UConn faces Boston College for the first time in nearly nine years on Thursday at 7 p.m. in a 2K Sports Classic game at Madison Square Garden.

The two former Big East rivals are, of course, no longer in the Big East. BC left for the ACC in 2005, a controversial move at the time that proved to be somewhat prescient. While the Eagles' athletic teams are now largely wallowing in obscurity and neglect, the programs are, at least, flush with money.

When BC announced it was leaving 10 years ago, Jim Calhoun vowed never to play the Eagles again. His very public dissing of BC and animus toward athletic director Gene DeFilippo helped lead to a Cold War between the two schools for years. A couple of years ago, DeFilippo admitted to the Boston Globe that BC was instrumental in keeping UConn out of the ACC as conference expansion raged on.

"It was a matter of turf," DeFilippo told the Globe. "We wanted to be the New England team."

Tensions have eased in recent years. As far back as 2007, Calhoun admitted he wouldn't mind scheduling the Eagles. I asked Calhoun about the whole situation last week, and he's happy to see the two schools renew their rivalry -- and hopes to see it continue in the future.

“I wasn’t upset with BC. I was upset with decisions made, behind the scenes, which I’m not going to go in great detail about," he said. "But, in 2005, a lot of us kind of had to hold the thing together. They were a verbal, ‘Yes, we want to hold this thing together.’ But what they were saying and what was going on, not through the school itself but from the athletic department, wasn’t necessarily fact. So, from a selfish standpoint, to have a good rivalry in Boston, because I enjoy going back there every year … Rivalries are great, and BC should be a very natural rivalry, them being in the ACC and we being, certainly, at that level.”

“I’ve never been one to hold back on how I felt about things, and that’s how I felt about it. I don’t apologize for it. I mean, why would we ruin a New England rivalry?”

While Calhoun said he wasn't upset with BC, there's no doubt that he and DeFilippo, who's now retired, didn't see eye-to-eye, to put it mildly.

“No, not at all, when that started. He and I got along before that. But he and I had a disagreement over the direction they said they were going, but they weren’t going. But, that’s all in the past, it’s all in the future now. I think it’ll be a very good game for us.”

Calhoun would like to rekindle more New England rivalries, not just with BC.

“I watched UMass (at the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament in Boston last week), the best team of the six. I’m not telling Kevin (Ollie) who to play, but that’s not a bad rivalry for us, either. When John (Calipari) got there and they got good, we played them.”

*** On a conference call today, Kevin Ollie also talked about rekindling the BC-UConn rivalry:

"It’s a great team, right in our region. We had a lot of wars in the Big East. I remember a lot of them when played at UConn. Coach Steve Donahue is doing a great job, they’re explosive on the offensive end. (Olivier) Hanlan is one of the top point guards in country, he's doing wonderful job. They’re going to continue to play their type of basketball."

Ollie said his fondest memory of BC-UConn was a game up at Chestnut Hill lwhen "we were down 29 or 30 -- I may be exaggerating, I get that from Coach Calhoun -- and we came back. I remember that game vividly. We always had some tough battles. I love the challenge Boston College presents every game."

UConn, of course, was 8-0 vs. the Eagles when Ollie was a player, in the midst of an amazing 23 straight wins the Huskies had over BC from 1988 to 2000. UConn won 28 of the last 31 meetings and is 54-35 all-time against BC -- though the Eagles did win the last match-up on Jan. 5, 2005 in Hartford.

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.