Almost six weeks after having prostate cancer surgery, Jim Calhoun isn’t missing a beat on the Connecticut sideline.
SPOKANE, Wash. – Less than six weeks after prostate cancer surgery, Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun is the same sideline stomper and screamer he’s always been.
Calhoun might appreciate certain things in life a bit more, but once he’s back on the court he’s his fiery self again.
“He’s still the old guy who yells at you when you do something wrong,” swingman Rashad Anderson said. “He still wants you to compete on every play. He still wants you to become the best basketball player, and the best person, you can be.”
Calhoun and the fifth-seeded Huskies (21-9) are set to open the NCAA tournament on Thursday against 12th-seeded Brigham Young (23-8) in the South Regional. Fourth-seeded Stanford (23-8) plays No. 13 San Diego (18-11).
The Midwest Regional matchups in Spokane have No. 5 Wisconsin (22-7) facing No. 12 Weber State (26-5); and No. 4 Dayton (24-5) going against No. 13 Tulsa (22-9).
Last month the Huskies weren’t sure what condition their coach would be in for the NCAA tournament. Calhoun told the team he had cancer on Feb. 3, and he had surgery three days later.
Less than two weeks after that, he was back at practice and coached UConn against St. John’s on Feb. 22.
“I couldn’t stay home anymore,” he said. “I missed the game and the kids too much.”
Calhoun didn’t take long to show he hadn’t changed. Just minutes into his first game, he started stomping his foot on the sideline and arguing with an official.
The technical fouls came soon after that, and he even had a confrontation with a Pittsburgh player on the court following the Big East championship game.
“You’d be scared if he was acting any different, like maybe something was wrong,” senior Tony Robertson said.
Nope, it’s the same Calhoun.
He spent Thursday’s news conference lobbying officials not to call too many fouls on center Emeka Okafor, wondering why the South Regional was in Spokane, questioning BYU’s low seeding, and criticizing the selection committee for taking only four Big East teams.
“I’ve mellowed over the last couple of years. But mellowed is a relative term,” he said. “Here’s a true story: I had all those games and only had one technical foul before the surgery, and I’ve had two since I’ve been back. Maybe they want to see how I respond to it. It’s the same way.”
The 60-year-old Calhoun saw his doctor again on Monday and was told that he’ll be 100 percent cleared next Monday. He thinks he has a team that’s good enough to play well beyond then.
“I’d consider us to be a very dangerous basketball team,” he said. “On any night we can beat anybody. I mean anybody.”
A win by the Huskies would avoid embarrassment for the NCAA, which mistakenly put BYU in the South Regional, where the Mormon-owned school would have to play the fourth round on a Sunday.
Because BYU has a policy of not playing on Sundays, the NCAA will reshuffle the brackets if the Cougars make it to the third round. BYU would move to the Midwest, and either Dayton, Wisconsin, Weber State or Tulsa would go to the South.
The scenario isn’t likely, however. BYU hasn’t won a tournament game since 1993 and hasn’t been to the round of 16 since 1981, when Danny Ainge led the Cougars to the regional final.
BYU would have to beat UConn and then the winner of the San Diego-Stanford matchup to bust the brackets.
“It would do a lot for our program. It would give us a little respect,” Cougars guard Kevin Woodberry said. “This is a chance for our team to make some noise.”
This is one of the most balanced “pods” in the tournament. Four teams are ranked in the AP poll – tied with Indianapolis for the most – and Spokane is the only site without a top 10 team.
Half the teams won their conference tournaments: San Diego (West Coast), Dayton (Atlantic 10), Tulsa (WAC) and Weber State (Big Sky). Wisconsin was regular-season champion in the Big Ten, BYU shared the title in the Mountain West, UConn was tied for first in the Eastern division of the Big East, and Stanford came in second in the Pac-10.
San Diego is led by 6-foot-10, 275-pound center Jason Keep, a transfer from Oklahoma State who averages 18.2 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.
The Toreros are in the tournament for the third time in history and looking for their first win against a March regular. The Cardinal are in their ninth straight tournament and have made it past the first round in each of those previous seasons.
Kirk Penney and Wisconsin are trying to avoid being the latest upset victim against Weber State, which knocked out Michigan State in 1995 and North Carolina in 1999.
The Wildcats, who use a version of the Princeton offense, are led by Jermaine Boyette, who averages 20.3 points a game. Weber State has won 17 straight games, the second-longest streak in the country to Kentucky’s 23.
Dayton, coming off its first Atlantic 10 title in history, faces a Tulsa team that has made it to the second round six of the past nine years.
AP-ES-03-19-03 1926EST
Send questions/comments to the editors.
