One of the sidebars for Thursday's Marquette/UConn game at Gampel Pavilion is the reunion of former Montini Catholic teammates Michala Johnson of UConn and Courtney Thomas of Marquette.

"It will be exciting," Johnson said. "We have played against each other before with AAU and stuff because we weren't on the same team before. We only played two years together but it should be a good time."

Neither freshman is seeing a ton of time.

Johnson played a career-high 11 minutes in Sunday's 86-32 win over Sacred Heart and is slowly working her way into the physical condition she needs to be a regular contributor after suffering two serious knee injuries in high school.

She has played in seven of the eight games and is averaging 1.1 points, 1.7 rebounds and 4.9 minutes per game.

"It's hard on her," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "She has a ways to go. She hasn't played in so long, it is difficult."

Then, of course, Auriemma couldn't resist retelling a story of Johnson's wide-eyed innocence during the recent trip to Tampa for the game against South Florida.

"We had to stop in Carolina for fuel," Auriemma said. "Michala was kind of
incredulous and wanted to know why do you have to stop for fuel, why don't we just get it now. So that gives you an indication of where she is right now. You know I
never thought to say to the pilot 'let's get it now. Why do you want to get it in Fayetteville?' So you know what, she's still a freshman. She is growing into being a
sophomore."

Thomas has played in six games for the 7-1 Golden Eagles and is averaging 0.8 points, 1 rebound and 5.3 minutes per game.

So what does Johnson remember about her high school teammate's game?

"She is a good passer, she can penetrate in (the lane) and kick it out," Johnson said.

CARUSO FIRED BY LONGWOOD
Former UConn star Kristin (Lamb) Caruso was fired as Longwood's women's basketball coach on Monday.

Caruso was suspended indefinitely and then the Farmville, Va. school announced that she was being relieved of her duties and men's basketball assistant coach Bill Reinson would be taking over as interim head coach effective immediately.

Lamb, who was 34-60 in three-plus seasons at Longwood, played at UConn from 1986-1990 and had 1,244 points in 110 career games.