Hasheem Thabeet News

Dyson, though, has shown to be resilient after beginning this season coming off a more serious injury.

There should be a lot of coaches and players appreciative on a day like today for the opportunities they have been given to do something that they are passionate about .

Mike Krzyzewski and Jim Calhoun , the elder statesmen of college basketball coaches, stood together, smiling on the court Friday evening before they stood apart, scowling on the sidelines.

There is no NCAA rule prohibiting tough early-season games. It is unclear if UConn coach Jim Calhoun has always understood that fact - littering past November and December schedules with any and every cupcake willing to visit the Huskies' homes in Hartford and Storrs.

Love him or hate him, agree with him or disagree with him, Jim Calhoun has rarely left the Connecticut media with nothing to write, rarely left UConn fans without comments to analyze, argue over, laugh at, shake their heads at, even repeat with pride.

Kyle Lyddy remembers exactly how he became enamored with UConn men's basketball.

Last year was easy. I'm talking about Geno-Auriemma-pushing-the-easy-button-every-night-of-the-season-easy. And why shouldn't it have been? The Huskies had Player of the Year Maya Moore paired down low with last year's Most Outstanding Player of the 2009 NCAA Final Four Tina Charles.

The joke among UConn players is that everyone now has to begin playing defense. "Real defense," senior forward Gavin Edwards said.

One man's transfer is another man's treasure. At least that's the sentiment for several prominent teams and coaches.

Everyone in local basketball circles already knows about him. Now, the rest of the nation is about to get to know the A-Train. The University of Connecticut men's basketball team opens its season on Friday night with freshman Alex Oriakhi set to step into a long line of talented big man to start at center for the Huskies.

Sometime this week, the Arizona State men's basketball program should receive a national letter of intent from a 7-foot-2, 245-pound Canadian center named Jordan Bachynski.

On what otherwise might have been a smug, self-satisfied train ride back to Philadelphia after his team was picked to win this season's Big East Conference title, Villanova basketball Coach Jay Wright spoke to his players about toughness and leadership.

It has been 214 days since the men's basketball team lost to Michigan State in the 2009 Final Four.

There was an interesting sidelight to Detroit's game last week in Memphis. And for a change, it didn't revolve around Allen Iverson.

Coach: Jim Calhoun Last season's record: 31-5 Spotlight player When Sporting News compiled its rankings of the best players at each position, UConn's Stanley Robinson was not listed among the top small forwards or the top power forwards.

Jim Calhoun knows UConn is different this season, something he's discussed at length over the last few weeks.

There was a lot of talk before and after the Husky Run about UConn being a faster team this season.

For the second year in a row, UConn big man Gavin Edwards was the first player on the basketball team to cross the finish line in the annual Husky Run.

The UConn men will participate Wednesday in the Husky Fun Run, a 5K race on campus that is a kind of ceremonial kickoff to the season.

The Big East will take a hit this year. Devin Ebanks. Then again, how could it not? After the league was as dominant as ever a year ago, the Big East lost plenty of its star power and should take a significant step down this season.