Game On!

Jim Calhoun has won two national championships, been enshrined into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, and sent a plethora of his players to the NBA. He's revered throughout the state of Connecticut as a sports deity who single-handedly transcended the perspective of athletics in the Big East conference.

That doesn't means his teams are always going to win games pretty; especially not after they lost four seniors on a team that went to the Final Four last April. Calhoun's current UConn team is undefeated heading into this week's NIT at Madison Square Garden, but has struggled through three games and has yet to show any glimpses of the breathtaking play that most pundits expected at the season's outset. They'll need to change that this week.

Below is a preview of the two NIT semifinal games Wednesday at MSG.

UCONN VS. LSU

Unlike Calhoun's teams of years past, the Huskies have serious issues rebounding the basketball, despite the play of freshman center Alex Oriakhi (10.7 RPG). With forwards Tasmin Mitchell and Storm Warren, the Tigers are long enough to give UConn fits on the glass and have a capable ballhandler in junior guard Bo Spencer.

This will be a good test for the young Huskies who will need to rely on seniors Jerome Dyson and Stanley Robinson for baskets down the stretch. I like the Huskies to win, but it won't be by a large margin.

PREDICTION: UConn 73, LSU 69.

DUKE VS. ARIZONA STATE

Kyle Singler might be the single toughest cover in college basketball, and the Sun Devils have no one who can even come close to guarding him. Duke's backcourt of Nolan Smith and Jon Scheyer has been better than expected to start the season, and their ability to manufacture easy baskets could be the difference in this one.

Arizona State coach Herb Sendek lost James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph from last year's team that lost to Syracuse in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, but he does return some decent role players in Ty Abbott, Derek Glasser, Richard Kuksiks and one-time Dukie, Eric Boateng.

Based on talent, the Blue Devils win easy. However, Sendek's penchant for slowing down games has been known to give teams fits (see NC State vs. UConn, 2005 NCAA Tournament). The Sun Devils might be able to hang close for a half, but that's probably about it.

PREDICTION: Duke 83, Arizona State 66.

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