UConn and the APR: What Should Happen? What Will Happen?

Thursday, February 9, 2012 by:Kevin Duffy
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If you’re reading this, chances are you’re a UConn fan. Chances are you disagree with Dana O’Neil’s column on ESPN and you want Pat Forde fired from Yahoo!.

As I’ve learned since I started this beat, there’s a lot of “who’s right?” and “who’s wrong?” conversation that arises when talking UConn men’s basketball.

Jim Calhoun (AP)

So, I’ll lay out all the facts and make this dilemma — which, trust me, can be head-spinning– as simple as possible. You decide what UConn deserves.

* In May, UConn reported a four-year rolling Academic Progress Rating (APR) of 893. The NCAA minimum is 925, and the Huskies were docked two scholarships as a result. Case closed, right?

* In October, the NCAA decided to crank up the academic standards required for postseason play. The new rules: For 2013 NCAA tournament eligibility, a school needs a four-year rolling APR of 900 or an 930 for 2009-10 and 2010-11. Because of UConn’s horrendous score in 2009-10 (826), it falls short in both cases.

Argument One: How can you retroactively punish a team? Moreover, how can you punish players who weren’t even at the school when the low APR occurred?

* Walter Harrison, the chairman of the NCAA Committee on Academic Performance, said in October that he would like to change the rules so 2013 eligibility is based off scores from 2010-11 and 2011-12. If that’s the case — and the NCAA will decide that on Feb. 20 — UConn is in the clear.

“We would like to be able to change it to have the consequences of ineligibility for the tournament be a little closer to the time that you’re reporting the data for,” Harrison said.

Harrison explained, though, that there are certain obstacles that could prevent a change: Some schools are on semesters, some are on tri-mesters and others operate on quarters. And data collection takes time, Harrison said. NCAA staffers and schools have been talking about speeding up the process.

* On Wednesday, the Associated Press reported that UConn filed a waiver so it could skip everything above and get right to the tournament. This way, the Feb. 20 meeting won’t affect the Huskies.

UConn’s proposal: 1.)  Play 23 regular season games and the three-game Paradise Jam in 2012-13. Under normal NCAA rules, teams are allowed to play 27 regular games and a three-game tournament 2.) Coach Jim Calhoun will not be permitted to meet off-campus with recruits during the fall 2012 contact period 3.) UConn will forfeit the revenue awarded to the Big East for participating in the tournament.

The NCAA said this waiver is “currently under review.”

UConn is not the only school to fall below APR. It’s just the only school to make its own punishment.

Argument Two: Why should UConn be above the rules? If some of these other schools (Grambling, Southern, Alabama State) don’t ask for — or receive — self-imposed penalties, why should UConn?

Argument Three: All schools are entitled to file a waiver, so why not? Might as well take a shot, right?

In short, that’s what it boils down to: Is the NCAA wrong for punishing UConn twice? Or is UConn wrong for thinking the rules — though retroactive — shouldn’t apply? Or, are they both wrong?

Without getting into my opinion, I’ll make this clear: The NCAA always has the final say. No program, even one with three national titles, can bully the NCAA. And granting these self-imposed penalties would make the NCAA look pretty bad.

So, UConn fans, I wouldn’t be too optimistic. That’s just my gut feeling.

Categories: General

From Best To Worst: Updated Rankings of UConn’s 23 games

Thursday, February 9, 2012 by:Kevin Duffy
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1. UConn 83, St. John’s 69, Dec. 31 — Huskies dominated in all facets for 33 minutes and shot 60.4 percent from the field. Late run by St. John’s made it respectable (kind of).

2. UConn 77, Holy Cross 40, Dec. 18 – Shabazz Napier summed it up perfectly: “We were supposed to win by 30, and we did,” he said. Andre Drummond was 11-for-12 from the field in a game that legitimately turned into a second-half dunk contest.

3. UConn 75, Arkansas 62, Dec. 3 – Ryan Boatright stole the show in his second game, shredding the Razorbacks’ pressure defense for a team-high 2

Andre Drummond (AP)

4. UConn 67, Notre Dame 53, Jan. 14 – Huskies found out that Boatright would be sidelined the night before. The next morning, Notre Dame found out it didn’t matter. The Irish couldn’t physically match-up with UConn inside. Of course, there was a rematch…

5. UConn 64, West Virginia 57, Jan. 9 – “Andre Drummond was special,” Calhoun said. People said the crowd ignited UConn. Well, Drummond ignited the crowd. He dunked everything, held Kevin Jones off the glass and led the Huskies to the come-from-behind win.

6. UConn 78, Florida State 76 (OT), Nov. 26 — Boatright saved the day (I think you all know the story) and Napier poured in 26. This win is looking better with each passing week: The Noles have won five in a row, including a 33-point pasting of UNC and a win over Duke at the buzzer.

7. UConn 67, Harvard 53, Dec. 8 — No “Revenge of the Nerds” headline. I really was looking forward to seeing if I could get that in the paper. Harvard is a nice team, but it couldn’t physically compete with the Huskies.

8. UConn 69, Seton Hall 46, Feb. 4 — Not to take anything away from the Huskies, who did play with energy and enthusiasm, but Seton Hall was just laughably bad in this one. The Pirates didn’t score their 20th point until 12:51 remained in the game!!! Afterwards, Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard told reporters he’s the “only coach in America that has white guys who can’t shoot.”

9. UConn 80, Maine 60, Nov. 16 — Drummond hauled in 11 offensive rebounds and Maine’s entire team had 11 boards on the defensive end. UConn really asserted itself on the interior (34 offensive boards for the game) and Maine, well…Maine just isn’t very good.

10. UConn 73, UNC Asheville 63, Nov. 24 — Huskies jumped out to a 16-3 lead and were relatively even with the Bulldogs the rest of the way. For what it’s worth, Asheville is 11-1 in the Big South.

11. UConn 79, Fairfield 71, Dec. 22 — If I were ranking the best halves of the year, A. UConn’s first half would be No. 1 on the list and B. This would be a really long and unnecessary blog post. Huskies led by as many as 22, then “stopped playing,” Calhoun said.

12. UConn 60, South Florida 57, Dec. 28 – Kind of like the Wagner game. South Florida wasn’t highly-touted (or touted at all) entering the game. UConn pulled it out in sluggish fashion.

13. UConn 87, Coppin State 70, Nov. 20 — A triple-double by Napier helped UConn overcome an early 27-14 deficit against the gritty — albeit severely outmanned — Golden Eagles.

14. UConn 78, Wagner 66, Nov. 14 — It was a struggle at the time, but it turns out Wagner is pretty decent: The Seahawks are 20-4 and looking like a tourney team.

15. Cincinnati 70, UConn 67, Jan. 18 — Huskies didn’t play terribly in this one.  Cincy is one of the better teams in the Big East, and Shabazz Napier was remarkable in the closing minutes.

16. UCF 68, UConn 63, Nov. 25 – Think this one should be lower? Granted, it was a meltdown, but the Huskies still didn’t have Ryan Boatright and played pretty well for 25 minutes. The latter can’t be said for the remaining games on this list.

17. UConn 70, Columbia 57, Nov. 11 — Aside from this Jeremy Lamb dunk, this was one ugly season opener against an extremely inferior opponent.

18. Notre Dame 50, UConn 48, Jan. 29 — Best line came from Waterbury Rep-Am beat writer Ed Daigneault, who tweeted that Calhoun “looked like he was watching his grandkids play at the beach.” Calhoun said he tried to “play low-key…tried different things” with his team. Nothing seems to be working right now. The Huskies were miserable against the zone and not overly enthusiastic at any point.

Ryan Boatright (Getty Images)

19. Seton Hall 75, UConn 63, Jan. 7 — The one game where UConn was outplayed for a full 40 minutes. Seton Hall was just a better team on this day — there’s no other way to say it.

20. Tennessee 60, UConn 57, Jan. 21 – Ugh. Ooof. Ew. Have any other words/sounds to describe the Huskies’ offense against the Vols? It’s been stagnant at times, but this game — Napier dribble, dribble, dribble, fallaway jumper; Lamb dribble left, dribble right, crossover, tough runner– was brutal.

21. Georgetown 58, UConn 44, Feb. 1 – Just another disaster on the offensive end. Some of the numbers are startling: Outside of Andre Drummond, UConn was 9-for-48 from the field. The Huskies had 13 points with 16:36 left in the first half. At that same point in the second half, they had just 23.

22. Rutgers 67, UConn 60, Jan. 7 — Rutgers? Really? No commentary necessary here.

23. Louisville 80, UConn 59, Feb. 6 — This wasn’t just the low point of the season, it was likely the low point of the past decade. The Huskies were run out of the gym, humiliated in all facets. Everyone from George Blaney to Kevin Ollie to Alex Oriakhi to Jeremy Lamb used the word “embarrassing” to describe the program’s worst regular-season loss (statistically) since 2003.

Categories: General

UConn Proposes Its Own Penalties For APR

Wednesday, February 8, 2012 by:Kevin Duffy
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In an effort to become eligible for the 2013 NCAA Tournament, UConn proposed self-imposed penalties as punishment for its failure to reach the Academic Progress Rating (APR) required for postseason play.

The Associated Press obtained the wavier under a Freedom of Information request.

Here’s everything you need to know:

Jim Calhoun (AP)

- UConn would play 23 regular season games and the three-game Paradise Jam in 2012-13. Under normal NCAA rules, teams are allowed to play 27 regular games and a three-game tournament.

- Coach Jim Calhoun would not be permitted to meet off-campus with recruits during the fall 2012 contact period.

- UConn would forfeit the revenue awarded to the Big East for participating in the tournament.

- Calhoun would participate in a minimum of five educational sessions at inner-city schools. He would bring an NBA player with an undergraduate degree with him and the discussion would focus on academic achievement. Calhoun would also serve as a guest-speaker to students majoring in Coaching and Administration at UConn.

Of course, this is all hypothetical at this point, hence the “woulds.” The NCAA has not approved anything yet. An NCAA spokesperson said the waiver is “currently under review.”

If it’s not approved, and the NCAA does not elect to change its current policy — it meets with the Committee on Academic Performance on Feb. 20 — UConn could simply be out of luck. Under today’s rules, the NCAA uses data from the 2009-10 and 2010-11 academic years to determine eligibility for 2013. In October, Walt Harrison, the chairman of the Committee on Academic Performance, said he wanted to change the rule so the data is drawn from 2010-11 and 2011-12.

UConn would meet the standard APR under that scenario.

Categories: General

Calhoun to miss Syracuse game

Tuesday, February 7, 2012 by:Kevin Duffy
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Jim Calhoun’s medical leave of absence will last at least one more game.

But according to ESPN, Calhoun – suffering from spinal stenosis – will return to the sidelines at some point.

“There’s no question,” Calhoun told ESPN. “I’ve talked to the people at UConn and president (Susan) Herbst. I just want to get a resolution on my back.”

On Friday, Feb. 3, UConn announced that Calhoun would take an indefinite medical leave while dealing with the lower-back condition that has caused pain and hampered his mobility since the summer.

The school confirmed Tuesday that he’ll miss Saturday’s game at No. 2 Syracuse. A UConn official said Calhoun is “consulting with doctors about a solution.”

Without Calhoun, the Huskies defeated Seton Hall, 69-46, and were then blown out at Louisville, 80-59, Monday night.

It was the program’s worst regular-season loss since 2003.

Categories: General

Notes/Quotes from Louisville: “We just took a butt-whipping and we didn’t fight back.”

Monday, February 6, 2012 by:Kevin Duffy
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In the final minutes of Monday’s beatdown — or butt-whipping, as Alex Oriakhi put it — I sent out the following tweet: “I’ve been going to #UConn games since I was a freshman in 2004-05. This is the worst one I’ve seen.”

About a half-hour later, as I waited outside the UConn locker room, my roommate from freshman year tweeted at me.

“This may be unimportant, but that was not your freshman year.”

Nope, it wasn’t. Upon further review, I was a freshman in 2005-06.

Let’s just put it this way: Monday was not my day. I packed just one long-sleeve shirt for this trip and got a big old coffee stain on this morning (it’s a white shirt, by the way). During halftime of the game, I accidentally walked into the women’s bathroom — a mistake I’ve never before committed.

No one saw me do it, but I still felt pretty embarrassed.

Ryan Boatright (Getty Images)

Unfortunately for UConn, millions of viewers tuned in for Monday’s second half. The Huskies probably felt pretty embarrassed, too.

Things spiraled out of control faster than I’ve ever seen. Louisville scored 30 points in less than eight minutes and steamrolled UConn, 80-59. Credit the Cardinals, no doubt. They’re a good team that got ridiculously hot. But when the going got tough, UConn seemed to pack it in. And that might be the most discouraging part.

“In the second half, we just gave in,” Oriakhi said. “I told guys, if we’re going to lose, we’re going to go down swinging. And we just took a butt-whipping and we didn’t fight back.”

Here’s the other discouraging part: UConn’s offense is unwatchable right now. It’s never been too smooth, but Shabazz Napier and Jeremy Lamb would always bail the Huskies out with some contested perimeter shots.

That hasn’t happened recently. Not at all. Napier and Lamb have both hit  unimaginable slumps.

“It’s very bad timing,” Oriakhi said. “I definitely think we have some of the best guards in the country. It’s only going to be a phase. I think they’ll snap out of it soon.”

The numbers of this phase: Dating back to the end of a loss to Tennessee, Napier is 6-for-40 from the field. Lamb has made just 5 of his last 23 3-point attempts.

“Times like (Monday), I have to put the ball in the hole and I just can’t hit a shot,” Lamb said. “I try to work hard on defense, but I can’t hit a shot right now. I’m just not…I’m just not good on offense. I’m in a bad slump right now.”

Some other things that stick out from Monday: UConn assisted on just seven of its 20 baskets and committed 15 turnovers, 11 of which came in the second half. Louisville, which didn’t shoot particularly well early on, launched 72 field goal attempts!!! The Cardinals hit seven 3s in the second half. The final one was banked in by Angel Nunez with 2:20 remaining.

Go figure.

After the game, Ryan Boatright vowed to become the leader UConn so desperately needs.

“If I have to take that role, then I’m going to do it,” Boatright said. “Something has to happen.”

“I never came in and tried to be the boss or anything like that,” he continued. “I always played my role. I just wanted to win. If all they want to do is win, they’ll accept (me as the leader). Somebody has to step up and do it because we can’t afford to give in and lose like we just did.”

Categories: General

Gameday: UConn at Louisville

Monday, February 6, 2012 by:Kevin Duffy
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The new motto at UConn is “all in.”

No, the Huskies aren’t playing poker, but they are playing The Cards…tonight at 7 in Louisville (ehhhhhhh).

A few things to watch in tonight’s clash:

Louisville's Gorgui Dieng

* Louisville big man Gorgui Dieng, who leads the Big East and ranks fifth in the nation with 3.5 blocks per game, will be a game-time decision with a sprained right ankle, according to The Louisville Courier-Journal. Needless to say, that could drastically change things tonight. Louisville normally uses seven players in its rotation. If Dieng has to sit, the Cards will be incredibly undermanned, especially inside.

* UConn sophomore Jeremy Lamb was one of 20 players named to the Oscar Robertson Trophy Midseason Watch List. The USBWA selects the winner (national player of the year) on March 30. Lamb and West Virginia forward Kevin Jones were the only two Big East players nominated. Check out the full list.

* Be sure to join our live chat during the game tonight.

UConn at Louisville

WHEN: Tonight, 7

WHERE: KFC Yum! Center, Louisville

RECORDS: UConn 15-7, 5-5 Big East; Louisville 18-5, 6-4

LINE: Louisville by 4 1/2

ON THE AIR: ESPN; WTIC-AM 1080

UP NEXT: Saturday at Syracuse, 1

UCONN

Shabazz Napier G 6-0 So.: Made 3 of last 29 FG attempts

Jeremy Lamb G 6-5 So.: 8-for-27 from field in past 2 games

Ryan Boatright G 5-10 Fr.: Team-high 19 pts, 5 asts, 4 steals vs. Seton Hall

Tyler Olander F 6-9 So.: 6 pts, 3 rebs vs. Seton Hall

Andre Drummond C 6-10 Fr.: Tied career-high with 7 blocks vs. Seton Hall

Niels Giffey G/F 6-7 So.: Scoreless in past 2 games

Alex Oriakhi F 6-9 Jr.: 10 pts, 8 rebs vs. Seton Hall

DeAndre Daniels F 6-8 Fr.: Played 3 mins vs. Seton Hall

Roscoe Smith F 6-8 So.: 4 pts, 3 rebs vs. Seton Hall

LOUISVILLE

Peyton Siva G 6-0 Jr.: 8.5 ppg, 5.6 apg

Russ Smith G 6-0 So.: 12.4 ppg, 2.6 spg

Kyle Kuric G/F 6-4 Sr.: 13.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg

Chane Behanan F 6-6 Fr.: 11-for-12 from field, 23 pts vs. Rutgers

Gorgui Dieng C 6-11 So.: 3.5 bpg ranks 1st in Big East, 5th in nation

Chris Smith G 6-2 Sr.: 8 pts, 13 rebs, 6 asts, 3 steals vs. Rutgers

Jared Swopshire F 6-8 Jr.: 3.8 ppg, 3 rpg

STORY LINES

DRUMMOND VS. DIENG: Gorgui Dieng averages 3.5 blocks, but he’s giving up 40 pounds to Andre Drummond down low. This could be a terrific game for Drummond to showcase himself against a top-notch defender.

FRONTCOURT PLAYING TIME: After a strong performance against Seton Hall, will Alex Oriakhi continue to earn minutes? Or will Blaney opt for a Tyler Olander and Roscoe Smith rotation at the power forward spot?

GETTING DEFENSIVE: Turnovers, a non-issue in the past few games, could come back to bite the Huskies if they’re careless with the ball against Louisville’s suffocating perimeter defense.

– KEVIN DUFFY
Categories: General

Live coverage: UConn at Louisville

Monday, February 6, 2012 by:Ben Doody
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Categories: General

Notes/Quotes from Seton Hall: “I don’t mind getting blown out. I do have an issue when the refs enjoy the blowout”

Saturday, February 4, 2012 by:Kevin Duffy
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Kevin Willard just jumped Bob Huggins for most hilarious Big East coach.

And UConn finally snapped a horrendous four-game losing streak. This one was a far cry from the blowout in Newark a month ago, a game in which Seton Hall led by as many as 18 points. Perhaps Michael Scott put it best…

Yes, the turntables did…

Seton Hall was without double-double machine Herb Pope (bruised ribs), which certainly hurt. But the Pirates just couldn’t make a shot — and they had some good looks. Seton Hall missed 16 of its first 17 3-point attempts and didn’t crack the 20-point mark until 12:41 remained in the game. Perhaps Kevin Willard put it best…

“I’m the only coach in America that has white guys who can’t shoot,” Willard said afterwards.

Say what you want about that quote (I’m sure some people will blow it out of proportion), but I think it’s all good. White people making fun of white people — nothing wrong with that.

Willard, who was tossed during a barrage of technical fouls at the tail end of this stinker, also had some choice words for the refs: “To be honest with you, there is one (ref) I don’t get along with. i wanted to wish him a very happy Valentine’s Day. He didn’t like that, and that was the end of that,” Willard said.

“I don’t mind getting blown out,” he continued. “I do have an issue when the refs enjoy the blow out. And I don’t think they should be smiling or enjoying one team getting their butt kicked and another team not.”

Onto some UConn related notes:

*George Blaney called Jim Calhoun after the win and said the coach was in good spirits.

“He was excited, his voice sounded a lot better (when I called him),” Blaney said. “He said he turned the sound down (on the TV) so he could watch how excited the players were.”

*Neither Shabazz Napier nor Jeremy Lamb shot particularly well, but at the same time, neither played as horribly as Seton Hall. Napier was 1-for-6 from the field (he did grab eight rebounds and make some hustle plays) and Lamb went just 3-for-10. They’ll both have to get on track, because not every future opponent — actually, no future opponents — will score at the anemic rate that Seton Hall did on Saturday.

* No word yet on the possible length of Calhoun’s medical leave. All we know for sure is that he’ll miss Monday’s game at Louisville.

* UConn hit a rough patch in the middle of the first half — four points in eight minutes — but scored on four consecutive possessions and eventually blew this thing wide open. All of the players seemed to agree: an impromptu team meeting called by Alex Oriakhi on Friday could be the turning point in their season. I’m sure it went a little like this…

No, but in all seriousness, Oriakhi explained what really went down when the players met Friday: “We had a meeting yesterday and I told guys it really hurts not to make the tournament,” Oriakhi said. “I told guys I’m willing to give up my minutes, and I don’t care anymore. I don’t care if I’m on the bench — I’ll be the biggest cheerleader. I just want to win. And when I said that, you could see it in guys eyes. They really bought into it. I said either ‘you’re in or you’re out.’ And they said ‘we’re in.’”

Categories: General
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