Sunday, February 20, 2000
COLLEGE BASKETBALL INSIDER
Huskies have hunted feeling
BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Through the spring and summer of 1999, the Connecticut Huskies discovered that life as NCAA champions can be a pleasure. Now, they're finding life as defending NCAA champions can be a bear.
Coach Jim Calhoun looks at his team and figures it's better than its 18-7 record. Statistics and some of the teams UConn has beaten (Arizona, Duke, Seton Hall) say the same.
Although several key players in last season's title run are back this season, all but center Jake Voskuhl returned in dramatically different roles. Kevin Freeman, a power forward last season, is now a small forward. Khalid El-Amin has not only the ballhandling duties of point guard, but also the full-time command of the team. Power forward Edmund Saunders and shooting guard Albert Mouring are starters as opposed to pace-changing reserves.
With the Huskies still adjusting their new circumstances, it's been hard to become comfortable as a full-time target.
How badly do teams want UConn? Notre Dame fans rushed the floor following last Saturday's 66-64 win — and coach Matt Doherty celebrated like a frat guy — even though the Irish had already beaten the Huskies in Connecticut.
“John Wooden said that he hoped sometimes his best friend could win a national championship, and also his worst enemy,” Calhoun said. “I know the worst enemy part now.”
The Huskies have been impatient on offense at times, and at other times too reliant on El-Amin. They remain a dangerous NCAA opponent because of their tournament experience and athletic ability.
Calhoun said he never imagined when he entered the Big East as a coach in the late 1980s that Syracuse would celebrate a win over UConn by storming the floor.
“It's a tribute to us,” he said, “but it's even more a tribute to the national championship.”
PAIN GAME: Just as the injury news gets better for Arizona, it gets worse again.
Wildcats sophomore Richard Jefferson has missed 12 games with a broken foot but was cleared to begin jump-shooting drills Thursday and will begin working on cuts on Monday. He could be practicing in a week, which might enable him to return March2 against Oregon State. That would give him four games to prepare for the NCAA Tournament, including a visit from Stanford on March9.
Jefferson is the only true small forward in the program and was averaging 12.2 points and .452 3-point shooting before the injury.
As much as that will help, center Loren Woods is playing his way through a back injury and is expected to take the next three days off. It helps that the Wildcats do not play again until Saturday against Arizona State.
“One day he is pretty good, and one day he is not,” said coach Lute Olson. “We are just going to have to see how he reacts to the treatments.”
MAINE EVENT: It may not reveal itself as any more than a score on the bottom of the screen on ESPN2, but one of this week's key games will be played today at 4 p.m. between Hofstra and Maine.
The two teams are separated from the pack in the America East Conference, and the winner is likely to get the No.1 seed in the league tournament. With the early rounds being played on Delaware's home court — and Delaware almost certain to finish third — a victory keeps the winner away from the Blue Hens until the title game. That game will be played on the court of the highest remaining seed.
Hofstra senior Speedy Claxton is one of the nation's top point guards and averages 22.8 points per game; Maine has four double-figure scorers. Hofstra won the first meeting between the two.
FIELD DAY: If you're wondering whether the Cincinnati Bearcats have the shooters to deal with the Temple zone defense they'll see today, Field Williams can't help. But he might when the Bearcats return the game with a visit to Philadelphia next season.
Williams, the 6-foot-2 guard who UC signed last fall out of Waltrip High in Texas, is averaging 26.3 points per game, second among Class 4-A teams in the Houston area. In 32 games this season, he has scored 842 points. He is leading 4-A in 3-point shooting, hitting 130 of 212 — a .613 percentage. Waltrip is 25-7 and leading its district. Williams will be a freshman with the Bearcats in the 2000-01 season.
AROUND THE NATION: Philadelphia 76ers assistant John Calipari said he was not interested in the Georgia Tech job that opened Friday when Bobby Cremins resigned — which is something Calipari never has said about Memphis. His dismissal of the Tech job suggests he's leaning toward Memphis, if he decides to return to college coaching.
• Oklahoma State is a team to respect (maybe fear) in the NCAAs because of its experience. The Cowboys' six seniors have played 620 games in college.
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