True to the advanced billing, basketball was an afterthought at the First Night festivities. There was plenty of dancing, however, which seemed to suit the estimated crowd of 7,000 just fine.

The only actual basketball event at Gampel Pavilion was a skills competition when three UConn men's and women's players had to make a layup/dunk, dribble through four cones, connect on a bounce pass into a net, make a jump shot from the foul line, dribble through another four cones, make a chest pass and hit a layup/dunk.

UConn men's freshman Jeremy Lamb beat out UConn women's players Maya Moore, Tiffany Hayes and Kelly Faris. Lamb finished the course in 30 seconds and the three women's players each had a time of 32.

The women's team got its revenge winning the "Minute to Win It" competition. I won't attempt to explain all of these contests but can tell you that Tiffany Hayes won Face the Cookie when she was the fastest to have a cookie slid from her forehand into her mouth without the use of her hands. It seemed to me as if she used her hands briefly but was not blatant enough to be disqualified. Lauren Engeln won the Nose Dive by moving a bowl full of cotton balls from one bowl to another and Stefanie Dolson clinched the win by winning "Junk in the Trunk" when she shook out ping pong balls out of a tissue box affixed to her waist.

Lorin Dixon ended the evening by winning the Simon Says competition.

The seven recruits in the house certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves. UConn commit Brianna Banks even ran onto the court to do a little dancing. Fellow UConn commit Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis was joined by uncommitted senior Kiah Stokes, much sought after juniors Moriah Jefferson, Bria Holmes (a two-time All-Stater at Hillhouse) and Morgan Tuck and sophomore Diamond DeShields. It appeared to me as if former Iowa star Greg Stokes and former baseball star Delino DeShields, the fathers of Kiah Stokes and Diamond DeShields respectively, were also in the stands.