Rumors swirl: Will Eliot Re Sign contract for "You Heard it Here First"

After Wednesday's discharge from Memorial Hospital for surgery on a benign adenoma on his parathyroid gland, 3 time National Sportswriter's Assn. recipient of "Sportswriter of the year", Steve Eliot responded to rumors that he is considering other alternatives next year to continuing his nationally recognized blog site "You Heard it Here First." Eliot is reputed to have at least five different offers including a spot in the Obama Cabinet. Still under the influence of anesthesia, Eliot was non-committal in his answers to shocked reporters and distraught followers of his site in an impromptu press conference on 67th St. and York Ave in front of a souvlaki stand. The rumors come at a particularly shocking time when Eliot is reputedly in line for his second Prescience award for making 9 accurate predictions this year on his blog site including calling in December that the UCONN was likely headed to the NIT this year.
ESPN will cover the story tomorrow on Sports Center with interviews with several people close to the Eliot inner circle who might give some insight as to why Eliot is a considering a move.

Calhoun signs new contract

It was announced today that Jim calhoun signed a new contract throught the 2013-14 season. The 67 yr. old Calhoun says he intends to coach several more seasons. There has been much talk on the Husky blog sites that he needs some new recruiters ala Karl Hobbs, Dave laeto.
Steve

Is it time for Calhoun to step down?

I know that this will be a controversial and perhaps painful conclusion on my part to my followers who are UCONN Grads. I know and that with good reason you feel tremendous respect, loyalty to and confidence in Jim Calhoun. In 1988, when I first had season tickets which I kept through 2002, I was part of the awe and excitement about how Calhoun took a program in Storrs, Ct. and made into a perennial national power. The Huskies are currentlly tied for first with the number of graduates who are in the NBA(13) many of who are stars, i.e. Ray Allen, Rudy Gay, Ben Gordon, Rip Hamilton, Emeka Okafor to name a few. As I have said many times before, he has been a great recuiter, motivator, and teacher of team ball. However, even from the begining his degree of rage and inability to control it has always concerned me. While it worked for certain players, or they tolerated it knowing they had a good chance for national exposure and a good look by NBA scouts, it was devastating to other players. Just for example, Rudy Gay, Josh Boone, and Craig Austrie always, in my opinion, played "scared" under Calhoun's explosions of rage. I am not saying this lightly; I have had the oppurtunity to see many games from the first or second row over the years and at times have feared Calhoun was actually going to punch one of his players on the court.
I believe that his rage has turned to Depression recently and that combined with his problems with anger lead me to conclude it is time for him to step down. I agree with Mike Davis's thoughtful post in response to "That's All he Wrote" that continuing at this point will tarnish his incredible Hall of Fame record. In addition, I am concerned about the effect his staying will have on the program going forward. Dave Allen wondered about what was wrong with Dyson. After the St. John's game I wondered if he had just "quit" on Calhoun out of antipathy. I would not be surprised if some of the current Huskies are not singing his praises to recruits. In any case the uncertainty about his future could give potential recruits pause about signing letters of intent. I think it is in everybody's best interest to recruit a relatively young(someone Jay like Wright, Jamie Dixon, or Seth Greenberg who is on St. John's short list) with a reputation to take over the program. I fear the Husky program may be about to undergo an extended down turn without a needed change. I say this will due respect to the incredible 24 yr tenure of Jim Calhoun and hope he will give himself needed time to take of his own health.
"You Heard it Here First"
Steve

St.John's 73- UCONN 51; That's All He Wrote

No comments on the game I would only be repeating the same mantra.
It sure raises some questions which I will address in my upcoming final blog.
1) Will Calhoun accept an invitation to the NIT; he can barely control his disgust with this team.
2) What went on with Dyson in the last 4 games of the year. He was just awful today. Dave Allen suggested maybe an unreported injury, exhaustion. He and Calhoun certainly don't look like they are having a love fest,
3) What is UCONN's current recruiting situation for next year.
4) Is it time for Calhoun to bow out?

I will comment on all of the above in the last blog of the year.
"You Heard it Here First"
Steve

Big East Tourney/ change in format

for the Big East Tourney I will post the score and perhaps a very abbreviated post for each game. That way followers will have a format to express their thoughts about the Huskies in the tournament; I encourage you all to post in the comment section anything you want to say about the tourney.
Steve

NIT: South Florida 75-68

In a disappointing finish, and to many an enigmatic one, the UCONN Huskies ended their regular season with a poorly played 75-68 loss to South Florida. With an overall record of 17-14 and 7-11(12th place) in the Big East the Huskies played themselves out of the Big Dance and purchased themselves a bus ride, down I-95 to Madison Square Garden and the National Invitational Tournament. They could only salvage a "Dance Card" with a virtually impossible Championship in the Big East Tournament.
If one looks beyond the false hopes engendered by this year's team, their worst season since 2006, and the two worst seasons in Jim Calhoun's Hall of Fame 24 year tenure the reasons for the record are quite clear. I feel that several factors led Husky beat writers, TV announcers and Husky fans to believe all season long that this team was under achieving and would eventually pull it together. To begin with, there is the Husky legacy of two National Championships under Calhoun and umpteen Big East regular season and tournament championships. Second, when Calhoun took his medical leave, many believed that when he came back, he would work his motivational magic and the Huskies would run the table and waltz into the Big Dance. In fact, his presence or absence were irrelevancies for this years thinly talented squad. Of most importance in raising false hopes were the string of "Good losses" against highly ranked teams such as Duke, Kentucky, Syracuse, and an upset win over then #1 ranked Texas and Big East Powers. As you know by now I don't believe in good losses and of more importance is the fact that these teams played high octane, fast paced offenses, mediocre defenses allowing the Huskies to avoid their weak half court offense and run their transtion game where they were at their best. In fact, against the Swiss Cheese Texas defense Dyson ran coast to coast all game long and had his career high 32 points to pace the win. The Longhorns have since fallen into the 20's in the polls.
So all season long we heard from poorly informed announcers like Verne Lundquist, Clarke Kellogg, Bill Raferty and Brent Musberger that this talented team would straighten out.
The so called collapse at the end of the season was not a collapse at all. Teams with good Freshmen and Sophomores get better as the season progresses, the Huskies got left behind. Here are the bald faced facts, no third guard, only three mediocre to good big men and an extremely poor shooting team. In fact, the Huskies were 143rd in the Nation in FG% and 250th in the nation in 3 point shooting%. No way to make up for that.
Yesterday's loss had it's bizarre aspects. After falling behind by thirteen, Calhoun removed Dyson, Robinson, and Edwards and left them on the bench for the remainder of the game. His Freshman and Soph subs and the much improved Kemba Walker led an impressive come back but fell short. Calhoun obviously conceded the game with 16 minutes left and took a calculated motivational gamble. He his trying to enrage his Seniors to hope for a Big East Tourney miracle. Further he announced he will start the team that finished the USF game.
I will not post for the Big East Tourney or NIT. I will have a season ending post taking a look ahead to next year.
"You Heard it Here First"

"Good Night Mrs. Calabash Wherever you are" Notre Dame 58-50

I just finished watching a DVR recording of UCONN's 58-50 loss to Notre Dame. Jimmy Durante was probably before the time of most of my followers, but he was a TV comedian who ended his show each week by saying "Good Night Mrs. Calabash Wherever you are." Somehow, this came to mind as I watched the waning seconds of the Huskies horrific loss to ND and I could almost hear the air going out of their bubble. The loss left the Huskies 7-10 in conference play with one to go, assuring a sub .500season. Although one bracketologist expressed the following "A sweep would be huge for the Irish's NCAA chances, but would it be enough to bounce UConn (17-12, 7-9, 45 RPI) out? After playing Notre Dame, UConn visits South Florida Saturday. UConn, which has played the nation's second-hardest schedule, must win one of those two and then needs at least one, maybe two wins, in the Big East tournament to lock up its bid. The Big East could get anywhere from seven to nine bids depending how the next two weeks play out."
If the Huskies do not make it to the finals of the Big East tournament I think it would be a disgrace to give the Huskies a bid. I will not analyze the loss because you can read my first post of the season ( on e-mail) or "We just don't have the Horses" after the loss to Pitt to understand tonight's performance. Sadly, I must say, I have had Robinson pegged all year despite the feeling of some of my followers that I have been too hard on him.
One very interesting note about the some of the comments from the color men tonight. Although I am not a Bobby Knight fan, I think we could all agree he knows his stuff. His criticism of Calhoun's game coaching was subtle but spoke volumes. Three times in the second half he noted the UCONN had to find a way to get Robinson more shots. He said that he would have brought Robinson to the foul line on offense rather than have him work hard down low to get open. When he referred to using a high low, he meant putting Robinson on the foul line an moving Edwards down low. It was subtle but it was a big knock on Calhoun's inability to make in game adjustments.
"You Heard it Here First"
Steve

Huskies Hang by a Hair after 78-76 loss to Louisville

No one can fault UCONN's effort after Sunday afternoon's heartbreaking 78-76 loss to the Louisville Cardinal. The Huskies left nothing on the floor on Senior Day, but succumbed to Louisville's 3 point shooting and the same three fundamental lacks they have had all season. Louisville made 10 three's to the Huskies 5(4 by Kemba Walker); that is a fifteen point difference to make up which the Huskies tried valiantly to do. Add to that no real 3 point shooters, no back up guard and one bigman short and the difference becomes insurmountable.
The Huskies came out smoking and took an early 13 point lead on the strength of excellent defense, strong transitions and Kemba Walker's continued sensational play. The lead might have been even larger if Stanley Robinson had not committed 2 turn overs and one blown tap in in the first two minutes of the game. He let a perfect fast break lead pass go through his fingers and threw a ball out of bounds as well as bobbling an easy tap in. Robinson went on to total 5 turnovers, two in the second half where he threw passes directly out of bounds with no Husky player in sight. Do you think that's worth more than the two point margin of defeat?
In the last ten minutes of the first half Louisville stiffened up their defense and started hitting threes as they whittled the lead to 5 at the half.
In the first half the Huskies attacked Louisville's 2-3 zone by making their first pass in the half-court to Gavin Edwards at the foul line. Edwards either made nice interior passes, good kick backs or turned and shot his nice 15 foot jump shot.
At the start of the Second half Pitino, a great game coach, switched to a smaller, quicker line up and they swarmed around Edwards whenever he received the first pass. this resulted in UCONN turnovers (22 for the game) and cut down Edward's effectiveness. Calhoun never made a counter adjustment as the game started to slip away. UConn fell behind but came back to tie the game with eight seconds left when Samuel's scored on a lay up. Walker took the in bounds pass, drove the length of the floor and threw up a desperation off balance, off the mark drive to end the contest Nevetheless, Walker continued his sensational play and certainly looks like he has finally arrived at the next level up.
Where does that leave the Huskies? Here are the Big East standings as of 3/1/10.
(4) Syracuse Orange 14-2 27-2
(7) Villanova Wildcats 12-4 23-5
(8) West Virginia Mountaineers 11-5 22-6
(12) Pittsburgh Panthers 11-5 22-7
Marquette Golden Eagles 10-6 19-9
Louisville Cardinals 10-6 19-10
(11) Georgetown Hoyas 9-7 19-8
Notre Dame Fighting Irish 8-8 19-10
South Florida Bulls 7-9 17-11
Seton Hall Pirates 7-9 16-11
Connecticut Huskies 7-9 17-12
Cincinnati Bearcats 7-9 16-12
St. John's Red Storm 5-11 15-13
Rutgers Scarlet Knights 5-11 15-14
Providence Friars 4-12 12-16
DePaul Blue Demons 1-15 8-
Again, if we assume the big East will get 8 teams in, Wednesday night's game against Notre Dame is critical. If the Huskies win and go on to win their last game of the season, they will have the same or better record than Notre Dame and they have the highest RPI amongst ND, South Florida, Seton hall and Cincinnatti. If this is the case they may have to win at least two, possibly three Games in the Big East Tournament. As I said they are hanging on to the NCAA chances by a very weak hair.