UConn's full 2013-14 schedule was released today. Kevin Ollie called his out-of-conference schedule "second-to-none," and while that's open for debate, there's no doubt UConn will face plenty of quality opponents, both in and out of conference, this season. By my count, five opponents (Indiana -- assuming they meet in the 2K Sports Classic -- Florida, Louisville twice, Memphis twice and Cincinnati twice) could be preseason Top 25 picks this year.

Anyway, here's UConn's regular-seson schedule, with breakdowns of each opponent (the Huskies will also host exhibitions with Southern Connecticut on Oct. 30 and Concordia University on Nov. 4):

NOVEMBER

• 8 -- Maryland (6:30 p.m. at Barclays Center, Brooklyn): Terps were NIT semifinalists last year behind 7-foot-1 center Alex Len, who was No. 5 overall pick in draft. Now led by Dez Wells, who's suing Xavier for wrongful expulsion after a bogus July, 2012 sexual assault charge led him to be kicked out of school.
• 11 -- Yale: First time Huskies face Bulldogs in 10 years (Nov. 17, 2003). Watch for Stratford's Brandon Sherrod, who led Greater Hartford Pro-Am in scoring this summer.
• 14 -- Detroit (7 p.m.): First game of 2K Sports Classic. Detroit has won only prior meeting (67-61 in second-round NIT game). Titans were 20-13 and an NIT team last year and are led by guard Jason Calliste.
• 17 -- Boston University (noon): Second 2K Sports Classic game. Terriers return all five starters and top seven scorers from last year's 17-13 team, including first-team all-America East guard D.J. Irving.
• 21 -- Boston College (7 p.m. at Madison Square Garden): First meeting since BC's departure from Big East to ACC led to nastiness between Jim Calhoun and ex-BC AD Gene DeFilippo. Huskies own 54-35 all-time advantage and have won 28 of last 31 meetings, including 23 in a row at one point.
•  22 -- Indiana or Washington (5 p.m. or 7 p.m. at Madison Square Garden): Hoosiers lost a lot but still have sophomore Yogi Ferrell and a terrific incoming freshman class, led by big man Noah Vonleh.
• 26 -- Loyola (Md.) (7 p.m.): Greyhounds went 23-8 overall last season and earned second straight postseason berth (to CollegeInsider.com Tournament).

DECEMBER

• 2 -- Florida (7 p.m.): Billy Donovan's Gators lost top three scorers from Elite Eight team but have plenty of talent returning, led by Patric Young. Just second time schools will ever meet and first time in Connecticut (though Florida did play at Yale last season!).
• 6 -- Maine (7 p.m.): Black Bears are coached by former Calhoun assistant Ted Woodward.
• 18 -- Stanford: (9 p.m.): Cardinal went 19-15 and were an NIT team last year.
• 22 -- Washington (at Alaska Airlines Arena, Seattle): Could be the second Battle of Huskies in less than a month, as teams could meet in 2K Sports Classic. Washington features Mike Anderson, a 6-5 junior guard out of Hartford's Weaver High.
• 28 -- Eastern Washington (1 p.m.): Craig Ehlo, the former NBA guard best known for being constantly posterized by Michael Jordan, is an assistant coach. 
• 31 -- at Houston (9 p.m., Hofheinz Pavilion, Houston): Huskies first-ever American Athletic Conference game is New Year's Eve in Houston.

JANUARY

• 4 -- SMU (2 p.m., Moody Coliseum, Dallas): Larry Brown may have a sleeper team on his hands in the Mustangs, who return all five starters from last year's 15-17 overall team.
• 8 -- Harvard (7 p.m.):  Crimson won third straight Ivy League title last season and again appear to be the team to beat in league.
• 11 -- Central Florida: Like UConn, Knights were barred from last year's postseason, though not due to low APR scores but rather for recruiting violations.
• 16 -- at Memphis (7 p.m. at FedExForum, Memphis): Tigers could give Louisville, UConn run for their money for AAC title. Led by point guard Joe Jackson, who averaged 13.6 points per game last season.
• 18 -- Louisville (9 p.m. at Gampel Pavilion): An ESPN College GameDay presentation and certainly the Huskies' marquee home game of the season, as Rick Pitino's defending national champions invade Storrs.
• 21 -- Temple (7 p.m.): Owls could be a bit down after last year's 24-10, NCAA tourney third-round season. But don't ever count a Fran Dunphy-coached team out.
• 25 -- at Rutgers (7 p.m., RAC, Piscataway, N.J.): New coach (Eddie Jordan), new AD (Julie Hermann) as Scarlet Knights try to undo stain of Mike Rice before heading off to Big 10.
• 30 -- Houston (9 p.m.): UConn is 2-0 all-time against the Cougars.

FEBRUARY

• 6 -- at Cincinnati (7 p.m., Fifth Third Arena, Cincinnati):  Bearcats could be a Top 25 team, and Sean Kilpatrick should be in the running for AAC Player of the Year.
• 9 -- at UCF (6 p.m. at CFE Arena, Orlando, Fla.): Huskies lost to Knights on Nov. 25, 2011 in Bahamas.
• 12 -- USF (7 p.m.): Big East holdover boasts tough guard Anthony Collins, who plays as low to the floor as anyone you'll see.
• 15 -- Memphis (noon): UConn's played Tigers just once before, losing on Nov. 16, 2007.
• 20 -- at Temple (9 p.m., Liacouras Center, Philadelphia): UConn hasn't played Owls since 1965.
• 23 -- SMU (2 p.m.): UConn's only prior game against Mustangs was also in 1965 (an 80-68 Husky loss).
• 26 -- at USF (7 p.m.): Huskies' loss last season in Tampa was just second time Bulls have beaten them in 12 tries.

MARCH

• 1 -- Cincinnati (noon): Bearcats have beaten UConn two of the last three and four of the last seven times they've played.
• 5 -- Rutgers (7 p.m.): UConn has beaten Scarlet Knights 20 of the last 22 times they've played.
• 8 -- at Louisville (2 p.m. at KFC Yum Center, Louisville): A tremendous way to end the American Athletic Conference's first regular season. Could be battle for conference player of the year (Shabazz Napier vs. Russ Smith), too.
• 12-15 -- American Athletic Conference Championship (FedExForum, Memphis): After a one-year break, Huskies return to postseason play.

A little under the weather, couldn't make it to today's UConn practice. Confident I'll rally and make it tomorrow's 2 p.m. game against Rutgers at the XL Center, however.

Anyway, here's my advance for Sunday's game. 

And here's the gameday capsule:

MEN'S BASKETBALL GAMEDAY

RUTGERS at UCONN
When: Today, 2 p.m.
Where: XL Center, Hartford
Records: Rutgers 12-6 (3-4 Big East), UConn 12-5 (2-3 Big East)
TV: SNY
Radio: WTIC 1080
Keep an eye on
‰Under-rated?!?! There are plenty of good guard tandem’s in the Big East, but perhaps the most underrated belongs to Rutgers, in the form of Eli Carter and Myles Mack. The duo combines to average 28.8 of the Scarlet Knights’ 69.4 points per game, though Carter is coming off a dreadful, 1-for-14 effort against St. John’s on Wednesday.

‰Heads-up on the match-up. Rutgers will throw a bunch of defensive looks at opponents, including a 2-3, matchup zone. UConn has struggled against the matchup zone looks of Louisville and Pittsburgh recently, and Kevin Ollie knows his team has to have better ball movement when facing it.

‰Sneaker weekend. UConn’s coaching staff will be sporting sneakers on Sunday as part of the annual Suits and Sneakers Weekend to draw attention to the Coaches vs. Cancer program. Fans can help the fight against cancer by donating $5 by texting the word “Coach” to 20222 until April 9.

Probable starters
Rutgers
Name;Ht.;Yr.;Pos.;PPG

Jerome Seagears;6-1;So.;G;4.5

Myles Mack;5-9;So.;G;13.2

Eli Carter;6-2;So.;G;15.6

Dane Miller;6-6;Sr.;G/F;8.0

Wally Judge;6-8;Jr.;F;7.9

UConn
Name;Ht.;Yr.;Pos.;PPG
DeAndre Daniels;6-8;So.;F;10.5

Tyler Olander;6-9;Jr.;F;5.1

Ryan Boatright;6-0;So.;G;16.0

Shabazz Napier;6-1;Jr.;G;16.6

Omar Calhoun;6-5;Fr.;G;10.9
Off the bench
Rutgers: Mike Poole, 6-5 Jr. G, 4.9; Austin Johnson, 6-8 Sr. F/C, 5.8; Kadeem Jack, 6-9 So. F, 5.3.
UConn: Enosch Wolf, 7-1 Jr. C, 3.6; Niels Giffey, 6-7 Jr. G/F, 3.8; R.J. Evans, 6-3 Gr. G, 3.7

Kevin Ollie was on the Big East coaches conference call this morning, and here's some of what he had to say about Shabazz Napier and the Huskies' game vs. Rutgers on Sunday at 2 p.m. in Hartford:

"(Shabazz) definitely needed a coule of days. He wasn't going out and playing the type of basketball we needed him to play. He told me he could go (against Pittsburgh), and that was it. I didn't want to hear about his shoulder, I just wanted him to perform."

"He hasn't been able to do full-contact (drills) yet. When we come back (to practice on Friday), I think he'll be full-blast, the Shabazz of old -- getting to the rim, making 3-point shots, being more aggressive and attacking on offense."

(on Rutgers)

"They're a tough team. They have some outstanding guards, a three-guard lineup, kind of like how we start. And they've got some good bigs down there. We're going to have our work cut out for us, like in every Big East matchup. Hopefully, our team comes out on top and gets back to its winning ways."

The Scarlet Knights, who ended a 10-game losing streak against UConn with a 67-60 win last January that led to a rather grumpy Jim Calhoun at practice the following morning, are 12-6 overall and 3-4 in the Big East. They are led by the guard tandem of Eli Carter and Myles Mack, who combine to average 28.8 of the team's 69.4 points per game (though Carter is coming off an ugly, 1-for-14 night on Wednesday in a loss to St. John's).

"They're playing exceptionally hard," said Ollie. "Carter is shooting from anywhere, Mack is right there with him. They're shooting three steps from halfcourt, just letting it go ... they're guard-heavy, but they also have some explosive players down low. And they always have a complicated, match-up zone. We're going to have to figure it out ... gonna have to move the basketball a little better than what we've been doing."

Rutgers coach Mike Rice noted his team missed 17 layups and 12 free throws against St. John's. He said he wasn't dismayed by Carter's shot selection, however -- though didn't seem to rule out possibly bringing him in off the bench in the future.

As for UConn: "Big challenge ahead, containing and defending their guards. I love what Coach Ollie's doing with his schemes, his X's and O's. They've got great ball movement, their spacing the floor is excellent. I look for a big challenge at UConn on Sunday."

Rice also had this to say when asked how tough it must be to coach a team (like UConn) that has no postseason to look forward to.

“I think it would be difficult, especially with everything that Coach Calhoun built, what their standards are. To be honest with you, you don’t see it on film. Coach Ollie’s done a tremendous job, how hard they’re playing. They've got a little depleted roster in terms of numbers, etc. But you can’t tell by watching them on film. They’re playing really hard, with passion. I imagine it’s difficult, I’ve never had to do something like that. I give them all the credit in the world, because they’re playing real, real hard.”