Shock the World: UConn Basketball in the Calhoun Era
After the 2012 season, the UConn basketball program appeared to be on the decline. Several high-profile players departed early and the NCAA confirmed that it would ban the Huskies from the 2013 NCAA tournament. But Jim Calhoun—the man who built the program in the first place—still reigned in Storrs and vowed not to leave his team in disarray. Could Calhoun save UConn basketball? He has done it before. In twenty-five years at UConn, coach Jim Calhoun changed a team, a university, a state, and college basketball. Shock the World is a riveting season-by-season, game-by-game, and player-by-player biography of Jim Calhoun’s winning program. It paints a vivid portrait of college basketball in the last twenty-five years, and highlights the challenges Calhoun overcame to become the best program builder of all time and the greatest coach of his generation. Until March 2011 only four coaches had ever won the NCAA men’s basketball championship three times or more. That month, with the culmination of the famous “March Madness,” the University of Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun became the fifth. Calhoun’s Huskies show that spirit, fortitude, and perseverance are keys to winning in modern collegiate sports, just as they are the keys to overcoming challenges off the court. At the end of the 2010 season an NCAA investigation, penalties, and the small number of returning players threatened to end the Calhoun era. Despite these obstacles, Calhoun, point guard Kemba Walker, and a group of freshmen led UConn to a win at the Maui Invitational in November, and UConn became the first team to capture its conference tournament by winning five games in five days. They went on to a thrilling win in the championship, making this period in the Calhoun era one of great resilience, and an enduring monument to Husky pride.
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Shock the World: UConn Basketball in the Calhoun Era
After the 2012 season, the UConn basketball program appeared to be on the decline. Several high-profile players departed early and the NCAA confirmed that it would ban the Huskies from the 2013 NCAA tournament. But Jim Calhoun—the man who built the program in the first place—still reigned in Storrs and vowed not to leave his team in disarray. Could Calhoun save UConn basketball? He has done it before. In twenty-five years at UConn, coach Jim Calhoun changed a team, a university, a state, and college basketball. Shock the World is a riveting season-by-season, game-by-game, and player-by-player biography of Jim Calhoun’s winning program. It paints a vivid portrait of college basketball in the last twenty-five years, and highlights the challenges Calhoun overcame to become the best program builder of all time and the greatest coach of his generation. Until March 2011 only four coaches had ever won the NCAA men’s basketball championship three times or more. That month, with the culmination of the famous “March Madness,” the University of Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun became the fifth. Calhoun’s Huskies show that spirit, fortitude, and perseverance are keys to winning in modern collegiate sports, just as they are the keys to overcoming challenges off the court. At the end of the 2010 season an NCAA investigation, penalties, and the small number of returning players threatened to end the Calhoun era. Despite these obstacles, Calhoun, point guard Kemba Walker, and a group of freshmen led UConn to a win at the Maui Invitational in November, and UConn became the first team to capture its conference tournament by winning five games in five days. They went on to a thrilling win in the championship, making this period in the Calhoun era one of great resilience, and an enduring monument to Husky pride.
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Shock the World: UConn Basketball in the Calhoun Era

Shock the World: UConn Basketball in the Calhoun Era

by Peter F. Burns
Shock the World: UConn Basketball in the Calhoun Era
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Shock the World: UConn Basketball in the Calhoun Era

Shock the World: UConn Basketball in the Calhoun Era

by Peter F. Burns

Overview

After the 2012 season, the UConn basketball program appeared to be on the decline. Several high-profile players departed early and the NCAA confirmed that it would ban the Huskies from the 2013 NCAA tournament. But Jim Calhoun—the man who built the program in the first place—still reigned in Storrs and vowed not to leave his team in disarray. Could Calhoun save UConn basketball? He has done it before. In twenty-five years at UConn, coach Jim Calhoun changed a team, a university, a state, and college basketball. Shock the World is a riveting season-by-season, game-by-game, and player-by-player biography of Jim Calhoun’s winning program. It paints a vivid portrait of college basketball in the last twenty-five years, and highlights the challenges Calhoun overcame to become the best program builder of all time and the greatest coach of his generation. Until March 2011 only four coaches had ever won the NCAA men’s basketball championship three times or more. That month, with the culmination of the famous “March Madness,” the University of Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun became the fifth. Calhoun’s Huskies show that spirit, fortitude, and perseverance are keys to winning in modern collegiate sports, just as they are the keys to overcoming challenges off the court. At the end of the 2010 season an NCAA investigation, penalties, and the small number of returning players threatened to end the Calhoun era. Despite these obstacles, Calhoun, point guard Kemba Walker, and a group of freshmen led UConn to a win at the Maui Invitational in November, and UConn became the first team to capture its conference tournament by winning five games in five days. They went on to a thrilling win in the championship, making this period in the Calhoun era one of great resilience, and an enduring monument to Husky pride.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781555537937
Publisher: Northeastern University Press
Publication date: 09/08/2012
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 336
File size: 17 MB
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About the Author

PETER F. BURNS, JR., was born and raised in Connecticut and educated at UConn. In 2002 the University of Connecticut Alumni Association named him as its outstanding young alumnus of the year. He is a professor of political science at Loyola University New Orleans.

Table of Contents

Contents
Preface • Acknowledgments
INTRODUCTION
Hopefully, When It’s All Said and Done, You’ll Say, “He’s Pretty Good”
BUILDING A PROGRAM FROM SCRATCH
I Don’t Want My Managers to Have to Clean Up Puke
We Need a Couple of Guys to Get Us through the Rest of the Season
You’ve Got to Learn How to Win
The Most Important Recruit in UConn Basketball History
We Weren’t Just a Gnat Anymore
DOMINANT BUT NOT GREAT ENOUGH
I Know It Sounds Crazy, But I Never Thought We Were Going To Lose
Oh, UConn, That’s the Place Where They Made the Buzzer-Beater
I Hope People Took Some Polaroids Tonight
Calhoun Taught Me Everything
He’s Going to Be a Special, Special Player
Ray Allen, One of the Greatest
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
You Learn from Losses, but after You Get Three or Four, the Learning Stops and the Misery Starts
The Kid Comes with a Bag of Tricks
We’re Having a Special Season
This One’s for Joe
We Shocked the World!
I Wanted to Play for a Tough Coach, and He’s One of the Toughest
If Maryland Is Number One in the Country, Connecticut Is Right Beside Them
We’re Connecticut. We’re Not Some Rinky-Dink Team
Emeka Okafor Comes along Once in a Lifetime
Mike, Over the Years When We’ve Seen Teams Collapse . . . Maybe That’s a Bad Word
ANTIHEROES
I’m Just a Very Blessed Individual, Lucky to Be Here in Front of You Alive
Calhoun Is Feared, but He Is Not Respected
That Team Should Have Won the National Championship
It Won’t Happen Again
That’s Why He’s in the Hall of Fame
Not a Dime Back
Josh Nochimson, the Team’s Manager and Rip’s Friend, Became the Unofficial Go-Between
I Don’t Get Defeated
RESILIENCE
From Maui . . .
to Mediocrity . . .
to Manhattan . . .
to Monday
Epilogue: Best Program Builder of All Time and Best Coach of His Generation
Afterword: 2012 and Beyond
APPENDIXES
Standout Games and Players of the Calhoun Era
Year-to-Year Team Records and Game Results of the Calhoun Era
Notes and Sources
Index
From the B&N Reads Blog
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