Andre LaFleur, Jim Calhoun, Ater Majok - Hartford Courant photo (left), Norwich Bulletin Photo (right)

Yahoo! Sports was at it again on Thursday trying to do anything it could to distract the UConn Huskies men’s basketball from the task at hand of beating the Purdue Boilermakers. Well this story nor the one from Wednesday distracted them at all as they beat Purdue to advance to the Elite Eight against the Missouri Tigers.

University of Connecticut assistant coach Andre LaFleur engaged in two lengthy phone conversations with former student manager turned pro sports agent Josh Nochimson while Nochimson shadowed a blue-chip Huskies recruit in April 2008, Yahoo! Sports has found.

Nochimson and LaFleur traded three phone calls, including conversations of 13 and 44 minutes, during the Kentucky Derby All-Star Festival in Louisville, Ky., phone records show.

Nochimson attended the tournament and, according to an ESPN.com report, was a pervasive presence around recruit Ater Majok, a touted 6-foot-10 forward.

This is getting very serious folks. This isn’t going to just be swept under the rug.  But as we saw, the Huskies were able to put these allegations to the side and focus on basketball.

Let’s hope that trend continues on Saturday.

Second UConn assistant, agent in contact [Yahoo! Sports]