When UConn kicks off its 2015-16 season on Friday night at Gampel against Maine, there will be a somewhat familiar face on the opposing sidelines.

Bob Walsh is in his second season as head coach of the Black Bears. The name may not ring a bell, but Walsh was an assistant coach at Providence for seven seasons in the early-to-mid 2000's -- which means he was on the sidelines for those years when the Friars were a real thorn in the sides of the Huskies.

"The battles that we had ... obviously, they were an elite program," Walsh said of the Huskies. "It was a huge game for us, I know that. In that league, they were one of the elites. The passion of their fans, the program they've been able to build over there ... when people talk about what Storrs, Connecticut was 25, 30 years ago compared to what is is now ..."

Walsh, of course, was Tim Welsh's assistant for those seven seasons with the Friars. And here's some irony: Welsh will be SNY's analyst for Friday night's game. Awkward? Nah. Walsh is looking forward to it.

"It's really cool," said Walsh. "It is interesting, because I owe him so much. He hired me when I was 26, made me a Big East assistant and probably had more influence over my growth as a coach than anyone I’ve worked with."

Walsh added that Welsh's father, Jerry (a legendary coach in upstate New York), calls him at the beginning of each season wishing him good luck.

"It's cool to think I've got a chance to coach against UConn, and (Tim Welsh) will be there," Walsh noted.

*** Friday night's game came about fairly late in the schedule-making process. Maine was slated to begin its season against URI, but Rhody backed out unexpectedly, leaving the Black Bears looking for an opening-night foe. Walsh knows Glen Miller from when Miller coached at Brown, and knows Karl Hobbs from when Hobbs was Jim Calhoun's assistant the first time around. The Huskies needed an opening-night opponent, and, voila.

"I just got done watching them against New Haven, and I was saying, 'Man, are they long and athletic,'" said Walsh. "I think they're really talented. My first question was, 'How did they struggle last year, by their standards?'"

"Jalen Adams is a monster," Walsh continued. "I'm watching it, (saying), 'Who's that? Oh, that's Jalen Adams.' I think their talent is remarkable. I think they're absolutely a Top 20 team."

*** The Black Bears have a local connection, as well: Bunnell High product Isaac Vann is a freshman forward for Maine who could very well start on Friday night. Vann, a 6-foot-5, athletic wing, had 22 points and 16 rebounds in an exhibition game against Division 3 Husson.

"We saw him play over the summer (of 2014) ... and thought he was real good, and there was no way we could get him," Walsh said. "Monmouth and some MAAC schools were all over him in the fall, but he said he wanted to take his time. We stayed in contact, and in the middle of the year, my assistant told me, 'I think we can get Isaac Vann.' My response was, 'Get outta here.' But we had him on campus with his mom, and he enjoyed it.

"We felt really good about getting a 6-5, athletic wing. He needs to put on weight. He's kind of 'UConn Lite,' For our level, he's kind of like the players UConn's had success with, a wing who can really score."

It's also worth noting that Vann is a cousin of former UConn guard Oliver Macklin.

OK, you'd much rather be looking forward to UConn's first-round (er, second-round) NCAA tournament game on Thursday or Friday. We understand. But since that's not happening, you can tune in to SNY tonight (Tuesday) at 7 p.m. for UConn's season-in-review show. Certainly an interesting season to review. Tim Welsh, Tarik Turner and Gary Apple do the honors.

UConn has its annual grudge match with Providence on Thursday at 7 p.m. at The Dunk, where strange things (marital aids, players' angry brothers) tend to happen. The teams will meet again in their respective Big East regular season finales on March 9 in Storrs.

No matter how bad the Friars are -- and they've been mostly bad in recent years, going 12-42 in Big East play the last three seasons -- they always seem to give UConn a battle. PC has won five of the last seven meetings and eight of the last 12, including a 72-70 win at the Dunk last February.

The Friars are stumbling through another season at 10-10 overall and 2-6 in the Big East, losers of three of their last four games. But you know they'll give UConn all they've got on Thursday -- they always do.

Here’s some of what Kevin Ollie had to say today:

On PC:

“They’re always tough in the Dunkin’ Donuts Center – I think it’s the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. They’ve got guards, (Vincent) Council’s coming back from his injury feeling more confident, (Kris) Dunn is coming back from his injury feeling more confident, Bryce Cotton averages 22 points a game. It’s a tough matchup. (LaDontae) Henton is also back down low, and Sidiki Johnson is getting minutes.”

"Coach Cooley’s gonna get that thing turned around. They’re playing hard, effective basketball. They’re passing the basketball, making the shots. And Cotton’s a tremendous scorer. We’re going to have to have an emphasis on stopping him.”

On how Dunn has helped Friars since he started playing on Dec. 18:

“His speed, how he attacks the basket, getting out in the passing lane. When they press, he puts tremendous ball pressure on opponents. He adds an extra dimension to them. (Josh) Fortune is real good, too.”

On whether he enjoyed playing at Providence back in the day:

“Not necessarily. They’ll say anything, that crowd. There were always competitive games – they had some great teams when I was playing – Michael Phelps, all the bigs they had, Michael Smith.”

(Ollie can be excused for his Jim Calhoun-like, name-mangling moment. Michael Phelps didn’t play hoops for the Friars before his Gold medal-winning swimming career. It was Robert Phelps Ollie was talking about).

Ollie recalled his game-winning shot against the Friars in 1994. It was a layup at the buzzer and his only basket of the game. It also got Donny Marshall off the hook after he had gotten a technical foul for "sarcastically clapping" at a referee after a call.

“I think it was (Jim) Burr,” Ollie recalled. “That’s the wrong person to clap to. He teched us up. I think that was my only field goal of the game. Good memories. I just remember saving Donny’s life on that one.”

Ollie on playing zone defense:

“I’m a man-to-man guy. I’m a Coach Calhoun disciple. I don’t really like playing zone, but to throw a team off, and with our guys who can get out and scramble a lot, it’s been effective – at times – for us.”

*** Omar Calhoun played high school basketball with Jordan Fuchs, the 6-foot-6 tight end who committed to UConn on Monday. Fuchs has hinted he might like to play hoops at UConn someday, as well, though that seems to be a long-shot, at best.

Anyway, Calhoun said he’s “good friends with him … a lot of people from New York like coming here because they know I’m having a good time here,” and added that Fuchs has some game on the hardwood.

“He’s pretty good … he’s like a wide-body kind of guy, runs the floor, he’s good.”

Calhoun said he hasn’t spoken to Fuchs since he committed, however, and has no idea if he intends on playing basketball.

*** UConn players gathered in a huddle after practice and seemed to be laughing and enjoying themselves quite a bit.

Said Calhoun: “Just having some fun, joking around. We have some good chemistry on this team. Everyone gets along. It’s a group of guys that like joking, but when we’re on the court, we get it done.”

*** Shabazz Napier said New England bragging rights are at stake tomorrow and recalled last year’s loss at The Dunk.

“Last year, we were winning the whole game and we just kind of gave them the game at the end. My freshman year, I think we played MarShon Brooks really well. I think that was when he was coming off his 55-point game. We’ve just got to play UConn basketball.”

*** Ryan Boatright sat out about the final 15 minutes or so of practice and had an ice pack wrapped around his left knee. However, Ollie said it was just a bout of tendonitis, which Boatright’s been battling all season, that flared up a little bit. Not big deal, it appears.

*** John Saunders will handle the play-by-play on espn2 and be joined by Tim Welsh as analyst. Welsh, of course, was PC's head coach for 10 seasons before being fired in 2008. This will be just the second time Welsh has done a TV game inside The Dunk since his firing. The first came last week against Pitt.

Former Providence coach Tim Welsh:

"He was always one of the fiercest competitors from afar. When you were toe-to-toe against him, he was not only one of the top coaches but one of the toughest guys on the sidelines.You always knew when you played his team, it was going to be a streetfight, and it was also going to be a track meet as well. They were street-tough, but they also played a game you liked to play and watch: uptempo and fast, but you knew you were going to have to play tough to win."

In my career as a sports writer, I can say I've never seen a worse loser than Jim Calhoun -- in the sense that he hated it so much. Refused to accept it, and a long-winded diatribe aimed largely at his players, sometimes at the media, usually followed. But Welsh came from a different point of view.

"When we were fortunate to beat him, he was always very gracious in defeat. He respected the other coach. He was trying to beat their brains in, but he knew their job was on the line and they were trying to do the same thing he was doing. He never showed another coach up. His sideline antics -- they were never against another coach, maybe the refs, but not a coach."

"The game will thoroughly miss him," Welsh continuted. "He's one of the personalities of the game you don't see. A lot of the great personalities are out of the game. Coaches now are more robotic, but he had that Boston, streetfighter mentalith, 'I'm the underdog.'"

Case in point: After Calhoun won his third national title, Welsh saw him at the after-party. Calhoun still had some nasty comments for certain media types who picked against his team in that game.

"That irked him," Welsh said with a laugh. "That's why he was so successful."

Here's what Scott Burrell had to say about Calhoun's retirement (colleague Bill Cloutier got the quotes):

"It’s a sad day for UConn basketball but he built a great legacy at UConn. He left on top no matter what the record says last year.

He’s going out as one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time.

He’s won three national championships and there’s not many coaches you can say that about.

I’m sure he’s happy with what he’s accomplished. I know his hip’s a little sore but I know deep down he’s happy."

Burrell said that he knew that Calhoun was going to retire he just didn’t know the timing of it.

On the eve of the BIG EAST tournament, SNYwill celebrate UConn’s storied men’s basketball program by unveiling Huskies Heroes: the top 10 all-time players on Monday, March 5 at 9 pm. In this one-hour show, fans can see where their favorite players – such as Ray Allen, Kemba Walker, Ben Gordon and Rip Hamilton rank among the all-time best. SNY experts and college basketball dignitaries debated, discussed and ultimately decided the top 10 Men’s basketball players of all-time at UConn.

The blue ribbon panel that selected the top ten UConn players includes:

· Mike Tranghese: Former BIG EAST Commissioner.

· Donny Marshall: Former UConn star basketball player.

· Joe D’Ambrosio: play-by-play voice for UConn Men’s basketball

· Phil Chardis: Associate Athletics Director of Communications for UConn

· Tim Welsh: Current SNY Analyst and Former BIG EAST Head Coach who previously earned

Coach of the Year honors in 1997 and 1998.

· Tarik Turner: SNY BIG EAST analyst

As the top-ten player rankings are released, host Gary Apple will be joined in-studio by a panel of experts – including Tim Welsh, Donny Marshall, Tarik Turner and college basketball columnist Lenn Robbins of the New York Post – who won the APSE award winner as well as the Jim Murray Award for outstanding college sports writing. The studio panel will debate the players who did – and didn’t – make the top-ten list. The program will also feature exclusive interviews and reactions from the players selected in the top-10.

Providence College hasn't won much over the past decade, though the Friars have had surprising success against UConn in recent years on the basketball court.

Now, for the first time in memory, the Friars have beaten the Huskies off the court, as well.

PC has received a commitment from Kris Dunn, the highly-touted guard out of New London High. Per this espn.com article, PC has signed just three McDonald's All-Americans in its history (though I'm not sure I'd include Delray Brooks, since he was a transfer from Indiana).

This also beats the Ryan Gomes situation, since few (including then-PC coach Tim Welsh) knew that Gomes would blossom into such a great player at the time. Jim Calhoun famously recruited Emeka Okafor and Caron Butler ("They're not bad!") instead.

Credit new PC coach Ed Cooley, who started recruiting Dunn while Cooley was still coaching at Fairfield and had never let up. Give some credit to ex-UConn assistant Andre LaFleur, too.

And the good news could keep coming for the Friars ... Ricky Ledo will make his college decision next week, according to a source, and PC appears to be in very standing for Ledo's services.