UConn has its annual grudge match with Providence on Thursday at 7 p.m. at The Dunk, where strange things (marital aids, players' angry brothers) tend to happen. The teams will meet again in their respective Big East regular season finales on March 9 in Storrs.

No matter how bad the Friars are -- and they've been mostly bad in recent years, going 12-42 in Big East play the last three seasons -- they always seem to give UConn a battle. PC has won five of the last seven meetings and eight of the last 12, including a 72-70 win at the Dunk last February.

The Friars are stumbling through another season at 10-10 overall and 2-6 in the Big East, losers of three of their last four games. But you know they'll give UConn all they've got on Thursday -- they always do.

Here’s some of what Kevin Ollie had to say today:

On PC:

“They’re always tough in the Dunkin’ Donuts Center – I think it’s the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. They’ve got guards, (Vincent) Council’s coming back from his injury feeling more confident, (Kris) Dunn is coming back from his injury feeling more confident, Bryce Cotton averages 22 points a game. It’s a tough matchup. (LaDontae) Henton is also back down low, and Sidiki Johnson is getting minutes.”

"Coach Cooley’s gonna get that thing turned around. They’re playing hard, effective basketball. They’re passing the basketball, making the shots. And Cotton’s a tremendous scorer. We’re going to have to have an emphasis on stopping him.”

On how Dunn has helped Friars since he started playing on Dec. 18:

“His speed, how he attacks the basket, getting out in the passing lane. When they press, he puts tremendous ball pressure on opponents. He adds an extra dimension to them. (Josh) Fortune is real good, too.”

On whether he enjoyed playing at Providence back in the day:

“Not necessarily. They’ll say anything, that crowd. There were always competitive games – they had some great teams when I was playing – Michael Phelps, all the bigs they had, Michael Smith.”

(Ollie can be excused for his Jim Calhoun-like, name-mangling moment. Michael Phelps didn’t play hoops for the Friars before his Gold medal-winning swimming career. It was Robert Phelps Ollie was talking about).

Ollie recalled his game-winning shot against the Friars in 1994. It was a layup at the buzzer and his only basket of the game. It also got Donny Marshall off the hook after he had gotten a technical foul for "sarcastically clapping" at a referee after a call.

“I think it was (Jim) Burr,” Ollie recalled. “That’s the wrong person to clap to. He teched us up. I think that was my only field goal of the game. Good memories. I just remember saving Donny’s life on that one.”

Ollie on playing zone defense:

“I’m a man-to-man guy. I’m a Coach Calhoun disciple. I don’t really like playing zone, but to throw a team off, and with our guys who can get out and scramble a lot, it’s been effective – at times – for us.”

*** Omar Calhoun played high school basketball with Jordan Fuchs, the 6-foot-6 tight end who committed to UConn on Monday. Fuchs has hinted he might like to play hoops at UConn someday, as well, though that seems to be a long-shot, at best.

Anyway, Calhoun said he’s “good friends with him … a lot of people from New York like coming here because they know I’m having a good time here,” and added that Fuchs has some game on the hardwood.

“He’s pretty good … he’s like a wide-body kind of guy, runs the floor, he’s good.”

Calhoun said he hasn’t spoken to Fuchs since he committed, however, and has no idea if he intends on playing basketball.

*** UConn players gathered in a huddle after practice and seemed to be laughing and enjoying themselves quite a bit.

Said Calhoun: “Just having some fun, joking around. We have some good chemistry on this team. Everyone gets along. It’s a group of guys that like joking, but when we’re on the court, we get it done.”

*** Shabazz Napier said New England bragging rights are at stake tomorrow and recalled last year’s loss at The Dunk.

“Last year, we were winning the whole game and we just kind of gave them the game at the end. My freshman year, I think we played MarShon Brooks really well. I think that was when he was coming off his 55-point game. We’ve just got to play UConn basketball.”

*** Ryan Boatright sat out about the final 15 minutes or so of practice and had an ice pack wrapped around his left knee. However, Ollie said it was just a bout of tendonitis, which Boatright’s been battling all season, that flared up a little bit. Not big deal, it appears.

*** John Saunders will handle the play-by-play on espn2 and be joined by Tim Welsh as analyst. Welsh, of course, was PC's head coach for 10 seasons before being fired in 2008. This will be just the second time Welsh has done a TV game inside The Dunk since his firing. The first came last week against Pitt.

We interrupt your dreams of another miracle Big East tournament and NCAA tournament run to remind you that both Andre Drummond and Jeremy Lamb should be lottery picks in this year's NBA Draft and, in all likelihood, will go pro once the season is over.

I asked a couple of NBA scouts -- one from the Eastern Conference, one from the Western Conference -- what they liked and disliked about the respective games of Drummond and Lamb. Most of what they said isn't ground-breaking or anything most UConn fans don't already know, but it's interesting to hear from guys who's jobs are on the line when it comes to scouting and rating potential NBA players.

Here's what they had to say:

“Drummond is what I call an alien,” said the Eastern Conference scout. “He’s from another planet, physically. He’s just so gifted, it’s mind-boggling. As a player, he’s just learning to play. For any guy like that, if he would just play as hard as he possibly could, all the time, the results will be good most of the time because he’s just flat-out physically superior to almost everyone on the planet.”

The scout added that Drummond “has the potential to be an NBA all-star, no question in my mind. But it’s a long way between where he is today and being an NBA all-star.”

"I know the Connecticut fans want performance night-in, night-out, but I don't know how realistic that is from a guy just learning to play. The NBA has shown time and time again that it will wait on a big. They won't on a smaller player. They want instant gratification on smaller guys."

The scout stressed that Drummond has to improve his fundamentals, particularly on offense.

“At times, I thought he was shooting not off his palm, but off his wrists,” the scout said. “I’d never seen anything like that. I didn’t think it the ball had any chance of going in. (Against West Virginia), he was hitting turnaround shots, and one of the scouts leaned over and said, ‘If he keeps hitting those shots, he’ll be the first pick, not the second pick.’”

The Western Conference scout echoed those sentiments.

“You’d have to start from scratch,” he said. “It’s a testament to the world of AAU. Someone who (cared) about the kid would have started at basic fundamentals. He doesn’t even hold the ball correctly. You can teach anyone how to do that, especially when they’re young enough. With his talent and athleticism, all he needs is a hook shot. If he can hit an open jump shot, he’d be basically unguardable.”

He added: "He’s very friendly, seems like a nice kid. With all those big guys, you’d like to crawl inside his brain. Does he like to play? A lot of big guys are forced into it because of their size. How much does he wanna work? He's so physically talented, he can probably make a living roaming the court, rebounding, blocking a shot here and tehre, alley-oops. But right now, there's a real lack of skill."

*** As for Lamb, the Western Conference scout believes he’s a perfect NBA two-guard.

“He has the position, you don't have to worry about him making the adjustment," he said. "I don’t know too many guys you’d take ahead of him at that position. He does have a nice arsenal of shots. He’s pretty smooth once he gets in a rhythm. The shot he hit (against Providence), that classic little floater, that’ll help him at the next level if he doesn’t forget about it. You can’t get to the rim all the time in the NBA, so you’ve got to offset that.”

Lamb hasn’t shot the ball as well as many expected this season – 32.7 percent on 3-pointers, and just 28.5 percent on 3-pointers in Big East play. But he’s been the focal point of many opponents’ defenses, something he won’t likely have to worry about in the NBA.

“(Scouts) take that into account,” the Western Conference scout said. “You’re not going to ask him to carry an NBA team and be a Kevin Durant or anything. He can even be a MarShon Brooks, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

The Eastern Conference scout likes Lamb, as well.

“He’s going to be a high pick also,” he said. “He’s got a high skill level, a bright upside. He needs to get stronger, a little tougher, and better off the bounce. He’s got a good 1, 2 dribble off the bounce, but after that I have questions. That being said, he’s young, it’s all ahead of him. He has a golden future.”

Both scouts pointed out that it would behoove both players – particularly Drummond – to stay in school for at least another year.

“In a perfect world he should stay in school, I think,” the Eastern Conference scout said. “But I’m not addressing the financial component, which is a driving force. I’d like to see him stay at Connecticut, I think a great deal of the coaching staff. Any player that will stay at Connecticut and work will have the opportunity to get better.”

But there are two words that any likely lottery pick needs to hear that normally convinces them to go pro:

"It’s called 'Greg Oden,'" the Eastern Conference scout said. "It's crystal-clear. If Greg Oden stayed at Ohio State, I have no doubt that they would have won a couple of national championships, if he was healthy. But the fact is he went to the NBA and he got his money. Thank God he got money, look what's happened since. It's been a nightmare physically. every player is a knee injury away from his career being over."

Indeed, all signs point to Drummond and Lamb going pro.

“(Lamb) will be right at the top (among two-guards),” the Eastern Conference scout added. “The only guy ahead of Drummond would be (Kentucky’s Anthony) Davis. You’ve got a kid like Thomas Robinson of Kansas playing at a very high level, he’s going to be a terrific NBA player, but he’s smaller, obviously, than Drummond.

“(Drummond) is going to go, if not second, then very high.”

*** Lamb earned first team all-Big East honors on Sunday while Drummond made the all-rookie team. The conference's Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards will all be announced on Tuesday, between morning and afternoon sessions of the Big East tourney at Madison Square Garden.

My picks would be: Jae Crowder, Player of the Year; Moe Harkless, Rookie of the Hear; and Stan Heath, Coach of the Year. I'm guessing that's how it'll go, though Drummond (the preseason pick) probably has a shot at Rookie of the Year. And Mike Brey seems to win Coach of the Year every season, so maybe we should just earmark him for that one, as well.

Anyway, here are the all-Big East selections:

ALL-BIG EAST FIRST TEAM

Jeremy Lamb, Connecticut, G, So., 6-5, 185, Norcross, Ga.

Jason Clark, Georgetown, G, Sr., 6-2, 170, Arlington, Va.

*Jae Crowder, Marquette, F, Sr., 6-6, 235, Villa Rica, Ga.

Darius Johnson-Odom, Marquette, G, Sr., 6-2, 215, Raleigh, N.C.

Kris Joseph, Syracuse, F, Sr., 6-7, 210, Montreal, Quebec

Kevin Jones, West Virginia, F, Sr., 6-8, 260, Mount Vernon, N.Y.

ALL-BIG EAST SECOND TEAM

Sean Kilpatrick, Cincinnati, G, So., 6-4, 215, White Plains, N.Y.

Jack Cooley, Notre Dame, F, Jr., 6-9, 244, Glenview, Ill.

Jordan Theodore, Seton Hall, G, Sr., 6-0, 174, Englewood, N.J.

Scoop Jardine, Syracuse, G, Sr., 6-2, 190, Philadelphia, Pa.

Maalik Wayns, Villanova, G, Jr., 6-2, 200, Philadelphia, Pa.

ALL-BIG EAST THIRD TEAM

Henry Sims, Georgetown, C, Sr., 6-10, 232, Baltimore, Md.

Vincent Council, Providence, G, Jr., 6-2, 180, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Herb Pope, Seton Hall, F, Sr., 6-8, 236, Aliquippa, Pa.

Dion Waiters, Syracuse, G, So., 6-4, 215, Philadelphia, Pa.

Darryl Bryant, West Virginia, G, Sr., 6-2, 195, Brooklyn, N.Y.

BIG EAST HONORABLE MENTION

Cleveland Melvin, DePaul, F, So., 6-8, 205, Baltimore, Md.

Hollis Thompson, Georgetown, F, Sr., 6-7, 205, Los Angeles, Calif.

Kyle Kuric, Louisville, G-F, Sr., 6-4, 185, Evansville, Ind.

Ashton Gibbs, Pittsburgh, G, Sr., 6-2, 190, Scotch Plains, N.J.

Moe Harkless, St. John’s, F, Fr., 6-8, 190, Queens, N.Y.

BIG EAST ALL-ROOKIE TEAM^

Andre Drummond, Connecticut, C, Fr., 6-11, 275, Middletown, Conn.

Chane Behanan, Louisville, F, Fr., 6-7, 250, Bowling Green, Ky.

Jerian Grant, Notre Dame, G, So., 6-5, 185, Bowie, Md.

LaDontae Henton, Providence, F, Fr., 6-6, 220 Lansing, Mich.

Moe Harkless, St. John’s, F, Fr., 6-8, 190, Queens, N.Y.

D’Angelo Harrison, St. John’s, G, Fr., 6-3, 186, Missouri City, Texas

Anthony Collins, USF, G, Fr., G, 6-1, 175, Houston, Texas

It was a surprisingly contrite Jim Calhoun at practice this morning.

Calhoun apologized to his team for the technical foul he incurred at the end of the first half in Thursday night's loss to St. John's. (He had apparently done so at halftime on Thursday as well, per Shabazz Napier).

"I apologize for the two points on the technical foul, but what happened, happened," he said.

He also thanked them for their hard work and told them he appreciated the fact that, the more he gets on them, the more they seem to respond.

"This has been a fun year," Calhoun told reporters afterwards. "It was a fun year when we were 17-2, it's a fun year at 18-5. I don't like losing, no, but there are more important things in life."

Still, it's hard to imagine Calhoun would be in a "fun" mood if the 10th-ranked Huskies were to lose to Providence tomorrow night. UConn (18-5, 6-5 Big East) has dropped three of its last four, with tough games against No. 11 Georgetown and No. 16 Louisville immediately on the horizon this week.

While Providence has defeated both Louisville and No. 9 Villanova this season, it is still just 3-8 in the Big East and hasn't won a road game in over a year (12 games, dating back to an early-January win at DePaul last season. Does that even count?).

The Friars also look like they'll be without talented freshman guard Gerard Coleman, who averages 10.4 points per game. According to Fox Sports' Jeff Goodman, Coleman may miss tonight's game and, possibly, the rest of the season for academic reasons.

(UConn's Alex Oriakhi, a high school teammate of Coleman's at the Tilton School, said Coleman told him he'd be a "game-time decision" in a text message. He said Coleman told him he had fallen asleep in class).

Either way, PC always seems to give UConn trouble in recent years, winning four of the last five meetings, including an 81-66 whitewash last season at the Dunkin' Donuts Center. That game was quite similar to the Huskies' 89-72 loss to the Johnnies Thursday night at the Garden: a close game at halftime (PC led, 36-35), followed by a second half of blistering shooting (49 percent) and high-energy play by the Friars.

Of course, Calhoun wasn't on the sideline for that one, in the midst of a seven-game medical leave. George Blaney coached that game.

PC is led by Marshon Brooks, a smooth senior guard who never met a shot he didn't like and leads the Big East and is fifth in the nation in scoring at 23.2 points per game.

"He's just an amazing scorer," Oriakhi said. "He does everything for that team, really. If we get a lot of help on him, especially when he gets to the hole, try not to have him see any open looks, it's going to be really tough for them, because he really does everything for that team."

Added Napier: "He lets it fly, no matter what. He has to. He's kind of like a Kemba Walker on their team. I don't think he's as good as Kemba Walker. You can stop him, Kemba Walker you can't stop. Kemba Walker has to stop himself … Marshon's a great player, but I think if Kemba gets it going, it's a whole lot of trouble for the other team."

Calhoun said he's not overly concerned with stopping Brooks, noting that he didn't expect St. John's Dwight Hardy to score 33 in a game as he did in Thursday night's win over the Huskies.

"Obviously, Brooks is a tough match-up," Calhoun said, "but they're a tough match-up. They're a very good team. In a lot of leagues, they'd probably be close to a shoo-in for the NCAA tournament."

Who guards Brooks? Most likely Roscoe Smith, with maybe a little Jeremy Lamb and Kemba Walker sprinkled in. Oriakhi thought Walker might start on him, but at 6-1, he's giving at least four inches away to Brooks.

I'd expect Roscoe to do the honors.

***UConn's ever-revolving starting lineup will welcome back Charles Okwandu tomorrow night. The 7-foot senior didn't start against St. John's but had "two sensational practices" this week, according to Calhoun.

*** Although Coleman apparently may not play, Oriakhi is particularly looking forward to tonight's game.

"We've been talking about this game since high school," he said. "We've been talking a lot of trash. This is definitely a personal game for me. I circled it on the schedule. This is the biggest one of the year for me."

*** Napier on getting through shooting struggles: "You've got to have a shooter's memory. If you miss 10 shots, you've got to believe you're goiong to make the next 10 shots. Not every shot's going to go in, it's human error. You've just got to go out there, shoot the shot the same way every time, same rotation off your fingertips, and hopefully it goes in. Once it leaves your hand, you can't do anything about it."

*** Why is tonight's game at 7 p.m on a Sunday? Apparently, it has to do with the UConn men's and women's hockey games at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., respectively, today at Rentschler Field.

Yeah, because I'm sure thousands of fans wouldn't want to miss a women's hockey game just to see the Huskies play.