UConn sports

UConn and Purdue will clash at 7:07 p.m. (Eastern) on Thursday, CBS announced Sunday.

The game, which will be played in Glendale, Ariz., will be for a trip to the Elite Eight. Missouri and Memphis will follow on the same court later that evening.

Anyone catch the Marquette-Memphis finish?

I’m not saying the refs had it in for the Golden Eagles, none of the calls in the final minute were THAT bad (and the in-bounding violation was obvious). But put them together and you’ve got one upset group of Marquette fans, not to mention coach Buzz Williams. Oh, and if Jerel McNeal made another foul shot maybe things would have turned out differently, anyway.

The Big East will have to settle for only five teams in the Sweet 16 (Syracuse, UConn, Pittsburgh, Villanova and Louisville).

- Neill

UConn center Hasheem Thabeet is one of four finalists for the Naismith player of the year award.

Thabeet, Pittsburgh’s DeJuan Blair, Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin and North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough are on the final ballot for the award, which is given out by the Atlanta Tipoff Club.

The winner will be named at the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Guardians of the Game awards program on April 5 in Detroit.

The finalists were voted on by the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s Board of Selectors, comprised of basketball journalists, coaches and administrators from around the country. The board based its criteria on player performances this season.

“The finalists have enjoyed outstanding individual successes while leading their respective schools to tremendous seasons,” said Gary Stokan, Atlanta Tipoff Club president. “That underscores the meaning of a true leader, something that is inherent in the Naismith Trophy.”

- Neill

I really don’t care for the phrases “closer than it appears” or “not as close as it appeared” but I might have to use one of them in this case.

UConn is rolling. It’s hard to argue.

The Huskies pounded Texas A&M 92-66 Saturday at the Wachovia Center, moving on to the Sweet 16 for the 12th time under coach Jim Calhoun.

– The Huskies have won their first two tourney games by a combined 82 points. That’s the biggest disparity since Duke also won its first two by 82 in the 1999 tournament.

“I don’t think I’ve played a team like them since I’ve been at Texas A&M,” Aggie coach Mark Turgeon said.

Turgeon’s bunch got down 10-0 quickly and never challenged the region’s top seeds.

“Maybe it’s UConn but we looked totally different today than we’ve looked the last month and a half of the season,” Turgeon said.

– Calhoun returned to the bench after a one-game absence.

“I think I was my usual self,” he said. “I yelled a couple things out…my wife will tell me about them later.”

– UConn will now face Purdue (the Boilermakers beat Washington Saturday) in the Sweet 16 Thursday in Glendale, Ariz.

The Huskies are 0-4 against Purdue in their history. The last time the teams met was Nov. 28, 1992 in Springfield, Mass. Purdue won 73-69.

– UConn’s win and Villanova’s easy victory over UCLA earlier here gave the Big East a chance to puff out its chest. That’s something Jeff Adrien always does well.

“There’s no other league in the country like the Big East,” Adrien said after scoring 23 points against A&M. “We just go out there every game and try to take each other’s heads off. I’m for real when I say that.”

– A.J. Price was on fire again. He had a game-high 27 points and also had eight assists.

“It all came down to ball screens,” A&M’s Donald Sloan said. “We tried this, tried that. He just found ways around it somehow.”

Price is averaging 24.5 points over the last six games.

– UConn G Craig Austrie left the floor with a little more than two minutes left on the clock. No big deal, he said

“I just had a little stomach problem,” Austrie said.

Austrie did sort of stop his cold streak, nailing a jumper in the first minute.

“It felt good. I haven’t a jump shot in a while,” Austrie said.

– Price says the blowout wins aren’t a case of UConn proving a point about deserving a No. 1 seed. But…

“We’ve had a great year thus far. Throughout the year we’ve proved that we are a good team. For anyone to question we were a No. 1 seed, I think we answered those questions by playing hard and showing people we can beat good teams,” Price said. “We’ve beaten the impressively. But, like I said, it wasn’t our goal to come in and try to blow teams out or show anybody up.”

- Neill

46-24 Huskies with 2:32 left in the first half.

Let’s see, Jeff Adrien can’t miss. A.J. Price is heating up. The Huskies are making free throws.

A&M can’t buy a basket (or a call).

Long way to go but things look good for UConn and another trip to Phoenix (Glendale).

- Neill

Game tipped off at 3:54 and UConn was ahead at 3:54.12.

Jeff Adrien is playing better (shooting better, at least) than he has in two months (save Notre Dame) and the offense looks good.

Hasheem Thabeet blocked A&M’s first shot and Adrien the Aggies’ second.

It’s 12-4 Huskies at the first media time out.

- Neill

Greetings from the Wachovia Center or the Philly pod, if you will.

Nova’s already off to hot start against UCLA.

Dante Cunningham looks tough, Reggie Redding good and The Two Coreys (Fisher and Stokes, not The Lost Boys superstars) are on fire.

We’ll try to stay in contact as we wait for the Huskies and Aggies to get started.

- Neill

One more entry before I hit the town. (By “hit the town” I of course mean find the mayor of Philadelphia and punch him in the face for not fixing the roads around here).

– As you know by now, Jim Calhoun is back in charge of the Huskies.

He spent Thursday at the hospital being treated for dehydration. He never expected to be hospitalized, of course, when first complaining about his health.

“I felt a little bit the night before (Wednesday), but nothing really drastic,” Calhoun said. “But in the morning (Thursday) I just felt lousy. So I thought Jeff (Anderson) could give me something. Jeff said we can either go right around the corner here, up to Penn, we’ll do this and that. One thing led to the other and I had no choice in the rest of the matter.”

– Calhoun wants more from Jeff Adrien Saturday and as the Huskies (hopefully) advance in the tournament.

“I thought he played OK (Thursday), but he’s much better than an OK player,” Calhoun said.

– The Huskies’ opponents Saturday were certainly impressed by the job they did Thursday without Calhoun.

“He’s a veteran and he has a lot of confidence obviously in his team and in his assistant coaches,” A&M coach Mark Turgeon said. “But it still had to be hard. I felt for the coaches that had to coach the games. Talk about pressure! 1-16 game, head coach is gone. Coach (George) Blaney did a good job of preparing their team.”

Aggie forward Josh Carter said he wouldn’t want to be put in a similar spot.

“I think it would be a tough situation,” Carter said. “For them to still win by around 60 shows you how focused they are.”

– Turgeon is hoping for a little fan support as the Aggies try to knock off a No. 1.

“I don’t know how many UConn fans will be here,” Turgeon said. “Hopefully Villanova snatched them all up and there won’t be a lot of UConn fans here.”

– UConn F Stanley Robinson has scored 20 or more points in back-to-back games for the first time in his career.

“For the past two weeks, he’s been amazing,” Calhoun said. “Seems the more success he gets, the harder he works. I think the one thing that becomes noticeable, he takes the ball to the rim a lot more.”

Robinson had 11 field goals against Chattanooga. Eight were dunks and another was a layup.

“He’s been playing so hard _ like he just goes out there and doesn’t really care,” Adrien said. “He seems very comfortable. You know, he attacks the rim and all that. So I’ve definitely seen this coming.”

- Neill

Jim Calhoun is back on the job.

The UConn coach, after being released from the hospital and having breakfast at the team hotel, was in charge during practice Friday morning at the Palestra. And he’s scheduled to meet with the media at the Wachovia Center in just a few minutes.

He’s already in the building and I can’t wait for the first “I shouldn’t have had the fish” joke.

Updates coming soon…

2:20 p.m. update:

A few UConn players just took the podium.

“He was his usual self,” A.J. Price said of Calhoun in practice Friday. “He was in good spirits, upbeat about everything. It looked like he was ready to get back to business.”

Price also confirmed that Calhoun will be back on the bench Saturday against A&M.

Both Price and Jeff Adrien said they knew Calhoun would be back.

“No doubt in my mind coach would be back Saturday,” Adrien said. “He’s fought through so many things in his life, a little sickness wouldn’t prevent him from coaching Saturday.”

2:30 p.m. update:

Calhoun is speaking to the media. He says he expected to spend perhaps an hour at the hospital Friday but it turned into an all-day thing.

“They looked at virtually everything, it seems,” Calhoun said.

All Calhoun would say is that the doctors found him dehydrated.

“The full physical exam did not include a psychiatrist,” he joked.

Calhoun says he got out of the hospital early Friday.

“I bribed my way out of there as quick as I could,” Calhoun said.

- Neill