I just wrapped up a rather eventful eight hours up in Storrs.

I arrived a bit early at the request of my boss to see if there were any memorial sites set up for Jasper Howard, a junior cornerback on the UConn football team.

Then went down and went to work before sitting through a 40-minute dissertation from Barb Jacobs, the Big East's Assistant Commissioner and Director of Officials, on rules changes and points of emphasis. Not much to report other than the rules committee seems to have split personalities. First, Jacobs said that the goal was to have play "free and open" and that is why calling hand check fouls is important. But then she explained that there will be a greater emphasis on calling traveling. Sorry, but wouldn't whistling more traveling calls slow the game down rather than lead to a higher quality of play from the fan's standpoint.

When the lesson was over, UConn took the floor for practice and we waited to speak to them. There were very few basketball questions asked. The main topic was Howard, who was very close to many members of the UConn squad. Tina Charles, Kaili McLaren and Lorin Dixon had a sociology class with him every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Kalana Greene was the most emotional of the players I spoke too, a couple of times using her uniform top to wipe away tears. A story on the Charles', Greene's and Dixon's close bond with Howard will appear in Tuesday's edition of the Register.

Perhasp the biggest basketball news to come out of practice was that the team captains will be Maya Moore and Tina Charles and that UConn coach Geno Auriemma said he is giving Lorin Dixon every chance to earn the starting point guard position. If the season started tomorrow, I would predict that the starting lineup would be Dixon and Tiffany Hayes at guard, Greene and Moore at forward and Charles at center. He also said there has been no further talk of former UConn assistant coach Tonya Cardoza setting up a game with her Temple squad playing Auriemma's Huskies. He also hasbeen in contact with another former assistant coach Jamelle Elliott, in her first year as the head coach at Cincinnati. He said Elliott is not always the most patient coach and that could actually help her because her players will learn things more quickly if they realize their coach is not exactly a patient soul.

My plan of attending vigils for Howard ended when I had to chase down rumors of Bria Hartley's commitment. Thanks to the help of Hartley's high school coach Mike Petre and her father Dennis, it wasn't too much work to track them down.

Dennis Hartley is a good man, perhaps the best parent I have dealt with in the recruiting process. He would have preferred Bria committed earlier since it was not really a question of if Bria would commit to the Huskies, just when.

Talk about having all the bases covered, UConn now has a point guard (Hartley), shooting guard (Lauren Engeln), small forward (Samarie Walker), power forward (Michala Johnson) and center (Stefanie Dolson) committed to the join the program next year.

Getting the only other uncommitted senior on their recruiting radar would make a special class downright nasty. Somehow getting Chiney Ogwumike away from Stanford, however, would be one of the best coups in Auriemma's tenure with UConn. Word is she is planning to visit Stanford this weekend meaning she has been accepted into the school. Her sister Nneka is a sophomore forward on the Stanford team, both her parents want her to go to Stanford so the odds are stacked against Auriemma and his staff convincing Ogwumike to come East but what I've heard is that Ogwumike came away very impressed with her visit so Ogwumike landing at Stanford may not be as much of a slam dunk as some may think it is.

Next up is Big East media day in New York. I may be going out on a limb but I have a hunch the Huskies just may be the pick to win the conference.