Two of UConn's Class of 2016 commitments have signed their national letters of intent, while the other two should be doing so over the next few days.

Vance Jackson, the 6-foot-8 forward out of California, signed his at a ceremony out at Prolific Prep in Napa, California on Wednesday.

It's official!!! #Uconn #BleedBlue pic.twitter.com/KWJBJQr4Zf

— Vance Jackson (@vancejackson26) November 11, 2015

Meanwhile, Juwan Durham, the 6-11 center out of Tampa who will sit out this season after tearing an ACL for the second time in seven months, signed his down at Tampa Prep on Wednesday, as well.

Juwan Durham signs his letter of intent for UConn. @TampaPrep @tampaprepbball @TBO_PrepSports pic.twitter.com/wbKnllZk2f

— Olivia Stacey (@Olivia_Stacey) November 11, 2015

Point guard Alterique Gilbert out of Georgia is expected to ink his LOI over the next day or two, while Mamadou Diarra of Putnam Science Academy will do so during his team's "Midnight Madness" festivities on Saturday night.

*** Elsewhere, not sure if people knew that Ted Woodward was back at UConn (he has been for about a year now) ... but he is back in Storrs, in a different capacity. Woodward spent 10 years as the head coach at Maine before being fired after the 2014 season. Ironically, UConn opens its 2015-16 season against Maine on Friday night at Gampel.

Kevin Ollie spoke a little bit today about Friday night's opponent, Maine, which is 1-6 and lost to NJIT Wednesday night.

"They're gonna play with their backs against the wall. They need a good win, a good performance. They've got some capable players over there, four guys in double digits. We've got to guard the 3-point line."

Obviously, the possibility exists of a letdown for UConn, coming off Monday night's dramatic, emotional, one-point win over nationally-ranked Florida at Gampel.

"I've told (the team), 'Don’t get drunk off success, don’t start reading press clippings. You're a great team, but you're just that far from being a bad team. You've gotta keep working hard, prepare like you’re playing Florida again. I don’t care who’s coming in XL Center, you've gotta play against that imaginary champion every single day."

Maine coach Ted Woodward is a former UConn assistant under Jim Calhoun. He left UConn before Ollie arrived as a player, but the two have maintained a good friendship over the years.

"He's a great man, I spent a lot of time with him recruiting when I was an assistant. Coach (Calhoun) is very fond of him. Hearing stories of them together, it’s great. Anybody that’s been at this beautiful school, he’s part of the family. He’s on the other side now, but he's part of family, just like Coach Pikiell, Coach Moore. Hopefully he can turn this around -- after Friday, though."

*** Spoke briefly today with Melvin Swift, a Class of 2014 forward who cut his final list down to UConn, UMass and SMU today. The Houston native says he'll be visiting UConn (and the other schools) "real soon."

Asked what he likes about UConn, Swift said: "It's a good school and it has good people there ... and I know they have a great basketball team and coaches."

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.

Nowhere in the UConn men's basketball record book is there a mention of "Longest Time it Took to Dribble the Ball Through the Husky at Midcourt." Jim Calhoun believes the old record may have been about three seconds, until Thursday night.

"It took us five seconds to get the ball across, through the Husky," Calhoun exclaimed.

So, he called a timeout -- five seconds into the half. Apparently, that's not a record either, according to Maine coach Ted Woodward (a former UConn assistant).

"I do believe I've seen that once before, a long time ago," Woodward said with a smile. "I wasn't surprised."

During the TO, Calhoun really laid into Jeremy Lamb, the ballhandler who didn't push the ball fast enough.

“He was just trying to push me,” Lamb explained. “He didn’t think I was playing as hard as I could, so he just basically told me to pick it up.”

Apparently, Calhoun’s trigger-finger timeout and tirade sunk in, as UConn responded with a 23-2 run to open the latter half en route to an 80-60 win over Maine Thursday night before 10,726 at the XL Center.

“I hate taking timeouts, I hate yanking them in an out,” Calhoun, who's been doing such for years, insisted. “But we seem to make a lot of the same mistakes.”

*** Calhoun wasn't happy overall after the game. He says the team still lacks an identity and isn't playing with enthusiasm. He acted like the team had just lost by 20, not won by 20. To me, he's trying to energize and motivate this team. They're not playing that poorly, though there's certainly a lot of room for improvement.

The only player he thought played well on Thursday was Andre Drummond, who finished with 11 points, 14 rebounds (11 of them offensive) and four blocks.


The downside: Drummond was a grisly 1-for-8 from the foul line (and the misses weren't even close) and is now shooting 23 percent (3-for-13) from the stripe this season.

“Andre’s already asked about coming back and shooting foul shots,” Calhoun said. “I’m not going to worry about it … He’s going to work at it. I’ll take the package he is right now.”

“I was like, yeah, I’m going back as soon as I get back to the gym," Drummond admitted. "I’m going to change in my practice gear and going to shoot. I’m not going to make any excuses. That’s just me, right now. I’ve just got to go out and work harder, and make sure I get my free throws down.”

Drummond didn't start, but that could change soon.

“I’m not going to keep a guy with 11 offensive rebounds on the bench, that’s for sure," Calhoun said.

*** Personally, I thought DeAndre Daniels (in the first half) and Shabazz Napier also played pretty well. Daniels, in his first start, scored 11 of his 15 points in the opening half, canning a pair of 3-pointers, though he cooled off in the latter. He wound up with seven rebounds.

Napier, still playing very much under control with the knowledge that Ryan Boatright isn't there to back him up, picked and chose his spots nicely and finished with eight points, five rebounds and three assists. He twisted his ankle with about eight minutes left and never returned, but it doesn't appear to be serious.

*** Boatright continues to sit out as the NCAA explores his eligibility. According to Calhoun, it appears college sports’ governing body is now determining the enforcement process. If UConn receives no word by Friday at 5 p.m., it likely won’t hear anything until Monday at the earliest, meaning Boatright’s trip with the team to the Bahamas could be in jeopardy.

*** Calhoun was asked about the molestation charges levied Thursday against longtime Syracuse assistant coach Bernie Fine.

“I know nothing about it,” he said. “I’d be shocked, just like I was about Penn State … anybody in America, I’d be shocked by it … (Sexual abuse of children) is just a horrific thing for America.”

Maine, UConn's opponent tomorrow night, is coached by Ted Woodward, an assistant at UConn for Calhoun's first three seasons (1986-89).

Here's what Calhoun had to say about Woodward on Wednesday:

"Ted Woodward was a great guy to have on staff and was a part of things here when we started it going in the right direction. He has done a really good job at a very tough place and I know his team will come down here and give us a handful. It is not at all the same UConn that it was when Ted was here, but it is because of the hard work by guys like him and Glen Miller in those days that helped to lay the groundwork for the type of program we are today."

Of course, that differs a bit from this funny story Calhoun told us four years ago, prior to UConn's Dec. 22, 2007 bout with Maine. Surely, that's not something he'd be repeating in these days of heightened NCAA compliance.

Anyway, worth noting that Calhoun is 14-0 all-time against his former assistants, including 2-0 vs. Woodward.