Jim Calhoun didn't name names. He didn't have to.

“I just had a little talk with Kemba about a couple of players he played with, and he said, ‘It doesn’t look like them,'" Calhoun said following UConn's 70-67 loss to Cincinnati. "And that’s exactly how I feel, too ... I like what Kemba said ... 'Those aren’t the same guys I played with. Or at least they didn’t play that way tonight.'”

Specifically, he was referring to Alex Oriakhi and Jeremy Lamb, Walker's former teammates. And though he was never officially a teammate of Andre Drummond's, he may as well have mentioned him, as well.

Oriakhi had just two points, Drummond just four, along with three turnovers as he looked completely out of sort and made too many short interior passes, rather than taking the ball strong to the hole.

"I thought we had a great advantage inside, it didn’t look like that worked out very well," Calhoun said. "We were jumping and throwing one-foot passes inside. That’s very disappointing.

"When you start game the with a 6-10, 280-pound guy, and another guy who’s 6-9, 245 pounds, and they can’t rebound or you can’t throw them the ball … that was our game plan, and it didn’t work out very well for us.”

Lamb finished with 14 points, second only to Shabazz Napier's career-high 27. But Lamb hardly escaped Calhoun's wrath -- including once during a timeout, when the sophomore guard seemed to turn his head and ignore Calhoun's castigation.

What wasn't working for Lamb tonight?

“Total game package might be a good word," Calhoun said. "He’s a guy we want to go to, and he got 12 shots up, which is remarkable he even got that many up. He wasn’t very good.”

Calhoun said Napier "wasn’t great, but I thought he was gutty and competitive ... Roscoe played better the other night, but he worked hard. Niels gave us a pretty good effort."

Otherwise, he didn't have much good to say about anybody. Check that, there was one other player who got a compliment -- Brendan Allen, a walk-on. Allen came into the game a little over seven minutes into the action when Napier left with what appeared to be an injured knee. Allen made the most of his two minutes, scoring on a nice driving layup to give UConn a 15-14 lead before Napier returned.

“Maybe I should play Brandon Allen more minutes," Calhoun said, only half-kiddingly. "At least he had enough guts to take it to the rim, and didn’t look like he was gonna fumble it.”


*** Not to make excuses, but Drummond said yesterday he was battling a bad cold and after the game reported on Twitter that he was "sick as a dog." And certainly, the Huskies miss Ryan Boatright.

“Would Ryan have helped? Clearly," said Calhoun. "We didn’t have Ryan … stuff happens. The guys we had were good enough to win tonight’s game.”

*** Niels Giffey said his last-second, three-quarter court heave "felt good. It felt really good. But, that happens. You can’t win a game with a last shot like that … we had so many chances.”

*** I had a bit of trepidition voting for Cincy for the AP Top 25 on Sunday, but the Bearcats seem to have proven me right. Good, tough team. Seven straight Big East road wins. Very impressive. They've obviously got some size and strength in Yancy Gates, but they're 3-point shooting and ability to force turnovers gives them a whole new dimension.

*** DeAndre Daniels started but went scoreless in six minutes. He was in the gym, shooting and working out, long after the game had ended.

That's all we've got for now ...

Here's my AP Top 25 I submitted last night. Welcomed in Cincinnati, which comes to town Wednesday to play UConn. The Bearcats are 14-4 overall, 4-1 in the Big East, including a win at Georgetown a week ago. They've won nine of their last 10 and have won six straight Big East road games (dating back to last year, of course). They've obviously put that ugly brawl with Xavier behind them.

Ironic, though, that Yancy Gates will be playing Wednesday night and Ryan Boatright -- in all likelilhood -- won't be.

In adding Cincy, I wound up bouncing Louisville. I almost never drop a team from No. 12 to unranked, but I can't get that ugly loss at Providence last week out of my head. That was the Cardinals fourth loss in five games, and their win later over the week over DePaul wasn't enough to change my mind, either.


1. Syracuse

2. Kentucky

3. Baylor

4. Ohio State

5. Missouri

6. North Carolina

7. Duke

8. Kansas

9. Michigan State

10. Georgetown

11. San Diego State

12. UNLV

13. UConn

14. Florida

15. Indiana

16. Murray State

17. Mississippi State

18. Virginia

19. Creighton

20. St. Mary’s

21. Gonzaga

22. Illinois

23. Marquette

24. Cincinnati

25. New Mexico

Here's my preseason Top 25 and All-America team I just submitted to the Associated Press. First AP poll will move this Friday:

1. North Carolina
2. Kentucky
3. Ohio State
4. UConn
5. Syracuse
6. Duke
7. Vanderbilt
8. Florida
9. Memphis
10. Pittsburgh
11. Louisville
12. Baylor
13. Wisconsin
14. Kansas
15. Xavier
16. Arizona
17. Alabama
18. Marquette
19. UCLA
20. Michigan
21. Cincinnati
22. California
23. Texas A&M
24. Michigan State
25. Missouri

All-America:

Jared Sullinger, Ohio State
Harrison Barnes, North Carolina
Jeremy Lamb, UConn
Perry Jones, Baylor
Jordan Taylor, Wisconsin


Carolina obviously has the most overall talent and deserves to be a near-consensus No. 1. Doesn’t mean the Heels will win it all, but it’s hard to believe they won’t at least reach New Orleans.

I like UConn at No. 4 right now. I completely agree with Jim Calhoun’s assessment that the Huskies are more talented than last year’s national champs (which, of course, finished 9-9 and in ninth place in the Big East). And I also completely subscribe to the notion that Kemba Walker is irreplaceable. Who’ll provide all that leadership, make all the big plays in crunch time, hit all those buzzer-beaters? Well, maybe no one will have to. Maybe, with a far more balanced attack, UConn won’t have to constantly lean on one great player to bail them out, time and time again.

Elsewhere:

*** I’m going along with the general notion that Vandy is for real this year. Yes, they’ve been popped from the NCAA tourney in the first round three years running, but there is a lot of talent here. It won’t take much for me to change my mind on the Commodores, however – and get more angry e-mails from Vandy fans.

*** I don’t like the Big 10, don’t like Bo Ryan and can’t stand Wisconsin’s style of play. But with Jordan Taylor at the point and some good talent around him, it’s hard not to rate the Badgers pretty high.

*** I’m not as high on Marquette and Cincy as some others seem to be, but I’ll always err on the side of the Big East until the conference proves me wrong. It’s time for Yancy Gates to live up to his talent and physical presence.

*** As far as the All-America team, I picked Harrison Barnes as preseason first team last year and regretted it the minute I hit “Send.” I’ll never again vote a freshman as preseason All-American, so that’s why I’m not going for potentially legit candidates like Kentucky’s Anthony Davis or Duke’s Austin Rivers.

And yes, I expect a huge season from Jeremy Lamb this year. He’s added confidence to his already impressive feather-soft jumper, smooth drives to the hoop and impressive athleticism.