Some quick-hitters from today's practice, as UConn held its media availability a day earlier than normal for Sunday's 1 p.m. game vs. Harvard:

***Harvard is 6-1 and is coming off an 85-64 rout of Rice. The Crimson has also defeated two common opponents of the Huskies: William & Mary (87-85 in triple OT) and Boston University (78-70). Their lone loss came at Army, 56-53.

***Harvard, coached by ex-Duke star and Michigan and Seton Hall coach Tommy Amaker, isn't your typical Ivy League team. They're athletic (seems admissions has loosened its standards a bit to get some better athletes in), they like to get up and down the floor and play a lot of man-to-man.

"They're playing exceptionally well at Tommy," said Jim Calhoun. "Tommy's one of my favorite people. He's done a great job of getting a different kind of Ivy League team – better athletes, they can do a lot of things."

***Harvard is led by Jeremy Lin, who averages 16 points per game and is one of the few Asian-American players in college hoops.

"He's a little bit like (Duke's Jon) Scheyer in the sense that you don't think he's that quick, but he is," Calhoun said. "He's probably a better rebounder, actually. He shoots it pretty well, maybe not like Scheyer's distance, and he makes plays. He does it with very deceptive speed. He's crafty, and he knows how to play … Lin certainly could play for teams in the Big East."

***Same starting lineup on Sunday.

***Jerome Dyson was practicing and showing no ill effects of his injury Wednesday night (which, apparently, was more of a foot sprain than a groin issue). Jerome was back to being Jerome today. On at least two occasions, he went flying to the ground and seemed a bit shaken up both times, only to pop right back up after a few moments.

"I think if he woke up feeling no bumps and bruises, he'd call a doctor saying 'There's something wrong with me,'" Calhoun noted.

Sticks Robinson on Dyson: "Ever since he got here, he's been falling crazy. He doesn't know how to fall. I hope he doesn't kill himself, because we need him. I felt like if we had him last year, (we would have won) the championship."

***Good Sticks story. On Wednesday night, after a good second half following a subpar first half, Robinson told Calhoun on the sidelines: "See, I told you coach. Everything turned out alright."

Only problem was, according to Calhoun, Sticks never had actually told Calhoun that everything would turn out alright.


***Expecting to see Jonathan Mandeldove in uniform next semester? Don't hold your breath. Not that it really matters much.

***Sticks on if he's happy with the way he's played so far this year:

"Nah. I'm not satisfied yet. When I feel satisfied is when I'm scoring 30 points, 25 points … 10 rebounds."

Robinson is averaging 15 points and 6.3 boards.

***Looking ahead to Wednesday's showdown with Kentucky at Madison Square Garden, Robinson noted that UK freshman DeMarcus Cousins is from his hometown of Birmingham, Ala.

"Yeah, he's so cocky, man. Too cocky for his own good," Sticks said with a smile.

Bad blood between the two?

"No, he just jokes too much. I told him, just stop playing around so much. He jokes a lot, but he's a great dude overall."

Don't worry, folks, Jerome Dyson is fine.

Yes, we've heard that before: after he left the Syracuse game last year, we were told there was no structural damage to his right knee. Turns out, he had torn his lateral meniscus and was out for the season.

But this time he's obviously fine, as evidenced by the fact that Dyson returned to the game about 3 1/2 minutes after leaving with what turned out to be a slight groin strain and wound up scoring seven of his 22 points the rest of the way.

He'll probably be sore and won't be able to practice for the next couple of days, but otherwise, nothing to see here. Not that he didn't scare a few people when he slipped on the floor while trying to drive by an opponent out on the perimeter a minute into the latter half of UConn's 92-64 win over BU. Dyson lay motionless, grimacing in apparent pain for several moments before being helped off the floor by trainer James Doran and walk-on Kyle Bailey.

"It was frightening, no question," Jim Calhoun admitted. "It ended up being nothing. He's so strong, that actually saved him. He slipped, did a split and thought he pulled a groin, but said he felt nothing snap."

Added Gavin Edwards: "I was kind of scared, I'm not going to lie. I was just hoping that everything would be alright, and it (was). I just hope Jerome will make a full recovery from anything that's bothering him and be ready to go on Sunday."

Dyson just can't seem to avoid getting banged up. He's missed numerous practices over the years with dings and bruises, and had even left Wednesday's game with 2 1/2 minutes left in the first half after twisting his right ankle.

***Dyson's 22 points led UConn. Stanley Robinson added 16 points and nine rebounds, Kemba Walker had 15 points and 10 assists and Edwards and Jamal Coombs-McDaniel netted 12 apiece. Edwards and freshman center Alex Oriakhi each hauled in nine boards, as well.

Walker's 10 assists were a career-best, topping his previous high of nine set on Friday in the loss to Duke. Still, Calhoun thought it could have been more.

"I think Kemba could have clearly had 15, 16 assists if our big guys hadn't dropped the ball," said the coach.

Coombs-McDaniel, a freshman, added seven rebounds to go with his 12 points – both career bests.

Charles Okwandu, on the other hand, managed to foul out in six minutes of play. Wow.

***The Huskies, who shot a miserable 15-for-28 from the foul line in Friday night's 68-59 loss to No. 6 Duke, hit 30 of 35 from the charity stripe on Wednesday. They also outrebounded the Terriers by a 54-29 margin, by far their most impressive effort off the boards this season, and held BU to 30-percent shooting.

"In the final analysis," Calhoun said, "the stat sheet started to look a little more normal for us, at least."

On the negative side, UConn did commit 17 turnovers -- six of them by Dyson.

***The Huskies didn't commit their first foul of the second half until 13:03 had elapsed.

***Who sang "Slip Kid"?

***UConn took a 52-34 lead into halftime thanks to an odd sequence. Walker was fouled while attempting a 3-pointer at the buzzer. Apparently assuming time had expired, BU players left the court for the locker room. However, after a video review, the officials determined there were 0.2 seconds left on the clock for Walker's three free throws.

The Terriers were called back onto the court to a chorus of boos, and Walker hit all three freebies.

***BU (2-6) was playing without starters Corey Lowe (right foot inflammation) and Valdas Sirutis (left ankle sprain). Scott Brittain, a starter last season, has yet to play this season after suffering a sixth concussion.

This we know: UConn's starting lineup for Wednesday night's exhibition opener with AIC will feature Kemba Walker, Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson and Gavin Edwards.

Who's at center? All we can say right now is that his last name will begin with an "O".

It's between Charles Okwandu and Alex Oriakhi, obviously, but neither has been given the starting nod yet by Jim Calhoun – at least publicly.


"I told them a couple of days ago, over the next couple of days, whoever's the best player will start," Calhoun said. "I think they're going to be sharing their time, just because of foul situations alone. One is inexperienced, the other is very young."

Calhoun expounded on the foul problems of both players, particularly Okwandu, the 7-foot junior.

"I don't think either of them can play 30-something minutes of game, because of the foul situation. Charles is always fouling in practice, plus he's physical. Alex … the other night (during an intrasquad scrimmage), he had three fouls called on him just because he's a rookie. One time he was walking up the lane and they called a foul on him. You don't get the same type of whistle that you would … until you know how to play. Hasheem (Thabeet) could block a shot and maybe get a piece of your hand as a junior, than when he was a sophomore. I see it as two players for one spot, really."

Indeed, as far as the freshman Oriakhi is concerned, it doesn't really matter who starts.

"It's who finishes. That's what I go by," Oriakhi said. "When I go out there, (I just want to) be productive and hope for the best."

(Personally, I think Okwandu gets the start. Oriakhi is just a freshman, and I think Calhoun would like to give Okwandu the chance to prove he can be a 7-foot intimidator in the middle. But he won't have a very long rope. And, as Oriakhi noted, it really doesn't matter -- especially this early in the season).

Calhoun did note that Okwandu has been the team's leading rebounder in practices/scrimmages. But neither he nor Oriakhi are natural shot-blockers.

"Our best shot-blockers are Stanley, one, Gavin, two. When Ater gets eligible, he's probably our best shot-blocker."

***Ah, yes, Ater Majok.


"The best of the five new guys would be Ater (Majok) right now," Calhoun noted. "He's only played five days, but he's very talented – more talented than I thought he was. He doesn't necessarily know how to play yet. He could desperately need a game like this. There was a time when you could play two exhibition games and sit out rest of time."

*** With UConn stressing an uptempo, running game (and with several young guards expected to get minutes), Calhoun was asked if he will be able to live with a few more mistakes this season.

"It's always tough, but if we don't play fast, I don't think we'll be as good. It's not that much more complex than that … We may make a few more turnovers. As long as they're good turnovers, we can live with them."

Yeah, OK. When asked if he believes Calhoun will just "live with" more mistakes, Walker quickly responded: "Um, no. Coach is a perfectionist. That's something I'm trying to work on, too, to limit my turnovers, get my assist-to-turnover ratio down."

***Calhoun said freshman guard Darius Smith has been committing a lot of turnovers in practice.

***Who does Walker want to see taking a last-second 3-pointer to win a game?

"'Rome. He's been great in practice, scoring the ball the best."

But then, Walker thought a little harder.

"Maybe not even 'Rome, to tell you the truth. I'm going to go with Jamal Coombs, the freshman. He can shoot the ball very well. There was a play in practice where coach had us guarding each other and Coombs was on our team. There was a last-second shot, I got down the floor, he was wide-open. I through it to him and he made the game-winning shot. He's a great shooter."

***UConn should be getting an official visit from Doron Lamb on Nov. 15-16. That means Lamb could take in the Huskies' Nov. 16 bout with Colgate at Gampel.

The Huskies may also be soon getting another visit from Cleve Melvin.

***Denham Brown has practiced with the team the past couple of days. He'll be leaving in about a month to play overseas in South America. Rashad Anderson is expected to come up on Friday. Anderson turned down an offer to play in Italy and will look to play in the "D" League, with hopes that an NBA team will scoop him up at some point.

***New Haven's Chad Dawson, the undefeated two-time light-heavyweight champion of the world, will fight Glen Johnson in a rematch Saturday night at the XL Center. The fight will be broadcast live on HBO and will be simulcast to over 100 countries worldwide.

Dawson grew up a big UConn fan and got to meet Calhoun for the first time prior to today's practice.

"I go back to Ray Allen, Donyell Marshall, Donny Marshall. I go back to those days. I'm a big Ray Allen fan … whatever team he goes to, I'm always support that team."

Dawson was slated to address the UConn team before practice.

"I'll try to say a couple of encouraging words to them. Not that they need it. They've probably heard every encouraging word they'd need to hear from Jim himself, so I'll try to say something different."

Calhoun, a big fight fan, will be at Saturday night's fight, along with his son, Jeff.

"It'll be fun. I watched the first Johnson fight. Johnson's a brawler. He can hit you and knock you out, but (Dawson's) a terrific boxer. He's got great legs, he sticks and moves very well. He got suckered into it a few times in the first fight. I asked him what's his major role as far as change, and he said 'I want to discipline myself. That's harder to do sometimes. I don't like to get hit.' None of us do."