It's not how others see you, the old line goes, it's how you see yourself. Ha. Good one.

How do we see ourselves? Generally, with an inferiority complex. Little old eastern Connecticut. We rarely view ourselves a sporting metropolis, despite the evidence Neon Uncasville occasionally provides to the contrary.

And this weekend, Mohegan Sun gets to prove all over again that no matter how bumpkin-esque we act sometimes, the rest of the world has concluded we are awesomely awesome. The Hall of Fame Tipoff Tournament returns to America's Most Beloved Arena this weekend with a Ballo-level menu of teams, games and storylines.

How do we view ourselves? Who cares? It's always a hoot watching the out-of-towners make merry, unfailingly reminding us how lucky we are to live here.

(Some don't even realize we have beaches and Mystic, too).

The eight-team tournament has brought folks from Kentucky, Oklahoma and North Carolina, among other places, to experience a world at play and the wonder of it all, thereby sending casino slogans into a crossing pattern.

Last year, several thousand Carolina fans descended to watch their team. I met Carolina fans from as far south as Georgia and west as Kansas. Nice people. Awed a bit by the casino property. As one man from Asheville, N.C., said, "y'all really live near here? I'd be broke with no liver."

North Carolina coach Roy Williams: "We don't get a chance to come here very often. Some people stopped me in the hotel and said they were looking forward to this weekend since the schedule came out last year."

The year before, Kentucky played here. Another roomful of blue. The year before that, Oklahoma State lost to Rhode Island. Great crowd. Lots of Rhoe-Dye-Lynn loyalists mixed with some very happy people from Stillwater, despite the loss. Dom Amore of the Hartford Courant, pointing to the giddy Oklahomans, cracked, "they're going to gamble enough today to get our state out of recession."

This season's headliner: The return of Kris Dunn, the former New London High great, who won a state championship at Mohegan Sun his junior year. Dunn and Providence meet the University of San Quentin, otherwise known as Florida State, at a little after 2 p.m. Saturday. The day's first game: Massachusetts vs. Notre Dame. The night doubleheader features Manhattan-Binghamton and Navy-Northeastern.

A primer:

UMass-Notre Dame. It's not every day you get to see the University of Sanctimony in person. Wonder if the Irish will sport their blue jerseys, gold jerseys, black jerseys, green jerseys or white jerseys? Oh, well. At least the football team only has five players involved with academic fraud the past two years.

PC-FSU: Dunn's return alone should pack the place. Lots of PC fans around here, too. FSU football will also be playing at the same time. Still no word on whether Florida State football games begin with a kickoff or the sound of a burglar alarm.

Manhattan-Binghamton: Manhattan has St. Thomas More alum Calvin Crawford. That's enough for me. Jere Quinn rocks.

Navy Northeastern: Northeastern's coach is good guy Bill Coen, a former assistant under Al Skinner at Boston College. Since former BC athletic director Gene DeFlippo railroaded that staff, the Eagles have gone roughly 22-376 in basketball. And NU's nickname is the "Huskies," which makes them family.

Should be a fun day.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.

Twitter: @BCgenius