" at this point, we're told.

Howie Dickenman will coach one team and Tom Moore will coach the other. Kevin Ollie won't play, but instead will help assist Dickenman's team. Jim Calhoun, of course, will be there, as well (provided he doesn't take any bike rides earlier in the day). Typically, he floats around to both benches during the game.

Players on all four of UConn's national championship teams will be represented. Also in the house will be the four national championship trophies, on display up on the concourse.

The game tips off at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Ticket are $12 to $25 and can be purchased at Ticketmaster at 800-345-7000, at Ticketmaster.com, or at the Mohegan Sun box office. All proceeds will benefit the Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center at UConn Health. Since 1999, the game has raised more than $6.5 million for cardiology research and life-saving care.

Ray Allen, Kemba Walker, Rip Hamilton, Rudy Gay and Shabazz Napier are among the former UConn stars expected to play at this year's Jim Calhoun Charity Classic game on Aug. 8 at Mohegan Sun Arena.

Also expected to be in attendance are: Ben Gordon, DeAndre Daniels, Jeremy Lamb, Donyell Marshall, Donny Marshall, Charlie Villanueva, A.J. Price, Jeff Adrien, Taliek Brown and Scott Burrell.

A lot of talk about and with Amida Brimah at practice Saturday, after UConn prepared for Sunday's 2K Sports Classic with Boston University. Kid's off to a great start, with 14 blocks in his first three collegiate games. The Huskies were 55th in the nation in blocked shots last year. They're fifth early in this season, thanks largely to the 7-footer from Ghana via Miami.

Here's a story I wrote about Brimah shortly after he committed to UConn last February, chronicling his path from the soccer fields of Ghana to the hardwood of the U.S.

Asked Brimah today if he knew about UConn's legacy of shot-blockers (Emeka Okafor, Hilton Armstrong, Hasheem Thabeet, etc.) before coming to America. Not even close. In fact, the only basketball player he knew about while growing up was Michael Jordan.

Brimah went up against Thabeet this summer during pick-up games at Gampel. He said he played well against him -- didn't block any of his shots, but didn't get blocked, either -- and marveled at just how big and strong Thabeet was.

Thabeet also gave Brimah a bit of advice.

“He told me, when I was playing against him, even though he was bigger than me, I was playing hard, and he just gave me the advice to keep playing hard and stuff," Brimah said.

It's natural to compare Brimah and Thabeet. Both are 7-footers from Africa who were converted soccer players relatively new to basketball when they arrived at UConn. A.J. Price noticed the similarities during the Greater Hartford Pro-Am this summer.

"You hate to compare somebody to somebody, but that's the first thing you see," Price said. "I watched Hasheem be the same way when he first came here, not really knowing how to use his body, know how big he is. (Brimah) has the same problems right now, but he has a good basketball IQ, which is unteachable."

I asked Jim Calhoun if Brimah was ahead of where Thabeet was as a freshman, and he quickly answered, "No." But he also pointed out that Brimah is ahead of where Thabeet was offensively.

Kevin Ollie was still in the NBA when Thabeet arrived at UConn as a freshman.

“I know Hasheem was blocking shots and was amazing," Ollie said. "They used to have Hasheem in the sand pits, working on his hands and things like that so he could probably catch a little bit better. But it would be unfair for me to compare him, because he’s going to be his own player, anyway. He’s not going to be Hasheem Thabeet, he’s going to be Amida.”

Shabazz Napier recalls when Brimah committed to the Huskies, nobody knew much about him.

“I think we looked, but he didn’t have a lot of highlights on YouTube. He had one where he was just blocking little kids’ shots, so we were like, that’s one thing he knows how to do well, but we didn’t expect much. We expected a helping hand, but he’s been doing so much for this team.”

Napier was impressed by what he saw from Brimah this summer, however.

“He didn’t whine about getting hit down in the post, he blocked a lot of shots in pick-ups. I saw a lot, but you don’t know what was going to happen during the game atmosphere. You didn’t know if he was going to play well against Maryland, with that big atmosphere. That’s kind of a shock to a lot of freshmen coming in.”

“It’s rare, but when you have it, it’s spectacular … We’re just happy he’s on our team.”

*** No official word on letters-of-intent from Daniel Hamilton, Rakim Lubin and Sam Cassell, Jr., though it appears UConn is waiting to receive all three (or two, or however it may work out) before making an announcement.

But we'll reiterate: the Huskies are not worried about Hamilton backing off his commitment, as has been speculated.

*** Napier knows UConn can't keep shooting 54 percent form 3-point land forever. When the shots aren't falling at some point, he'll be ready to step up.

"That’s when I’ve got to be more aggressive," he said. "I haven’t taken a lot of shots, just because my teammates are making a ton of shots. That’s good for us. As long as I put myself in the right position to get my teammates open, they’re going to knock it down. Niels is on a crazy streak shooting … I don’t expect him to make his next eight in a row again. But he’s a great shooter, guys are getting it to the right spots, Omar’s getting to the right spots. Once that point in time comes when a lot of guys aren’t hitting shots, then I’ve got to be more aggressive.”

*** UConn is in the midst of a stretch of six games in 14 days.

“It’s a good grind, the grind we like. It’s how it’s going to be in the tournament in Memphis, then we’ve got to come back and play in the march to the Final Four. I like this kind of grind. We’ve got to understand that it’s part of basketball, every team is going to go through it. Even in conference play, you’re going to be in a grind and a bind when we get into January and February. This is going to be a great tune-up for us.”

Tyler Olander pleaded guilty to operating without a license Monday morning at Rockville Superior Court, but the more serious charge of driving under the influence of alcohol was dropped.

Olander was arrested on Sept. 7 on Route 195 in Mansfield, just north of North Eagleville Road, after a police officer witnessed Olander's vehicle making "several jerky steering maneuvers within the lane of travel," according to state attorney Cynthia Baer.

Olander failed a field sobriety test, according to a police report, but subsequently took two breath tests and was under the legal limit of .08 both times.

"The science was on our side," said Olander's attorney, Rob Britt. "We're happy the state reviewed the science in the matter, because we believed it was on our side."

Olander does not have a driver's license, however, so he paid a $75 fine for operating without a license on Monday. He had been indefinitely suspended from the UConn men's basketball team after the incident, and now hopes he'll be able to rejoin the team.

"That's my goal, and God willing, I'll be back," he said. "I hope people don't see these past incidents as a reflection of who I am. I hope they see me as a good kid that just made some mistakes, as everybody does."

Olander was at a special tribute to Jim Calhoun at Gampel Pavilion on Sunday night, seated at a dinner table with his fellow teammates.

Speaking of the Calhoun tribute, it really was a nice ceremony. Every ex-player who went up to talk about Calhoun (Ray Allen, Rudy Gay, Ben Gordon, Richard Hamilton, Kemba Walker, Kevin Ollie, Glen Miller, Kevin Freeman, Donny Marshall, A.J. Price ... everyone) spoke eloquently. Really, everyone was better than I expected.

Baseball coach Jim Penders delivered a terrific speech (as a last-minute replacement). Only complaint for me was that, as well as everyone spoke, they were all too long! How long? Festivities ran about two hours past schedule. Or put it this way: Calhoun's speech at the end of the night was one of the shortest.

As great a night as it was, and as much as a testament it was to the truly remarkable bond that unites just about all UConn basketball players and coaches, past and present, it's impossible to ignore the very public rift in the UConn hoops family currently going on in the Tate George case.

Meanwhile, here's a Connecticut magazine feature piece on Kevin Ollie.

Some notes and quotes from a special tribute to Jim Calhoun held at Gampel Pavilion Sunday night:

*** Among those who attended were Ray Allen, Ben Gordon, Kemba Walker, Rudy Gay, Donyell Marshall, Donny Marshall, Andre Drummond, Hasheem Thabeet, Jeremy Lamb, Scott Burrell, Jeff Adrien, A.J. Price, Stanley Robinson, Kevin Ollie, Andre LaFleur, Patrick Sellers, Glen Miller, Karl Hobbs, Tom Moore, Steve Pikiell and Eric Hayward. I’m sure I missed a few – more than a few. Gov. Dannel Malloy was there, too. As were the members of this year's UConn team (including Tyler Olander), Warde Manuel, George Blaney, Dee Rowe … you get the point. A tremendous outpouring of support for Calhoun.

*** There will be busts of Calhoun and Geno Auriemma inside the new practice facility.

*** It was also announced on Sunday that Stadium Road on campus will now forever be known as Jim Calhoun Way.

*** Some of what Calhoun had to say before the program:

“It’s an incredibly emotional thing for me, personally. Telling A.J. ‘Congratulations on the birth of your daughter.’ Jeff just got his contract. A long, long time ago, I said I wanted to get into coaching to hopefully affect some people’s lives. They’ve affected mine, I know for sure. I knew it would be an emotional day, but when I see them, it just does something to me, certainly.”

“It’s an incredible bond that never gets broken. As long as they’re fair with you and you’re fair with them, and they had my back, and I had their back … people always say, ‘Coach, you’re too tough on those guys.’ It’s because I love them. I suffer when A.J. didn’t do well, Scottie, Ray, whoever it may be. I jumped out of my chair this year when Ray hit the big 3-pointer for the Miami Heat. Those things don’t change.”

(on the state of the UConn program)

“I think it’s in very good shape. I never had any questions with the guy I wanted to be the coach. I think he’s done an incredible job, and he’ll continue to do an incredible job. The kind of support we had … I was thinking last night, how special the game was – not necessarily the game, per se, but the atmosphere. We used to have basketball games like that at the Civic Center, 16,000. We need to have that, and we will have that.”

*** Ray Allen a great story that defined how the bond among UConn players is built.

“One of the things that I always think about is Eric Hayward. He comes to mind a lot when I talk about our bond that we share. We used to start practice every year in the field house. The trash can was over in the corner, and it was over in the corner for one person. They said, at some point, Eric Hayward’s gonna throw up in the trash can. I was like, ‘Somebody throws up during practice?’”

“Over the course of that year, we’d run suicides we had to be at the line in 28 seconds. Early in the year, Eric never made it. Every time he didn’t make it, we’d have to run again. Coach didn’t care, he didn’t have any sympathy for us. It got to the point where we started running over to Eric, watching him and making sure we did what we had to do to get him over that line in 28 seconds. That was a moment where I saw true growth and I understood what Coach was doing. As much as, at that moment, we didn’t particularly like Coach, it created that bond and got us together. In order for us to grow into a team and be a unit, we had to help Eric get to the point where he could beat this suicide in 28 seconds. Once we got him over that line, it was like we had a sense of accomplishment.”

*** Of course, there’s been a rift in that UConn bond recently in the case of Tate George, who’s on trial for allegedly running a Ponzi scheme that bilked clients out of millions. Among them, apparently, is Charlie Villanueva.

Asked about George, Calhoun simply stated: “I haven’t talked to Tate in five years.”

Burrell on the situation:

“It’s very sad to see it happen. You don’t know if he’s innocent, guilty until the trial … It’s sad to be in that situation. The last time I saw him, he said it wasn’t true. He sent an email to a lot of us saying it wasn’t true. So, we’ll see what happens.”

*** Sticks says he’s heading to Canada in a few weeks to play professionally for the Moncton Miracles of the National Basketball League of Canada.

Here’s Sticks talking about Calhoun as a “father figure”:

Went to check out Kentan Facey and Amida Brimah square off against each other at the Greater Hartford Pro-Am Sunday evening. Both players, without question, need to put on weight and get stronger. Both are a bit raw, and it all was exposed against the older, bigger, stronger competition at Crosby High (including Edmund Saunders, who is pushing 300 pounds but still has some game. More on that later).



From where I was sitting, Facey is definitely the more polished player right now. He blocked a couple of shots, grabbed some boards and made a couple of inside baskets, finishing with five points. Brimah outscored him with nine, but was definitely more raw and mistake-prone. There was a nice reverse layup and a couple of easy dunks, but also a dropped pass on a breakaway and had some happy feet in the lane.



I asked A.J. Price (who poured in 31 points, including seven 3-pointers) if he saw similarities between Brimah and Hasheem Thabeet when Thabeet was a freshman.

“Without a doubt," Price said. "You hate to compare somebody to somebody, but that’s the first thing you see. I watched Hasheem be the same way when he first came here, not really knowing how to use his body, know how big he is. He has the same problems right now, but he has a good basketball IQ, which is unteachable. I think once he gets in there with the coaching staff, he’ll be fine.”

There was another UConn player with whom Brimah shared an unfortunate similarity on Sunday. With about seven seconds left, Brimah tossed up a wild, midcourt shot, thinking time was expiring. It was pure Roscoe Smith. Everybody had a good laugh about it, including (much to his credit) Brimah.

“I thought the time was over, so I put it up before time (was over)," he explained, with a smile.

Added Facey: "We know we’re not going to have a chance to take that shot unless we have like a second left in a regular game at UConn. If he had realized it, he would have made a smarter play.”

It's interesting: Facey and Brimah are good friends. They share a lot of similarities: both have lived in the U.S. for about three years (Facey's from Jamaica, Brimah from Ghana), both have three sisters ... and both could be battling for minutes at center for UConn come mid-October.

A few weeks ago, Kevin Ollie told me and a couple of other reporters that, essentially, Shabazz Napier, Ryan Boatright, Omar Calhoun and DeAndre Daniels were going to be in his starting lineup. That basically just leaves the five position, with improving Phil Nolan and veteran Tyler Olander (coming off a disappointing season) likely the front-runners. But Facey and Brimah will certainly try to be in the mix, as well.

“That’s why we’re all here, that’s why we play the game, to be the best we can best we can be and be in a good situation," Facey said.

I jokingly asked Facey who got the better of whom on Sunday, but he wasn't kidding with his answer.

“Today, I feel like I had a more all-around game. Amida probably had two or four more points, but I feel like I had a better game all-around.”

Can't disagree with him there.

Price, a Long Island native, actually played with Facey a few times at Long Island Lutheran (Facey's alma mater) the past two summers.

"I think he’ll have a good career," Price said. "He’s gotten better since I saw him.”

As for Brimah: “The big fella has a lot of potential. I think when he gets with Coach Ollie and they teach him how to use his size and be effective as he can, I think he’ll be very good.”

*** After playing his first three seasons with the Indiana Pacers and last year with the Washington Wizards, A.J. Price is an NBA free agent. His agent, Cheshire's Jeff Schwartz, is in the process of looking for potential fits for him.



Price is proud of his career to this point.

“Considering how I came into the league, 52nd pick, not a lot of 52nd picks make teams," he said. "So just to make my first team was an accomplishment in itself. I think it took a couple of years to get acclimated to the NBA style, but I think now I have more of a grasp on it and I’m just eager to get with somebody this season to show what I can do.”

*** Saunders added nine points in Sunday's victory, and was able to get his large frame in the air for a pair of late-game dunks -- one of them an alley-oop.

*** Facey is looking forward to getting some more instruction from the coaching staff in the ensuing weeks.

"Everything’s going tremendous," he said. "Classes are great, workouts are good. We get to work out with coaches now because they’re going to be back from the live period, so we’re going to be able to work out with them more than we have the past couple of weeks.”

Kevin Ollie & Co. are currently in the midst of their firstJuly recruiting period with Ollie as head coach. 

For the first time in a while, UConn has four guys out on the road recruiting – Ollie, Glen Miller, Karl Hobbs and Ricky Moore. Teams are only allowed three people out recruiting per day, but staffs can rotate so that one guy is on the road but not recruiting on a given day while the other three are at events.

The July recruiting period has been a bit different this year, with five days on then two off over a three-week span. Coaches could recruit from July 10-14, July 17-21 and, now, July 24-28. UConn has been well-represented at events like the NIKE Global Challenge in Washington, D.C., and the Peach Jam down in South Carolina.

The Huskies have famously been in on seemingly dozens and dozens of Class of 2014 recruits, but obviously have more interest in some than others. With so many questions and possibilities of graduations and defections to the NBA after this season, UConn isn’t so much focusing on specific positions but, rather, high-level, high-character kids.

And with a bountiful Class of 2015 harvest (particularly at point guard) looming in the not-too-distant future, the Huskies aren’t overly concerned with filling all 13 scholarships for the 2014-15 season. They’re more concerned about bringing in quality players who fill needs – preferably versatile players like Daniel Hamilton, an NBA-talent who can play all three guard positions, and Rodney Purvis, who can also play the 1, 2 or even 3. Hamilton has already committed to the Huskies, and Purvis has transferred from NC State but won’t be eligible to play until ’14-15.

Here’s an incomplete list of 10 recruits, in no particular order, whom UConn has prioritized:

Pascal Chukwu, 7-foot-2 center, Fairfield Prep -- Very high on the Huskies' wish list. The Nigerian native and his host family have been extremely close to the vest about his recruitment. However, he recently noted that UConn, Providence and St. John's are three of the schools that have shown the most interest in him. Chukwu has made several unofficials to UConn. The thought is he'll stay close to home.

Kelly Oubre, 6-6 small forward, Findlay Prep -- High-scoring, strong-shooting 3-man has stated that "UConn is coming at me the hardest." 

Abdul Malik-Abu, 6-7 power forward, Kimball Union --- One of the Class of 2014's top big men; a strong, 235-pound specimen who's a very impressive rebounder.

Goodluck Okonoboh, 6-9 forward, Wilbraham & Monson --- Scout.com rates him as the best shot-blocker in his class.

Leron Black, 6-7 power forward, Memphis, TN --- Baylor decommit has said UConn, Florida, Illinois, NC State and Ohio State have been coming at him the hardest.

Josh Perkins, 6-3 point guard, Huntington Prep --- UConn's most coveted Class of 2014 point guard has said he'll announce his decision on Aug. 25 -- but not before a visit to Storrs.

Kameron Chatman, 6-7 small forward, Long Beach, CA --- An AAU teammate of Daniel Hamilton.

Devin Robinson, 6-8 power forward, Christchurch, VA. --- It appears UConn and Indiana hold the edge in his recruitment.

Terry Larrier, 6-7 small forward, Malvern, PA --- In the process of moving out to the wing full-time.

Bonzie Colson, Jr., 6-5 power forward, St. Andrew's -- UConn is definitely intrigued by son of former URI player, who made an unofficial to Storrs last month, but there's concern about his height (which is closer to 6-4). He has not been offered a scholarship yet.

Other recent recruits like Jared Terrell and Ahmed Hill aren't happening.

*** In other news: A night after Kemba Walker and A.J. Price teamed up on Kemba's All-Stars (along with UConn incoming frosh Amida Brimah) for an exciting night of GHPA action on Saturday, Price was at it again for the All-Stars on Sunday. Price had 33 points and nine rebounds, but it wasn't enough to prevent a 95-86 loss to PPF Graphics. Recent UConn alum R.J. Evans added 22 points and seven boards in the losing cause.

On Monday, Harte Nissan takes on Fairview Capital at 6:30 p.m., followed by Hot 937 All-Stars facing PPF Graphics at 8:15 p.m.

From today's Greater Hartford Pro-Am:

2013 GHPA B-Ball Showcase - Scores

 

Sunday July 14^th 3pm

 

Final Score:

 

Pauly Chute Slamm 96         Cambyland 88

 

 

Top Players:

 

Slamm:

 

Ken Horton: 23 points, 11 rebounds        (France/Euro Pro League, CCSU alum.)

 Bobby Moore: 18 points                              (CT Topballererz/ABA)

 

 

 

Camby:

 

Anthony Jernigan: 25 points, 7 rebounds (Monroe College, NY)

 

Charles Easterling: 19 points, 11 rebounds (Hartford Lightning/ACPBL)

 

 

Sunday July 14^th 5pm

 

All Faith Angels 98                 Kemba's All-Stars  86

 

Top Players:

 

AFA:

 Marcus James: 34 points, 9 rebounds (Sam Houston St.)

Gerald Carter: 20 points            (Marist Univ. alum.)

 

 

Kemba:

 

AJ Price: 20 points, 6 assists (NBA Washington Wizards)

 

Kyle Vinales: 18 points, 5 rebounds (CCSU)

 

 

 

 

NEXT GAMES

 

 

Monday July 15^th

 

 

6:30pm: Cambyland vs All Faith Angels

 

8:15pm:  Pauly Chute Slamm vs Harte Nissan

Harte Nissan beat Recycle Kings in Game 1 of the Greater Hartford Pro-Am finals on Monday. Game 2 is on Wednesday at 7 p.m., with Game 3 (if necessary) on Thursday at 7. Here are some nice photos from GHPA action this summer:

Clockwise: Jerome Dyson goes behind the back; A.J. Price and Ryan Gomes go head-to-head; UConn target Kuran Iverson throws down a dunk; Jeremy Lamb soars in for a slam.

Always good stuff from the pro-am. Unlike the video I've blogged here, I didn't take these photos. Dyson, Price/Gomes and Iverson were taken by Arthur Teal, and Lamb was shot by Ty Waterman.

I assume most UConn men's basketball fans don't necessarily follow UConn baseball. Still, the school's alumni -- and Connecticut sports fans in general -- have to have some pride in Mike Olt, the former Husky standout who's now a rookie with the Texas Rangers.

Olt, a Branford native, is at Fenway Park the next three days (he'll be at Yankee Stadium early next week), and I had the chance to catch up with him to talk about his early major-league success (and failures), as well as his pride in UConn.



Great kid, definitely worth rooting for and following as his career progresses. But don't take my word for it. Take the word of veteran Ranger infielder Michael Young, who only has 2,176 career hits to his credit and says: "He's going to have a very successful major-league career."

*** Back to basketball, looks like it was Calhoun Charity Game, Pt. III Monday night at the Greater Hartford Pro-Am. A.J. Price, Kemba Walker, Tyler Olander and Gavin Edwards teamed up to swamp Niels Giffey's Atty Deron Freeman, 167-141.

Price had 35 points and 10 assists; Kemba had 30 points, seven assists and seven boards; Olander had 20 points, 10 boards and five dimes; Edwards had 20 points and 12 boards.

Giffey had a big night, with 30 point, 11 boards and a pair of steals.

Here's the upcoming playoff schedule. Don't ask me who's on what team, because that is often somewhat ... fluid:

Play-IN Game Tuesday August 7^th 7pm

Atty Deron Freeman vs All-Faith All-stars

Wednesday August 8^th

6:30pm: (8) State Farm Slamm vs (9) CT Flight

8:15pm: (6) PPF vs (7) Hot 93.7

Thursday August 9^th

6:30pm: (4) Simoniz CBC vs (5) Cambyland

8:15pm: (3) Harte Nissan vs Atty Deron Freeman/All Faith

Saturday August 11^th

5pm (2) Doc Hurley vs PPF/ Hot 93.7

7pm (1) Recycle King Naughty Boyz vs State Farm/CT Flight

Looks like the Greater Hartford Pro-Am was a big beneficiary of the Mohegan Sun/Jim Calhoun Charity All-Star Game being in town this weekend.

Jeremy Lamb poured in 52 points to lead State Farm Slamm to a 150-67, USA-Nigeria-style beating of All-Faith All-Stars on Sunday afternoon. Lamb added 10 rebounds and (I love this) two assists. Two.

In the second game, A.J. Price and Kemba Walker reunited for the first time since 2009 to lead Doc Hurley to a 106-94 win over Hot 93.7. Price had 30 points, five boards and (yup) two assists, while Kemba netted 28, had six rebounds and was unselfish enough to dole out three assists.

Oh, and the NBA flavor didn't end there. In the nightcap, Ryan Gomes poured in 40 to lead Harte Nissan to a 146-126 win over CT Flight. Gomes didn't play in the Calhoun charity game, of course. Seems he wasn't offered a scholarship by Calhoun.

On Monday, Atty Deron Freeman takes on Doc Hurley at 6:30 p.m., followed by Gomes's Harte Nissan against PPF Graphics at 8:15 p.m. (or so).

Things are going well for Cheshire native Jeff Schwartz lately.

The successful basketball agent recently joined forces with fellow superagents Casey Close (baseball) and Mark Steinberg (golf), adding clients like Tiger Woods, Derek Jeter, Anika Sorenstam and Mark Teixeira to Excel Sports Management’s already impressive list.

Schwartz, who already represents Jim Calhoun, Kemba Walker, Emeka Okafor and A.J. Price, also added another member of the UConn family to his cliental in the form of Jeremy Lamb.

Lamb is expected to be a lottery pick at the NBA draft a week from tonight in Newark, though his status is a bit up in the air due to a sprained ankle injury he suffered five minutes into a workout last Wednesday in Toronto. It’s not a serious injury (an MRI checked out fine), but it’s been enough to keep him out of any workouts since.

Lamb, whose only full workout was for New Orleans shortly before the Chicago pre-draft camp, still is hoping to work out for three or four more teams (Cleveland, Portland, Phoenix and Milwaukee) before the draft.

“If he’s not able to, he’s not able to,” said Schwartz. “We’ll probably still try for teams to meet with him. He’s such a good kid, comes from such a good family, it’ll help for them to see him and get to know him.”

Schwartz still believes Lamb will be one of the 15 players invited to the green room on draft night, but can’t venture a guess where he’ll be selected.

“I feel good about Jeremy,” Schwartz said. “At New Orleans, they said he was super-competitive in the workout, and way more athletic than they realized he was. To me, that’s what he’ll bring. He can shoot it from anywhere, can get his own shot, he moves well without the ball and he’s more athletic and competitive than was evident at UConn. People questioned that because of UConn’s record and certain games, but he’s saying every day, ‘Jeff I want to get out there, I’m fine.’ I’m saying, ‘No, you’re not fine.’ Sometimes, agents have to protect their clients against themselves.”

UConn's most embarassing performance of the season came at the KFC Yum! Center a little over a month ago, in a loss to Louisville.

Thursday night's 77-64, "second-round" NCAA tourney loss to Iowa State may not have equaled that 80-59 thumping on Feb. 6 in terms of a blowout, but it may have even been more embarassing.

There was Roscoe Smith's latest bizarre, unnecessary long heave with 3.7 seconds left in the half. There was Jeremy Lamb's completely unnecessary windmill dunk attempt in the final seconds of the game (aptly, he missed).

But here's the number that sticks out to me, more than ISU's hot early shooting (not a shock), Royce White's early ability to whir by any UConn player who guarded him ("We got caught as being nothing more than a street sign as they went by us a thousand miles an hour in that first 10 minutes," said Jim Calhoun), or anything else: Iowa State outrebounded UConn, 41-24.

“I feel like we wanted it more,” said ISU guard Chris Allen, who led the team with 20 points. “When I say wanted it more, I mean rebounds. We out-rebounded them by almost 20. That’s a great stat line.”


It sure is.

It's not worth dissecting this game too much more than that. Iowa State wanted it more. It was obvious. It sounds like a cliche, but it was true.

So now, we look to the future. Andre Drummond and Jeremy Lamb could be lottery picks in June. Other players may want to transfer if UConn remains barred from next year's NCAA tournament. And, of course, there's the annual question of whether Calhoun will return.

Here's what everyone had to say after the game (Warning: it's not much).

Drummond: “I’m not worried about that right now. That’s in the future. I’m not really thinking about that right now.”


Lamb: "“I’m not even thinking about that. I was thinking about the game today. I didn’t step up and do the things we needed to do to win.”


Calhoun: “I’m going to get on the plane (today), go home, and do what I usually do, and meet up with the team on Monday. So as far as my own personal thing, I don’t think it has any relevance here, to be honest with you.”

Said Napier, simply: “Some people could leave, some people could stay. I’m not sure.”


I asked him if he thought Drummond should return for another season.

“That’s not my decision," Napier replied. "That’s him, his family, what he believes. That’s all up to him. If he decides to go, I’m behind him 110-percent. Decides to stay, behind him 110-percent.”

Drummond did have this to say, when asked if UConn has enough talent to do some damage next season (provided its eligible for the postseason):

“This team has so much talent, which has blessed it and cursed it at the same time. We have so much talent, sometimes we don’t know what to do it. All we’ve got to do is channel it the right way throughout the off-season, get a feel for each other even more, and I have no doubt in my mind we’ll be back here again.”

Personally, I think there's a sliver of a chance Drummond returns. Doubtful, but I'd say more of a chance Drummond is back than Lamb.


*** It’s just the second time in 18 appearances under Calhoun that UConn has lost its NCAA tourney opener. The only other time was in 2008, when A.J. Price sprained his ACL shortly before halftime and the third-seeded Huskies got popped by San Diego.

*** Calhoun was asked if perhaps his own squad looked ahead to a potential rematch of last year’s Final Four with the top-seeded Wildcats.

“If they did, they made a hell of a mistake,” Calhoun said. “I don’t think they did.”

*** Asked to summarize the season, Lamb simply said: “Ups and downs. That’s all I can say about it. Ups and downs.”

Indeed.

Andre Drummond took a night to think about it and has decided he'll wear uniform No. 12, rather than 15, according to UConn men's basketball SID Kyle Muncy. Other notable No. 12's for UConn have been A.J. Price, Taliek Brown and current Husky assistant Kevin Ollie.

No. 15, of course, was worn by Kemba Walker. Walker's uniform was raised into the Huskies' "Wall of Honor" last April, just a couple of days after they won their third national championship.

If we're extolling Kemba Walker's vocal leadership virtues in March as the Huskies head to the NCAA tournament, we can look back on today at the Husky Run as perhaps the first example that this is very much Walker's team.

Prior to the start of the Husky Run, Walker stepped up on to a stump and addressed the crowd of about 50 fans/runners.

"On behalf of the team, I want to thank you for coming out and doing the Husky Run with us," he said.

A small gesture of gratitude, to be sure, but still unique. George Blaney can't recall any great UConn player from years past -- not Ray Allen, not Caron Butler, not Khalid El-Amin, not A.J. Price, certainly not Jerome Dyson -- ever doing something similar.

"It's nice that your best player is also a great person," director of basketball administration Glen Miller said.

We're always looking for local angles these days, so a story on Jeff Schwartz, the New Haven native and 1982 Cheshire High grad who is the agent to numerous NBA stars -- not to mention Jim Calhoun -- was a natural.

Jeff's an interesting guy. He focuses on taking clients who are good people, and in return really tries to foster a family-type atmosphere with them. Guys like Emeka Okafor, Jason Kidd, Lamar Odom, even Calhoun, look at Schwartz as more than just an agent. He's been to Calhoun family weddings, once lived for a short time at Kidd's California home, and, yes, he was in the wedding party at the famous Odom-Kardashian nuptials last September (no comment on whether Lamar signed a pre-nup!).

And while Schwartz represents Calhoun, it's important to note that the coach doesn't steer his ex-players to him. Yes, Okafor, Hilton Armstrong, Charlie Villanueva and A.J. Price are Schwartz clients. But the dozen or so other ex-UConn players playing professionally right now chose other routes.

"Sometimes it works against me," Scwartz admitted. "Coach is tough on those guys, and at the end of year, when they're all done, sometimes they want to run as far from him as possible. The shackles are off."

Here's Schwartz's take on a couple of other subjects that didn't make the story:

(On the proliferation of street runners and dirty agents who have had too much influence on some amateur players in recent years)

"I wish that there was tighter scrutiny with it. You’ve got some really good agents out there who do things right way, but then you've got a lot of people who put kids in harm’s way. We talk to our union a lot about it, trying to keep things at a professional level and allow college kids to enljoy college experience. I think it’s an issue across sports. I don’t know how it gets solved."

(On the rule that a player must be at least one year out of high school to be drafted by the NBA)

"I think the more mature someone is, in general, the better chance they have at success at anything. However, I represented Martina Hingis when she was 16 years old and No. 1 in the world, so I've seen it from all sides. I really think it’s on a case-by-case basis. Do I think, overall, it’s helpful to have a year or two of college? It never hurt anybody. I think it’s good thing."

Stanley Robinson was selected by the Orlando Magic -- finally! -- with the next-to-last pick in the 2010 NBA Draft.

Robinson, thought to be a potential late-first round or early-second round selection, went with the 59th pick in the draft. As a second-round pick, Robinson doesn’t get a guaranteed salary and must make the Magic team. He’ll almost certainly play for the team’s summer league team in a couple of weeks.

If Robinson makes the team, he may be able to negotiate a salary for guaranteed money. Former UConn teammate A.J. Price, taken with the No. 52 pick last year, signed a guaranteed three-year, $2 million deal with the Indiana Pacers last fall.

Why did Robinson, thought to be a potential mid-to-late-first round pick, fall so far? Well, don't forget what an NBA director of player personnel told me in February about worries about Robinson's makeup.

“Leaving school, going to work in a factory, he’s already got a couple of kids,” the source said. “Not that those are deal-breakers, but they’re things that could scare some teams away.”

On Wednesday, after playing in the Travelers Championship Celebrity Pro-Am, UConn coach Jim Calhoun said that teams who had interviewed Robinson weren’t sure how focused he was.
“He’s not the kind of guy who says, ‘Someday, I want to be an all-star and win an NBA championship,’” Calhoun noted. “That’s not Stanley.”

Nobody, however, has ever questioned Robinson athleticism. So, he'll have the chance to go to a good team and add some athleticism and energy for 12-15 minutes a game off the bench.

UConn could have a couple or very big fans on hand at the RAC on Saturday afternoon.

Hasheem Thabeet and Rudy Gay are expected to be in attendance when the Huskies face Rutgers at 4 p.m. The two Memphis Grizzlies play a home game on Friday night vs. Miami, then fly to Jersey for a Sunday night bout with an alleged NBA team called the Nets. In between, they're slated to root on their alma mater in Piscataway, N.J.

Thabeet will apparently have extra incentive to cheer on the Huskies. Rutgers has a 7-foot shot-swatting force in the middle, Hamady N'Diaye from Senegal. I'll never forget A.J. Price's quote last year when we asked him if Thabeet would have any extra motivation going up against a fellow 7-footer.

"Yeah," said Price, "I don't think Hasheem likes other Africans."

(Music quiz: Who sang "All the Way to Memphis"?)

Somehow -- a product of good, tough teams and gritty, physical battles, etc. -- UConn-Pitt has emerged as the Big East's best rivalry, at least over the past decade.

As Pitt's game notes eagerly point out, the Panthers and Huskies, respectively, are the Big East's two winningest programs over the past 10 years. Pitt is 233-58 (.801 winning percentage) overall and 99-36 in the Big East, while UConn is 218-67 overall and 98-38 in league play. During that period, Pitt has made eight NCAA tournament appearances and UConn has made seven. The schools have met in three of the last eight Big East championship games (with UConn winning two of them), and both boast five Sweet 16 appearances in the last eight years.

(Pitt's notes conveniently neglect the fact that the Panthers have yet to reach a Final Four, while UConn has been to three and won a pair of national titles).

Over the series' last 10 games, it's tied at 5-5, with each game decided by 10 points or fewer. In nine of the last 10 matchups, both teams entered the game ranked in the AP Top 25, as they do again tomorrow night (UConn at No. 15, Pitt at No. 16).

Their battles over the past decade have left indelible images on the college hoops landscape – from double-overtime classics in the Big East tournament championship game to DeJuan Blair flipping Hasheem Thabeet over his back last February.

Both teams suffered huge defections to the NBA last spring (Thabeet and A.J. Price from UConn, Blair and Sam Young from Pitt) and other key losses (Jeff Adrien, Craig Austrie, Levance Fields, Tyrell Biggs).

“Jamie Dixon probably has done as good a job of getting his team ready (as anyone in the country),” Jim Calhoun said of the Panthers’ seventh-year head coach. “They lost some very, very good players, certainly – as we did ourselves … We have some good players back, they have some good players back. They’ve been able to avoid a couple of losses that we haven’t been able to avoid.”

The Panthers, who entered the Top 25 for the first time this season this week, have topped No. 5 Syracuse on the road and won at Cincinnati on Jan. 4. The Huskies, of course, lost at Cincy in their Big East opener.

The Panthers have won six straight and nine of its last 10. After early-season losses to No. 1 Texas, as well as a double-overtime set back to Duquesne and a loss to struggling Indiana, Pittsburgh has been bolstered by the return four games ago of Jermaine Dixon (right foot injury) and Gilbert Brown (academic suspension).

Pitt has won four straight road contests and nine of its last 12 away from home. A win over UConn would give the Panthers three straight Big East road wins for the first time in school history.

***It's hard to believe, but tomorrow night will be just the second time Jerome Dyson has ever played against Pitt and the first time since his freshman season. Dyson was sitting out a suspension two years ago when the Panthers came to Hartford and missed both of last year’s battles after suffering a season-ending injury against Syracuse.

“I feel like I’ve watched a lot more games than I’ve played in,” Dyson noted. “This time last year, I was looking forward to the big game, and I got hurt. It’ll be nice to get out there. We definitely need the win.”

***It will be interesting to see how UConn responds in its first game since squandering a 19-point lead Saturday in a loss to Georgetown. Jim Calhoun said he’ll know if his team is over that loss “somewhere around 9 p.m. (tonight),” adding that the team had a decent practice Monday after Sunday’s day off. According to Dyson, the Georgetown loss “is still tough for me, even now … It’s definitely still lingering around us.”

***Calhoun was asked today at practice about the recent firing of DePaul head coach Jerry Wainwright, who hasn't won a league game over the past two seasons.

“It’s hard to believe that, all of a sudden in the middle of January, it’s going to change anything. If you have those plans, you’re going to be able to execute them in the first week of March. It doesn’t make anybody look good – the university, college basketball. I happen to know both the A.D., who I like very much, and Jerry Wainwright, who I have great respect for, one of the best guys in the business. If you pull the plug in mid-season, it’s not exactly the best example to make."