I am hoping I can get tickets to this game. It's a well deserved honor for Ben Gordon.

I believe I attended all the home games in the 2003-2004 season except for a shocking loss to Providence. I have a vivid memory of Gordon dropping 39 points on Nevada early in the season in a game that was part of the preseason NIT. I was at that game and Gordon was incredible. He started out that season on fire. Then he went into a significant slump during midseason, shooting very erratically. Gordon's shooting woes coincided with the home loss to PC which I didn't see.

Then the postseason came and Gordon was a completely different player. The postseason in 2004 was his best ball as a UConn player. He took it to another level, as great players do. He was MVP of the Big East Tournament, and was huge in the NCAA tournament. Although Emeka Okafor was Final 4 MOP, he had huge help from Gordon and Rashad Anderson draining 3s from all over the Court. It was a great team- probably UConn's most explosive champion until last year's team. But maybe a bit deeper than last year's team.

Gordon was in some ways similar to Kemba Walker as a postseason hero, although I would say he was a much better shooter than Kemba. Whereas Kemba had a more explosive first step and was the better driver. But they both got the job done in a big way for UConn in the big games and the postseason.

No equal say, their shares get prorated based on what they bring in. If they want to try to develop football programs they are free to do so but it's all based on what they bring in and no football is allowed in unless it's certified as FBS D-1 calibre.

I think the idea is worthy of discussion based on such a model. It would enhance the basketball side and would benefit UConn if it's allowed in as a full 2 sport member of the merged conference. You could call it the Big East Coast Conference or BECC.

I think the merger works on the basis of Yormark's theory that basketball is being undervalued. So give it the valuation it warrants based on the revenue achieved.

Coach K: Big East and ACC should merge

UConn played OK this game but there was a problem with all the PGs- Diarra, Mahaney and Nowell- way too much dribbling. I expected this game to actually be more difficult than it was because Cooleyball has traditionally thwarted UConn from executing. But I noticed that there were some shot clock violations and last second jacks and just way too much dribbling from the guards. I liked how Solo Ball played as he was actively crashing the boards. UConn still needs more from the Stewart/Ross tandem at the 3 but every game you see flashes and both guys are contributing on the defensive end. Overall I will call it a solid win. But the guard play needs to be better.

It looks like Pryce Yates may need to hop in the portal again!

Especially disappointing to me in the Providence game was Karaban's man to man defense. Although he did have 4 blocked shots and is good at help defense at the rim, his man was getting by him with ease repeatedly. The first half against PC was the worst defense they played since Maui. What we have to keep in mind is UConn needed to shoot 72% in the second half to barely win the game.

What we saw last night is a preview of what's coming. Marquette, Georgetown, St. John's all have athletic teams that are likely to have success driving the ball on UConn. St. John's is a weak 3 point shooting team (although they defend the perimeter well) and UConn will be in a position where it would be a no brainer to use zone defense against them if the relentless rim attacks are not stopped. St. John's won last night at Xavier with relentless rim attacks and relentless offensive rebounding which did not get stopped. They are the one team where a lot of zone defense may be called for.

Ben Gold of Marquette is having all kinds of problems finishing in this game. He isn't the player that Oso Ighadoro was.

Zone defense is something UConn absolutely should be doing in stretches against teams that are killing them off the dribble which Providence was the first half this past weekend. I think Hurley believes in his head he can fix what is broken but sometimes you have to fix slowly over time and in the interim apply temporary treatments including zone defenses. Otherwise they will lose games because of not doing that.

BTW Marquette has tightened this game up and it's turned into an excellent game of Cooleyball vs Marquette's pressure.

Watching Georgetown up 35-21 at Marquette. This is not the Georgetown of a couple years ago. This Hoya team is playing Cooleyball and are rolling. They have shown a zone defense which seemingly threw Marquette off. Will be very interesting to see what happens as you always need to play 40 minutes against Marquette especially on their Court.

Watching St. John's - Xavier which is turning into a blowout of Xavier. Watching this game, I think St. John's is the best defensive team in the Big East, at least of the teams I have seen so far. They are not allowing Xavier any open looks and also are all over the boards. SJU looks like a dangerous team to me. Rickie P has them playing some serious ball like you knew he eventually would.

The BIg 12 looks like the better option right now, because of stability and the TV contract, but the ACC could be the better option long term for UConn. I feel like UConn will be able to make more progress in football, sooner in the ACC. I do not believe the ACC schools are all that good in football and UConn would have a better chance at football prominence there. In basketball, there are more natural rivalries. They currently rotate the location of the ACC basketball tournament but we will have Barclay's Center in that rotation. I believe it is in DC this year.