UCONN fans...

[34TheTruth34]

...is this all on Jim Calhoun?

I wanted to post this immediately after the game, but after using my better judgement, I decided to take a day to relax, gather my thoughts, think about what I want to say, and make a well thought-out post as opposed to just dropping a bunch of expletives about how shi**y UConn played. So here goes...

UConn's four postseason games were the most uninspired, heartless, apathetic games I've ever seen in my life. I mean really, what does it take to be ready for the Big East tournament?? And the NCAA tournament? You know, "The Big Dance" (that's the tournament that you won last year, guys). That's an important little event, no???

Had they made it to the Elite 8, battled it out, and lost to a more talented UNC team, that's one thing. Nobody expects them to win the NCAA championship every year. They certainly weren't the best team in the field this year. But this not trying sh*t is absolutely horrible. It's UNACCEPTABLE. The basketball program has been built up by Calhoun from nothing and has come too far to go out like this. They played like they didn't even want to be there. Calhoun had to sub in Ed Nelson and bench the much more talented Josh Boone just to give them a lift because Nelson was the only one who even seemed to care about winning the game.

If you're not from Connecticut and/or aren't familiar with the sports scene here, you're probably wondering what all the fuss is about. Since the Hartford Whalers left, there has been no professional sports in CT. Sure, we are right on the dividing line of the greatest rivalry in professional sports, Yanks vs. Sox, but basically there's not much else here. But the people in this state love their UConn Huskies Basketball. Both the mens and womens teams are adored by people all over the state. Most of these fans have no official ties to UConn (i.e., they didn't graduate from there or anything, they're just fans). I can't imagine what some of these people must have thought after having to watch that.

I'm not trying to take anything away from NC State, because they're a decent team who played a pretty good game. But let's call a spade a spade here, they're really nowhere near as talented as UConn. They just wanted it more. And, much like in their Big East Tournament flame out against Syracuse, once UConn decided they actually felt like playing, it was too late.

So, who's to blame here? Is it Calhoun for not having them ready to play? Is it the fact that they won last year, so maybe it just didn't seem as important? Is it something else that I'm missing? I'd like to hear your thoughts.

If you need me, I'll be donning a maroon sweatshirt and pretending I graduated from UMass...

[istewart]

The child of Okafor/Taurasi will become the greatest coach ever.

[DougOzzzz]

Well, my feeling is that this one was a long time coming. And I don't blame it on Calhoun. You can only get lucky for so long in the NCAA tournament.

I mean for christs sake, UConn under Calhoun was a perfect 27-0 against 6-16 seeds in the tourney before Sunday. Some of these wins even came when UConn was a lower seed... i.e. 11 vs. Shaq's LSU (6 seed), 9 vs. Nebraska (8 seed), etc.

UConn's played mediocre against NC State... but the Wolfpack also hit 10 of 20 3's, vs. UConn's 0 for 5 or some crap. They obviously were the more talented team - most scouts would put UConn #2 in talent behind UNC. Unfortunately most of the talent is overstocked at F/C. Their roster by the NCAA tourney looked like 8 F/C's and 1 guard. The guard was pretty good, but face it, they weren't going that far without at least 2 guards.

I am disappointed that UConn lost. Was kinda pissed off at that ending, especially the horrible no-call with 1 min left when that guy knocked Williams down and then dished it off for the open 3. That was the play that really won the game for NC State.

Calhoun is idolized like a god here in CT... he's not one. A week ago the Courant was calling this Calhoun's best coaching job ever. Give me a break... My only real complaint about Calhoun though is his inflexibility with playing guys with fouls.

The day UConn gets knocked out of the tourney is usually one of the worst days of the year for me. I don't expect anyone to feel sorry for me though. In the past 14 months, my teams have only won 2 super bowls, 2 national championships, a world series, and their first bowl game. Poor me.

[Clarkmeister]

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2 national championships

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Ah, another male groupie.

[holeplug]

Isn't there like a 5 year grace period after your team wins a national title?

[DougOzzzz]

Yeah.... and Calhoun is smart enough to wait exactly 5 years between national championships too. Just wait till 2009.

[DougOzzzz]

bah. You can't live in Connecticut and not be a UConn women's bball fan. There are laws against it.

[Clarkmeister]

[ QUOTE ]
bah. You can't live in Connecticut and not be a UConn women's bball fan. There are laws against it.

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In that case, I'd take a look into relocation. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

I just wish that because of their HQ location in Conneticut ESPN wouldn't feel so obligated to force women's basketball down the rest of our throats.

[JTG51]

First, I think the unispired and heartless are way overused in sports after a team loses. When you turn the ball over a lot and doen't shoot well, you're going to look uninspired. Do you honestly think they weren't trying to win?

Second, as a UConn fan, you should have learned by now not to question Calhoun. He's pretty good at what he does. Maybe this wasn't his best coaching job ever, but who cares? He gets a free pass forever in my book.

[JTG51]

"My only real complaint about Calhoun though is his inflexibility with playing guys with fouls."

That worked out pretty well last year, no?