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College basketball
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 20, 2003
SPOKANE, Wash. -- Less than six weeks after prostate cancer surgery, Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun is the same sideline stomper and screamer he always has been.
Calhoun might appreciate certain things in life more, but once he is back on the court, he is his fiery self again.
"He's still the old guy who yells at you when you do something wrong," swingman Rashad Anderson said. "He still wants you to compete on every play. He still wants you to become the best basketball player and the best person you can be."
Calhoun and the fifth-seeded Huskies (21-9) are set to open the NCAA Tournament today against 12th-seeded Brigham Young (23-8) in the South Region.
Last month the Huskies were unsure what condition their coach would be in for the tournament. Calhoun told the team he had cancer Feb. 3, and he had surgery three days later. Less than two weeks after that, he was back at practice and coached UConn against St. John's on Feb. 22.
"I couldn't stay home anymore," he said. "I missed the game and the kids too much."
Calhoun did not take long to show he had not changed. Minutes into his first game, he started stomping his foot on the sideline and arguing with an official.
The technical fouls came soon after, and he even had a confrontation with a Pittsburgh player on the court after the Big East championship game.
"You'd be scared if he was acting any different, like maybe something was wrong," senior Tony Robertson said.
Calhoun spent Wednesday's news conference lobbying officials not to call too many fouls on center Emeka Okafor, wondering why the South Region was in Spokane, questioning BYU's low seeding and criticizing the selection committee for taking only four Big East teams.
"I've mellowed over the last couple of years. But mellowed is a relative term," he said. "Here's a true story: I had all those games and only had one technical foul before the surgery, and I've had two since I've been back. Maybe they want to see how I respond to it. It's the same way."
The 60-year-old Calhoun saw his doctor Monday and was told he'll be 100 percent cleared next Monday. He thinks he has a team that's good enough to play well beyond then.
"I'd consider us to be a very dangerous basketball team," he said. "On any night we can beat anybody. I mean anybody."
SOUTH CAROLINA ST.: Former NBA great and Hall of Famer Moses Malone watched his son and namesake practice. The East Regionl No. 16 seed plays top-seeded Oklahoma today. Malone Jr., a two-time transfer whose other stops were Houston and Texas Tech, arrived at South Carolina State in 2000 at his dad's urging. Malone Sr. became friends with Bulldogs coach Cy Alexander when Malone played for the Washington Bullets, and Alexander was an assistant at Howard.
"My dad told me they had been to the tournament four times and he was a great coach, would treat me fair and could be like a second father to me," the senior guard said.
Alexander said he welcomed Malone with open arms and tried to reduce the pressure of carrying a famous name. "We tried to let Moses know he didn't have anything to prove. Just be yourself," he said.
UTAH: Forward Britton Johnsen will miss the tournament because of mononucleosis. Johnsen, who averaged 11.6 points and 6.7 rebounds, also missed the Mountain West tournament last week. Johnsen did not accompany the Utes to Nashville, Tenn., where they open Friday against Oregon.
VERMONT: No blizzard was going to keep the Catamounts from making their first tournament appearance. Their journey from Burlington, Vt., to Salt Lake City was halted in Denver by a snowstorm that grounded all planes Tuesday. They traveled by bus Wednesday to Colorado Springs, where they squeezed in a practice, then took a charter flight. Coach Tom Brennan said he expected the Catamounts (21-11) to arrive will before their opening-round game today against top-seeded Arizona (25-3).
HONORS: The Sporting News selected Texas' T.J. Ford, who averaged 15 points and seven assists in leading the Longhorns to a top seed in the tournament, player of the year. Kentucky's Tubby Smith was named coach of the year, and Syracuse's Carmelo Anthony, who averaged 22 points and 10 rebounds, freshman of the year.
Georgia Tech center Chris Bosh was named Associated Press rookie of the year, the ninth Yellow Jacket to win the award since 1976. Bosh averaged 15.4 points and 8.9 rebounds, and shot an ACC-leading 55.8 percent.