While UConn is at its scholarship limit of 13, don’t be shocked to see another slot or two open up over the coming weeks via transfer, etc. The Huskies are still in pursuit of some of the top Class of 2010 recruits in the country, but like their competitors on the recruiting trail (Kentucky, Kansas, Texas, Syracuse, Florida, etc.) they are at the whim of the decisions of a bunch of 17, 18-year-old kids. Once one major recruit (Brandon Knight?) makes his decision, the dominos will all start to fall over the next month.

So what’s UConn’s sales pitch to elite recruits? Well, here’s a good one: since Ray Allen in 1993-94, there have been (by my count) 17 players who started right off the bat as freshmen at UConn. Of those 17, 11 wound up being NBA draft picks, and many emerged as NBA stars. And that list doesn’t even include Ben Gordon, who didn’t start for most of his freshman season despite being the team’s second-leading scorer (12.6 per game). The others not on the list: Kevin Freeman, Ajou Deng, Taliek Brown, Rashad Anderson and Jeff Adrien.

Translation: if you come to UConn and play immediately, there’s a great chance you’ll wind up making lots of money in the NBA one day.

And there are definitely minutes to be had next season for the Huskies. Starter’s minutes. Incoming frosh Roscoe Smith could certainly be one. Can UConn land another?

***Totally unrelated, but here’s a feature from today’s Register about New Haven’s Keith Cothran, who’ll lead URI into action against North Carolina tomorrow night in the NIT semifinals at Madison Square Garden. Nice story (whether well-written or not) about a nice kid who’s overcome a lot and has truly used college basketball as a ticket to an education and a better life.

Here's a story from today's Register about Charles Okwandu, who is set to put behind last year's bad memories (he was ruled academically ineligible on Jan. 31) and become an integral member of the UConn team this season.

Okwandu, who will be a junior this season, has the inside track on the Huskies' starting center position. AT 7-1, he fits the bill, and by all accounts has improved a lot just over the past six months. But then, we've heard that before about UConn players over the summer (from Ajou Deng to Curtis Kelly and all points in between).

With Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson and Kemba Walker in tow, UConn may not need a lot of offense from Okwandu. But he'll have to contribute some, and with that in mind, Big Chuck has added a hook shot to his repetoire. He watched Hasheem Thabeet develop a fairly effective hook last season and figures it could be a good weapon for him.

(Quiz question: Who sang the song "Hook", which gives us the title of this post).