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.

Just had a nice conversation with Sterling Gibbs, who, if you don't know by now, chose to transfer to UConn on Saturday evening after two seasons at Seton Hall.

Seems like a very impressive young man who wants to put his disappointing past season at the Hall behind him -- particularly an incident involving Villanova's Ryan Arcidiacono that looked ugly at first, but wound up being a learning experience thanks to the impressive way both Gibbs and Arcidiacono handled the aftermath.

Here are some snippets of what he had to say.

(why did he choose UConn)

"Overall, the coaches. It's a great coaching staff, great players, a seasoned team. Everything Coach Ollie has dealt with as far as guards. It's a UConn tradition, everything their guards have done throughout the years."

"My favorite player has always been Marcus Williams. I used to watch all his games, even when he was on the Nets. The way he dished the ball and was also able to score a little bit. And, of course, Kemba (Walker) and Shabazz (Napier).

(on his role with UConn)

"I'm a point guard, 100-percent. I can score the ball, and the fact that I'm able to score, sometimes people may try to say, 'He's a combo, a two-guard.' But I'm a point guard who can score, and at the same I'm I'm able to get my teammates involved."

(on his visit)

"I was able to spend a little bit of time with those guys, just seeing how important winning is to them. Also knowing some of them beforehand."

Gibbs said he's known Rodney Purvis for a while and spent a good part of his visit with him.

(on what UConn can do this season)

"I think UConn can be really good. The sky's the limit. It's not like anything's gonna be given to us. I know Coach Ollie's gonna push us to the limit, make sure we all jell together as one family, as a brotherhood."

(on why reporters had him committing to UConn a week ago, and then again early Saturday afternoon before his actual commitment)

"To be completely honest, I don’t even know. It was a surprise to me. Obviously, I had no clue where I was going last week. I was completely undecided, going back and forth, trying to figure things out. When a reporter said I committed to UConn, I was like 'Whatever.'"

"I think after my visit, I wanted to talk it over with my parents and everyone, make sure it was the right fit. I truly believe it was the right fit, because of the coaching staff, how it was presented to us. The whole plan of what they see for the future, and the whole opportunity to be able to win, go to the NCAA tournament, hopefully, and do some big things."

Sandwiched UConn's bouts with Rutgers on Saturday and West Virginia tonight with a visit to the IZOD Center to talk to Hasheem Thabeet for a feature story.

Must admit, as chronicled in the story, the big guy doesn't seem too happy with Memphis. That'll happen when you're playing time is down to single digits and you're part of a rumored trade (with O.J. Mayo to Golden State for Monta Ellis) less than 50games into your rookie season.

Hash hardly dignified himself on Sunday, with two fouls and a turnover in 59 seconds of action. I left soon after (I had talked to everyone I needed to prior to the game and finished my story by halftime. Would you watch any more of a Nets game than you absolutely had to?).

Anyway, here's a few more notes 'n quotes that didn't make the story:

***Thabeet and teammate Rudy Gay planned to head about 20 minutes down the road to UConn's game at Rutgers on Saturday, but the Grizzlies plane didn't get in until about 6 p.m. -- just as the Huskies' game was ending. Thabeet said he still went down to Piscataway to see his former coaches and teammates before they boarded the bus back to Storrs.

***Thabeet, Rudy Gay and Marcus Williams -- all Grizzlies teammates -- were concerned about Jim Calhoun's recent medical leave of absence. Thabeet and Williams tried to contact him, to no avail.

"I knew everybody was at him, so I kind of gave him his space," said Gay. "This summer, I'll sit down and talk to him."

"He's a tough man," Thabeet said of Calhoun.

***Thabeet suffered a fracture alignment in his jaw on Nov. 10 but missed just one game.

***Williams on the UConn bond inside the Grizzlies' locker room: "We've kind of got used to it. We've got a lot of haters in the locker room. UConn's been losing a little bit lately, so of course we're hearing it from everybody: 'UConn lost, you're not that good, you're sorry this year.' We take pride in being alumni of Connecticut."

***Gay and Williams on the Huskies' chances this season.

Gay: "We've had some really good wins, and some tough losses. They're on the right track. It's been tough this year, up and down, with coach being out. But coach is a great coach, and he's going to get it back."


Williams: "They need some big wins, and they need to get far in the Big East tournament if they want anything to happen."

***Thabeet's advice to Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson and Gavin Edwards, who all hope to be in "the league" next season.

"I told them it's a lot of hard work. It looks like it's easy, because everybody's good. But it's all a lot of hard work."

***Williams said he's down eight pounds, from 215 to 207, this season after a summer devoted to getting into better shape.


Oh, and here's the Top 25 I submitted late last night:

1. Kansas
2. Kentucky
3. Syracuse
4. Purdue
5. Kansas State
6. Duke
7. West Virginia
8. Villanova
9. New Mexico
10. Ohio State
11. Brigham Young
12. Michigan State
13. Gonzaga
14. Wisconsin
15. Butler
16. Georgetown
17. Texas
18. Vanderbilt
19. Tennessee
20. Temple
21. Texas A&M
22. UTEP
23. Pittsburgh
24. Richmond
25. Virginia Tech