*On deciding so early: “I already knew what school I was going to go to. A lot of coaches will call you and text you and I just wanted to get it over with early and be free.”

*On relationship with Kevin Ollie: “I’ve known him since about 9^th grade at Crenshaw, that’s when he first started recruiting me and (my brother) Isaac. He just continued to key in on me even though Isaac committed (to UTEP), he continued to recruit me.”

“Ollie is a well-known guy, a lot of people knew him (at Crenshaw) and a lot of people looked up to him.”

*On his decision: ” I told (Ollie) the day I got home from my visit. I got home on Sunday, but Monday I told him I was going to call him. I  thought about it on the plane, talked it over with my parents and I called him and told him I was coming. I waited until Friday to tell the media.”

*On playing weaker competition in AAC: “At the end of the day UConn is going to end up playing some big-time schools non conference. Once you get to the NCAA tournament, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing against, you have to go out and perform.”

Other schools heavily recruiting Hamilton included Texas El-Paso (his brother, Isaac, is an incoming freshman), Colorado, USC, Arizona and Arizona State. He”s rated as a top 30 prospect in the 2014 class.

Highly-touted shooting guard Daniel Hamilton committed to UConn Friday night, according to a tweet from FoxSports recruiting analyst Evan Daniels.

A lanky 6-foot-6 wing, Hamilton has a well-polished perimeter game, as evidenced by his 14.5 points, 7.1 assists and 7.2 rebounds per game this past season. He’s made rapid improvement in the past year, according to his Scout.com report, and is considered a top 30 prospect by Rivals.com and ESPN. He chose UConn over USC, UTEP, Louisville and others.

“Daniel was comfortable with Los Angeles native Kevin Ollie and the freedom he gives his perimeter players,” his AAU coach Dinos Trigonis told Scout.com. “Ollie’s NBA experience and connections were a plus too.”

Hamilton, who plays at St. John Bosco in Los Angeles, is the younger brother of Jordan Hamilton (Denver Nuggets) and Isaac Hamilton (incoming freshman at UTEP). Ollie also recruited Isaac Hamilton, considered one of the top scorers in the 2013 class.

“He recruited me and Isaac at Crenshaw,” Daniel Hamilton told ESPN’s Dave Telep. “When Isaac committed he never stopped. A lot of the coaches that recruited Isaac stopped recruiting me.

“It’s an up-and-coming program,” Hamilton continued. “Me and Coach Ollie have a great relationship. I knew him before he got the job there. It’s an opportunity for me to come in and step in and do some damage.”

When you couple his commitment with Purvis’ transfer, it appears Ollie has been able to work past the conference realignment dilemma to secure some serious talent. That’s a big deal for UConn.

The surgery (one hip was operated on at the end of March, the other at the end of April) may also help Calhoun avoid future problems, a school spokesperson said. FAI is a condition of too much friction in the hip joint. It can be caused by simple wear and tear.

Calhoun, who averaged 11.1 points per game as a freshman, is expected to be ready “well before” the season starts, a school spokesperson said. Recovery time could take 3-4 months.

Along with Calhoun, UConn returns its two other starting guards — Shabazz Napier and Ryan Boatright. The Huskies lost a fourth guard — R.J Evans — to graduation, but added the 6-foot-3, 195-pound Terrence Samuel out of Brooklyn.

With a schedule that includes  SMU, Central Florida and Houston, it was necessary for UConn to add some punch in the non-league.

Credit Warde Manuel, Jim Calhoun (whose responsibility includes scheduling) and Kevin Ollie. Job well done so far. Here are the marquee non-conference opponents in 2013-14:

Florida’s Patric Young (AP)

*Florida – The Gators have been to the past three Elite Eights, a remarkable feat. Outside of Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina and Kansas, I’m not sure there’s a better powerhouse to schedule. It’s unknown whether the Gators will visit the XL Center or Gampel. UConn will head to Gainesville in 2014 or 2015, according to the Palm Beat Post report.

*Maryland — Despite the losses of center Alex Len (NBA) and point guard Pe’Shon Howard (transfer), the Terps are still formidable. Dez Wells is one of the ACC’s top returnees, and Shabazz Napier is an early candidate for AAC preseason player of the year. There will be plenty of star power present when Maryland and UConn clash in the Nov. 8 season opener at the Barclays Center.

*2K Sports Classic — The field includes Boston College, Washington and Indiana, the other “host schools” in the 2013 bracket. The semifinals and championship game will be played at Madison Square Garden in late November.

*Harvard — For what it’s worth, Harvard is ranked higher than UConn in the pre-preseason top 25 polls. After winning its first NCAA tournament game in school history, a nucleus of  Wesley Saunders, Siyani Chambers and Laurent Rivard should give the Crimson a shot at another March victory. Also, its two top players — Brandyn Curry and Kyle Casey — return from a season-long academic suspension.

A matchup with Stanford is rumored to be in the works, too. Next season, the 10 AAC teams play each other twice to form an 18-game league schedule. In that system, UConn gets four games against Louisville and Memphis to help offset the lackluster home-and-home matchups with Rutgers, South Florida and Houston.

After nearly two months of contemplation, UConn point guard Shabazz Napier has decided to return to school.

A first team All-Big East selection, Napier announced his decision via UConn athletic communications Friday afternoon.

Shabazz Napier (AP)

“I want to thank coach (Kevin) Ollie and the UConn coaching staff for their understanding and cooperation as my family and I needed space and time during this process of deciding what move was best for us,” Napier said. “I want to thank my teammates for allowing me to lean on their shoulders when I needed some support.”

As a junior, Napier compiled a remarkable season, among the most impressive of any point guard in program history. His 17.1 points, 4.6 assists, 2.0 steals and 39.8 percent marksmanship from 3-point range led the Huskies, and his intangibles were equally valuable. The 6-foot-1 Boston product transformed himself from an erratic sophomore who publicly called out his teammates to a confident, composed junior, the type of leader UConn needed as it faced a postseason ban.

The Huskies played a school-record seven overtime games, and Napier was nothing short of brilliant in each one. In 45 minutes of overtime this season, he scored 56 points.

“I think Shabazz’s decision is great for him and great for the university,” said UConn head coach Kevin Ollie. “I believe that first and foremost, it will give him a chance to earn his degree, which is something I know he’ll really cherish. At the same time, he’ll continue to hone his skills as a lead guard and contribute to us continuing the success of UConn basketball, but also he will keep cultivating the kind of atmosphere I want our student-athletes to be around. He was a big part of that with his leadership on and off the basketball court.”

Napier was considered a likely second round pick had he declared.  With its leader back, UConn returns all five starters and its top seven scorers from a year ago. The Huskies, who finished 20-10, figure to be in the mix for a spot in the preseason top 25.

Sophomores Ryan Boatright and DeAndre Daniels have also informed the coaching staff of their intentions to remain in school, according to the UConn athletic department.

“We think we have a great team for next season,” Napier said, “and we’re excited about playing for a conference championship and in the NCAA Tournament.”

Enosch Wolf (AP)

Arrested on Feb. 11 in a domestic dispute, Wolf was charged with third-degree burglary, criminal trespass and disorderly conduct. The 7-foot-1 junior was suspended indefinitely pending legal and university review.

Wolf completed the court-mandated counseling, but continues to receive counseling on his own.

“I’m really happy that the court part is resolved,” Wolf said. “I will keep staying in the counseling myself because I realize it has a positive effect on me and helps me stay focused.”

Wolf’s attorney, Rob Britt, said the counseling has helped Wolf “address alcohol, which was an important part of the equation.”

“What I’ve seen in him is a decision-making process that involves a lot of thought,” Britt said. “There is much less spontaneity in what he is doing. There is much more of a decision-making process and contemplation of what’s in front of him.”

With the legal process complete, Wolf awaits university review. Head coach Kevin Ollie told The Hartford Courant last week that Wolf’s fate will be decided by a number of administrators.

“We’re all monitoring his progress — the president’s office, community standards and the AD, so it is not just my decision,” Ollie told the Courant.

Without Wolf, the team’s most consistent center, UConn went 4-4 in its final eight games. Junior forward Tyler Olander, who absorbed most of Wolf’s minutes, broke his left foot against South Florida on March 6. Olander underwent surgery, and then was arrested for trespassing while on spring break.

Olander was accepted into a pretrial diversionary program in Florida. His charges are also likely to be dropped.

If Wolf returns next season, he’ll be joined in the frontcourt by Olander, rising sophomore Phil Nolan and athletic freshmen Kentan Facey and Amida Brimah. DeAndre Daniels and Niels Giffey are likely to see duty at the power forward position, as well.

Ryan Boatright, Ricky Moore, Kevin Freeman (AP)

Moore joins assistant coach Karl Hobbs and associate head coach Glen Miller on Kevin Ollie’s staff. George Blaney, an assistant this past season, will remain with the program as a special assistant/advisor to Ollie.

Prior to joining the UConn staff in 2012, Moore served as an assistant coach at Dartmouth. A lockdown perimeter defender on UConn’s 1999 national championship squad, Moore will be involved in games, practices and recruiting.

“I’m really excited to add Ricky to our coaching staff,” Ollie said. “When Ricky was here as a player, he epitomized what UConn stands for and I know he will do the same thing as a coach.”

Following his college career, Moore played 11 seasons professionally, enjoying stints in Austria, Ukraine, Sweden, Turkey, Germany, the CBA and NBDL.

“I have a lot of faith in Ricky as a recruiter and a coach,” Ollie said. “He’s had experience on the road and I know the kind of strength and enthusiasm he has for the game and our program. I’ve already seen it in the role he had with us last year. Going into this new era of UConn basketball, I’m looking forward to having him on the road recruiting and using his coaching style to help us on and off the court.”

Moore hails from Augusta, Ga., the hometown of Ahmed Hill, one of UConn’s top 2014 targets. Hill, a bouncy 6-foot-4 guard, is ranked by Rivals.com as the No. 26 prospect in the class.

A 6-foot-11, 215 pound center with a reported 7-foot-5 wingspan, Brimah averaged 16 points, 11.7 rebounds and 7.2 blocks for Archbishop Carroll High (Miami) this past season. He was the first commit that Kevin Ollie secured as head coach.

“Amida was one of the most passionate basketball players I saw during the entire recruiting period, and I fell in love with his passion for the game,” Ollie said. “He showed leadership both on and off the court, and then he was the best player in the game.”

Brimah joins 6-foot-9 forward Kentan Facey and 6-foot-4 guard Terrence Samuel in UConn’s 2013 class. The Huskies also recently added former McDonald’s All-American Rodney Purvis from N.C. State. Under transfer rules, Purvis can practice in 2013-14 but cannot appear in games until the 2014-15 season.

Outside of Purvis, UConn has not received commitments from any 2014 prospects.  Daniel Hamilton, a 6-foot-6 wing from Los Angeles, is scheduled to visit Storrs during the first weekend of May, according to Rivals.com. The website lists Hamilton as the No. 28 prospect in 2014.

If an ACC school chose to leave, its media rights, including revenue, for all home games would remain with the ACC regardless of league affiliation, according to ESPN’s report. Simply put, it would make very little financial sense for any ACC school to flee, which complicates UConn’s future.

It’s widely believed that UConn would have a higher long-term ceiling — in all sports — if it were in a different conference. And for quite some time, the ACC seemed the most likely destination. Back in November, an ACC vacancy opened when Maryland accepted a bid to the B1G. UConn and Louisville were considered the top potential replacements, and the ACC quickly chose Louisville to fill the opening.

Ever since, the common belief was this: UConn, seemingly the most complete sports school not included in the power conferences, must wait for another ACC vacancy and then make a hard sell.

But Monday’s grant of rights drastically alters the situation. The above scenario no longer exists, and it seems another escape route has been blocked.

Stuck in the AAC, UConn could draw interest from the B1G if the conference decides to expand (the league would choose from schools in the SEC, AAC, Conference USA or Mountain West because the ACC, Big 12 and Pac 12 have grants of rights). In that regard, Monday’s news could work in UConn’s favor. With the ACC out of the realignment picture, there are less teams “available” for the B1G and Big 12.

The B1G currently has 14 teams, but there’s been rampant speculation that the league will expand to 16. OhioState President E. Gordon Gee told The Columbus Dispatch in January that expansion talks were “ongoing.” Although it would make little geographical sense for UConn to join the B1G or Big 12, it’s certainly a better alternative to the AAC.

Of course, UConn could still wind up in the ACC if the conference seeks a 16^th basketball school. Thus far, ACC commissioner John Swofford has been adamant about sticking with 15 teams.

Here’s your new Husky dog:

New UConn logo (UConn Today)

Athletic director Warde Manuel on the new logo (per UConn Today): “Our student-athletes and coaches believe that the new Husky dog logo boldly reflects values such as pride, loyalty, strength, determination, and athleticism. They are all very excited to wear it into competition and to see it displayed prominently in our facilities. The new logo is a significant piece of the new visual identity of UConn athletics.”

Kevin Ollie: “I absolutely love this new Husky Dog logo. It looks fantastic on our uniforms and I know that our fans will love it as much as we do. Our new identity is a look that I know I will be proud to wear.”

Geno Auriemma: “This logo is everything that a Husky is supposed to be – powerful, aggressive, determined,” he says. “It is looking right through you and saying ‘Do not mess with me.’ This is a streamlined, fighting dog, and I cannot wait for it to be on our uniforms and court.”

As for me?

I don’t hate it.  I’m sure over time I’ll come to really like it. I don’t deal well with change, though, and I never thought there was anything wrong with the old Husky. Give us your thoughts below.