Listening to Kevin Willard on the radio on my drive to the airport this afternoon got me thinking about Sterling Gibbs.

Gibbs, of course, played for the Pirates for three seasons before transferring to UConn as a grad student this season. He's been up-and-down for the Huskies, hitting some big shots, averaging about 10 points but not putting up the numbers he did last season as one of the top 3-point shooters in the country.

Seton Hall, meanwhile, has played as well as just about anyone in the country the past few weeks and won the Big East tournament on Saturday.

A lot was made about locker room dissension with the Hall last season, and as the Pirates played well and the Huskies struggled at times this season, it may have appeared that Gibbs' departure was a positive for the Pirates.

But there appears to be absolutely no animosity between Gibbs and his old teammates. I asked him shortly after UConn's win over Memphis in the AAC title game on Sunday if he was happy for the Hall.

“I’m really happy for those guys," he said. "I keep in touch with all of them. I actually had a long conversation with Desi Rodriguez. I try to mentor those guys, still, because they’re friends. I live right around the corner from Seton Hall — I went home last week — I saw those guys and I was able to talk to them and get up with them for a little bit. It’s always nice to see a New Jersey school really thriving.”

Good kid, Sterling Gibbs. 

Jim Calhoun was at the 30th annual Franciscan Sports Banquet & Silent Auction on Tuesday in Southington.

Realized that, during his tenure at UConn, he almost never took in transfers (Ed Nelson was one of the few). Yes, it was an entirely different era. But Calhoun doesn't like what's going on with the mass epidemic of transfers in college basketball these days. He stresses that it has nothing to do with the fact that UConn has been as active (and successful) in the transfer market than any program. It's simply not a good thing for the entire sport, Calhoun said, and he wishes rules would be put in to help curb the mass exodus of players.

Here's what Calhoun had to say:

"I'm not a transfer guy. It's a different age, and everybody has to do it, I think. But honestly, overall -- it's got nothing to do with UConn or anybody right now -- it's got to do with the sport. I just don't know ... it's not great for the sport. One-and-done is not particularly great, but a kid comes, is great and leaves, it's understandable."

Calhoun said about 44 percent of all players transfer these days.

"I saw the kid from Rhode Island (Kuran Iverson) just got eligible, because he and the coach didn't get along. I know there are more extenuating circumstances ... I don't think everybody's against that kind of thing. There are questions: Bringing the 3-point line out, widening the lane, putting the arc in there and, quite frankly, the one-and-done's and, at the other end, we've got to make sure that, if you transfer, you've got to sit out. I think that would change a lot of people's mind about things. Yet, if I'm sitting in that seat today, and I'm thinking about the fact that I've got to fill roster spots, I've got to fill them. So, it's not UConn, it's not anybody. It's not Fred Hoiberg at Iowa State. Our team might be close to 50 percent this year -- (Sam) Cassell, (Rodney) Purvis, the three other kids ... I will embrace those kids. I think I met the (Sterling) Gibbs kid when we were recruiting him, actually .I've met the (Shonn) Miller kid and (Terry) Larrier -- I'll welcome to the Husky family and hope that they're accepted well, and so on. But the more and more I get a chance to go different places nationally, it will affect the game."

(can you understand why Kevin Ollie would be bringing these guys in?)

"You mention Kevin, I'm not mentioning Kevin. You take it that way, then it's Coach Calhoun is knocking UConn. Of course I"m not doing that. I said, if Jim Calhoun was sitting at this seat today, and recruiting hadn't gone quite as well as I wanted to and could get two fifth-year, all-league players? No-brainer."

"The backdraft of this is that there are coaches from other teams that just had players taken away from them. How would you like to have some of our players taken away? In all honesty, I'm not (helping) Kevin Willard here, but they're pretty good players he's losing. We could look at anybody -- the Mississippi State kid, (Rodney) Hood at Duke. It's not Kevin, if you mix that up, you're trying to make something that's not there. What it is is, I think a developing problem in college athletics and college basketball."

Interesting stuff.

Some unfortunate news for former Husky Andre Drummond, who'll be out 4-6 weeks with a stress fracture in his back.

The good news: "He’ll heal,” according to Pistons team physican Ben Paolucci. “He should have no residual, in other words, he’s not going to have anything lasting.”

*** Meanwhile, UConn faces Seton Hall ("who's Herb Pope?") on Sunday as it tries to bounce back from Wednesday night's loss to St. John's at the Garden. The Huskies didn't practice Friday but will hit the floor again Saturday before taking off for Newark -- most likely sometime in the mid-to-late afternoon, depending on when the storm ends.

The Pirates are 2-8 in the Big East, but as Kevin Ollie notes, "We could easily be 2-8. We could (also) easily be with a better record than we do have."

It appears the Pirates will be without leading scorer (16.9 ppg) Fuquan Edwin for the game, according to head coach Kevin Willard. Edwin injured his ankle in the second half of the Hall's 56-46 loss at Pittsburgh Monday night. He still scored 23 points in the game.

The Pirates may also be without backup forward Brian Oliver, who averages 8 points per game. Oliver is "game-to-game," according to Willard.

A few other items from Ollie's teleconference on Friday:

"I think (Ryan Boatright) needs to attack the basket a little more. Not just him ... we all have to attack the basket more. I think the last two games, combined, we've shot 55 3-pointers."

Ollie also noted that the Huskies missed a whopping 17 layups against the Red Storm.

His somewhat cryptic "I'm going to have to make changes" quote after the St. John's game had nothing to do with tinkering with the lineup or anything like that, Ollie insisted.

“It’s a mindset change,” Ollie said. “How we start games, how we’re thinking about different things. We have to be more confident with our shot, because what we’ve been doing just hasn’t been working. It’s for me to try to change that. Hopefully, we’ll have a different start to the game (on Sunday).”

Willard on the Huskies: "I think Kevin Ollie's doing a terrific job for UConn. It just shows you what type of program they have. They've got two terrific guards playing at a high level."

UConn's intense practice the day after its regular-season ending loss to Notre Dame last season will go down in the annals of program history.

The way Jim Calhoun and others have described it, that practice is what kick-started the team's miraculous, 11-game run to Big East and NCAA tournament championships.

Could a players-only meeting called by Alex Oriakhi before Friday's practice yield a similar season turnaround? No one's suggesting the Huskies are going to go unbeaten the rest of the way, but everyone involved believes the emotional meeting will have a big impact. It certainly appeared to in Saturday's whitewash of an admittedly slumping, shorthanded Seton Hall.

Here's what Oriakhi and his teammates are saying about 'The Meeting':

“I told guys, ‘It really hurts not to make the tournament,'" Oriakhi said. "We weren’t playing together, so I told guys I’m willing to give up my minutes, I don’t care anymore. I don’t care if I’m on the bench, I’ll be the biggest cheerleader, I just want to win. When I said that, you could see in the guys’ eyes, they really bought into it. I said, ‘Either we’re in or we’re out.’ Everybody said we’re in. I think that really helped. It’s crazy when you change everybody’s mindset, what can happen.”

He continued:

"I just told guys, I apologize for being selfish, too much thinking about my minutes, this and that. I think it’s what we needed. My freshman year, we didn’t have that. If I’m the captain of the team, I have to take responsibility of what happens, whether I’m playing or not.”

Oriakhi said his parents, Alex and Angela, as well as assistant coach Kevin Freeman were all pleading with him to call a team meeting.

“If I’m hearing it from all different directions, I’m wrong if I don’t," he said. "I really think that meeting was all the difference in the world. It’s crazy what a few words will do.”

Oriakhi isn't necessarily a natural leader, he admits. But ...

“That’s what this team needs, that’s what I have to do. I’m new to this, as well. I’ve always been the guy in the backseat. It’s definitely something new to me, I’m willing to do it, though.”

He said Roscoe Smith also addressed the team during the meeting.

"He said he wanted to apologize for being selfish, as well, worrying about minutes. He told us, ‘When we win, we all look good.’ I asked him, ‘How many points did you score in the national championship game?’ He said, ‘None.’ I said, ‘Do you care?’ He said, ‘No.’ When guys heard that, they all bought into it. I looked into everybody’s eyes, and you could see they were willing to make a change. Guys bought into that, and it really, really showed on the court.”

The meeting went down right after George Blaney had held a meeting of his own with Oriakhi, Jeremy Lamb and Shabazz Napie.

“That’s what leaders do," Blaney said of Oriakhi. "That’s a good job.”

UConn players agreed:

“It was a good meeting," said Jeremy Lamb. "He really got serious with us. If he talks, aother people got stuff off their minds. We just told everybody we needed everybody on the team. In these hard times, everybody’s got to come together. It really meant a lot to the team. I appreciate him for doing that.”

Added Ryan Boatright: “It was real emotional. Alex and the upperclassmen felt like they had to get some stuff off their chest. Being a freshman, I just sat back and listened to what everybody had to say. We had a great practice, and it carried over to the game.”

We'll have some video shortly ...

A few more details from today:

*** Blaney said he spoke with Calhoun after the game, and that Calhoun watched the game with the volume turned down so that he could focus on the team's energy.

"He felt that Alex was the key to the first half," Blaney said.

He added: "There was a little bit of jump in his voice that wasn’t there this morning or yesterday. I was happy we were able to make him feel better.”

*** About the only excitement in the second half (aside from some thunderous Andre Drummond dunks) came late in the game, when Napier and SHU's Jordan Theodore started jawing after Theodore was called for a foul on Napier.

“He said Jordan was fouling him the whole possession," Boatright reported. "I guess when he went for the ball, he kinda scratched his neck. They were just tangled up. Just two dudes with emotion going on. They shook hands when we came out of our timeout."

However, SHU coach Kevin Willard wasn't pleased with the call (or, in particular, referee Gene Steratore) and was ejected from the game after getting consecutive T's.

Willard didn't mince words afterwards:

"I thought the refs called a good game. To be honest with you, there is one of them I don't get along with. I wanted to wish him a happy Valentine's Day. He didn't like that, and that was the end of that ... I don't mind getting blown out. I do have an issue when the refs enjoy the blow out. And I don't think they should be smiling or enjoying one team getting their butt kicked and another team not ... That's what I saw."

*** New Haven's Freddie Wilson, a Hillhouse product and Seton Hall frosh, scored just two points in 20 minutes but is making strides with the Pirates.

Jim Calhoun needed a day off yesterday. He wasn't feeling well, so he let George Blaney handle his Big East teleconference call, as well as practice.

Practice is open to the media today at 3 p.m., so we'll see if Calhoun is back and feeling better. Probably just needed a day after Wednesday's ugly loss to Georgetown, the Huskies' fourth straight setback.

UConn did get some possible "good" news yesterday when Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said power forward Herb Pope would be a game-time decision Saturday after suffering bruised ribs while diving for a loose ball in a loss to Marquette earlier this week.

Not that an injury to any player can ever qualify as good news, but the Huskies could use every advantage they can get right now.