UConn Doesn’t Disappoint

Connecticut made it look easy on a Monday night in April.

It wasn’t always that way from November to early March.

The Huskies’ second NCAA championship will be remembered because Connecticut went from preseason No. 1 to an easy winner over Georgia Tech in the title game.

But only two of the last 12 champions have lost more games than the Huskies, who finished 33-6.

Michigan State lost seven in 2000, and Arizona lost nine in 1997.

“I wrote a book in ’99 called ‘Dare to Dream,’ ” said Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun, who guided the Huskies to their first title that year.

“I wouldn’t have necessarily a book or a title for this one. [Maybe] it would be ‘The Long Journey,’ because that’s what it really was.”

The undefeated runs by Saint Joseph’s and Stanford were the stories of the season.

Duke, if not for something very near to a collapse in the final minutes against Connecticut -- sorry about that word again, Mike Krzyzewski -- might have won another championship.

Instead it went to Connecticut and Calhoun.

“This team only found itself after struggling a little bit, not in the sense we didn’t win a lot of games,” Calhoun said. “Then it got its second wind, enjoyed itself, and then put on [a display]. Over the past four weeks, we’ve been an amazing basketball team.”

It is a team that there is next-to-no prospect of seeing together again, even though there was only one senior in the starting lineup, Taliek Brown.

Emeka Okafor’s plan has long been to graduate in three years and turn pro. Ben Gordon, another junior, gave strong indications this was his last go-round as well.

“I wanted this so bad for him and Mek, because I do think they’re ready for the NBA,” Calhoun said.

“If they’re in position, they should leave because they’re both incredible basketball players, and have accomplished so much in college basketball.”

Add Calhoun to the list of those who have accomplished much.

His second title puts him in a group of only 10 coaches to win more than one, and only four have won more: John Wooden, Adolph Rupp, Bob Knight and Krzyzewski.

Not so many years ago, Calhoun was hounded for not being able to get past the Elite Eight, failing to take the final step three times in the 1990s.

Duke beat Connecticut in overtime to reach the Final Four in 1990, and UCLA knocked out the Huskies in 1995.

North Carolina did it in 1998 in a regional final in Greensboro, N.C., where the crowd was so one-sided Calhoun claims even the ushers wore baby blue.

Somewhere along the way, Calhoun admitted as this NCAA tournament unfolded, he adjusted his philosophy.

There was a time when it got under his skin that college basketball teams, and therefore college coaches, are judged by what happens in March and April.

At 61, he has been around long enough that regular-season conference titles still mean something to him, long enough that he grew up believing in a body of work, not just one shining moment.

But his season now is carefully geared toward peaking at the end, and that is exactly what happened with the Huskies this season.

Januarys and Februarys are about getting to March.

“Do you realize that in February, we were voted as the most disappointing team in America?” Calhoun said. “We were 21-3. Voted the most disappointing team in America. I have a very good memory, by the way, as you all know.

“Guess what? I would like to tell that person, I hope they’re not disappointed in the fact that we won a national championship.”