At 63, recently inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, Jim Calhoun has produced two national championships at Connecticut and may shortly deliver a third. Yet he remains a popular and a polarizing figure, and another potential valedictory season has also become in the Connecticut news media a referendum on his character.
Even Calhoun's critics will admit that he is a brilliant and loyal coach, and that he can be charming and gracious with his Boston accent and Irish wit, while his supporters will concede that he can be relentlessly consumed, sarcastic, temperamental and thin-skinned.
Such a complicated personality does not make him different from many successful coaches. But Calhoun is also perhaps the most highly visible -- and highest-paid (US$1.5 million annually) -- public employee in a state whose only major professional sports team is a less visible franchise in the Women's National Basketball Association.
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As the primary athletic showcase, UConn basketball receives heightened scrutiny from the news media. Nine state newspapers regularly cover the team, along with four television stations. Even as the Huskies (21-1) are ranked No. 1, perhaps more drama is unfolding off the court than on.
A fierce debate is being waged about whether UConn and Calhoun should be allowing point guard Marcus Williams to play the second half of the season after his involvement in the theft of four laptop computers from a university dorm last summer. And Calhoun finds himself embroiled in a vitriolic feud with Connecticut's most influential sports columnist, who has called him a caustic bully in the state's largest newspaper.
Tim Tolokan, an associate athletic director at UConn, said he did not believe readers were interested in the "boohoo" of personal friction between reporters and coaches. The vast majority of Huskies fans, Tolokan said, felt unconditional support for Calhoun, who has helped provide the university and the state with a sense of great athletic accomplishment and whose philanthropic work supports cardiology research at the University of Connecticut Health Center and a holiday food drive.
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"I don't have to defend myself," Calhoun said in a brief interview here Wednesday after UConn defeated Syracuse. "I've been here 20 years. I think the record speaks for itself, whether it be in the community or coaching basketball."
The first of the season's flashpoints occurred last August, when two UConn players, Williams and A.J. Price, were arrested and charged with attempting to sell four laptops, valued at US$11,000, at area pawnshops. Eventually, both were placed in a special probation program. Williams, a junior and a star point guard, was suspended for 11 games, while Price, a redshirt freshman who also had been charged with making a false statement to the police, received a year's suspension from basketball.
Calhoun said that he had no involvement in the adjudication process and that the punishments were in line with penalties given to other UConn students for similar transgressions.
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"I won't condone their acts," Calhoun said of his players. "It was stupid and very selfish, but I'm not going to abandon kids making mistakes."
Some, though, found the penalty for Williams too lenient. Among the dissenters was Jeff Jacobs, the influential sports columnist for The Hartford Courant, Connecticut's most widely circulated paper and one that has covered UConn aggressively in athletics and other areas.
Last Oct. 29, Jacobs wrote that Williams should also have been suspended for a year. Noting that Williams would be allowed to play the entire Big East Conference schedule that began in January, he suggested UConn was more interested in winning another national championship than preserving its integrity.
"So where was someone in a position of power" to say that the shorter punishment given to Williams "morally doesn't feel right?" Jacobs wrote.
On Nov. 6, Jacobs, 50, who has been named Connecticut's sportswriter of the year seven times and has recently recovered from a heart attack, wrote another column that irritated Calhoun.
After a guard named Doug Wiggins of East Hartford rescinded a commitment to St. John's and chose UConn, Jacobs questioned the decorum of recruiting a player away from a conference rival, especially one struggling to recover from scandal. Wiggins had said he simply changed his mind.
"Sometimes it doesn't take an illegal action to be hated," Jacobs wrote. "Sometimes it's that final breach in the gentleman's code -- etiquette or sportsmanship, if you will -- that makes you a pariah in your own league."
In a column Nov. 29, Jacobs mentioned an autobiography of the retired coach Jerry Tarkanian. During a recruiting battle, Tarkanian wrote, UConn signed a player named Souleymane Wane in 1997 after reportedly convincing him that Tarkanian was dying of cancer at Fresno State.
"This malignant recruiting trick can't be true, can it?" Jacobs wrote.
Calhoun, who has denied any chicanery in the recruiting of Wane, said he took the word "malignant" to be a reference to his bout with prostate cancer in 2003. That was not his intention, Jacobs said. Still, in early December, Calhoun told a group of UConn beat reporters that if Jacobs had the audacity to come around at practice, "he better come up with a couple of armed guards."
He never meant to carry out such a threat, Calhoun said, dismissing his remarks as blustery banter. Even so, Jacobs said in an interview, he would no longer allow himself to be bullied or intimidated by Calhoun.
"I just don't think you should be able to threaten somebody in public," Jacobs said.
The feud kept escalating. On Jan. 19, Jacobs appeared on New York's WFAN radio station to discuss the Williams issue, and UConn complained that others who covered the team were more qualified to offer their opinions. That appeared to be the tipping point.
On Jan. 31, Jacobs wrote a searing column about his differences with Calhoun, saying, "Being ranked No. 1 evidently is more important than something as niggling as human decency. Winning apparently entitles the man to treat others badly."
That same day, Jacobs appeared again on WFAN and said it had been relayed to him previously by other reporters that Calhoun had suggested he was gay and racist. He took the gay remark as a joke, Jacobs said in an interview, but added that the racist accusations were more troubling and that Calhoun had once expressed this concern to him in person. Calhoun denied making any remarks about racism or sexual preference.
Reaction to Jacobs' column has been widespread and mixed. Jacobs said he had received about 600 e-mail messages, the majority running in his favor, while letters to the Courant have been running 60 percent in Calhoun's favor.
Angry and hurt by the column, Calhoun said he believed Jacobs was relying on second- and third-hand information to form his opinions. He said he barely knew Jacobs, calling him a phantom. UConn has questioned whether Jacobs could continue to fairly cover the team.
Jacobs, who estimated he covered half of UConn's games each season, said the Jan. 31 column was written because he felt he had to be true to himself and to his readers. He also said he wanted to let peers at smaller papers know that it was OK to stand up to entrenched, powerful figures like Calhoun.
Sports ought to be covered more often as the big business it has become, said Timothy Kenny, a journalism professor at UConn.
"There's nothing wrong with criticizing someone who is as public a figure as Calhoun," Kenny said. "It's part of the job of a sports columnist to kick things around a bit."
Rick Hancock, the assistant dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University, said Jacobs' column "sounded whiny." While there were many legitimate issues to explore about Calhoun's behavior, Hancock said, "I think Jeff crossed the line by putting himself into it. You've got to stay out of the story. The story is not about you."
And yet the story is not going away. On Thursday, Randy Smith, a prominent columnist and sports editor at the Journal Inquirer in Manchester, Connecticut, chastised Calhoun for referring to him as "crazy," "self-righteous," "miserable" and "cynical." He also criticized Calhoun for permitting Williams to play this season, calling it "the charade of helping a kid."
No one relishes seeing 20 years of accomplishment impugned, Calhoun said Wednesday. Still, he said, he found joy in his team, and there was a wondrous season building. If others want to ignore it, fine, he said. He would not join them.
Gilbert Arenas, still feeling snub-bed despite his day-late All-Star selection, turned his frustration into 32 points on Friday and outshone All-Star starter LeBron James in the Washington Wizards' 101-89 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Arenas also had 10 assists, eight rebounds and even a career-high three blocked shots. Antawn Jamison scored 28 points, including a huge nine-point stretch that stalled Cleveland's momentum in the fourth quarter, as the Wizards won their fourth straight.
Brendan Haywood added 14 points and 10 rebounds and won a series of heated exchanges with Zydrunas Ilgauskas that got the Cleveland center ejected in the fourth quarter. The Wizards have won six straight at home and 12 of 16 overall.
James had an off night, scoring 18 points on 6-for-23 shooting, although he also had nine rebounds and eight assists.
Pistons 84, Magic 73
At Orlando, Florida, Rasheed Wallace scored 26 points, Richard Hamilton had 23, and Detroit rode its four All-Stars to a victory over Orlando.
Chauncey Billups had 11 points and 14 assists, while Ben Wallace contributed 10 rebounds for the Pistons.
Those four players all were chosen as All-Star reserves Thursday night.
Dwight Howard led Orlando with 19 points and 17 rebounds, while Hedo Turkoglu added 17 points.
Celtics 115, Trail Blazers 83
At Boston, Paul Pierce scored 20 of his 35 points in the third quarter as Boston downed Portland to snap its season-high, six-game losing streak.
The Celtics won for the second time in eight games since acquiring Wally Szczerbiak from Minnesota in a seven-player trade on Jan. 26. Szczerbiak scored 21 points and Raef LaFrentz had 18 for Boston.
Zach Randolph led the Trail Blazers with 14 points and Travis Outlaw had 10.
Raptors 88, Bobcats 73
At Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlie Villanueva scored 24 points, and All-Star Chris Bosh added 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead Toronto over undermanned Charlotte.
Mike James scored 18 points for the Raptors, who opened the second half with a 20-2 run to erase a one-point deficit and snapped a two-game losing streak.
Matt Carroll scored a career-high 26 points for Charlotte, which shot a franchise-worst 31.8 percent. The Bobcats played without four starters, including their starting backcourt, and had their franchise-record three-game winning streak snapped.
Spurs 83, Nets 73
At East Rutherford, New Jersey, Manu Ginobili scored 22 points, Tim Duncan returned after missing a game with flu-like symptoms to add 12, and San Antonio snapped New Jersey's 12-game home winning streak.
Tony Parker scored 19 points for the Spurs (39-10), who have won a season-high eight in a row and 12 of their last 13 games. He and Ginobili shot 15-for-28, while their teammates were only 18-for-47.
Vince Carter led New Jersey (26-22) with 21 points, but shot 10-for-27 from the field. The Nets would have tied their franchise record for consecutive home wins with a victory. New Jersey's last home loss had come against Charlotte on Dec. 14.
Jazz 94, Timberwolves 80
At Minneapolis, reserve Matt Harpring scored 25 points and grabbed eight rebounds, leading Utah past lethargic Minnesota.
Andrei Kirilenko had 19 points and Mehmet Okur added 19 points and 10 rebounds, helping the Jazz win for the fourth time in five games.
Starting point guard Keith McLeod, who appeared in 33 games for the Timberwolves in the 2003-04 season, chipped in 13 points. And Carlos Boozer played, too, getting two points in six minutes -- his first action in nearly a year after fighting foot and hamstring problems.
Trenton Hassell had 19 points and Ricky Davis scored 18 points on 7-for-22 shooting for Minnesota, which has lost 21 of its last 31 games and is just 3-6 since the seven-player trade that sent Wally Szczerbiak to Boston and brought Davis here.
Kevin Garnett had 16 points and 18 rebounds for the Wolves, who shot only 37 percent (31-for-83) and committed 18 turnovers that led to 21 Utah points.
Hornets 111, Knicks 100
At Oklahoma City, speedy Claxton scored 18 points and added a season-high 11 assists in place of injured point guard Chris Paul, and David West added 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead New Orleans past New York.
P.J. Brown added 11 points and, along with Kirk Snyder, helped Claxton fuel a late 14-1 run that lifted the Hornets to their fifth consecutive home win.
The loss was New York's eighth straight. Jalen Rose led seven Knicks players in double-figure scoring with 20 points.
Suns 112, Kings 104
At Phoenix, Steve Nash scored 24 points, including a key basket and a pair of late free throws, helping Phoenix withstand a furious fourth-quarter Sacramento comeback.
Nash finished with 13 assists, Shawn Marion added 18 points and Raja Bell had 16 for the Suns, who won for the seventh time in nine games.
Ron Artest scored 10 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter as the Kings nearly rallied from a 93-76 deficit at the start of the period. Kevin Martin's 10-foot jumper pulled Sacramento within 104-102 with 2:50, the closest the Kings had been since early in the first quarter.
But Nash connected on a 12-foot jumper, Artest missed a jump shot and Shareef Abdur-Rahim missed two more shots before Nash made two free throws to make it 110-102 with 10 seconds to play.
Brad Miller scored 21 points and Martin added 18 for the Kings, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.
Nuggets 113, Mavericks 104
At Denver, Kenyon Martin scored a season-high 34 points, while Carmelo Anthony added 24 points and a career-high 10 assists as Denver snapped Dallas' 13-game winning streak.
The Nuggets had lost six of their last seven games before knocking the Mavericks out of first place in the Southwest Division.
Keith Van Horn scored 21 points and Jerry Stackhouse added 20 for the Mavericks, who failed to tie their franchise record of 14 straight wins set during the 2002-03 season. Dallas never led in the game, which appeared settled after the first quarter.
Clippers 91, Grizzlies 87
At Los Angeles, Elton Brand tied a career high with 44 points in his first game since being named to the All-Star game, and the Los Angeles Clippers celebrated Mike Dunleavy's 1,000th regular-season game as an NBA coach by beating Memphis.
Chris Kaman had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Clippers (30-18), whose 10th victory in 12 games kept them two games behind first-place Phoenix in the Pacific Division. This is the fastest the franchise has reached the 30-win mark since the 1974-75 season, when the Buffalo Braves started 30-16 under coach Jack Ramsay.
Shane Battier scored all of his 16 points for Memphis in the first quarter, and missed his final eight shots. Pau Gasol also had 16 points, but reserve guard Mike Miller missed the game because of a sprained left ankle he injured in the third quarter of Wednesday's loss at Phoenix.
SuperSonics 99, Hawks 91
At Seattle, Damien Wilkins came off the bench to score a career-high 26 points in place of the injured Rashard Lewis, leading Seattle over Atlanta.
Wilkins shot 7-for-12, made 12 of 13 free throws and scored 13 of Seattle's final 16 points, helping the Sonics snap a four-game losing streak.
Ray Allen scored 22 for Seattle and Nick Collison had 17 points and a career-high 15 rebounds.
Al Harrington led Atlanta with 26 points, while Zaza Pachulia and Josh Childress each scored 17. The Hawks had won four of five, but their struggles on the road continued. Atlanta fell to 0-11 on the road against the Western Conference and 4-19 overall.
Wang Chih-chuin's last-second three-pointer with Yang Tseh-yi guarding him helped the Dacin Tigers overcome a two-point deficit to edge past the Videoland Hunters 74-73 in Super Basketball League action at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium on Friday night.
For the second time in seven days, the Tigers resorted to a buzzer-beating three-point shot to come away with a one-point victory, extending their team-high winning streak to six straight.
"We knew the Hunters would focus their attention on Tien Lei for the last shot, so coach wanted me to drop back off the inbound pass and take the three if it is there," Wang said. "I guess the rest was history,"
The battle between the two high-power offenses was anything but electrifying in the early going, with the defense dominating in a low-scoring first quarter (17-15 in favor of the Hunters).
The Tigers' match-up zone against the Hunters' perimeter offense (holding them to under 30 percent shooting from the floor) was equally effective as the Hunters' conventional 2-1-2 zone defense against the Tigers' well-established three-point attack.
It was Chang's eight second-quarter points in the final minutes of the second quarter that led to a 35-33 Tigers advantage at the half.
The Tigers were able to add to their lead by five before the end of the third quarter (56-49), despite surrendering it earlier in the quarter with the Hunters opening the second half with a 14-7 run.
Some timely adjustments by Hunters coach Chou Hai-rong gave them a four-point lead with 53 second remaining. But a costly turnover by point guard Chen Hui cut the lead to two.
A 16-10 difference in turnovers harmed the Hunters, as they bag-ged their third loss in a row.
Bank of Taiwan 83, YMY 73
Bank of Taiwan fully exploited its speed and rebounding advantage over YMY for an 83-73 win.
Behind speedster Chien Ming-fu's game-high 17 points, most of which had come by way of the fast-break, the bankers opened up a double-digit lead (40-30) midway through the second quarter.
Even though YMY reduced the lead to five in the third quarter, sparked by sharp shooter Chung Wei-guo's pair of "threes," it could never come up with the knockout punch.
The 14th straight loss by YMY set a new league record for consecutive defeats, topping the previous mark of 13 that was also set by YMY (formerly the Sina Lions) last season.
Today's top Game
This afternoon's showdown between the Yulon Dinos and Taiwan Beer should pack the gym with hoop fans as the league-leading Dinos take on a red-hot brew crew.
Trailing the Dinos by only a half a game, a win by the second-place beermen would give them sole possession of the lead for the first time this season.
Gilbert Arenas was picked on Friday by National Basketball Association commissioner David Stern to replace injured Indiana forward Jermaine O'Neal for next week's All-Star Game, filling in on the Eastern Conference team.
"It's an honor. Thank you, David Stern," Arenas said.
The Wizards guard was perhaps the biggest omission on the East team when reserves for the Feb. 19 game in Houston were announced Thursday night. He ranked fourth in the league with an average of 28.2 points per game.
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