Couldn't make the trip to Houston today, but terrific win for UConn. Any conference road win is good, and to do it against a good Houston team (that's beat the Huskies at Hofheinz Pavilion the past two seasons) gives it extra value.

Instead, made the trip up 91 to Springfield College for the Spalding Hoophall Classic, where a few UConn targets (and one commit) played on Sunday.

There were two on Westtown School from Pennsylvania -- Cameron Reddish, a 6-foot-7 Class of 2018 guard, and Mohammed Bamba, a 7-foot Class of 2017 center.

Kevin Ollie offered Reddish recently, and Bamba holds an offer from the Huskies as well. Reddish struggled a bit on Sunday, with some of the biggest coaching names in college basketball (Roy Williams, John Calipari, etc.) on-hand. He scored eight points on just 1-for-7 shooting and nabbed seven boards in Westtown's 53-35 win over Potters House Christian.

Bamba was better, with 13 points, 16 rebounds and 10 blocks. All signs seem to point to him going to Duke or Kentucky, but he did have some nice words for Kevin Ollie.

Here's what the two had to say:

REDDISH:

(On who's been recruiting him the most, and what he thinks about UConn)



(on his strengths as a player)

"I feel like I'm a really good shooter, which I didn't quite show today. I can dribble very well, I have a very high IQ, and I rebound the ball really well. I have to stay mentally strong."

(on how he'll handle the recruiting process the next couple of years)

"I'm just gonna take it slow, let my parents and coaches take care of that."

Reddish's father, Robert, played at VCU.

BAMBA:

(on whether UConn is on his radar)

"Definitely. Coach Ollie was in the gym a couple of weeks back when he offered Cam. He stopped by to stay hello. He's a great guy."

"Coach Ollie has a different approach. It seems like the approach of he's a father of a recruit. He knows how to talk to players very well. He's a people person."

(on what questions he's asking coaches who are recruiting him)

"Who else are they recruiting from my class, to see if there's anyone I'd enjoy playing with. I'm also looking for a veteran point guard, so I'm looking at the point guards from the Class of 2016, like Frank (Jackson, a Duke commit)."

It sounds like Bamba is Duke-bound, though of course, it's still very early.

Just chatted briefly by phone with Jim Calhoun, who was profoundly influenced by Dean Smith over the years.

Here's some of what Calhoun had to say about Smith, who passed away Saturday evening at age 83:

"He showed me the difference between a team and a program. A team is one year, a program -- in his case, the University of North Carolina -- continues to go on forever. He's just a special guy. To the outside world, he was about Carolina, but he was a great ambassador, much involved with civil rights. People who competed against him understood you were going against a very special guy."

"The world benefitted from what he did with Carolina basketball. He was a great gentleman, one of those clear icons."

(Early in Calhoun's tenure as head coach at Northeastern, he and his staff went to Chapel Hill to see how Smith ran his program)

"We were watching their program, the way they do business -- Eddie Fogler, Roy Williams, Bill Guthridge and, of course, Dean. The way they interacted with the program, altering things -- running, pressing, especially running -- but just the way their program was handled. It was pretty special."

(on joining, even surpassing, Smith in the college basketball record books)

"My dad said you're known by the company you keep. When my name was beside (Smith's) -- Dean Smith was great, great company."

I'm not usually one to play the "double-standard" card. It's a bit too fan boyish to point to some apparently outlandish flouting of NCAA rules, like the North Carolina men's basketball team's sham classes that former player Rashad McCants admits to being a part of and says coach Roy Williams knew about it, too, and whine that UConn was punished for seemingly much more innocuous APR mistakes. UConn didn't do a good job educating some of its college basketball players in recent years past and, at the very least, was guilty of being negligent and not working the system like other schools do.

That said, this UNC stuff is ridiculous. And, well, it really would be a miscarriage of justice if the Tar Heels weren't properly punished. The NCAA complains and says it doesn't have enough staff to carry out extensive investigations into academic and other issues involving student-athletes. Typically, it has new organizations -- Yahoo ! Sports, for instance, as you all recall -- do the bulk of its legwork.

Well, ESPN (which I can't even watch anymore, but that's a different story) has done just about all the work here. It has served the NCAA both UNC and, perhaps, Roy Williams on a silver platter, and if all this is true, the organization must do something about it. Something pretty big.

Jim Calhoun's Charity Golf Classic was held Monday at The Golf Club of Avon, and it brought out plenty of sports celebrities.



Roy Williams, Billy Packer, Kevin Ollie, Scott Burrell, Sterling Sharpe, Mark Schlereth, Glen Miller, Karl Hobbs, Tom Moore, Travis Knight and Patrick Sellers were among those playing. Caught up with Williams for a few moments before he teed off, and here's what he had to say.

"We do go back a long ways. Jimmy and his staff from Northeastern came to visit with Coach (Dean) Smith when I was an assistant at North Carolina about 100 years ago, it seems like. I got to know him then, then followed his career. We've been great friends when I was at Kansas and at North Carolina. We did a tour of duty for USA Basketball in Argentina one time. I just wanted to come up here and honor him and help him do what he wants to do."

(on if Calhoun appears happy in retirement)

"You never know with Jimmy. I thought it would take a forklift to get him off that bench. I think it's great. He had health concerns, but right now he appears to be great. He still talks a different language. I can't understand most things he says, he can't understand most things that I say, so we're OK."

(on the job Ollie did this past season)

"I recruited Kevin when coaching at Kansas. Kevin really did a nice job. He's gonna be fine."

(on how Calhoun built a program from nothing to national prominence at UConn)

"I can't speak to it. I've been very fortunate. I've coached at Kansas and at North Carolina. When I got to Kansas, we were on probation, when I got to North Carolina, they had had some problems, lost 37 games the two previous years. But ... Jimmy came to Connecticut, people knew where the state was but they didn't know if they played basketball or not. The job he's done at Connecticut -- and he did well at Northeastern, too -- to put this program where it went, to win three national championships ... I can't even fathom what he did."

(on scheduling UConn in the future)

"I've played everybody. We played UConn my first two years at North Carolina, we played UConn while I was at Kansas. I'll schedule anybody and everybody."

*** Ollie remembers being recruited by Williams. He cancelled that a recruiting visit to Kansas back in the early 1990's, however, and took trips to UConn and Arizona instead. Kansas wound up with another pretty good point guard out of L.A.: Jacque Vaughn.

“He’s always been a great friend of mine," Ollie said of Williams. "When I got my first assistant coaching job, he was right there on the recruiting trails, helping me out. He’s always had a special place in my heart. Great coach, and I can learn a lot from him.”

*** Calhoun just had knee replacement surgery six weeks ago. He wanted to play the tournament, but wound up deciding to only hit shots from 150 yards and in, not wanting to put any extra torque on his new right knee. (Calhoun's no longer bow-legged with his right leg; his left still is).

Calhoun noted that it's the respect he gets from opposing coaches that he treasures as much as anything (he also dropped hints that John Thompson, Jim Boeheim and Mike Krzyzewski may have some sort of contributions to the Sept. 22 event at Gampel Pavilion that will honor Calhoun).

“I never try to get love from a lot of other coaches, I try to get respect," Calhoun said. "If you can get friendship, that’s great. I have a lot of respect for Roy Williams. I think he’d probably want that from me. You don’t go into this to make friends. You make friends with your players -- eventually -- but you go in to get respect from people that you respect. That’s the most important thing.”

No doubt, Ryan Boatright had the quote of the day today. The kid can't watch ESPN anymore, and I'm right there with him (though, for me, it has more to do with the station's obnoxious love affair with the NFL than anything else).

When asked prior to UConn's practice (in preparation for Wednesday's bout at the Garden with St. John's) about how frustrating it is knowing that UConn can't play in the postseason, especially at this time of year, he replied: “I don’t even like watching ESPN half the time. I see the daggun’, ‘Journey to the Tourney’ commercial every other commercial. I get irritated, so I turn the TV off.”

Here's the video:

That's "daggun'" as in Roy Williams' pet saying. Maybe it's "daggone," or "daggum." Not sure. But Boatright's point was clear: with March Madness seeping back into the national lexicon over the next couple of months, it's tough for UConn to be on the outside looking in.

“It’s definitely frustrating," Boatright continued, "especially when you work hard every day, you put the work in that we put in, and you see other schools that aren’t even doing as well as you and they’re getting a chance to play in the tournament. It’s frustrating, but we knew going into the season that we weren’t going to be able to (play in the postseason). We’re alright.”

Added Kevin Ollie: “I imagine if you look at it that way, it gets frustrating. We’re trying to emphasize the positive things – you’ve got a good record in the Big East, you still have that opportunity to win that conference championship, which is very elusive. That’s the first and foremost goal, anyway – for any season – to win that conference championship.”

“I don’t see this team dwelling on the negatives.”

*** At the Husky Run back in October, Shabazz Napier noted that the Huskies might relish the chance to play spoiler.

"Why not go out there and hurt someone else’s postseason?," he said at the time. "We’re going to do our best to win every game possible, and realize we’ve still got a chance to win a championship – the regular season championship."

Certainly, St. John's (at 14-8, 6-4 Big East) is a team that needs to build a resume for NCAA tourney consideration.

On Tuesday, Napier added: “You kinda think about (being the spoiler). The first thing you think about is trying to win the game. After you win the game, that’s probably the second thing you think about. I just wanna go out there and play them with utmost respect and try to win a game. Especially playing for the last time in Madison Square Garden, it’s something special for the whole team … If we win, just think about that we spoiled it a little bit for them.”

*** Red Storm freshman Chris Obekpa leads the Big East and is second in the nation in blocked shot at 4.50 per game. UConn, of course,heavily recruited the 6-foot-9 center from Long Island. Omar Calhoun put the hard sell on Obekpa after committing to the Huskies.

"I tried to," Calhoun said. "It didn't work too well, but me and him are close friends. He knows how to time blocks and jump. He’s definitely someone like me likes playing with.”

Enosch Wolf will have to go up against Obekpa on Wednesday night.

“He’s a good defensive player," said Wolf. "I’ve just got to stay solid, try to maybe outsmart him a little bit. I know he’s really athletic.”

*** Naturally, Calhoun (a Brooklyn native) was recruited hard by St. John's, as well.

“Coach (Steve) Lavin’s a great guy," he said. "St. John’s is a great school. Everyone looks at St. John’s if they’re from New York.”

*** Seen at Gampel today: Taliek Brown (he's taking courses to get his degree) and SNY honcho (and Mets owner) Fred Wilpon.

*** UConn's bout with Syracuse on Feb. 13 will be ESPN's 7 p.m. game. Brent Musberger and Bob Knight are expected to be on the call.

Sorry, but for the first time this season, UConn is out this week. While losses to Cincinnati and an improving, young Tennessee (on the road) doesn't comprise the worst week in the history of basketball ... well, you saw the same games I did. The Huskies aren't a very good team right now, for a variety of reasons.

Bottom line: there's too much parity in college basketball today to keep a team that's lost two straight and four of its last six in the Top 25 and keep out some burgeoning teams with lesser pedigree. So UConn is out (along with Indiana, Illinois, Cincinnati and New Mexico). I welcome in West Virginia, Kansas State, Dayton, Wichita State and Florida State.

Yeah, I know the Seminoles are only 12-6 overall. Yeah, I know UConn beat them in the Bahamas. But when you beat North Carolina so bad that Roy Williams drags his scholarship players off the court with 14 seconds to go one Saturday, then beat Duke at Cameron Indoor the next, you're worthy of a Top 25 vote.

1. Kentucky
2. Missouri
3. Ohio State
4. Syracuse
5. Kansas
6. North Carolina
7. Duke
8. Baylor
9. Michigan State
10. Georgetown
11. San Diego State
12. UNLV
13. Florida
14. Murray State
15. Creighton
16. St. Mary’s
17. Mississippi State
18. Marquette
19. Gonzaga
20. Virginia
21. West Virginia
22. Kansas State
23. Dayton
24. Wichita State
25. Florida State