UConn sports

There are some 1,500 tickets left for UConn’s game against Cincinnati Saturday at the XL Center in Hartford.

The game will mark coach Jim Calhoun’s return to the sidelines after a seven-game absence.

- Neill

Jim Calhoun is back.

If there was any doubt, Calhoun took a bit of a left turn in his press conference to speak about his return to the UConn basketball team and its upcoming game with Cincinnati to defend (sort of) referee John Cahill and condemn (sort of) Cahill’s profession as a whole.

“I don’t believe that any one official as anything against us,” Calhoun said, obviously referring to Cahill’s timeout call against Syracuse Wednesday and his late-game foul call against Cincinnati Dec. 30, both narrow losses for the Huskies.

“I think John Cahill is one of the best officials in the country,” Calhoun said. “I don’t agree with some of the things he’s called that have gone against us this year. But I can probably make that statement about a lot of officials.”

Now, Cahill is a fine official, however, Calhoun doesn’t like the fact that he and many refs around the country work sometimes seven games a week.

“You can’t do what they’re doing,” Calhoun said. “I’ve said that for 15 years. You can’t work the nights they’ve been working and give you the best they can give you.”

“It’s difficult sometimes playing Saturday-Monday as a coach,” Calhoun said. “And I’m not running, theoretically, three or four miles. Well, some of those guys aren’t running either.”

There’s also the issue that some of the game’s well-known officials are getting a little older these days.

“We seem to be getting older in that position,” Calhoun said. “I like an awful lot of these guys. I think they’re good for the game. But I don’t know how you can be good if you worked 15 of the last 16, or eight out of nine, or any of these other figures you give me.”

- Neill

No time for witty, pithy intros, let’s just get to the meat and potatoes of this.

Jim Calhoun is back with the Huskies. He spent a few minutes with the media after practice Friday. The coach didn’t get very specific (at all) about the reason for his medical leave but did fill in a couple blanks.

– His condition is still unclear.

“As far as anything that happened to me, nothing that hasn’t happened to a group of other people,” Calhoun said. “If I thought that what happened to me would benefit other people, I would be more than happy to talk about it.”

Calhoun’s advice?

“If you’re not feeling particularly well you should probably go see your doctor,” Calhoun said. “I did and he was able to help with a temporary condition. After about two weeks it dissipated.”

Later, Calhoun said his doctor, Dr. Peter Schulman, sort of twisted his arm.

“He prescribed me to take off and take something, and I did,” Calhoun said.

– Calhoun never specifically said the leave was stress related but kind of inferred.

“Is my job stressful? It’s as stressful as you make it,” Calhoun said. “And I would make any job stressful.”

– Calhoun says whatever his condition was, it’s nothing that he fears will reoccur.

“I’m fine. I’m 100 percent,” Calhoun said.

– He didn’t have a great deal of fun watching his Huskies on TV.

“It was painful to watch the games,” Calhoun said. “Exhilarating when we beat Texas, disappointing with the last nine minutes against Providence, nerve-wracking against Marquette and DePaul, heartbreaking against Syracuse.”

– His team has been struggling and Calhoun knows it.

“I think the team has been somewhat snake-bitten,” Calhoun said. “And I think it hasn’t taken advantage of everything it could have done. I think we’re a little better than what our record would show.

“I’m not going to be Jim Mora and say ‘Playoffs!’ ” he continued. “But I will say I’m not thinking about the NCAA. I’m thinking about the next game, which is Cincinnati.”

– Calhoun was asked about his future and the possible new contract.

“I have never, I don’t think, given any indication that I don’t want to be here at UConn or coaching basketball,” Calhoun said.

Calhoun said he will do the same thing at the end of this season that he’s done at the end of each of the last few seasons. He’ll wait until June or July to make firm plans for next season (whether or not to retire).

After last season Calhoun said he made an announcement so quickly (two weeks) because of an impending NCAA investigation and the Yahoo Sports story.

“I was being protected of something I felt was threatened,” Calhoun said.

“I thought UConn was being attacked. I thought we were being attacked,” Calhoun said. “And I wanted to be there. So I said yes right away.”

– Calhoun said he was actually cleared before Thursday.

“I was actually cleared for Syracuse and because of the six overtimes, Jim (Boeheim) and I meeting, all the other things, and quite frankly a little bit of snow,” Calhoun said, “they just thought it would be a great idea if I waited until the team came back.”

– A few UConn players were asked if Calhoun was any different leading practice Friday.

“No, he’s the same old coach,” Gavin Edwards said.

“Is that a good thing?” a reporter asked.

“Most of the time, yeah,” Edwards said with a laugh.

“It’s a great thing,” Kemba Walker interjected. “That’s what he meant.”

- Neill

Spoke with Villanova coach Jay Wright on a conference call this morning. Wright’s Wildcats host UConn Monday night in Philadelphia and the coach had a few comments about Jim Calhoun’s return to the sidelines.

Wright is glad Calhoun is back at work but he sort of hoped it would have happened a week earlier or a week later. The Huskies could be on an emotional high this weekend.

“I’m happy for him that he’s back and I’m happy for UConn basketball because he’s such a huge part of it,” Wright said. “But I’m not (happy) for us.”

Wright said the Huskies, despite compiling 10 losses already, are starting to get hot.

“I think George (Blaney) got them to the point where they were really playing well and here comes Jim now,” Wright said. “You know he’s going to get them to another level.”

He praised Blaney extensively but Wright also apparently looks forward to the challenge of facing Calhoun again.

“Jokingly you want every advantage you can get, but with UConn coming in here Monday night it’s not the same if Jim Calhoun’s not there,” Wright said. “I’m not saying people come in to see Jim Calhoun but there’s a lot of people that come to see UConn.

“When you think of UConn, you think of Jim Calhoun. It adds to the juice that’s going to be in that arena Monday night when he’s there,” Wright continued. “No disrespect to George. George has done a great job with them. I think there’s a lot of fans in Philly that love to see him (Calhoun) storming the sidelines during the games here.”

- Neill

University of Connecticut men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun has returned to his position following a medical leave of absence, the school announced Thursday afternoon.

Coach Calhoun returned to the office Thursday morning and has “assumed his complete coaching responsibilities with no restrictions,” a release from the university read.

“I am excited to return to the team and my coaching staff,” Calhoun said in a statement. “I appreciate the hard work by the staff and team in my absence and am looking forward to being back on the court for practice this afternoon and moving forward. I am especially thankful to people for their support during the past three weeks, but also for the respect and privacy that everyone has provided me during this time. Dr. (Peter) Schulman, my primary care physician, and I both felt that the time away was important for my personal and professional well-being and that I am ready to move ahead from this point at full speed.”

Coach Calhoun went on a temporary medical leave on Jan. 19. He missed seven games during that time, during which the Huskies went 3-4.

- Neill

Have to get out of the Carrier Dome. Feeling incredibly sick (it wasn’t the game, it was a pre-existing condition). Some of the Huskies probably don’t feel very good, either.

Here’s a few thoughts on No. 2 Syracuse’s 72-67 win:

– Down 16 with 13:50 to play UConn rallies to tie it.

But it’s just another close shave and it’s seven losses in the last 10 games for the Huskies.

“We continue to show some fight and some heart,” acting UConn coach George Blaney said. “Fight back, get to the point of being able to win the game and again just can’t close it out.”

– On the attempt to tie/take the lead that resulted in Jerome Dyson’s 3-point miss:

“We were running the pick-and-roll with Kemba (Walker) and him getting into the paint area and either shooting it or kicking it,” Blaney said. “We were trying to run that again and we got Rome a little bit deeper than we would have liked.

“We weren’t afraid to take the three, even though we were down two,” Blaney continued. “But I would have liked it to have been a little closer, and Rome agrees.”

Dyson did agree, it seems.

“We talked about it before. He told me if I had an opportunity to shoot a three to take it,” Dyson said. “But like he said, I could have got a better one than I got. I was kind of going off how I, I felt good after I made the first two.”

Dyson hit one three with 4:06 left to pull UConn within one point and another with 2:33 left to tie the score.

– Game seven without Jim Calhoun. At least one participant Wednesday had some kind words for the veteran UConn coach.

“George has done a great job with their team. George Blaney is a tremendous coach, I believe,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “But without Jim being there…Jim Calhoun is one of the best coaches ever to coach in college basketball. I don’t mean now, I mean period. For him not being here, it’s a tremendous loss.

“I thought their kids played great,” Boeheim continued. “But missing a coach the caliber of Jim Calhoun…”

Boeheim wasn’t done.

“He’s done more to take a program from the Yankee Conference to the top of college basketball than anybody has ever done at any school,” Boeheim said. “Because if you look at the other great programs, they were great before the coaches got there. This guy has done an unbelievable job at Connecticut.”

– Blaney has plenty of respect for Boeheim, too, though his respect for John Cahill, Ed Hightower and Michael Stephens may be waning.

“I told the officials at one point that Jimmy Boeheim has eight hundred and whatever number of wins he has and that he didn’t need any help from them tonight,” Blaney said.

– One rather curious call by the official was awarding Boeheim a timeout with 35 seconds left after an offensive rebound by the Orange. The play appeared to continue with Scoop Jardine driving to the basket and getting blocked by UConn’s Gavin Edwards, but the officials eventually waved everything off and gave Boeheim the timeout (It was hard to hear the whistles, so perhaps that was an issue).

Anyway, Boeheim was asked what he didn’t like about the Orange’s play at that moment that forced him to call time.

“I saw Scoop with the ball,” Boeheim deadpanned.

- Neill

By Neill Ostrout

STAFF WRITER

SYRACUSE, N.Y. _ Moral victories don’t earn you any credit when it comes to Selection Sunday. So as proud as the UConn basketball team might be for its effort, the Huskies are still likely on the outside of the NCAA’s field of 65.

In their first meeting since an epic six-overtime affair last March, second-ranked Syracuse beat UConn 72-67 before 24,847 fans Wednesday night at the Carrier Dome.

Playing one of their fiercest rivals without their fiery head coach _ Jim Calhoun missed his seventh straight game _ the Huskies were behind by 16 points with just under 14 minutes to play in the game before staging a furious rally.

Jerome Dyson had 19 points for the Huskies, Stanley Robinson 16 and Kemba Walker 14.

UConn (14-10, 4-7) has lost seven of its last 10 games. The Huskies are now 1-5 this season against ranked opponents and 1-8 away from home.

Syracuse (24-1, 11-1), which got 15 points from Rick Jackson, has won 11 in a row.

A 3-pointer by Dyson, which came after a miss by Ater Majok and a scramble for the loose ball, tied the game at 65 with 2:33 to play.

Dyson missed a chance to give UConn the lead when his 10-footer with just over a minute left bounced off the rim with and the Orange secured the rebound.

Andy Rautins missed a 3-pointer on the ensuing Syracuse possession but the Orange grabbed the offensive rebound. Scoop Jardine appeared to be blocked by UConn’s Gavin Edwards with a drive to the basket following Rautins’ miss, but the officials ruled Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim had called a timeout before the block.

Robinson fouled Wes Johnson on the in-bounds play with 33.5 seconds to play, and Johnson hit two free throws to put the Orange ahead 67-65.

After a timeout by UConn, Dyson missed a 3-pointer with 13.5 seconds left and Syracuse’s Kris Joseph pulled down the carom. Joseph made two free throws to put the Orange up four.

Walker scored on an uncontested layup to make the deficit two with 7.0 left, but the Huskies were about out of chances. An intentional foul called on Majok while he was trying to chase down Joseph on Syracuse’s in-bounds attempt sealed UConn’s fate.

Down by seven, UConn committed a shot clock violation with its first possession of the second half. That miscue, along with several others, helped Syracuse to start the half with a 13-4 run. A post-up by Jackson made it 50-34 Syracuse with 13:50 left in the game.

Somewhat surprisingly after falling behind by 16 points on the road, the Huskies didn’t wilt. They staged a run of their own, scoring 14 of the game’s next 16 points. Dyson had six points in the spurt including a put-back that made it 54-48 with 8:17 still to play.

The Huskies trailed by as much has 10 points in the first half, as their big men continued to pick up fouls and the Syracuse post players took advantage. A layup by Jackson made it 35-25 Orange with less than three minutes to play in the first half.

Behind Robinson, who had four dunks, three free throws and a 3-pointer in the opening half, the Huskies cut their deficit to five in the half’s waning moments. But Syracuse’s Scoop Jardine threw up a prayer at the buzzer that gave his team a 37-30 lead at the break.

Syracuse 37, UConn 30 at the half here at the Carrier Dome.

Stanley Robinson has 14 points to lead UConn.

The Orange could have been up more but had 13 turnovers in the first half. UConn wasn’t much better, turning it over nine times.

Huskies getting beat on the boards 25-16.

- Neill