Huskies' inconsistency doesn't play well
WORCESTER -- Some numbers from the University of Connecticut's first-round NCAA Tournament game yesterday against Central Florida at the DCU Center jump out immediately.
The most important one, of course, for the triumphant Huskies was the final score: 77-71. That was expected, as Jim Calhoun-coached teams are now 13-0 in NCAA first-round games.
But this season, nothing is a given with Connecticut, the No. 2 seed in the Syracuse Regional. The season started with a stunning loss to Massachusetts in December and was followed by an equally stunning and aggravating loss to Boston College in Hartford in January.
Yesterday was another case in point. Calhoun watched his team go from brilliant to something less than that in minutes.
UConn led, 47-31, at the half. The bitter taste of last week's performance in the Big East tournament (a bad half against Georgetown and a worse effort against Syracuse in the semifinals that sent the Huskies home).
Then it happened again, against a UCF team that had its shining moments at the same time UConn was wandering. Bad combination.
"They made it one heck of a basketball game out there today," said Calhoun, whose team will play 10th-seeded North Carolina State in tomorrow's second round. "UCF played their butts off and deserved to be right there with us. We played brilliant, brilliant basketball for quite some time today, too. But for some reason, we took our foot off the pedal. However, tonight at around 11:30, we'll be one of 32 teams that are left. That has to make you happy."
The Huskies are happy, but hardly content. Calhoun let them hear it all game, in his vintage style that has led the Huskies to a pair of national championships.
Whether this year's version can get beyond tomorrow and on to Syracuse next week remains a mystery. The concern about this team is not what it can do, but what it can't seem to do, against the worst of teams or the best of teams.
"This team hasn't learned to put anyone away yet," said associate head coach George Blaney.
"Guys are going to come out there and they're going to play their hearts out and you saw that today from UCF," said sophomore forward Charlie Villanueva, who had a team-high 22 points and pulled down seven rebounds. "We just have to come out and be ready right from the start and keep the intensity for the whole game." Blaney laughed when he was asked about the style points that Calhoun described as being slightly below average.
"My father was a judge, and he always said, `W's are better than L's.' "
Calhoun knows that. He knows that his team, as it plays better and more talented teams, could be handed a loss without a 40-minute effort.
In the past, he might have raged against his team all night and through practice today, getting them ready for what he wants: their best effort. Last night, he walked away for a while, ready to take up the cause again in the morning.
Maybe that is the mellowing of Jim Calhoun.
"This is our 13th straight opening-round victory, some have been good and some have been awful," he said. "I'd say today was an OK performance."
Someone mentioned that UConn was 23-2 in first and second-round performances. Calhoun smiled, nodded his head, and said, "We've done OK."
