Just got home from New York after an interesting day of basketball.

First, I'll start with the basketball observations.

Tina Charles was immense with 29 points, 18 rebounds and four blocks. Penn State had no answer for her and to her credit, Charles took advantage of the mismatch the Huskies had inside. A side note, I always have to chuckle a little at the spin on the "improved Tina Charles." Last season she scored in double figures in UConn's first nine games and actually had more rebounds after seven games last year than she does this year. If she were on another team, Charles would be talked about as a potential national player of the year candidate. But on a team with Maya Moore, that is not the case. It should be noted that if Charles keeps up her current pace and UConn were to reach the Big East and NCAA tournament finals in 2009 and 2010, Charles would finish as UConn's all-time leading scorer with more than 2,300 points and would also be the first UConn player with more than 1,300 career rebounds.

I know that's a lot of supposing but just keep that stats in mind when you wonder why you don't see the "new and improved Tina" story in the Register. She is playing at an exceptionally high level but I have always felt like she got a little bit of a raw deal in the court of public opinion when you consider how much success she has enjoyed at the college level. I guess it's the price of doing business as UConn.

UConn fans should be thrilled to hear that CPTV has been able to pick up the games against Northern Colorado on Friday and Florida State on Sunday at the Caribbean Classic in Cancun. Originally, none of the three games in Mexico were supposed to be televised in Connecticut now only Thursday's game against Washington won't be broadcast in Connecticut.

The first game of the Maggie Dixon Classic was pretty uneventful with Rutgers topping Army but it was interesting that Brittany Ray and not Epiphanny Prince was playing the point guard. I'm not sure if Ray is a good enough ballhandler to play the point against better competition but I like the move simply because Prince is more effective playing the shooting guard than she is at the point.

Had a chance to speak to Pittsburgh men's basketball coach Jamie Dixon after finishing with the UConn and Penn State press conferences. A few observations, first he is a class act as is the entire family and second, he has high expectations for the event started to honor his late sister.

Dixon said Rutgers and Tennessee will play each other next season at the event and Baylor is interested which would mean the 6-foot-7 (or 6-8 depending on who you ask) Brittany Griner, who will be a freshman at Baylor, could make her Madison Square Garden debut at the fourth annual Maggie Dixon Classic.

Here's what Dixon had to say about the future of the event.

"My goal is to fill Madison Square Garden, obviously we are already playing on national TV," Dixon said. "I think it has already probably become the premier event in the country. You have Tennessee and Rutgers are going to play next year, Baylor wants to be in it. Geno wants to be in it every year if he can. North Carolina wants to be in it but at the same time we want to keep Army involved in it so there are challenges. I think the basketball even has taken care of itself. You have the Garden, you have national TV, our bigger goal now is to promote awareness of sudden cardiac arrest (which claimed the life of Maggie Dixon at the age of 28 in 2006, shortly after she coached Army into the 2006 NCAA tournament) and have some people who maybe haven't given it a thought that they can do some things to prevent it. Maybe we can save a few lives, especially young people because young athletes are more likely to suffer from sudden cardiac arrest. Our goal is to get better health, better diets, more education."

As for a potential regular-season meeting between UConn and Tennessee at the event in the future, Dixon explored the opportunity but doesn't sound like he will explore that possibility since the decision was made to discontinue the most highly-touted regular-season series in women's college basketball.

"I have given that some (thought) but at the same time respecting both coach's wishes who are both very good friends," Dixon said. "Those coaches have made great sacrifices to be a part of it and they should be commended as well."