The UConn men’s basketball program prides itself on being a big, extended family. On Wednesday, it got a commitment from a player who hails from a pretty good hoops family himself.

Sam Cassell, Jr., a point guard at Chipola College, a junior college in Marianna, Fla., committed to the Huskies.

Blessed to say that I have committed to the University of Connecticut #UCONN #huskynation 🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🙏🙏🙏
— Sam Cassell Jr (@sam2ss2ll) October 9, 2013

He is the son of three-time NBA champion Sam Cassell, who’s now an assistant coach with Washington. Cassell was a teammate of UConn head coach Kevin Ollie in Milwaukee for a season.

Cassell, Jr., is a 6-foot-3 guard who can score in a variety of ways.

“He’s that kid that makes shots that other people couldn’t make,” said Ryan Hurd, who coached Cassell, Jr. at Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg, Mass., two years ago. “When you’re coaching him, you just have to close your eyes and wait for results. There are some unbelievable shots that kid puts in the basket.”

UConn views Cassell, Jr. as a point guard first, which is something the Huskies could need with the impending graduation of Shabazz Napier and possible NBA departure of Ryan Boatright. UConn will also have current freshman Terrence Samuel and NC State transfer Rodney Purvis as point guards for next season.

The Huskies have been going after Cassell, Jr. pretty hard the last few weeks, with associate head coach Glen Miller making three different trips to see him play down in Florida, most recently this past weekend. Ollie is actually on his way down to Florida right now to see Cassell, Jr. work out.

Cassell, Jr. enrolled at Chipola last year after being deemed ineligible to play at Maryland, to whom he had committed. The NCAA deemed a couple of classes Cassell, Jr. had taken at Notre Dame Prep not to be up to snuff, though Hurd noted it was unfair because several other players who took the same classes were ruled eligible to play last year in college.

Cassell, Jr. didn’t play at Chipola last year but will play this year. He’ll have three years of eligibility at UConn.

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.

Cleveland Melvin commited to UConn on Nov. 17, 2009, described by his prep coach as a "freakishly athletic player," and de-commited on March 4, 2010, desring to be more of a wing player rather than an interior guy. Here's a review of his brief, fleeting time "with" the Huskies.

Here's our blog when Melvin officially committed to UConn back on Nov. 17, 2009. Interesting to look at the comments, where we were asked if this eliminated the Huskies from Roscoe Smith contention.

A few days later, we spoke with Melvin at the National Prep Showcase in New Haven, where he was excited to get to UConn because it had "a lot of girls, and all that."

And, on March 4, 2010, here's our blog after Melvin de-commited. His Notre Dame Prep coach, Ryan Hurd, told me at the time:

"It's very mutual. There was open dialogue over the last few days. Cleve expressed his interest to be a wing player, and Coach Calhoun and Coach Sellers expressed interest in him being an interior player over the next four years. Cleve thinks his chance to play at a higher level was playing the wing.


"It's totally amicable."

Cleveland Melvin, the 6-foot-8, "freakishly athletic" Class of 2010 forward out of Notre Dame Prep, has backed out of his committment to attend UConn.

"It's very mutual," said Notre Dame coach Ryan Hurd. "There was open dialogue over the last few days. Cleve expressed his interest to be a wing player, and Coach Calhoun and Coach Sellers expressed interest in him being an interior player over the next four years. Cleve thinks his chance to play at a higher level was playing the wing.

"It's totally amicable."

Melvin, a Baltimore native, had verbally committed to the Huskies in November. According to Hurd, Melvin has already heard from many of the same suitors he had before committing to UConn: South Florida, Seton Hall, Miami, Marquette, Oklahoma State, TCU.

"Cleve has a ton of respect for the guys at UConn," Hurd added. "Probably even more now that they realized it wasn't the right fit. How much courage does it take to say to Coach Calhoun, 'UConn's a great basketball program, but I'm looking for something different.' That's a bold statement on his part."

Not surprisingly, UConn's commits and recruiting targets want to know what's going on with Jim Calhoun. What they're hearing from the Huskies' coaching staff is that the coach is fine, will be back this season and will certainly be back on the sidelines next year.

It doesn’t appear the staff has told the recruits what Calhoun’s ailment is (though “high blood pressure” apparently was the message relayed to at least one recruit) or how long he’ll be out.

“Coach (Patrick) Sellers said he was going to be OK,” Michael Bradley said. “He said they’ve got Coach (George) Blaney right now, it’s like (not) skipping a beat.”

Of course, if for whatever reason Calhoun is unable to coach UConn next year, Bradley, Roscoe Smith and others would consider going elsewhere. But they don't seem at all concerned that will be the case.

Brandon Knight? Yup, he's been asking, too.

“His family did ask me about Coach Calhoun,” said Dave Beckerman, the New Haven native who coaches Knight, a senior, down at Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “With (Calhoun’s) latest announcement, they want to know what’s going on. I told them, ‘I don’t know, but from my knowledge, Coach Calhoun is a very intense, discipline coach. It looks like it’s not a physical problem, he just needed some rest and some time off.’”

Knight, a 6-3 point guard who is averaging 31 points, eight rebounds, 4.5 assists and three steals per game this season, has narrowed his list of schools down to UConn, Kentucky, Kansas, Florida and Miami, in no particular order. He was slated to make his final official visit to Miami this past weekend, according to Beckerman.

It appears Knight won’t make a commitment until after his high school season is over in March. That will give Knight, a potential one-and-done college player, the chance to gauge what kind of talent teams have coming back for a potential run to a national championship next season.

Of course, the other inherent problem with Calhoun’s health issues is the potential for negative recruiting. You can almost hear an assistant, even a head coach from another program whispering to a recruit, “Hey, you can go to UConn, but can you be assured Jim Calhoun will be there for the next few years? Or even next year?”

Hurd, however, doesn’t believe that will be a big problem for Calhoun.

“There are a few guys you don’t mess with," said Hurd, "and he’s one of them.”

Read more about this in tomorrow's Register.

UConn has received a verbal commitment from Cleveland Melvin, a 6-7 Class of 2010 power forward who plays at Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg, Mass. He's a Baltimore native who played at Lake Clifton High, as well as with the Cecil Kirk AAU program that has delivered numerous players (Reggie Lewis, Rudy Gay, etc.) to Jim Calhoun over the years.

Melvin is a high-energy player with terrific athletic skills and great ability around the rim.

"That's what separates him from other kids," said third-year Notre Dame Prep coach Ryan Hurd. "He's got a ton of bounce, he finishes extremely hard at the rim."

Melvin made an unofficial visit to UConn on First Night (Oct. 16) and an official on the weekend of Nov. 7-8, taking in the Huskies' exhibition game with UMass Lowell. He had also visited DePaul earlier, and had more visits slated -- including one to Seton Hall this weekend.

But he surprised Hurd and decided to commit to UConn on Thursday.

"He's excited," Hurd said. "He's a great kid, laughs all the time -- 90 percent of the time he doesn't even know what he's laughing at."

Hurd said that Melvin is at about 200 pounds right now and is responding well to the school's strength and conditioning program. He'd like to see him continue to get a little bulkier, as well as work on his shooting range.

"I'd like to see his jump shot become more consistent, all the way to the arc," Hurd said. "He's working on stretching his jump shot out. He's a huge fan of the dunk shot, and we're trying to expand that."

Melvin is on-target academically.