NEW YORK – Minutes before Wednesday’s Big East Media Day began, Jim Calhoun and Charlie Villanueva huddled in the lobby.

‘I’m going to tell them about you,’ Calhoun said. ‘I’m going to tell them this is your breakout year. Now just don’t make me look bad.’

As the Connecticut men’s basketball team’s head coach sat with the cluster of reporters encircling him in the Madison Square Garden lobby, he preached about his most promising player and the upcoming season. In it, the Huskies will wear a target on their backs as the defending national champions while replacing three starters – Emeka Okafor, Ben Gordon and Taliek Brown.

Calhoun thinks Villanueva, a sophomore, can shock the nation.

‘Charlie’s easily our best player,’ Calhoun said. ‘These first few practices, he’s just been exceptional. He has blown away the rest of our team.’

Last year, Villanueva played sparingly, averaging 8.9 points and 5.3 rebounds in 19 minutes a game.

‘The only reason Charlie didn’t average double-figures last year was because he didn’t get a chance to play,’ Calhoun said. ‘We decided to go with experience over potential.’

As UConn opened practice, Calhoun called on Villanueva to be UConn’s top scorer this season.

But Villanueva is one of three players who will replace the three lost players. Sophomore Josh Boone and freshman Rudy Gay will earn a more prominent role as the season progresses.

Boone, too, played sparingly last year, averaging 5.9 points and 5.8 rebounds in 22 minutes. But Boone dominated when Okafor sat out with a back injury, grabbing 15 and 16 rebounds in back-to-back Big East tournament games.

And coaches already picked Gay as preseason Big East Freshman of the Year.

‘He’s a super athlete,’ UConn guard Rashad Anderson said of Gay. ‘And when I say super, I mean super. He’s very fast at going to the rack and is a great shooter at the same time.’

But most of the talk focused on Villanueva. Even from opposing head coaches.

‘I hope not,’ Villanova coach Jay Wright said facetiously when asked if Villanueva was the next star. ‘He’s a very nice kid. I hope he remains that way.’

Then Wright cracked.

‘Of course he will be,’ Wright said, smiling worriedly. ‘Have you seen him? He’s a monster. He’s a scary basketball player.’

Wright saw Villanueva before Media Day started, tossed his arm around the forward and tugged.

‘That kid’s got some girth now,’ Wright said. ‘I felt it. You can tell he put on some weight. So he’s gonna be strong down low. He’s not going to get pushed around.’

That is, if Villanueva even plays down low. Because UConn is so stacked in the front court with Gay and Boone, Calhoun tossed around the idea that Villanueva would play some small forward.

If so, the 6-foot-11, 240-pounder could play a point-forward type position if UConn rotates in Hilton Armstrong, a 6-foot-11 junior.

UConn also added transfer Ed Nelson, a 6-foot-8 transfer from Georgia Tech last season. With Armstrong, Nelson, Boone, Gay and Villanueva on the court, every player would measure at least 6-feet-8 inches.

‘We have a tremendous frontcourt,’ Villanueva said. ‘I’d put it as the best in the country.’

Whether it is enough to return to the Final Four is a different question.

Calhoun called last year’s championship team the most talented in college basketball since Kentucky’s 1996 team (which featured Tony Delk, Antoine Walker, Walter McCarty, Derek Anderson, Ron Mercer and Nazr Mohammed).

‘Last year at this time, I said we should be going to San Antonio and winning it all,’ Calhoun said. ‘This year, I’d say we have an outside shot. If we end up as talented as last year’s team, I’ll take it.’

One key loss already has been A.J. Price, who was admitted to Hartford Hospital with a brain hemorrhage earlier this fall.

Price, a freshman guard, was competing for the starting point guard spot. He had lost 17 pounds, but Calhoun said Price is improving and anxious to return.

Experience from last year’s championship should help ease Price’s loss, Calhoun said. At the same time, teams will be trying to upset last year’s top team.

‘We can make everybody’s day,’ Calhoun said. ‘We have the unique ability to do that, especially early in the season. All they have to do is beat us and they’ve defeated the national champs.’

Published on October 27, 2004 at 12:00 pm