The Post’s Steve Serby chatted with the UConn coach about the Huskies’ bid to repeat as NCAA champs, his basketball life and a few of his favorite things.

Q: Team to beat at The Dance?

A: North Carolina.

Q: The one intangible your team has that makes it dangerous?

A: They truly believe that they’re gonna get to St. Louis. That attitude – because they’re young enough not to know how tough it is – might get them there.

Q: Sleeper March Madness team?

A: Villanova.

Q: Outside the conference?

A: The University of Washington. If they get in the right bracket, they got a chance.

Q: What happens if the Lakers call you after the season?

A: Right now, I have no desire to do anything other than keep coaching at Connecticut. I love college kids. I like to control … mold a young guy as opposed to having to deal with corporations.

Q: Could you ever see yourself coaching in the pros?

A: If you really want to be good at something, you’ll learn how to do it.

Q: Some guys are not cut out for the pros.

A: And some guys aren’t cut out to be a head coach, either. Chuck Daly was a good college coach, great pro coach. He knew which guys to massage, which guys to bang. That’s a gift. Could I do it? Yeah. I’d surround myself with people who knew the pro game much better than I did. If you ask me one thing I do well, I can get people to maximize themselves, at any level.

Q: What about the Knicks?

A: I could make adjustments to be a pro coach, but this is a very tough place to make adjustments. LA’s tough, but LA’s not New York.

Q: Coaches or managers in other sports you admire.

A: Joe Torre … Bill Belichick..

Q: One person in history you’d like to meet.

A: Vince Lombardi. I would have loved to observe him, how he was able to get the love, respect, admiration and yet the incredible fear and commitment to him.

Q: Why are you so driven?

A: I don’t want to be better than anybody else, I just don’t want to be ordinary.

Q: Favorite Looie Carnesecca story?

A: Best advice, too. They beat us by 33, and Jayson Williams makes a 3-pointer at the end of the game. Probably made about three in his career. All of a sudden I hear a voice (in a rasp): “Irish. Irish. Remember one thing. You can only coach one team at a time.”

Q: Your friend Bob Knight?

A: He talked me out of taking the Northwestern job. He said: “The Big Ten’s a league of institutions. And if you don’t pick the right institution, you ain’t going anyplace. Go to the Big East. It’s a league of players and coaches.” A month later I took the UConn job.

Q: A Jim Boeheim story.

A: Golf, 20 years ago. He hit his drive, he hit a poor second shot, and then chipped in for an eagle from the fairway on a par-5. He turned to us and said (whining), “But I coulda had a double eagle.” That’s Boeheim to a tee.

Q: You’ve met presidents Clinton and George W. Bush after your two NCAA championships. Describe the difference.

A: Bush seemed like a nice person. He tried to please. Bill Clinton walked into the room – he owned me, my players, in every situation. It was unbelievable.

Q: You were a three-sport star in high school. A football tight end. Who was your favorite football player growing up?

A: Jimmy Brown. I hated Sam Huff.

Q: Favorite baseball player growing up?

A: Ted Williams. He had a sense of pride about what he did. Bill Russell had it, too. No one could hit a baseball to this day like Williams.

Q: What was your reaction to the Red Sox winning the championship?

A: True elation. Second to us winning national championships.

Q: Favorite basketball player growing up?

A: Cooz (Bob Cousy).

Q: Favorite athlete outside basketball now?

A: Tom Brady.

Q: Best Big East player you’ve coached against?

A: Patrick (Ewing) was the most dominating player. The best player was Chris Mullin.

Q: Best Big East team you’ve coached against?

A: Jimmy Boeheim’s team that got beat in the Sweet 16 with Seikaly, Owens, Coleman, Sherman Douglas.

Q: Three dinner guests?

A: Robin Williams, Richard Burton and Bill Clinton, the most captivating personality I’ve ever met.

Q: You worked odd jobs after your father died.

A: I was a candy maker at Peachy Candy Corp. I made ribbon candy. I was a gas station attendant every Saturday and Sunday morning – went to Mass, then we’d pump gas.

Q: Favorite sports movie?

A: Hoosiers. But one of the few movies that ever made me cry was Field of Dreams. My dad was a great baseball player. I lost him at 15. Kevin Costner plays catch with his dad; every guy gets mushy about that one, and I do, too.

Q: You’ve shown Hoosiers to past UConn teams.

A: This team has not seen it yet. But it may. Last year I didn’t show it because we were the best and we weren’t the underdogs.

Q: Favorite actor?

A: Russell Crowe or Liam Neeson.

Q: Favorite actress?

A: Julia Roberts.

Q: Favorite singer?

A: Phil Collins.

Q: Favorite book?

A: “A Drinking Life” by Pete Hamill. I read it twice. It was almost a Red Badge of Courage to drink, and it was also a way of life.

Q: Best piece of advice your father, your idol, gave you?

A: You’re known by the company you keep.

Q: Best piece of advice your mother gave you?

A: If you don’t smile once a day, it’s a bad day.