Khadeen Carrington has been up at UConn a few times, including First Night festivities back in October. But Thursday was the first time he really got to sit down with Kevin Ollie and other members of the coaching staff and athletic department and learn more about the program and how it plans to move forward.

According to his mother, Lima, Khadeen liked what he heard.

"It was good," Lima said on their drive back from Storrs to Brooklyn. "We had a look at the foundation (of the practice facility), they explained everything. They think he's going to be a great asset for the program. They expressed a high interest in having him. He is the type of guard that they're looking for for 2014."

In other words, a combo guard, according to Lima, who said her son is a "great scorer, but actually plays really well at the point, too."

Carrington made no decision on Thursday and probably won't until early in his senior season next fall. He is hoping to visit both Cincinnati and St. John's in the near future.

"We're definitely not going to rush the process," Lima said. "We'll take everything in and process it as a family. Khadeen is going to ultimately let us know where he feels the most comfort level. As his mom, I'm going to give help to him, help him make sure wherever he goes is what's best for him."

Carrington knows both Kentan Facey and Terrence Samuel pretty well, having played against Facey's Long Island Luthern team about a month ago (L.I. Lutheran won, but Carrington played well).

“Def. not gonna rush the process, take everything in, process it as a family. Khadeen is going to ultimately let us know where he feels the most comfort level. As his mom, I’m going to give help to him, help him make sure wherever he goes, what’s best for him.”

Carrington will play this summer for the New York Lightning AAU team, which is coached by former UMass standout Dana Dingle.

“He’s a hard-nosed kid, explosive, he can do a number of things," Dingle said. "He knows how to fill it up, put the ball in basket and has a will to win ... He's pretty much one of the top three (2014) guards in the city."

As far as Carrington's recruiting process, Dingle said he's "just trying to take it slow. The one school he's been to continuously is UConn. But this time first time before just taking in game."

Khadeen Carrington, a 2014 guard out of Bishop Loughlin High in Brooklyn, will be making an unofficial visit to UConn today (Thursday).

The Huskies like where they're at with Carrington, who was at UConn's First Night festivities back in October and made a couple of other unofficials during the season. This visit will be a chance for Carrington to get to know the campus, the coaching staff and the program's plans and future a little better.

Carrington is the Huskies' only scheduled visit for now, but expect some more once the Final Four is over.

Some observations from Kevin Ollie's first practice as UConn's head coach:

Ollie is more vocal than Jim Calhoun, who didn't do a lot of shouting in practices. Ollie raised his voice a few times, but it was mostly positive encouragement. At one point, a walk-on shouted, "You look like you're giving up!" at the White Team of Ryan Boatright, DeAndre Daniels, Enosch Wolf and another walk-on that was struggling to get stops during a four-on-four drill. Ollie turned to the kid and told him if he was going to do any talking, it needed to be positive encouragement, not negative.

Not that Ollie didn't go negative. He once yelled at frosh Phil Nolan, "Hey Phil, if you want to play, you've got to get your ass some rebounds." He got on Boatright during the drill for not keeping his arms raised on defense. Another time, he stopped everything and told his team to be more vocal.

There were no "F-bombs" like Calhoun was noted for, but certainly some, shall we say ... PG-13 language.



Boatright was particularly peeved during the final drill, in which each four-man group must get three straight defensive stops before practice can end. It took Boatright's team a while, due in part to Leon Tolksdorf's hot shooting but also due to a lack of boxing out. At one point, Boatright kicked some foam padding about eight rows into the stands out of frustration.

After practice, Ollie took Boatright aside, one-on-one.

“He was just saying continue to be a leader," Boatright said. "Even when things aren’t going your way, continue to be a leader, because this team is going to feed off me. I’ve got to bring the energy and enthusiasm, even when things aren’t going my way.”

*** We only caught the last hour or so of practice, but there were certainly some positives. As mentioned before, Tolksdorf can shoot. Boatright calls him "Pistol Pete" (and I give Boatright props for knowing his hoops history).

Omar Calhoun knocked down some shots, as well, and looked good overall -- even providing some vocal leadership, though he's just a freshman.

I also liked a fairly complex new offense Ollie has installed, one that involves plenty of down-screens and movement. It's far more imaginative than some of the offensive sets I've seen the team run in recent years.


*** Shabazz Napier participated in about "45 percent" of practice, according to Ollie. He looked good in shooting drills, the coach said, but can't move laterally as quickly as they'd like him to and didn't do any one-on-one or physical drills.

Napier hopes he's "a few days from being 100 percent" and hopes to be ready for UConn's first exhibition game on Nov. 1.

“I think I should be out on the floor," he said. "I’m moving along quickly. This is my fifth week, so I really wasn’t supposed to be shooting, jumping (at this point)."

*** Khadeen Carrington of Brooklyn and Winston Morgan out of East Catholic, both of whom were guests at Friday's First Night, were also at Saturday's practice.

UConn also had another visitor -- Bennie Boatwright, a 6-6, Class of 2015 wing out of the Los Angeles area who has received scholarship offers San Diego and New Mexico State. He was on an unofficial visit.

UConn has a pair of Class of 2014 guards here at First Night.


Khadeen Carrington, a 6-1, 175-pound shooting guard out of Bishop Loughlin in Brooklyn, and Winston Morgan, a 5-11 point guard out of East Catholic High, are in the house. Commits Kentan Facey and Terrence Samuel are also expected to be here.

Also, 6-6 small forward Brandon Austin out of Imhotep in Philly will be making a visit to Storrs next Friday (Oct. 19).