On Nov. 22, while UConn is playing either Indiana or Washington in the 2K Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden, some of the program's most sought-after recruits will be playing at the prep basketball season's unofficial kickoff in New Haven.

The National Prep Showcase at Albertus Magnus College runs Friday, Nov. 22 to Sunday, Nov. 24, and will feature some of the top prep players in the country, some of whom are prime targets for the Huskies.

Among the large amount of underclassmen talent in the tourney will be Cushing Academy's Jalen Adams, a Class of 2015 point guard who attended UConn's First Night festivities last month; Brewster Academy's Donovan Mitchell, another '15 point guard whom UConn is recruiting; and Terance Mann of Tilton School, a Class of 2015 small forward.

As for the Class of 2016, there will be Meriden's own Mustapha Heron, a 6-4 shooting guard who's now at Wilbraham & Monson Academy. And it's never too early to start thinking about Class of 2017 players: South Kent point guard Tremont Waters, a New Haven native, is truly one to watch.

Many of the top Class of 2014 players who have already committed will also be on-hand, including Ray Kasongo, who recently was down to UConn and Oregon before selecting the Ducks, then seemingly backing out, then selecting them again.

Among the other future college stars in action will be: Blair Academy’s Marial Shayok (Marquette); Brewster Academy’s Isaac Copeland (Georgetown) and Jared Terrell (Oklahoma State), Cushing Academy’s Kaleb Joseph (Syracuse); Fishburne Military Academy’s Jabari Craig (USC) and Robert Harris III (Kansas St); Hargrave Military Academy’s Donte Grantham (Clemson); Massanutten Academy’s Dwayne Foreman (Rutgers); New Hampton’s Tory Miller (Colorado) and Tyler Lydon (Syracuse); Notre Dame Prep’s Daxter Miles (West Virginia); Our Savior New America’s Damon Wilson (Pittsburgh); and Wilbraham and Monson Academy’s Goodluck Okonoboh (UNLV) and Max Hoeztel (Indiana), in addition to a host of other unsigned prospects.

Among the underclassmen that UConn doesn't appear seriously involved with are (from the Class of 2015) Our Savior New American big man Cheick Diallo is ranked among the top 10 juniors in the countrym New Hampton’s A.J. Turner and Jeremy Miller and Brewster's Jarred Reuter and Northfield Mount Hermon’s Aaron Falzon. And from 2016, Our Savior New American big man Kassoum Yakwe.

Here's the schedule:

Friday, Nov. 22

10:30a.m. Fork Union Military Academy vs. Notre Dame Prep (MA)
12:00p.m. Hargrave Military Academy (VA) vs. St. Thomas More (CT)
1:45p.m. ELEV-8 Prep (FL) vs. Brisbane Academy (SC)
3:30p.m. ELEV-8 HS (FL) vs. South Kent (CT)
5:15p.m. Fishburne Military Academy (VA) vs. Bridgton Academy (ME)
7:00p.m. Canarias Basketball Academy (ESP) vs. Massanutten Military Academy (VA)
8:30p.m. St. John’s NW Military Academy (WI) vs. Northfield Mount Hermon (MA)

Saturday, Nov. 23

9:30a.m. St. Thomas More (CT) vs. Fork Union Military Academy (VA)
11:15a.m. Notre Dame Prep (MA) vs. Hargrave Military Academy (VA)
1:00p.m. New Hampton School (NH) vs. Fishburne Military Academy (VA)
2:45p.m. Northfield Mount Hermon (MA) vs. ELEV-8 Prep (FL)
4:30p.m. Kiski School (PA) vs. Brewster Academy (NH)
6:15p.m. St. John’s NW Military Academy (WI) vs. Bridgton Academy (ME)
8:00p.m. Wilbraham & Monson Academy (MA) vs. ELEV-8 HS (FL)

Sunday, Nov. 24

10:00a.m. Brewster Academy (NH) vs. South Kent (CT)
11:45a.m. Massanutten Military Academy (VA) vs. New Hampton School (NH)
1:30p.m. Brisbane Academy (SC) vs. Kiski School (PA)
3:15p.m. Blair Academy (NJ) vs. Tilton School (NH)
5:00p.m. Vermont Academy (VT) vs. Our Savior New American (NY)
6:30p.m. Canarias Basketball Academy (ESP) vs. Cushing Academy (MA)

Shabazz Napier took exactly six shots in UConn's two exhibition game romps. Played only 14 minutes in the second one. Is he injured? Just reverting to 'Shabazz-the-distributor' mode? Anything to be concerned about?

Ummm, no.

"I didn't want to tire out 'Bazz," Kevin Ollie pointed out. "I wanted him to have fresh legs for the (Maryland) game. And I wanted to have good gamesmanship, too. I didn't want to run up the score."

Think of it as sort of like a spring training game, where the stars get one or two at-bats and leave the rest of the game to guys wearing numbers in the 70's and 80's. Still, Napier admitted to being "kind of upset" about not seeing much playing time against SCSU or Concordia.



No doubt, Napier goes through stretches where it seems he'd rather distribute than look for his shot. But Ollie has no concerns.

"The game's going to dictate it," said the coach. "You go out and say, 'I'm gonna shoot 25 shots,' that's when you don't have a good game. If the game dictates him to take 20 shots, he'll take 20. If the game dictates him to pass it and get off the ball and get 10 assists, then he'll dictate that. He's got great basketball IQ. I've been around probably one guard that's had better basketball IQ than him, and that's Andre Miller, when I was at Philadelphia."

Napier appreciated the compliment.

"That's kind of unexpected, actually. Andre Miller's got a great IQ. He's still in the league because he's a smart point guard. That's a great compliment."

Ollie continued: "I want him to be aggressive. That doesn't mean shooting. Sometimes I get on him not being aggressive -- probing the defense, getting in the thick of the defense. Maybe that's passing 20 times in a row, but that's being aggressive. I never talk about shooting with him, I just talk about aggressiveness."

A few more notes and quotes from today's practice:

*** Napier was asked how much concern the team has for Maryland on Friday night.

"I don't think anybody on this team is scared or nervous of Maryland, or anybody. Once you step on the court, everything goes out the window. Maryland ties their sneakers the same way we tie our sneakers. They've just got Under Armours, we've got Nikes."

"It's gonna be tough. Dez Wells is a great player, one of the best players in college basketball. He's big, strong, he's lie 6-4, 6-5. It's gonna be hard. But one thing I can tell you, we'll be ready to play them."

*** Gotta love Phil Nolan.

"I do't have a go-to move or anything," Nolan said. "When I catch the ball, I have, like, 10 different moves in my head. Whichever one happens, it just happens. I have a couple of favorites, but I just like switching it up. I just don't know what I'll do."

*** Ollie said he has no set starting lineup at this point.

"I'll figure that out on my trip down to Brooklyn ... The starters get their name called out, but that's who I like. Who I trust is the guys who are in at the end of the game. When I was a player, I wanted to be in to finish the game."

*** Brooklyn natives Omar Calhoun and Terrence Samuel get to play a true home game on Friday.

"I'm definitely excited, that's where I grew up," Calhoun said. "There's gonna be a lot of people there -- family, friends, coaches -- coming out to support me."

Does he have to guard against trying to do too much for the hometown fans?

"At the end of the day, everybody knows I'm focused on the game. I want to win, I'm a competitor."

Ollie was asked if Samuel, a freshman, also had to be careful not to get too amped up.

"I"m just gonna say calm down, play your game, be a point guard," said Ollie. "If he gets too jacked up, he'll sit by me. I've got a lot of guards on the bench."

*** Jim Calhoun will join Joe D'Ambrosio on the WTIC-AM 1080 broadcast, just as he did in UConn's season-opener last year in Germany -- an impressive win over Michigan State.

"Coach Calhoun is on the broadcast again, that's a guaranteed win right there," Ollie said with a smile. "We're 1-0 with coach on the broadcast with Joe D., so hopefully we're 2-0."

*** Sometimes in recruiting, it's the not ones you hit on but the ones you miss on that turn out to be a bit of a blessing.

Last year, UConn lost out on a pair of recruits -- Xavier Rathan-Mayes and Brandon Austin -- who they certainly wanted badly. Rathan-Mayes, despite his father being a New Haven native, elected to take his talents to Florida State (his pop's alma mater). Austin, a Philly native, selected Ed Cooley and Providence over the Huskies.

Now, Rathan-Mayes is out for the year after being ruled ineligible by the NCAA. And now Austin, along with fellow frosh Rodney Bullock, is suspended indefinitely from the Friars after "not upholding their responsibilities as student-athletes."

Certainly, no one wishes ill will on either player, and hopefully both are able to get their respective issues resolved and (at least in Austin's case) return to the basketball court as soon as possible. And certainly in Austin's situation, there's no telling whether whatever he did or didn't do at PC, he wouldn't have made the same mistakes at UConn.

But fans that live and die each time a recruit chooses another school over UConn should realize that, sometimes, it's UConn that drops interest (in the cases of Rathan-Mayes as well as Ray Kasongo), and sometimes not getting a particular recruit ends up being a blessing in disguise.

In the latest example of how crazy the world of college basketball recruiting -- and the coverage of it -- can be, it appears UConn may not have lost out on a recruit it seemed to have lost out on after all. At least not yet.

Multiple reports Wednesday night stated that Ray Kasongo, a power forward out of Canada, committed to Oregon. Kasongo, who was down to the Huskies and Ducks, said he "got along great with the Oregon players and Coach Dana Altman," according to Reggie Rankin.

However, in the early hours of Thursday morning came this tweet from Kasongo:

I am still undecided, and haven't made a commitment yet. I need more time to think about this and will decide where I go later on this week.
— Ray Kasongo (@RayKasongo32) October 3, 2013

So, it appears Kasongo's recruitment is still up in the air, and he could wind up in Storrs after all. Let's all give the kid some room to breathe and make a decision, OK?

Meanwhile, another power forward, Bonzie Colson, Jr., has crossed UConn of his list. According to his prep coach, Mike Hart, at St. Andrew's School, Colson is down to Florida State and Notre Dame. He'll likely decide this weekend. Colson was slated to make an official visit to Storrs on Oct. 11, but obviously now that won't be happening.

UConn is putting the finishing touches on its recruiting for the Class of 2014.

Highly-touted shooting guard Daniel Hamilton is already in the fold, as is, more recently, power forward Rakim Lubin, who sort of came out of nowhere but is the kind of big, bruising forward the Huskies need.

And, of course, UConn also has Rodney Purvis, an NC State transfer who must sit out this season, ready to go for next season.

UConn is looking to add another player or two to the mix. Devin Robinson, a 6-7 wing out of Virginia who is Rivals' No. 20 overall prospect, is a high priority. He's making an official visit on Oct. 18, which is UConn's First Night. The Huskies are also very interested in Ray Kasongo, another bruising power forward out of Canada who seems to be down to UConn and Oregon, according to reports. And Bonzie Colson, Jr., a 6-5 power forward from St. Andrew's School in Barrington, R.I., is currently still slated to make an official visit on Oct. 11.

Meanwhile, the Huskies seem to be ramping up their interest in guard Sam Cassell, Jr. UConn has come to watch Cassell work out twice in recent days, most recently on Tuesday down in Florida. Cassell, Jr. is a 6-3 guard who can play point or shooting guard. More succinctly, he's a "scorer," according to Ryan Hurd, who coached him at Notre Dame Prep a couple of years ago.

"He's that kid that makes shots that other people couldn't take," Hurd said. "When you're coaching him, you just have to close your eyes and wait for results. There's some unbelievable shots that kid puts in the basket. You want to ask 'why?', he tells you, 'because they just go in.'"

Cassell is currently enrolled in junior college after the NCAA deemed him ineligible to play last year at Maryland because of a couple of classes he took at Notre Dame Prep. Hurd said Cassell absolutely got a raw deal, considering several other players who took the same classes were ruled eligible to play college ball.

UConn is also keeping an eye on the Devonte Graham situation up at Brewster Academy. Schools still can't talk to Graham as Appalachian State has yet to release him from his letter-of-intent.

Either way, it seems we should be hearing some recruiting news soon out of Storrs.

UConn has a trio of recruits in on visits this weekend.

@mack_e20 @Shonuff_Ross I'm chilling on this uconn visit just hollering at yall fareal
— Sam Cassell Jr (@sam2ss2ll) September 21, 2013

That's Sam Cassell, Jr., son of the former longtime NBA guard and a former UConn recruit before committing to Maryland, then being ruled a non-qualifier and spending a year at a JUCO.

Chilling at the airport, on my way to my first official visit at the UCOON (University of Connecticut)!!!! Very excited and cant wait !!!!!
— Ray Kasongo (@RayKasongo32) September 20, 2013

That's Ray Kasongo, a 6-foot-9 power forward out of Canada via Phase 1 Academy in Arizona. Could be a real diamond-in-the-rough for the Huskies.

And JaQuan Lyle, a recent Louisville de-commit out of Huntington Prep in West Virginia is also slated to be on campus.

We'll have updates this weekend if any of the above players commits to UConn, and if we hear any details on how their visits went (doesn't every recruit say he enjoyed his visit, though?).