Several former UConn players will be involved in The Basketball Tournament this summer, an ESPN-created, winner-take-all tourney.

Rudy Gay is a booster for the Untouchables, while Clyde Vaughan (or Clive Vaughan), is a coach.

Meanwhile, Josh Boone is playing for  the Tri State Titans. Marcus Williams will play on Team Maryland, and Gavin Edwards will play on Team 23.

The winning team will pocket $2 million. The tourney's format is just like March Madness, with 64 teams in four regions: Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Charlotte. The 12 teams with the most votes as of June 1 automatically get into the tourney, so if you'd like to see the UConn guys get a chance to play, open those team links and give them a vote.

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

Many of the regulars -- Ray Allen, Caron Butler, Rudy Gay, etc. -- are expected to be at the annual Mohegan Sun/Jim Calhoun Charity All-Star Game on Saturday, Aug. 4 at the Mohegan Sun Arena. But there will be some new blood there, as well.

Kemba Walker will make his first appearance in the game. Jeremy Lamb, a Houston Rockets lottery pick just a month ago, is also expected to play, along with Hasheem Thabeet, Jerome Dyson and Gavin Edwards.  (Andre Drummond doesn't appear too likely, since his new employer, the Detroit Pistons, apparently would like him to attend a big man's camp around the same time).

Other likely participants include Kevin Ollie, Khalid El-Amin, Ricky Moore, Rod Sellers, Jake Voskuhl and Travis Knight. Of the big names, Rip Hamilton and Ben Gordon don't seem too likely to appear. Neither do Josh Boone, Hilton Armstrong and Stanley Robinson.

Allen, who underwent surgery last month to remove bone spurs from his ankle, will dress, but will only play depending on how his ankle's feeling. (He is, however, expected to play in the event's two golf outings, on Aug. 5 at the Mohegan Sun Golf Course and the following day at the Golf Club of Avon).

The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Ticketts are $12 to $25 and are now on sale at the Mohegan Sun Arena box office. To purchase game tickets, call Ticketmaster at 800-345-700 or go to Ticketmaster.com or visit the Mohegan Sun box office.

Proceeds from the game and the entire Mohegan Sun/Jim Calhoun Celebrity Classic will benefit the Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center at the UConn Health Center.

"I am excited to be able to once again bring so many of my former players back together for what should be a special reunion for them and for the fans of Connecticut," said Calhoun. "I am also pleased that proceeds from the game will go to fight American's No. 1 killer -- heart disease."

Since 1999, the Mohegan Sun/Jim Calhoun Celebrity Classic has raised more than $6 million for cardiology research and care.

The Greater Hartford Pro-Am is rolling again, after all.

Thanks to some last-minute intervention from Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra, the best summer basketball league in the area kicked off on Saturday and will continue on over the next couple of months at Classical Magnet School at 85 Woodland St.

Up until the middle of last week, there was worry about where the league would play. The Sports & Sciences Academy, where the league ran the past three summers, wasn’t available this year.

The league is a great place to check out some of the past, current and future stars of Connecticut basketball, including many of next year’s UConn players. However, due to certification issues, Division 1 players can’t start playing until this Saturday.

Ex-UConn players like Kemba Walker , Jerome Dyson and Gavin Edwards should suit up this summer (Edwards and Dyson already have), as well as Ryan Gomes, Gary Forbes and other local pros.

The schedule should be up at ghpabball.com soon (though as of Sunday afternoon, it wasn’t up yet).

Games are on Mondays and Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. and 8:15 p.m., as well as Saturday tripleheaders at 3, 5 and 7 p.m. and Sunday tripleheaders at 2, 4 and 6 p.m.

Jim Calhoun won't be at UConn's practice today. Still possible he'll return Friday and be on sidelines for Saturday's bout with Pitt, but far from certain at this point.

*** UConn desperately needs a win Saturday against Pitt to keep its flickering hopes for an NCAA tournament bid alive. There's another reason it would behoove the Huskies to beat the Panthers, however: there's still a chance (however small) for UConn to earn the No. 8 seed in next week's Big East tournament and get a first-round bye.

This is hardly as important as keeping Big Dance hopes alive, but it matters to writers like me (and fans like you) who'd like to have an idea when we need to get to New York City for the conference tourney.

If the season ended today, UConn would be the tournament’s No. 10 seed and play No. 15 seed Providence at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

Of course, the season doesn’t end today. It will end on Saturday, and the Huskies could finish as anywhere from the No. 8 to No. 11 seed.

For UConn to get the eighth seed, a lot of things would have to go its way. But it’s possible.

In a nutshell: UConn must beat Pitt on Saturday, Seton Hall must lose at DePaul (unlikely, but certainly possible) and West Virginia must lose at USF (fairly likely).

If that all happens, there’ll be a three-way tie for eighth between UConn, Seton Hall and WVU, all at 8-10. In the three-team “mini-conference” between the teams, Seton Hall and UConn would be 2-1, and WVU would be eliminated at 0-2.

Since Seton Hall and UConn split their two games, the next tiebreak would be each team’s record against teams occupying the highest position in the conference standings. Both teams lost to both Syracuse and Marquette. If Georgetown finishes in sole possession of third, Seton Hall gets the No. 8 seed since it beat the Hoyas on Feb. 21. If South Florida finishes alone in third, UConn is the eighth seed since it beat the Bulls on Dec. 28.

If Notre Dame finishes alone in third, nothing is determined because UConn went 1-1 and Seton Hall went 0-1, an unequal amount of games played.

With Marquette at 13-4, Gerogetown, Notre Dame and USF all at 12-5 and Cincinnati at 11-6, however, it seems rather certain that there will be a multiple-team tie for third. At that point, the records of both UConn and Seton Hall against those multiple teams are compared. Far too many possibilities to detail right now, however.

Oh, and the Huskies could still finish as the 11^th seed, if Rutgers (5-11) beats Villanova at home tonight and St. John’s at home on Saturday and UConn loses to Pitt. Both Rutgers and UConn would finish 7-11, and Rutgers would get the higher seed since it beat the Huskies in their lone head-to-head battle.

Bottom line: UConn needs to beat Pitt on Saturday – for reasons far beyond Big East tournament seed. If the Huskies lose to Pitt, they pretty much need to win the Big East tournament (or at least get to the finals) to get the NCAA bid. If they beat Pitt, they may only need to win two, maybe three games in New York next week to earn a bid.

*** I’ve heard a lot of comparisons between this year’s UConn team and the underachieving 2009-10 squad that lost to Virginia Tech in the NIT.

While both teams have fallen far short of expectations, there are some marked differences. The ’09-10 team had talent (Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson, Gavin Edwards and a sophomore named Kemba Walker), but this year’s squad boasts two likely 2012 lottery picks (Andre Drummond, Jeremy Lamb) and plenty of other good players.

There is one glaring similarity between the two teams, however: an inability to win close games. The ’09-10 team was a wretched 1-8 in games decided by five points or less. This year’s team isn’t quite as bad – 3-6 – but that’s still a far cry from last season. A year ago, the Huskies were 6-3 in such games during the regular season, then 5-0 in the postseason, adding up to 11-3 overall.

Miss Kemba much?

Andre Drummond was asked about going up against Seton Hall's Herb Pope tomorrow night in Newark.

"I don't even know who that is," Drummond replied. "I'm not interested in who that is."

This has the potential to become bulletin-board material. It sounds as if Drummond, the precocious freshman, is dissing Pope, the senior center who is fourth in the Big East in scoring and second in rebounding.

I'm here to tell you that, as bad as what Drummond said looks in print, I truly don't believe he meant any disrespect. Drummond is not -- repeat, not -- a cocky kid. He's actually very respectful. He's honestly just completely invested in his own team and not worried about his opponents.

"I haven’t seen any other team besides my own," Drummond said. "I’m not interested in any other team besides my own. I’m worried about UConn, not anybody we’re playing.”

Pope might take this all differently if he hears about Drummond's quotes, of course. But if Drummond doesn't know who Pope is, George Blaney sure does.

"Right now, he’s an all-Big East first team, the way he’s been playing," Blaney said of the 6-9 forward. "I’m really impressed with the defense he’s playing. He’s hedging out on the pick-and-roll and stealing the ball, even, on the pick-and-roll. He’s always been a great rebounder, and obviously he’s got scoring talents. We’re just going to have to be solid with him and keep him off the boards as much as we can.”

Jordan Theodore has also picked up his game this season for the Pirates, who are fourth in the latest RPI rankings (UConn is third).

"Theodore has become a really, really good point guard, from sort of a careless point guard," said Blaney. "He’s gotten to 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio, he’s really pushing it, he’ll take it all the way or create for others."

Shabazz Napier will be going head-to-head against Theodore. He has a bit more knowledge of Theodore than Drummond does of Pope. Sorta.

“It should be fun, I guess, I’m not sure," Napier said. "I haven’t watched him play, besides (one game) … it was a Little League team, two weeks ago probably. He played real well in that game. Me and Ryan are going to do our best job to stop him. We know he’s the captain of that train. If we make sure he doesn’t do anything offensively, we should be alright.”

In truth, these players don't pay much attention to their Big East foes, for the most part, so Drummond's comments can be taken with a grain of salt.

“For myself, I don’t really," Napier said. "When I get my game data of who I’m playing, that’s when I really look at it and dig deep into it. I don’t follow anybody, really. It’s not like I have any friends on other teams. The people I root for are my AAU teammates, stuff like that. I don’t follow, unless they’re on ESPN and did something spectacular. When Marshon Brooks scored 52, I was like, ‘Wow.’ That’s really the only time I follow somebody. Other than that, I barely watch TV, to be honest.”

A few other items:

*** Roscoe Smith practiced on Monday and looked fine, even with his wrist still heavily taped. Blaney said Smith is still sore, but could see more than the four minutes he saw Saturday against St. John's.

Michael Bradley also had a full practice Monday and is "day-to-day," according to Blaney, who said Bradley's ankle is still bothering him a bit.

*** After tomorrow night's game, UConn will spend some quality time in New Jersey until the Rutgers game on Saturday. The Huskies will stay overnight in Newark tomorrow, then move to a hotel closer to Rutgers on Wednesday, where they will reunite with Jim Calhoun to prepare for Saturday's game.

Also on Wednesday, the Huskies will also venture into New York City for some sort of academic project.

*** Four players are currently averaging in double figures for UConn: Jeremy Lamb (18.9), Napier (14.7), Ryan Boatright (12.1) and Drummond (10.0). It's the first time UConn has had four since 2009-10, when Jereome Dyson (17.2), Kemba Walker (14.6), Stanley Robinson (14.5) and Gavin Edwards (10.6) were in doubles.

Who would have guessed that one of UConn's four double-figure scorers this year wouldn't have been Alex Oriakhi (7.0)?

*** Drummond may not know who Herb Pope is, but he does know Hall frosh point guard Freddie Wilson of New Haven. Why? They were AAU teammates on the Connecticut Basketball Club.

Wilson's playing time has been sparse (7.3 minutes per game in 12 contests), and he's averaging just 1.3 points. But word out of Orange, N.J. is that Wilson's toughness and grittiness has impressed the Pirates staff. As a true freshman, the Hillhouse product is still just a little green.

*** After practice, Drummond was practicing shooting free throws one-handed with assistant Glen Miller.


“It helps me get muscle memory and not have to rely on my left hand," Drummond said. "That’s really my problem, I had my left hand on the ball way too much.”

*** UConn is looking to start off 3-0 in Big East play for the first time since 2003-04.

UConn and Jim Calhoun nemesis John Cahill is one of tonight's officials, along with Verne Harris and Doug Shows.

Last season, Cahill called an iffy foul on Gavin Edwards in UConn's Big East-opener at Cincinnati, that sent Lance Stephenson to the foul line for the game-winning free throws with 0.7 seconds left.

Later in the season, while Calhoun was on a medical leave, Cahill awarded Jim Boeheim what seemed to be a belated timeout call late in a game at the Carrier Dome. Syracuse scored on the ensuing play and won a close game.

Still, when Calhoun returned from his leave a few days later, he noted that he didn't think any one official had any agenda against his team, and specifically said that Cahill was "one of the best officials in the country."

Elsewhere, same starting lineup: Lamb, Kemba, Olander, Roscoe Smith, Oriakhi. For Butler, it's Mack, Vanzant, Stigall, Howard and Smith.

Late in the game in in overtime, Alex Oriakhi and Roscoe Smith must have felt a little like Colts WR Reggie Wayne ("I shouldn't have even suited up") felt after losing to the Jets a few weeks ago. Both players hardly sniffed the ball as UConn's three-guard attack of Kemba Walker, Shabazz Napier and Jeremy Lamb weaved the ball around the perimeter seemingly every possession, failed to penetrate and wound up settling for long jumpers and 3's -- a few of which went in, but not enough.

The Huskies fired up 30 3-pointers today, hitting just eight of them. The unimaginative offense late in the game wasn't the only reason they lost -- certainly the inability to stop 5-11 Peyton Siva from driving the lane played a major part. Still, the failure of Walker and Napier, in particular, to drive the lane effectively seemed to stick in the craw of Calhoun afterwards.

When the J-I's Phil Chardis started asking Calhoun about Louisville's swarming defense on Walker, Calhoun snapped: "I don't want to talk about Kemba right now. Next question."

That, my friends, was as close to Calhoun has come to publicly criticizing Walker since probably his freshman year.

When asked if there was any friction between he and the coach, Walker simply shook his head "No." And I don't believe there is any. But if Calhoun was looking to pick his spot in perhaps motivating Walker a bit, there was no better time than the present.

After today's 7-for-23 (2-for-10 on treys) performance, Walker is now shooting 32 percent (24-for-74) in his last four games. Worse, he seemed to force some bad shots this afternoon -- and admitted as much afterwards.

"They're throwing a lot of guys at me," Walker said. "I'm not taking good shots. I've got to do a better job getting good shots."

*** Siva scored the game-tying shots at the end of both regulation and first overtime – the latter a dunk with 7.8 seconds remaining that really was inexcusable, from a UConn perspective.

"I have no explanation for it. None," Calhoun said. "I tried to use different centers, but they both got out of the way to make sure he had a clearer view of the rim. And, obviously, we shouldn't be getting beat that easy at the top, either."

Siva (team-high 19 points) added two more driving layups in the second overtime.

"We told our guys: do not let the clock run out, go three overtimes, be offensively aggressive," Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. "Come out and just make sure you attack the rim. You can't win on the road unless you attack the rim, and we came out in both overtimes really looking to attack it."

***Lamb's father, Rolando, was up from Georgia to take in his first UConn game. He saw his son play well (9-for-17 shooting) in the loss, which gave Jeremy some consolation.

"It is (a good feeling)," Jeremy said, "and then again, we didn't get the 'W', so it's not really satisfying, you know?"

***UConn outrebounded Louisville by a resounding 51-36 margin -- a result, in part, of the Cardinals overplaying UConn's guards.

***Two members of last year's UConn team, Jerome Dyson and Gavin Edwards, sat next to each other behind the Huskies' bench. The two played an NBDL game against each other Friday night, with Dyson scoring 37 points in Tulsa's win over Springfield.

***Both teams' coaching staffs wore sneakers in support of the American Cancer Society.

***Calhoun is now 7-14 all-time against Pitino-coached teams and 4-5 since Pitino came to Louisville.

From Korea, to the Ukraine ... now to Springfield for ex-UConn forward Gavin Edwards.

Edwards has been added to the roster of the Springfield Armor, an NBA development league team.

Edwards most recently played with the Anyang KT&G Kites of the Korean Basketball League, averaging 5.1 points and 2.4 rebounds in seven games. He then moved on to Khimik-OPZ Yuzny of the Ukrainian Basketball Super League, averaging 5.3 points and 2.3 boards in three contests.

This past summer, Edwards played for the Phoenix Suns in the NBA’s Las Vegas Summer League, averaging 3.6 points and 2.2 rebounds in five games.

“Gavin is an athletic and versatile front court player and we’re excited to have him here in Springfield,” Armor head coach Dee Brown said.

Edwards will join the Armor for weekend road games in Fort Wayne on Saturday (7:30 p.m.) and Maine on Sunday (5 p.m.). Both games can be seen live on www.nba.com/futurecast.

Edwards will also prepare to face former UConn teammate Jeff Adrien and the Erie BayHawks on Fri. Dec. 31st (7 p.m.) and Sun. Jan. 2nd (5 p.m.) at the MassMutual Center

To make room for Edwards, the Armor waived Jamar Brown due to injury.

Jim Calhoun says he shot a 78 in Wednesday's Travelers Championship Celebrity Pro-Am, the best round he's had at TPC River Highlands in a long time.

He also believes there could be three ex-UConn players selected in tomorrow night's NBA Draft.

Stanley Robinson is expected to go anywhere from the middle of the first round to the middle of the second. Jerome Dyson could be a late-second round selection, and it’s remotely possible that Gavin Edwards could get selected, as well.

“I’ve talked to teams, and what I’m getting is that, probably like his career in many ways – with Stanley, some people love him, other guys, maybe not,” Calhoun said of Robinson. “Everybody conducts some of the questions, they’re not sure how focused he is in some of the interviews. He’s not the kind of guy who says, ‘Someday I want to be an All-Star and win an NBA championship. That’s not Stanley.”

The Washington Wizards, who own the first, 30th and 35th overall picks, are said to be interested in the 6-foot-9 jumping jack.

“He’d be a very good get for them,” Calhoun said. “It’s hard for me to believe that he’s not going to be motivated to play basketball. He has great obligations to his family, to his mom, and everybody else. I don’t know if he can articulate it … that’s probably his greatest weakness, in his interviews.”

He added: “If you told me he went as high as 14, I’d say, ‘Yeah.’ If you told me he didn’t go until the second round, I’d be surprised, because I think guys are missing out on a great talent. I’ve talked to Kevin Stacom, a good friend who works for Dallas, and he and I both agree he’s a top-20 talent. And once you get by four or five, you’re taking a chance anyways, so you’ve got to take a chance.”

Calhoun added that the Charlotte Bobcats, who currently don’t pick until the second round, have some interest in Dyson, and Minnesota likes Gavin Edwards.

“He’s got a chance: nice kid, can fit into a team,” Calhoun said of the latter. “They’re looking, sometimes, for a guy who can just fit in, eventually become a pretty good player. All we have to do is watch the playoffs … Shannon Brown, those kind of guys, they’re much better pros than they are college players.”

Niels Giffey has always been a big Ray Allen fan, even when the former UConn star struggled at times during the NBA finals.

It’s that appreciation for Allen, and many of the other great wing players that have come through Storrs, that helped Giffey, a German native, decide to commit to the Huskies on Friday morning.

“I’m really excited to come to UConn,” said Giffey, who speaks fluent English. “I knew that UConn has a great basketball history. Coach Calhoun is a Hall of Fame coach, they’ve had Ray Allen and plenty of great wings. I like that fact. It’s a good team, a great coaching staff. I really felt comfortable.”

Giffey, who has been on an official visit to UConn the past two days, said he’s slated to graduate from the German equivalent of high school this week and will be on the Huskies’ team this season.

UConn assistant coach Andre LaFleur visited Germany in April to see Giffey play for the Alba Berlin youth team, which is coached by former University of North Carolina player Henrik Rodl. Giffey had attended an adidas camp in the United States a few years ago and attracted interest from several schools, including Louisville, Michigan, Gonzaga and UCLA. UConn was the only school he visited, however.

“I can play positions 1 through 4,” Giffey said. “I’m a very versatile player. I can shoot the ball, run. I like to win, I like to play defense, run the fast break. I’m a team player, and I like to put my teammates into good positions.”

Giffey ran with most of the current Huskies in scrimmages over the past couple of days. We're hearing Kemba Walker really enjoyed playing with him.

Giffey, a Berlin native, said Calhoun and the Huskies’ coaching staff told him he’ll get a chance to see a lot of minutes right away.

“They told me I will get a chance to play my game, to make the team better, just do what I can to make the team run,” he said.

A couple of other things:

***The Huskies now have six freshmen coming in: Giffey, Roscoe Smith, Jeremy Lamb, Shabazz Napier, Tyler Olander and Michael Bradley. They can do this because they have three seniors graduating (Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson and Gavin Edwards) two players transferring (Darius Smith and Jamaal Trice) and one unused scholarship from last year. Even if the NCAA winds up docking UConn a scholarship or two (a decision that likely won't happen before January), it won't affect any of the incoming freshmen.

***Rodl apparently wanted to keep Giffey to play on his first division pro team in Germany, but Giffey's parents (his dad's a professor, mom's an architect) wanted him to get a college education.

***Giffey is said to have a great feel for the game and a high skill level.

Jim Calhoun was at the grand opening of an impressive new Price Chopper store in Middletown this afternoon. For those who'd say we'd cover the opening of an envelope if Calhoun was there, well ... I didn't see any envelopes being opened. Just a cake being cut by Calhoun and Price Chopper CEO Neil Golub.

Calhoun was asked about the assistant coach search:

"We won't announce anything this week. Right now, we'd love to be able to go forward, but it doesn't make any sense. I've already put a deadline that by next Tuesday or Wednesday, we've got to come forward, because we're right on the corner of recruiting. We go out on July 6 and we want to have someone in place."

He said that both the assistant coach and the director of basketball operations (or administration) positions would hopefully be named at the same time.

"We're 90-percent our mind being made up, trying to work things out, and hopefully we'll offer contracts in a week."

Reports have had Kevin Ollie as the prime candidate for the assistant coach position, and Glen Miller as the leader in the clubhouse fro the director of basketball administration job.

"Glenn Miller's name is a good name, someone I'd be very interested in. You can go with Dave Leitao, you can go with Kevin Ollie ... it's been a period of time where a lot of our former players have reached out and come back. We want to be, in all aspects, the UConn that everybody knows. And I think we are, but we want to have everybody come back to show that."

***Calhoun was asked if he'd talked to Tom Izzo, whom he's often labeled a "dear friend," lately.

"I talked to Tom before it all started ... he said, 'What do you think?' I said, 'Well, I've been in that position, not financially that you're in but close to it, and it wasn't for me. It might be for him. I think he'd be very good."

***Calhoun said the Charlotte Bobcats recently called him about both Jerome Dyson and Gavin Edwards, and that Scott Howard-Cooper of SI.com was recently at the Chris Paul Camp and said that Kemba Walker was "the best point guard there, far and away ... which is awfully nice to here."

***Calhoun believes his annual bike ride this past Saturday will end up raising between $500,000 and $700,000.

***As to Calhoun's relationship with Price Chopper: "They're a family-run business. There aren't many left anymore. I want to do things in Connecticut with people ... Price Chopper has become our bellweather sponsor as we go through the Cancer Challenge, the Celebrity Challenge in August, the food drive in December."

He noted that Price Chopper has donated well over $100,000 to those causes.

"When I speak for Webster Bank, obviously I believe in Webster, but I work for Webster. I don't work for Price Chopper, so it makes a great relationship. We're doing this as a community effort."

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Jim Calhoun's new contract is the provision that the coach would lose performance-based incentives and also donate $100,000 to the UConn Foundation General Scholarship Fund if the program fails to meet NCAA Academic Progress Report (APR) standards.

Currently, men's basketball teams must meet an APR score of 925 out of 1,000 over both the last-reported four-year rolling average and the most recently completed academic year. Failure to do so would result in loss of a scholarship (and, in Calhoun's case, loss of money).

UConn hasn't fallen short of APR standards since they were instituted six years ago, but it's a struggle -- particularly because the program has had so many players leave school early to turn pro.

Here's what Hathaway and Calhoun had to say about the provision, and about keeping up to APR standards.

HATHAWAY:
"All that underscores is the fact that we're committed to academics, it's the primary mission of the university and of the athletic department. We've paid a lot of attention to APR in the six years it's been in place. It's a point of emphasis for all of us."

(is such language common in other coach's contracts?)

"There's a lot of APR provisions in contracts across the country. A lot of people do it as incentives. We don't do it as incentives. We believe all our coaches understand the importance of academics, and we believe that they're going to deliver on the academics. We've never provided incentives for academic achievement."

CALHOUN:
"I had no problem having it in my contract. I just think it's a statement. When people say I want to serve my community, I try to serve my community. Now, I'm saying I'm very ... It doesn't mean any more or less to me now. It's tangible evidence."

He noted that if a player signs a pro contract, his academic obligations are lessened under APR guidlines.

"(APR) was something that I've been a spokesperson about. The fact you were penalizing us for kids going out and making $2, 3 million per year. It's one of the few places in our society where you're penalizing kids for not finishing up the final three, four courses, when they can more than afford to come back and get their degree."

Calhoun pointed out that Scott Burrell will be graduating on Sunday, as will Jerome Dyson. Gavin Edwards is two courses away, the coach said, and Stanley Robinson is due to come back this summer and finish things up.

"We've had more kids go early, Calhoun continued. "You can understand the ramifications of that. We've never lost a scholarship because of that, but we've had to do an awful lot of work because many of these kids leave, teams have to try them out. It's been very difficult to manage.

"It's not me. It's me, Jeff, everybody that's involved here at UConn, trying to make sure this works and that (players) are making normal progress towards a degree ... and eventually these kids graduate."

Calhoun also noted that Kemba Walker will be staying on campus all summer to work on both basketball and his academics so that he can graduate in three years.

"It's a Herculean task, but if anybody can it's Kemba, because of his work ethic."

A fitting ending? Yes, to a great degree: the bad turnover, the clutch shot by the opponent, the missed shots in the closing seconds.

All the ingredients that have marked this disappointing season for UConn were on display in the final minute of its crushing, 65-63 second-round National Invitational Tournament loss to Virginia Tech tonight at Cassell Coliseum. Everything, that is, but the Huskies' effort.

UConn's heart and hustle, questionable too many times in too many losses this season, was unquestioned in this one. The Huskies played hard, played with passion, and played well enough to advance to the tournament's quarterfinals. They simply fell a bit short, and it will instead be the Hokies playing Rhode Island on Wednesday night.

Gotta admit, I was looking forward to a UConn-URI tilt on Wednesday at the Ryan Center. So was Jim Calhoun.

"If we hadn't played well tonight, I would have said it was time to bring the curtain down," Calhoun said. "It wasn't time to bring the curtain down. We got it. We didn't make some of the plays I would have liked to see us make, but we really got it tonight. It's unfortunate we couldn't have gotten a little finalization in the end."

The Huskies finish 18-16. More tellingly, they wind up 1-8 in games decided by five points or less.

"That was exactly what happened all season, pretty much every other game," senior Gavin Edwards said of the tight loss.

Added Kemba Walker: "It was just like a jinx or something. That's how it's been for the whole season."

UConn took a 52-51 lead on an Edwards stickback with 8 minutes, 17 seconds to play and didn't trail again until the closing seconds. A pair of free throws by Victor Davila with 49.3 seconds left brought Tech to within a point (63-62), and with 22.4 ticks left, Jerome Dyson had a pass tipped, collected the loose ball but was whistled for a backcourt violation.

"He got knocked out of bounds," said Calhoun. "He ended up underneath the scorer's table."

Added Dyson: I definitely did (get bumped). He hit the ball, the ball goes back, (the referee) calls backcourt. I didn't even hear the whistle blow until the ball went out of bounds, so … I don't have much to say."

Tech came down and quickly got it to red-hot Dorenzo Hudson, who buried a 17-footer off a screen to give the Hokies a 64-63 lead with 14.1 seconds left.

UConn called a timeout, and as the players returned to the floor, "Enter Sandman" blared on the p.a. system. Off to never, never land, indeed ... Walker took the ball to about 12 feet and had his shot blocked by Jeff Allen. He grabbed the loose ball but, instead of putting up a shot, passed to Edwards – who missed a point-blank shot.

"I was going to go up, but a guy stepped in front of me so I threw it to Gavin," said Walker. "Unfortunately, it didn't go in."

Said Edwards: "I thought he was going to shoot it."

Terrell Bell grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He missed the first free throw, made the second, Walker's three-quarter court shot fell way short, and UConn's season was over.

"It's a very hard game for me, far and away the hardest (of the season)," said Calhoun. "(It's) an NIT game in Blacksburg, Va., that the nation's not going to care about. But I care about it greatly, because they got it tonight. We, as a team, got it. That's the best opportunity I remember us having at the end of a game in one of these close games."

Virginia Tech improved to 25-8, matching a school record for wins in a season. ACC scoring leader Malcolm Delaney was held to just six points on 2-for-14 shooting, but Hudson picked up the slack with a game-high 27 points – 17 of them in the latter half on 7-for-10 shooting.

When not holding Delaney in check, Walker led the Huskies with 18 points. In their final games at UConn, Dyson had 15 points, Edwards 10 and Stanley Robinson nine.

When the dust had settled, Calhoun was asked about the status of the program and what the future holds.

"Right now, the only future I have is going into that locker room and let them know how I feel about them," he said. "(I'll tell them), 'If you do that every night the rest of your life, be it in basketball or otherwise, you're going to be just fine'."

***Both Calhoun and Tech coach Seth Greenberg were hit with technical fouls. Greenberg's came less than six minutes into the game after yelling at the officials. Calhoun's came just under four minutes into the latter half, after Robinson was called for an elbow while grabbing a rebound. The officials huddled around the monitor to determine whether it was a flagrant foul and repeatedly asked Calhoun to leave the area. He didn't, and referee Doug Shows T'd him up.

***The vocal crowd of 6,983 wanted a technical on Ater Majok late in the first half. After Dyson had fouled Delaney and Delaney lay on the floor, it appeared Majok kicked Delaney – perhaps inadvertently – in the head. The refs didn't see it, but the crowed booed Majok each time he touched the ball, a la Ralph Sampson at Boston Garden in the 1986 NBA Finals, the rest of the way – even in the halftime layup drills.

***Davila was a 50.8 percent foul-shooter this season, but swished 4-of-4 over the final two minutes, barely grazing net on each shot.

***Final words from Robinson and Dyson, both of whom could hear their names selected in June's NBA Draft.

"Overall, I'll just say I'm happy I played with these guys," said Sticks. "I'm glad I came to UConn and stayed here all four years."

Dyson: "It's a little sad. The season had so many ups and downs. At times, we played like we're one of the best teams in the country, and at times we played like we shouldn't even be in the NIT. It hurts to know the potential that we had here and the efforts we made in some games weren't our best – and if we had, the season would have been a lot different.

"It's hard to put into words. The four years I've been here have been great. I owe coach a lot. He's been with me every step of the way, when he could have just given up on me. I'm just blessed and happy I had the opportunity to play here."

Does Dyson feel he's hurt his NBA stock with his end-of-the-season slump?

"They'll have a lot of opportunities to see me. There will be a lot of workouts and camps. I just have to get back on top of my game. I felt like the last two games, I was playing well. The shots felt good."

***Highly, highly doubtful, but you never know -- this could have been Walker's last game in a UConn uniform, too.

"I don't know yet," Walker said when asked if he's definitely coming back next season. "I'm leaving that up to coach. We'll talk about it soon, I'm pretty sure. He'll let me know."

Can't imagine how Walker doesn't return to Storrs next season.

He was 6-for-26 from the floor in his prior three games, and 1-for-8 two minutes into the second half tonight. That adds up to 7-for-34 in a 3 1/2-game stretch for Jerome Dyson.

Then, out of nowhere, Jerome got his groove back. Here's how:

***With 7:13 left, he hit a lefty driving bank shot.

***After Northeastern went up by six (54-48), Dyson hit a floater with 5:11 to play.

***Trailing by five again, Dyson hit an elbow jumper with 3:42 remaining.

***Northeastern's Chaisson Allen countered with a baseline jumper, but Dyson followed with a 3-pointer with 3:42 left to get UConn back to within two.

***Dyson tried an alley-oop pass to Stanley Robinson, which the senior forward bobbled. But Robinson retained possession and went up for the layup to tie it.

***With 1:12 left, Northeastern's Manny Adako missed a running hook shot, and with 53.6 ticks left, Alwayne Bigby was called for a blocking foul and Dyson hit both free throws.

Surprisingly, those would be the final two points of the game. Northeastern leading scorer Matt Janning missed a couple of decent looks down the stretch – a corner 3-pointer with 41 seconds left and a running bank shot with :13.3 to play – and UConn was able to survive Kemba Walker's two missed front ends of 1-and-1's to score the narrow win. Baptiste Bataille's good look at a 3-pointer at the buzzer rattled in and out to seal the deal.

Dyson hit his final five shots and scored 11 of UConn's final 13 points.

"I couldn't let it end like that," shrugged Dyson, a senior who hit his final five shots. "The coaches were telling me the whole time they need me to shoot the ball and get to the middle."

"Jerome Dyson stepped up and made some big shots, exactly when his team needed it," said Northeastern coach Bill Coen. "That's what great players do, and he certainly is a great player."

Dyson finished with a game-high 18 points. After his clunkers over the prior couple of weeks, Dyson had been criticized publicly in the media, on Internet message boards, etc., that he didn't play with enough heart. Calhoun scoffed at that notion.

"If they question his technique, if they question how hard he works at his game, how skilled he is at this particular point – they have a right to say that," said the coach. "I've said it to him 1,000 times over. But if anybody questions his heart during his four-year career, you're barking up the wrong tree. You really are. I've questioned the fact that he doesn't get himself as ready as he should all the time – and I'm comparing him to Ben Gordon's 500 jump shots every single night, Emeka, Caron, some of those kind of guys. But I've never questioned his tick-tock."

Calhoun seemed to indicate that Dyson heard some heckling from the home crowd on Tuesday.

"I think when he got out there early, there were a couple of things being said to him by some people that he heard, and he came in pretty inspired."

Whether or not there were catcalls or criticism in the media, Dyson was oblivious.

"I don't pay attention to that stuff," he said. "They're going to like you when you're up and hate you when you're down, so I'm not really paying attention to them. I'm just trying to help the team win."

Calhoun waxed about Dyson's awful performance a week earlier in a Big East tourney loss to St. John's (six points, nine turnovers).

"I honestly thought that he tried so hard during the St. John's game, that he couldn't play. I've never seen him try harder than what he did in the St. John's game, and everything he touched turned into a layup. Stolen. You never see him get picked three times in a row going to the hole, that never happens to him. I mean, he'll throw it away. Trust me, he'll throw it away. He'll turn it over – he could open a bakery, no question about that. But I would never question his heart. I've questioned his focus, questioned the abilities that he has that he needs to utilize them more … but never his heart."

Said Dyson: "It kind of felt like that against St. John's. I was trying to get it going, and that's what caused a lot of my turnovers. Today ... I was able to turn the corner."

***Robinson was UConn's only other player in double figures, with 14. Gavin Edwards, making just his fourth start of the season (and career) and first since Nov. 17, and Alex Oriakhi (all in the first half) had eight apiece. Walker struggled through a 1-for-9 shooting night and had just five points.

Janning (17 points) led four Northeastern players in double figures.

***Oh, I won the bet among beat writers in coming closest to guessing the attendance. I guessed 6,100. The final tally: 5,571. Obviously, 'Price is Right' rules about not going over the actual retail price didn't apply.

"Thank God it was at home, in many ways," said Calhoun. "I remember there were 3,800 people here a couple of years ago when we played South Carolina. Tonight, we had 5,500 people ..."

Huskies lead at the break, 34-26. UConn's Huskies, that is.

Gavin Edwards started for just the fourth time this season, and the first since Nov. 17 vs. Hofstra. And why not, really?

There's a vocal contingent of about 250 Northeastern fans in the house. Total attendance? Remains to be seen, but I predicted 6,100 yesterday in a pool among beat writers and I'd say I've got a good chance to win.

However many fans there are, most of them vociferously booed the Northeastern dance squad when it took the floor during a break.

Alex Oriakhi looks good, with eight points and seven boards.

The thinking is that, if UConn wins and Virginia Tech wins tomorrow, they'd play Saturday in Blacksburg, Va. But that's not official. Not at all.

More later ...

Tomorrow night's game could be a dogfight -- literally -- involving a pair of teams nicknamed the Huskies.

Northeastern's Huskies are no pushover. They went 20-12 this season, 14-4 in a competitive Colonial Athletic Association. They played four teams that are in this year's NCAA tournament, beating two of them (Utah State and CAA champion Old Dominion). And they're a senior-led team, four of whom played UConn tough two years ago in a 69-60 loss at Gampel, including Matt Janning, who poured in 29 points that night.

"We have our work cut out for us," said Jim Calhoun. "They're good. They're capable of beating us. If we give a C, C-plus game, they'll beat us."

Or, to put it another way: "Hypothetically, if we were in the (NCAA) tournament and we were a two-seed, we'd be playing a Northeastern-type team," Calhoun said.

Will the threat of suffering an ignominious home defeat to the team Calhoun began his coaching career with be enough to motivate a Husky team that has looked alarmingly lethargic in recent weeks?

"We have no choice, at this point," said sophomore point guard Kemba Walker. "What's happened was in the past, we've got to look at the future right now. Our future is Northeastern and the NIT, so we've got to make the best of it and play basketball."

But when asked what benefit UConn can get from playing in the NIT, Walker took a long pause, before finally saying: "I don't know. It's games, you've got to take advantage of it. Some teams already (ended) their season. We're fortunate to make the NIT. Things happen for a reason, I guess."

***Expect some of the younger kids to get more run tomorrow night. Donnell Beverly is out with a deep bone bruise in his right knee, so frosh Darius Smith -- who Calhoun said has looked good for the past 1 1/2 weeks -- will be the backup point guard.

If UConn wins tomorrow, it will play the winner of Wednesday night's Virginia Tech-Quinnipiac first-round game. If the Bobcats are able to pull off the upset down in Blacksburg, Va., Calhoun would go against his former longtime assistant, Tom Moore – at a site to be determined.

"We will play anyplace you want us to – East Catholic High School, anyplace, just for both of us to be living in the second round," he said.

***Now, to the juicy stuff. Calhoun was asked about his recent announcement that he has agreed in principle to a new four-year contract extension – something he more or less already announced back around Christmas.

"It's gone back-and-forth 1,000 times. A lot of issues going on in-state, with tuitions and all that. And Jeff (Hathaway), in the past 1 ½ months, roughly … when I said that, I wasn't trying to be a wise-ass … I haven't talked to him …The reason we announced something we already knew is that we were getting killed on the recruiting trails. So nothing drastic has changed, I'm just waiting to get a copy back of the signed contract."

When asked how "cut-throat" other coaches have been on the recruiting trail, Calhoun made a thinly-veiled reference to John Calipari.

"There's a certain coach out there who's big-time now who said Louie Carnesecca was dying of cancer. That's a rather tough one. His name is as big as anyone right now (that was) when he was a graduate assistant someplace. Is it cut-throat? Yes, but it's a cut-throat business.

"Do I like it? No. Do we do it? I hope that no one on our staff has ever done that. We might tell you the advantages of running, we might tell you the advantage of winning, we might tell you the advantage of going to a program, by inference, they may have one (player in the NBA) and we have 14. Sure. We'll say, 'check the other schools that you're involved with,' and they may have two players in the NBA."

Calhoun ended, with a smile: "I've always tried to control the world, and I never have. But my quest will never end."

***Did the Huskies watch the rest of the Big East tournament, or the NCAA Selection Show? Nope, according to Gavin Edwards, Jerome Dyson and Walker.

"I've been playing video games since I've been back," said Dyson. I went out and bought a couple of new ones."

'Call of Duty' and 'Super Mario Wii,' to be exact.

***Northeastern's roster spans the glove – Australia, Cape Verde, Bulgaria, France, Canada – but there is a bit of local flavor. Southbury's Brian McDonald, a Pomperaug High graduate, is a senior walk-on for NU.

***The way Calhoun sees it, UConn would definitely have been in the Big Dance had it won 19 games.

"But we needed to get those 19 wins, we didn't get them, so we're in another tournament that, this year, probably has more significance because there's more good teams."

Let's see, where do we start? Ahh, let's not. Let's congratulate Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson and Gavin Edwards on their good, four-year (with a couple of road bumps) careers at UConn and not talk about the past.

The future, Conan? Umm ... that could be troublesome.

For one, it may or may not involve Jim Calhoun. In a long, rambling way as only he can, Calhoun addressed a report Monday on SNY that he was contemplating retirement after this season.

"I was made aware of the story, and it has nothing to do with anything and was not based on any substantive fact … Like everything else, I'm in the business of trying to recruit players to UConn. I love the school, and I still love coaching. It couldn't be farther … when I saw or heard a couple of facts about me talking to certain people, who I haven't had a word with, it was unfortunate. I haven’t had a word with one for one year and the other for eight months about the situation. And yes, there is a contract offer out there. I haven't seen the final copy, but it's out there, yes."

Calhoun apparently was referring to UConn president Michael Hogan and athletic director Jeff Hathaway, and seemed to be addressing a rumor a few weeks ago that he is balking on retirement because he won't be allowed to select his successor.

***Calhoun also made what I think (and I could be wrong) a veiled reference at how next year's cupboard could be bare when he talked about the Johnnies.

"They certainly have a bright future ahead of them," he said of the Red Storm. "(With returning) juniors and seniors, they'll be one of the better teams in the Big East, certainly top five or six next year. Today the team I saw today from St. John's was terrific. The team I saw from Connecticut today was not very good at all."

***Then there was another veiled shot at Hathaway. When asked about accepting a potential NIT bid, Calhoun said: "I guess I have to talk to the athletic director, and I'll talk to him. Obviously, he makes the final judgment. He runs the athletic department. So, obviously, I have to confer with him."

***So, if asked (and to me, that's up in the air), will the Huskies accept an NIT bid?

"I have great respect for (the NIT)," Calhoun said. "I never thought about turning it down. I think it's a good time to sit down with myself and my staff and think about what we want to do going forward. Particularly after (Tuesday's game) … it's a good time to sit down and think about closing the curtain for this year or continuing on, if we have the opportunity."

Calhoun said his team won't practice for a couple of days, at least. "Then, I don't know if we will practice or not."

***Back to Dyson for one minute. When asked what's been wrong with the senior guard the last three games (16 points, 6-for-26 shooting, 16 turnovers, one second-half benching), Calhoun shrugged: "He hasn't played well. He's played very poorly. If I could explain it, I would try to do something about it. He's played very poorly."

George Blaney gave a more in-depth answer: "It's like a batter that gets in a slump, that can't get himself out of it. He tries everything, he goes hard, he goes soft, he does everything, but nothing works. In fact, you start to look worse. That's what slumps are."

***OK, I'm getting a bit tired of this. I have now covered the Big East tournament seven times -- four times covering Providence, three covering UConn. I have seen the respective teams I've covered win exactly once -- Providence in 2002 or 2003 (can't remember, too lazy to look it up). This despite both PC and UConn have been No. 1 seeds (PC in 2001, UConn in 2009).

I'm a real rabbit's foot, aren't I?

Not so fast ... Jim Calhoun backed off Saturday's postgame proclamation that the same five players who ended the game will start in Tuesday's Big East opener.

"We kept changing it today, based on what guys are doing in different drills, I'm sure we'll change it by tomorrow, as I think more through it," Calhoun said. "I think it's more important, how we play the game, whoever's on the floor. That will be determined by watching how they're playing, quite frankly."

For the 45 minutes or so the media was able to watch practice, Stanley Robinson, Donnell Beverly, Gavin Edwards, Ater Majok and Darius Smith ran on one team, while Charles Okwandu, Jerome Dyson, Alex Oriakhi, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel and Kemba Walker were on another.

How have Dyson and Robinson, in particular, handled Saturday's second-half benching?

"Stanley was very good on defense, came in with a very good attitude," Calhoun said. "Jerome was really good yesterday and today."

When asked about Dyson in particular, Walker gave a short pause, then said:
"I think he realizes what he's got to do. He's been real positive in practice, he's been talking, been going hard. Hopefully, he can transfer it to the game and be the leader that he is."

Dyson was not made available to the media today.

Both Walker and Edwards were asked if the team had lost any faith in its coach and/or, had the coach lost any faith in his team.

"I don’t think so," said Edwards. "Coach isn't one to give up on anybody. He's going to keep doing the best that he can. I don't think anybody has given up on the season, either. Everybody wants to play in the postseason and hopefully make the tournament but, if not, just keep playing somehow."

Added Walker: "Nah, not at all. We've always been together. Some nights, we just don't play hard. We all love each other, we're all cool. Nobody's not friends on this team."

But clearly, these Huskies are an enigma for their coach.

"If I could ever figure this team out," said Calhoun, "then I probably wouldn't be losing my mind."

Great move today by Jim Calhoun. If you're going to lose, might as well lose with players who'll fight hard. And they almost won! Do we see Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson and Gavin Edwards on Tuesday? I think they'll all get another shot, fairly early in the game. But if they continue to display no heart, they'll be right back on the pine.

Anyway, while today may have been Calhoun's best coaching move of the season, he's not winning Big East Coach of the Year honors. The official all-league teams are announced tomorrow (Sunday) morning, and the first year-end awards (6th Man, Most Improved Player, etc.) will be announced Monday. Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Scholar-Athlete will be announced on Tuesday at a 5:30 p.m. press conference at MSG.

Here's my list: sort of a mishmash of who I think deserves it and who I think the coaches will vote for (if that makes any sense).

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Wesley Johnson, Syracuse

(Best player on the best team. Had Scottie Reynolds winning it until recently, when the ‘Cuse pulled away as league champs. Maybe Johnson and Reynolds will share it.)

COACH OF THE YEAR
Jim Boeheim, Syracuse

(A very strong case could be made for Pitt’s Jamie Dixon. Marquette’s Buzz Williams, too. I actually think Dixon, who lost three NBA draft picks, got more out of less talent. After all, Boeheim does have the conference’s likely Player of the Year. But Jimmy B. may win national Coach of the Year, so I’m pretty sure his league coaches will vote for him here, too..)

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Dane Miller, Rutgers
Lance Stephenson, Cincinnati

(Stephenson is the bigger name, and he’ll probably win it outright. But Miller deserves to at least share this award. Miller won Rookie of the Week honors three straight times in February. Last Big East player to do that? Fella named Carmelo Anthony, in 2003.)

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Hamady N’Diaye, Rutgers

(Led the conference in blocked shots, which probably should sew it up. But don’t sleep on Syracuse’s Rick Jackson, who was second in blocks and is a much better all-around player.)

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER
Austin Freeman, Georgetown

(Tough one to call. Guys like Jamine Peterson and Tim Abromaitis came out of nowhere with big seasons, but neither played last year, so what exactly are they improving from? Ashton Gibbs of Pitt is just a sophomore. I’ll go with Freeman, who is also now battling diabetes.)

SIXTH MAN AWARD
Kris Joseph, Syracuse

(I thought Gavin Edwards had this one locked up most of the season. But Joseph’s numbers are a little better – and his team is A LOT better.)

SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD
Scottie Reynolds, Villanova

(He’d be a good sport accepting this in lieu of winning Player of the Year.)

ALL-LEAGUE

FIRST TEAM:
Wes Johnson, Syracuse
Scottie Reynolds, Villanova
Luke Harangody, Notre Dame
Da’Sean Butler, West Virginia
Greg Monroe, Georgetown
Dominique Jones, South Florida

SECOND TEAM
Lazar Hayward, Marquette
Ashton Gibbs, Pittsburgh
Samardo Samuels, Louisville
Jeremy Hazell, Seton Hall
Kemba Walker, Connecticut

(I had Jerome Dyson on this team up until today. Depending on when the coaches voted, he still might make it. But I’m not so sure he deserves to.)

THIRD TEAM
Austin Freeman, Georgetown
Devan Ebanks, West Virginia
Jamine Peterson, Providence
Brad Wanamaker, Pittsburgh
Andy Rautins, Syracuse

HONORABLE MENTION
Corey Fisher, Villanova
Herb Pope, Seton Hall
Tim Abromaitis, Notre Dame
Lance Stephenson, Cincinnati

ALL-ROOKIE TEAM
Lance Stephenson, Cincinnati
Dane Miller, Rutgers
Vincent Council, Providence
Brandon Triche, Syracuse
Bilal Dixon, Providence

(A surprisingly weak group. Alex Oriakhi, despite all his shortcomings, has an outside shot at cracking this team.)