Some quick hitters off today's AAC coaches teleconference call, in advance of this week's championship tournament in Memphis:

KEVIN OLLIE:

“I look forward to getting back on the court. We’ve got a sour taste in our mouth after our defeat at Louisville. I think we’ll become a better team off that defeat. I just like the resilience of this team all year. It’s the focus of our seniors, and the development of our players to get that champion mind-set.”

“It’s gonna be a great crowd. We’re looking forward to being int hat atmosphere. The game changes from each game. First game, DeAndre came out, he was shooting and penetrating. The second game, we got to the free throw line a lot. We’ve got to trust each other. We can’t have seven assists like we had against Louisville … We’ve got to make the right decisions. Sometimes, throwing a shot over a guy who’s 6-11 isn’t a good decision. Maybe finding Niels Giffey for a jump shot is a better decision.”

(on Shabazz Napier and Sean Kilpatrick)

“They mean a lot to both teams. I imagine Mick (Cronin) says the same thing. They're the heartbeat of our team. (Napier) leads us in all the important categories … he just means so much to our team dynamic. I also know Kilpatrick is the same way. When they need a big shot, he’s always making it – maybe a dump-down pass, maybe a rebound. Big-time players make big-time plays."

(Kilpatrick Player of the Year?)

“If he got it, it’d be a worthy choice. He’s had an awesome career there, and I know he’ll be playing at the next level.”

*** The conference player of the year vote is going to be interesting. Most of the coaches evaded naming who they voted for, but UCF's Donnie Jones noted that Kilpatrick should be the choice.

Rick Pitino sounded like he might think Kilpatrick should win, too -- though it should be noted he was responding to a question from a Cincinnati reporter.

"I think you could pick three, four different players," Pitino said. "Russ Smith, Shabazz Napier, Sean Kilpatrick are all capable of winning that award. I don't think Anthony Davis won the SEC player of the year and he got national player of the year (with Kentucky). It could not go to Russ Smith, and he could be a first-team All-American. If you took (Kilpatrick) out of Cincinnati, it would hurt them tremendously, because they count on him so much for points. He's a worthy candidate to win that award."

Said Larry Brown:

“I put all three names down, and there were a couple of others I considered whose teams weren’t quite as successful. I don’t know how you choose between any of those guys. I think they’ll all be playing next year, at a very high level. They’re all great team guys, and they all finished at the top of their conference. That’s a really, really tough choice to make.”

Not surprisingly, Cronin believes Kilpatrick should win it.

"But we have three guys in this league worthy of being first-team All-Americans," the Cincy coach said.

*** Memphis coach Josh Pastner was full of compliments. He called the AAC "the best league in the country," continuously pushed for Mike Aresco to be rewarded with a lifetime contract and said Ollie is a "future Hall of Famer ... no doubt about it."

As for playing UConn on Thursday night:

“Any time you play a game, home, away, neutral, you're gonna feel a little pressure. But especially at home, a little more. But this league is loaded. If you don’t bring you’re A-game, there’s a good chance you’ll lose. You’ve got to be on-point in everything you do. And that’s extra true against team like UConn that’s well-coached and has so many good players, like they do.”

"We have to do a great job defensively. They are a great 3-point shooting team, not a good 3-point shooting team, a great one ... Napier is a stud, Boatright is a stud, Daniels is a stud. They have multiple studs."

*** Pitino on the AAC after its first year of existence:

"Very strong, very competitive, and a very well-run conference. A little weaker at the bottom than the Big East, because some of those programs are rebuilding.”

*** Eddie Jordan subscribes tot he theory that its tough to beat a team three times in the same season.

“The team that’s lost twice, it’s just human nature, their motivation is higher, they have a little bit of an edge, their will and determination is probably a little bit higher than the team that beat you twice," he said.

Some quick quotes from Piscataway after UConn's 82-71 victory Saturday night. The Huskies beat the Scarlet Knights for the umpteenth time, but it's Rutgers that's the big winner in the conference realignment game. Or haven't you heard?

Kevin Ollie:

“Bazz was pretty amazing that second half.”

“It may be the last time we play in the RAC. It was good to come out with a win.”

(on DeAndre Daniels' high ankle sprain)

“Anybody who’s played basketball or any sport, knows that’s very, very painful. But he just gutted it out, that’s what it’s all about. That’s the toughness we need to see. Not only our coaching staff, but our players need to see that.”

Ollie said Omar Calhoun tweaked his ankle in the Temple game, decided at shootaround he had no lateral movement, wouldn't play Saturday. Ollie hopes both Calhoun and Daniels are good for Thursday against Houston.

“It was Black Out night. We had our Blue Out night, that wasn’t very successful, so let’s go spoil someone else’s night.”

(on Shabazz Napier)

“He drives me crazy sometimes, but that’s the guy that I’m going to count on. I’m going to put the ball in his hands. I know he’s going to make a couple of mistakes here and there, but I know he’s going to be there for me and be rock-solid when I need him the most. That second half was up there with a lot of great second halves that our great players have played. You put the ball in his hand, he just makes play after play after play.”

Napier:

“I wasn’t making any shots. I don’t make shots, I’ve got to figure out how to get myself going. I got to the free-throw line a lot. As a shooter, when you get to the free throw line, you learn how to get your confidence back up. You see the ball going through the hoop, that was the biggest thing for me in the second half.”

(on Daniels' injury)

“I actually didn’t see it. I thought he fell on his head or something. I was glad he got back up, came back out in the second half and showed a lot of guts.”

(on Rutgers going to the Big Ten, UConn stuck in AAC)

“I mean, sometimes it has nothing to do with basketball. The big changes that happened last year had everything to do with football. That’s basically what it is. It’s not only about what team is better than who … I don’t know anything about that. I think UConn’s happy where we’re at right now. The American’s definitely a good conference. I know they wanted to get in the ACC last year, but it happens, you can’t do anything about it.”

“When I learned we were all moving around (from the Big East), I couldn’t do anything all about it. All I could say was, ‘Man, this is really breaking up.’ The Big East was one of the biggest things coming out of high school. It was like, ‘Ah, the Big East, the hardest conference to play in.’ But it’s a part of life.”

Daniels: 

“I didn’t think it was anything serious. I knew I twisted my ankle pretty bad. Once I got back and tested it out, they taped me and they asked me if I wanted to sit out. I said, ‘Nah, I just want to fight through it and do anything I need to help my team get the win.’”

“When I was in the back for a while, it stopped hurting a little bit. It was still hurting, but it went down. It was hurting basically the whole time I was out there.”

Eddie Jordan:

Jordan: "They've got 2 big guys who can shoot. I don't know their names: No. 5 and No. 2."
— David Borges (@DaveBorges) January 26, 2014

Eddie Jordan: "We had to play an almost perfect game. They're good, and they've got a great player."
— David Borges (@DaveBorges) January 26, 2014

There will be a "Black Out" at The RAC Saturday night, when UConn visits Rutgers for the final time, at least as league rivals (unless, of course, the Huskies garner an invite to the Big Ten some time soon. And can someone please remind me how the heck Rutgers got an invite to the Big Ten?).

The RAC (it's actually called the Louis Brown Athletic Center) will be sold-out on Saturday at 7 p.m., and the school is looking for what it's calling a "Black Out on the Banks,” as fans are encouraged to wear black to the game and the first 1,000 to enter the RAC will receive a complimentary blackout t-shirt.

Even more "exciting," prior to the game, Tim Sweeney, The Amazing Race competitor and former RU and professional baseball player, will sign autographs on the lobby concourse from 5:45-6:45 p.m.

Be still my beating heart.

Anyway, Jim Calhoun always used to call The RAC "a tough place to play." Of course, Calhoun's teams went 9-2 in Piscataway, N.J. during his years at the helm, as well as 18-2 overall. Kevin Ollie is 1-0, after a win last season in Storrs.

Rutgers isn't very good (again), at 5-11 overall, 2-4 in the American and in the midst of losing four of its last five games. The Scarlet Knights are shooting .386 from the floor in AAC games and a mere .280 from 3-point range.

But expect a pretty charged-up atmosphere Saturday night, further proof that a lot of teams (even longtime league rivals) are really getting up for visits from the Huskies this season. We saw it in Houston, we saw it at SMU, we saw it in Memphis, and it looks as though we'll see it again Saturday night at The RAC.

*** With Saturday night's sellout, UConn will have played before season-high crowds for all four of its AAC

road games: SMU (a sellout, its first in years), Memphis (over 18,039, a near-sellout) and even Houston (4,035). In fact, including today's UConn-Rutgers game (but not including the other games on the docket today), the AAC will have had six sellouts this season. UConn will have played in five of them (including two at Gampel and one in Bridgeport).

*** Incidentally, Ollie never played at The RAC, as Rutgers entered the Big East a season after Ollie's graduation. He was an assistant for UConn's last game in Piscataway, a 67-60 loss on Jan. 7, 2012 that had Jim Calhoun in an infuriated mood at practice the next day.

Ollie did, however, play for Rutgers coach Eddie Jordan in 2001, when Jordan was an assistant coach for the New Jersey Nets.

*** Ryan Boatright was back in practice on Wednesday and should be good to go against the Scarlet Knights.

*** Here's a look at UConn target Donovan Mitchell, by former Register intern Zach Smart. Apparently, Mitchell's father used to be in the New York Mets' organization and now works for the team. Didn't know that.

UConn's full 2013-14 schedule was released today. Kevin Ollie called his out-of-conference schedule "second-to-none," and while that's open for debate, there's no doubt UConn will face plenty of quality opponents, both in and out of conference, this season. By my count, five opponents (Indiana -- assuming they meet in the 2K Sports Classic -- Florida, Louisville twice, Memphis twice and Cincinnati twice) could be preseason Top 25 picks this year.

Anyway, here's UConn's regular-seson schedule, with breakdowns of each opponent (the Huskies will also host exhibitions with Southern Connecticut on Oct. 30 and Concordia University on Nov. 4):

NOVEMBER

• 8 -- Maryland (6:30 p.m. at Barclays Center, Brooklyn): Terps were NIT semifinalists last year behind 7-foot-1 center Alex Len, who was No. 5 overall pick in draft. Now led by Dez Wells, who's suing Xavier for wrongful expulsion after a bogus July, 2012 sexual assault charge led him to be kicked out of school.
• 11 -- Yale: First time Huskies face Bulldogs in 10 years (Nov. 17, 2003). Watch for Stratford's Brandon Sherrod, who led Greater Hartford Pro-Am in scoring this summer.
• 14 -- Detroit (7 p.m.): First game of 2K Sports Classic. Detroit has won only prior meeting (67-61 in second-round NIT game). Titans were 20-13 and an NIT team last year and are led by guard Jason Calliste.
• 17 -- Boston University (noon): Second 2K Sports Classic game. Terriers return all five starters and top seven scorers from last year's 17-13 team, including first-team all-America East guard D.J. Irving.
• 21 -- Boston College (7 p.m. at Madison Square Garden): First meeting since BC's departure from Big East to ACC led to nastiness between Jim Calhoun and ex-BC AD Gene DeFilippo. Huskies own 54-35 all-time advantage and have won 28 of last 31 meetings, including 23 in a row at one point.
•  22 -- Indiana or Washington (5 p.m. or 7 p.m. at Madison Square Garden): Hoosiers lost a lot but still have sophomore Yogi Ferrell and a terrific incoming freshman class, led by big man Noah Vonleh.
• 26 -- Loyola (Md.) (7 p.m.): Greyhounds went 23-8 overall last season and earned second straight postseason berth (to CollegeInsider.com Tournament).

DECEMBER

• 2 -- Florida (7 p.m.): Billy Donovan's Gators lost top three scorers from Elite Eight team but have plenty of talent returning, led by Patric Young. Just second time schools will ever meet and first time in Connecticut (though Florida did play at Yale last season!).
• 6 -- Maine (7 p.m.): Black Bears are coached by former Calhoun assistant Ted Woodward.
• 18 -- Stanford: (9 p.m.): Cardinal went 19-15 and were an NIT team last year.
• 22 -- Washington (at Alaska Airlines Arena, Seattle): Could be the second Battle of Huskies in less than a month, as teams could meet in 2K Sports Classic. Washington features Mike Anderson, a 6-5 junior guard out of Hartford's Weaver High.
• 28 -- Eastern Washington (1 p.m.): Craig Ehlo, the former NBA guard best known for being constantly posterized by Michael Jordan, is an assistant coach. 
• 31 -- at Houston (9 p.m., Hofheinz Pavilion, Houston): Huskies first-ever American Athletic Conference game is New Year's Eve in Houston.

JANUARY

• 4 -- SMU (2 p.m., Moody Coliseum, Dallas): Larry Brown may have a sleeper team on his hands in the Mustangs, who return all five starters from last year's 15-17 overall team.
• 8 -- Harvard (7 p.m.):  Crimson won third straight Ivy League title last season and again appear to be the team to beat in league.
• 11 -- Central Florida: Like UConn, Knights were barred from last year's postseason, though not due to low APR scores but rather for recruiting violations.
• 16 -- at Memphis (7 p.m. at FedExForum, Memphis): Tigers could give Louisville, UConn run for their money for AAC title. Led by point guard Joe Jackson, who averaged 13.6 points per game last season.
• 18 -- Louisville (9 p.m. at Gampel Pavilion): An ESPN College GameDay presentation and certainly the Huskies' marquee home game of the season, as Rick Pitino's defending national champions invade Storrs.
• 21 -- Temple (7 p.m.): Owls could be a bit down after last year's 24-10, NCAA tourney third-round season. But don't ever count a Fran Dunphy-coached team out.
• 25 -- at Rutgers (7 p.m., RAC, Piscataway, N.J.): New coach (Eddie Jordan), new AD (Julie Hermann) as Scarlet Knights try to undo stain of Mike Rice before heading off to Big 10.
• 30 -- Houston (9 p.m.): UConn is 2-0 all-time against the Cougars.

FEBRUARY

• 6 -- at Cincinnati (7 p.m., Fifth Third Arena, Cincinnati):  Bearcats could be a Top 25 team, and Sean Kilpatrick should be in the running for AAC Player of the Year.
• 9 -- at UCF (6 p.m. at CFE Arena, Orlando, Fla.): Huskies lost to Knights on Nov. 25, 2011 in Bahamas.
• 12 -- USF (7 p.m.): Big East holdover boasts tough guard Anthony Collins, who plays as low to the floor as anyone you'll see.
• 15 -- Memphis (noon): UConn's played Tigers just once before, losing on Nov. 16, 2007.
• 20 -- at Temple (9 p.m., Liacouras Center, Philadelphia): UConn hasn't played Owls since 1965.
• 23 -- SMU (2 p.m.): UConn's only prior game against Mustangs was also in 1965 (an 80-68 Husky loss).
• 26 -- at USF (7 p.m.): Huskies' loss last season in Tampa was just second time Bulls have beaten them in 12 tries.

MARCH

• 1 -- Cincinnati (noon): Bearcats have beaten UConn two of the last three and four of the last seven times they've played.
• 5 -- Rutgers (7 p.m.): UConn has beaten Scarlet Knights 20 of the last 22 times they've played.
• 8 -- at Louisville (2 p.m. at KFC Yum Center, Louisville): A tremendous way to end the American Athletic Conference's first regular season. Could be battle for conference player of the year (Shabazz Napier vs. Russ Smith), too.
• 12-15 -- American Athletic Conference Championship (FedExForum, Memphis): After a one-year break, Huskies return to postseason play.