Happy to announce that I'll be an AP Top 25 men's basketball voter again this year. The first preseason poll comes out on Oct. 31, but we have to send them in by Oct. 24.

So, here's the preseason poll I've sent in, along with the five-man All-America team they also request:

PRESEASON TOP 25

1. Duke: This seems too easy, but it's hard to deny Grayson Allen and one of Coach K's best recruiting classes. Almost had them No. 2 because of Harry Giles' health concerns, but it appears he'll be back soon.

2. Kansas: Gee, ya think they'll win the Big 12 again?

3. Oregon: UConn could meet Ducks in Maui next month.

4. Kentucky: You know the deal - great recruiting class, etc., etc.

5. Virginia: I liked Austin Nichols a lot at Memphis, and I love him with the Cavs. He and London Perrantes make a heck of a tandem.

6. Villanova: Why do I think the loss of Ryan Arcidiacono and Daniel Ochefu will hurt the defending champs more than others seem to believe?

7. Xavier: Until Billy Preston commits next year, Myles Davis will be the butt of most of my music-related college hoops jokes. Sorry in advance

8. North Carolina: UConn could meet Tar Heels in second game in Maui. Would be fun.

9. Wisconsin

10. Indiana: Are we sure Yogi Ferrell has graduated?

11. UCLA: Daniel Hamilton may have gone pro, but his brother Isaac could be poised for stardom.
Arizona.

12. Arizona

13. Saint Mary's: Not a misprint. I liked the Gaels last year, and I love veteran teams that bring back their entire starting five.

14. Michigan State: Gavin Schilling's knee surgery a huge concern for Spartans.

15. Gonzaga

16. Cincinnati: With Troy Caupain, Gary Clark, Jacob Evans and NC State big man transfer Kyle Washington in tow, I think Bearcats deserve to be favorites in the American. Watch out for Washington. He put up big numbers against UNC and Syracuse a couple of years ago.

17. UConn: There's no doubt the Huskies have the most talent in the AAC, but a lot of it is young and new, and it may take a while to mesh. That may mean some early-season struggles, but by February, I think Kevin Ollie & crew will have it figured out. Season finale vs. Cincy at Gampel could be for regular season title.

18. URI: It gives me no extra pleasure voting in my alma mater. (OK, maybe a little). But seriously, a healthy E.C. Matthews and Hassan Martin makes Dan Hurley's Rams legit.

19. Louisville: How many games for Rick Pitino? Gotta be at least nine, right?

20. Syracuse

21. West Virginia

22. Iowa State

23. Texas

24. Purdue

25. Florida State: New Haven native Tharon Mayes' stepson, Xavier Rathan-Mayes, is a star.

ALL-AMERICAN TEAM:

(FYI, I don't put freshmen on my preseason All-American team)

Grayson Allen, Duke

Jaron Blossomgam, Clemson

Josh Hart, Villanova

Ivan Rabb, California

Thomas Bryant, Indiana

There's a new Class of 2018 guard for UConn fans to keep an eye on: Luguentz Dort, a 6-foot-3 1/2 combo guard from the Conrad Academy in Orlando.

UConn assistant Ricky Moore will head down to Orlando and see Dort on Thursday morning, according to Conrad coach Shaun Wiseman. Moore and Wiseman are good friends, dating back to when the two were assistant coaches for the Charlotte Royals AAU team about six years ago.

Dort, who hails from Montreal, has already received offers from Florida, Arizona State, Baylor, Virginia, Oregon and Louisville. Rick Pitino saw him at an open gym a few weeks ago and offered him a scholarship on the spot. Florida is showing the most interest right now - head coach Mike White apparently loves him, and assistant Dusty May is at the nearby Conrad campus often.

Conrad has some other prospects, including 7-foot-2 Aristide Boya from Cameroon, who Moore will take a look at, as well.

Interesting stuff from the Jordan Brand Classic regional game today. Here's what Mamadou Diarra, Taurean Thompson and Christian Vital had to day:

THOMPSON (who is taking an official to UConn on Monday, his third official):

“I don’t know a lot about UConn. I know (Daniel) Hamilton just left. I talked to the assistant coaches briefly, I haven’t really talked to (Kevin) Ollie yet. He’s been busy. But when I get there, they’ll let me know what’s going on.”

“After UConn, if it doesn’t feel right, I’m gonna keep brainstorming and use my last two officials.”

Thompson was named Team New York's MVP on Friday after shooting 13-for-15 from the floor for 27 points and 13 boards.

DIARRA:

(on persuading Thompson to come to UConn)

“I was just talking to him in the locker room about it, ‘you’ve got to come to UConn. He’s taking his visit Monday, so hopefully he likes it.”

Diarra, who scored 19 points in Team New York's 148-128 victory on Friday, said he'll likely arrive on UConn's campus around May 31. He's been working on getting stronger and "stepping out a little bit, making jump shots, stretching my game out a little."

But he knows his bread-and-butter will be rebounding and shot-blocking.

“That’s my niche, that’s what I’m gonna need to do to get on the floor. That’s what I’ll keep on doing. Our leading rebounder last year was Daniel Hamilton, and he’s out, too. So that’s a big role that’s missing. They’re gonna need that.”

(on Hamilton's departure to the NBA)

“I’m a little surprised ... He’s good, but players come and players go. That’s just a part of the game. There’s a lot of other guys on the team that can step up and play, like Terry Larrier, Vance Jackson.”

VITAL:

The Queens Village, New York product, played AAU ball with Larrier, knows Jalen Adams from playing prep ball in New England and said Steve Enoch is “my beat friend.”

“I just spoke to him the other day, he told me to get ready for my visit,” Vital reported. “And Coach Ollie is a really great guy, too. You can see how genuine he is about his players. That’s why he shows so much emotion when coaching on the sidelines. And being in Connecticut, UConn is on a lot. When I’m scrolling through the channels, I’m able to watch them play.”

Vital said it's down to UConn, Louisville and Iowa - though it appears UConn and Louisville are the leaders. He'll visit both soon (UConn early next week).Vital spoke glowingly of Louisville.

“You grow up watching Coach Pitino, he’s a great coach,” Vital said. “I can tell he has a lot of great character. A lot of things, as we know, happened down at Louisville, and I am aware of that and I’m thinking about that in my decision. But I don’t feel like you should ever judge someone just because they sin differently than you. Whatever did happen over there, no one’s perfect. They definitely took the steps to get ahead of their sanctions by saying ‘no postseason’ last year and getting rid of scholarships. Coach Pitino can’t come down and see me, that’s part of it ... And also national championships ... I want to compete for a national championship.”

I suppose I appreciate the relative candor of Rick Pitino at a press conference with local media yesterday. He denies he flipped the bird to Kentucky fans, explains why he blew off the postgame presser after the loss to UK and then goes into a rambling discourse about the allegations that a woman supplied strippers and prostitutes to Louisville recruits from 2010-14.

Unfortunately for Pitino, so much of what he says can be deconstructed. It's strange. I thought Pitino was rather accountable after the Karen Sypher controversy erupted a few years ago, showing up to Big East Media Day and answering questions.

This year, he blew off ACC Media Day, and subsequently the postgame press conference after the loss to Kentucky, because it was an "emotional" game for him.



So much here to go over. Let's go:

QUESTION: DID YOU FLIP OFF THE UK FANS?

OK, let's start here, with how the question was actually phrased.

"Coach, I apologize in advance, I was told to ask this but -- very important question -- did you flip off UK fans?"

You're apologizing before you ask the question? You're blaming your editors for asking the question? You're sarcastically portraying as a "very important question"?

Imagine if this guy had to interview, say, Peyton Manning. "Peyton, I'm sorry I even have to ask this, but ... well, my editors want me to ask you if you ever took HGH. Y'know what, don't even answer it. We all know it's not true. Stupid question to begin with. Sorry."

I'll cut the guy some slack if he worked for the college paper. Otherwise, totally unprofessional.

We move on:

PITINO: I did not. It wasn’t fans, per se, I was in the tunnel, and it’s really not important.

So you didn't flip them off? Or you didn't flip off fans, just, I don't know ... security guards? Cheerleaders? And because you were in the tunnel, it made it OK -- even though you did not do it? I'm confused.

What bothers me about you (turning to Rick Bozich) is you say, I know everybody’s body fat, you must know about this (events in the dorm). That pisses me off, beyond your wildest dreams.

I don't know, Rick. It's kind of a fair point, if you ask me. You're telling me not the slightest whisper of anything even a little bit untoward ever made it to your office. I find that VERY hard to believe.

PITINO: Because that took place in Billy Minardi Hall, and we didn’t get one recruit.

I don't know what this means. Were the strippers not good enough to lure any of the potential recruits to Louisville? I'm honestly confused.

PITINO: The NCAA is upset at me because if I say, I can’t find one person, not one, that knew anything about it, the NCAA says you’re intimidating the witnesses. That wasn’t my intent to say that. So that’s why I didn’t go to media day. They’re telling me I’m intimidating. Well, soon as this happened, I went ballistic on everybody. Wait a second. You didn’t know one, single thing? The security person. You never saw a thing in four years and you worked for four years around the clock? No. Well the answer’s obvious isn’t it, Rick, isn’t the answer obvious? The reason that nobody saw anything, they knew that all hell would break loose if I found out that one, single thing was going on. That would be the obvious thing to me.

Again, I'm not saying Pitino knew the full extent of what allegedly was going on. But I can't believe he didn't know at least something.

PITINO: So I don’t want to put myself out on a press conference like that, not for you, not for you, you’ve already asked your questions. But for other people who are going ask that question that you just had to ask — you wouldn’t ask it, but you’re working for people.

Lots of journalists actually would ask the question, and not blame their bosses for asking it.

PITINO: None of it makes sense to me. So I believe, and I have to thank Eric publicly because he’s the only guy that said, I’m going to show you that this, I know one thing, that guy’s the cheapest guy I’ve ever been around in my life, I know those numbers, and Eric did it, said follow the money trail, and showed it wasn’t that money. He proved it. He proved the inaccuracies in the book.

This sounds an awful lot like, "See, one part of the woman's story doesn't quite add up, so it all must be nonsense."

PITINO: When we went up there, and I’ll leave it with this, and 2016 is hopefully going to be a better year, when Kenny Klein and John Carns went up there (to Indianapolis) to this book company to find out what’s going on, what can we investigate, what can we do? They made a statement that was interesting. I don’t know if it was a racist statement, I don’t know. Correct me if I’m wrong on this. The statement was made, ‘You mean to tell me this person kept a four-year log of everything that was going on? Wrote a journal about this?’ (Answer) No, no, we wrote it. She can’t complete two sentences the right way to write a book.

Some dangerous territory he's skating here, but the bottom line: Yes, people get help writing books. Jose Canseco "wrote" a best-seller. The list goes on and on. It happens.

PITINO: And then 11 people are suing her saying it’s not the truth. Is it 11? Whatever the number is out there. So I don’t know what’s going on with all this, but I know that everybody gave a forum to this person who may have committed criminal acts. But nobody went after her.

I could be wrong, but haven't several recruits corroborated the woman's story to the NCAA that these things actually did occur?

PITINO: Eric's point is let's follow the money. Is that what you said, Eric? Let's follow the money? Let's understand this: Back in the old days when a coach was making $17,000, $19,000, he may have turned his eyes a little bit to certain things that were going on. When someone's making the incomes that we're making today as well as the assistant coaches, you are not risking one single thing. Not one, single thing you're not risking. With that amount of income that's going on.

Actually, there's so much money and income at risk that coaches might be far more prone to bury bad things and try to make sure they never go public. Or at least turn a blind eye to it. Like Joe Paterno (more on him soon). Unfortunately, many fantastically-wealthy, insanely-driven head coaches aren't going to go to the NCAA or the media and offer up the fact that their recruits are getting lap dances and sex from hookers.

PITINO: I think this university has as much integrity — I said it on of my blogs. The man I've met ... the one man in my life ... I'll say two and some people question John Wooden with Sam Gilbert. But the one person I would never question who I have ever encountered in my life as a young basketball coach is Joe Paterno

He would be the one guy that I would hold above reproach at everything. What did they do? They took a statue away. They probably killed him.

Yeah, Joe Paterno is about the last name you want to bring up right now.

PITINO: But you know sometimes he didn't know about it. And it was scurrilous what that assistant coach was doing.

Jerry Sandusky having sex with young boys for years was just "scurrilous"? Depraved, sick and one of the worst crimes one can commit, yes. But the best word he can come up with is "scurrilous?"

PITINO: And I believe in the way we do things, and I believe we have been wronged. We have been wronged. Now, did one person do some scurrilous things? I believe so. From what I know now, I believe so.

There's that word again. This time, it's in fair context. But if paying for strippers is "scurrilous," raping young boys is a bit more severe.

Growing up in Rhode Island, that 1987 PC Final Four team is one of the most enjoyable teams I ever watched. It was a masterful job by Pitino -- perhaps his best. He remains, in my opinion, perhaps the greatest basketball mind in the sport.

But I've lost some respect for him over the past few months. And this rambling, sometimes Calhoun-like (not in the blatant lies, just in the incomplete thoughts and subject-jumping) discourse doesn't help him, in my opinion.

And yes, that's my opinion. And I don't apologize in advance, and no one told me to write this.

A relatively light week of college basketball makes for a pretty easy AP Top 25 ballot. Only one change: I've added South Carolina and dumped Louisville. It has nothing to do with Rick Pitino classlessly avoiding the media whenever something controversial happens (OK, maybe a little), but really, more to do with the 11-2 Cardinals haven't beaten anyone and have lost to the only two good teams (Michigan State, Kentucky) they've faced.

UConn? Beat Texas on Tuesday, hold serve at Tulane, and can pretty much guarantee Huskies will get my vote next Sunday.

Here ya go:

1. Michigan State
2. Kansas
3. Maryland
4. Oklahoma
5. Virginia
6. North Carolina
7. Xavier
8. Butler
9. Kentucky
10. Providence
11. Arizona
12. Purdue
13. Duke
14. SMU
15. Iowa State
16. Miami
17. Texas A&M
18. Villanova
19. Utah
20. South Carolina
21. Baylor
22. Gonzaga
23. George Washington
24. Texas
25. Monmouth

As we bid adieu to Terrence Samuel and wait to see if UConn adds any new players, here's a little rundown of how UConn wound up with Shonn Miller.

Spoke with Miller's coach at Cornell, Bill Courtney. Great, affable guy who is happy to see Miller get this chance with UConn -- even if he realizes the grad transfer rules (particularly in the Ivy League) don't help programs like his.

Here's a few Cliff's Notes from the story:

*** Courtney is very familiar with UConn's coaching staff, having been an assistant under Dave Leitao at Virginia. Staff was telling him as early as last summer that they knew Miller would be a grad student and wanted him.

*** Courtney wouldn't let any schools contact Miller during this past season.

"If they talked during the season, they were gonna be out," said the coach.

Once the season ended, however, UConn was the first to call. Kevin Ollie met with Miller at his Euclid, Ohio home just before spring break.

*** Cal (as in California, not Calipari) was probably the runner-up in the Miller sweepstakes, as Cuonzo Martin recruited him hard. Rick Pitino and Billy Donovan called on him, he visited Michigan and Illinois and also heard from Wisconsin, Notre Dame and Indiana, among others.

"Duke, North Carolina and Ohio State -- surprisingly -- were the only three schools he didn't hear from," said Courtney, jokingly (I think).

*** Ollie established a great relationship with Miller's mom, which was big in his decision.

"She really valued that relationship she was able to establish with Kevin," Courtney noted.

*** Courtney on Miller: “He’s 6-7 and can guard any position on the floor, from point guard to center. He’s an elite-level defender. His offensive game has developed in his time at Cornell. He’s a terrific athlete and offensive/defensive rebounder, and he’s better than a 23-percent 3-point shooter. His driving is getting better, but his pull-up game is his strength. And his athleticism makes him strong in transition.”

"He’s a monster defensive rebounder, just goes and gets it. He's got an incredible knack. He and (Amida) Brimah should make a great combo."

*** Courtney doesn't love the Ivy League rule, or the grad transfer rules in general. But he's most interested in what's best for the players.

“Here’s a guy getting an Ivy League degree, and getting a chance to play basketball at another level. You’ve got to do what’s best for the kid. He gave me a lot, and now he’s going to play for a national-championship program. Who am I to keep him back?”

Kevin Ollie has done an excellent job in his first two years as UConn's head coach. That's almost indisputable. He won 20 games last year, when the Huskies had no postseason hopes, and he's at 26-7 entering tonight's AAC tournament championship game with Louisville.

He's 0-3 against Rick Pitino. There's no shame in that, of course: Pitino is a Hall of Famer, and Louisville won the national title last season and certainly looks like a good bet to repeat this year.

Still, would it be somewhat of a coaching breakthrough for Ollie to beat Pitino tonight? I think so. Jim Calhoun doesn't necessarily agree.

“No, in all honesty," said Calhoun, who's had a long history of matching wits with Pitino over the years. "My last four out of five trips against (Bob) Knight, I beat Knight. First time I ever faced him was very significant, because I’d known him, a couple of years older than me. He had been a hero. It was amazing for me … Bob Knight. But after a while …”

(It should be noted that Calhoun faced Knight three times in his career, beating him twice. But Calhoun has never been great with math).

After UConn's win over Cincinnati on Friday night, Ollie was asked if he really wanted to beat Pitino because Pitino once cut him from the Celtics some 15 years ago, after Ollie had played for Pitino in the NBA summer league
. Pitino instead chose UK product Wayne Turner.

"I really don't care about the Celtics," Ollie said. "Rick -- actually, I grew so much with Rick that summer, so I became a better point guard with him. He came to the decision where he had to let me go, but when you have a setback like that, it just gets you ready for another opportunity. It's nothing against Rick, I love Rick to death. He's a Hall of Fame coach, he's a great coach, a good friend of mine. I could learn a lot from Rick Pitino."

Some quick hitters off today's AAC coaches teleconference call, in advance of this week's championship tournament in Memphis:

KEVIN OLLIE:

“I look forward to getting back on the court. We’ve got a sour taste in our mouth after our defeat at Louisville. I think we’ll become a better team off that defeat. I just like the resilience of this team all year. It’s the focus of our seniors, and the development of our players to get that champion mind-set.”

“It’s gonna be a great crowd. We’re looking forward to being int hat atmosphere. The game changes from each game. First game, DeAndre came out, he was shooting and penetrating. The second game, we got to the free throw line a lot. We’ve got to trust each other. We can’t have seven assists like we had against Louisville … We’ve got to make the right decisions. Sometimes, throwing a shot over a guy who’s 6-11 isn’t a good decision. Maybe finding Niels Giffey for a jump shot is a better decision.”

(on Shabazz Napier and Sean Kilpatrick)

“They mean a lot to both teams. I imagine Mick (Cronin) says the same thing. They're the heartbeat of our team. (Napier) leads us in all the important categories … he just means so much to our team dynamic. I also know Kilpatrick is the same way. When they need a big shot, he’s always making it – maybe a dump-down pass, maybe a rebound. Big-time players make big-time plays."

(Kilpatrick Player of the Year?)

“If he got it, it’d be a worthy choice. He’s had an awesome career there, and I know he’ll be playing at the next level.”

*** The conference player of the year vote is going to be interesting. Most of the coaches evaded naming who they voted for, but UCF's Donnie Jones noted that Kilpatrick should be the choice.

Rick Pitino sounded like he might think Kilpatrick should win, too -- though it should be noted he was responding to a question from a Cincinnati reporter.

"I think you could pick three, four different players," Pitino said. "Russ Smith, Shabazz Napier, Sean Kilpatrick are all capable of winning that award. I don't think Anthony Davis won the SEC player of the year and he got national player of the year (with Kentucky). It could not go to Russ Smith, and he could be a first-team All-American. If you took (Kilpatrick) out of Cincinnati, it would hurt them tremendously, because they count on him so much for points. He's a worthy candidate to win that award."

Said Larry Brown:

“I put all three names down, and there were a couple of others I considered whose teams weren’t quite as successful. I don’t know how you choose between any of those guys. I think they’ll all be playing next year, at a very high level. They’re all great team guys, and they all finished at the top of their conference. That’s a really, really tough choice to make.”

Not surprisingly, Cronin believes Kilpatrick should win it.

"But we have three guys in this league worthy of being first-team All-Americans," the Cincy coach said.

*** Memphis coach Josh Pastner was full of compliments. He called the AAC "the best league in the country," continuously pushed for Mike Aresco to be rewarded with a lifetime contract and said Ollie is a "future Hall of Famer ... no doubt about it."

As for playing UConn on Thursday night:

“Any time you play a game, home, away, neutral, you're gonna feel a little pressure. But especially at home, a little more. But this league is loaded. If you don’t bring you’re A-game, there’s a good chance you’ll lose. You’ve got to be on-point in everything you do. And that’s extra true against team like UConn that’s well-coached and has so many good players, like they do.”

"We have to do a great job defensively. They are a great 3-point shooting team, not a good 3-point shooting team, a great one ... Napier is a stud, Boatright is a stud, Daniels is a stud. They have multiple studs."

*** Pitino on the AAC after its first year of existence:

"Very strong, very competitive, and a very well-run conference. A little weaker at the bottom than the Big East, because some of those programs are rebuilding.”

*** Eddie Jordan subscribes tot he theory that its tough to beat a team three times in the same season.

“The team that’s lost twice, it’s just human nature, their motivation is higher, they have a little bit of an edge, their will and determination is probably a little bit higher than the team that beat you twice," he said.

Maybe I'm a little biased, growing up a PC Friar fan in the mid-80's. Heck, the guy once gave me a free pair of Converse All-Stars after I dunked a ball at his summer camp in 1987 (a few weeks before he bolted for the Knicks). But I love hearing Rick Pitino talk basketball. Whenever he does, I'm all ears.

UConn faces Louisville for the final time in the regular season as conference opponents on Saturday. Should be a fun one. The Huskies have dropped three straight to the Ville and seven of their last eight meetings -- and you could say they're a Mike Marra free throw away from an eight-game losing streak to the Cards.

Here's what Pitino had to say about UConn at a press conference Friday on the Louisville campus:



(on whether he'll miss not being conference mates with UConn after this season)

“I started off very competitive with Jim Calhoun. BU-Northeastern, we didn’t care for each other very much. Then I became friendly with him, with great respect for him and what type of coach he was. At BU-Northeastern, you’re fighting for page 14 in the Boston Globe, so it was different back then – little jealousies. But I had great respect for him. I’ve always said that (Jerry Tarkanian) and him were the two greatest building jobs I’ve seen in my lifetime. Taking a Yankee Conference school and making it into a national champion. And then Tark building something out of the desert and making it into a national champion. It’s remarkable. Kevin (Ollie), I think the world of. Yes, we’ll miss them, certainly. And I’ll miss the Big East, certainly. But, they’re going to go in their direction and we’re going to go in our direction. Probably football played a great role in everything.”

*** Meanwhile, as things stand now, UConn would play Memphis in the 4-5 game on Thursday night at 9 p.m. (The game will actually start closer to about 9:45 p.m., since the first game of the evening starts at 7 p.m.). The winner, at this point, would likely face Louisville on Friday night, again at 9 (er, 9:45) p.m.)

Memphis is locked into the four or five seed,so it will play in that Thursday night game. UConn could avoid that and be the No. 3 seed if it beats Louisville Saturday and SMU loses at Memphis. In that case, UConn would face Houston at 1 p.m. on Thursday.

All the quarterfinal-round AAC tourney games will be on ESPNU.

ESPN's "30 for 30" series will continue with "Requiem for the Big East," premiering on Sunday, March 16 at 9 p.m. (right after Bracketology) on ESPN. Although the following press release doesn't mention it, Jim Calhoun is featured in the film, and UConn (obviously) is prominently mentioned. I'm told about three minutes of Calhoun interviews and five minutes on UConn, which is probably longer than it sounds:

ESPN Films’ 30 for 30 series will continue with “Requiem For The Big East,” premiering Sunday, March 16, at 9 p.m. ET after Bracketology on ESPN. The film, directed by Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Ezra Edelman, explores the meteoric ascension of the Big East Conference, and how in less than a decade under the innovative leadership of founder and Commissioner Dave Gavitt, it became the most successful college basketball sports league in America.

The film is told primarily through the lens of famed Big East coaches such as Jim Boeheim, Lou Carnesecca, Rick Pitino and John Thompson, former Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese, and some of its most iconic players like Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin and Ed Pinckney. It chronicles the rivalries and successes that led many of them to become household names.

The Big East was a groundbreaking athletic and business creation that encapsulated the era and region in which it was born – from the toughness of the players and coaches hailing from some of the Northeast’s most storied cities, to the executives and Wall Street brokers who thrived because of it. Launched in 1979—the same year that ESPN was born—the Big East used the burgeoning cable TV network and the media as a whole to help spread its gospel to fans and future players across the nation. But “Requiem For The Big East” is also a tale of change as the super conference eventually found itself in a new era fighting for survival.

“From its creation, the Big East had a dramatic impact on the college basketball landscape,” said John Dahl, Executive Producer, ESPN Films. “’Requiem For The Big East’ explores what made it so extraordinary and how the hurdles to keep it thriving became more and more challenging to overcome.”

“Having grown up on the East Coast, I’ve spent most of my life as a dedicated fan of the Big East and I, like so many others, was saddened by its split last year,” said director Ezra Edelman. “In setting out to make a film about the league, I hoped to not simply tell a story about the rise of a great basketball conference but also understand and ultimately convey the causes of its fall. “

Following the premiere of “Requiem For The Big East” on ESPN, ESPNU will air “Big East Extras,” a special featuring bonus material such as extended highlights and interviews from the film.

*Advance film screener available upon request*

30 for 30-related updates are available at www.facebook.com/espn30for30 andwww.twitter.com/30for30. Fans can join the conversation with hashtag #BigEast.

About ESPN Films

Created in March 2008, ESPN Films produces high-quality films showcasing some of the most compelling stories in sports.  In October 2009, ESPN Films launched the Peabody Award-winning, Producer’s Guild Award-winning and Emmy-nominated 30 for 30 film series. Inspired by ESPN’s 30th Anniversary, the films that made up the series were a thoughtful and innovative reflection on the past three decades told through the lens of diverse and interesting sports fans and social commentators.  The strong reaction from both critics and fans led to the launch of 30 for 30 Volume II, which is currently underway.  Additional projects from ESPN Films include the critically acclaimed Nine for IX series, SEC Storied and the webby award winning 30 for 30 Shorts.

Mike Aresco addressed the media an hour before tip-off today. Here's some of what the AAC commish had to say:

“The conference is doing well, obviously having five teams in the Top 25. It’s not something that necessarily surprised us. We knew we had good teams. We thought Temple might be in a transition year, they’ve gone to six straight tournaments. But SMU picked up the slack and ended up being ahead of schedule. It’s been a good year, and obviously that’s on the heels of the Fiesta Bowl and UCF, and what the football teams have done in our conference.”

(on how important SMU’s success has been)

“It’s huge. You can’t overstate it. We need that additional team, and a team that’s going to have that kind of focus. Larry Brown is Larry Brown, you’ve got a Hall of Fame coach. (Rick) Pitino’s leaving the conference, obviously, a Hall of Fame coach. In addition, he’s got some great recruits coming in … we know he’s got great people coming in. That’s going to be enormous. There’s a special thing going on down there. They’ve been selling out. They’ve got Moody Coliseum renovated. I’m going down March 5 – I had been down there before they opened it – it’s a beautiful place. People have really embraced the team in Dallas, and I think it’s going to continue.”

“Next year, you’re still going to have Temple, UConn of course, Cincinnati, Memphis, and Tulsa, with its basketball tradition and Danny Manning, coming into the conference. Our lower-tier teams have not had a lot of success this year, but they’ll get better, quickly. Their recruiting will be improved, because of the conference they’re in. Donnie Jones at UCF told me his recruiting has been way better than it’s been, because of the conference he’s in. We’re really optimistic about basketball.”

(on whether AAC could offer student-athlete stipends if power-5 do so)

“Yes, indeed. This is permissive legislation … Although we don’t have the resources they have, we don’t have the TV deal money they have – we have exposure just as good as any of them – (and) they can do certain things, but it’s permissive, meaning we can do it, too. As a conference, we’ve already committed to provide a full cost of attendance stipend, if that’s passed. It’s unclear yet what that’s going to be – whether it’s going to be based on federal guidelines, whether it’s cost of attendance for each individual school, and that can include incidentals, laundry, travel and other kinds of things that kids have not necessarily had covered by their full scholarships. But whether it’s a fixed amount, we’ve committed as a conference that we’re going to do it. And we’re probably going to do other things that they plan to do (paying for families to come to certain events, etc.) … we have every intention of being a conference just like those other five, which we’ve always been as a BCS conference.”

(would the league let some schools do things that others can’t?)

“We’ll let the individual schools make those decisions … for instance, there are some programs in certain conferences that are really good in one sport, and they would want to compete for national titles where maybe they can’t do it elsewhere. Would that particular school be allowed to reinforce that particular sport? We’re going to have Title IX issues, we want to ensure that if there’s a stipend, it would include our women’s sports. There’s a lot unclear we need to settle. Right now, I think the concept of autonomy in terms of financial issues with those conferences, I wouldn’t say it’s settled, but it’s moving in that direction. I think if there’s no real opposition among the NCAA, the real issue is how it’s going to be defined.”

“The one thing we do know, our group of five conferences – we want to be viewed like those other five – we as an individual conference, we’re establishing that we’ll be able to do what the other five are going to do, if we want to. How we vote and how we determine that, we don’t know yet.”

(on Cincinnati AD Mike Bohn’s assertion that his chiefgoal was to get Cincy out of AAC and into a power-5 league)

Aresco added: 

“Right now, realignment seems to have settled down. We’re very proud of the conference we have, it’s a strong conference. We want people to support our conference. Cincinnati will support our conference. I think you’ll see a lot of supportive comments coming out of Cincinnati about our conference.”

Elswhere, Omar Calhoun was putting up some pregame shots:

Louisville continued its hex in recent years against UConn with a 76-64 victory. OK, where do we start?

Ah yes, Kevin Ollie's first career ejection as head coach (he had earned a technical foul last season at DePaul for leaving the coach's box).

No doubt, Wayne Blackshear should have been called for a foul on Niels Giffey on the play in question. What happened next was pretty intense. Here's the reaction to Ollie's ejection, administered by ref Mike Stuart:

“I just thought it was a foul,” he said. “Niels is a pretty good shooter. He went up and, you know, got hit in the shoulder or the arm. Then, coming back, Shabazz (Napier) does the same thing later on and they didn’t call that foul. It happens, and we’re going to go from there.”

Added Ryan Boatright: “I was glad that he had our back. He fought for us, because some of those calls were ridiculous. The one that he got kicked out for was an obvious foul. It was crazy that they didn’t call it.”

In a statement, Stuart said Ollie was hit with “two unsportsmanlike Class A technical fouls. The first one was reacting to running down the sideline. The second one was coming on the floor to protest the call.”

Ollie admitted he earned the ejection -- sort of.

“I saw the replay, I think I jumped around a little bit, sprinted,” he said. “I don’t know if there was a warning or not, but I thought they gave me the first ‘T’ and I didn’t really have a chance to do anything and then the second one came.”

More Boatright: “He said he let his emotions get the best of him. He apologized for not being there when we needed him on the sideline. We just told him that we appreciated him for having our back, and really saying the things that we really couldn’t say. He showed how frustrated we were in not getting those calls. He’s a coach and he did the right thing.”

Rick Pitino's somewhat odd synopsis: "We were up (nine). I thought (the ejection) hurt us, actually, because we missed our free throws. We had momentum and let the crowd get in the game. Especially Kevin Ollie, you don't ever want to see him get thrown out. Jim Calhoun, you want to see get thrown out. I'm only kidding. Make sure you tell Jim that."

We would, but Calhoun -- perched in his usual seat on the press row baseline in the first half -- left the arena at halftime. No, he didn't join Ollie in the locker room after his ejection. Apparently, Calhoun left early because he's heading out on vacation tomorrow.

*** Bad call (or no-call) or not, UConn hardly deserved to win this game. The Huskies were outrebounded 45-30, with 16 of the Cardinals’ boards of the offensive variety. UConn also was outscored in the paint, 40-20.

“It’s not like they have Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar out there,” Ollie pointed out. “So, we’ve got to do a better job.”

*** DeAndre Daniels, fresh off a 23-point, 11-rebound effort in Thursday’s win at Memphis, picked up his second foul just over six minutes into the game and spent the rest of the first half on the bench. Without him, UConn had great difficulty penetrating Louisville’s active, 2-3 zone. The Huskies were forced into taking half their shots (14) from 3-point land, many of them late in the shot clock. UConn did hit six of them (three by Napier) to stay close and trail by six at the break.

Daniels finished with just three points for the game.

“Him sitting on the bench hurt our rotation,” said Ollie. “But, at the end of the day, he played the second half, and he’s got to play better. You’ve got to respond as a basketball player ... You get two fouls, I would’ve been boiling mad coming out at halftime. I would have got my third or fourth real quick on a charge, or throwing somebody out of the way. Something.”

*** Ollie said that Boatright will be heading back to Chicago on Sunday. It appears the funeral for Boatright's cousin, Arin Williams, is on Tuesday -- the same day UConn hosts Temple. But Boatright said he's not sure what he's going to do yet.

"I'm still contemplating if I want to miss Tuesday's game or not," he said. "I don't know exactly what I'm going to do."

*** The last time a UConn coach was ejected from a game was when Calhoun was booted from a Dec. 7, 2007 game with Northeastern by Wally Rutecki. Afterwards, Calhoun famously called Rutecki "incompetent."

Maybe you have to be from a certain time and place (say, Rhode Island in 1987) to fully appreciate Billy Donovan.

He hasn't always been the Rick Pitino clone with the slicked-back hair and New York accent who's patrolled the Florida sidelines for the past 18 seasons (wow, it's been that long). Once upon a time, he was the angelic, droopy-socked, Irish-Catholic point guard who played for Pitino on the 1987 PC Friars -- sort of Rhode Island's version of the Dream Team three years beforehand.

He was Billy the Kid.

Led by Donovan, Delray Brooks and Ernie "Pop" Lewis (they called them the Rainbow Coalition), Pitino and the Friars brilliantly exploited the new 3-point shot all the way to the Final Four, where their dream run was eventually snuffed by Syracuse.

Songs were written in their honor ("The PC Rap Attack" ... I'm serious), and they captured the small state's imagination like no other Friar team had since Ernie D. and Marvin Barnes led them to the Final Four in 1973, and certainly no team since.

Donovan, of course, was the team's leader, it's heart-and-soul. I'm not sure there's a great comparison to him on UConn's 1990 Dream Team (Chris Smith? Nadav Henefeld? Tate George?). The better comparison might be to Steve Alford, who led Indiana to the national title over Syracuse that year. But Alford, though worshiped eternally by Hoosier fans, never went from a pudgy freshman at the end of the bench to one of the best players in college hoops as a senior, the way Billy the Kid did.

I was a junior at Barrington (R.I.) High School that year, and it remains among my fondest memories of college hoops: Donovan's yeoman's effort in an overtime win over Austin Peay; Lewis's game-winning trey in a regular-season win over Georgetown at the Civic Center (before it was The Dunk); Pitino and John Thompson nearly coming to blows on the sidelines (I think I know who'd win that one); Mary Conlon's head fakes ... I could go on and on.

Pitino utilized the run to skip out of town that summer, after just two seasons at PC, to take the Knicks' job (about a week after I attended his basketball camp). I remember he picked up Donovan at some point in his first year at the helm, but Billy the Kid's game didn't translate to the NBA and he lasted only a handful of games.

He'd soon become an assistant under Pitino at Kentucky, take over at Marshall in 1994, then at Florida two years later. He won consecutive national titles in 2006 and 2007, surpassing Pitino's national-title count at the time (though Slick Rick tied him up last season).

On Monday night, Donovan leads Florida into Gampel for what promises to be an electric atmosphere in a battle between two top-15 teams. He's now a 48-year-old, wizened veteran of 20 (!) collegiate head coaching seasons.

But to some, he'll always be Billy the Kid.

A few more tidbits from Sunday's practice:

*** DeAndre Daniels went down hard near the end of practice after apparently being hit in the jaw. He was down on the floor for a few minutes as trainer James Doran tended to him, but eventually got up and finished out practice. Afterwards, he was in the training room getting work on his back, which has also been bothering him.

*** Kevin Ollie on Florida:

“Great team, great opportunity for us. It’s a ranked team, and it’s in our house. We want to protect our house, we want to build on what we’ve already created, and just keep playing good basketball.”

“We’ve got to keep them out of the paint, make them take contested 2’s and 3’s, challenge them on rebounds and we’re going to fast break on them.”

(on senior forward Casey Prather, who's averaging 19.1 ppg)

“He’s just a super athlete, he gets a lot off of transition, cutting off the basket. He’s just a slasher, he gets to the paint, but he gets there with force and authority. He’s not just going there to make a play, he’s going there to embarrass people.”

Ollie noted that Lasan Kromah should see plenty of time guarding 6-4 guard Michael Frazier II, who's scoring at a 14.4 clip.

*** Here's Donovan talking about UConn with the Florida media contingent. Sounds like Kasey Hill and DeVon Walker, both of whom were out of Friday's win over Florida State due to injury, may not be available Monday night, either.

(on UConn's three practices since the Thanksgiving break)

“We worked the turkey out of them, the stuffing out of them. It was good."

Ollie on Omar Calhoun, who's shooting just 6-for-26 from the floor and 2-for-13 on 3's the last four games:

“Gotta make his teammates better. Don’t concentrate on your shooting, you make your teammates better. It’s funny, when you try to make your teammates better, everything works out for you. I’m not a shooting guru ... be ready to shoot, be positive, be confident, but don’t get bogged (down) that you’ve got to shoot to be on the court. You’ve got to play defense, rebound and help your teammates be better.”

*** Ollie was a junior on the last (and only other) UConn team to face Florida: the 1994 team that lost to the Gators in the East Regional semifinals in Miami, 69-60 in overtime. Donyell Marshall missed a pair of free throws that would have won it in regulation for the Huskies, but he missed both.

“We thought Donyell would make one free throw," said Ollie. "He didn’t make it, they took it to us. It happens … It wasn’t Donyell’s fault, we had many plays before that, and it happened to end up in his hands like that. We’re fine, me and Donyell are cool, we keep moving on, Coach won three national championships. All is well in UConn land.”

*** Ollie on Donovan:

“We haven’t taken each other out to dinner or anything, but I see him, I say hi. I recognize he’s a great coach. It’s hard to do this job. I respect every coach that’s doing it … Especially a guy that wins national championships and is going to be a Hall of Fame coach. You want to respect him, definitely. I’d love to spend more time with him, if possible. But in the recruiting wars, you don’t get that opportunity all the time. I respect him, and I respect how hard his team plays. That’s the sign of a good coach.”

*** on UConn's home-and-home with the Gators, which will take them to Gainesville next season:

“I know they’re going to be strong, it’s stood the test of time. I know they’re going to be good next year. It’s just good for us to have these kind of opponents on our schedule. Especially to go down there, play in front of a hostile crowd, try to get a win. It’s just a great opportunity. Hopefully, we can win this game, go back down there and try to win next year. This year, we’ve got to take care of business here. It’s just a great venue, I love this place. It’s gonna be loud, it’s gonna be packed, and it’s gonna be a nice experience for our guys.”

*** Ryan Boatright on the Gators:

“They’re a great team. They’ve got a beast in the middle in Patric Young, they’ve got good guards, they’re long, they’re athletic. They slipped up and lost that one game, but other than that, they’d be a top 10 team.”

“It’s gonna be crazy. If anybody has seen a ranked game in Gampel, it’s ridiculous. The students have been waiting for a game like this at Gampel. It’s gonna be exciting, man. It’s gonna be fun.”

The hallmark of the American Athletic Conference in its first year of existence looks to be two things: great coaches, great guard play. (And atrocious football, but let's stick to men's hoops).

The league features two Hall of Fame coaches (Rick Pitino, Larry Brown), another with NBA experience (Eddie Jordan), others who are well-respected in the game (Fran Dunphy, Josh Pastner, Mick Cronin) and, of course, up-and-comers like Kevin Ollie.

As for guards, UConn, Louisville and Memphis could all lay claim not only to the best backcourt in the conference but possibly even in the nation. And all three do lay such claims, as you'll soon find out.

Here are some notes, quotes and video from today's AAC Media Day:

(on the league's great guards):

RYAN BOATRIGHT:

 

JOE JACKSON of MEMPHIS:

“It’s gonna be fun. It’s gonna be more of a guard-type of game, which I (thrive) in. I love those type of atmospheres … it’s gonna be uptempo in a lot of games. It should be a lot of fun, because, who doesn’t want to play a game like that? I don’t want to play smashmouth basketball.”

 

RUSS SMITH of LOUISVILLE:

 

“I respect all the guards – the Memphis guards, the UConn guards. They do a lot of things well that I try to emulate and put into my game. If I don’t respect their game and love their game then it’s not gonna make me a great competitor.”

“Shabazz is one of the more fundamental guards in our league. He shoots the ball really well, he has a great IQ, he understands the game well, and he’s a student of the game. I understand how explosive Boatright is, how competitive he is. Joe Jackson’s extremely athletic, extremely fierce. The same can be said about Geron Johnson – fierce competitor … and you can’t sleep on the Cincinnati guys. Sean  (Kilpatrick) is a New York native, I’m very familiar with his game … Anthony Collins, the way he operates and runs his team, that inspires me a lot.”

 PASTNER:

 “The backcourts make it exciting for the fans. This league has a lot of great guards. Everybody talks a lot about Louisville, Memphis, UConn. I don’t think a lot of people talk about South Florida – they’ve got good guards. Houston’s got good guards, SMU’s got good guards, Rutgers has a few guys that are eligible now, Cincinnati … From top to bottom, this league is filled with really good guards. And when you have really good guards, that means every time you step on the floor, any night, somebody could beat anybody at any point.”

 

PITINO:

 

 

So who's got the best backcourt in the league? Pitino said his is "one of the best backcourts I've coached in my 35 years ... maybe the best."

 

Napier: "I would be lying to you if I said I didn’t think we had the best guards. I’m a competitor, so I’ll put my guards up against anybody."

 

Jackson: “Tell you the truth, I feel like we have the best backcourt. We’ve got Chris Crawford, Geron Johnson, Mike Dixon. They can shoot the ball, they’re seniors. We’ve got a good backcourt, and it’ll be very competitive."

 

OLLIE:

 

 

Smith? Surprisingly, he wouldn't join the fray: “We just play, man. I just play basketball. If I want to talk about how good I am in the backcourt, I’d just get into the media.”

 

But he later added: “Our backcourt is great, too. It should be reckoned with.”

 

*** Not a bad batch of coaches, either:

 

PASTNER:

How many leagues have two Hall of Fame coaches in them? Obviously, the ACC’s got there’s, but … I think this and the ACC are the two best basketball leagues in the country. I’d be shocked if six teams aren’t in the NCAA tournament. I think it’s going to be a heck of a deal from the start of the season to the finish.”

 

SMITH:

 

“It’s gonna be hard for a lot of guys who had success in their leagues to try to duplicate it because of the great coaches (in the AAC)."

 

OLLIE:

 “You’ve just got great coaches from top to bottom. It’s just great to be here in the midst of greatness. Hopefully, for me, I can touch the hem of their garments one day."

 

Indeed, Ollie plans on learning from some of the great coaches he'll be going up against this season.

“One of the greatest attributes of a great coach is always being coachable. I’ll ask advice. If it wasn’t for the advice of Larry Brown, I wouldn’t have made it to Connecticut. That was the first person I called when I had the decision of going to Oklahoma City or coaching UConn. He said, without a shadow of a doubt, go back to your love, go back to your heart. That’s why I made the decision, because I really valued his opinion.”

 

*** Brown dropped this interesting nugget on us today: the first head coaching job he was offered was at UConn, back in 1967. Fred Schabel had left for Penn, and new AD Jim Hickey offered the job to Brown, who was then the freshman coach at North Carolina. He turned down the offer.

 

“I didn’t know if I was ready. I loved being at Carolina with Coach Smith. Then, lo and behold, I left and started playing again. But I’ve always loved Storrs.”

 

Burr Carlson took the job instead, went 16-32 in two seasons, and Dee Rowe replaced him in 1969.

 

Brown, who coached Ollie in the NBA, will always have a special place in his heart for him.

 

“Seeing the respect people have for him. Generally, guys get respect because they’re great and they play a lot. Kevin got respect because of who he was and what he was about. You could see that early on. I’ve been around great players, and so many guys of the guys I coached taught me how to coach. He was one of them. He always did it in a respectful way. I valued things he said, and I always thought he was a great example for young kids.”

 

Brown added: "I don’t look forward to playing against him, but I’m proud he’s doing what he’s doing.”

 

The respect is mutual, not only from Ollie but from Ollie's players:

 

“Larry Brown, a coach that I always watched because growing up, I enjoyed watching Allen Iverson," said Napier. "I’ll be happy to walk up against Larry Brown’s team and play them and then shake his hand. That’s somebody I thought I’d never be able to play against. It’s a good feeling to have a lot of good coaches (in this league).”

 

*** DeAndre Daniels didn't make preseason first or second team, but he's not bothered by it.

 

“I don’t really focus on individual awards and stuff. Basketball is a team sport, so all I’m worried is how I can do things I can do to make my team better – rebounding, scoring, all the little things.”

Maybe Daniels didn't notice, but Ollie did.

 

“People aren’t noticing him – he knows that, we know that, that only adds fuel to his fire. For something to come out to say he’s not one of the top basketball players in America, I want to see who wrote that. We’re going to show ‘em, that he is a great basketball player and a force to be reckoned with this season.”

*** Ollie noted that he's played for three of the league's coaches: Brown, Jordan and Pitino. For Pitino, it was just in an NBA summer league some 15 years ago when he was trying to make the Celtics as a free agent. It was between Ollie and Kentucky alum Wayne Turner, and Pitino went with Turner.

 

"Of course he picked the Kentucky guy, but it’s alright," Ollie said with a smile. "It made me who I am."

 

Said Pitino: “In the end, I had to be a little partial.”

 

*** UConn received the only other first-place vote other than Louisville. Obviously, it came from Pitino, since coaches can't vote for their own teams.

 

“I was trying to decide between Memphis and UConn, and to be quite honest, it was 1 and 1A," Pitino said. "I just think that their backcourt is awesome. Memphis’s backcourt is awesome. I wanted to vote as a tie, they told me I couldn’t do it, so I just picked UConn because of more familiarity with them.”

 

What does Pitino like most about UConn?

 

"I think they have a great backcourt, a terrific front court. They have a coach that is not only a terrific young coach, but there’s not a living room in the country that he will walk into, where when he leaves, that family won’t want to put him in the top three choices to go to school. I’ve been with Kevin Ollie for the last 10 years."

*** I asked Shabazz Napier who's surprised him most so far in practices. His quick response: "Amida (Brimah). Defensively, he's incredible. Offensively, he needs a little more work."

Napier believes all the team's big men will contribute "by committee" this season. Boatright also praised Niels Giffey's recent play in practice.

*** Interesting tidbit: the back of the AAC media guide highlights the league's NCAA championship teams -- 2013 Louisville, 2011 UConn, 2004 UConn, 1999 UConn, 1986 Louisville, 1980 Louisville, 1962 Cincinnati and 1961 Cincinnati. Of course, none of those teams were AAC teams when they won, and it's worth noting that the league is operating from a brand-new slate in terms of statistical records, etc.

The current Big East, meanwhile, is keeping its record book intact -- even though that league is actually the new league. The AAC is actually considered the same conference as the Big East, only with a different name and a largely new set of teams.

Conference realignment is confusing, eh?
 

 

 

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.

Quentin Snider, a Class of 2014 point guard who recently pulled out of his commitment to Lousiville, will make an official visit to UConn on Sept. 20, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. He'll also visit UCLA on Aug. 31, Memphis on Sept. 7 (unofficial) and Illinois on Sept. 28 (also unofficial).

Here's what Snider's father, Scott, told the Courier-Journal about his son's interest in the Huskies:

"Quentin has always liked UConn. He was a big Kemba Walker fan when he was there. It's just another one where he just hit it off on the phone with coach (Kevin) Ollie. He said he wanted to go visit. Quentin has talked to them mostly (about the Huskies' point-guard needs). I know they run a lot of three-guard offenses."

Snider had committed to Louisville as a freshman. Since then, Rick Pitino & Co. have recruited numerous other top-notch guards, so Snider apparently figured it was best to search elsewhere.

Elsewhere, Adam Zagoria reports that UConn will get a visit soon from 6-foot-8 Class of 2014 forward Terry Larrier. He'll also visit Florida, Florida State, Miami (Sept. 7) and VCU (Sept. 13). No date was given on the UConn visit.

And according to the Hartford Courant, UConn will also be getting a visit from Abdul Malik-Abu on Aug. 24.

They're No. 1. No question about it.

Louisville's got choking fullcourt pressure, an active matchup zone, lots of answers offensively, two great guards and a dominating big man. It all proved too much for UConn, particularly in the second half, Monday night in a 73-58 Cardinal win at a nearly sold-out (14,287) XL Center.

Most of the relevant quotes and stats are here in the Register's game story. Otherwise, we'll leave the stage to a bespectacled Rick Pitino, who had some nice things to say about UConn, along with this cryptic quote:

"I think they have one of the premier backcourts in the country. I've said this many times, I think Kevin Ollie -- I'll be long dead -- but he's going to be an unbelievable coach."

Whenever Louisville arrives in Connecticut on Monday, it should arrive as the No. 1 team in the nation. When it arrives, however, is still a question.

The Cardinals held a practice on Sunday and planned to fly out to Hartford Sunday evening for Monday's "Big Monday" bout with UConn at the XL Center. However, apparently fog issues cancelled Louisville's flight and the team will have to travel on Monday morning -- game day. The Cards have cancelled their slated shootaround and are hoping to arrive by around noon or 1 p.m. (We're sure Rick Pitino is taking this all very calmly).

Anyway, Louisville at least can take solace that it will likely land at Bradley as No. 1. I've got the Cards on the top of my ballot, though I considered bumping up Michigan (which I had No. 2 last week) despite its loss at Ohio State. However, even though I still think the Wolverines are the best team in the country, I rarely move a team up after a loss, so Louisville moves from No. 3 to 1. Duke (which lost at NC State) drops two spots to No. 3. Ryan Kelly's injury was a factor in dropping them two spots, past Michigan.

As for UConn, I couldn't keep it out this week. Not after beating Notre Dame (which I thought could be the second best team in the Big East) on the road. Not with all three losses to Top 25 (most likely) teams. Not when the Huskies are a Junior Cardougan buzzer-beater (and an admitted mistake by the referees) from being 3-0 in the Big East.

Even though I think UConn may be a better team than Marquette, I had to rank the Golden Eagles higher since they beat the Huskies head-to-head (and also beat Georgetown and Pittsburgh, the latter on the road, this week).

Anyway, here's my ballot this week:

1.       Louisville

2.       Michigan

3.       Duke

4.       Indiana

5.       Kansas

6.       Syracuse

7.       Arizona

8.       Creighton

9.       Gonzaga

10.   San Diego State

11.   Florida

12.   NC State

13.   Ohio State

14.   Notre Dame

15.   Missouri

16.   New Mexico

17.   Kansas State

18.   Butler

19.   Minnesota

20.   UNLV
21. Oregon

22.   Marquette

23.   UConn

24.   UCLA

25.   Virginia Commonwealth