Watching the Canadian team play this summer en route to winning the Pan Am Games and FIBA Americas Women's Championship gold medals, it was impossible not to see the adjustments made by Canadian head coach Lisa Thomaidis and her staff even from just a year ago.

The decision to put the pedal to the metal is certainly looking rather brilliant.

First it was Canada winning the Pan Am Games capped by an impressive gold-medal game win over the United States team headlined by UConn All-Americans Breanna Stewart and Moriah Jefferson. However, that the just the opening act.

Canada rolled to its first FIBA Americas Women's title in 20 years in dominating fashion, winning its four pool play games by an average of 54.5 points per game. Then Canada beat experienced and talented teams from Brazil and Cuba by almost identical scores of 83-66 and 82-66 to clinch a spot in next year's Olympics.

Before the tournament started I spoke with Thomaidis and UConn guard Kia Nurse and this more exciting brand of basketball the team is playing was one of the subjects I brought up.

"We wanted to play at a faster pace," Thomaidis said. "It's fun to watch the improvements we've had in that area."

In 2011 Canada lost to Cuba in the gold-medal match and ultimately was the fifth and final team at the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament from Women to earn a spot in the 2012 Olympics.

Just five players from the 2011 FIBA Americas squad remain, most of them frontcourt players.

Nurse was the team's leading scorer just as she was in the Pan Am Games and the 19-year-old Hamilton, Ontario native earned tournament MVP honors after her 20-point effort in last night's gold-medal game. Just as important to the team's success has been the emergence of starting point guard Miah-Marie Langlois who led the Canadian team with 157 minutes played and with 37 assist (against just 11 turnovers). Langlois' presence enabled Nurse, who at times ran the Canadian offense a year ago, to move exclusively to the off guard position where she thrived both offensively and defensively.

"You look at how we play at Connecticut too, we get out in transition so for me that is when my speed works to my advantage and that is when I am usually most successful out in transition so that is something benefiting me," said Nurse, who averaged 26.5 points with six assists and one turnovers in the Pan Am and FIBA Americas gold medal games.

UCLA senior Nirra Fields was another of the new backcourt players to shine for Canada while former Notre Dame star Natalie Achonwa was part of an influx of talent up front.

The statistical comparison from 2011 to 2015 is staggering. Canada took an additional 11 shots per game but more impressively went from shooting 39.5 percent from the field to 50 percent. They made and attempted more 3-pointers and free throws. They also averaged 8.5 more assists per game while they committed nearly six fewer turnovers per contest as they raised their per-game scoring average by more than 30 points.

Thomaidis, who deserves a ton of praise for adjusting the system to fit the strengths of her squad, was quick to give credit to her players following the gold-medal game.

"Everything ranks at the top of the list so it is amazing to be a part of," Thomaidis said. "The amount that everybody improved from last year to this year was remarkable and to do it again next year, who knows what is possible. Full credit to them because we left last year and gave them things to work on and everybody came back and improved."

Something about international gold-medal games just seems to bring the best out of UConn guard Kia Nurse.

Nurse was her team's leading scorer when Canada stunned the United States to win the Pan Am Games on home soil last month. She was at it again in Sunday night's FIBA Americas Women's Championship gold medal game in Edmonton.

Nurse had 19 of her team-high 20 points in the first three quarters as Canada defeated Cuba 82-66 to become the fourth team to secure a berth in the 2016 Olympics. She also had three rebounds and three assists in the game. Oh, and she was named the tournament's MVP. Not bad for somebody who won't turn 20 until February.

Nurse had a team-high 11 points in the first half as Canada took a 44-35 into the locker room. However, Cuba made 5 of its first 7 shots in the third quarter during an 11-0 run to give them a two-point advantage. Canada turned up the defensive pressure and Nurse had six points in a span of 2:32 and eight points during a decisive 16-2 run by Canada

Nurse, the youngest member of the Canadian team, scored in double figures in five of her team's six games and finished as the squad's leading scorer just as she was in the Pan Am Games. Nurse averaged 13 points in the six games which ranked third among tournament scorers.

In the Pan Am and FIBA Americas gold-medal games Nurse played 64:57, averaged 26.5 points (shooting 18 of 29 from the field) and had six assists with just one turnover.

"It is an incredible experience," Nurse said in the post-game press conference. "I think our team was pumped about this for sure and to be able to do it and do it a year in advance, play as well as well did throughout the whole tournament was amazing.

"It really has been an incredible summer and to be a part of it has been absolutely phenomenal. We have goals to go into tournaments like this and win the tournament. If you look at the team, you look at the depth that we have, the talent that we have, the sky is the limit. We knew that and if we continued to work each and every day that we could be successful."

It was just eight years ago Canada won just one game and failed to advance to the FIBA Americas semifinals and was not one of the 12 teams in the 2008 Olympics.

Canada joins Brazil, the host country, the U.S., the FIBA World Champions and Serbia, the European champions, as teams already in the Olympic field. Cuba, Argentina and Venezuela will be the three FIBA America representatives at the 2016 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women. In the 2012 event Canada had to beat Argentina and Japan to claim one of the final Olympic berths. UPDATE: Australia swept the best of three game series from New Zealand to claim the FIBA Oceania spot in the Olympics.

After the game Canada national team coach Lisa Thomaidis, team captain Kim Gaucher and Nurse spoke about the importance of having clinched the Olympic spot now instead of catering next year's preparation to the Olympic qualifying tournament.

"It is a huge advantage for us heading into next summer," Gaucher said. "Heading into London we were training to peak for the Olympic qualifying tournament. Now we are training next year to peak for Rio and that is a huge difference. The No. 1 goal is to get on the podium in Rio, it is not going to be to get to Rio. It is big for us."

Here are Thomaidis' thoughts on what Gaucher addressed.

"This is tremendous for our program to be able to do it this way and do it a year early, it is so great for these athletes, for the program to get for the next 11 1/2 months leading into Rio is something we weren't able to have the last time around," Thomaidis said. "I think we fired some shots out there that Canada is coming and to know we are doing this this far in advance we get to tailor our training and peak our performance at exactly the right time we need to peak.

"Everything ranks at the top of the list so it is amazing to be a part of. The amount that everybody improved from last year to this year was remarkable and to do it again next year, who knows what is possible. Full credit to them because we left last year and gave them things to work on and everybody came back and improved."

It wasn't the best game that Kia Nurse played in the FIBA Americas Women's Championship but with her Canada team beating Brazil to move one win away from a spot in next year's Olympics, I'm sure the UConn guard wasn't complaining.

After missing her first six shots of the game Nurse hit a 3-pointer to give Canada a five-point lead with 1:41 left in the first half. She finished with nine points on 2 of 10 shooting to go with four rebounds, two assists and three steals in the 83-66 victory.

Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe came off the bench to score 18 points, Miranda Ayim had 11 points and 
Miah-Marie Langlois added 10 points and 7 assists for Canada, which has to beat Cuba tomorrow to punch a ticket to the Olympics. If Canada were to lose, it would need to finish in the top five in next year's FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying tournament.

Canada national team coach Lisa Thomaidis said she is expecting a much different game after her team's 47-point win over Cuba in pool play on Thursday. Still, she likes the position the team is in.

"It's no accident that we are here," Thomaidis said. "We are very well prepared and we will be very well prepared tomorrow. Our team will have a lot of confidence going into tomorrow. We are not by any means a cocky team, we are very humble but we have a quiet confidence about us. There is a ton of belief in each other based on what we are seeing on the floor with different people stepping up and being able to contribute on any night."
Nurse is Canada's leading scorer with an average of 11.6 points per game and is tied for second with six steals in the five games.

Cuba advanced to the final as Clenia Noblet had seven of her 29 points in overtime in an 89-79 victory over Argentina.

Argentina, which was undefeated in the tournament, forced overtime with Celia Fiorotto's only basket of the game with two seconds left in the fourth quarter.

Argentina will get a chance to play in FIBA's Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament next year as well Venezuela, which defeated Puerto Rico 65-56 in the fifth-place game. Meriden's Damika Martinez had six points and three rebounds for Puerto Rico.

UConn sophomore guard Kia Nurse overcame a slow start offensively to finish with 14 points, two rebounds, three assists and two steals to lead Canada to a surprisingly routine 92-43 win over previously undefeated Cuba in a game which decided the Group A title at the FIBA Americas championship.

Four starters scored in double figures for Canada as Miranda Ayim had 12 points while Kim Gaucher and Tamara Tatham added 11 points each as Canada improved to 4-0 and will play Brazil in Saturday's 8 p.m. semifinal. Argentina handed Brazil its first loss of the tournament thanks to a game-ending 10-2 run to record a 73-69 victory.

Canada held Cuba's Yamara Amargo to five points on 1 of 9 shooting. She came into the game leading all players in the tournament averaging 22 points per game.

If there was a negative for Canada it was the apparent ankle injury suffered by veteran guard Shona Thornburn.

Cuba will play the Argentina in the other semifinal with the winners playing on Sunday with a spot in the 2016 Olympics on the line. If Brazil reaches the final then whoever the other finalist is will be guaranteed a spot in the Olympics since Brazil has been granted an automatic berth into the Olympics.

The first game on Saturday will feature Puerto Rico and Venezuela in the fifth-place game. The winner will secure the third and final FIBA Americas spot in next year's Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Meriden's Damika Martinez had a game-high 22 points as Puerto Rico defeated Chile to clinch third place in Group A and set up the game with Venezuela.

Meriden's Damika Martinez barely got off the bench in Puerto Rico's last two games as she failed to score while playing seven minutes while Puerto Rico lost to Cuba and beat the Dominican Republic.

It's safe to say that she made up for lost time today.

Martinez had a game-high 22 points on 9 of 14 shooting as Puerto Rico defeated Chile 92-66 to clinch third place in Group A at the FIBA Americas Championship.

Martinez had three 3-pointers, five rebounds and an assist in a win that gave Puerto Rico a chance to face Venezuela in the fifth-place game Saturday. With Brazil receiving an automatic berth in next year's Olympics, this game will be for the third and final FIBA Americas spot in the 2016 FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament. If Brazil did not get the automatic spot, the three berths would have gone to the three squads reaching the FIBA Americas semifinals but failing to win the title.

Canada's dominating performances continued at the FIBA Americas tournament.

Nurse had 11 points, three rebounds, two assists, one steal and a blocked shots in 16 minutes in a 111-36 win over the Dominican Republic as Canada moved to 3-0 in Group A.

Nurse was the Canadian player who joined national team coach Lisa Thomaidis in the postgame press conference which was aired live on the FIBA Americas site.

There wasn't much earth-shattering stuff to come out of the presser but Nurse did address playing Cuba, the team which gave Canada its toughest game at the Pan Am Games, in the final pool play game on Thursday.

"I definitely have a little bit of experience against them and with experience comes a little bit of difficulty and a little bit of helpfulness," Nurse said. "You get to understand their players and their tendencies but they get to do the same thing to you. It is just a matter of continuing to play them and every single game is going to be a different game and it will be a different outcome."

If Canada wins three more games it will clinch an Olympic berth (actually, there's a chance that one more win would accomplish the feat if Cuba wins tomorrow and if Canada were to play Brazil in the title game) and a competitor like Nurse is obviously looking forward to the games as the stakes get higher.

"Once the tournament gets going into this part we all know the importance of it, we are all kind of ready for it and amping up to it but it gets exciting at this point too," Nurse said. "You will see that the fist pumps are going crazy now so it is always really exciting."

The top two teams in each group advance to the semifinals. Despite a valiant effort, Puerto Rico suffered its second loss of the tournament at the hands of Cuba. If Cuba beats Chile tomorrow both Cuba and Canada will have punched tickets into the semifinals with Thursday's showdown deciding who will earn the No. 1 seed. Argentina and Brazil appear headed into the semifinals in Group B and with Brazil being given an automatic berth into the Olympics, the automatic spot in the Olympics will be down to Canada, Cuba and Argentina.

Miranda Ayim led six Canadian players in double figures with 15 points to go with six rebounds and three assists. UCLA's Nirra Fields had 13 points, former Notre Dame star Natalie Achonwa finished with 12 points while Kim Gaucher and Lizanne Murphy had 11 points each.

Nurse is Canada's leading scorer with an average of 11.7 points per game and the only Canadian player to score in double figures in all three games. Three other players average at least 10 points per game and three others contribute at least eight PPG.

Well, I did not see this coming.

I fully expected Canada to beat Chile to move to 2-0 in pool play at the FIBA Americas but other than Cuba, I thought Chile was the third-best team in the Group A and Canada won by nearly 60 points.

UConn sophomore guard Kia Nurse was one of three players from Canada with 14 points (joining Tamara Tatham and former Notre Dame star Natalie Achonwa) in the 93-36 victory. Canada had 32 field goals and assisted on 31 on them which is a truly astounding ratio. The lone basket to come without an assist was by Miranda Ayim just 1:12 into the game. It was Canada's second made basket so the final 30 baskets can off assists. I don't recall hearing a stat line like that before.

Nurse, who led Canada in scoring at the Pan Am Games, is once again the top scorer with an average of 12 points per game.

Canada plays the Dominican Republic on Tuesday. It should be noted that the Dominican Republic lost to Chile by 32 points. After getting a day off, Canada wraps up pool play against Cuba on Thursday in a game that could decide the Group A title.

UConn sophomore guard Kia Nurse had 10 points and one rebound as Canada opened play in the FIBA Americas Championship with a 94-57 win over Puerto Rico.

Four Canadian players scored in double figures led by Kim Gaucher who had 11 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

Puerto Rico is playing without star Carla Cortijo, who was injured in a game against the United States in the Pan Am Games and not on the roster. Former Kentucky star Jen O'Neil and Marie Placido had 12 points each while Meriden native Damika Martinez added 10 points.

Next up for Canada is a game against Chile, which opened with an 88-56 win over the Dominican Republic. The game will be played on Monday at 8:30 p.m. Canada needs to finish in the top two in Group A to advance to the semifinals.

The winner of the tournament will qualify for the Olympics. If Brazil, one of the favorites to win Group B, wins the title then the second-place team will get the automatic berth since Brazil was awarded a spot in the tournament.

Everything seemed to be aligning for Bria Hartley to build on a solid rookie season with the Washington Mystics.

The former UConn star played a starring role as UE Sopron won the Hungarian league title. Hartley then was in the starting lineup in the first two preseason games with the WNBA’s Washington Mystics and looked ready to go as she averaged 12 points and a team-leading 4.5 assists in wins over Atlanta and Minnesota.

Then it happened.

“I think in practice I kind of rolled my ankle a little bit but I didn’t think anything of it,” Hartley said before Friday’s game against the Connecticut Sun. “I just kind of thought that I roll my ankle all the time so it was nothing. It kept hurting for days after that. I eventually got the x-ray and saw it was broken. I had an ankle injury in college but it was a sprain so it was a little different.

“I was playing on it. I felt it but to me it wasn’t that bad. I’m known to have a pretty high pain tolerance so but at that point it is broken and you have to stay off of it.”

Hartley missed the final preseason contest and first six games of the regular season before she scored six points in six minutes in a June 23 win over Los Angeles.

Hartley played fewer than 10 minutes in six of the first 11 games she appeared in before playing in a season-high 20 minutes in Wednesday’s win over San Antonio and two days later scored a season-best nine points in a 86-72 loss to Connecticut.

“We are still kind of limiting her minutes, we aren’t having her do a full practice every day,” Washington coach Mike Thibault said. “We are being careful with it. I would say the last week has been the best. I thought the other night she gave us a big lift so hopefully that will be a positive thing to carry over.”

Hartley, also dealing with a knee sprain, is still wearing a brace on her foot and for a player who relies on her athleticism, it has been a challenge for her to deal with the fact that she can’t make some plays that are normally second nature to her.

“I am starting to get into the flow of things a lot more now,” Hartley said. “It is frustrating at times because you can’t play the way you want to play but things like this take time and you have to stay positive about it, have a good attitude so that is what I tried to do. I think we have been playing pretty well as of late and we want to continue.

“Missing a month of practice never helps especially me, I am such a young player who needs to be out there learning and doing things. I try to have a good mentality to go out there and help my team the best way I can in attacking the basket, getting into the lane and trying to create for people.”

Hartley wasn't able to play the first time Washington played in Connecticut this season but she received a typical warm response from the fans when she checked into Friday's game for the first time.

"It is always cool coming to Mohegan because so many people are UConn fans and they know 'there's Bria, she played for UConn' so that aspect for everything is really cool and the fans usually give us a warm welcome," Hartley said. "It is a little bit of a closer drive than going down to DC for my dad or my mom so they are able to come to the games here as well."

Playing overseas didn’t allow Hartley to keep up with the daily progress during UConn’s march to a third national title but she wasn’t surprised to see her former teammates win another championship even after she and Mystics teammate Stefanie Dolson graduated.

“Every time you look at UConn you expect them to win a title but when the lost that game at the beginning of the year to Stanford people thought ‘oh, this one is kind of up for grabs,’” Hartley said.

"Then they went on that dominant run again. I am sure they learned from their mistakes every day. It wasn’t easy, Dayton had a tough first half (in the NCAA tournament) but they made it through and they are able to win.”

Just a piece of advise, if you run into UConn guard Kia Nurse and ask "what did you do this summer" you might want to make sure you have some extra time built into your schedule.

Nurse knew that with Canada hosting both the Pan Am Games and Olympic qualifying tournament that the summer months had the potential to be unforgettable but even she couldn't believe everything that has been transpiring.

Nurse's 33 points in the Pan Am Games gold medal game not only lifted Canada to a win over the U.S. but it made her something of a national sports hero. She was trending on Twitter, her phone was blowing up with congratulatory calls and text messages and she was chosen to carry the Canadian flag at the closing ceremonies of the Pan Am Games.

With the FIBA Americas tournament starting tomorrow the folks at Canada Basketball were nice enough to set up phone interviews with Nurse and Canada head coach Lisa Thomaidis this week for a story that will either run in the New Haven Register on Sunday or Monday.

I won't give away all the stuff that Kia had to say so there's a reason to read the story but here are some of the highlights.

ON ALL THE THINGS SHE IS ACCOMPLISHING AT SUCH A YOUNG AGE
It hits me sometimes but it is more of a 'woah, this is really happening and I still have so many years to go.' It is incredible and I am really excited to see what the future holds.

CARRYING THE FLAG AT CLOSING CEREMONIES
That was such an incredible experience. I was so honored to be able to do that and to come out to the roar of the crowd from however many thousands of people that it was, that was just surreal and it was so cool.

ON BREANNA STEWART SAYING "YOU HAD TO PICK THAT GAME TO BLOW UP LIKE THAT"
That was funny. I started laughing and said 'obviously Stewie I have no idea what happened.'

REACTION TO COLLISION WHICH KNOCKED UCONN TEAMMATE MORIAH JEFFERSON OUT OF GAME WITH CONCUSSION
It was totally by accident. As soon as I saw a loose ball, I dove for it and I saw somebody else coming. I couldn't really see who it was. I had a feeling it would be Mo because she is just one of those people who would dive on the floor to get the ball or do anything to win. Unfortunately my big head gave her the (worst) end of it but she is a tremendous competitor and I had no surprise it was her down there with me.

HOW THAT PERFORMANCE WILL HELP HER WHEN SHE RETURNS TO UCONN
I think it will help me a lot. I am getting tons of experience each and every day I get to learn something new from our veterans. I am definitely learning a lot about myself and my game so I hope it will take me a long way when I get back.

Rosemary Ragle had a rather unique reaction when the first notification of her impending induction into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame arrived via email - she deleted it.

Ragle has preferred being in the background since her first season as the athletic trainer with the UConn women's basketball program back in 1999 and she simply didn't believe the email was on the level. It wasn't until she started checking her office voice mails later in the summer that it became evident that this was no joke and she indeed was going to be a member of the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.

"I have no idea who nominated me," Ragle said on a conference call on Wednesday. "When I finally figured out what was going on, I reached out to Geno (Auriemma) about it. I actually got an email in early July. sent it to the trash. I really thought it was a joke. It took me a while to figure out that this is a real deal."

Ragle was drawn to a career in athletic training because it enabled her to combine her knowledge of the human body with her ability to connect with college-aged athletes. Whether it is Sue Bird or Kalana Greene or Morgan Tuck or Gabby Williams, she draws so much satisfaction is have a birds' eye view of their on-court success after countless hours of grueling rehabilitation.

"That is the reason we get into this, we have an interest in the human body and I am glad I am not a machine and I am glad I am able to connect with the kids because it becomes very emotional," Ragle said. "I think I have gotten more emotional over the years. When Kaleena (Mosqueda-Lewis) went down (with an elbow injury), it was everything I could to not to start crying so it is very special to me."

Ragle has been on staff for nine of the 10 national championships which is remarkable because she wasn't originally planning on an extended stay at UConn.

"I was on a three-year plan," Ragle said. "I was hired to work with track and field which was a great experience, then I got moved over to basketball. When you work with a coaching staff like ours, the caliber of athletes that we have, the national championships just start rolling in and it is kind of hard to leave."

Former UConn guard Ashley Battle is another inductee in the latest class that will be inducted on Saturday in a ceremony in Worcester, Mass.

NEW LOTTERY RULES IN WNBA DRAFT
As it turns out, a one-year tank job will not be enough to land UConn star Breanna Stewart in next year's WNBA Draft.

The WNBA announced changes to the lottery system. Unlike in past years when the odds were determined based on the previous year's record, there had been a chance to include the record over the last two seasons. It's a move that could help the Connecticut Sun (if they fail to make the playoffs) who won just 13 games a season ago and hurt the Atlanta Dream, the only team currently out of the playoffs to have a winning record a season ago. No team could benefit more from this change than Seattle.

Under the previous system the Sun would almost certainly have finished with the fewest chances to get the No. 1 pick as Connecticut is 3 1/2 games ahead of Atlanta in the Eastern Conference standings, has a record 4 1/2 games better than Los Angeles and 5 games better than San Antonio.

If the lottery were held today, Seattle (17-38) would have five fewer wins than the next closest team (San Antonio and Los Angeles) followed by Connecticut's 23-30 record and then Atlanta. However, teams won't have better chances simply due to records. If Seattle finishes one game ahead of the next closest team in the race for the worst record it will receive the same odds to win the top pick than if the Storm finished 10 games behind the next closest team in the standings over the last two seasons.

The No. 1 team in the lottery will have a 44.2 percent of receiving the top pick with the next three teams having 27.6, 14.8 and 10.4 percent chances of getting the No. 1 pick. Also, the team with the worst record can fall no lower than third. In the past a team with the worst record could fall to fourth in the lottery.

UConn finalized its non-conference schedule with a showdown against Maryland in the Maggie Dixon Classic on Dec. 28 at Madison Square Garden.

UConn had previously announced the other 10 non-conference games on the schedule and with the addition of Maryland the Huskies will play the other three 2015 Final Four teams and nine teams which played in the 2015 NCAA tournament.

The game will be played at 8:30 p.m. and will air on ESPN2.

It also marks the first of three games between the national powers as UConn will play at Maryland during the 2016-17 season with Maryland playing at UConn in the 2017-18 season.

It will be a rematch of the 2015 national semifinal won by UConn and there is another interesting story angle as one of Maryland's freshmen is Meriden's Kiah Gillespie, a former Capital Prep star while Maryland native De'Janae Boykin is one of UConn's three freshmen.

UConn non-conference schedule
Nov. 2 vs. Lubbock Christian (exhibition)
Nov. 8 vs. Vanguard (exhibition)
Nov. 16 at Ohio State
Nov. 23 vs. Kansas State
Nov. 28 vs. Nebraska
Nov. 30 at Chattanooga
Dec. 2 at DePaul
JIMMY V CLASSIC
Dec. 5 vs. Notre Dame  3:15 p.m. (ESPN) Dec. 9 at Colgate
HALL OF FAME WOMEN"S CHALLENGE
Dec. 11 vs. Florida State (Mohegan Sun Arena) 6 p.m. (ESPN2)Dec. 21 vs. LSU
MAGGIE DIXON CLASSIC
Dec. 28 vs. Maryland (Madison Square Garden), 8:30 p.m. (ESPN2)Feb. 8 at South Carolina

There will be some familiar faces as well as some new ones as part of the UConn women's basketball team's non-conference schedule.
The highlights will be matchups with two teams who played in the 2015 Final Four as well as two first-time opponents.

The quest for an unprecedented fourth straight national title begins with Nov. 16 game at Ohio State. UConn will host the Notre Dame team it defeated in the last two national championship games on Dec. 5 in the Jimmy V Classic and will play at South Carolina on Feb. 8.

There is still one game yet to be finalized and there's a chance it could be a part of the Maggie Dixon Classic in late December.

Chattanooga, DePaul, Florida State, Louisiana State, Ohio State and Nebraska are other 2015 NCAA tournament teams on the schedule.
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The Huskies will play Chattanooga and Colgate for the first time on Nov. 30 and Dec. 9 in two of the five true road games on the non-conference schedule, will host Kansas State and Nebraska for just the second time and due to a scheduling conflict, will not play a regular-season game against Stanford for the first time since the 2006-07 season.

Since UConn is not playing in an exempt tournament, UConn will only play 29 regular-season games.

Nov. 2 vs. Lubbock Christian (exhibition)
Nov. 8 vs. Vanguard (exhibition)
Nov. 16 at Ohio State
Nov. 23 vs. Kansas State
Nov. 28 vs. Nebraska
Nov. 30 at Chattanooga
Dec. 2 at DePaul
JIMMY V CLASSICDec. 5 vs. Notre Dame  3:15 p.m. (ESPN)
Dec. 9 at Colgate
HALL OF FAME WOMEN"S CHALLENGEDec. 11 vs. Florida State (Mohegan Sun Arena) 6 p.m. (ESPN2)
Dec. 21 vs. LSU
Feb. 8 at South Carolina