Great games ahead for basketball teams

For the first time in a long time, all is right with the world. For the first time since about 2006, the center of college basketball is slowly gravitating toward Storrs.

It shouldn't be news to any of our regular readers. You know all about Hasheem Thabeet and Maya Moore. You know about the UConn men's 19-1 start, including nine wins away from home (four in Big East play). You know all about the women's team's trail of destruction, making top 10 teams look silly and ridding the country of all that national-championship-drama nonsense.

If you were going to make a novel out of the first 60 percent of the season, I'm not sure there would create a better scenario for either team.

I, and most of the current senior class, were freshmen the last time the men's team could say they were elite; the last time a really dominant women's team strolled around campus (2002), I was a freshman in high school. This little cow town can get electric when it senses a special basketball team. This year, UConn has two.

Take stock. Enjoy this moment. Use this feeling to forget that pipes are bursting in classroom buildings that should've been replaced in 1989.

And then ready yourself, because the 16-day period that begins Saturday is about as good as it gets before March. Two teams, both with Final Four aspirations, will combine for six big-time home games that will shape the rest of the 2008-2009 season.

Don't take my word for it, check this out:

Saturday - men vs. Providence (Gampel)

Let me bring special attention to the three-games-in-11-days swing for the men at Gampel Pavilion. UConn usually can't be bothered to schedule three games at Gampel in any given month. Thankfully, the schedule makers made it so the men play four of their next five games in Storrs, beginning with Saturday's game against the Friars.

By the way, is anyone else tired of Providence absolutely owning UConn? The Friars have won three in a row in the series (and beat the Huskies in the 2004 championship season) and I've seen more wide-open Weyinmi Efejuku dunks than I can stand.

The Huskies haven't played Providence at Gampel since 2003, when … Providence won, 76-70. Seriously. This has to stop.

Monday - men at Louisville

A Big Monday showdown with the red-hot Cardinals is about as good as it gets in the Big East. Freedom Hall is a wild, intense atmosphere where it is difficult to win. Such is life in this conference.

Tuesday - women vs. Rutgers (XL Center)

I'll give you a little tip: it almost doesn't matter which women's game you go to. But make sure you get out to some, if not all of the home games. The Huskies will win by 20, you'll see one of the best offensive basketball machines of all time, and you'll be able to say you've seen the best point guard, the best center and the best player in women's basketball.

But if you can only make one game, make it this one. The Scarlet Knights are unranked for the first time in years, but a rivalry is a rivalry. Epiphany Prince is a gifted scorer who drew boos for a dirty foul on Moore in last year's regular-season finale.

Saturday, Feb. 7 - men vs. Michigan (Gampel)

Beware the Wolverines, who knocked off Duke back in November.

It's a Saturday night, nationally televised game on campus against a solid team that could use the win for its NCAA Tournament hopes. Any other questions?

Wednesday, Feb. 11 - men vs. Syracuse (Gampel)

Let's say, hypothetically, UConn had an actual rival in basketball. I know, tough to believe.

And let's say, again hypothetically, that one player on that rival team - a hypothetical 6-foot-4, 175-pound guard - was suspended for a couple games for an altercation with a woman. Now, imagine this guy has a reputation of being sort of a punk on and off the court, and is delightfully hateable.

Hypothetically, I would expect the student section to come up with something chant- and sign-worthy. All I'm saying is that if you plan on camping out Tuesday night before this one, plan ahead. Entertain me.

Unfortunately, that completely hypothetical situation may have to take a back seat to the mocking of all things Paul Harris.

A YouTube video of the smooth-shooting guard, making the rounds this week, features Harris rapping, way off-key, to 50 Cent's "21 Questions" in front of a shrine to himself. I implore you: find and watch the video. Bask in its greatness. And keep it mind.

Because the Orange are making it too easy for us fans. Making fun of Syracuse isn't like shooting fish in a barrel; it's like looking at fish in a barrel. Unfortunately, the actual team is looking fairly solid, and the Gampel crowd could make the difference.

Feb. 14 - men at Seton Hall/Feb. 15 - women vs. Pittsburgh (Gampel)

Sure, you might want to spend your entire Valentine's Day with that special someone, but trust me: they'll still be there well after UConn's game with the Pirates comes to an end.

They may take offense to the fact that you put basketball before romance but, to be fair, Jeff Adrien was here first.

If you get locked out of your room by an angry significant other, head on over to Gampel the next day to watch the Huskies seek yet another Big East win. Agnes Berenato, the Pitt women's coach, is among the nicest people in America. She won't yell at you.

Feb. 16 - men vs. Pittsburgh (XL Center)

And so it ends, with a Big Monday home game against the team most people have picked to win the conference title. The Panthers are also, might I add, the only Big East team to reach the No. 1 ranking in the polls as of press time. Even the arena I lovingly refer to as 'the Morgue' might get excited for this one.

After Feb. 16, there is, of course, plenty of good stuff to choose from. Both teams have emotional senior nights scheduled. Unfortunately, the Big East made everything convenient by scheduling the last men's home game for 2 p.m. in Gampel, and the last women's home game for 7:30 in Hartford.

There's Jim Calhoun's chase of 800 wins (he has 792) and the men's Big East tournament, where a championship might actually be as tough as making the Final Four. We'll watch the women's pursuit of a perfect 39-0 record and a sixth NCAA championship which, at the moment, seems like a foregone conclusion.

And then, before you know it, it's March Madness. I have no idea how this season will end up. Dual celebrations? Dual heartbreak? Some combination of the two?

I do know that seasons like this - and the next 16 days in particular - are what college basketball is all about. Entertainment. Passion. Poking fun at Eric Devendorf.

If you're not already listening to "One Shining Moment" and CBS's NCAA basketball theme nonstop, you should start. Get pumped.