Seth Davis is in town (of course) as one of CBS's analysts for the Final Four. He was born at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and his first job after graduating from Duke was as a sports writer for the New Haven Register. He worked there for 2 1/2 years before moving on.

I did this story on Davis four years ago, so I'm not going to rehash it all here. But I caught up with him for a few words on Friday (incidentally, for fans who made the trip down to Dallas, he'll be serving Subway's new flatizzas with Jared the Subway Guy on Saturday from 10:45-11:30 a.m. at a Subway restaurant on 1222 Commerce Street in Dallas).

Davis remembers his 2 1/2 years at the Register fondly, living in a high-rise apartment that was right down the street from Yale-New Haven Hospital and walking distance from Toad's Place.

"Walking distance is a generous term," said Davis, who caught acts like the Radiators, Squeeze and Southside Johnny at the well-known venue.

He didn't cover much UConn at the time (Dave Solomon was on the beat), but made lifelong bonds. One of them was with Vito Montelli, the longtime St. Joseph's basketball coach. He recalls being at a St. Joe's year-end banquet one year with John Calipari, who was and remains good friends with Montelli. When Davis saw Calipari the other day, he asked about Montelli.

"I told him I’ve got tickets for him," Calipari replied. "I want him down here, but he can’t make it."

"Calipari really loves him," Davis noted.

Davis and his family lived in Ridgefield for several years, but last July moved out to Los Angeles, where Davis had been researching for three full summers for his recently published book on John Wooden.

As for the Huskies' chances this weekend, Davis said:

“I certainly wouldn’t have expected them to be here. I’m a big believe in luck. This is not to diminish them or anybody else who’s here, but everybody outside of Florida … I mean, UConn needed overtime to beat St. Joe’s. You appreciate that, how hard it is to get here, how easy it is to lose once you get here. But, when you have good guards, that can erase a lot of deficiencies. That’s why, to me, Kevin Ollie is the perfect coach for this team. He’s got two scoring point guards, and getting them to play together is not easy to do. He’s a really impressive guy. I love his attitude, his demeanor. He’s very eloquent. I really like Kevin.”

Warning: If you hate John Calipari and have any preconceived notions about what a dirty scoundrel he is, don't read this story. Or, better yet, maybe you should.

Calipari was in Stratford Wednesday night, not to recruit a player but to be the guest speaker at the St. Joseph's boys basketball banquet. Stems from his long-time friendship with St. Joe's coach Vito Montelli.

I'm not saying this is the greatest act of kindness ever performed by a college basketball coach (though it's not the first time Cal has done something like this). But let's face it, the head coach of the national champions didn't have to come from Kentucky to Stratford, Conn., on a Wednesday night to address a high school boys basketball team -- one which holds no potential recruits for him. Just a guy being loyal to his friend.

Not saying Calipari is a saint, but maybe he's not as evil as some make him out to be.

*** On another note, while sifting through my blog archives this morning looking for an old post, I came across this from April 9, 2009, just a few days after UConn had been beaten by Michigan State in the Final Four: Calhoun, through a press release sent out by the school, announced that he would be returning to coach UConn  the following season. Why? To nip all the rumors of his potential retirement in the bud, and as much as anything else, help the Huskies on the recruiting trail.

So when Calhoun says now that, with two years left on his contract, there's no reason for him to announce he's returning and that the only announcement would be if he's not returning ... well, that wasn't the case three years ago. Obviously, he wants to keep some doors open.