Another year, another hoops season for the Terrapins men’s basketball team, its at least dozens of student fans, including the Turgeonites and the ever-thrilling nonconference schedule. And you know what that means: It’s time to meet your Nonconfriends. The Terps’ nonconference slate will take us from Columbus, Ohio, where we’ll meet the No. 11 Ohio State Buckeyes, to the Virgin Islands for the Paradise Jam and back to the cozy confines of Comcast Center, where we’ll cherish every syrupy second we can feast on puff pastries like Abilene Christian and Florida Atlantic. So hold on to your butts.

But before we can get there, the Terps will have to square off against the No. 18 Connecticut Huskies at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., in Randy Edsall Bowl 3.0! OK, maybe not.

A LOOK BACK: The Terps are coming off a resounding exhibition victory over Catholic on Sunday, in which they appropriately showed the Division III Cardinals the door. Mark Turgeon extended his rotation in an effort not to run up the score, but his squad still came away as 84-39 victors.

Forward Jake Layman poured in 23 points, despite getting a haircut in the offseason. Freshman guard Roddy Peters and converted guard Dez Wells handled affairs at the point with some degree of competency in place of the broken-footed Seth Allen, as the Terps racked up their seemingly mandated double-digit turnovers, coughing up the ball 15 times.

The lone tune-up comes after an offseason in which second-leading points scorer center Alex Len went to Maui and got drafted by the Phoenix Suns. Len helped the Terps reach the semifinals of the NIT last season, where they ultimately lost to the mighty Iowa Hawkeyes in Madison Square Garden, 71-60.

BATTLING IN BROOKLYN: The Huskies are entering this season out for blood. Abandoned by the once-mighty Big East Conference, they are left to pick the bones of the slapdash American Athletic Conference, where Memphis and Louisville (for a year) will be their only real competition. Unless noted Mark Turgeon friend and NBA coaching legend Larry Brown can put something together down in Dallas with Southern Methodist.

UConn is also coming off two disappointing postseasons, one of which was more of a preplanned spring break trip for the boys from Storrs, Conn. Just a year after point guard Kemba Walker willed the Huskies to a national title, Iowa State slammed the door on their title dreams in the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2012. Then, in Sept. 2012, former coach and overworked dad Jim Calhoun retired, and the Huskies were banned from postseason play for getting bad report cards.

But now, the Huskies are firmly back in the mix. They return first-team All-Big East guard Shabazz Napier, who led the team in scoring in 14 of its 30 games last season. They also add Rivals’ 66th-best recruit of the 2013 class in 6-foot-8 power forward Kentan Facey. The Huskies also return most of their rotation players from last season, and look to make the postseason for the first time under coach Kevin Ollie.

STRENGTHS: The Huskies and Terps will both be looking to shoot the lights out in Brooklyn. Returning Napier, who averaged 17.1 points per game last season, as well as second-leading scorer, guard Ryan Boatright, and last season’s freshman phenom Omar Calhoun, who averaged an impressive 11.1 points per game last season, expect the Huskies to play in guard-heavy sets.

WEAKNESSES: Hard to say. UConn seems to be spackling all its cracks and gaps. But one place they’ll need help, especially against the Terps, is on the boards. The Huskies averaged more than three rebounds fewer than their opponents last season, and the Terps, with space-eaters such as forward Charles Mitchell and center Shaquille Cleare, had 8.6 more than their opponents. It’ll be interesting to see what 7-foot freshman Ghanaian center Amida Brimah brings to the table for UConn.

CAMPUS CONNECTION: Rockin’ Randy, baby!

So the Edsall connection might be somewhat overplayed at this point. But I bet you’ve never heard of Lasan Kromah. The graduate student transfer from George Washington will squeeze his way into a Logan Aronhalt-type role for the Huskies this season. More of a swingman than Aronhalt, Kromah averaged double figures with the Colonials last season.

So why tell you all this? Kromah hails from just a 3-iron from the campus: down Route 193 in Greenbelt. A graduate of Eleanor Roosevelt High School, Kromah didn’t quite get attention from Gary Williams and the Terps, but we’re sure he’ll be happy to play against a team he grew up just down the road from.

FUN FACT: So everyone knows UConn is the (newly rebranded) Huskies. But did you know the Husky’s name was Johnathan?

Named after former Connecticut Gov. Johnathan Trumbull and voted upon by students in a survey in UConn’s student newspaper, each Husky that has represented the university has been named Johnathan. The university is now on Johnathan XIII.

Unfortunately for the first, sixth and 10th Johnathans, they ultimately met a fate of rubber and asphalt, being hit by cars.

Hope the Terps checked their brakes.

TCL (TERP CONFIDENCE LEVEL): Four out of 10. The Terps are full of question marks after last season, and it remains to be seen if they can produce consistent, clean and turnover-light play. They fought then-No. 3 Kentucky close in Brooklyn last season and might do the same against Napier and the Huskies, but it’s just too hard to say.

NEXT NONCONFRIEND: Abeline Christian back in College Park and Comcast Center on Wednesday, when the real nonconference opponents start coming out of the woodwork. It should be fun. Until then, keep your friends close and your Nonconfriends closer.