Connecticut's Season, Not Just Calhoun, Up in the Air

The future of the Connecticut program is as uncertain as it ever has been during Jim Calhoun's 24-season reign in Storrs. Understandably, then, George Blaney -- Calhoun's replacement on the bench while the Hall of Fame coach takes a medical leave of absence -- is insisting on keeping his focus squarely on the present.

"Jim and I always joke about it,'' Blaney said yesterday, "I have kind of a day-to-day contract.''

In reality, the rest of the Huskies' season -- which already had been taking on a grim look as the disappointing losses piled up -- will be defined by the daily question, "When will Coach Calhoun come back?'' The question underlying that is, "Will he come back?'' The updates on the 67-year-old Calhoun since the abrupt announcement of his leave Tuesday afternoon have been both encouraging and unsettling: this health issue is not related to past bouts with cancer or his heart, says his personal doctor and Connecticut athletic director Jeff Hathaway, but all who have spoken to Calhoun have added that the coach has been told to simply stay away, period, until doctors clear him to return.

All of which means that Connecticut has to steer out of the skid it hit two weeks ago, when it lost three straight games and plunged from No. 13 in the AP poll to out of the rankings completely. All while under temporary management. The Huskies succeeded on the first step, defeating St. John's 75-59 in Hartford Wednesday night in Blaney's first game in place of Calhoun, improving to 12-6 overall and 3-3 in the Big East. The next step is a steep one: Texas, ranked No. 1, though in name only after losing to Kansas State this week, comes to Gampel Pavilion for nationally-televised game Saturday, Connecticut's last non-conference game of the season.

After the St. John's win and again Thursday morning, Blaney -- Calhoun's associate head coach and the longtime Holy Cross head coach -- repeated that he was "not a big history guy and not a big future guy,'' and that it has always been best for him to focus solely on the game in front of him. With so much past and future looming over the program, it might very well be the best approach, and Blaney might be the best person to apply it.

The St. John's game was the 22nd that Calhoun missed all or parts of as Connecticut's coach; a handful of those absences have been described, at the time or afterward, as stress-related. Hathaway might have given all the illumination on Calhoun's condition needed, without specifying the ailment, when he said after the St. John's game, "There's only one timetable here, and that's when Dr. [Peter] Schulman talks with Jim and tells him it's OK to go back.''

If that wasn't enough, Blaney added Thursday: "The doctor will tell him what he can or cannot do. One of the things that came out afterward from the doctors, was that [Calhoun] would listen to what they say.''

The last time Calhoun missed a game for health reasons prior to Wednesday night was the Huskies' first-round game in last year's NCAA tournament -- at roughly the same time allegations of recruiting improprieties involving former player Nate Miles first surfaced. While it's unfair to automatically tie the two together, the allegations followed Calhoun and Connecticut around the rest of the tournament. Calhoun, in fact, had to address it as soon as he returned to coach the team that postseason.

Though the investigation is ongoing, the school felt comfortable enough about that, and about Calhoun's health, to keep negotiating a contract extension, which would take him through the 2013-14 season and his 72nd birthday.

Whether the latest health scare changes any of those plans -- he reportedly has not officially signed the extension -- remains to be seen. However, should Calhoun not return, it is far from clear who steps in long-term. Blaney, who is in his third season as Calhoun's top assistant, is 70.

But there still is this year's team, which has not kept up with expectations that remained fairly high even with the departure of many of the stars who steered the team to Detroit, like Hasheem Thabeet, A.J. Price, Craig Austrie and Jeff Adrien. The two starting seniors, guard Jerome Dyson and forward Stanley Robinson, are counting heavily on a slew of freshmen and newcomers, which would bode well for the future under Calhoun or anyone else, but likely will continue to play havoc with the team this season.
What had seemed earlier in the season to be a handful of speed bumps against top-notch competition such as Duke and Kentucky, became more problematic when Big East play began and the Huskies lost at Cincinnati. The subsequent three-game skid began at Georgetown in a game the Huskies led by 19 late in the first half -- and the talk after the game, by Calhoun and his players, was of a stagnant offense that didn't take advantage of its best assets (mainly Robinson, who regularly goes inexplicably long times without seeing the ball).

The players spoke at the time of being sure they would work it out before much more time passed, but the inconsistencies popped up in the subsequent losses to Pittsburgh and Michigan, and the possibility of missing the NCAA tournament altogether surfaced for the first time.

Calhoun has been no more or less explosive on the sidelines, and has been noticeably calmer after games -- but his observations about his team have been as pointed as ever. After the loss at Michigan, he said: "I said [previously] I have no question about the heart of my team. None. I have, at times, questions about if they truly understand some of the ways in which we need to change."

Wednesday's win was a welcome respite, as Dyson scored 21 points, Robinson 18 and sophomore Kemba Walker 17. Still, at such a critical juncture, Calhoun is not there to effect the change he wants to see in the players; instead, there is the delicate balancing act Blaney must perform.

"You still need to follow what Jim does. It's Jim's team, it's not my team,'' he said Thursday. "My thoughts about what should or shouldn't be done, that's not my job. My job is providing some kind of continuity.''

"Continuity'' could be a lot to ask right now at Connecticut, where so many things connected to the program are indefinite.