The hard-to-swallow truth is that UConn, which entered today's first-round game as a 12-seed in the Big East tournament due to its awful 16-14 record (7-10 in conference play), was blown out by St. John's in a nailbiter, 73-51.
(H/T to the AP for the photo)
For those scoring at home, here are some of the grisly details. Going into today's game, the Huskies had beaten St. John's 9 straight times...and managed to lose this one. In the first half, UConn had 9 field goals and 8 turnovers. In the second half, St. John's shot 60% from the field. UConn has now lost 6 straight Big East tournament games (!!) including last year's epic 6-overtime loss to Syracuse. That's impressive for a team that went to the Final Four last season.
UConn would have (probably) saved its season by beating Notre Dame on national TV. Nope. UConn could have (probably) saved its season by beating South Florida, a team that hasn't made it to the NCAA tournament in 18 years. Nope. UConn could have (probably) saved its season with a hail mary performance in the Big East tournament against St. John's. Nope, not even close -- they lost by a whopping 22 points. So, after all that ineptitude, can the Huskies still have a prayer on the bubble? Joe Lunardi says "No, UConn't"
It is obvious that this year's UConn team gave up and failed to respond to coach Jim Calhoun. This means very little for the current crop of players -- some are graduating, and the rest aren't likely to go anywhere. But what does this mean for Jim Calhoun? How accountable is he for his team's collapse? How does this affect the 5-year contract extension Calhoun agreed to in December, since it is only a verbal agreement and not a signed contact. Might Calhoun even be (gasp!) fired altogether??
Some UConn fans think it's absurd to even consider firing Calhoun. I am not sure that firing him is the right move, but I certainly do not think it's absurd to discuss the idea. Let's take a look at the facts:
1.) Calhoun is old. He is nearly 68 and has coached at Northeastern (14 years) and UConn (24 years) for a combined total of more than 4 decades. Including his tenure as head coach of Old Lyme High School, he has been coaching since the late 1960's. How many more years is he physically capable of coaching?
2.) Calhoun has suffered from various health problems, including prostate cancer, squamus cell carcinoma, dehydration, broken ribs sustained in cycling accident, and, most recently, "exhaustion." Some of these problems have forced him to miss significant time on the bench, including an NCAA tournament game last year and 7 games in the 2009-10 regular season. UConn also played quite poorly in those 7 games, going 3-4 with ugly losses to Providence and Louisville. While you cannot legally fire someone for having a disability, you can most definitely fire someone if they miss enough time at work due to sickness that they cannot perform their job responsibilities. (That's why the U.S. military would likely reject me -- not simply because I have Crohn's Disease, but because Crohn's Disease prevents me from doing a solider's job properly.) In Calhoun's case, if he keeps missing games due to whatever illness he has that day, he just cannot be the head coach of UConn men's basketball. The highest paid CT state employee cannot miss so much time. Perhaps the university should find someone who can be there every game.
3.) Here is UConn's performance in the NCAA tournament over the past 4 years:
2006-07: Lost in 1st round
2007-08: Did not qualify
2008-09: Final Four
2009-10: Did not qualify
I'm happy about 2008-09, which I classify as an impressive-but-somewhat-surprising run, but otherwise that is not a good pattern. Speaking of bad patterns...
4.) Calhoun does not produce top talent anymore. When was the last time UConn put out an impact player? Even though my friend Mike Nichols pointed out that UConn trails only Duke in terms of the most money currently earned in the NBA ($82.0 million vs. $81.9 million), a lot of that goes to older UConn players such as Ray Allen, Rip Hamilton, Caron Butler, and Emeka Okafor. Let's take a look at the post-2006 players from UConn:
A.J. Price: reserve point guard for Indiana Pacers
Jeff Adrien: playing in Spain
Hasheem Thabeet: #2 overall pick by the Memphis Grizzlies, recently demoted to D-League
Craig Austrie: playing in the D-League
This year's seniors? Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson and Gavin Edwards have all played their way out of the first round, if they get drafted at all.
5.) The 2006 UConn team that lost to George Mason in the Elite Eight was loaded with talent. I mean, they could have beaten some NBA teams. Once that core (Rudy Gay, Hilton Armstrong, Marcus Williams, Josh Boone, Denham Brown) went to the NBA, consider the talent that has followed -- it is nowhere near as good.
Realistically, what are the chances that Calhoun, at age 68, is able to recreate his powerhouse teams from 1999, 2004, and 2006? The man is coming off 6 straight Big East tournament losses and has failed to get past the first round of the NCAA tournament in 3 of the past 4 seasons. I just cannot see him doing what Jim Boeheim did this year with Syracuse. Boeheim's recruiting classes have simply been stronger than Calhoun's.
Calhoun has always had a testy relationship with the media. He is a notorious tyrant towards his players, "coaching" them to play better by humiliating them with screaming rants in the locker room and on the bench. (I'd never want my kid to play for the guy.) All of that worked when he was trying to transform UConn from a mediocre Yankee Conference program into a Big East (and national) powerhouse. It continued to work when he started winning national championships. We bought into it when he produced Hall of Fame-caliber talent in the NBA (see: Allen, Ray and arguably Hamilton, Rip). But now? When he's missing NCAA tournament games and long stretches in the regular season? When his players blatantly quit on him during a stretch run? When he's missed the NCAA tournament, or lost in the first round, in three of the last four years?
It's unclear what Jimmy C's future will be at UConn. I really don't know if he will eventually sign the long-discussed 5-year extension. I don't know if he will walk away, or if the university will tell him he's not coming back. But I know two things for sure: it is not absurd to consider showing him the door, and it is not absurd to consider using the UConn men as a practice squad for the UConn women.
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It is really amazing how far this team has fallen. I can't believe it's been so long since they won a Big East tourney game. And the women's success has made the men's failures that much more crushing in contrast
ReplyDeleteVery well done, but I would argue that the talent is better than the result, that the big 4 are potential NBA players but that there is 0 chemistry which is a coaching issue, and the sum is less than the individual parts, another coaching problem. Plus whoever is responsbile for the "bigs" should be let go immediately, they were tht pathetic all year.
ReplyDeleteSorry but I have to disagree and I am the biggest UConn hater out there. Jim Calhoun is UConn. As a hater, I always hope he would retire because the school would never be the same. I agree about the talent being lower but he did make the final four last year which some coaches never do. The Big East tourney is a little bit blown out of proportion, they lost 2 classic games to Syracuse and had two down years heading into the tourney. Also, the conference is loaded with talent in general.
ReplyDeleteHe should probably retire, but the school would be crazy to fire him. This talk shows how spoiled UConn fans are (one reason why I truly hate this team so much). Please, don't get my hopes up. UConn firing Calhoun would make me the happiest person in CT!
I do agree though it is surprising how the program is struggling a bit - and I'm LOVING every single minute of it (even though I had them beating Marquette in my pool)!
Paul, at one point Adolph Rupp WAS Kentucky and that Dean Smith WAS North Carolina. But those schools eventually had to get a new head coach. And you know what? Kentucky has won 3 national titles since, and UNC has won 2 national titles of their own.
ReplyDeleteAt some point, UConn is going to have to move on. And now that is has established itself as a basketball powerhouse (2 national titles, 3 Final Four appearances, 6 Big East tournament championships, etc.) the program will be fine. Another head coach will come in and pick up where Calhoun left off. This happens all the time when a legendary coach leaves. Remember, 2 years after Bobby Knight left Indiana, the Hoosiers made it all the way to the NCAA championship game.
And Paul, I'm not sure who you root for, but when you are a UConn fan and you've experienced the incredible amount of winning that the Huskies have produced, you are entitled to be a little spoiled. It's just like how Yankees fans were pissed at the 2004 Yankees for blowing a 3-0 lead after the Bombers gave us 6 AL pennants in 8 seasons. That's how winners feel when they lose.
Perhaps Calhoun will just retire and make it easier/less awkward for UConn. It's better than firing him straight up. But if he wants to stay, I think it's time to say goodbye.
P.S. Exhibit A, in case you missed the game, was Jerome Dyson yesterday. He is a senior and clearly the best player on the team. He has all the reason in the world to play his heart out. And he flat-out quit on the team. Calhoun either could not or would not do anything about it. When that sort of thing happens so blatantly, YOU ARE FIRED.
Jay, interesting you asked, I'm a UMASS grad/fan so I have some insight on this issue. UMass fans were spoiled in the 90's and then Coach Cal left and then you know the rest...Now I'm not saying UConn will as bad (or even nearly as bad) as UMASS when he leaves bc they are a much better program. The point is when fans get spoiled they don't realize what they have sometimes. As far as I'm concerned, Coach Cal can go 0-18 in the big east next year and not get fired. He's done so much for the progam, it's mind-boggling. He's untouchable, you can't fire him ever, you just can't.
ReplyDeleteAlso, keep in mind these are kids, not professionals. You can't compare college hoops to the Yanks. Players graduate/ or leave early and are there from 1-4 years, that's it. Keep in mind, if players don't leave early like Thabeet, they are much better this year. As for Dyson, he's a young punk who didn't want to show up yesterday. Why, who knows? He was out the night before in NYC, or he knew his team had no shot at winning such a tourney loaded with talent. I can't totally fault Calhoun for this, there is only so much you can do sometimes. Remember, St. John's crushed Louisville at home in the regelar season too so they played a few quality games.
My other point is just calm down, Uconn had a bad year. It happens, look at Carolina. They're BRUTAL right now. Kentucky had some bad years recently after they fired Tubby Smith (ironically this is a perfect example). College Basketball is so unique to other sports, it's so hard to win. Missouri has NEVER been to the final four and have been in a major conference for years, and had a hall of fame coach for over 30 years. What UConn has accomplished in the past 10 years is incredible. They'll be back, as much as I hate it. Enjoy it before you start getting excited like I am right now bc my team beat Rhody and Charolotte to salvage a 20 LOSS season!!
P.S. The 2004 Yanks deserved it bc the fans were spoiled and annoying. We might be all glad that happened now! As I'm writing this St. Johns just pulled with 3 to Marquette, Go Storm!!
I am going to have to agree with Paul on this one. If you told me that my team could make the final four once out of every four years but wouldn't make it past the first round the other three I would take that in an instant. I mean you would have to right? There certainly is an issue here with Calhoun's health, and if Coach doesn't feel like he can do the job any more then he should step down. But otherwise UConn would be crazy to fire him. From where I stand there is no evidence that the game has passed him by. He runs a pro-style offense, is one of the best in the country at developing big men (I mean come on they led the nation in blocks 8 years in a row or something like that). This season they had a team that simply did not mesh. They had two PGs that can't shoot, and like to drive to the hole every time they go down the court, a SF that can't shoot and refuses to take it to the hole, and an assortment of big men that cannot score outside of the paint. The obvious answer is to pack the paint and make them prove they can hit the shots from the outside. Every single opponent this year used that strategy, and it was effective. This could've been a very different year for them if they had someone that could knock down a jumper from beyond 18 ft. I don't blame Coach for a lost year, at least not for his on the court performance (when he was on the court). Now as to recruiting... I can't really say much as I'm not an avid follower of the recruiting trail. Calhoun loves projects at least for his big men and they always come out better than when they started. As for guards it's true he hasn't had anyone that could knock down a shot since '05 probably, but all in all I still think he gets good recruiting classes. Maybe not the best in the country but then again we never have had a recruiting class that was a top 10 in the country, and yet we've still been able to win.
ReplyDeleteI just think it's a little premature to start talking about firing a legend. When Calhoun leaves the program it's going to be on his own terms. I don't know which category UConn fits into at this point... are we a Carolina where we have coaches lining up to fill this position? Or are we an Indiana... one good year then a bunch of bad ones. I hope we're not an Indiana. The one thing I know is that as long as Calhoun is on the bench we are a potential national title contender, if he leaves then I don't know what we are......
If by "runs a pro-style offense" you surely must have meant "runs the worst half-court offense in the Big East and possibly the country" right? Anyone who knows anything about UConn knows that the Huskies are terrible in half-court sets. As constructed the last few years, this team needs the do-run-run to win. (That was a Stripes reference...anyone?) Calhoun has built his program into a one-dimensional offense. Like you said, "the obvious answer is to pack the paint and make them prove they can hit shows from the outside" or force them to run-and-gun. Well, teams packed the paint and guess what? Calhoun had no response. That's not a pro-style coaching job.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Jim, while UConn usually leads the country in blocked shots, do you really think Calhoun's big men "always come out better than when they started"? Look at Thabeet. He went from the #2 overall pick to the D-League. Look at Okafor. Another lottery pick who is not an NBA star. So what big men are you really talking about here? Jeff Adrien went undrafted and landed in Spain. Is Gavin Edwards better as a senior than he was 3 years ago? He's still not starting and he cannot take over a game. Calhoun hates the guy just as much now as when he was a freshman. For a coach that specializes in big men, and who ignores guards to his detriment, Calhoun really hasn't produced any superstar big men. Mandeldove...hahahahaha. And it doesn't look like Oriakhi or Okwandu or Majok are going to be PTPers anytime soon.
Sorry, I've just had it with Calhoun. His emphasis on forwards and centers, while ignoring the guards, has not produced a winner since 2004. He has lost in the most important games because his teams choked (George Mason!!), failed to hustle as much as the opponent (MSU!!) or simply gave up altogether (St. John's!!). I'm ready to move on. Another coach isn't going to do much worse than this 17-15 performance in 2009-10.
While I'm a UConn fan, I'm not a huge College Basketball fan. But it seems like this situation is very similar to the Joe Torre situation of a few years back. Many wanted him out and others pointed to the fact that the recent "failures" weren't enough to oust him based on what he had done. It's an interesting debate.
ReplyDeleteI would question Jay's credibility here, first off, Uconn's last four seasons, here is the correct NCAA tourney result:
ReplyDelete2006-2007 - failed to make tournament
2007-2008 - lost 1st round (AJ price got hurt in this game if you remember)
2008-2009 - Final Four
2009-2010 - failed to make tournament
Jay is obviously what i like to call a "short term investor"...forgets to look at a 2004 Championship team and a 2006 team that made the Elite Eight (although they greatly underacheived). Calhoun is old, has some health issues, but i don't think he's done unless he wants to be.....however, this team was the most frustrating team to watch of all Uconn teams i've ever seen, and i've followed uconn since the Mid-80's, went to school there and love Uconn. I think calhoun is to partially to blame for this team's - lack of diversity - failing to recruit more players with actual basketball IQ which lead to an athletic team, could look good at times when things clicked (which wasn't very often) and horrible at times (home against Cincy, ND, St. Johns.
My point is that it's too early to shut the door on Calhoun - Calhoun is Uconn - he brings in the recruits....not the school itself. uconn lacks the rich history and tradition like NC, DUKE, Kentucky, etc and the only reason these guys go to Uconn, is b/c of Calhoun. Look at all the Penn State rumblings a couple years ago with Joe Paterno...now Penn State fans love him again. I think Uconn needs to seriously start thinking about his replacement b/c if he does stay, he can't stick around much longer, and whomever they bring in, will have to work quickly to keep Uconn at the top of the Big East.
Ok first of all, I think you misinterpreted what I was saying about big men coming out better than when they started. Almost every big man that UConn has had over the last 10 years has improved dramatically from the time they were freshman. Now some of that may be due to becoming stronger, and getting game experience. But look at Thabeet as an example, when he was a freshman he was an absolute black hole on offense. The ball went in and it never came back out. In his last season he actually averaged 13.6 ppg with a 64% fg pct, not too shabby. And if you don't think Gavin Edwards is better this year than he was as a freshman you need to actually start watching college basketball. Just the improvement in his play from last year to this year has been excellent. He rotates well on defense can guard without fouling, is and underrated passer, I don't think I would've said any of these thing about him last year. He's not perfect, and he's not a pro prospect, he's still a turnover machine and he's not gifted athletically, but seeing him today vs. seeing him as a freshman is like night and day.
ReplyDeleteAs far as running a pro style offense that's exactly what UConn's offense is! They don't send 4 guys behind the 3 point line and chuck it up like many teams do. They run pick and rolls, play the high post game, run isolations. All things that are prevalent in the pro game. Check out this link for more details (http://coachingbetterbball.blogspot.com/2007/10/running-pro-style-offense-like-uconn.html). Now I would certainly agree that this did not work out very well for them this year, but with the personnel he had what kind of offense would you run? Not too much you can do when you don't have a single shooter on the team. Calhoun's biggest fault I think is that he falls in love with athletes and projects, and maybe is not the best team architect. But he is a great coach, and I still think firing him is crazy, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion I guess....
Anonymous -- if you think my credibility is impaired by mistakenly switching the 07 and 08 postseason outcomes, then you might as well stop reading sports blogs altogether. Typos happen in this business, my friend.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I did not "forget" the 2004 and 2006 teams. But the fact is that 2004 is ages ago given the short life span of college teams due to players leaving early for the NBA. And that 2006 team, as talented as they were, underachieved due to underestimating their Elite 8 opponent, George Mason. The fact that the 2006 Huskies had BY FAR the most talent in the country and should have won the title, but failed, is due to Calhoun's failure to have his team ready, willing, and able to play hard regardless of the opponent. GMU wanted it more, and they won...that's a coaching failure.
Look, Calhoun is UConn, and he built the program to where it is now. But now the tables have turned: UConn is finally bigger than its coach. I believe that UConn is big enough to attract another big-name coach who will bring in recruits just like Calhoun has, if not better. Dean Smith left UNC ages ago, but Roy Williams is still getting the Tyler Hansbroughs and Ray Feltons and Sean Mays of the world. That will happen with UConn.
Anonymous says that UConn "needs to serioiusly start thinking about his replacement b/c if he does stay, he can't stick around much longer..." Then why not just fire him now? You admit Calhoun is on his way out the door. So what's the rationale in sticking with the guy after this 17-15 season, where his team showed no heart? All we can do by keeping him is create a bigger hole, and make UConn that much less desirable for bringing in the next big-name coach.
Jim, you might be right in that Calhoun runs a pro-style offense. But how much sense does it make to run a pro-style offense in college basketball? Especially when it completely fails, as it did this past season?
ReplyDeleteThe 2009-10 Huskies did not have a great shooter, and they did not have an inside scoring presence. So how do you score points? You work off the fast break. You have 3 outstanding pure athletes in Sticks, Kemba, and Dyson. Why would anyone want to run pick-and-rolls and high post sets with those 3 athletes and crappy big men??? You need the guards to slash to the hole. You need offensive rebounds from Stanley Robinson. You need to create turnovers from your guards stealing the ball on D. You need fast breaks.
Pro-style offenses do not win very often at the college level. Especially when your team, like this year's UConn team, is designed to fail with a pro-style offense. Calhoun did a poor job as coach this year, as his offense did not match his personnel. Time to go, Jim...let's find someone who can match players with playing styles.
Memphis ran a pro-style offense under Calipari, which he has since brought to Kentucky, UNC runs a pro-style offense, Florida does as well. So lets see that means the 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2009 champs ran similar style offenses, as well as one of the top contenders to cut down the nets this year. Just because you say something doesn't make it so.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately in college basketball there is an opponent. While it sounds great to say they should run more and force more turnovers there is another team trying just as hard to slow down the game and take care of the ball. Plus when you take into account that UConn is one of the most turnover prone teams I have ever seen, maybe running more is not the answer.
One more thing, how many coaches in college basketball do you know that change their offensive philosophy from year to year based on their current roster? I can't name one. Coaches have systems they're comfortable with Calhoun's happens to be a proven one (2 national championships, and 3 final fours seems pretty good to me). If it ain't broke don't fix it. Good teams don't win every year, great teams don't even win every year. Just look at UNC this year, do you think Roy Williams should be fired too? His team came into this year with high expectations (as usual) and they arguably worse then the Huskies this year. Yet I don't hear anyone calling for his head....