After a couple of years at Waterbury's Crosby High, the Greater Hartford Pro-Am officially returns to ... well ... Hartford on Wednesday night. Games will be played at the Sport & Medical Sciences Academy at 208 Huyshope Ave. in Hartford.

The GHPA's 2015 season kicks off at 6:30 p.m., with Attorney Deron Freeman (led by Tobin Carberry and a host of players from Central Connecticut) facing Pauly Chute Slamm (which will be led by a pair of terrific New Haven guards past and present -- Bobby Moore and Tremont Waters. Waters, a UConn target, won't be at Wednesday night's game. Stanley Robinson is also on the team).

At 8:15 p.m., New York's Hot 93.7 (last year's scoring champ Doug Herring, Anthony Cox) will face two-time defending champion BJM Law Firm (Ryan Gomes, Keith Cothran, Lamonte Ulmer, Kelvin Davis).

Other top players expected to compete in the 11-team league include Jerome Dyson, Doug Wiggins and A.J. Price. The league could get some special guest appearances: on Aug. 1-2, Nate Robinson is expected to play. Other possible players throughout the summer could include Andre Drummond, Rudy Gay, Kemba Walker, Jeremy Lamb and Wes Matthews.

And, as always, several current UConn players are expected to play throughout the summer.

So ESPN is celebrating the 70th anniversary of the slam dunk, which allegedly was "invented" by Oklahoma A&M's 7-footer Bob Kurland on Dec. 16, 1944 in a game against Temple. (No YouTube or ESPN Top 10 highlights for that one).

The College GameDay crew and some current and former players and coaches had some good (and not some good) nominations for "greatest dunks/dunkers of all-time," including Clyde Drexler, Vince Carter and, for this season, Ohio State's Sam Thompson.

It got me thinking what fans consider the greatest dunks and dunkers in UConn history. In my eight years on the beat, no one's been better than Stanley Robinson. He literally looked like he was bouncing off a trampoline on some of his dunks. His most memorable, to me, came in the famous six-overtime game vs. Syracuse in 2009. Here it is, at about the :17-second mark in this clip:



I also remember watching Jim Calhoun on the sidelines as the play transpired. He popped up from his chair and was ready to pull "Sticks" out of the game had he missed. But he didn't miss, and Calhoun folded his arms, looked up in the sky and left Robinson in the game.

So I ask fans who've watched a lot more UConn basketball than me over the years: Who are the greatest dunkers in UConn history? What are the greatest dunks? And I mean in-game dunks.

Dunk contests are fun:



But in-game dunks are more impressive, in my opinion.

And we can include opponents against UConn, as well. This may not be the greatest, but it's one of the most memorable, considering how unlikely it seemed at the time:



As for the greatest dunk I've ever witnessed in person (in a game), my mind keeps going back to Julius Page of Pitt in a game against Providence in the early 2000's. I can't find it on YouTube, but here's another Page dunk that displays the type of athleticism this kid had:

Ray Allen, Kemba Walker, Andre Drummond, Ben Gordon and Rudy Gay are among the former UConn greats expected to participate in the seventh Jim Calhoun Charity All-Star Game on Friday at Mohegan Sun Arena.

Other likely participants: Richard Hamilton, Caron Butler, DeAndre Daniels, Khalid El-Amin, Donyell Marshall, Donny Marshall, Charlie Villanueva, Scott Burrell, Taliek Brown, A.J. Price, Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson, John Gwynn, Lyman DePriest and Rod Sellers. Shabazz Napier is a "hopeful" at this point, we're told.

Howie Dickenman will coach one team and Tom Moore will coach the other. Kevin Ollie won't play, but instead will help assist Dickenman's team. Jim Calhoun, of course, will be there, as well (provided he doesn't take any bike rides earlier in the day). Typically, he floats around to both benches during the game.

Players on all four of UConn's national championship teams will be represented. Also in the house will be the four national championship trophies, on display up on the concourse.

The game tips off at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Ticket are $12 to $25 and can be purchased at Ticketmaster at 800-345-7000, at Ticketmaster.com, or at the Mohegan Sun box office. All proceeds will benefit the Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center at UConn Health. Since 1999, the game has raised more than $6.5 million for cardiology research and life-saving care.

Malik Newman and Diamond Stone, a pair of UConn recruiting targets, recently made the list of 17 finalists for the 2014 USA Baskeetball Men's U17 World Championship Team. Tyus Battle also made the cut, along with Pittsburgh-bound Mustapha Heron, who hails from West Haven.

Here's the press release.

Meanwhile, saw Stanley Robinson at the GHPA on Saturday night. "Sticks" is still playing his way back into shape after Achilles tendon surgery, but he's looking pretty good (even if the D.J. kept calling him "Stanley Roberts". Hey, he's not that heavy!) Still dunking, he says, though on this play, he added, he would have dunked it in years past, but on Saturday simply settled for a reverse layup:

There are a lot of great Stanley Robinson stories, almost all of them funny. Walking into CFE Arena at Central Florida this afternoon reminded me of one of my favorites.

The last time UConn played here, on Dec. 27, 2007, UCF's Jermaine Taylor was hitting shot after shot while being guarded by Sticks. During a timeout, Jim Calhoun screamed at Robinson, wondering why he Taylor was going off on him.

"Coach," Robinson replied, "the dude can shoot!"

That was all Calhoun had to hear. The rest of his game, each time Taylor hit a shot, he'd turn to his bench and say, "The dude can shoot! The dude can shoot!", clearly mocking Robinson's ill-timed -- if accurate -- reply.

Meanwhile, DeAndre Daniels apparently can shoot, and he's set to give it another go as of now:




And do check out our live blog of tonight's game, as well:

http://embed.scribblelive.com/Embed/v7.aspx?Id=400117&ThemeId=15740

Took in my first UConn practice of the season today (I wasn’t able to get to the Huskies’ first open practice a couple of weeks ago).

The thing that stuck out the most to me in the 45 minutes we were able to watch practice was how vocal and intense the team was at times, particularly during rebounding/box-out drills. Shabazz Napier started it off by grabbing a pair of boards during the two-on-two drill and riding the two big guys – Amida Brimah and DeAndre Daniels – for getting outrebounded. All in all, the whole team was enthusiastic during the drill, which is a good sign, as boardwork (or lack thereof) was a huge issue last season for the Huskies.

“It’s definitely a point of emphasis, to make sure we do better,” said Kevin Ollie. “I know we have a team that’s very athletic, very versatile. If we get out on the fast break, we can do a lot of damage. First thing with defensive rebounding is getting back in transition, building a wall and then boxing out. And hitting first. I don’t think we did a lot of that last year. They know, if they rebound, they’ll play. I’ve put that nugget out there, we’ll just see who grabs it. Whoever grabs it will be playing.”

Tyler Olander understands.

“I think everybody, that’s definitely been an emphasis in practice,” he said. “We do three or four box-out drills every day. If we mess up on those, we’re on the line running. If we give up offensive rebounds in drills, we’re on the line running.”

Ah yes, Olander. He’s back practicing with the team afterbeing reinstated last week. Olander showed plenty of emotion during the rebounding drill.

“I’m more happy with Tyler because I’m checking every appointment that he has, every class that he has,” said Ollie. “I could care less about the energy here, if he’s not showing the energy off the court then he’s got a problem with me. I told him this is his last time. He’s stepping up to the plate and changing his ways. It starts with him. I love that about him. Hopefully, he can just continue to create something special for his life. His time here at UConn is expiring. There’s a date on that. Hopefully, he can use this time to be better as a young man, and also have a great senior season. That’s just going to make us a better team. But I need everybody.”

Olander addressed his Sept. 7 arrest and subsequent suspension from the team that was lifted on Oct. 3.

“Probably one of the first things I thought about was, ‘This is going to be all over ESPN,’” he said. “That’s probably something that stuck with me: everybody’s going to know.”

Being away from the team for about a month hurt him, as well.

“It was pretty difficult. That’s all I’ve done for the past four years. To be taken away, it was an adjustment. But it did its purpose. I realized what I had to do and that the things I had done were selfish. And that if I really wanted to be a part of this, which I do, that I need to change that.”

Elsewhere:

*** It appears there will be no dunk or 3-point contest at First Night festivities next Friday. The intra-gender scrimmage, featuring teams comprised by members of both the men’s and women’s teams, will have to suffice.

*** As it stands now, Napier, Daniels and Ryan Boatright are slated to accompany Ollie to AAC Media Day on Wednesday in Memphis.

*** Stanley  Robinson was helping out at practice today. Always great to see “Sticks.”

*** Some obligatory practice facility video footage. It's worth noting that, immediately after UConn's practice ended, the women's volleyball team staff started setting up equipment for its 7 p.m. match with Rutgers. It only served to reinforce the notion of how badly the basketball team needs its own practice facility.

Some notes and quotes from a special tribute to Jim Calhoun held at Gampel Pavilion Sunday night:

*** Among those who attended were Ray Allen, Ben Gordon, Kemba Walker, Rudy Gay, Donyell Marshall, Donny Marshall, Andre Drummond, Hasheem Thabeet, Jeremy Lamb, Scott Burrell, Jeff Adrien, A.J. Price, Stanley Robinson, Kevin Ollie, Andre LaFleur, Patrick Sellers, Glen Miller, Karl Hobbs, Tom Moore, Steve Pikiell and Eric Hayward. I’m sure I missed a few – more than a few. Gov. Dannel Malloy was there, too. As were the members of this year's UConn team (including Tyler Olander), Warde Manuel, George Blaney, Dee Rowe … you get the point. A tremendous outpouring of support for Calhoun.

*** There will be busts of Calhoun and Geno Auriemma inside the new practice facility.

*** It was also announced on Sunday that Stadium Road on campus will now forever be known as Jim Calhoun Way.

*** Some of what Calhoun had to say before the program:

“It’s an incredibly emotional thing for me, personally. Telling A.J. ‘Congratulations on the birth of your daughter.’ Jeff just got his contract. A long, long time ago, I said I wanted to get into coaching to hopefully affect some people’s lives. They’ve affected mine, I know for sure. I knew it would be an emotional day, but when I see them, it just does something to me, certainly.”

“It’s an incredible bond that never gets broken. As long as they’re fair with you and you’re fair with them, and they had my back, and I had their back … people always say, ‘Coach, you’re too tough on those guys.’ It’s because I love them. I suffer when A.J. didn’t do well, Scottie, Ray, whoever it may be. I jumped out of my chair this year when Ray hit the big 3-pointer for the Miami Heat. Those things don’t change.”

(on the state of the UConn program)

“I think it’s in very good shape. I never had any questions with the guy I wanted to be the coach. I think he’s done an incredible job, and he’ll continue to do an incredible job. The kind of support we had … I was thinking last night, how special the game was – not necessarily the game, per se, but the atmosphere. We used to have basketball games like that at the Civic Center, 16,000. We need to have that, and we will have that.”

*** Ray Allen a great story that defined how the bond among UConn players is built.

“One of the things that I always think about is Eric Hayward. He comes to mind a lot when I talk about our bond that we share. We used to start practice every year in the field house. The trash can was over in the corner, and it was over in the corner for one person. They said, at some point, Eric Hayward’s gonna throw up in the trash can. I was like, ‘Somebody throws up during practice?’”

“Over the course of that year, we’d run suicides we had to be at the line in 28 seconds. Early in the year, Eric never made it. Every time he didn’t make it, we’d have to run again. Coach didn’t care, he didn’t have any sympathy for us. It got to the point where we started running over to Eric, watching him and making sure we did what we had to do to get him over that line in 28 seconds. That was a moment where I saw true growth and I understood what Coach was doing. As much as, at that moment, we didn’t particularly like Coach, it created that bond and got us together. In order for us to grow into a team and be a unit, we had to help Eric get to the point where he could beat this suicide in 28 seconds. Once we got him over that line, it was like we had a sense of accomplishment.”

*** Of course, there’s been a rift in that UConn bond recently in the case of Tate George, who’s on trial for allegedly running a Ponzi scheme that bilked clients out of millions. Among them, apparently, is Charlie Villanueva.

Asked about George, Calhoun simply stated: “I haven’t talked to Tate in five years.”

Burrell on the situation:

“It’s very sad to see it happen. You don’t know if he’s innocent, guilty until the trial … It’s sad to be in that situation. The last time I saw him, he said it wasn’t true. He sent an email to a lot of us saying it wasn’t true. So, we’ll see what happens.”

*** Sticks says he’s heading to Canada in a few weeks to play professionally for the Moncton Miracles of the National Basketball League of Canada.

Here’s Sticks talking about Calhoun as a “father figure”:

Big game -- the last truly big game of the season for UConn -- on Wednesday night at Gampel, when No. 7 Georgetown ambles into town.

The Big East player of the year race may be over (G'town's Otto Porter has all but sewn that up), but coach of the year is still somewhat open, and two of the three favorites (Kevin Ollie and John Thompson III) will be on opposing sidelines. Incidentally, he Republican-American's Ed Daigneault polled 13 out-of-town college hoops writers on Big East player of the year and coach of the year. Porter was unanimous for player and, surprisingly, JTIII got all but two votes for coach of the year. Ollie and Buzz Williams split the other two. It's possible the league's coaches (who actually vote on the award) could see things differently.

About 300 tickets were still available for the game as of Tuesday afternoon.

Here's some of what Ollie and Shabazz Napier had to say before Tuesday's practice at Gampel.

OLLIE:

(On Georgetown)

“I don’t think we’ve seen a team – probably since some of Coach (Calhoun’s) teams that went 16-2, 17-1 in league – both offense, defense, field goal perentage. They’re doing it on both ends of the table. They’re a great team – long, athletic. Can’t let them get out in transition, can’t give up easy buckets, and we’re going to have to guard them for the whole 35 seconds.”

(on Otto Porter)

“He’s just a great player. He’s a typical wing player, can put it on the floor, can shoot at a high rate … long, gets offensive rebounds, can go down on the block. Anything else I missed?”

(Ollie said it’ll be a group effort trying to stop Porter)

“Just like our guards. They don’t put one guy on Shabazz or one guy on Ryan (Boatright) … Otto’s gonna be a concentrated effort by all five of our guys in the paint, loading up, making sure he’s not on his sweet spots, distorting his catches, and making sure he sees a lot of UConn players and not getting a lot of easy buckets in transition.”

(on Omar Calhoun)

“He’s passing the ball a little more because of the wrist. It’s a good thing. He had to alter his game by default.”

NAPIER:

"I love Gampel. If I had a chance to pick our home games, they would all be at Gampel. The crowd is so right there on you, it can be devastating for the other team. It helps when we go through spurts where we don’t score, and when we go through spurts when we do score. I just really appreciate Gampel.”

(on what happens if DeAndre Daniels guards Porter)

“DeAndre always comes up big in games where we need him to come up big.”

(on the possibility of winning their 20th game of the season on Wednesday)

“It would be a lot. We’ve been through so much, and not one day have we allowed excuses to overcome this team. We’ve continued to fight and be resilient.”

(on how big a game Georgetown is)

“This is, I guess you could say, a championship game, in a sense.”

*** A heavily-bearded Stanley "Sticks" Robinson was at Gampel on Tuesday. He's taken a break from hoops after suffering an Achilles tendon injury, living in Willimantic and working at Prime Materials, the scrap-metal place at which he worked while sitting out the first semester in 2008-09.
Always good to see Sticks.

*** The UConn athletics department and office of environmental policy will host a Green Game Day on Wednesday night. As part of the event, fans are encouraged to bring any lightly-used sneakers to donate for reuse – especially children’s shoes. These shoes will go to Kicks for Africa, a UConn student-run organization whose mission is to donate lightly-used shoes to less fortunate children in Africa. The shoes will be collected at all entrances as fans enter the game.

Here are some notes 'n quotes from Saturday's Mohegan Sun/Jim Calhoun Charity Classic:

Kemba Walker is one of the most celebrated winners in UConn basketball history. The run to the 2011 Big East and national championships is proof of that.


So imagine how it killed him as a rookie this season with the Charlotte Bobcats, who had an all-time worst record of 7-59.

“Of course (it did),” he said Saturday, prior to the Mohegan Sun/Jim Calhoun Charity All-Star Game. He added that his goal for the team in the future is “winning, that’s it. I just want to win.”

Adding another national champion (2012 No. draft pick Michael Kidd-Gilchrist) to the mix can only help, Walker figures.

“But it takes more than just me and him,” he noted. “As long as (we)can try to bring that winning culture to the team, it’ll help a lot.”

Walker was a winner again on Saturday, scoring 38 points to lead the White Team to a sudden-death overtime (seriously), 109-107 victory over the Blue Team. In an interesting twist, however, Walker had two chances to give his team the win and came up short both times.

At the end of regulation, he put up a 16-footer (similar to his famous game-winner against Pitt in the 2011 Big East tournament) but had it blocked by Rudy Gay.

In OT, Walker made some terrific crossovers and put up a similar shot with Jeremy Lamb guarding him. The shot was an air ball.

The White Team won thanks to Jerome Dyson’s steal and layup.

*** Shabazz Napier is still in a walking boot after fracturing the pinky toe on his right foot a few months ago, but he’s 100-percent confident that he’ll be ready to go once practice starts in mid-October.

Napier said he’s due to get the boot off in 2 ½-3 weeks, and hopefully begin basketball activities shortly after that.

Jim Calhoun has mentioned that Napier will likely play off the ball more this season, allowing Ryan Boatright to control the point. That’s fine with Napier.

“In high school I was more of a combo guard,” he noted. “When I came to college, I realized I had more potential being a pro point guard. If I was blessed enough to make it to the NBA, that’s what I’d be. But, I’m willing to do anything coach wants me to do. Whatever he wants me to do, I’ll do it – whether it be running in the rain at (midnight), I’ll do it.”

He’ll be asked to score more this season.

“I started scoring well at the beginning of the season, but then I allowed a lot of things that were going on with the team to get in my head,” Napier noted.

What type of things?

“Things that were going on throughout the whole season, whether it be inside or outside. Sometimes as a young athlete, you let things get to your head. I learned from my mistakes.”

*** UConn is expected to have several recruits come in on official visits this week. One of them is Kentan Facey, a 6-foot-9 Class of 2013 power forward out of Long Island Lutheran High.

Per NCAA rules, UConn could not have any recruiting visitors at Saturday's game. If any came, it was on their own accord.

*** Hasheem Thabeet recently signed with the defending NBA Western Confernece champion Oklahoma City Thunder.

“It’s another opportunity for me,” he said. “I just have to put in the work.”

*** Stanley “Sticks” Robinson was at the game, but didn’t play due to a torn left Achilles tendon he suffered in March while playing for the Iowa Energy of the NBA developmental league.

*** Donnell Beverly, a 2011 graduate, played in China last year.

*** The announced attendance was 7,241.

Many of the regulars -- Ray Allen, Caron Butler, Rudy Gay, etc. -- are expected to be at the annual Mohegan Sun/Jim Calhoun Charity All-Star Game on Saturday, Aug. 4 at the Mohegan Sun Arena. But there will be some new blood there, as well.

Kemba Walker will make his first appearance in the game. Jeremy Lamb, a Houston Rockets lottery pick just a month ago, is also expected to play, along with Hasheem Thabeet, Jerome Dyson and Gavin Edwards.  (Andre Drummond doesn't appear too likely, since his new employer, the Detroit Pistons, apparently would like him to attend a big man's camp around the same time).

Other likely participants include Kevin Ollie, Khalid El-Amin, Ricky Moore, Rod Sellers, Jake Voskuhl and Travis Knight. Of the big names, Rip Hamilton and Ben Gordon don't seem too likely to appear. Neither do Josh Boone, Hilton Armstrong and Stanley Robinson.

Allen, who underwent surgery last month to remove bone spurs from his ankle, will dress, but will only play depending on how his ankle's feeling. (He is, however, expected to play in the event's two golf outings, on Aug. 5 at the Mohegan Sun Golf Course and the following day at the Golf Club of Avon).

The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Ticketts are $12 to $25 and are now on sale at the Mohegan Sun Arena box office. To purchase game tickets, call Ticketmaster at 800-345-700 or go to Ticketmaster.com or visit the Mohegan Sun box office.

Proceeds from the game and the entire Mohegan Sun/Jim Calhoun Celebrity Classic will benefit the Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center at the UConn Health Center.

"I am excited to be able to once again bring so many of my former players back together for what should be a special reunion for them and for the fans of Connecticut," said Calhoun. "I am also pleased that proceeds from the game will go to fight American's No. 1 killer -- heart disease."

Since 1999, the Mohegan Sun/Jim Calhoun Celebrity Classic has raised more than $6 million for cardiology research and care.

Jim Calhoun won't be at UConn's practice today. Still possible he'll return Friday and be on sidelines for Saturday's bout with Pitt, but far from certain at this point.

*** UConn desperately needs a win Saturday against Pitt to keep its flickering hopes for an NCAA tournament bid alive. There's another reason it would behoove the Huskies to beat the Panthers, however: there's still a chance (however small) for UConn to earn the No. 8 seed in next week's Big East tournament and get a first-round bye.

This is hardly as important as keeping Big Dance hopes alive, but it matters to writers like me (and fans like you) who'd like to have an idea when we need to get to New York City for the conference tourney.

If the season ended today, UConn would be the tournament’s No. 10 seed and play No. 15 seed Providence at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

Of course, the season doesn’t end today. It will end on Saturday, and the Huskies could finish as anywhere from the No. 8 to No. 11 seed.

For UConn to get the eighth seed, a lot of things would have to go its way. But it’s possible.

In a nutshell: UConn must beat Pitt on Saturday, Seton Hall must lose at DePaul (unlikely, but certainly possible) and West Virginia must lose at USF (fairly likely).

If that all happens, there’ll be a three-way tie for eighth between UConn, Seton Hall and WVU, all at 8-10. In the three-team “mini-conference” between the teams, Seton Hall and UConn would be 2-1, and WVU would be eliminated at 0-2.

Since Seton Hall and UConn split their two games, the next tiebreak would be each team’s record against teams occupying the highest position in the conference standings. Both teams lost to both Syracuse and Marquette. If Georgetown finishes in sole possession of third, Seton Hall gets the No. 8 seed since it beat the Hoyas on Feb. 21. If South Florida finishes alone in third, UConn is the eighth seed since it beat the Bulls on Dec. 28.

If Notre Dame finishes alone in third, nothing is determined because UConn went 1-1 and Seton Hall went 0-1, an unequal amount of games played.

With Marquette at 13-4, Gerogetown, Notre Dame and USF all at 12-5 and Cincinnati at 11-6, however, it seems rather certain that there will be a multiple-team tie for third. At that point, the records of both UConn and Seton Hall against those multiple teams are compared. Far too many possibilities to detail right now, however.

Oh, and the Huskies could still finish as the 11^th seed, if Rutgers (5-11) beats Villanova at home tonight and St. John’s at home on Saturday and UConn loses to Pitt. Both Rutgers and UConn would finish 7-11, and Rutgers would get the higher seed since it beat the Huskies in their lone head-to-head battle.

Bottom line: UConn needs to beat Pitt on Saturday – for reasons far beyond Big East tournament seed. If the Huskies lose to Pitt, they pretty much need to win the Big East tournament (or at least get to the finals) to get the NCAA bid. If they beat Pitt, they may only need to win two, maybe three games in New York next week to earn a bid.

*** I’ve heard a lot of comparisons between this year’s UConn team and the underachieving 2009-10 squad that lost to Virginia Tech in the NIT.

While both teams have fallen far short of expectations, there are some marked differences. The ’09-10 team had talent (Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson, Gavin Edwards and a sophomore named Kemba Walker), but this year’s squad boasts two likely 2012 lottery picks (Andre Drummond, Jeremy Lamb) and plenty of other good players.

There is one glaring similarity between the two teams, however: an inability to win close games. The ’09-10 team was a wretched 1-8 in games decided by five points or less. This year’s team isn’t quite as bad – 3-6 – but that’s still a far cry from last season. A year ago, the Huskies were 6-3 in such games during the regular season, then 5-0 in the postseason, adding up to 11-3 overall.

Miss Kemba much?

Although I was at the UConn-Rutgers game Saturday night, I didn't see Jim Calhoun's interaction with DeAndre Daniels during a late-game timeout. Too busy tweeting and writing a game story.

I hadn't even heard of the alleged incident until a few days later, and didn't see the video until this evening. After watching it, there is no doubt in my mind that Calhoun hit Daniels. There is also no doubt in my mind that it is not a fireable offense, in the vein of Bob Knight or Woody Hayes. Or, you could argue, past incidents by Calhoun, as detailed in this column by the Courant's Jeff Jacobs that needed to be written.

Two or three years ago, I saw Calhoun hit Stanley Robinson in the abdomen with both (open) hands, out near the middle of the floor after callling a timeout. Really whacked him hard. A collective gasp could be heard from the first 10 or so rows behind UConn's bench. Nothing was made of it by any writer -- myself included. Maybe I should have, maybe not. Just Jim being Jim, y'know?

But there's no room for that. I don't even believe there's room for Calhoun's in-your-face screaming at Ryan Boatright the other night. We laugh about it, tweet about it, and the players usually seem to be able to brush it off pretty quickly. But there's no need to embarass an 18-year-old kid like that before 15,000 people and on national TV. Why? Because he made you look bad, Jim?

Calhoun is a tremendous coach, even a bit underrated (you rarely hear his name mentioned in the same breath as Coach K, Adolph Rupp, Bob Knight and Dean Smith, even though he's got more national titles than Smith and as many as Knight). Perhaps no one in the history of the sport has done a better job at building a program from nothing than Calhoun.

But there's no room for making physical contact with kids, no matter how innocuous it may seem.

Jerome Dyson will play for the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Developmental League. The 66ers are the affiliate of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Stanley Robinson is not on a D-League roster.

Stanley Robinson is here, sitting a few rows behind the UConn bench.

Caught up with Sticks for a couple of minutes -- in between him sending text messages -- at halftime. He said he's weighing his options right now: either to play over in Israel or to play in the "D" League. Robinson appears to be leaning towards the latter option. The "D" League draft is Nov. 19, and assuming he's chosen (which is pretty much a given), he'll likely go that route.

Some quick notes from the Jim Calhoun Charity All-Star Game:

***Just about everyone advertised is here. Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon showed up just in time for the team picture. Noteable no-shows: Hilton Armstrong, Richard Hamilton, Donny Marshall. Rudy Gay says he hasn't been cleared to play by the Grizzlies.

***Ricky Moore, newly-minted assistant coach at Dartmouth, showed up wearing a Dartmouth shirt. Is that legal?

***The entire UConn roster is here, including incoming freshmen Roscoe Smith, Jeremy Lamb, Tyler Olander, Shabazz Napier and Michael Bradley. (German imports Niels Giffey and Enosch Wolf have yet to arrive on campus).

***Sticks Robinson hasn't signed a contract yet with Orlando and feels he'll probably have to prove himself in training camp, which starts on Sept. 22. Robinson had a somewhat subpar summer league performance, with one highlight: "I got my windmill in," he said of the highlight-reel dunk he had in one game.

Very telling, unfortunately.

***Khalid El-Amin was MVP of his league this past season in the Ukraine. He says he'll keep keepin' on overseas until it's not fun anymore.

"Making money, taking care of the family: I can't afford not to play," El-Amin said.

***Donyell Marshall on recently taking an assistant coaching job under Karl Hobbs at George Washington University: "Being with somebody that I know, it felt more comfortable. I'd rather break into a college (situation) with somebody that I know. That way, if I had questions, I'd felt comfortable asking him stuff."

***Calhoun made it a point to bring Roscoe Smith over to introduce him to Caron Butler.

"I just tried to let him know that he's the next in line, the torch has been passed. Obviously, he's coming into a great tradition. Just keep it up. I'll keep in contact with him and let him know my eyes will be watching."

Butler said he always keeps in contact with new UConn players.

"Everybody here has some kind of connection. You want to stay in contact with the young guys to help them develop, on and off the court."

***Smith also met fellow Baltimorean Rudy Gay.

"I told him my shoes are big," Gay said, with a laugh, "and you can't fill them too easily."

"It's good they come back to support Jim Calhoun, and come back to the community," Smith said. "(Butler) was just giving me a couple of pointers for next year, keep my head up and just have fun out there."

***Rudy Gay seems on the verge of earning a spot on Team USA.

"It's a blessing to have 'USA' on your chest. I talked to Ray a lot, he said he was happy he did it. I'm just trying to follow in his footsteps."

Here's who's expected to play in Saturday night's Jim Calhoun Charity All-Star Game (in alphabetical order): Jeff Adrien, Ray Allen, Rashad Anderson, Hilton Armstrong, Craig Austrie, Taliek Brown, Scott Burrell (may not be able to play), Caron Butler, Dan Cyrulik, Lyman DePriest, Jerome Dyson, Khalid El-Amin, Kevin Freeman, Rudy Gay, Ben Gordon, John Gwynn, Richard Hamilton (maybe), Rudi Johnson, Kirk King, Travis Knight, Oliver Macklin, Donyell Marshall, Donny Marshall, Ricky Moore, Ed Nelson, Emeka Okafor, Kevin Ollie, Stanley Robinson, Rod Sellers, Charlie Villanueva, Souleymane Wane, Murray Williams and Boo Willingham.

Not sure how the team's will be divided quite yet. Last time it was sort of a pre-1999, post-1999 battle, if I remember correctly.

Tickets are still available to the event at the Mohegan Sun Casino by calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000. You could probably walk up to the ticket window at Mohegan Sun and buy them then, too. Doors open for the public at 6:30 p.m.

Also, there will be a lengthy autograph session with the players and coaches directly after the game.

Earlier today I caught up with Jeff Adrien, who is back home in the Hyde Park section of Boston after a difficult first professional season in Spain.

Adrien will be playing in his first-ever Jim Calhoun Charity All-Star game on Aug. 7.

"It’s a game that, before I stepped on campus, I wanted to be a part of," Adrien said. "I’m very excited to be on the same court with basically every (major) player in Connecticut history."

Adrien had a tough rookie season with Leche Rio Breogan, which competes in Spain's second division. He averaged about 12.5 points and 7.5 boards a game ("some people might be pleased with that," he said), and enjoyed the people and the food. The basketball? Not so much.

"It's a completely different style of play, a different way of callilng the game," Adrien said. "Normal plays here are a travel out there. It was frustrating at times."

With that in mind, Adrien has informed his agent he has no plans on returning to Spain. He's going to do whatever he can to get to the NBA. Adrien played in the Orlando summer league (with the Magic) and the Las Vegas summer league (with Memphis), and believes he's opened some eyes.

"Right now, I’m really trying to focus on making the NBA," he said. "I think I have a good chance of making it, either through (training) camp or through the ‘D’ league. If I have to go through the ‘D’ league route, I’ll go through the ‘D’ league route. I’m just going to stay focused on making the NBA."

Here's a few other interesting tidbits from my conversation with Adrien:

***Jeff's mother, Linotte, hails from Haiti, and she was vacationing there when the catastrophic earthquake hit the island nation in January. For about 12 hours, Jeff wasn't able to get in touch with his mom and had no idea how she was doing.

“I couldn’t sleep that night, really,” Adrien recalled. “I didn’t go to practice the next morning, I just waited to hear from her.”

Finally, after about 12 hours, Adrien finally heard from his mom. She was fine, never really in harm’s way. So was her family, most of whom Jeff has never met. They were extremely lucky, avoiding damage from an earthquake estimated to have killed 230,000 people and left 1 million homeless.

***Adrien teamed with Stanley Robinson on the Magic's summer team.

"Everything's new for Stanley. It's an adjustment," Adrien said. "He did fine."

***Which ex-UConn player influenced Adrien the most before and during his Husky career?

"You know what, I can say almost all of them, really. It’s my dream school. To go to Connecticut was great, a dream come true."

***Adrien on the NCAA's investigation into UConn's alleged recruiting violations: "I haven’t kept track of it as much. I can’t really speak on it because I don’t know too much about it. It's very unfortunate to see two good coaches (Patrick Sellers and Beau Archibald) go, though. Those guys were great, very helpful, great coaches. It’s very sad to see them go like that."

***Adrien is producing a documentary on the "journey of my basketball career, starting in Brookline ... it's a work in progress. Hopefully, it has a good ending. It mght not come out for a while, when I'm in the NBA, or in five years if things didn’t work out."


***Adrien remembers fellow Boston native Shabazz Napier, an incoming UConn freshman, when he was "very small."

"He used to come to our AAU games, hang out with us. I'm excited for him to be out there, another guy from Boston representing Boston in the family of UConn."

Stanley Robinson was selected by the Orlando Magic -- finally! -- with the next-to-last pick in the 2010 NBA Draft.

Robinson, thought to be a potential late-first round or early-second round selection, went with the 59th pick in the draft. As a second-round pick, Robinson doesn’t get a guaranteed salary and must make the Magic team. He’ll almost certainly play for the team’s summer league team in a couple of weeks.

If Robinson makes the team, he may be able to negotiate a salary for guaranteed money. Former UConn teammate A.J. Price, taken with the No. 52 pick last year, signed a guaranteed three-year, $2 million deal with the Indiana Pacers last fall.

Why did Robinson, thought to be a potential mid-to-late-first round pick, fall so far? Well, don't forget what an NBA director of player personnel told me in February about worries about Robinson's makeup.

“Leaving school, going to work in a factory, he’s already got a couple of kids,” the source said. “Not that those are deal-breakers, but they’re things that could scare some teams away.”

On Wednesday, after playing in the Travelers Championship Celebrity Pro-Am, UConn coach Jim Calhoun said that teams who had interviewed Robinson weren’t sure how focused he was.
“He’s not the kind of guy who says, ‘Someday, I want to be an all-star and win an NBA championship,’” Calhoun noted. “That’s not Stanley.”

Nobody, however, has ever questioned Robinson athleticism. So, he'll have the chance to go to a good team and add some athleticism and energy for 12-15 minutes a game off the bench.

Jim Calhoun says he shot a 78 in Wednesday's Travelers Championship Celebrity Pro-Am, the best round he's had at TPC River Highlands in a long time.

He also believes there could be three ex-UConn players selected in tomorrow night's NBA Draft.

Stanley Robinson is expected to go anywhere from the middle of the first round to the middle of the second. Jerome Dyson could be a late-second round selection, and it’s remotely possible that Gavin Edwards could get selected, as well.

“I’ve talked to teams, and what I’m getting is that, probably like his career in many ways – with Stanley, some people love him, other guys, maybe not,” Calhoun said of Robinson. “Everybody conducts some of the questions, they’re not sure how focused he is in some of the interviews. He’s not the kind of guy who says, ‘Someday I want to be an All-Star and win an NBA championship. That’s not Stanley.”

The Washington Wizards, who own the first, 30th and 35th overall picks, are said to be interested in the 6-foot-9 jumping jack.

“He’d be a very good get for them,” Calhoun said. “It’s hard for me to believe that he’s not going to be motivated to play basketball. He has great obligations to his family, to his mom, and everybody else. I don’t know if he can articulate it … that’s probably his greatest weakness, in his interviews.”

He added: “If you told me he went as high as 14, I’d say, ‘Yeah.’ If you told me he didn’t go until the second round, I’d be surprised, because I think guys are missing out on a great talent. I’ve talked to Kevin Stacom, a good friend who works for Dallas, and he and I both agree he’s a top-20 talent. And once you get by four or five, you’re taking a chance anyways, so you’ve got to take a chance.”

Calhoun added that the Charlotte Bobcats, who currently don’t pick until the second round, have some interest in Dyson, and Minnesota likes Gavin Edwards.

“He’s got a chance: nice kid, can fit into a team,” Calhoun said of the latter. “They’re looking, sometimes, for a guy who can just fit in, eventually become a pretty good player. All we have to do is watch the playoffs … Shannon Brown, those kind of guys, they’re much better pros than they are college players.”

Niels Giffey has always been a big Ray Allen fan, even when the former UConn star struggled at times during the NBA finals.

It’s that appreciation for Allen, and many of the other great wing players that have come through Storrs, that helped Giffey, a German native, decide to commit to the Huskies on Friday morning.

“I’m really excited to come to UConn,” said Giffey, who speaks fluent English. “I knew that UConn has a great basketball history. Coach Calhoun is a Hall of Fame coach, they’ve had Ray Allen and plenty of great wings. I like that fact. It’s a good team, a great coaching staff. I really felt comfortable.”

Giffey, who has been on an official visit to UConn the past two days, said he’s slated to graduate from the German equivalent of high school this week and will be on the Huskies’ team this season.

UConn assistant coach Andre LaFleur visited Germany in April to see Giffey play for the Alba Berlin youth team, which is coached by former University of North Carolina player Henrik Rodl. Giffey had attended an adidas camp in the United States a few years ago and attracted interest from several schools, including Louisville, Michigan, Gonzaga and UCLA. UConn was the only school he visited, however.

“I can play positions 1 through 4,” Giffey said. “I’m a very versatile player. I can shoot the ball, run. I like to win, I like to play defense, run the fast break. I’m a team player, and I like to put my teammates into good positions.”

Giffey ran with most of the current Huskies in scrimmages over the past couple of days. We're hearing Kemba Walker really enjoyed playing with him.

Giffey, a Berlin native, said Calhoun and the Huskies’ coaching staff told him he’ll get a chance to see a lot of minutes right away.

“They told me I will get a chance to play my game, to make the team better, just do what I can to make the team run,” he said.

A couple of other things:

***The Huskies now have six freshmen coming in: Giffey, Roscoe Smith, Jeremy Lamb, Shabazz Napier, Tyler Olander and Michael Bradley. They can do this because they have three seniors graduating (Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson and Gavin Edwards) two players transferring (Darius Smith and Jamaal Trice) and one unused scholarship from last year. Even if the NCAA winds up docking UConn a scholarship or two (a decision that likely won't happen before January), it won't affect any of the incoming freshmen.

***Rodl apparently wanted to keep Giffey to play on his first division pro team in Germany, but Giffey's parents (his dad's a professor, mom's an architect) wanted him to get a college education.

***Giffey is said to have a great feel for the game and a high skill level.