[Hold My Own]

You know, I've heard this a few times and wanted to see what yall've heard or seen about the integrity of Uconn basketball

I was listening to the Tony Kornheiser show on XM and he was talking about how there are Coach's like Coach K and Coach Knight and others who dont like Uconn basketball or the coach for that matter b/c it's a known fact that it's not a clean program at all

LUconn I figured you to follow Uconn pretty good and prob. have the most insight on this issue....just wanted to see what yall had to say about it

[Sly Fox]

I have no direct knowledge of the Huskies, but that is certainly the reputation whether it is warranted or not.

[Hold My Own]

That's funny that LUconn posts that article right after I posted this kinda along the same lines...I really want LUconn's take on this....

Thats right I'm callin you out LUconn

[LUconn]

It's not a dirty program though. They have exactly 0 NCAA violations. They even sat Charlie Villanueva out half of his freshman year while the NCAA decided what, if any, money he needs to pay back while he worked out for NBA scouts the summer before. Coach K probably doesn't like him because Calhoun owns him. He's 4-2 against him and 2 of those were in the final 4. Kornheiser works for the Washington Post and knows Gary Williams very well. Calhoun has cleaned up recruiting in Maryland in recent years becasue GW is a very lazy recruiter. The latest was Rudy Gay in which Williams saw that Uconn played the Beltway Ballers, which was a team that was created by Rudy's AAU coach to play Uconn in a preseason game. The school pays these teams money, and although the $50k was paid to Baltimore Parks & Rec, it looks fishy. This is a common practice (see EA Sports All Stars) only they play many teams, not just one like happened in this case. Since then, it has been made a violation. (although many people think it was becuase of this, it was acutally NorthWestern who proposed the rule because Minnesota recruited a player from them by doing the same thing. Uconn was just a higher profile case so everyone assumes it was because of them). Another problem is internet message boards. People always seem to know someone who goes to Uconn, or they know a players mom, and they all seem to drive escalades and navigators. And everone believes it. The fact is, I've seen Ben Gordon on Uconn's campus driving before. The #3 lotter pick drove around the biggest peice of crap (I think it was a Chevette) for the 3 years he was there. It was pathetic. So anyway, successful programs are always trying to be brought down. I don't know why Coach Knight wouldn't like them.

[Agent2Be]

I do not like Calhoun (Pitt bias), but you cant argue with his results. Say what you want in the media and message boards, but there are 0 violations. The NCAA is no dummy. They are out there looking for violations - especially in high profile programs. Why is Coach K above reproach? Why does no one questions Roy Williams? I'll tell you why - they are polished media darlings. Calhoun is not pretty and little rough, but he runs a darn good program and get recruits out of some stalwart programs back yard because he and his staff hustle. They dont say, "We are UConn, you should be honored to come play for us", they are out in the trenches heavily recruiting the blue chippers. I mean, look at the disadvantage they have in geography (have you been to Connecticut in the winter) and academics (they are no slouch, but nothing compared to the UNC's and Dukes of the world); but they still crank out NBA players. Classic case of some upper level coaching jealousy.

[bigsmooth]

not a calhoun myself, but as the agent says the results speak for themselves. how uconn's program got that rep is beyond me, but after dave leitao came to UVA and doing research on him, i have gained a new found respect for calhoun and any coach who somes from the calhoun tree.

[LUconn]

like Karl Hobbs? Anybody catch that George Washington game last night? Probably not since the LU game was on at the same time, but yowza, that's an exciting team to watch.