Not a big sabermetrics guy, but learned today that UConn is No. 25 in the country on the UPS Team Performance index, which measures offensive and defensive efficiency among the nation's 345 Division 1 teams.

The index essentially identifies well-balanced teams, so the Huskies are pretty well-balanced.

As for Wednesday night's game against USF:

*** Omar Calhoun didn't practice today due to concussion-like symptoms, according to Kevin Ollie. Calhoun was feeling better Tuesday than he was the day before, however, and is questionable to play against USF.

*** In case you didn't know by now, the AAC has five of the Top 25 teams in the nation this week. Impressive, but not unpredictable, according to Kevin Ollie:



Ryan Boatright, however, didn't predict the league would be this good:

“We knew it was going to be competitive, but I'm going to be honest, I didn’t think there were going to be five teams in the Top 25. I knew there was going to be two or three. Teams in this conference, I’m pretty sure they felt like how we felt. Everybody was saying we weren’t going to be a good conference and stuff like that, so they probably took that to heart and that’s why they’re playing so hard.”

The American has had multiple teams ranked in every AP poll this season and has had at least three top-25 teams in all but one poll.

The early success in men’s basketball continues an impressive debut season for The American, which had two football teams (UCF, Louisville) ranked in the top 15 of the AP and USA Today polls and has two teams (UConn, Louisville) in the top four of the AP women’s basketball poll.

*** Ollie on USF:

“They’ve been playing very well on the road. They’ve got a lot of confidence. We’ve got a desperate team coming in here, and we’ve got to be ready to perform and play UConn basketball.”

“They’ve got two big fellas inside, they’ve got (Victor) Rudd that’s a high-flyer, doing a lot for them. They score in the paint. We’ve got to protect our yard.”

(USF beat SMU at home on Jan. 28, don't forget)

“It’s an ‘us’ game. We’ve got to take care of us. They’re playing well, so it’s not about they beat SMU, it’s about us taking care of our business, preparing ourselves, playing our type of basketball an giving ourselves a chance to win in the second half.”

“They can come back and say they lost to Rutgers. We don’t worry about that, we want to play our type of basketball. It’s a good team that we’re facing.”

*** Ollie noted that USF freshman center John Egbunu is averaging four dunks a game. Fellow frosh Chris Perry has won AAC Rookie of the Week honors five times and leads all the league's freshmen in scoring.

*** Boatright on the rough travel schedule of the new league:

“Every flight we take is 2 1/3-3 hours. We get back pretty late, then we’ve got to be in class every morning. It’s a little different than flying to D.C. and going to Jersey and stuff like that. But we’ve got no control of it. We’ve got to take care of business.”

*** Boatright noted his left shoulder is "pretty jacked-up" (as in beat up), and it's affected his shooting.

“I haven’t shot this bad since I was probably in fourth grade, when I didn’t know how to shoot," he said.

He hasn't had an MRI because doing so would cause him to have to sit out a few days, and he doesn't want to do that. He'll have the MRI after the season.

Boatright said the shoulder issue has been there since preseason, but was exacerbated when he was kneed in the back in the Cincy game.

*** Oh, and this: UConn baseball player Trevor Holmes was arrested early Sunday morning after getting into a fight on campus. Holmes, 19, was arrested for 2nd-degree breach of peace and released on $500 bond. Matthew Davies, 22, was also arrested after the altercation, which occurred on King Hill Road.

We’re pretty much at the halfway point of the American Athletic Conference schedule, so why not hand out some mid-season AAC awards? The conference will essentially hand out the same hardware the Big East used to dole out, though with only 10 teams, there will just be first and second all-league teams (no third team), along with a few honorable mention selections.

Here we go (and remember, all references to statistical categories are for conference games only):

FIRST TEAM

Shabazz Napier, UConn: See also: Year, Player of the.

Russ Smith, Louisville: Still terrific, still a Husky-killer, still equally capable of winning or losing a game all by himself.

Montrezl Harrell, Louisville: League’s leading rebounder and perhaps most physically intimidating player.

Sean Kilpatrick, Cincinnati: Best player on league’s best team.

Justin Jackson, Cincinnati: Best defensive player on league’s best defensive team.

Joe Jackson, Memphis: May not even be best player on his team or best Jackson in the league, but a preseason first-teamer who’ll probably end up there, as well.

SECOND TEAM

DeAndre Daniels, UConn: Napier himself calls Daniels UConn's best player. Huskies sure hope his high ankle sprain heals quickly.

Shaq Goodwin, Memphis: Physically imposing (6-9, 245 lbs.) player who may merit first-team status.

TaShawn Thomas, Houston: Thursday night’s clunker vs. UConn was first time he hasn’t hit double figures this season.

Nic Moore, SMU: Best player on floor (20 points, six assists) in ‘Stangs win over UConn on Jan. 4.

Isaiah Sykes, UCF: Only player in AAC among league leaders in scoring (18.1 ppg) and rebounding (8.6).

HONORABLE MENTION

Markus Kennedy, SMU

Kadeem Jack, Rutgers

Victor Rudd, USF

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Shabazz Napier, UConn. Russ Smith was the preseason pick, but this is a virtual no-brainer. Napier leads the Huskies in scoring, assists, steals and rebounds (!) and has certainly been more valuable to his team than any other player in the nation. And no one is more clutch, a trait he's had since high school. He’s a strong national player of the year candidate, too, though it’s hard to see him beating out Creighton’s Doug McDermott at this point.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Danrad Knowles, Houston. One interesting thing about the America is that it is dominated by upperclassmen. The conference’s top five scorers are all seniors and eight of its top 10 scorers are juniors or seniors. In fact, Knowles (9.4 ppg) and Louisville’s Terry Rozier (9.1) are the only two frosh among the league’s top 30 scorers (27^th and 30^th, respectively). Of course, it’s not all about scoring, which is why UConn’s Amida Brimah, USF’s John Egbunu and Chris Perry and SMU’s Ben Moore are all still very much in the running for this award. But as of now, Knowles (who also averages 6.3 rebounds and 2.1 blocks) is probably the most complete package.

COACH OF THE YEAR: Mick Cronin, Cincinnati. In his seven seasons in the Big East, Cronin never won this award. But he’s got the Bearcats, picked to finish fourth in the preseason coaches’ poll, undefeated and all alone at the top of the AAC standings. There’s recently been some talk of national coach of the year consideration, too, though that seems a bit lofty, in my mind. (Larry Brown is a distant second right now).

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Justin Jackson, Cincinnati. This award usually goes to a player who either leads the league in blocked shots or steals, so consider this: Jackson leads the AAC in blocks (3.6) and is third in steals (2.1). Impressive. Amida Brimah may win this award for years to come, but not this season.

SIXTH MAN AWARD: Michael Dixon, Jr., Memphis. This is a tough one, especially considering there are a lot of players in the league who have started at times and come off the bench at others, sort of clouding the definition of sixth man. UConn’s Niels Giffey merits consideration, no doubt, but we’ll go with Dixon, who’s averaging 11.4 points primarily off the Tigers’ bench.

STUDENT-ATHLETE AWARD: Tim Abromaitis, Notre Dame. Sorry, just kidding. Sort of force of habit. Didn’t he win this award, like, six years in a row in the Big East? Anyway, your guess is as good as mine for this award. It’s too bad walk-ons aren’t eligible, though, or UConn’s Pat Lenehan might bethe runaway winner.

SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD: I’m sure there are many deserving candidates for this award, but I don’t know all the players around the league well enough to narrow it down. I'm open to any suggestions.