Calhoun’s double standards plague Huskies

Highlighted by their numerous head-to-head matchups in recent Big East Tournament Championship… Highlighted by their numerous head-to-head matchups in recent Big East Tournament Championship games, one would be hard-pressed to find a better Big East rivalry in recent years than Pitt and Connecticut.

Who could forget Brandin Knight hobbling down the court and nearly missing a long 3-point shot attempt in overtime during the 2002 Big East title game, a shot that would have won Pitt the championship? Or the Panthers’ 2003 Big East Championship game romp against the same team? Or even last year’s performance by Chevon Troutman and the underdog Panthers in their upset victory at UConn?

At home, the matchup never fails to sell out the Pete because this is the most competitive level basketball will reach in the city of Pittsburgh. Fans have come to expect big things from the rivalry, among them a highly physical contest, trash talking and the whining of long-time UConn head coach Jim Calhoun.

Calhoun is in the midst of his 20th season at the University of Connecticut, and to his credit, he has built UConn into one of the elite college programs in the nation. He has earned a pair of NCAA Championships and enshrinement into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame; these accomplishments have earned him great immunity on the court and in the realm of recruiting, and he has taken full advantage of it.

As a college hoops fan, in particular a Pitt fan, I have grown tired of seeing Calhoun make inappropriate outbursts on the court and not be penalized for them. I am also tired of his “pointing fingers” game, accusing both officials and opposing players when a call or game does not go his way. The guy whines as much as the Steelers’ Cedrick Wilson does for the ball.

One of the biggest problems I have with Calhoun is his double standards. He will berate the unsportsmanlike conduct of opposing teams and their fans only to turn the other cheek when his own players do the same thing. I distinctly remember a Pitt-UConn game a few years back when Khalid El-Amin hit a buzzer-beating, game-winning shot against the Panthers in Fitzgerald Fieldhouse. El-Amin then proceeded to stand on the scorer’s table and mock the Panther fans, while his coach remained silent.

Aside from his on-court antics, Calhoun has also garnered a reputation among his fellow coaches for always searching for ways to exploit NCAA loopholes with regards to recruiting. A recent example of this occurred when Calhoun discovered a legal way to pay off Amateur Athletic Union coaches by creating sham exhibition games with teams connected to the AAU programs of UConn targets. To no surprise, some of these players, notably Denham Brown and Rudy Gay, later signed letters of intent with the Huskies.

According to cbssportsline.com, Calhoun tapped the AAU pipeline again when he snaked his way into getting 2002 ACC rookie of the year Ed Nelson to transfer from Georgia Tech. He did this by communicating with one of Nelson’s club coaches throughout his sophomore year with the Yellow Jackets. Just days before the 2003 spring signing period, way too late for Paul Hewitt and Georgia Tech to find a replacement, Nelson announced he was transferring to UConn. Since he has been with the Huskies however, Nelson has never been more than a role-player.

Calhoun’s latest incident was highlighted by the highly criticized Greg Doyel, a college basketball analyst for cbssportsline.com. In his well-written column about Jim Calhoun, Doyel makes reference to the recent arrests of Calhoun’s top point guard Marcus Williams and his talented backup, A.J. Price. The two were charged in the summer with multiple counts of felony larceny for stealing more than $11,000 worth of laptops that had belonged not only to fellow UConn students, but to fellow UConn athletes. They were caught selling the laptops to local pawnshops. To save face, Calhoun had to take some disciplinary action, but still lobbied for them to retain their NCAA eligibility.

Calhoun knows that his team is one of the few with the right personnel to knock off Duke come March, but only with Williams at the point. Williams and Price are the only Big East-caliber point guards on the UConn roster, but deserve at the very least to sit out the remainder of the season. With this in mind, Calhoun was able to get them lesser punishments, and unequal ones at that.

Calhoun suspended Price for the entire 2005-06 season, but suspended the All-American Williams for just the first semester – despite their involvement in the same criminal case. Price won’t play until next fall at the earliest. Williams can play Jan. 1, meaning that when the Huskies begin their Big East schedule, he will be in uniform. The question is why will he be allowed to play and not Price? The answer is likely that Williams has NBA potential and can help Calhoun and the Huskies much more than Price. Sound like Jim Calhoun justice?

I think Doyel said it best when he stated, “Calhoun is one of the most successful coaches in the business, a man going into the Basketball Hall of Fame and a leader of his profession. Watching a leader’s shameless pursuit of victory is enough to break your heart, or turn your stomach.”