UConn vs. Washington: Checking in From XL

HARTFORD – Checking in from the XL Center, where the UConn Huskies are about to play the Washington Huskies at 7:30 p.m. A few pregame notes …

You know the big news, of Kevin Ollie’s contract. My main story for the Sunday Courant is up on our main website very shortly. Here is my take on a previous post.

Tyler Olander is back in the UConn starting lineup. He will join Shabazz Napier, Ryan Boatright, Omar Calhoun and DeAndre Daniels. Enosch Wolf and Phil Nolan will come off the bench. Ollie expressed hope Olander “turned a corner” with six rebounds in 17 minutes vs. Fordham.

Jim Calhoun is not here, the first game this year he is missing. He is in Florida on a family vacation. “I tried to call him,” Ollie joked, “but he may be on the 14th hole in  Miami, I don’t know.”

Maybe its symbolic, on the day Ollie got his extension. The guard has really, finally changed.

Dick Vitale on the Ollie contract: “Kevin absolutely rolled up his sleeves and earned the opportunity to coach his alma mater. He is the perfect hire. His passion and love for the game will be contageous to his players.”

Hear it’s really snowing out there now. And there are not more than a few hundred in the stands here right now, 30 minutes before the game.

If I slip up tonight, with both teams having the same nickname, and write “Huskies,” I will mean UConn.