UConn takes on Boston College Thursday night at 7 p.m. at Madison Square Garden in a 2K Sports Classic benefiting Wounded Warrior Project game. On Friday, the Huskies will face either Indiana or Washington, at either 5 or 7 p.m., again at the World's Most Famous Arena.

First things first: the Huskies will be wearing special pregame warm-up shirts for their two games. It's easy to forget that the whole idea behind this tournament is to honor and benefit the brave men and women who sacrifice so much for their country.

On to basketball: The UConn-BC "rivalry" resonates with Shabazz Napier more than anything.

“I’ve got a lot of history with BC. My older brother (Steve Hailey) used to play with them. Tyrese Rice, when he played, I was up there a lot with him. He was like an older brother to me, as well. When I was 13, I was up at BC just playing in the gym with my older brother Stevie Hailey, who went there."

Hailey, it should be noted, isn't Napier's biological brother.

"When I was younger, someone else took care of me, and he was one of the guys who took care of me," Napier explained. "I have six brothers that aren’t my real blood brothers, but I call them my brothers … It was hard for my mother to feed us, but they took care of me.”

Any way, Napier was surprised BC never offered him a scholarship until real late in the process.

"When I came here for my unofficial, and Coach Calhoun talked about how I was thinking about leaving my junior year, that’s when I got a call from BC," he recalled. "That’s when Al Skinner was getting fired, so they were just trying to see if they could grab me up. I was just like, ‘Man, y’all had so many opportunities to do that, and you never did.’ It’s OK. I’m glad where I’m at.”

*** Napier, by the way, is averaging 9.5 rebounds per game -- nearly six more than his closest teammate:

*** One more Shabazz note: UConn announced today that it will be playing in next year's Puerto Rico Tip-Off, Nov. 21-24 in San Juan, P.R. Napier's mother is Puerto Rican, and he takes pride in his heritage, even trying out for the Puerto Rican National team a couple of years ago.

"She cared a lot about being Puerto Rican," he said of his mother, Carmen Velasquez. "My grandmother who came up to my game last game against BU, I take good pride in it, because I know where they come from. They take great pride in being who they are, their culture. It’s exciting to know that. I wish we had went there this year. But, it’s not something I’m upset about.”

Especially if he's in the NBA.

“If I’m blessed enough to be there, yeah.”

*** Interesting comments from Kevin Ollie on the trend of top recruits no longer signing national letters-of-intent.

“You’ve got to be comfortable with it," he said. "That’s their decision. I’m comfortable with it. We’ve got verbal commitments, and we’re gonna stick by ‘til they de-commit. If they de-commit … we’re a pretty lady. A lot of people want to come here.”

Ollie didn't (and can't) comment specifically on UConn's three commits. The school has yet to announce whether its received LOI's from Daniel Hamilton, Sam Cassell, Jr. or Rakim Lubin.

“If they don’t want to come, then we’ll keep moving on. It ain’t like we’re an ugly duckling and nobody wants to marry us. We’ve got some other choices.”

“If you’re committed, you’re committed. Sometimes, it hurts when a coach opts to go to the NBA like Brad Stevens. I understand where the player’s coming from. Hopefully, the coach is telling you the right things and he stands by his word, too. It’s a give-and-take. Some kids are doing the financial aid so they won’t be bound, just in case I get fired, they can leave. I know some of the big-time players, the top-10, top-15, will choose to do that. But some of the top-15 are signing letters-of-intent, too, because they believe in the university.”

“As long as they show up when we start up on June 25, when our freshmen come up, that’s the thing I’m waiting for.”

Bonzie Colson, Jr., a 6-foot-6 (or so) Class of 2014 power forward out of St. Andrew’s in Barrington, R.I., took an unofficial visit to UConn today.

He’s somewhat of an under-the-radar recruit, though his name is familiar to me because his father was a standout forward at URI while I was there in the late-80’s/early-90’s. In fact, Bonzie Colson, Sr., helped lead the Rams to the Sweet 16 in 1988, knocking off Missouri and Syracuse before being edged by a point by Duke in one of the best runs in school history. (Colson, Jr. also visited URI this afternoon. He said he'll make an unofficial to Georgetown this summer while at Kevin Durant's camp).

As for Colson, Jr., we mentioned him near the bottom of this recruiting post a few months ago. 

Here's what the kid had to say about his visit:

"I definitely did (enjoy it), the campus is nice. They know I'm an under-sized four, there's not really a right position for me. They said they'd make plays for me and I'll adapt to their offense pretty well, because they'll play four out, one in."

Colson, Jr. added that he's a "post player, very aggressive. I like doing the little things that other players don't like to do -- dive on the floor for loose balls. I bring a lot of effort and energy to the game."

Here’s what St. Andrew’s coach Mike Hart has to say about him:

“He’s kind of an old-fashioned, throwback type guy. He’s not going to ‘wow’ you when you see him play. The ‘wow’ factor isn’t there. You’re not going to see the big body, the unbelievable quickness. What he does is, he’s deceptively athletic and quick, and he knows how to play basketball and score in a lot of different ways.”

Hart said Colson, Jr., is “just a shade under 6-6”, but is very long and his body is still developing.

“He’s shooting the ball better from outside now,” Hart said, “but his game right now is definitely from 15 feet and in.”

Hart said he reminds him of Jeff Adrien, but not because he’s a physical banger like Adrien was.

“You walk in the gym, you’re like, ‘Aw, come on.’ He’s not a prototypical, high-Division 1 power forward. Physically, he’s not that. He’s very Jeff Adrien-like: an under-height power forward that just develops in college and is able to score in a lot of different ways.”

Colson said he "wasn't sure" if UConn actually offered him today. He said UConn, Pitt, Notre Dame, Iowa State, Florida State, Minnesota, Butler, Miami, Stanford, GWU, URI, Fairfield, Quinnipiac, Virginia Tech, Arkansas and Alabama are among the schools showing interest. His father, now the director of admissions at UMass-Dartmouth, coached under Al Skinner at URI and BC and under ex-URI coach Tom Penders at George Washington.

“He’s got a terrific family, a great support system,” Hart noted.

The coach was also happy to learn recently that the lone St. Andrew’s product to play at UConn, Tony Robertson, recently graduated. As for any potential future Huskies now at St. Andrew’s, Hart mentioned Terrell Brown, a rising 6-8 Class of 2016 center. UConn hasn’t expressed much interest yet.

“But they will,” Hart promised.

Little bit of news out of Storrs today. As mentioned in an earlier post, Glen Miller has expressed interest in a second tour of duty as head coach at Brown. Also, Michael Bradley almost certainly will not be staying at UConn, as the staff had hoped, and will likely be taking his talents to Western Kentucky.

Miller would seem a good choice for Brown, though he could be up against some stiff competition with Al Skinner apparently also interested (and getting some support from ESPN's Andy Katz) and a surprising amount of interest nationally for the job. Seems coaches have seen what Tommy Amaker has done at Harvard, and that other schools besides Penn and Princeton can have success despite the inherent restrictions (no scholarships, etc.), and are warming up to the idea of coaching the Ivies. Plus, now that the Virginia Tech job is filled, there's just not much more out there right now.

As for Bradley, he told me by phone today that he'll wait until after his exams end on Thursday to announce his decision. But sources say he's gone, and even Bradley told me he's "probably" not returning to Storrs.

Too bad. Never got to see the kid play a second in a Husky uniform. Heck, I barely ever even saw him play in practice.

We've already seen five players leave the UConn program over the past couple of weeks. Could coaches soon be part of the exodus, as well?

UConn assistant coach Glen Miller is among a long list of coaches who have expressed interest in the Brown University head coaching position. According to the Providence Journal, Miller, current Brown interim coach T.J. Sorrentine (who I covered in high school), Rhode Island College coach Bob Walsh and former URI and Boston College head man Al Skinner are among those who are interested in the job. And those are just the local ties. Sources say there is a surprising level of national interest in the job.

Jesse Agel was fired in March after four seasons at the Bears' helm.

Miller is certainly an intriguing candidate. He coached the Bears from 1999 to 2006, winning more games (93) over a seven-year stretch than any previous coach in school history. He took Brown to the NIT in 2002-03 and posted a 54-44 Ivy League record during his tenure.

Of course, Miller did leave Brown to take over at Ivy League rival Penn in 2006, which may not have sat well with people at Brown at the time. Some of those people are still at the school. However, incoming AD Jack Hayes was not there. And perhaps this could work in Miller's favor: Hayes was associate AD at UConn from 2001-04 before leaving to take his current position as AD at Hofstra.