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Message: [QUOTE="HooperScooper, post: 2643468, member: 10"] Book goes on sale next week. Some interesting stories about UConn. The Rondo stories are also interesting. [URL='https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-celtics/2018/03/21/ray-allen-book-excerpts-from-the-outside']10 things we learned from Ray Allen’s upcoming tell-all book[/URL] [I]The finalists for Allen’s college basketball career were Alabama, Wake Forest, North Carolina State, Kentucky, and the University of Connecticut. Although he initially thought UConn was referring to the Yukon territory near Alaska, Allen ended up loving Storrs once he visited. In addition to the program’s growing prominence, Allen said he was hooked by coach Jim Calhoun, the players’ close-knit community off the court, and the lack of racial barriers he experienced in the South. “This was the place for me,” he wrote. But Allen wanted to be sure, so he visited Lexington. When reflecting on how he was treated by UConn, however, Allen said Kentucky couldn’t compare. One of the two defining examples he believed elucidated the difference came when he was eating lunch with forward Jamal Mashburn and his roommate at a restaurant coach Rick Pitino owned. “[Coach Pitino] happened to be there that afternoon, sitting with some friends a few tables away,” Allen recounted. “Perfect, I figured, he’ll stop by for a few minutes to say hello, and I’ll learn more to help me make my decision. Only he didn’t stop by. He waved, and that was it. Coach Calhoun would never have ignored us. He and I, in fact, enjoyed several meals together on my visit to Storrs.” Allen said Pitino’s approach on his visit to Kentucky helped him realize the importance of being somewhere you are valued — “where it’s clear somebody wants you to be an essential part of what they’re doing.”[/I] [/QUOTE]

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