Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun needs a new motivational tool.
It’s not enough to tell players simply to give their best, he said. There has to be some sore spot to exploit. Calhoun found one early when the Huskies were ranked 11th in the Big East preseason poll. Then Sports Illustrated didn’t include them in the NCAA tournament field after they didn’t make it last year.
Now Connecticut faces Bucknell in the NCAA tournament’s second round on Thursday at Verizon Center. After winning the Big East tournament, the Huskies no longer are overlooked and sure don’t seem underrated. Behind one of the nation’s top players, Kemba Walker, Connecticut is the heavy favorite to advance from the four teams in the West subregional to the Sweet 16.
“We played off that,” Calhoun said of earlier disrespect. “We played that underdog role at times.”
Walker said UConn’s five wins in five days for the conference title didn’t convert its critics. Not even going 8-0 between the Maui Invitational and Big East tournament. Connecticut is 12-0 outside its conference, and Walker said foes still believe the Huskies don’t deserve this sudden respect after going 9-9 in the Big East.
“People still feel we’re just lucky, which is not the case at all,” Walker said.
It was with a steely stare that Walker talked of the Huskies’ chances, but it wasn’t close to the scowl Calhoun used.
Then again, Calhoun is grimacing through some troubling times. During the Big East tourney, he was slapped with a three-game sanction by the NCAA for next season. The NCAA ruled Calhoun failed to monitor and promote an atmosphere of compliance. The governing panel said the coaching staff made 340 impermissible calls and texts to recruits from 2007 to 2009 and a former Huskies team manager gave more than $6,000 to prospects.
Calhoun accepted the penalty for Big East games next year, saying he ultimately was responsible and preferred not to prolong the case. However, Calhoun didn’t rule out a future appeal.
Certainly, more is expected from Connecticut, a gold standard program with two NCAA titles under Calhoun. Coincidentally, the Huskies also were in the West bracket when they won in 1999 and 2004. Calhoun has produced 23 NBA players, including five from his 2006 team.
Oh, that 2006 team. It was memorable if only for losing to George Mason in the region finals at Verizon. It was the tournament’s greatest late-round upset ever as the 11th-seeded Patriots — with no players meriting an NBA look — upset the top-seeded Huskies.
Connecticut hasn’t been the same since. The Huskies missed the tournament the next year at 17-14 and went out in the first round in 2008. Connecticut returned to the Final Four in 2009 with a 31-5 mark but again missed the NCAAs last season at 18-16.
Calhoun is 10-5 at Verizon, including the annual games against Georgetown. Maybe Verizon isn’t cursed for Connecticut, but if the Huskies stumble again it sure will feel jinxed.
Examiner columnist Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more on Twitter @Snide_Remarks or e-mail [email protected].
