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.

UConn won't play two bigger games this season, at least until March, than the two it'll play Thursday and Saturday nights. It starts Thursday night at No. 17 Memphis, then there's a quick turnaround for Saturday night's ESPN College Gameday battle with Louisville in Storrs.

Playing back-to-back games vs. ranked foes was old hat for UConn back in its Big East days. Heck, the Huskies had such consecutive match-ups nine times over the past five seasons.

But this will likely be UConn's only chance to do so this regular season, and it just feels a lot bigger and more important than in recent years, doesn't it? UConn really needs to at least split the two, if not sweep. Getting swept would really put the Huskies behind the eight-ball in terms of hopes for a league title and, for that matter, possibly even an NCAA tournament berth.

(Incidentally, the last nine times UConn has faced Top 25 teams in consecutive games, the Huskies lost both games four times, won both of them twice and split the two three times. Last year, UConn beat No. 17 Notre Dame on Jan. 12 on the road, then lost to No. 1 Louisville two days later in Storrs).

Here's what Kevin Ollie and Ryan Boatright had to say about Memphis:





A few more tidbits:

*** There are six Memphis kids (and eight Tennessee-born kids altogether) on the Memphis roster. There is just one Connecticut scholarship player (Tyler Olander) on the Connecticut roster. In fact, Memphis has as many Connecticut kids on its roster as UConn does. Kuran Iverson, who was a two-time Register All-State selection while at West Hartford's Northwest Catholic High, is a freshman for the Tigers. He's seen precious little playing time this season, particularly lately, having appeared in just one of Memphis's first four conference games. Iverson, a 6-10 forward, is averaging 2.8 points and 1.3 rebounds in 9.4 minutes of action overall this season.

UConn recruited Iverson, but not heavily.

*** This will mark UConn’s first-ever game at Memphis. The Huskies and Tigers have met just once before, on Nov. 16, 2007 in a 2K Sports College Hoops Classic game at Madison Square Garden. The John Calipari, Derrick Rose-led Tigers won, 81-70.

UConn is the second of four FedEx Forum newcomers in 2013-14. Memphis is 22-1 when facing teams making their first visits to the arena.

*** Did you know both Ollie and Memphis coach Josh Pastner have NCAA title rings. Ollie got his as an assistant to Jim Calhoun in 2011. Pastner got his as a (ahem) ... player on the 1997 Arizona title team.

Here's a feature I wrote on Tharon Mayes, the former New Haven high school star who went on to a successful career at Florida State, then Europe.

Why am I putting a story on Mayes on a UConn blog, you ask? Well, a quick look at his surname and you may be able to surmise that UConn fans may be very interested to hear what Mayes has to say.

Mayes is the father of Xavier Rathan-Mayes, the highly-touted Class of 2013 shooting guard who is a big-time UConn target. (Actually, Mayes is Xavier's stepfather -- he met Xavier's mom, Marilyn, when Xavier was about five).



According to Mayes, Xavier attended Cheshire Academy four years ago, as detailed in a nice story by the late, great Dave Solomon, but is now at Huntington Prep in West Virginia). Among the six schools he's "fond of", according to his dad: Florida State (Mayes's alma mater), UConn, Baylor, Alabama, Memphis and UCLA. There are others, as well. I apologize if I made it sound earlier like he had pared his list down to just those six.

Rathan-Mayes, who has made unofficials to both UConn and UCLA already, plans another unofficial to FSU sometime over the next couple of weeks. He'll narrow down his visits after taking the SAT's in September, according to Mayes. Xavier would like to commit early in November.

Tharon Mayes said that Jim Calhoun's coaching future is "a concern. He likes Kevin Ollie. Kevin’s been speaking to him, it’s definitely a school of interest. But that is something that’s a little scary.”

Here's what Tharon says about his son's game: "He can definitely stroke it. But I think, with him, what makes him tough is he plays both guard spots very well. It adds more to his game than him being a pure point guard or two-guard."

*** Meanwhile, Joey Natale of UConnBall.com caught up with Reggie Cameron after his visit to UConn on Tuesday. Guess what? The visit went "great."

*** Oh, and in the GHPA playoffs: Doug Wiggins had a triple-double (40 points, 10 boards, 10 assists) to lead Recycle Kings to a 152-145 win over Harte Nissan in Game 2 of the championship series. The decisive Game 3 will be tonight (Thursday) at 7 p.m. at Classical Magnet School.

UConn target Kuran Iverson added 36 points and eight rebounds and Jerome Dyson 30 and 11 for Recycle Kings.

Ryan Gomes had 34 and 10, Lamonte Ulmer 28 and 12 and Keith Cothran 27 and seven for Harte Nissan.

Harte Nissan beat Recycle Kings in Game 1 of the Greater Hartford Pro-Am finals on Monday. Game 2 is on Wednesday at 7 p.m., with Game 3 (if necessary) on Thursday at 7. Here are some nice photos from GHPA action this summer:

Clockwise: Jerome Dyson goes behind the back; A.J. Price and Ryan Gomes go head-to-head; UConn target Kuran Iverson throws down a dunk; Jeremy Lamb soars in for a slam.

Always good stuff from the pro-am. Unlike the video I've blogged here, I didn't take these photos. Dyson, Price/Gomes and Iverson were taken by Arthur Teal, and Lamb was shot by Ty Waterman.

The Register unveiled its winter All-Area and All-State teams today, as well as its MVP's in respective sports.

Here's the Register's 64th All-State boys' basketball team, which includes UConn interest Kuran Iverson.

And here's Joe Morelli's story on our state boys' basketball MVP, Providence-bound Kris Dunn.

Caught up with Kuran Iverson at last night's Greater Hartford Pro-Am. The burly, 6-foot-8 forward, one of the top Class of 2013 recruits, said he's making an unofficial visit to Syracuse in a couple of weeks.

Iverson said that his list of schools he's most heavily considering all reside in the Big East: Syracuse, UConn, Louisville, Villanova and Pittsburgh. A Hartford resident who'll be a junior this year at Northwest Catholic High, Iverson said he's always watched and liked UConn, and has been up at Storrs several times to run with the likes of Kemba Walker.

Jeremy Lamb will lead Little Caesars Slamm into action tonight as the Greater Hartford Pro-Am single-elminination playoffs kick off at 6:30 p.m.

Lamb (and fellow UConn teammate DeAndre Daniels) lead the third-seeded Slamm against the sixth-seeded Sparks Motors Naughty Boyz, led by Gary Forbes of the Denver Nuggets and top prep star Kuran Iverson.

At 8:15, No. 5 Cambyland takes on No. 4 Worldwide Denim.

In a play-in game on Wednesday, Kemba Walker's 25 points led the Doc Hurley Scholars to a 128-98 win over Simoniz. Roscoe Smith added just four points for the winners.