By Zac Boyer

Like many of Calhoun's biggest recruits -- Emeka Okafor and Hilton Armstrong come to mind -- Thabeet wasn't highly-regarded. When Andre LaFleur heard about him, he traveled to see Thabeet and even brought him up to Storrs for the Huskies' season-ender against Louisville on March 4. Because UConn was in the running, other schools realized that Thabeet must be something special. He went to look at other urban programs in Cincinnati and Louisville before deciding that rural UConn was the place to be.

"Houston is a big city," Thabeet said of his home away from home. "There's everything there. Here, I can just focus."

Thabeet's defensive prowess was evident when he took the court and swatted numerous shots that came near him during 40 minutes of practice. He may be a little slow compared to the guards -- local recruit Doug Wiggins may be the fastest player on the court since Taliek Brown manned the point in 2004 -- but that's why he's there in the middle of the summer with the rest of his team.

"I know I can play defense, but I'm trying to get the offensive side together," Thabeet said. "We'd like to learn each other...I've only been playing basketball four years and they've been playing basketball a long time, but right now, we are all starting together."

Thabeet is taking history, political science and math classes at UConn this summer with the rest of the team. The hope is that that the players will bond before the season begins. The rest of their time will be spent playing pick-up games or working out in the gym, something new to Thabeet. Improving his English will also be one of his priorities. He's still getting used to the college atmosphere and must learn English quickly in order to master his academics. He's already mastered Swahili and French, so he's not worried about the most important language he has to learn: Jim Calhoun's.

"I will speak his language soon," Thabeet promises.

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