Not everyone is surprised by Lin

Hofstra assistant men's basketball coach Patrick Sellers laughs at the thought of Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin taking the world by storm. Sellers, a former assistant at Connecticut, got to know all about Lin when the Harvard senior came to Gampel Pavilion during the 2009-10 season and torched the Huskies for 30 points.

Sellers had a game plan in place and it centered on stopping Lin. "I called my buddy at Columbia, Andrew Theokas," Sellers said of that school's former assistant. "He said, 'I'm telling you this kid can really, really play. Don't sleep on him. Make sure whoever is guarding him is alert. He can really get to the basket. He's bigger than you think.'

"We had [top defender] Jerome Dyson on him. Before the game, I go to Jerome and say, 'This guy can play basketball. I'm telling you.'

"So, 30 points later and two dunks over our center [Charles Okwandu], our guys finally woke up. We won the game, but it was a real struggle. Lin was very good at the pick-and-roll, at going to the rim, at getting to the basket, at changing speeds. When you change speeds, it makes you even faster."

Sellers coached in China the summer after UConn faced Lin. He said he was meeting friends at TGI Friday's in Beijing when someone pointed out a player from the United States. It was Lin, who was in the country touring with a group of all-star players. Sellers had a flashback to the UConn game. "I said, 'That's the kid we played against!' ''

Earlier this season, Sellers saw Lin on television, playing for the Knicks at the end of a game that wasn't close. "I thought," Sellers said, "they ought to give this guy a shot."