UConn Basketball Progam In a Free Fall?

The UConn men’s basketball program has seen brighter days. Jim Calhoun has seen better days. The Hall-of-Fame head coach, and the program he has built into a perennial college basketball powerhouse, have both fallen on hard times. Just a year-and-a-half removed from reaching the 2009 Final Four, UConn has been in a steady decline since they walked off the court in Detroit’s Ford Field.

As it was announced a few weeks ago, the NCAA, after a year-long investigation, found eight violations into the UConn basketball program. The violations, which were centered around the recruitment of Nate Miles, cost two UConn coaches their jobs, millions of dollars in legal bills, and possibly the fall of Calhoun and the UConn program he has built. While UConn will have to wait till October to find out their punishment, it is easy to see how the program has been in a steady decline.

Going into last season there was some hope and buzz surrounding the program, as they we’re ranked as high as 14th in the preseason. This ranking came after losing A.J. Price, Hasheem Thabeet, Jeff Adrien, and Craig Austrie from the 2009 Final Four team. Calhoun lost arguably his three best players, but the return of Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson, and Kemba Walker, along with the incoming class of Alex Oriakhi and Jamal Coombs-Mcdaniel, gave the Husky faithful hope for the 2009-2010 season. However, the team was unable to play up to expectations, as they suffered many tough losses throughout the season. The program also took a hit, when Calhoun had to take a medical leave of absence in January. The team was able to get a few marquee wins as they beat #1 Texas, #3 Villanova, and #7 West Virgina, but were unable to put a considerable winning streak together. The Huskies missed the NCAA Tournament for just the second time since 1999, and headed to the NIT, where they once again were disappointing, as they lost to Virginia Tech in the second round. UConn finished with an 18-16 record.

Since that final game to the disappointing 2009-2010 season, UConn hasn’t seen much hope. During the spring signing period, UConn missed out on a few top national recruits in Corey Joseph, Brandon Knight, and Josh Shelby, settling for just one top-tier recruit in Roscoe Smith.

The notification of violations by the NCAA kept the bad news coming, and as Calhoun and his program prepare for next season, the bad news might keep coming. Kemba Walker and Alex Oriakhi are the only two returning starters (It’s hard to even count Oriakhi as a starter for as bad as he played last season), along with Ater Majok, Jamal Coombs-Mcdaniel, and Donnell Beverely who all received decent amounts of playing time last season (none were huge contributors). Calhoun has a decent incoming class for the 2010 season, highlighted by Smith, but the Hall-of-Fame coach will have his work cut out for him next season.

Many college basketball experts, including ESPN’s Andy Katz and Dick Vitale, are not to high on the 2010-2011 UConn Huskies. Vitale recently released his Preseason Top-40 teams for next year. Want to know where UConn landed on that list? I’ll give you one guess….. Well, if you guessed NO-Where, then you are correct. That’s right, the two-time National Champion, 16-time Big East Champion, with a Hall-of-Fame coach, can’t even find itself in a preseason TOP-40 poll.

It’s a sad decline for Calhoun and his Huskies, hopefully for his sake, the players sake, and for the UConn faithful’s sake, the team is able to move on in the right direction and get this program back to where it belongs…at the top.

News and Notes on UConn Football and Basketball From the Past Month

In case you missed anything over the past month concerning UConn football or basketball, this “News and Notes” post will fill you in with anything and everything UConn.

UCONN FOOTBALL

- UConn started spring practice on March 16 in Storrs. They practice three times a week: Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

- Head Coach Randy Edsall is excited about the 2010 season, and is looking for younger players to step during spring drills.

- The Spring Game aka the “Blue and White Game” will be held April 17, at Noon at The Rent. The event will be a little different this year, as Coach Edsall has decided to bring back former players to be the Honorary Captains of the two teams. The former players selected were Dan Orlovsky, Ryan Krug and Alfred Fincher from the 2004 team that won the first ever bowl game in program history, as well as Donald Brown and Tyler Lorenzen from the 2008 team.

- UConn held its annual Pro-day on March 25. UConn seniors that participated were Robert McClain, Andre Dixon, Marcus Easley, Lindsey Witten, Brandon Dillon, Robbie Vaughan, Mike Hicks, Dan Ryan, Desi Cullen, Brad Kanuch. Over 25 NFL scouts were on hand for the event. Many experts expect that up to four Huskies will be drafted in April’s NFL Draft. The players who have a good shot at being drafted include, running back Andre Dixon, receiver Marcus Easley, defensive end Lindsey Witten, and cornerback Robert McClain.

- Head Coach Randy Edsall made a few position changes after the first week and a half of practice. Senior outside linebacker Kijuan Dabney will be moved to safety, and freshman safety Andrew Opoku, who is 6 feet 4, will move to outside linebacker. The ‘ole swith-er-roo.

- The Huskies begin their season on September 4th, when they travel to Ann Arbor, Michigan to face the college football powerhouse Michigan Wolverines.

UCONN BASKETBALL

- After a disappointing finish to a very disappointing season, as the Huskies lost in the second round of the NIT at Virginia Tech, the Huskies have begun to move forward, as they are forgetting about this past season and starting to prepare for next year.

- UConn will head into the offseason with a few question marks: Who will replace the production of Stanley Robinson, Jerome Dyson, and Gavin Edwards? Will Kemba Walker stay for his Junior year? Will UConn land another top-flight recruit? Will Alex Oriahki and Ater Majok improve and become more consistent? Will any players transfer?

- Speaking of transfering…it is almost certain that the Huskies will have at least one, possibly two players transfer from the program. The most likely candidates are Darius Smith and Jamaal Trice.

- The Huskies got a commitment from two players this past weekend. One is still in high school, while the other is already on the team. Kemba Walker will return for his Junior season, and will most likely be one of, if not the best, point guards in the nation next year. The other player to commit to the Huskies is point guard Shabazz Napier of Lawrence Academy. Napier is currently listed as a Junior, but is in the process of reclassifying as a Senior, and will most likely be the fifth recruit for the 2010-2011 season. He is currently ranked the 9th best point guard in the Class of 2011 by Rivals.com.

- The Huskies got a verbal commitment from an in-state product. E.O. Smith Forward Tyler Olander, a three-star prospect, made his verbal commitment to his hometown Huskies. He picked UConn over offers from Florida, Notre Dame, Virginia, and Wake Forest.

- Speaking of recruiting….Mike Anthony of the Hartford Courant put together an update of how this years recruiting is going. Possibly really good news for the Huskies.

- Coach Jim Calhoun has pledged he is close to signing a contract extension that will keep him at the school for 5 more years.

Three in A Row: UConn Takes Down #7 West Virginia

The UConn Huskies out-fought the West Virginia Mountaineers Monday night, in a Big East fist fight. In a very physical contest, UConn used the play of Kemba Walker, Jerome Dyson, and Stanley Robinson, to secure their third straight victory.

Coming off his first ever Big East Player of the Week Award, for his play last week, Walker led the Huskies with 21 points as he went 14-17 from the free-throw line. His massive one-handed dunk with less than a minute to go, put the seal on the win and made the XL Center go crazy.

UConn is now 17-11 on the season and 7-8 in the Big East. They have three games remaining, Sunday vs Louisville, then they close the season with two away games at Notre Dame and South Florida.

The NCAA Tournament hopes are alive for the Huskies, as the win over West Virginia is their third over a top-10 team this season(Texas and Villanova). If the Huskies can win on Sunday, which is the home finale and Senior Day, then they will put themselves on the right side of the “bubble”.

Finally A Big Win: UConn 84, No.3 Villanova 75

“Don’t give up, Don’t ever give up.” The famous quote by Jimmy Valvano rang through the Wachovia Center tonight, as the UConn Huskies finally put together a full 40 minutes of basketball, and were finally able to finish a game. Led by Kemba Walker, who finished with a career high 29 points, the Huskies were able to knock off the third ranked Villanova Wildcats.

Just two days after what Jim Calhoun called an “embarrassing” loss to Cincinnati, the Huskies put a little life back into its season. The Huskies earned their first road victory of the season, and improved to 2-5 against ranked opponents.

Jerome Dyson finished with 15 points and 6 assists, while Stanley Robinson added 10 points and 7 rebounds. However, Walker was the star. The sophomore point guard added 9 rebounds and hit 14 of 16 free throws, including 6 in the last-minute of the game to seal the victory. Walker, whose had his ups and downs this season, played “the best game of his career,” said ESPN analyst Jay Bilas.

“I told them let’s start from the jump. That’s what we did,” said Walker. “We put together a 40-minute game. Probably the first one of the season, to tell you the truth. It was great.”

UConn’s record improved to 15-11 on the season and 5-8 in the Big East. The Huskies travel to Rutgers on Saturday, before hosting #8 West Virginia next Monday at the XL Center.

Let’s hope the Huskies can build off this win, and keep the momentum going. They have five games left in the regular season, and if they can run the table they can put themselves in position to make the NCAA Tournament, which is a goal that looked lost after the embarrassing loss to Cincy, but is now back within reach.

UConn Looks to Rebound Against Louisville

The UConn Huskies continue to struggle this season, and are once again faced with a losing streak. After beating the number one team in the nation on January 23, UConn has lost two straight. First, the Huskies lost to unranked Providence by 14 points, then this past Saturday they were unable to overcome a slow start to Marquette and lost on a last second shot.

Problems with turnovers, inconsistent play from Kemba Walker, Jerome Dyson, and Alex Oriakhi, and no team chemistry on the court, are just a few of the issues that the team has been dealing with over the last two games.

The Huskies hope to end the losing streak at two, when they travel to Louisville on Monday to take on the Cardinals. The Huskies have yet to win a true road game, and are only 3-5 in Big East games. Head Coach Jim Calhoun will miss his fifth consecutive game due to a medical leave of absence. The Huskies are 2-2 since he left the team.

Gampel Crowd vs Texas…Best Ever

Crowds at sporting events have the opportunity to affect the outcome of the game. This isn’t always the case. And it hasn’t always been the case at UConn basketball games, but on Saturday the crowd at Gampel Pavilion made a difference. A BIG DIFFERENCE! The Crowd at the UConn vs Texas game may have been the best Gampel Crowd ever.

People who have covered, been around, or been apart of UConn basketball for many years, including the two championship seasons(1999,2004), agree that they have never heard Gampel as loud as it was on Saturday. Mike Anthony, who covers UConn Men’s Basketball for the Hartford Courant, had this to say about noise during the game:

“I have covered UConn since the start of the 2005-06 season and have attended every game over the last five seasons. I have never heard a building get louder than Gampel Pavilion was Saturday. As UConn made its second-half charge, my ears were literally ringing. George Blaney told the Huskies after the game that they should thank the fans, particularly the students. … Look, Gampel has rocked before. But in my mind, not quite like this. The Huskies needed a win, need a response. The crowd needed to help and, man, did it ever.”

The UConn players agree. They realized how energetic the crowd was, and they responded. “The fans, I’ve never seen them like that before in my four years here,” senior Jerome Dyson said. “They really helped us. … The crowd is what got us into it. Once we started making a big play here, a big play there, and the crowd got going, the energy just went through us. And we kept it going.”

I was apart of the student section on Saturday, and from my point of view, I have never been apart of a louder, more energetic, or more enthusiastic student section the one at Gampel on Saturday. Students began camping out early Friday morning in anticipation for the game. I got in line around 9:00 am on Saturday with a group of friends(shout-out to all of ya’ll) and as we waited we were lucky enough to be apart of the crowd who got to go in a watch the UConn shoot around. At the shoot around, George Blaney spoke to the students and was complementary of the UConn faithful.

“The team asked me the other day, how they were going to be able to handle Texas,” said Blaney. “But, I asked them, ‘How is Texas going to handle Gampel?’”

The student section was amazing, and they brought the arena to life. The rest of the crowd joined in with the students and created a real home-court advantage for the Huskies. All of the Husky fans joined in and bonded together to create an atmosphere that will be hard to duplicate. So many people played a role in the atmosphere. The Pink Hat Kid, Big Red, the alumni and donors, and everyone else in attendance were apart of the greatest Gampel crowd ever, and just possibly the best home-court crowd in the nation this season. Yes, that is my opinion, but many others agree with me, including ESPN College Basketball Analyst Andy Katz, who was in attendance for the game.

“Gampel Pavilion was the loudest arena I’ve heard all year, and maybe the loudest I’ve heard in the last few years,” said Katz.

The crowd got repaid for their hard work during the game, as they were allowed to rush the court after the Huskies defeated Texas, 88-74. It was a great moment for the University of Connecticut, with a national television audience watching.

Being apart of the crowd and witnessing such a big win, was easily one of the best moments of my UConn career, and is something I’ll always remember.

SO DO YOU AGREE WITH ME? VOTE… And if you were at the game, share your favorite moment!

UConn Takes Down #1 Texas, 88-74

For the first time all year the UConn men’s basketball team defeated a ranked opponent. Funny thing about that, is that it happened to be the number one team in the nation.

Overcoming a 10-point second half deficit, UConn fought back and took the lead with a little over 12 minutes left in the game. They wouldn’t look back. Behind the spectacular performance of senior Jerome Dyson, who had a career high 32 points, the Huskies were able to hold off the Texas Longhorns for their first big victory of the season.

The Huskies were once again without Hall of Fame head coach Jim Calhoun, who is still on a medical leave of absence. Associate Head Coach George Blaney has stepped in and has led the Huskies to, two straight victories. This win was big for UConn, but the players made it clear they wanted this one for Coach Calhoun.

“We’ve got to play for him,” said Dyson, who said Calhoun was proud and excited on the phone after the game. “We know these wins will help him get better, because it will take some of the stress off him having to worry about us, and he can focus on getting himself better.”

Along with Dyson’s strong performance, Kemba Walker and Stanley Robinson also had big games, finishing with 19 and 17 points respectfully. The supporting cast of Gavin Edwards, Donnell Beverly, and Ater Majok also played a prominent role in the big win.

The Huskies played well on the court, but they received a lot of help from the sell-out crowd at Gampel Pavillion. The student section was at an all time best, and gave the team and the rest of the crowd energy. The students were able to celebrate the win with the Huskies, as they rushed the court once the game ended.

The win gives the Huskies confidence heading forward, and Blaney realizes how big of a win this is for the team.

“Now you know you’re good, you know you can play,” said George Blaney. “You just beat the number-one team in the country, so that should tell you that you’re good.”

UConn Set to Take on #1 Texas

The number one team in the nation will be playing at Gampel Pavillion on Saturday, but for the first time that team won’t be UConn. The Texas Longhorns(17-1) travel to Storrs to take on the Huskies, making them the first team to be ranked number one to play as a visitor at Gampel.

The Longhorns may be the number one team in the nation, but that will end next week…no matter what the outcome is on Saturday. Kansas State and former UConn player Curtis Kelly beat the Longhorns on Tuesday, giving Texas their first loss of the season.

The Huskies(12-6) hope to pull off a similar upset, but they are a man down, with head coach Jim Calhoun still out on a medical leave of absence. In their first game since Calhoun leaving, UConn defeated St. Johns 75-59 at the XL Center on Wednesday. Associate Head Coach George Blaney coached the team in Calhoun’s absence, which is something he’s done a few times over his nine years at the university.

Blaney is optimistic with UConn’s chances against the top ranked Longhorns. “We practiced with some great energy and some enthusiasm,” Blaney said. “They realize who is coming to town tomorrow and they’re anxious to play the game. Anytime you pick yourself up from two losses or three losses, as we’ve had, and you get a win, it makes you feel better about what you’re doing. You probably can get their attention a little better when that happens. But I think Texas gets their attention. It’s something that every kid dreams about that comes to Connecticut, to play these kind of games and to be in this kind of national spotlight.”

UConn will need great play out of Seniors Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson, and Gavin Edwards, if they hope to compete. Besides Edwards, UConn needs another big man to step up and play well. UConn does not get a lot of scoring out of Alex Oriakhi, Ater Majok, or Charles Okwandu, but one or more of these guys will need to step up and put some points on the board if the Huskies hope to get a win.

UConn needs to be focused on Texas, and need to play within themselves. Coach Blaney knows the Huskies have a chance to win, but its all about playing the game, and not getting caught up in the hype.

“We’ve played the best schedule in the country, so we know what playing teams like this is like. They know what it’s like and they’ll be ready to play. The outcome of the game will depend on who plays better. That’s what we keep talking about with this group. It’s today. How are you going to play today.”

Big Day For UConn

What a day it was for the University of Connecticut. The UConn Huskies had two(well three, if you count the Women’s Basketball team’s 91-24 blowout win over Seaton Hall) huge victories on Saturday. The men’s basketball team defeated Big East Rival Notre Dame 82-70, for their first conference win of the year. Led by Stanley Robinson, who finished with 22 points and a career high 16 rebounds, the Huskies were able to beat the Fighting Irish for the third straight time. Robinson had some help from Jerome Dyson and Kemba Walker, who both added double-doubles(each had 10 assists).

The second big victory of the day came all way down in Birmingham, Alabama. The UConn football team ended their season with a 20-7 victory over South Carolina in the Papa Johns.com Bowl. The Huskies had a dominating performance as they controlled the clock and the game. Senior Andre Dixon had 126 yards and a touchdown on 33 carries and was named the games MVP. The UConn defense also had a big day as they had countless big hits and sacks on the day, and held the Gamecock offense in check.

UConn head coach Randy Edsall made it clear that this was a huge victory for the Huskies, especially considering all they have gone through this year. “I couldn’t be more happy and thrilled for the players and the assistant coaches,” Edsall said. “We did an excellent job and got the kids to go out and execute and do the things we need to do and we came away with an outstanding victory. I couldn’t be more proud of those young men.”

The Huskies ended the season with an 8-5 record, and will head into next season with a lot of support and even higher expectations. The team returns the majority of their starters and will be heavily considered a preseason top-25 team and Big East favorite.

#12 UConn Loses Heartbreaker to #4 Kentucky

The UConn Huskies came up just short on Wednesday night, as the Kentucky Wildcats prevailed in a close game, 64-61. UConn, who began the game down 12-0, showed a lot of heart and effort, in one of their best performances of the year. However, the upset bid came up three points shy, as the John Wall lead Wildcats defeated the Huskies in Madison Square Garden in the SEC/Big East Invitational.

Wall lead all scores with 25 points, including 12 of Kentucky’s last 15 in the game. The stud freshman lived up to his hype and carried Kentucky to victory.

UConn was lead by Jerome Dyson, who finished with 17 points and 5 rebounds, and Gavin Edwards, who had a season high 16 points to go along with 8 rebounds. The Huskies were able to out-rebound the bigger and deeper Wildcats 38-35.

Coach Jim Calhoun has to be pleased with the effort and toughness his team showed, but disappointed in the outcome. The Huskies drop to 6-2 on the season. UConn will now have 10 days off until their next game, which is December 20th against the University of Central Florida.