Jim Calhoun's Charity Golf Classic was held Monday at The Golf Club of Avon, and it brought out plenty of sports celebrities.



Roy Williams, Billy Packer, Kevin Ollie, Scott Burrell, Sterling Sharpe, Mark Schlereth, Glen Miller, Karl Hobbs, Tom Moore, Travis Knight and Patrick Sellers were among those playing. Caught up with Williams for a few moments before he teed off, and here's what he had to say.

"We do go back a long ways. Jimmy and his staff from Northeastern came to visit with Coach (Dean) Smith when I was an assistant at North Carolina about 100 years ago, it seems like. I got to know him then, then followed his career. We've been great friends when I was at Kansas and at North Carolina. We did a tour of duty for USA Basketball in Argentina one time. I just wanted to come up here and honor him and help him do what he wants to do."

(on if Calhoun appears happy in retirement)

"You never know with Jimmy. I thought it would take a forklift to get him off that bench. I think it's great. He had health concerns, but right now he appears to be great. He still talks a different language. I can't understand most things he says, he can't understand most things that I say, so we're OK."

(on the job Ollie did this past season)

"I recruited Kevin when coaching at Kansas. Kevin really did a nice job. He's gonna be fine."

(on how Calhoun built a program from nothing to national prominence at UConn)

"I can't speak to it. I've been very fortunate. I've coached at Kansas and at North Carolina. When I got to Kansas, we were on probation, when I got to North Carolina, they had had some problems, lost 37 games the two previous years. But ... Jimmy came to Connecticut, people knew where the state was but they didn't know if they played basketball or not. The job he's done at Connecticut -- and he did well at Northeastern, too -- to put this program where it went, to win three national championships ... I can't even fathom what he did."

(on scheduling UConn in the future)

"I've played everybody. We played UConn my first two years at North Carolina, we played UConn while I was at Kansas. I'll schedule anybody and everybody."

*** Ollie remembers being recruited by Williams. He cancelled that a recruiting visit to Kansas back in the early 1990's, however, and took trips to UConn and Arizona instead. Kansas wound up with another pretty good point guard out of L.A.: Jacque Vaughn.

“He’s always been a great friend of mine," Ollie said of Williams. "When I got my first assistant coaching job, he was right there on the recruiting trails, helping me out. He’s always had a special place in my heart. Great coach, and I can learn a lot from him.”

*** Calhoun just had knee replacement surgery six weeks ago. He wanted to play the tournament, but wound up deciding to only hit shots from 150 yards and in, not wanting to put any extra torque on his new right knee. (Calhoun's no longer bow-legged with his right leg; his left still is).

Calhoun noted that it's the respect he gets from opposing coaches that he treasures as much as anything (he also dropped hints that John Thompson, Jim Boeheim and Mike Krzyzewski may have some sort of contributions to the Sept. 22 event at Gampel Pavilion that will honor Calhoun).

“I never try to get love from a lot of other coaches, I try to get respect," Calhoun said. "If you can get friendship, that’s great. I have a lot of respect for Roy Williams. I think he’d probably want that from me. You don’t go into this to make friends. You make friends with your players -- eventually -- but you go in to get respect from people that you respect. That’s the most important thing.”

Former UConn assistant Patrick Sellers has been named an assistant coach at Creighton University.

Sellers, an assistant on UConn's 2009 Final Four team, had been at Hofstra the past few years as Mo Cassara's assistant. When Cassara was fired last month, Sellers was named interim head coach and interviewed for the permanent head coaching position. That job went to former Niagara head man Joe Mihalich, however, and Mihalich brought in his own staff, meaning Sellers had to look elsewhere.

He had a few other opportunities but opted for Creighton, thanks to his friendship with Blue Jay assistant Steve Lutz, as well as a recent visit out to Omaha.

"It's hard not to love Creighton," Sellers said. "They get 18,000 every night, rabid fans, they love their basketball. I had never been to Omaha and I was like, 'Nebraska?' But when I got there I was like, "Wow, this place is big-time.' Great facilities, the fan support is unbelievable. They'd be the 10th-best attended team if they were in the NBA."

Going to Creighton also means Sellers returns to the Big East. The Blue Jays, of course, will be joining the "new" Big East next season.

"It's good to be back," Sellers said.

Cleveland Melvin commited to UConn on Nov. 17, 2009, described by his prep coach as a "freakishly athletic player," and de-commited on March 4, 2010, desring to be more of a wing player rather than an interior guy. Here's a review of his brief, fleeting time "with" the Huskies.

Here's our blog when Melvin officially committed to UConn back on Nov. 17, 2009. Interesting to look at the comments, where we were asked if this eliminated the Huskies from Roscoe Smith contention.

A few days later, we spoke with Melvin at the National Prep Showcase in New Haven, where he was excited to get to UConn because it had "a lot of girls, and all that."

And, on March 4, 2010, here's our blog after Melvin de-commited. His Notre Dame Prep coach, Ryan Hurd, told me at the time:

"It's very mutual. There was open dialogue over the last few days. Cleve expressed his interest to be a wing player, and Coach Calhoun and Coach Sellers expressed interest in him being an interior player over the next four years. Cleve thinks his chance to play at a higher level was playing the wing.


"It's totally amicable."

Hofstra University is becoming UConn West (OK, only a couple hundred miles west, but still west). Patrick Sellers is an assistant coach of the men's basketball team, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel is a player on the team and now Jeff Hathaway is the school's new athletic director.

Here's the press release from Hofstra on Hathaway's hire:

Hofstra University President Stuart Rabinowitz today announced that the University had hired Jeffrey A. Hathaway, formerly the Director of Athletics for the University of Connecticut and the outgoing chairman of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee, as Hofstra University’s new Vice President and Director of Athletics.

“In collegiate athletics, the name Jeff Hathaway means success on any number of levels: in the classroom, on the playing field, in the boardroom, with donors and the media. Most importantly, Jeff’s focus on excellence, ethics, leadership and academics will allow the Hofstra Pride athletics program to move to the next level of excellence,” said Hofstra University President Stuart Rabinowitz. “His tenure at the University of Connecticut was one of unprecedented growth, and under his leadership, we look forward to ushering in a new era of Hofstra Pride athletic success.”

“I am excited to join the Hofstra University community and to have the opportunity to provide leadership and serve the student-athletes, coaches and staff in this outstanding athletics program,” commented Hathaway. “I particularly would like to thank President Stuart Rabinowitz for allowing me to become part of the Hofstra University family.

Throughout my career I have been be part of programs that have competed against Hofstra and I have seen firsthand the success the Pride has had over the years. My primary focus will be on the academic achievement of our student-athletes and providing them the opportunity to participate and achieve in their academic and athletic endeavors as we prepare them for their lives after graduation from Hofstra.”

Hathaway is signing a 5-year agreement with Hofstra University. He will begin in June 2012, at a date to be determined later this week. Eastman & Beaudine assisted in the search, and President Rabinowitz, consistent with the need for confidentiality and speed, consulted with members of the Hofstra University Board of Trustees as appropriate.

“We had an opportunity to bring Jeff to Hofstra so we moved quickly to come to an agreement,” said President Rabinowitz. “We want to thank Danny McCabe and the athletics staff for ensuring a smooth transition.”

Hathaway and President Rabinowitz also confirmed an agreement with Acting Athletic Director Danny McCabe to remain the program’s Executive Associate Director of Athletics

According to Adam Zagoria, Alex Oriakhi had some pretty heady house guests over the past several days: John Calipari, Frank Haith and Chris Mack (coaches of Kentucky, Mizzou and Xavier, respectively, in case you didn't know).

Zags also reports that Oriakhi will visit Missouri this weekend (where he can catch up with former longtime AAU teammate Phil Pressey) and Kentucky the following weekend. North Carolina and Duke aren't out of the picture yet, Oriakhi says, but Washington apparently is.

We'll see where this all ends up. Seems re-uniting with Jamal Coombs-McDaniel and Patrick Sellers at Hofstra won't happen, though they'd love it if it did.

Plenty more UConn-related news sure to come over the next week or so ...

With one former UConn assistant coach already at a rival Big East school (Andre LaFleur as associate head coach at Providence), the Huskies nearly had another plotting against them in conference play.

Patrick Sellers interviewed with Louisville, and apparently had a very good, two-hour meeting with head coach Rick Pitino. Sellers has known Pitino's son, Richard, for a long while, and it was Richard who initiated the interest.

It didn't wind up working out -- perhaps because hiring a UConn guy, with the controversy surrounding the program, might attract some negative attention in the wake of Louisville's own recent controversies. Instead Sellers is at Hofstra, where he'll be an assistant to Mo Cassara. Also on Cassara's staff are former Providence College assistant Steve DeMeo and ex-Syracuse Allen Griffin, so it'll be a bit of a Big East reunion on the Pride staff.

Jim Calhoun did a conference call this morning to promote the Jim Calhoun Ride and Walk, coming up on Saturday, June 11 in Simsbury. He's expecting about 1,000 participants -- hopefully more -- and plans to ride either the 25-mile or 50-mile course.

Calhoun says he's feeling great and that he's working out now at the level he was "about 25 years ago."

"My wife says I’m trying to ride my bike away from something called 'age,'" he joked.

We'll have more on the event later. For now, here's what he said about some issues involving UConn:

Calhoun says he hasn't decided either way on whether he'll retire or not. He said he'll tell recruits that ask that he'll be at UConn, but that few (none from the Class of 2012) have asked.

"The best thing for me to do, very honestly, is just let it happen," Calhoun said. "Right now, I’m doing everything possible to make sure UConn is as strong as it can be … I’m not going to set any more dates ... The best thing for me is to get as much distance from it as I can and … make sure the future of UConn is as bright as it can be."

"It will evolve. It’s just gonna happen," he added. "I’m not going to speak about it again."

*** Calhoun said he expects to add one more new player, possibly within "7-8 days." Otherwise, Ryan Boatright is expected to start summer classes on June 26; Niels Giffey is playing with the junior national team in Germany; Alex Oriakhi may try out for Team USA at the World University Games; Shabazz Napier is intending on attending Chris Paul's camp and Roscoe Smith will attend Amar'e Stoudemire's camp.

***The coach was happy to hear that Patrick Sellers has been hired as an assistant at Hofstra.

"I’m ecstatic," Calhoun said. "I couldn’t be happier for him. Pat’s good for the game, he’s a good person, he was completely exonerated by the NCAA. He’ll be good for the kids. I talked to Mo (Cassara) a great dal about him, and he’ll be a great addition to Hofstra."

*** Calhoun is hearing Kemba Walker could go as high as No. 3 in the NBA draft.

Patrick Sellers was officially named an assistant coach to Mo Cassara at Hofstra today. Could Jamal Coombs-McDaniel be the next ex-Husky to join the Pride?

Here's the press release:


Hofstra University named Patrick Sellers to the position of men's basketball assistant coach, it was announced today by Head Coach Mo Cassara.

Sellers recently served on the men's basketball staff at the University of Connecticut for six years, three as the director of basketball operations from 2004-07 and three as an assistant coach from 2007-10. While serving as an assistant, Sellers was responsible for recruiting several of the players on UConn's 2010-11 national championship team.

Sellers also was responsible for developing Connecticut's frontcourt players during his time as an assistant coach. He worked closely with Hasheem Thabeet and Jeff Adrien, who helped the Huskies reach the 2009 Final Four. Thabeet was the No. 2 pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, while Adrien played this past season for the Golden State Warriors.

Prior to his stint at UConn, Sellers served for one season as an assistant coach at the University of Massachusetts (2003-04) and for four years at his alma mater, Central Connecticut State University (1999-2003). Sellers helped Central Connecticut earn a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances in 2000 and 2002 under head coach Howie Dickenman, as the Blue Devils earned regular season and postseason Northeast Conference titles in both years.

Sellers began his coaching career at the high school level at St. Thomas Aquinas in New Britain, Connecticut. He served as assistant from 1994-97, before taking over head coaching duties in the 1997-98 season, when he guided his team to a conference title. He led the Saints to appearances in the Connecticut state tournament in both seasons as a head coach.

During his playing days at Central Connecticut, Sellers was a team captain as a senior and was named the East Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 1991. He led the Blue Devils in rebounding as a junior and senior and finished with 581 boards in his career. He also has international basketball experience, playing professionally in England after graduating from Central Connecticut and coaching last year in China.

Sellers replaces Allen Griffin on the Hofstra coaching staff, after Griffin resigned to accept an assistant coaching position at Dayton in May.

The Hofstra men's basketball team could start to look like mini-UConn pretty soon.

According to Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com, former UConn assistant coach Patrick Sellers is expected to be named one of Mo Cassara's assistants. And, the Dutchmen are one of the possible destinations for Jamal Coombs-McDaniel, who has already made one unofficial visit to the Hofstra campus and is hoping to take another.

Either way, good to see Sellers land on his feet. He was let go by UConn in the wake of the Nate Miles recruiting violations, but since then his name has been cleared of all wrongdoing.

Groundhog Day doesn’t officially come for another 10 days, but college basketball’s version will transpire this afternoon at the XL Center in Hartford.

After sitting out the last four games, Tennessee men’s coach Bruce Pearl will emerge, cast his rather large shadow on the sideline in the Volunteers’ 2 p.m. (CBS) showdown with UConn, then crawl back into his hole for four more games once today’s matchup is over.

Back in November, Pearl was suspended for the Vols’ first eight Southeastern Conference games by league commissioner Mike Slive for violating NCAA rules and misleading investigators. That came on top of the university’s self-imposed sanctions, which dock Pearl $1.5 million in salary over the next five years and banned him from participating in off-campus recruiting for a year.

However, smack dab in the middle of those first eight SEC games is the non-conference test with the eighth-ranked Huskies (15-2). Pearl admitted it’s a bit of an awkward situation and said he considered sitting out the UConn game, as well, but quickly figured doing so would serve no purpose.

(By the way: didn't Patrick Sellers and Beau Archibald get fired for lying to NCAA investigators? Count me as one who thinks Pearl got off fairly lightly).

Here's what Jim Calhoun had to say (or not say) when asked about meeting with the NCAA committee on infractions on Friday:

"I'm here to coach basketball, and that's what I'm doing right now – and will continue to do that."

And that's about it. When pressed for more details, or if his nearly 14 hours of meetings with the NCAA took longer than expected, he pretty much just repeated the "happy to be here" routine.

The deepest Calhoun got into anything about Friday in Indy was when he veered off-topic a bit while talking about new coaches Kevin Ollie and Glen Miller.

"I saw guys yesterday who I miss, certainly, guys who were here before who I miss as people," he said, referring, of course, to Patrick Sellers and Beau Archibald. "They were great for the program. But, like a lot of things, the changes that occurred – how they occurred is not important – I think both guys have brought in a different kind of perspective, which is always good. The enthusiasm of Kevin, and the mind of Glen, you can't duplicate that."

Ah yes, Ollie definitely brings enthusiasm. That was evident at one point in practice as he preached defensive positioning. Quite frankly, he was as vocal as I've ever seen a UConn assistant coach in my four years on the beat.

"We've kind of put him in charge of that a little more, because he was such a good defender, at the highest level," Calhoun said of Ollie.

Some more notes 'n quotes from today's first practice:

***Calhoun said he arrived back from Indy around 2:30 a.m. and was at Gampel by 6:30for the 10:30 practice.

"I've looked forward to this day, because I think there are some interesting things that could happen. They didn't happen today, so I'm not going to make any kind of proclamation. But, I saw some things today. George (Blaney) keeps preaching patience. If George and I live another 10 years, I think in that 10th year, he'll still be preaching patience to me. I just want it all at once, obviously. That's who we are, and the way I'm built."

Did any particular player surprise Calhoun?

"No. I can't say anybody shocked me, one way or another … You don't know if a kid is just trying to please you when you get on him. Anytime somebody plays to please you, it never works out. They've got to play within what you're trying to do, as opposed to pleasing you personally."

"Kevin's a little impatient, too," the coach added, "which I kind of like about him. There are a lot of things I like about Kevin Ollie, and I like the impatience."

***The Huskies will be back at practice today at 9 a.m. Wednesday is the annual Big East media day at Madison Square Garden. Kemba Walker, Donnell Beverly and Alex Oriakhi are expected to join Calhoun for the trip.

***Oh, Calhoun did add this to reporters about missing First Night on Friday for the first time in his career: "I know you missed me last night, but I have to tell you, I can't reciprocate that feeling."

***Walker didn't think Calhoun was any feistier today than normal.

"He was intense, though," Walker said. "He was very intense today. I don't think it was more than any other time. He was just Coach."

Alex Oriakhi saw a little bit of a difference -- through the eyes of the team's six freshmen.

"I wanted to see how the freshmen react, because now they're getting to see the real coach," Oriakhi said. "He's not the nice guy they saw in the summer and preseason. Now, he's yelling a lot at the freshmen for making little mistakes. Hopefully, they'll learn from that, don't take it personal and just try to get you better."

***Walker on how the freshmen reacted to first practice.

"It's kind of what I expected. First day, a lot of guys were 'The Man' on their high school teams, did whatever they want, just like any other guy coming into college. It's different coming into college."

Freshman Tyler Olander definitely seemed a bit gassed by the end of practice.

"I'm not in high school anymore," he noted. "This is college, you've got to step up and be a man now."

A posting on a pro-Georgetown blog asked in its headline, "Is Connecticut About to Lose Scholarships?", and went on to speculate on the "impending doom" about to hit the program.

The answer to the headline: "Well, umm, Yeah." Or at least most likely.

It's pretty much been assumed all along that the Huskies will dock itself at least a scholarship or two, hasn't it? At least I've always heard it that way. I'm pretty sure the NCAA will agree that the program should lose scholarships. How many? Recruit Angelo Chol Tweeted that the Huskies "lost all their scholarships."

First of all, it's Twitter. Secondly, it's a high school senior, not the greatest source of breaking news. Thirdly, it's Twitter. And plus, we don't even know how many "all their scholarships" will be next year. Two, as it stands now. Or three if Kemba Walker goes pro. Or four if Ater Majok leaves, as has been reported. Or five or six if the two German recruits don't show up ...

According to Michael Buckner (popular guy these days), the NCAA's "rough formula" has been a 2-for-1 penalty: two lost scholarship for every one student-athlete involved in wrongdoing. That would mean two for Nate Miles. Of course, that doesn't explain how USC football was docked 30 scholarships over the next three seasons for the Reggie Bush mess.

“I could see them losing at least two (scholarships), but it wouldn’t surprise me if they lost more," Buckner said of UConn. "I don’t have a basis for it, but that’s up for the appeals committee to decide (if UConn appealed the decision).”

Now, throw all this out the window if Majok's potential departure has anything to do with recruiting violations involving him. A UConn source categorically denies that is the case. If it is, however, the Huskies are in some trouble: unlike Nate Miles, of course, Majok actually did play for the team. Honest.

We'll find out over the next few days (likely a Thursday presser) what UConn's self-imposed sanctions will be. We won't find out how the NCAA ultimately rules until November or December, at the earliest.

Losing scholarships isn't good, but it's hardly a death sentence. Keep in mind, the Huskies were one short last year, and had one scholarship player (Jamaal Trice) who never saw the light of day in Big East action. Oh, and Jon Mandeldove was on scholarship last year, too. OK, last year's a bad example, since the team wasn't so good. But the bottom line is, most fully-funded teams in college hoops have at least two or three skollies wasted at the end of the bench.

Really, there are only two words the Huskies don't want to hear from the NCAA committee on infractions: postseason ban.

Doesn't seem likely, but ...

“I think based on the allegations, there’s probably a remote possibility (of a postseason ban),” said Dan Fitzgerald, a New Haven attorney who specializes in sports law. “I would never say never when you’re dealing with the NCAA. But these are recruiting violations. To me, the most logical sanctions would be recruiting sanctions, punishment parallel to the act.”

Added Buckner: “Based upon what we know, I do not see (a postseason ban), unless there’s some other information that we haven’t seen. Normally, that occurs when you have an ineligible student-athlete that’s involved in some serious NCAA rules violations (and) plays in some kind of NCAA postseason contests.”

Miles, of course, didn't.

“The committee of infractions could still impose that,” Buckner said, “but it would have to explain a sound basis for it. The committee has been trying to implement more stringent penalties lately. Look at the USC case.”

Along with its hefty loss of scholarships (which it is appealing), the USC football program received a two-year postseason ban for what the NCAA deemed a “lack of institutional control” regarding Bush, who allegedly received gifts from sports agents while at the school. UConn has been admonished by the NCAA for “a failure … to adequately monitor the conduct and administration of the men’s basketball staff.” Likewise, Calhoun has failed to “promote an atmosphere of compliance in the men's basketball program,” according to the NCAA.

“The only way a postseason ban would come up,” Fitzgerald said, “is if the lack of compliance was so pronounced – the failure to monitor was more than just negligent, it was reckless. I certainly don’t think they would find that with a program like UConn, that for the most part has been very clean and on the up-and-up.”

Added Buckner: “The only reason I could think of (for the NCAA to hand UConn a postseason ban) is that they’re trying to punish or sanction UConn and its men’s basketball program for not doing the job it should have been doing, in terms of ensuring impermissible contact between agents and boosters is not occurring with prospects. The NCAA is taking a very harsh, stringent approach against not just UConn but USC, (several) SEC, ACC schools, for their dealings with prospects or enrolled student-athletes. They could come up with some reason for a harsh approach, (saying) that you’ve got to be proactive and ensure that your program isn’t doing these things.”

It’s virtually impossible to believe that UConn will self-impose some sort of postseason ban. USC, in its combined investigation of its football and basketball programs, self-imposed a postseason ban for its basketball team the past season, stemming from improper benefits received by O.J. Mayo. Of course, Mayo played a season with the Trojans.

***Oh, had a brief e-mail exchange with Patrick Sellers earlier today. He's coaching the Shanxi Zhongyu Brave Dragons, the team Stephon Marbury played for last year in China. The team is 15-2, and he's happy with the way the players and organization have treated him.

Predictably, he couldn't comment on any NCAA stuff, but ended the e-mail by saying "I guess I will probably see you guys in Indy."

I guess that means Sellers intends on appearing before the NCAA committee on infractions Oct. 15-16 in Indianapolis.

Oh to be a fly on the wall for this one: Jim Calhoun and Joe Pesci chatting on the first tee at the Travelers Championship Celebrity Pro-Am this afternoon at TPC River Highlands.



What little I did hear from the conversation, Calhoun was talking to Pesci about the "now youze can't leave" line in 'A Bronx Tale.' I home Jim knew that it was Chazz Palminteri who uttered that line, not Pesci, who only appeared in one brief scene at the very end of the movie.

Oh, and it's worth noting that Pesci was introduced as an actor who played such iconic roles as "Danny DeVito in Goodfellas." Um, the character's name was Tommy DeVito.

As to the assistant coach search, Calhoun said: "We hope to have something done. Jeff Hathaway is away. He said he'd be back by 6 p.m. tonight and would go to the office so if we can sign some papers tonight or tomorrow hopefully by tomorrow night or Friday we'd have something done."

It has been widely reported that Kevin Ollie (assistant) and Glen Miller (director of basketball administration) are the top candidates to replace Patrick Sellers and Beau Archibald, respectively.

"They still have to sign contracts. After I make a recommendation, they still have to agree with the athletic director on the price and all that type of thing.

Financially, I know one of the candidates has got three other offers, not at this level. Obviously they aren't going to be able to outbid us."

Here's Calhoun teeing off on the first hole, where he heard mostly warm cheers (but I believe I detected a few scattered boos):



Calhoun added that every one of next year's players are on campus right now except Roscoe Smith and Niels Giffey.

Giffey is trying to make a decision on what he wants to do as far as playing with the German under-19 team or not this summer.

Meanwhile, "Kemba (Walker) will be leaving on July 17 to work out with the Olympic team. They announce 10 or 11 college kids will work every day with the Olympic team. It's a nice honor for him."

The annual Jim Calhoun Cancer Challenge Ride and Walk will be held on Saturday, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center in Simsbury.

The ride is open to everyone. There will be non-competitive rides of 10, 25, 50 and 75 miles, and a 5K walk/run. The day will culminate with a massive barbeque, hosted by House of Barbeque, and music by the Timmy Maia Band, one of the Mohegan Sun’s house bands. The public is welcome to attend the barbeque, even if you haven’t competed in the ride/walk.

Many of Calhoun’s former players and current and former assistants are expected to participate. Past regulars have included Donny Marshall, Kevin Ollie, Scott Burrell and Ray Allen – though Mr. Allen appears to be otherwise engaged right now.

Also expect Tom Moore and Andre LaFleur to be there. Past regular Patrick Sellers? Don’t think so.

Last year, of course, Calhoun competed in the 50-mile ride. Midway through the race, he fell off his bike and broke several ribs. Calhoun finished the race, but passed out shortly afterwards.

This year, Calhoun has been asked to do the 25-mile race. Of course, that doesn’t mean he won’t opt for the longer distance.

Jim’s wife, Pat, will lead the 5K walk.

Also, don’t forget that Calhoun’s annual alumni all-star game is slated for Saturday, Aug. 7, at 7:30 p.m. at Mohegan Sun Arena. Tickets go on sale the week after next ($29 for lower bowl seats, $22 for upper bowl seats) at the Mohegan Sun box office or at TicketMaster.

If Jim Calhoun is worried that the NCAA will come down hard on UConn, he’s hardly showing it. And it doesn’t appear to be simply a brave face he’s putting on. Calhoun seems to sincerely believe his program will come out of this without any crippling damage.

“I truly believe at the end, when it’s all said and done, the truth will win out,” he said at Tuesday's 25th Franciscan Sports Banquet, held at Southington's Aqua-Turf Club and his first public appearance since Friday‘s press conference. “I don’t go into this with great fear. There was an article written (by Yahoo ! Sports), the NCAA came in, looked at us for 15 months in every aspect of our program and made certain allegations. At the end of the day, I’m not telling you everything is going to be just fine and dandy, but … I think we had one of the better recruiting classes we’ve had in quite some time. People in our program our positive. A few mistakes were made, and we’ll go forward.”

He added: “There is nothing else to do in life, whether you fall off a bike and break a couple of ribs, you’ve got to get back on it. You’ve got to know who you are and what we’ve done. I know who I am, and I know what we have done. Do I know every single intimate detail? Obviously not. But I truly believe I know who I am …”

Numerous celebrities from the sports world were on hand on Tuesday, including Hamden’s George Grande, the former ESPN anchor and longtime baseball play-by-play man who received the Saint Francis Award. ESPN anchor Chris Berman, former UConn assistant and current CCSU head man Howie Dickenman and UConn athletic director Jeff Hathaway were there, as well.

Oh, and this was interesting: also in the house was was Quinnipiac head coach Tom Moore, the former UConn assistant.

There seems to be no ill will towards Moore, and no visible panic from Calhoun or Hathaway about the program’s future. Rather, Calhoun is upbeat about the future -- some of which has already arrived in Storrs.

Calhoun wouldn't comment on colleague Dave Solomon's report that UConn is set to hire Kevin Ollie as an assistant to replace Patrick Sellers, who recently resigned.

“We’re not discussing any personnel matters. Right now, I think the job was posted. We’ve got to hope over the next 10, 11 days, we’ll have an opportunity to name somebody as an assistant. That’s the first place we’d head. I think we’ll have to look at that director of basketball operations position a little bit different. They have more contact with the university. We have some very experienced and very good people in their own positions right now.”

“It’s procedural right now, and any comment by anybody could hurt the process, because what happens then, someone could feel it was an unfair search. That’s happened before.”

“Right now, no one has been offered the job, no one has been named … I think we’re going to do a good job of replacing Pat, who I love dearly, and then Beau’s position will be replaced second.”

Happy Memorial Day, everyone. Hope you all enjoyed this perfect day.

I'm willing to bet that, if you're reading this blog, you had a conversation or two about the Huskies over the grill or by the pool or at the beach (in Rhode Island, of course) over the weekend. It certainly came up with me, and the reactions by UConn fans were fairly predictable: "I can't wait 'til the NCAA goes after Kentucky," and, "These kind of things go on with almost every major program in the country." Those types of things.

While I have no idea whether there any probe into Kentucky's program is in the works (I've heard the rumors, but that's all they are -- rumors), I tend to agree with the latter comment. It's a pretty safe bet that many of the indiscretions UConn is accused of -- impermissable phone calls and text messages, dealing with unsavory characters (like Josh Nochimson) in pursuit of recruits, doling out a few extra tickets to AAU coaches and recruits -- probably happen at numerous other programs around the country, to varying degrees.

How rampant is it? No idea. But these things assuredly go on. UConn, however, became the target of a couple of journalists from Yahoo ! Sports, and got caught. Did these writers have it in for UConn? Again, no idea, but several people who've been around the program in different capacities for years swear that at least one of the writers has vowed to get Jim Calhoun for some 15 years now. Well, he got him.

Here's a parallel that might work: a football player using steroids gets busted by Mark Fainaru-Wada in his never-ending, exhaustive investigation into PED use by athletes. The player knows lots of other guys (maybe nearly every other guy) are using, but what's he going to do? He got caught, and he's got to take his medicine (so to speak) and move on. No sense finger-pointing and saying, "He's using, too!" That just comes across as babyish. (And, lest we forget, maybe most other guys aren't doing it -- just like with the NCAA. Maybe the vast majority of programs are squeeky clean. We just don't know).

So there's really no point in whining that everybody else is doing it. UConn got nabbed, and it must suffer the consequences. There's no excuse for breaking the rules, even if some of them seem rather minor and, possibly, the definition of some of the rules wasn't clear to begin with.

The biggest thing that stands out to me in this whole process is the scrutiny that UConn gets. Not long before the allegations against UConn were announced, Yahoo ! Sports reported that a high-ranking member of the Kansas University athletic department and the father of a prominent Jayhawk athlete allegedly made more than $800,000 in a ticket-scalping operation that was orchestrated by hoops power brokers David and Dana Pump. That could get real ugly.

And has anyone noticed what's going on over at Providence? Over the last month, three players have been booted out of school: two of them for allegedly beating up a fellow student for no apparent reason other than they felt like beating someone up, the other, we've been told, for involving some underage kids in some illicit activity in his dorm room (let's just say the player supposedly had a female friend who was very, umm ... giving). We hear Keno Davis (who just lost a key assistant, Pat Skerry, to Pittsburgh) was one of only two coaches not at the recent Big East coaches' meetings, for what it's worth. (Rick Pitino was the other).

Look around, though, and it seems it's UConn that gets the bulk of the focus by the national media. Or how many national writers have essentially rung the death knell for the Huskies' program over the past few days?

I have a few theories on this. For one, UConn is a major program that is held to a higher standard. That's why its alleged indiscretions make the ESPN scroll, while you see very little time devoted to Providence. (Seriously, can you imagine the media firestorm if three UConn players had been expelled from school over the past month? Calhoun may have lost his job).

Also, Calhoun has rubbed a lot of people the wrong way over the years. Now, as things look bad around him, many media types who have never particularly cared for him are sharpening the knives.

Finally, I truly believe the fact that UConn's location leads to a lot of its publicity -- bad or good. It's proximity to ESPN (and its location in the East Coast media market, less than two hours from New York City) helps make UConn one of the most exposed programs in the country. Why do you think seemingly every ESPN anchor knows Stanley Robinson's nickname is "Sticks," yet probably couldn't tell you more than two starters from Gonzaga, or even UCLA? Why do you think Calhoun appears on Mike Francesa's show seemingly as often as Joe Girardi? Why do you think fans still -- still! - to this day chant "Where's my laptop?" at UConn games, and why Calhoun's rant at Ken Krayeske made national headlines for several days?

Bottom line: UConn almost certainly did wrong, and must pay the piper. The general consensus is probation, loss of a scholarship, certainly recruiting restrictions are in the offing. It's already cost Patrick Sellers and Beau Archibald their jobs. Maybe the penalties will be a little stiffer.

But UConn definitely seems to get scrutinized and criticized on a national level far more than other programs. And if that sounds like a homer talking, think again: I didn't grow up a UConn fan and still am not, but rather an impartial beat writer who covers the team. I was born and raised in Rhode Island and lived there for 37 years. If I were a "homer," I'd be defending Providence's program -- which no one in their right mind would do at this point in time.

OK, it was more than just about 30 improper phone calls over a four-year period. It was actually at least 160 impermissable phone calls and 191 text messages that the NCAA alleges UConn's coaching staff to have made from June, 2005 to February, 2009.

According to the notice of allegations, Beau Archibald made 114 impermissable phone calls and 181 texts between Aug. 9, 2007 and June 13, 2008; Andre LaFleur made 13 improper calls and eight texts; Patrick Sellers placed 19 impermissable calls and one text; George Blaney (not named specifically but referred to as "then assistant and current associate head men's basketball coach") made at least five impermissable phone calls; Tom Moore made four improper calls and Jim Calhoun placed two impermissable calls.

There are also numerous allegations that then-agent Josh Nochimson provided impermissable benefits to recruits.

So what will it all mean for UConn? We won't know for at least a few months, but it still appears that the likely punishments will be recruiting restrictions and loss of a scholarship or two.

"If it’s a recruiting case, then you look for recruiting sanctions," said Rick Evrard, UConn's legal counsel in NCAA-related matters. "If it’s a competitive-advantage case, where a student-athlete has competed while ineligible, then you look for vacation of contests, wins, participation in NCAA tournaments. If it has to do with academic fraud, you’re going to look institutionally at the systems in place."

Nate Miles, who appears to be the subject of most if not all of the improprieties, never played for UConn. Hence, the Huskies wouldn't have to worry about an ineligible player having played for them.

In his opening statement at Friday morning's press conference, Calhoun labels the process as the NCAA's "inquiry into our recruitment of a particular student-athlete," which, of course, would be Miles. However, it's possible some of the violations involve kids who have played at UConn.

Either way, UConn has 90 days to review the NCAA's allegations and institute self-imposed penalties. At the end, the NCAA can either concur with UConn's suggested penalties -- or treat them more harshly.

"It’s a balancing act," Evrard said, "trying to evaluate making sure that you self-impose meaningful penalties, versus the committee of infractions evaluation of what you do … does this institution get it? If you’re too light on yourself, you risk the possibility of having additional penalties imposed by the committee. If you hit it on the mark, and the institution and committee on infractions are lock-step and say ‘This is about right,’ then sometimes the institution will question itself, ‘Did we hit ourselves too hard?’"

Some statements from Jeff Hathaway and Jim Calhoun:

HATHAWAY:
“Let me be clear: the University of Connecticut is fully committed to NCAA rules compliance, and takes this matter very seriously. With regard to Coach Calhoun, he personally has a long-standing history of demonstrating commitment to NCAA compliance. We appreciate his continued commitment, as well as the full cooperation and support that he has provided throughout this process.

“These are serious matters. We have a demonstrated commitment to NCAA compliance … we’re proud of our record of compliances. It’s a serious matter, we understand that, but we’re fully engaged to resolve this situation.”

CALHOUN:
"We all have to comply by the same rules and regulations, so that we all have the same chance to compete, to recruit, to run programs. It comes down to a level playing field. We all have the same rules, and we’re all expected to comply. That’s why I would consider it very important that we all comply by the rules.

"I pride myself, my love of the university, my players, the program, the institution and, quite frankly, the state. It’s certainly one of the lowest points (of my career), any time you’re accused of something. It’s a very serious matter. Conversely, I’m not defeated. I don’t get defeated by things. As a matter of fact, I’m going to be educated by certain matters if, in fact, we did make mistakes – which I think I said 15 months ago – and we’ll finalize some of that over the next 90 days. And we will go forward.

“No one wants this to happen. Did I see it happening? No. But it happened, therefore we’re going to handle it the way we’ve always handled things – upfront, transparently, and do the best we possibly can if we have made mistakes.

"We are steadfast in our beliefs that we operate a program deeply committed to complying with NCAA guidelines. In my 38 years as a collegiate head coach, 25 of which I’ve been at the University of Connecticut, I look with particular pride on our strong record of compliance, and the impact we’ve made on the young people who have come through our program.

"Though we may have made some mistakes in the recruiting process, UConn has never wavered in terms of fostering and maintaining a strong culture of compliance, and has always strived to meet the highest standard possible, and the highest standard expected of us."

A few other interesting tidbits:

***Calhoun, Hathaway, faculty athletics representative Scott Brown, LaFleur, Sellers, Archibald and director of compliance Marielle Van Gelder are requested to appear before the NCAA Committee on Infractions on Oct. 15-16.

***Evrard said he believes this is the first time UConn has ever received a letter of allegations from the NCAA.

***He also said the resignations of Sellers and Archibald were "probably just coincidental, to the fact that it’s the end of the academic year or perhaps the end of (their) contract … In this case, it’s just a matter of timing.”

***Archibald resisnged on May 20; Sellers this past Sunday.

***The process for finding replacements for Archibald and Sellers began today, simply in terms of filing paperwork to human resources to get approvals to post for the jobs.

***According to Evrard, similar past cases (Kelvin Sampson, anyone?) are "very relevant. The committee on infractions relies on its case precedent to evaluate cases that are coming up the pike and the ones that they hear. All cases that have any relations – circumstantial relations, similar patterns of allegations or violations – they evaluate all of that and prepare a response accordingly.”

***These are considered major violations, but that could be more semantics than anything else. Violations that are viewed as isolated or inadvertant are labeled as secondary. Virtually everything else is deemed "major."

"If you move out of scope of secondary violation, you become involved with every other major case that’s ever come down the pike," Evrard said. "There’s no levels of major, which I think is unfortunate for many institutions, because they get lumped into … I’ll harken back a long time ago to a Florida State case. They had four elements of a lack of institutional control, and they put it into a major category. But the four elements that comprised the lack of institutional control were relatively minor. Standing alone,they all would be secondary. The facst of the matter is that that case is in the same category of SMU and Alabama and some other major cases.

According to a source, UConn made about 30,000 phone calls from 2005-2009, and the NCAA has deemed about 30 of them to be impermissable. The program, this source claims, has been assured that it will not be banned from any postseason play for the indiscretions. The likely punishments: recruiting restrictions (one less assistant coach on the road, etc.) and perhaps a scholarship.

Also, it seems at least one of the assistants (Patrick Sellers) was simply caught in some inconsistencies in his interviews with the NCAA.

That's what we've been told so far. More to come ...

UConn assistant coach Patrick Sellers and director of basketball operations Beau Archibald have resigned from the program over the past week, according to a source.

Their resignations stem from a letter of allegations that UConn recently received from the NCAA, alleging that the men’s basketball program committed infractions. UConn has 90 days to respond to those allegations and implement self-imposed sanctions. The NCAA would then either accept or change those suggestions.

It looks like the Huskies could be looking at a reduction of one or two scholarships, probably not for next season but spread out over the next few seasons, and potentially fewer recruiting visits, as well.

Sellers and Archibald are the only two members of UConn’s current staff that have been and will be let go. Apparently, Tom Moore is completely in the clear, according to his lawyer.

It appears that the resignations of Sellers and Archibald may have less to do with the alleged recruiting violations, but rather with their dealings with the NCAA during its investigation.

Cleveland Melvin, the 6-foot-8, "freakishly athletic" Class of 2010 forward out of Notre Dame Prep, has backed out of his committment to attend UConn.

"It's very mutual," said Notre Dame coach Ryan Hurd. "There was open dialogue over the last few days. Cleve expressed his interest to be a wing player, and Coach Calhoun and Coach Sellers expressed interest in him being an interior player over the next four years. Cleve thinks his chance to play at a higher level was playing the wing.

"It's totally amicable."

Melvin, a Baltimore native, had verbally committed to the Huskies in November. According to Hurd, Melvin has already heard from many of the same suitors he had before committing to UConn: South Florida, Seton Hall, Miami, Marquette, Oklahoma State, TCU.

"Cleve has a ton of respect for the guys at UConn," Hurd added. "Probably even more now that they realized it wasn't the right fit. How much courage does it take to say to Coach Calhoun, 'UConn's a great basketball program, but I'm looking for something different.' That's a bold statement on his part."