In something of a surprise, UConn center Hasheem Thabeet announced he would be returning for his junior year.

"We are happy that Hasheem has made the decision to return for his junior season," said head coach Jim Calhoun. "Hasheem has made as much progress as any player I have coached in my 36 years and if he continues that incredible progress, he will help us take the next step as a team and help himself become one of the best players in college basketball."

The major surprise isn't that Thabeet is coming back to UConn. He's still very raw despite the great progress he made this year. Even though he's thought about it the last two years, he hasn't pulled the trigger.

The bigger surprise is that he didn't even put his name on the draft list to at least test the waters. To go through the draft camps and some workouts for teams to see what they wanted to see from him seems like a smarter move. Especially when he was considered a late lottery pick.

For UConn, this is great news. If point guard A.J. Price makes a complete recovery from his ACL tear, the Huskies will return their entire starting 5 and along with Pitt be the favorites to win the Big East in 2008-09.

I don't know what the sales pitch Jim Calhoun uses to get players to choose UConn. Most likely it involves getting to the NBA and winning games. It's hard to believe he pitches players on how they will be part of a family. If it does, then he likely doesn't mention what happens to family that screws up or doesn't produce.

Last month, Jim Calhoun made it very clear that some players were definitely not welcome back. The most obvious was back-up point guard Doug Wiggins. Sure enough, the ax fell Wiggins decided that he would transfer.

Naturally, Calhoun was very clear that it was all Wiggins call. That he wasn't pushed or forced.

"I completely respect Doug's decision," Calhoun said in a statement. "He has contributed to many successes for us in his time here. We will do everything we can to help him finish school in good standing this semester and move on to a place where he will be happy. I appreciate him for the time that he was here with us and wish him the best of luck in the future."

The part about finishing the semester in good standing is hilarious.

Well, the players who are of little use anyways. They need to go and free up those vital scholarships.

UConn only has two scholarships available for the incoming class thanks in part to the departure just prior to the season of Marcus Johnson. That means nothing. Coach Jim Calhoun expects to have at least 4 new players for next year.

...Calhoun said he doesn't foresee wholesale changes, but strongly hinted that a couple of players are not welcome back. Others, he said, might be unhappy with the amount of playing time he thinks they'll get next year.

"We feel that life doesn't begin and end on the court," Calhoun said. "It's how we show ourselves as a basketball program. Academics are very important here, and we've had some disappointments. Social behavior is very important here."

Calhoun pointed to the suspensions of guards Jerome Dyson and Doug Wiggins in January after they were caught on campus with alcohol. He said "one young man" had really grown from his suspension, and talked about his plans for Dyson, including possible workouts this summer with former Husky Ben Gordon, who plays for the Chicago Bulls.

But Calhoun refused to discuss Wiggins' status.

It figures. Both Dyson and Wiggins have been suspended for a mandatory 30-day period for failed drug tests in their careers. Dyson just happened to be the second leading scorer on the team. Wiggins has been a disappointment as a back-up point guard. Any wonder why Calhoun spoke highly of Dyson learning, while Wiggins doesn't exist?

Sometimes it seems that if it wasn't for bad luck, A.J. Price would have no luck at all. His career at UConn has been anything but storybook.

As a freshman, the point guard was hospitalized with a brain hemorrhage putting his life at severe risk. He was unable to play basketball for two years as he underwent procedures to correct the condition that caused the hemorrhage and then became involved in stolen laptops on campus.

After two years away from playing, he had a less than impressive season. Last year, UConn missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2000-01 season.

This season, Price finally emerged and played like the player he was expected to be when he was recruited. The Huskies came into the Tournament as a 4 seed and was a popular pick to at least get to the Sweet 16. Instead UConn fell to San Diego after Price went down in the 1st half with a knee injury.

Naturally, for Price it had to be more than a sprain or a twist. He tore the ACL in his left knee

If the surgery goes well, and he recovers in the normal timeframe, he should be ready for the start of practice in October. Given everything that has already happened to Price, that hardly seems like a sure thing.

Round 1 in Tampa was brutal for the higher seed teams. Epic, record-setting even. Two 4-13 games and two 5-12 games. In all four, the double digit seeds won. That has never happened before in the NCAA Tournament.

On Sunday, Tampa will have two 12-13 matchups. UConn, Drake, Vandy and Clemson all tumble to San Diego, Western Kentucky, Siena and Villanova. In fact, there hasn't been a 12-13 game in the second round since 2001 -- Indiana State-Gonzaga. Now there are two at one site.

It just screams statistical anomaly, but everyone is still waiting for that 1-16 upset.

In the biggest upset yet in this year's NCAA Tournament, 13 seed San Diego defeated 4 seed UConn, 70-69 in overtime.

It was an outstanding performance by San Diego, taking a 34-29 lead into the locker room at halftime and holding on to that lead for almost the entire second half. When Connecticut took its first lead of the second half with just over three minutes left -- the point when, no doubt, just about every fan watching at home thought, "Nice run by San Diego, but now it's over" -- San Diego came right back and tied the game just seconds later.

It then went into a back-and-forth overtime period, and De'Jon Jackson hit the game-winner with two seconds left.

As much credit as San Diego deserves for the win, it should be noted that the win likely wouldn't have happened had it not been for UConn's leading scorer, A.J. Price, suffering a knee injury early in the game. With Price on the floor, San Diego likely doesn't win this game. But that doesn't make it any less sweet for the Toreros.

Next up: San Diego vs. Western Kentucky. Yes, one of those two teams will be in the Sweet 16. Did you have that in your bracket?

Previously on FanHouse:
Recognize San Diego
Recognize UConn

Georgetown's DaJuan Summers, Connecticut's Jeff Adrien, Xavier's Drew Lavender, Tennessee's Chris Lofton, Kansas's Brandon Rush and UCLA's Kevin Love are all on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week, with subscribers and newsstands in each region of the country getting the cover that will generate the most local interest.

For local fans, it's cool to see your own favorite player on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and for the players themselves, it has to be an incredibly thrilling experience to see themselves there. But something about this practice -- which Sports Illustrated has done before -- rubs me the wrong way.

In the old days of the magazine, there was always something special about the Sports Illustrated cover: It signified that this person was the athlete that we should care about. It was like all American sports fans could share in a national conversation about this one particular person. When we learn that Michael Jordan has been on the most covers, followed by Muhammad Ali, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and Jack Nicklaus, we feel like we know how often those athletes have been at the center of the national sports conversation. When the covers are split up and regionalized, they feel cheapened.

And, of course, there's also the issue of the cover jinx. With six different teams getting the cover treatment, how do we know which one not to put in the Final Four in our office pools?

Conference: Big East
Record: 24-7, 13-5 in conference
RPI: 18
How They Got In: At-Large
Seed/Bracket: 4/West

Mascot: Jonathan XII is the present Husky mascot. UConn was originally an agricultural college and nicknamed the Aggies into the 1930s. A student survey/vote chose the Husky as the new mascot when the school changed from Connecticut Agricultural College became Connecticut State College.

Big Wins: at Indiana, Louisville, Notre Dame, Pitt

Notable Loss: Swept by Providence

Player You Should Know: It's hard to miss center Hasheem Thabeet. The big man inside is the best shot blocker at UConn since Emeka Okafor was at the program. His offensive game has developed a softer touch to finish better around the hoop. Almost as important, the big man shoots better than 70% from the free throw line.

Outlook: Lots of talent, but their coach has questioned their desire after going out in the Big East Tournament in their first game. The team has cooled off considerably in the last week. Mainly, their defense has dropped in intensity. Unless that changes, they will be hard pressed to get to the Sweet 16.

I thought Shelley Smith of ESPN did an even-handed job when she broke the news that the University of Connecticut women's basketball team committed a recruiting violation by taking Maya Moore on a tour of ESPN. UConn coach Geno Auriemma does not agree with me.

Auriemma said this on his weekly radio show:

"It's a story that has been rehashed by ESPN to serve its own purposes. ... Shelley Smith came up to talk to me to do a story on [Tennessee women's basketball coach] Pat Summitt and my relationship with her, why the series was canceled, and I flat out said, 'Go ask her. I didn't cancel it.' I didn't want to be involved in [that] story.

"And [Smith's] response was, 'OK, we're going to [report the violation].' ... What purpose does that serve? It's already been discussed and dealt with [last summer]. It's typical: 'Let's drum up some interest before the NCAA Tournament starts and hope these two meet in the finals so we can get boffo ratings' at the expense of Maya Moore."

The notion that this was done "at the expense of Maya Moore" strikes me as rather silly. No one is saying Moore did anything that any high school basketball player wouldn't do: She was offered a tour of ESPN and she accepted. What makes the story interesting is that it was Summitt, Auriemma's arch rival, who reported the tour to the NCAA. If Auriemma doesn't think that's newsworthy, he's wrong.

Going into the Big East Tournament, there were two historical themes. Georgetown has never lost a single game -- ever -- in the Big East Tournament as the #1 seed. The other being that only once in the 27 years of the Big East Tournament has a team won the BET playing 4 games in 4 days.

After Thursday's action, Georgetown looks like it is in great shape based on those two trends. The Hoyas are the #1 seed in the BET. They are also the only team that didn't play on Wednesday that will play on Friday. The 2, 3 and 4 seeds all lost on Thursday.

Georgetown actually blew an 11 point halftime lead against Villanova, before exploding late to crush Villanova 82-63. Villanova falls back on the bubble with a bad, ugly loss. Georgetown won going away despite Roy Hibbert finishing with 0 points and only 4 rebounds. Hibbert was saddled with foul troubles the whole game, and only played 14 minutes. Georgetown won big because they were unstoppable on the perimeter. They shot 17-28 on 3 point shots. Mind-boggling to watch.