Former UConn guard Doug Wiggins had the highlight-reel dunk of the day on Saturday at the Greater Hartford Pro-Am, throwing one down over two-time Big East Scholar-Athlete of the Year Tim Abromaitis, the Farmington resident who played professionally in France last year.

Mike Aresco had some good news and some bad news for the hometown crowd gathered at the Middlesex Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting on Monday morning.

The Big East commissioner told the several hundred local businessmen and women gathered at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cromwell that UConn is “very committed” to the Big East, and promised that the conference will “continue on and be a greater conference than it was.”

But he told a small group of reporters afterwards that the UConn men’s basketball team’s flickering hopes to be included in this year’s Big East tournament have been extinguished.

“That’s over for this year. They won’t be in this year’s tournament,” Aresco said. “But we’ll welcome them back the following year, and we’ll be delighted to have them back.”

UConn is barred from any postseason tournament this season due to recent low Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores. However, school officials have reportedly been lobbying the league’s presidents to at least allow the team to play in the annual conference tournament at Madison Square Garden. The school feels, among other things, that the APR system punishes current players for past players’ academic shortcomings.

“Susan (Herbst, UConn’s president), wasn’t there when all this happened,” he said. “They’ve corrected everything. They’ve got a terrific APR now, they’re doing much better. This is just one of those things. It happened, and it’s something they’re going to have to get through.”

It was a homecoming of sorts for Aresco, the Middletown native and Xavier High graduate. Larry McHugh, the Middlesex Chamber of Commerce president and chairman of UConn’s board of trustees, was Aresco’s football coach at Xavier. In fact, this year’s Xavier football team was honored at the breakfast for winning its third straight Class LL state title.

No doubt, it was good to be among friends and familiar faces for Aresco, who has been besieged by conference realignment and high-profile defections from the Big East ever since he took over as commissioner in August.

“It’s been a lot more interesting than I thought it would be, a lot more challenges, a lot more things to navigate, so it’s been a little more difficult,” Aresco noted. “You basically take it a day a time, with every challenge that will come.”

Aresco told the audience that, while UConn is “very committed” to the Big East, he can’t predict what the school will ultimately do when it comes to realignment.

“You never know what’s going to happen, none of us can predict,” he said. “That’s one thing I won’t do. But as conferences consolidate, get bigger, I think they re-think what they’re doing. I think there will be a period of calm. That doesn’t mean it’s over. UConn has been very committed to this model. It’s a good model.”

Aresco said that the Big East will eventually add a 12^th football-playing member (it will have 10 next year and 11 when Navy joins in 2015). The conference is “getting closer” to a TV deal that could involve multiple network, though he didn’t know when that deal would be finalized.

He noted that there is no animosity towards the so-called “Catholic 7” for breaking away from the conference and looking out for themselves. Nor is there animosity towards Louisville or other schools for departing for other conferences.

“Conference realignment is a fact of life,” Aresco said, “but you have to play the cards you’re dealt.”

Aresco did point out, however, that the conference would be looking to keep the Big East name.

“There’s brand equity in that,” he noted.

He also said that the Big East-SEC Invitational basketball tournament will no longer be continued.

Elsewhere:  I caught up with former UConn star Jim Abromaitis at the breakfast. He said his son Tim, the former Notre Dame standout, is playing professionally for a team called Asvel in Lyon, France, and doing very well. 

Happy to say I'll be Connecticut's AP Top 25 men's basketball voter again this season. I think this is the fourth straight year? Those Sunday night West Coast late games are always fun when your ballot's supposed to be in by Sunday night.

Anyway, here's the preseason Top 25 I submitted to the AP a few minutes ago (minus the occasionally witty blurbs). Although they are eligible to be voted for despite their postseason ban, UConn doesn't make the cut:

1. Louisville
Rick Pitino may be, in Jim Boeheim's words, "full of (bleep)," but the defending Big East champ Cardinals certainly aren't.
2. Indiana
Most figured Tom Crean would get Hoosiers back to national prominence quickly. Led by Cody Zeller, it's happening now.
3. Kentucky
The beat goes on: farewell, Anthony Davis; hello, Nerlens Noel. (By the way, didn't Yankees notice that 'Cats won national title this season?).
4. Michigan
I've always loved John Beilein as a coach. Give him a team brimming with talent and watch out.
5. N.C. State
On Dec. 4 at MSG, UConn will see first-hand if Wolfpack deserve preseason tabs as ACC's best team.
6. Ohio State
I'm a little leery of Buckeyes without a dominant big man in middle, but Aaron Craft is a top guard.
7. Duke
OK, let's get our Plumlees straight: Miles is gone, Mason's back and Marshall's ready to go. Right? Right.
8. Kansas
Jayhawks slipped from first to second in Big 12 for first time in eight seasons last year. Not likely to repeat that this season.
9. North Carolina
If UConn players could have taken phony courses UNC players have been taking, they might be eligible for NCAA tourney this year.
10. Florida
Gators will be playing Yale in New Haven on Jan. 6 so that Rhode Island's Erik Murphy gets a chance to play game closer to home. Should be fun.
11. Syracuse
Orange play UConn for final time as members of the Big East on Feb. 13 in Hartford. Sad.
12. Michigan State
The Kevin Ollie Era (and '12-13 college hoops season) kicks off with bang when Huskies face talented Spartans Nov. 9 in Germany.
13. UCLA
If Shabazz Muhammed, Kyle Anderson are deemed eligible, Bruins could be Final Four-bound.
14. Arizona
After starring at Xavier last year, Mark Lyons gets to play for Wildcats this season as a grad student. Odd.
15. Creighton
Blue Jays have one of best players in nation in coach's son Doug McDermott, who could average over 25 per game this season.
16. Memphis
Will Joe Jackson be "Steppin' Out" as one of nation's elite players this season?
17. Baylor
Surprised Scott Drew hasn't found a way to get Brittany Griner to play for his team.
18. San Diego State
Fab Five father Steve Fisher has top four scorers returning from last year's Mountain West regular season champs.
19. Missouri
Those predicting that Mizzou is Final Four good apparently feel Alex Oriakhi will be 2010-11 Oriakhi, not '11-12 Oriakhi.
20. St. Louis
It's too bad Rick Majerus (heart issues) will be sidelined for what could be Billiken's most exciting season in years.
21. Notre Dame
With Farmington's Tim Abromaitis unable to secure a waiver to play, who'll be Big East's scholar-athlete of the year this season?
22. UNLV
Roscoe Smith won't be able to play this season for this "organization" (as he likes to call teams), but Rebels are very strong.
23. Pittsburgh
With a healthy Tray Woodall and frosh Steven Adams in two, no way Jamie Dixon has second disappointing season in a row.
24. Virginia Commonwealth
Another NCAA tourney run will make Shaka Smart even more attractive to big programs (including Warde Manuel?).
25. Tennessee
After watching Jarnell Stokes dominate UConn first-hand last year, I'm pretty high on the Vols this season.

ALL-AMERICA:

Doug McDermott, Creighton

Cody Zeller, Indiana

Isaiah Cannan, Murray State

Jamaal Franklin, San Diego State

C.J. Leslie, NC State

So why is UConn's game at South Bend on Saturday an 11 a.m. start? Blame the NFL.

ESPN and the Big East want to avoid going head-to-head with NFL playoff games at any measure. With Saturday's NFL games at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., the UConn-Notre Dame game will be long over by the time people start tuning into NFL pregame shows and the like (though ESPN's own NFL Countdown runs from 10 a.m. to noon that day; the UConn game is on espn2).

And the game is an 11 a.m. local start, too. South Bend is on Eastern Standard Time. So it's not really that big a deal that the game starts at 11 a.m. rather than noon (even though the losing coach might gripe about it).

*** As for the game itself, while Notre Dame may be a bit down this season with the loss ot Farmington's Tim Abromaitis, it has won 29 straight home games, including last night's win over South Florida.

Remember, there is no such thing as an easy road game in the Big East -- unless your Cincinnati. Somehow, the Bearcats have won six straight Big East road games, including Monday night's upset of No. 11 Georgetown.

And, of course, UConn host Cincy next Wednesday at Gampel.

*** Finally, here's my story today about the maturation process of Andre Drummond.

Shabazz Napier has been selected as one of 21 players to compete at the 2011 USA Basketball Men's World University Games training camp starting Friday and running through Aug. 7. He'll be competing for one of 12 spots on the team that will represent the USA at the World University Games Aug. 13-22 in Shenzhen, China.

UConn's Alex Oriakhi has withdrawn from camp, but it is not injury-related, according to a UConn spokesman.

Orange's Greg Mangano of Yale and Farmington's Tim Abromaitis will also be trying out for the team.

Here's the press release:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 28, 2011) – It was announced today by USA Basketball that UConn sophomore guard Shabazz Napier (Randolph, Mass.) has been selected as one of 21 athletes to compete at the 2011 USA Basketball Men’s World University Games Team training camp.

The training camp, which will be held July 29-Aug. 7 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center (USOTC), will be used to select the 12-member team that will represent the USA at the 2011 World University Games men’s basketball competition Aug. 13-22 in Shenzhen, China.

“I’m excited to get to Colorado Springs and get our training camp started,” said USA and Purdue University head mentor Matt Painter, who previously assisted the 2009 USA U19 World Championship Team to a gold medal. “I love to coach the game of basketball, and we’ve got a group of young men coming in whom I’m really looking forward to working with. This should be a fun and beneficial experience for everyone involved.

“As a coach, I’m always looking for guys who play hard, take care of the ball and make good decisions,” Painter continued. “When you do those three things, you’re usually pretty successful. Other than that, we’ll look to see how different guys fit together on and off the court, and how guys’ skill sets complement each other.”

The USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Committee, chaired by Jim Boeheim (head coach, Syracuse University), is expected on July 31 to announce finalists for the 2011 USA World University Games Team. Training camp will continue July 31-Aug. 7 at the USOTC, and the official roster will be announced prior to the team’s departure for China on Aug. 8.

Napier finished his rookie campaign averaging 7.8 points, 3.0 assists and 1.6 steals per game and was selected to the BIG EAST All-Rookie Team.

USA Basketball also announced it has added guards Ray McCallum (Detroit Mercy/Beverly Hills, Mich.) and Shabazz Napier (Connecticut/Randolph, Mass.) to the training camp roster, while Tu Holloway (Xavier/Hempstead, N.Y.), Alex Oriakhi (Connecticut/Lowell, Mass.) and Jordan Taylor (Wisconsin/Bloomington, Minn.) have withdrawn from participating in training camp.

Along with McCallum and Napier, also participating in the 2011 USA Basketball Men’s World University Games Team Training Camp are: Tim Abromaitis (Notre Dame/Unionville, Conn.); Bradford Burgess (VCU/Midlothian, Va.); Marcus Denmon (Missouri/Kansas City, Mo.); Kim English (Missouri/Baltimore, Md.); Yancy Gates (Cincinnati/ Cincinnati, Ohio); Ashton Gibbs (Pittsburgh/Scotch Plains, N.J.); Draymond Green (Michigan State/Saginaw, Mich.); JaMychal Green (Alabama/Montgomery, Ala.); Scoop Jardine (Syracuse/Philadelphia, Pa.); John Jenkins (Vanderbilt/Hendersonville, Tenn.); Orlando Johnson (UC Santa Barbara/Seaside, Calif.); Greg Mangano (Yale/Orange, Conn.); Trevor Mbakwe (Minnesota/St. Paul, Minn.); C.J. McCollum (Lehigh/ Canton, Ohio); Khris Middleton (Texas A&M/North Charleston, S.C.); Darius Miller (Kentucky/Maysville, Ky.); Tony Mitchell (Alabama/Swainsboro, Ga.); Aaric Murray (West Virginia/Philadelphia, Pa.); and John Shurna (Northwestern/Glen Ellyn, Ill.).

Collegiate head coaches Cuonzo Martin of the University of Tennessee and Brad Stevens of Butler University were named as assistant coaches for the 2011 USA Men’s World University games team, and Tony Bennett (University of Virginia), Sean Miller (University of Arizona) and Shaka Smart (Virginia Commonwealth University) are serving as court coaches during the team’s training camp.

Five of the players possess prior USA Basketball experience. Jardine and Shurna were members of the USA Select Team that trained against the 2010 USA Men’s National Team in Las Vegas.

Gibbs, Miller and Shurna helped the USA to a gold medal and 9-0 record at the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship, and JaMychal Green was a member of the 2008 U.S. team that captured a 4-1 record and silver medal at the 2008 FIBA Americas U18 Championship.

The training camp roster features two players – Abromaitis and Jardine – who graduated in 2011 with remaining eligibility, 12 athletes from the class of 2012, five athletes who will graduate in 2013 and two players – McCallum and Napier – who recently completed their freshman seasons and will graduate in 2014.

Nine NCAA conferences are represented on the training roster, including six schools from the Big East Conference, three schools from the Big Ten Conference and the Southeastern Conference (SEC), two schools from the Big 12 Conference and one program apiece from the Big West Conference, Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), Horizon League, Ivy League and Patriot League.

Sixteen players earned individual recognition from their respective conferences following the
2010-11 season, including the Big East Scholar Athlete of the Year, Abromaitis, and the Horizon League Newcomer of the Year, McCallum.

Listing on their conference first teams were: Denmon (Big 12), Gibbs (Big East), JaMychal Green (SEC), Jenkins (SEC), Johnson (Big West), Mangano (Ivy League) and McCollum (Patriot League).

Second team members included: Mbawke (Big Ten), McCallum (Horizon), Middleton (Big 12) and Mitchell (SEC).

Third team selections were: Abromaitis (Big East), Draymond Green (Big Ten) and Shurna (Big Ten).

Additionally, Jardine (Big East) was an honorable mention, and Napier listed on the Big East
All-Rookie team.

In addition to Boeheim, the 2009-12 USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Committee includes NCAA appointees Lorenzo Romar (head coach, University of Washington), Bruce Weber (head coach, University of Illinois) and Roy Williams (head coach, University of North Carolina); and athlete representative Jay Williams, a member of the 2002 USA World Championship Team.
World University Games

The 2011 World University Games men’s basketball competition will be held Aug. 13-22 in Shenzhen, China. In all, 24 countries will compete in the international competition.

The USA has been slotted into Pool D, along with Finland, Hungary, Israel, Mexico and South Korea. The red, white and blue will open play against Mexico at 6:00 p.m. on Aug. 13 (all times listed are China Standard Time, which is +12 hours from Eastern Time) and will then play Hungary at 3:30 p.m. on Aug. 14; South Korea at 3:30 p.m. on Aug. 15; Finland at 6:00 p.m. on Aug. 17; and Israel at 3:30 p.m. on Aug. 18.

Following the preliminary round, the top two teams in the standings from each pool will advance to the medal quarterfinals, which will be contested on Aug. 20. The semifinals are on Aug. 21, and the finals will be played on Aug. 22.

The World University Games are held every other year and are organized by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The World University Games is a multi-sport competition open to men and women who are between the ages of 17 and 24 (born between January 1, 1987 and December 31, 1993), and is or has been within the past year, a student at a college or university.

The United States, which has claimed a medal in every World University Games since beginning play in 1965, has captured a record 13 golds, three silvers and three bronze medals in the 19 WUGs in which a USA Basketball squad has competed, and the U.S. owns a 131-8 record in the event. Most recently, the USA men earned the bronze medal after finishing 6-1 and suffering a one-point loss to Russia in the semifinals.

Eighteen players who have represented the USA in the World University Games have gone on to compete in the Olympic Games, including Ray Allen, Stacey Augmon, Charles Barkley, Larry Bird, Bill Bradley, Quinn Buckner, Tom Burleson, Ken Davis, Tim Duncan, Phil Hubbard, Allen Iverson, Mitch Kupchak, Karl Malone, Michael Redd, Mitch Richmond, Michael Silliman, Steve Smith and Jo Jo White.

Alex Oriakhi will be part of a group of 22 players that the USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Committee has selected to attend the 2011 USA Basketball Men’s World University Games Team training camp.

The training camp, which will be held July 29-Aug. 7 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center (USOTC) in Colorado Springs, Colo., will be used to select the 12-member team that will represent the USA at the 2011 World University Games men’s basketball competition Aug. 13-23 in Shenzhen, China.

Oriakhi averaged 9.6 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game during his sophomore campaign with Connecticut. He finished the season with 11 double-doubles, including 11 points and 11 rebounds in UConn’s 53-41 victory of Butler in the National Championship.

The USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Committee, chaired by NCAA representative Jim Boeheim is expected on July 31 to announce finalists for the 2011 USA World University Games Team. Training camp will continue July 31-Aug. 7 at the USOTC, with the official roster being announced prior to the teams’ departure for China on Aug. 8.

“After a lot of thought and consideration of potential players, the committee has put together a very strong roster for the USA Men’s World University Games Team training camp,” said Boeheim. “As always, the committee will be looking for not only the most talented players, but also players that will work well as a team.”

Accepting invitations to attend the 2011 USA Basketball World University Games Team training camp were: Tim Abromaitis (Notre Dame/Unionville, Conn.); Bradford Burgess (VCU/Midlothian, Va.); Marcus Denmon (Missouri/Kansas City, Mo.); Kim English (Missouri/Baltimore, Md.); Yancy Gates (Cincinnati/ Cincinnati, Ohio); Ashton Gibbs (Pittsburgh/Scotch Plains, N.J.); Draymond Green (Michigan State/Saginaw, Mich.); JaMychal Green (Alabama/Montgomery, Ala.); Tu Holloway (Xavier/Hempstead, N.Y.); Scoop Jardine (Syracuse/Philadelphia, Pa.); John Jenkins (Vanderbilt/Hendersonville, Tenn.); Orlando Johnson (UC Santa Barbara/Seaside, Calif.); Greg Mangano (Yale/Orange, Conn.); Trevor Mbakwe (Minnesota/St. Paul, Minn.); C.J. McCollum (Lehigh/Canton, Ohio); Khris Middleton (Texas A&M/North Charleston, S.C.); Darius Miller (Kentucky/Maysville, Ky.); Tony Mitchell (Alabama/Swainsboro, Ga.); Aaric Murray (West Virginia/Philadelphia, Pa.); Alex Oriakhi (Connecticut/Lowell, Mass.); John Shurna (Northwestern/ Glen Ellyn, Ill.); and Jordan Taylor (Wisconsin/ Bloomington, Minn.).

Purdue University head coach Matt Painter, who previously assisted the 2009 USA U19 World Championship Team to a gold medal, has been selected as head coach of the 2011 USA Men’s World University Games Team, while collegiate head coaches Cuonzo Martin of the University of Tennessee and Brad Stevens of Butler University were named as assistant coaches.

The training camp roster features two players – Abromaitis and Jardine – who will graduate in 2011 with remaining eligibility, 14 athletes from the class of 2012 and six athletes who will graduate in 2013.

In addition to Boeheim, the 2009-12 USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Committee includes NCAA appointees Lorenzo Romar (head coach, University of Washington), Bruce Weber (head coach, University of Illinois) and Roy Williams (head coach, University of North Carolina); and athlete representative Jay Williams, a member of the 2002 USA World Championship Team.

Tyler Olander, a 6-9 power forward from Mansfield who attends E.O. Smith High, has committed to UConn, per scout.com.

Olander, who transferred to E.O. Smith (right at the foot of the UConn campus) from Worcester Academy last fall, is a good athlete who can also shoot from distance. He made an unofficial visit to UConn to take in the Huskies' win over Texas on Jan. 23.

It's interesting that the Huskies have gone local to find a big man who can shoot (something they very much need). UConn hasn't had great results with local kids in the recent future, with Doug Wiggins being the latest example.

However, the Huskies have also missed on a couple of kids from the area over the last few years -- Farmington's Tim Abromaitis, who was one of the Big East's leading scorers this season at Notre Dame, and Jordan Williams, who just finished a terrific freshman season at Maryland.

More to come ...

Jim Calhoun has been insisting for a while now that he sees things in practice from Charles Okwandu and Ater Majok that fans and media aren't seeing in games.

"Suuuure you have, coach," has often been the collective (if unspoken) thought among UConn's media horde.

On Saturday, Calhoun's practice-time observations finally proved not to be fables – at least in the case of Okwandu. In the "where-did-that-come-from?" dept., Okwandu scored 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting, had five rebounds (three offensive) in 14 minutes and – perhaps most stunningly – only committed two fouls.

Okwandu, a raw, 7-foot junior center who had seen exactly one minute of action over the prior four games and didn't even make the trip to Cincinnati on Wednesday due to an intersession class, checked into the game just over four minutes into the action after Majok picked up his second foul. He immediately scored on a short lane jumper, and two minutes later, grabbed a rebound and hit a jump hook, then followed that up with putback.

In that four-minute span, Okwandu had matched his entire scoring output for the entire season.

Okwandu wound up hitting a 12-footer before the half ended and scoring off an inbounds pass early in the latter half.

"He shocked us a little bit, no question about it," Notre Dame coach Mike Brey confessed. "They can run a lot of bodies at you like that and run you down. He happened to really deliver. He did a good job getting on the backboard, made a couple of 10-foot jump shots. I didn't know if he could do that, and he did that today. It really hurt us."

Calhoun, however, wasn't as shocked.

"He's looked so good in practice," said the coach. "You wouldn't believe the two great days he had. I think the positive it does, it gives us another big guy, and it gives Ater somebody now, instead of worrying about what he has to do to help this team win, he has to work harder to get playing time over Charles. And that will be good for Ater."

It was enough to earn Okwandu what had to be another first: an invitation to the postgame media room.

"I just needed to come out of my shell and play very hard," said the soft-spoken big man. "I haven't been playing good from the beginning of this season, but I kept working hard. They keep telling me to work hard, and I did. When you work hard, it pays later. I think today was the day."

Calhoun isn't the only one who's noticed Okwandu's prowess in practice.

"He makes great moves in practice, makes that elbow jump shot that he made today," said Jerome Dyson. "It was really just a point of getting him in there. In past games, he's been in foul trouble. Today he played good defense, stayed on the floor and showed what he's capable of doing."

So, has Okwandu raised the bar to where Calhoun will expect this kind of performance regularly?

"I've always expected, both he and Ater … to break through. This is his breakthrough night, Ater hasn't had one. I fully expect Ater to have one. Ater does some things in practice, we aren't imagining them, we see them. I always think Jerome plays better in games than he does in practice. Charles and Ater always play better, up to this point, in practice."

Ah yes, Ater. After being replaced by Okwandu four minutes into the game, he didn't returned, finishing with zero points and no rebounds.

***Stanley Robinson sat in a chair in the interview room sporting a green hooded sweatshirt with a shamrock on it under the word "UConn." A "tribute" to today's opponent, Notre Dame? Nope.

"Ray Allen," Sticks said of the ex-UConn, current Celtic star.

If Robinson keeps playing like this, he'll be in the NBA next year with Allen, perhaps after being selected in the draft lottery.

Robinson is currently not only one of the best players in the Big East, he's one of the very best players in the entire country.

"He's got elite talent, he's starting to become an elite player," said Calhoun. "He's playing terrific. He feels good about himself.

Said Brey: "Jim's done a great job teaching him how to play and become a better basketball player. He was always a great athlete. He was probably a great athlete in sixth grade. But he's become a very good basketball player in their system, not forcing things, taking what the defense gives him. And I think this year, you can tell he leads this group. He's talking in the huddles and is setting a good tone with a lot of young frontline guys. Definitely one of the better players in the league and in the country."

As for "The Play" – Robinson's one-handed putback dunk of his own missed 6-footer off his own missed free throw 5 ½ minutes into the second half:

"That seems to happen almost every game. I can tell when I'm going to miss the shot, I can tell it's going to come back to me," Robinson said, with a shrug. "I missed the shot and I got the rebound back, missed that one, and I just stuck with it."

Calhoun was more impressed, but Dyson not as much.

"We've seen that from him before, it's really nothing you're kind of in awe (about), because you know he's capable of doing anything."

By the numbers:

***Thanks to Edwards and Okwandu (and two from Jamal Coombs-McDaniel), UConn's bench outscored Notre Dame's, 25-0.

***Luke Harangody scored a game-high 31 points on 14-for-27 shooting, but had just two free throw attempts. He was averaging more than 7 trips to the line per game.

***UConn outscored the Irish 50-28 in the paint.

***The lead changed 17 times in the game before the Huskies went ahead for good on Robinson's putback with 10:11 left.

***Dyson and Kemba Walker each had 10 assists, the first time a UConn duo has ever notched double-figures in assists in a Big East game.

***Robinson (22 and 16) Dyson and Walker each notched double-doubles.

***Robinson also helped hold Farmington's Tim Abromaitis to eight points on 3-for-9 shooting.

"... but what does Abromaitis do now that blows you away that maybe no one saw ..."

Can you imagine Jim Calhoun being asked that question on Saturday if Tim Abromaitis, the Farmington High product whose father starred at UConn in the 1970's, burns the Huskies for 30?

Actually, it would be a far less fair question to ask than it was when colleague Dave Solomon broached the Ryan Gomes subject back in 2004, leading to one of Calhoun's most famous blow-ups. Abromaitis was hardly a top recruit out of high school, with Northwestern and William & Mary his only other major suitors besides Notre Dame. (Still, Calhoun can't use the "I took Emeka Okafor and Caron Butler. They're not bad!" excuse. The only player UConn got in Abromaitis's 2007 recruiting class was Donnell Beverly).

For his part, Abromaitis hardly holds a grudge that his father's alma mater and hometown team didn't give him a sniff in high school.

"Not at all. Not really. I went through the whole process, they never really looked at me, so I was just taking it as what were the best options for me. I'm glad I ended up here."

He added that he didn't grow up dreaming about one day being a Husky.

"I never really thought about playing in college. I didn’t know if I'd be capable or not. Once I started getting recruited, they really didn’t come after me."

Abromaitis, a 6-foot-8, 235-pound junior with two years of eligibility left, is averaging 16.2 points per game. He's hit 40 of 77 3-point attempts for a 51.9-percent clip, third in the Big East (Stanley Robinson is second, though he's made just 12 of 21).

Can't say the Huskies couldn't use a shooter like that. Just sayin' ...

"He came along slowly," said Notre Dame coach Mike Brey. "He's the youngest kid we ever signed, he was stacked behind older guys. He absorbed our system, watching the older guys, and when he got an opportunity he took advantage of it."

Brey added that Abromaitis has a steady, calm demeanor, and that will help him control his emotions playing in his hometown on Saturday.

"He is who he is, and that really plays into his hands in a situation like this. I think that will really be helpful. His personality and demeanor will be helpful in this."

Oh, by the way, Abromaitis will graduate from Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business a full year ahead of schedule in May and has already been accepted in the school's MBA program.

Jim Calhoun put it succinctly, as only he could:

"You keep fooling with Mother Nature, she'll put that lightning bolt right through us."

Break out the Calhoun-to-English dictionary and here's the translation: if UConn continues to play like this – weak off the boards, hapless foul shooting and, perhaps most worrisome, startlingly thin off the bench – they could be in some serious trouble, starting on Wednesday night against fifth-ranked Kentucky at Madison Square Garden. The Huskies simply couldn't put the pesky Harvard on Sunday, despite pumping their lead up to as many as 16 points two different times.

"If we play in spurts against Kentucky," Calhoun concluded, "we can't beat them."

The 14th-ranked Huskies will more than take the box score-filling effort of Jerome Dyson, who fell an assist shy of a triple-double (24 points, 14 rebounds, nine dimes) while doing his best to guard Crimson top scorer Jeremy Lin. They'll gladly take the 18 points and 12 boards from Stanley Robinson, the 20 points from Kemba Walker and 12 off the bench from Gavin Edwards.

But with freshman center Alex Oriakhi turning in his "worst performance in a Connecticut uniform," per Calhoun, and just five points coming from other sources, the Huskies clearly need a more balanced team effort Wednesday night.

Unless, of course, you ask the UConn players themselves.

"We don't really base our play off a previous game," said Edwards. "We'll just kind of take a step forward after this and get ready to play Kentucky on Wednesday."

Added Walker: "We have no reason to be concerned. As long as we go in with our game plan, we should be perfectly fine."

***Calhoun's enthusiasm over Dyson's overall effort was somewhat tempered.

"He was brilliant, at times. But he's reflective somewhat of our team."

Late in the game, Dyson was called for a charging foul – one of numerous times on Sunday where he aimlessly drove into trouble.

"If he continues doing that, it will cost us a game," Calhoun predicted.

***The coach didn't mince words regarding freshman center Alex Oriakhi:


"That was his worst game in a Connecticut uniform. He couldn't catch the ball, couldn't rebound the ball, couldn't play defense. Besides that, he was terrific."

In fact, Oriakhi's Okwandu-esque effort had Calhoun wishing he had played Big Chuck for more than just the game's first three minutes.

"Charles did nothing today to deserve only playing three minutes," Calhoun said. "I probably should have given him a chance."

Indeed, Okwandu stuck a 13-footer just over a minute into the game and managed to grab a rebound and block a shot in his short stint.

Back to Oriakhi: "I don’t think he's getting better," said Calhoun. "As a matter of fact offensively, he's heading the other way. He's a freshman, that can happen to you. Alex is too good a player, too good an athlete to play the way he played."

***Edwards had six blocked shots and now has 23 in the Huskies' first seven games.

"Those are starting to get to Hasheem and Emeka numbers," Calhoun noted.

***Jamal Coombs-McDaniel wasn't any better than his high school buddy Oriakhi. The frosh had one point (1-for-4 foul shooting) in eight minutes.

"He's our best 3-point shooter in practice," Calhoun said. "(In games), he's not just missing, he's putting up air balls."

***Calhoun was far more complimentary – and rightfully so – of Lin, who poured in a career high-tying 30 points, including the Crimson's final 11 of the game (replete with a spectacular driving, two-handed dunk with 13.5 seconds left).

"What I really like about him as that he's athletic, more than you think," Calhoun said. "He controls his temperament to a real nice tempo, he knows how to play. He's one of the better kids, including Big East guards, who have come in here in quite some time."

"He's a little more athletic Doron Sheffer … I can't think of a team he wouldn't play for."

*** Harvard coach Tommy Amaker blew off several telephone interview requests over the past week, and apparently did the same to the UConn radio team prior to Sunday's game.

***In the "Just Sayin'" Dept.: Notre Dame's Tim Abromaitis, a Farmington resident and son of former UConn star Jim Abromaitis, poured in 31 for the Fighting Irish today in a win over Central Florida.

***UConn is offering a holiday ticket promotion to fans of its nationally-ranked UConn men's and women's basketball programs for a total of five games over the upcoming holidays.

For each ticket purchased (up to a maximum of eight) for any of the selected games, purchasers will receive an additional ticket for the same game at no charge.

The promotion is for two women's games and three men's games. The women's games are Sunday, Dec. 20 against Iona (6 p.m.) at Gampel and Wednesday, Dec. 23 against No. 2 Stanford (5:30 p.m.) at the XL Center.

The men's games, all at the XL Center, are Sunday, Dec. 20 against Central Florida (1 p.m.), Tuesday, Dec. 22 against Maine (7 p.m.)and Sunday, Dec. 27 against Iona (2 p.m.). Orders can be placed by going to UConnHuskies.com and clicking on the "Buy Tickets" link in the Ticket Center. Fans can then click the "Promotions" link.