UConn sports

Fans will have to wait for the “We Are the Champions” refrain. No Queen at Gampel Pavilion Saturday. (One guy in a pink shirt near the front row, though.) The Huskies are a lot closer to another championship after their latest victory, too.

Still, plenty of bows and thanks to the fans before and after UConn’s 72-65 win over Notre Dame Saturday.

Here are the highlights:

– Jeff Adrien was on target. From 15 feet, from 10 feet, from two feet.

“I just felt that every shot I took out there was going in,” Adrien said.

One game after his worst game of the season he had probably his best. 25 points, 9 rebounds and a pair of blocks.

– The Senior Day stuff was pretty emotional for some of the Huskies. That wasn’t exactly a good thing when the game started.

“It’s a hard transition. You come out and you get emotional, everything runs through your head,” A.J. Price said. “It’s very hard to come back and get focused to play at such a high level.”

– Notre Dame C Luke Harangody had 14 points, nowhere near his Big East-leading average of 24 a game. Much of that had to do with Hasheem Thabeet’s eight blocks and the threat of more.

“Luke Harangody’s a terrific player and to be able to somewhat neutralize him is an incredible accomplishment,” UConn coach Jim Calhoun said.

The Irish’s inside game was also hurt when forward Zach Hillesland went out with a sternum injury early.

– If you think Thabeet faked his injury late in the game insert a better foul shooter, you’re probably wrong. Thabeet didn’t play possum nor did Calhoun think of it. Price, however, may have been thinking that Craig Austrie had a better chance of making the free throws Thabeet was given with 41.1 seconds to go and the Huskies up just one.

“I asked him ‘Are you all right? You sure you want to shoot these free throws?’ ” Price said. “He just kind of looked at me and said ‘Nah, I can’t do it.’ ”

Calhoun doesn’t think Thabeet had that kind of acting in him.

“If he faked it I’m glad,” Calhoun said with a smile. “Because I never thought he was that sophisticated about the game. If he is, I’m really happy for him. Because I would have thought of it.”

– Are the Huskies not as talented a team without Jerome Dyson?

Maybe but Brey, whose team has faced both versions of Huskies, isn’t so sure.

“I know they’ve lost a heck of a player in Dyson but I don’t really see a lot of drop-off with how they’re playing,” Brey said.

– Thabeet appeared to try and extend his game out a little more than usual, taking a few long jumpers.

So what is the coach’s rule when it comes to the 7-footer taking 17-footers?

“Some of it’s OK, some of it’s not OK,” Calhoun said. “It is miss and make, obviously. It’s a good play if you make it.”

Calhoun doesn’t want a lot of jumpers from Thabeet, that’s for sure.

“But in reality there was nobody on their team (Notre Dame) just like there’s nobody in many places that can stop him,” Calhoun said. “To not utilize him inside…

Of course, Thabeet envisions himself as a guard.

“If I gave him his choice, he’d spend all his time out there,” Calhoun joked.

- Neill

OK, now UConn has clinched a double bye in the Big East tournament.

Georgetown’s 56-54 win over Villanova Saturday afternoon made it official.

UConn will not play on Tuesday or Wednesday at MSG.

- Neill

Didn’t go for the easy Boyz II Men reference in the headline. Proud of myself.

OK, onto the basketball. Wait, I forgot, we have to keep talking about salaries, loud talking and political headline-seekers. (Is he referring to the freelance reporter or the state legislators as “headline-seekers?…you’ll never know).

– On the whole Ken Krayeske front, UConn coach Jim Calhoun was pretty funny.

One of the first questions the coach was asked was something like “What’s happened since Saturday?”

“We beat Marquette in a really good game and we’ve practiced,” Calhoun said. “And my wife has seen two very good movies. That’s what has happened.”

Zing!

Pressed a bit, the coach wouldn’t call out the state senator and congresswoman who asked that he be dicsiplined for the Krayeske thing.

“There’s been other difficult times, much more difficult than this. Trust me,” Calhoun said. “When someone tells you that you have a particular disease, that’s a tough thing.”

Calhoun, of course, has battled cancer three times.

Jeff Adrien had the line of the day about the press conference spat.

“That’s not yelling. He (Krayeske) got it easy,” Adrien said. “I wish I could get it like that.”

– Senior Day is Saturday with Adrien, A.J. Price, Craig Austrie, plus walk-ons Johnnie Bird, John Lidner and Jim Veronick all getting honored.

“It’s a big basketball game for us,” Calhoun said. “It’ll be a tough one for me, to some degree because this particular group has bounced back from their sophomore year to their senior year.”

– Price’s anle-breaking dribble that sent Marquett’e Jerel McNeal to the floor Wednesday night will be remembered for a long time. Price himself already has evidence of the play.

“I definitely got that one on TiVo,” Price said. “That’s one I’m keeping.”

– Adrien was sporting some fresh blood on his white practice jersey after Friday’s workout. Nothing knew there.

And no, it wasn’t HIS blood.

Asked what he’d miss about his days in Storrs, Adrien mentioned blood (though I don’t think he even knew he had some on him at the time.)

“Everything. Every second of it. The blood, the sweat, the tears,” Adrien said. “I don’t think I’ll cry but…”

– More than 20 tents were already set up around Gampel Pavilion Friday afternoon by students seeking front-row seats for Saturday’s game.

Big game, obviously.

– Three underclass basketball players from the Sagemont School in Weston, Fla., were on unofficial visits to Storrs Friday with their high school coach and watched UConn practice: Rod Days (6-6 sophomore forward), Fabricio Melo (7-0 junior center) and Richard Peters (6-10 sophomore center).

– I messed up. I didn’t do enough math.

Although I (and a lot of other people) wrote/reported that UConn clinched a double bye in the Big East tournament with its win over Marquette, the Huskies in fact did not. Big East officials even announced that the Huskies had.

But Phil Chardis of the Manchester J-I with a little help from a younger, better-looking, taller scribe from Bridgeport, figured out that there is a scenario in which UConn could still finish fifth in the standings and be forced to play on Wednesday in the tourney.

It involved UConn losing both of its games, Villanova winning all three of its games, Pittsburgh losing two of its three (but obviously beating UConn), Marquette winning all three of its games (beating Pitt) and Louisville winning two if its three.

In that situation Pittsburgh, UConn and Villanova would all finish with league records of 14-4. Marquette and Louisville would be ahead at 15-3. So the first tie-breaker between the Huskies, Panthers and Wildcats would be their record agains each other in a so-called “mini conference.”

UConn would be 1-2 against the pair (losing to Pitt twice in the scenario), Pitt would be 2-1 and Villanova would be 1-1. That would make Pittsburgh the third seed, Nova the fourth and UConn the fifth.

Now that we’ve spelled all that out, let’s point out that it’s really, really, really, really unlikely that all of that happens.

But if it does, try not to blame me for messing up. I usually rely on Phil to do my math homework and he was tardy in doing it for me.

- Neill

Remember when I wrote that games like this don’t usually live up to the hype? Yeah, I’d like to forget about that.

Just finished sweating through my game story for the Post (computers are stupid…there, I said it), so here are a few tasty leftovers from UConn’s 93-82 win over Marquette:

– A.J. Price was better than good. He was Gordon-esque or Allen-esque or (insert UConn great)-esque against Marquette.

Price made 8 three’s and scored a career-high 36 points.

“I had a good shoot-around and I felt like my shot was going down, everything was in rhythm,” Price said. “I just got off to a good start and it continued throughout the game.”

Price said later he was kind of insulted that Marquette kept going under the ball screens that were set for him. Instead of getting mad, however, Price just kept shooting.

“When I look at what A.J. did I think of Ben (Gordon), I think of Ray (Allen), I think of Richard (Hamilton), some of the great players that we’ve had,” UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. “A.J. put on a performance that I’ve only seen from our great ones.”

– Calhoun also moved into the category of great one (he was already there, really) with victory No. 800.

A little congratulations from his team in the locker room, led by associate head coach George Blaney, I’m told, and a phone call from wife Pat followed the milestone.

“My wife was crying when I talked to her on the phone,” Calhoun said.

Pat apparently has (or had depending on when you read this) a cake waiting for Jim when he arrives (arrived) home Wednesday night/Thursday morning.

– Calhoun talked to Gov. Jodi Rell Wednesday morning, on the heels of the her calling his exchange with Ken Krayeske last Saturday “embarrassing.”

The coach didn’t go into any detail, however.

“I talked to the governor this morning,” Calhoun said. “We had a nice conversation this morning.”

The student section at the Bradley Center had a few choice words and signs for Calhoun. They chanted “How much money!” followed by “Not one dime!” quite a bit.

There was also a sign with Calhoun’s head on a giant dime instead of FDR’s.

– It’s too bad we couldn’t see what would have happened if Marquette G Dominic James played the whole game.

Instead, the senior broke the fifth metatarsal in his left foot early on and is now out for the season.

“His career at Marquette is over,” coach Buzz Williams said.

“We are hurtful as a program and hurtful as an institution for Dominic,” Williams said. “He has been absolutely incredible throughout his career.”

– UConn has a bye bye, err, a double bye in the Big East Tournament now. The Huskies won’t play until Thursday in the event.

– UConn is still perfect on the road, winning for the 13th time in 13 games away from the state. It was Marquette’s first home loss of the season.

– Lest you think A.J. took that Richard Hamilton comparison lightly, think again. He was glad Calhoun gave him such a compliment, however.

“He’s seen the best of them. He’s made pros,” Price said. “For him to even mention my name in the same sentence as those guys is special.

“On the other hand I can’t really enjoy it too much right now. We’re still in the season and if I wanted to be mentioned with guys like Rip, we’ve got to take this team somewhere special. That’s to the Final Four.”

– P.S. Sorry for the “Scandal” reference in the headline of the blog. It’s not the coolest of songs (I would call it “gay” but that would be politically incorrect and an insult to the homosexuals whose taste in music is much more manly than mine) but it was in some NBA highlight video tape I used to watch as a kid and it’s been stuck in my head for about two decades now.

– P.P.S. Isn’t it ironic that “I am the warrior” is going through my head during a game in which UConn’s warrior (that would be Jeff Adrien) had by far his worst game of the season?

- Neill

I’m starting to get the feeling folks in Milwaukee consider tonight’s UConn-Marquette clash a big game. Not that folks back in Connecticut don’t, but the magnitude here is impressive.

A headline in the local paper (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) called the matchup a “Clash of seismic scale.” The accompanying story stated that it’s the biggest game since Marquette made the Final Four in 2003:

“…not one (other game) comes anywhere close to matching the anticipation for, or gravity of, tonight’s showdown.”

If you needed any more proof all you had to do was look at the line of students surrounding the Bradley Center two or three hours before tipoff. I’m no crowd estimate expert but I’d say 2,000 or 3,000 were waiting to enter.

Can the game live up the hype? Probably not but it should be fun as the teams try.

The last time the Huskies came here it didn’t appear the teams were as evenly matched. But heavily favored UConn got hammered by Marquette as “Where’s My Laptop?” made its unofficial debut.

Listen for an encore performance of that tune tonight, even though it’s kind of passe these days.

- Neill

Greetings from Milwaukee, home of beers, brats and babes. (OK, not so sure about that last one, but it sounds like a pretty good slogan for the local tourism bureau if they need one).

The Huskies were a bit later than usual in arriving at their destination but seem determined to stay perfect on the road.

My body’s still on East Coast time and quickly fading but here’s a quick skinny on Wednesday’s UConn-Marquette tilt:

– UConn is 12-0 away from home this year. Marquette is 16-0 at home this year.

As Frank Costanza says: Somethin’s missing!

One team is going to lose their perfect record.

The Bradley Center is sold out (nearly 19,000 fans for a weekday in Milwaukee…pretty good) and should be rocking. Just like the Huskies like it.

“It’s 15 people to fight against 10,000 people, 15,000 or 20,000,” Hasheem Thabeet said. “We’re just trying to stay five as one.”

– Is UConn playing for No. 1 again? Maybe, but the Huskies didn’t come off the team bus Tuesday night celebrating Pittsburgh’s demise.

For one, the Panthers were only down about 12 with most of the second half to play when they talked with the lapdogs, err, beat writers, so it wasn’t time to celebrate yet.

Secondly, coach Jim Calhoun was trying very hard to caution against any parties. He doesn’t want the Huskies scoreboard watching down the stretch.

“The only games we can control…there’s three of them I think: Marquette, Notre Dame and Pittsburgh,” Calhoun said.

– Calhoun could get win No. 800 today. He’d become just the seventh Division I coach in history to reach that milestone.

– Perhaps seeing G Scottie Haralson on the floor against USF wasn’t a fluke. Calhoun seems intent on getting him into some games, as well as a few others beyond the top six.

“We’re trying like crazy to get a little deeper rotation,” Calhoun said. “Gavin (Edwards) played well in practice today. We ran Scott with the first group most of the time.”

– It’s UConn inside vs. Marquette’s outside Wednesday, basically.

“We’re going to have to do a great job of defending the three. We’re going to have to stop the fast break as best we possibly can,” Calhoun said. “And continue to play great defense.”

– A win Wednesday gives the Huskies a double bye. No game Tuesday in the Big East tournament, no game Wednesday.

In fact, one team will play its first Big East tournament game this year after 11 other teams have already been eliminated. Think about that for a moment…….OK, stop thinking, it’s not that weird…….Or is it?

- Neill

A look back at Saturday’s UConn-South Florida game:

UConn 64, USF 50

TURNING POINT _ A.J. Price was fair at best during most of the game but had an outstanding two-minute stretch of offense that propelled the Huskies to victory.

He scored seven straight points, the first seven of a 9-0 run, with a pair of aggressive drives to the hoop and a 3-pointer.

After the game Price was asked if coach Jim Calhoun’s harsh words during a timeout in the second half had spurred Price to make such a contribution.

Price laughed and shook his head apologetically.

“It’s a long game,” Price said. “I don’t know which part of which timeout you’re talking about. It happens every timeout.”

A.J. was then asked about the state’s budget deficit and whether or not his gameday per diem money, which probably covers a Big Mac or two, would be better off donated back to the university.

OK, that last part isn’t true. It would be nice if someone would do his or her job and ask Price the tough questions though, huh? (I kill myself…I am so funny sometimes.)

All right, back to the serious stuff. Calhoun actually said he’s trying to limit Price’s minutes a little so that he can have more stretches like the one he had Saturday.

“A.J.’s not a 35-minute player,” Calhoun said. “It’s going to take A.J. two years to get back to full throttle (referring to the ol’ ACL repair).”

UNSUNG HERO _ We’ll go with Stanley Robinson.

Sticks’ defense on USF’s Dominique Jones was pretty good but that’s now why we’re giving him the nod. The fact that Robinson took 12 shots from the floor is a good sign for the Huskies.

Now, Robinson missed seven of those shots but that’s not the point. It looks as if Robinson WANTS to score again and is actively trying to do so. (Calhoun isn’t thrilled that Robinson can’t seem to hit a three but anyway…).

If UConn is to advance deep into March it will need a big offensive game or two from Robinson. When he first returned it looked as if Robinson would defer to his teammates forever. Now he at least is trying to score…and the next step is perhaps an offensive explosion.

BEST ‘X’ AND/OR ‘O’ _ This goes to USF coach Stan Heath, despite the loss.

It doesn’t look like a great strategy considering that Hasheem Thabeet scored a game-high 21 points but the Bulls defended UConn pretty well. It started with how they played UConn’s big man.

“I told anybody who was guarding Thabeet ‘I don’t care who drives to the basket, your body stays on his body,’ ” Heath said. “Because they’re unbelievable when somebody drives. They just throw it up in the sky. It could be 20 feet high and he (Thabeet) goes and gets it. I just told them to make those other guys finishers.”

UConn’s guards didn’t exactly thrive faced with that challenge so it appeared to work. Calhoun gave USF plenty of credit for his team’s ho-hum offensive day.

“There was another team wearing another color. They actually had something to do with that,” Calhoun said. “They defended us pretty well.”

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS _ A frustrated former reporter/political candidate/annoying blogger confronting Calhoun.

We’ve gone over that enough, though.

Actually, there weren’t many sounds from the old Civic Center Mausoleum, err Coliseum. Pretty quiet and subdued crowd for the final game in Hartford this season.

LOOKING AHEAD _ Marquette is up next. No easy challenge for the Huskies.

Then it’s Notre Dame back in Storrs next Saturday.

Everyone it seems, however, can’t wait for UConn-Pitt Part Deux on March 7.

“We’ve ordered the shoulder pads and helmets,” Calhoun said.

Before we get to the Super Bowl there’s quite a game in Milwaukee to be staged. UConn pounded the Golden Eagles last year in their only meeting but haven’t fared well at the Bradley Center in their history (one game of history, that is).

BY THE NUMBERS

799 _ Career victories for Jim Calhoun.

2 _ Wins that were taken away from Calhoun by the NCAA (for Kirk King and Ricky Moore’s plane ticket situation) that came in the 1996 NCAA Tournament.

2 _ Wins over Canadian teams when Calhoun was at Northeastern that were originally credited to Calhoun but later taken off his win total and counted as “exhibitions.”

- Neill

Let’s start with the game. That’s the important part.

UConn beat South Florida 64-50 on Saturday in Hartford

– USF was able to hang around for quite a while because it slowed the game and played pretty tough defense.

“I thought we did some things really well today,” USF coach Stan Heath said. “I thought we were able to manage the clock and control the tempo, pick and choose some spots to try and attack them.”

Still UConn managed to rebound from the loss to Pitt with its 25th victory.

“It was a hard bounce-back game given the pace of the game,” UConn coach Jim Calhoun said.

– Hasheem Thabeet was much better than he was against Pittsburgh Monday night, though the opponent certainly had a lot to do with that.

– The pace was something Calhoun hopes he doesn’t see again, though he probably will.

“The pace of the game and the tempo of the game was the single most important thing,” Calhoun said. “We’re going to see that at times.

“I don’t know how much more we’re going to see it. Marquette certainly not. Probably not with…Notre Dame put up 104 today. And Pittsburgh…we’ve ordered the shoulder pads and helmets.”

Good one.

– Heath wasn’t so sure the Huskies were off their game. Maybe his team had something to do with the relatively close score.

“Maybe they let down but I have to imagine that after they lost to Pittsburgh, that Jim was up some behind and they’d be really ready to go and fired up,” Heath said. “You’d have to ask them but I doubt if they had a letdown after having the loss against Pittsburgh.”

– Depth is going to be an issue sooner or later. UConn played basically six players Saturday. Gavin Edwards played four minutes and Scottie Haralson two.

“Gavin’s got to give us more when he comes in,” Calhoun said.

The coach also says he WANTS to play more people but sometimes won’t let himself pull the trigger.

“We’ve fooled with Jon (Mandeldove). We’ve done some things with Donnell (Beverly) in practice,” Calhoun said. “I probably have to have the courage or desperation or foul problems to use them. We haven’t got to that point yet.”

Haralson saw what may have been the first significant action of his career, missing his only shot (a three).

“It wasn’t the one he missed, it was the two he passed on that was the reason I pulled him out,” Calhoun said.

– G Craig Austrie has to play better, it seems. Calhoun said as much Saturday.

“I’m not taking Craig off the hook,” Calhoun said. “I want more from Craig. Craig’s much better than the way he’s playing.”

Austrie had seven points and four assists against USF.

“Defensively he’s fine. Ball handling-wise he’s fine,” Calhoun said. “But he’s a better offensive player. We’re seeing more in practice than we see in games. He hasn’t had to do it on this team,” Calhoun said. “Now he HAS to do it on this team for us to win.”

– OK, now onto the B.S. after the game.

Ken Krayeske, a kind of journalist and political activist, hounded Calhoun during his post game press conference about his salary.

Krayeske questioned the coach’s salary given the state’s fiscal situation.

“Coach, considering that you’re the highest paid state employee and there’s a $2 billion budget deficit, do you think…

At this point I think Calhoun believed Krayeske to be a credible journalist and was being playful.

“Not a dime back,” Calhoun joked.

It then became clear that Krayeske didn’t really want an answer to his question. He wanted to make a scene. That’s what he does, really.

“Don’t you think $1.6 million is enough?” Krayeske said.

Calhoun then had another funny retort.

“I make a lot more than that,” Calhoun said.

The coach offered to speak to Krayeske after the formal press conference was over but he declined (shocker there). He’s obviously not looking to write a story, he wants to make news by himself.

Krayeske then tried to hammer the coach on his endorsement contracts.

“What is the deal with Comcast worth?” Krayeske said.

At this point Calhoun was getting fed up (who could blame him, really) and the exchange became a little heated.

“You’re not really that stupid, are you?” Calhoun said.

“Yeah, I am,” Krayeske said.

“My best advice to you?” Calhoun said. “Shut up.”

“Thank you. Appreciate it. That’s very polite of you,” Krayeske said.

This is where it gets funny. Krayeske has been rude and antagonizing for the last two minutes and now he’s feeling hurt because the coach wasn’t polite to him? Good one.

Krayeske then takes a shot at the assembled scribes like myself who haven’t asked questions like these.

“If these guys covered this stuff I wouldn’t have to do it,” Krayeske said.

At this point I could have decked the guy but I digress.

The coach then got angry and fired back a bit.

“We bring in $12 million to the university, nothing to do with state funds,” Calhoun said.

“Get some facts and come back and see me!” Calhoun said. “Don’t throw out salaries or other things.”

If you don’t know who Krayeske is, good for you. He’s best known for getting arrested while covering Gov. Jodi Rell’s inaugural parade Jan. 3, 2007. He was charged with breach of peace and interfering with an officer, though the charges were later dropped.

If you want to know more about Krayeske Ken Dixon has a good read on the guy.

Now simply asking Calhoun about his salary especially in this day and age is fine. If that’s all Krayeske wanted to do, fine. This was obviously about more than that.

I can do my job just fine, thank you Ken. How are you doing with yours?

This is a line from his hard-hitting UConn story on his website:

“Everyone thought former athletic director Dom Perno was nuts to strive to have UConn jump from Division I-AA to Division I-A.”

Try and figure out what’s wrong with that sentence before you question my credentials.

- Neill