Calhoun will not coach Saturday’s game against Seton Hall nor Monday’s game at Louisville and his condition will be evaluated on a daily basis as options for treatment are explored. Associate head coach George Blaney will be in charge of the team in Calhoun’s absence.

It is Calhoun’s second medical leave in two years and third since 2003.

According to Dr. Peter Schulman of the UConn Health Center, Calhoun’s primary health care physician, stenosis is a condition that the UConn coach has been coping with for the last few months.

“Last summer, Jim had some significant back pain and has seen two excellent back specialists,” Schulman said. “The initial approach recommended to him was stretching, physical therapy and exercise, and that was successful for several months. It turns out that there is some degenerative problem in the lumbar vertebrae and it’s impinging on the nerves. It has led to significant back pain and some symptoms in his lower extremities.

“Jim has been able to manage it with the physical therapy and stretching, but over the last several days, things have become worse and he is not able to deal with this on a day to day basis, so other options need to be considered.   Right now, he is physically unable to coach.”

The Huskies (14-7, 4-5)  have lost four straight entering the Seton Hall game and are in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament after winning it all last year.

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The Los Angeles Times first reported the development.

The 6-foot-9 Martin was originally supposed to wait until his Chinese team, the Xinjiang Tigers, were done playing, but FIBA on Thursday cleared Martin to return to the NBA immediately.

The Knicks, Hawks, Spurs and Lakers were also interested in Martin, who averaged 13.5 points and 7.2 rebounds in 11 NBA seasons.

Several other Americans are still playing in China, including former Knick forward Wilson Chandler and former Nuggets and St. Benedict’s Prep guard J.R. Smith, who on Wednesday dropped 60 points in a Chinese league game, hitting 14 of 18 3-pointers.

Smith is considering the Knicks, Clippers, Lakers, Thunder and Bulls, league sources told SNY.tv.

Asked generally about the guys in China, Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said Wednesday, “I think those are the things you monitor, yeah, I think those are the things you keep your eye on.

“And what do we have, the $2.5 [million] exception left? And we’ll sit there and look at it. If it makes sense, we’ll do it in a heartbeat. If it doesn’t make sense then we’ll take a pass.”

Photo: L.A. Times

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Parga is a 6-foot-5, 200-pound shooting guard from Citrus College (Calif.) averaging 18.8 points and shooting 48 percent from beyond the arc.

St. John’s assistant Tony Chiles was out to see him Wednesday.

“They came out and they’re serious,” Citrus College coach Chris Victor told SNY.tv by phone.

Victor said St. Mary’s and Boston College were also involved.

“St. Mary’s has been doing a great job, they’ve been recruiting him all year,” the coach added.

“A lot of schools have been in the mix.”

Victor said no visit to St. John’s is planned, but that Parga is good enough to be a Big East shooting guard.

“He could be at that level for sure,” he said. “He’s a prolific shooter.”

No decision is expected until March after the season ends.

“We end the middle of March,” Victor said. “He’ll probably wait until the end.”

Photo: Citrus College

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The MAAC has historically been a one-bid league, and first-year Manhattan coach Steve Masiello doesn’t see that changing this March.

“Don’t get me wrong, the regular season matters and the seeding matters and you want to win the conference,” Masiello, whose team hosts Iona Saturday night, told SNY.tv Friday by phone. “But it all comes down to what you do on March 2-5.”

The MAAC Tournament actually runs March 1-5 in Springfield, Mass., but the top six seeds get a bye.

Entering Saturday’s tilt, Iona and Manhattan are tied atop the league at 10-2, although the Jaspers actually hold the tiebreak edge by virtue of their 75-72 victory Jan. 12 at Iona that prompted a hug from former Seton Hall and Manhattan coach Bobby Gonzalez.

Loyola is not far behind at 9-2.

Manhattan (17-7) has won eight straight games, catapulting Masiello, the former Rick Pitino assistant, into Coach of the Year consideration. Iona (18-5) has won three in a row.

“I just think for a team like us who was picked eighth to even be in the conversation with Iona in February is a great, great situation to be in,” Masiello said. “It’s really a win-win.

“Obviously, Iona being picked first is the cream of the crop of the conference…But for us to be in this conversation at this point in the year, we’re just having fun with it.”

Iona is coming off a 105-86 victory over Canisius Thursday in which Arizona transfer Lamont “Momo” Jones poured in 43 points, a Hynes Center record.

“They have to be in the conversation for one of the best backcourts in the country, with Momo and Scott [Machado],” Masiello said. “I think Scott is the best point guard in the country and Momo is starting to hit his stride. He had 25 against Loyola and now he has 43…so I think he’s kind of getting in rhythm.”

Machado, who had 14 points and 14 assists in the Canisius game, leads Division 1 in assists at 10.0 per game and recently got glasses, which should improve his vision.

He is one of 11 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award for the nation’s best point guard.

Iona’s Mike Glover, the Preseason MAAC Player of the Year, leads the league in scoring at 18.5 points per game, but Manhattan junior guard George Beamon is second at 17.4 points a game.

“I put him up there as one of the best scorers in the New York area, really can score the ball with anyone,” Masiello said of Beamon.

Asked if people were sleeping on his players, Masiello said, “I think they are but in fairness I don’t think you get recognized until you win. And Iona’s already done that. They’ve already won and now we’re starting to do that.

“So you take Mike Alvarado, who’s only a sophomore and is having a terrific year, and I think when Scott kind of leaves this conference, I could see Mike as a guy taking the torch next year trying to be that guy. I think he then turns into the premier point guard in this conference. He’s 6-3, he’s strong, he’s got a pass-first mentality.”

A year ago, Fairfield won the MAAC regular season title, but St. Peter’s ended up capturing the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Now, as many as four teams could capture this year’s bid — Iona, Manhattan, Fairfield and Loyola.

“It comes down to a three-game deal in March,” Masiello said. “I think any [one of] four teams in a tournament setting could be a very tough out.”

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But Fab Melo stands a much better chance of competing for a championship this season than Carmelo does.

The return of the 7-foot Melo from a three-game absence bodes well for Syracuse’s chances at challenging for Big East and NCAA championships.

“Fab Melo is back now so I think that that strengthens Syracuse,” Marquette coach Buzz Williams said Thursday. “Not that they needed strengthening. I think they’re back to what they once were.”

Melo and No. 2 Syracuse (22-1, 9-1 Big East) will visit St. John’s (10-12, 4-6) at noon, while Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks will host the Nets at 7:30 in a day-night Garden double-header.

St. John’s has two of the best freshmen in the Big East in Moe Harkless — he of the 30-point, 13-rebound game at Duke — and D’Angelo Harrison — who poured in a career-high 29 points in Wednesday’s 87-81 win at DePaul.

But both players will be inhibited in their ability to drive and swoop to the basket by the 7-foot Melo, averaging 7.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.0 blocks.

“Fab Melo is like the air traffic controller on the back line of the Syracuse 2-3 zone,” said Johnnies coach Steve Lavin, who remains off the sidelines as he recovers from prostate cancer surgery.

“When you have someone with his size, it obviously changes the game because you have to be mindful and aware that he can come over and block shots.”

A year ago, Melo was the Preseason Big East Rookie of the Year, but failed to live up to expectations.

Only now that he’s lost weight and committed himself to defense is he meeting those expectations.

The 6-8 Harkless, meantime, is a Big East Rookie of the Year candidate now because he’s averaging 16.3 points and 8.7 rebounds.

Harkless initially committed to UConn, but changed his mind and opted to stay home and play for Lavin.

“When you’re the head coach at St. John’s it’s vital that you’re able to assure a share of the best players in the tri-state area,” Lavin said. “A priority was to sign a player that could help our program and Moe happened to also be in New York and so it was the best of both worlds. He was a local product and he has all the skills and abilities that you look for in a basketball player.

“He’s across the board a remarkable young man. He’s well mannered. He’s articulate. He’s bright. he’s very humble. And the numbers speak for themselves in terms of what he’s done in a short time here at St. John’s with leading this young team.”

Harrison, out of Missouri City, Texas, is not a New York City product, but Lavin sensed that he could have a major impact. Now he’s leading all Big East freshmen at 16.4 points a game.

“When I recruited him I felt he had the opportunity to be the best combo guard that I’ve ever coached,” Lavin said. ”Based on potential he would rate right there with the best combo guards that I had recruited.

“He has that ability to stroke the ball from long range. He’s also a sharp-shooter or a marksman but he has play-making ability off the bounce in the halfcourt as well. His vision is exceptional.”

After sometimes playing out of control earlier this season, Harrison has now calmed down and continues to mature.

“He’s now maneuvering at speeds where he’s under control and able to play-make when he gets into the heart of opponents’ defenses after breaking them down,” Lavin said.

The problem on Saturday will be that when Harkless and Harrison maneuver into the “heart of the defense,” Melo will be looming.

“They’ve got that physical force in the middle,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said of the Orange. “They’ve always been at their best in that zone when they’ve got that physical presence in the zone.”

Photo: Post-Standard

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Not much has gone right for either program since.

Entering Saturday’s contest in Hartford (noon, SNY), Seton Hall (15-7, 4-6 Big East) has lost five straight and UConn (14-7, 4-5) has dropped four in a row. Neither team is ranked.

Saying both teams are on the bubble might be unkind to the bubble.

“Seton Hall kind of did the same thing that we’ve done,” UConn associate head coach George Blaney said Thursday. “Got really high in the rankings, won some games in a row and all of a sudden, as many teams do in this league, when you’re playing tough teams every single night, you get caught in a cycle where it seems like you can’t get yourself out of it. It’s going to be a real mental game.”

Both teams have serious problems.

UConn is talented, but leaderless and offensively challenged. Blaney and head coach Jim Calhoun haven’t been afraid to bring the leadership subject up with reporters, either.

After losing back-to-back tilts in New Jersey to Seton Hall and Rutgers last month, Calhoun called out co-captain Alex Oriakhi, saying, “I don’t think Alex is gonna be able to provide leadership from the five spot, I don’t really.”

That is some statement to make about a team co-captain (along with Shabazz Napier).

When I asked Thursday if the situation had improved any since then, Blaney, the former Seton Hall coach, conceded: ”I don’t think it has been solved. Guys are trying to do it and trying to step up. One of the problems that we’ve been having is we really are very young. Just because we have a lot of sophomores who played last year, we’re still a very, very young team. We’re still struggling with that part of the game.”

Oriakhi, a major contributor on last year’s NCAA championship team, told SNY.tv last month that he was “frustrated” with his playing time since the arrival of freshman sensation Andre Drummond.

“He got very used to playing the five position [last year],” Blaney said of Oriakhi. “He isn’t away from the basket quite as much, but quite honestly he still mostly defends the five man. But he has struggled offensively.”

The 6-foot-9 Oriakhi averaged 9.6 points and 8.7 rebounds in 29.1 minutes last season and is down to 6.2 points and 4.7 rebounds in 19.4 minutes this year.

“Alex is trying,” Blaney said. “He’s really a great kid. Probably not too many people work harder than he does. At this stage, he’s doing it more by example. I still think we need a little bit more of a verbal leader.”

UConn may have two future lottery picks in Drummond and Jeremy Lamb, but they sorely miss current NBA guard Kemba Walker, who led the Huskies to 11 straight postseason wins last year and is now being praised by Charlotte Bobcats owner Michael Jordan for his work ethic.

“We had such a dynamite leader last year in both Kemba and Donnell Beverly,” Blaney said. “People forget a lot about Donnell. His contributions to the team were enormous … He had a tremendous affect on the team. We haven’t been able to replace that yet.”

Seton Hall, meantime, could be without senior power forward Herb Pope, who is a game-time decision with bruised ribs.

Senior point guard Jordan Theodore, who looked like an All-Big East player earlier this season, is shooting 26 percent during the five-game slide.

“If we can get him two or three minutes in the second half, that would really help him stay fresh mentally,” Pirates coach Kevin Willard said. “I think he’s OK physically to do it, but I have to give him a second to see the game from the bench and see how they’re playing it, get him fresh and get back in there.”

Somebody has to win this game, and if Pope can’t go you have to figure UConn has the edge.

“It’s going to be a real mental game…,” Blaney said. “It will be very tough. We know that we’re in for a battle.”

**For the latest on UConn’s recruiting plans for the spring period, click here.

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NEW YORK — Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony aren’t about to call out their teammates, but both know full well that their bench was outscored 25-6 in Thursday’s 105-102 loss to the Chicago Bulls at Madison Square Garden.

“We’re doing a good job of playing together, playing team basketball,” Stoudemire said after scoring a season-high 34 points, but missing a potential game-tying 3 pointer with 11 seconds remaining.

“We just need a little more production off the bench. If we can get those guys to come in, that second unit to play a little bit harder for us, then we’ll be OK.”

Toney Douglas accounted for all of the Knicks’ bench scoring and he managed six points on 2-for-7 shooting.

Jared Jeffries, Bill Walker and Renaldo Balkman combined to go 0-for-6 for zero points.

The Bulls bench, meantime, tallied 25 points, led by CJ Watson’s 12 and Jimmy Butler’s seven.

Stoudemire and Anthony combined for 60 points and the rest of the Knicks accounted for 42. Landry Fields (17), Iman Shumpert (10) and Tyson Chandler (nine) had 36 of those.

“It came down to a two-point game,” Anthony said. “You can go back and pinpoint a lot of little stuff. The turnovers in the second quarter (11), the 26-6 bench points (actually 25-6). The little small stuff, you can pinpoint that. But for the most part we played extremely hard tonight and we gotta pat ourself on the back for something.”

The Knicks will have to use their bench as they head to Boston Friday and then return home Saturday for the Nets, but right now it’s not giving them much at all.

The five starters each played at least 36 minutes, with Anthony playing 39+ and Stoudemire 41+. Fields played more than 42 minutes.

Baron Davis is still a week away from potentially changing the dynamic, and head coach Mike D’Antoni conceded Wednesday he had “no clue” when Davis would return.

In the meantime, two other point guards, Mike Bibby and Jeremy Lin, didn’t play a single minute against the Bulls.

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NEW YORK — Carmelo Anthony

Anthony, averaging 23.7 points, received 1,041,290 votes, second-highest among Eastern Conference forwards behind LeBron James.

“I’m really excited about it,” Anthony said after scoring 26 points in the Knicks’ 105-102 loss to the Chicago Bulls Thursday at MSG. “It’s an honor, a blessing. My first one here in New York. And thanks to the fans for voting me in.

“I appreciate that. It will be a good time, especially after the short season and the lockout, to give the fans a chance to come together for All-Star weekend and have a good time.”

It is Anthony’s third consecutive start and fifth overall selection. He was chosen the previous four times with the Denver Nuggets before he was dealt to New York last February.

Along with Anthony and James, Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade and Dwight Howard will start for the East.

Stoudemire, averaging 17.6 points and 8.0 rebounds, received the third-highest voting total among Eastern forwards with 383,734.

“It’s no problem, man,” Stoudemire said. “Individual accolades normally comes with a team’s success and that’s the most important factor for myself, as far as for the team to be successful and everything else will fall in to place.”

The Knicks have not had two All-Stars since 2001 when Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell played.

For the West, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul and Andrew Bynum will start.

Howard was the leading overall vote-getter with 1,600,390, while Bryant led the West with 1,555,479.

Photo: Daily News

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Tyler Roberson, one of the top small forwards in the Class of 2013 out of Roselle (N.J.) Catholic, will be contributing periodically to ZAGSBLOG during his junior season. Here’s his second entry:

Hey Everyone:

This is Tyler Roberson again updating you on my high school team’s season and my recruitment. Currently, our team is 9-6 and ranked No. 19 in N.J. We have played such a tough schedule (we played 6 games vs teams ranked in the state Top 10) and have dealt with lots of injuries so far this year. I’m really proud of how hard we have been playing. We most recently upset No. 9 St Pat’s by three points in the Coalition to House the Homeless Classic.

Unfortunately, I have been injured for the last few games. I played against No. 5 Hudson Catholic, a game we lost by two at the buzzer. Next up we beat a 9-1 Elizabeth team in my first home game. Unfortunately, about two minutes into our game against No. 2 Plainfield I hurt my hamstring. Our team played very hard and although we lost by 10 it was a 3-point game with a minute left and we had chances to win. Following that was our big win against St Pat’s. I’m still out injured but I’m rehabbing before school and after school and I’m hoping to be back for the weekend or Tuesday.

As for my recruitment, lots of schools have been at our games and practices recently including Kansas, Seton Hall, Syracuse, Villinova and Florida. Right now I don’t have a Top 5 yet, I’m just trying to concentrate on my schoolwork and on getting healthy and back on the court with my team. The State and County Tournaments are going to start soon and I’m excited to try to win a county and state championship.

Torian Graham

According to his guardian, Craig Wilson, four schools are working hardest on the 6-foot-4 wing: N.C. State, Xavier, Pittsburgh and Oregon.

“Everything is still wide open right now, everybody’s still calling,” Wilson told SNY.tv Thursday by phone.

Memphis and Louisville are also involved with the former N.C. State commit who is adjusting after  leaving Arlington (Fla.) Country Day and enrolling at Creedmoor (N.C.) Christian Faith Academy.

“He’s doing well,” Wilson said. “We just want to provide him with a structure, keep him focused so he can finish up his high school these last three or four months. He’s adjusting well.”

Graham has twice picked N.C. State and twice de-committed, but that school remains an option, Wilson said.

Wherever he lands, he can be a factor.

“He’s freakishly athletic,” Wilson said. “He’s got a real good upside,”

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