They gotta find somebody to punish? Right?
http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/...-letting-report-become-a-distraction?MSNHPHMA
GLENDALE, Ariz. - Another roadside distraction has confronted the University of Connecticut men's basketball team on a March Madness journey the Huskies are hoping leads to the Final Four in Detroit.
'Fully eligible' Video: UConn coach Jim Calhoun says the university is taking the allegations very seriously, and that the recruit was fully eligible.
The latest crisis was invited by an online report that alleges potential violations regarding the program's recruitment of former Huskies swingman Nate Miles.
"I've been through some things in my life," Huskies coach Jim Calhoun said during a Wednesday afternoon press conference scheduled to shed strategic light on UConn's Sweet 16 showdown with Purdue. "The only thing I know is move forward and stand up and be counted."
OK, while we're counting, let's take a look at what the Huskies have faced this season.
For starters, personal issues kept gifted forward Stanley Robinson out of uniform during the early portion of this season. But after Robinson returned and the Huskies were looking typically formidable, a knee injury claimed junior guard Jerome Dyson.
Add a ballyhooed press conference encounter with a fiscally conscientious freelance journalist to a health issue that caused him to miss the opening round of the NCAA tournament, and Calhoun could be this close to needing a significant realignment.
"I can only control those things I can control," Calhoun told a couple dozen reporters seated in the soft underbelly at University of Phoenix Stadium. "I try to control the officials, but that's another story."
And that was Calhoun's lurch toward levity in the wake of an impeccably timed bombshell.
According to a report posted early Wednesday morning by Yahoo! Sports, former Connecticut student and team manager Josh Nochimson provided representation and numerous perks to Miles between 2006 and 2008. Nochimson, who had become an NBA player agent after leaving the university, would - under NCAA interpretation - be affiliated with UConn's recruiting interests.
He filed decertification papers with the NBA in 2008 after former Huskies star Richard Hamilton terminated him as a business manager and accused Nochimson of stealing more than $1 million.
According to the report, in 2006, then-Connecticut assistant coach Tom Moore reportedly made Nochimson aware of Miles, a 6-foot-7, 170-pound wing player who was expelled from the university after violating a restraining order in 2008. Miles left UConn for the College of Southern Idaho, where he averaged 19.1 points and four rebounds in nine games this season for the long-time junior college power.
Moore, who currently is the head coach at Quinnipiac, Calhoun and other members of the Huskies' coaching staff allegedly were in frequent contact with Nochimson and Miles during the prospect's junior year of high school. The NCAA allows one call per month to a prospective player or his family during this junior year; according to phone records obtained by Yahoo! Sports, Moore reportedly made three calls to Miles and several to a guardian and a man identified as an uncle of the player during December 2006.
The report tracked the Nochimson-Moore-Miles link back to Nov. 11, 2006, when the player was participating in a prep showcase tournament near Chicago. Moore reportedly informed the agent that UConn had a strong recruiting interest in Miles, prompting Nochimson to make contact with the prospect later that day.
Eight days later, Miles committed to the Huskies during an unofficial visit to the school.
Miles, who attended five high schools over three years, was kicked out of Connecticut for allegedly assaulting a female student and violating a since-dismissed restraining order. After a 16-week probationary period mandated by junior college rules, Miles first suited up Feb. 6 for the CSI Eagles.
In response to the report, Connecticut's sports information department issued a release that didn't mention Miles by name but did indicate the school had responded to a Freedom of Information request filed by Yahoo! Sports.
Calhoun, armed with this press release the university had dispatched a few hours earlier, characterized the story as an issue that has nothing to do with any current Huskies and, thus, irrelevant to Thursday's looming battle with Purdue.
"The only thing we can do is play basketball," Calhoun said. "I can't control what people do, say and how they act toward us. I can just control what we do on the court against Purdue."
While Calhoun seems to have publicly compartmentalized this speed bump on the road to the Final Four, it must be difficult to keep it from becoming a distraction to his players, right?
Perhaps not. These players are well-coached.
Seniors Jeff Adrien and A.J. Price preceded Calhoun to the interview hall and claimed the presumed Miles distraction was no distraction at all.
"We're just mentally tough," said Adrien, well-cast as a power forward. "It starts with our coach. We're just mentally tough kids."
Price, the point guard whose responsibilities grew when Dyson went down, concurred.
"Everything else will come out in the wash and take care of itself," he said. "We really don't pay any attention to it. We don't know anything about it."
According to their coach, the players did know the Phoenix Suns were scheduled to play a home game Wednesday night, and that any road trip means different dining options.
Other than that, Calhoun instructed his team, which whacked far-lesser foes in the tournament's opening weekend, to remain focused on the task at hand.
"We're here to beat Purdue," the coach said when asked what he told his team.
As road trips go, that seems like enough confrontation to satisfy everyone.
http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/...-letting-report-become-a-distraction?MSNHPHMA
GLENDALE, Ariz. - Another roadside distraction has confronted the University of Connecticut men's basketball team on a March Madness journey the Huskies are hoping leads to the Final Four in Detroit.
'Fully eligible' Video: UConn coach Jim Calhoun says the university is taking the allegations very seriously, and that the recruit was fully eligible.
The latest crisis was invited by an online report that alleges potential violations regarding the program's recruitment of former Huskies swingman Nate Miles.
"I've been through some things in my life," Huskies coach Jim Calhoun said during a Wednesday afternoon press conference scheduled to shed strategic light on UConn's Sweet 16 showdown with Purdue. "The only thing I know is move forward and stand up and be counted."
OK, while we're counting, let's take a look at what the Huskies have faced this season.
For starters, personal issues kept gifted forward Stanley Robinson out of uniform during the early portion of this season. But after Robinson returned and the Huskies were looking typically formidable, a knee injury claimed junior guard Jerome Dyson.
Add a ballyhooed press conference encounter with a fiscally conscientious freelance journalist to a health issue that caused him to miss the opening round of the NCAA tournament, and Calhoun could be this close to needing a significant realignment.
"I can only control those things I can control," Calhoun told a couple dozen reporters seated in the soft underbelly at University of Phoenix Stadium. "I try to control the officials, but that's another story."
And that was Calhoun's lurch toward levity in the wake of an impeccably timed bombshell.
According to a report posted early Wednesday morning by Yahoo! Sports, former Connecticut student and team manager Josh Nochimson provided representation and numerous perks to Miles between 2006 and 2008. Nochimson, who had become an NBA player agent after leaving the university, would - under NCAA interpretation - be affiliated with UConn's recruiting interests.
He filed decertification papers with the NBA in 2008 after former Huskies star Richard Hamilton terminated him as a business manager and accused Nochimson of stealing more than $1 million.
According to the report, in 2006, then-Connecticut assistant coach Tom Moore reportedly made Nochimson aware of Miles, a 6-foot-7, 170-pound wing player who was expelled from the university after violating a restraining order in 2008. Miles left UConn for the College of Southern Idaho, where he averaged 19.1 points and four rebounds in nine games this season for the long-time junior college power.
Moore, who currently is the head coach at Quinnipiac, Calhoun and other members of the Huskies' coaching staff allegedly were in frequent contact with Nochimson and Miles during the prospect's junior year of high school. The NCAA allows one call per month to a prospective player or his family during this junior year; according to phone records obtained by Yahoo! Sports, Moore reportedly made three calls to Miles and several to a guardian and a man identified as an uncle of the player during December 2006.
The report tracked the Nochimson-Moore-Miles link back to Nov. 11, 2006, when the player was participating in a prep showcase tournament near Chicago. Moore reportedly informed the agent that UConn had a strong recruiting interest in Miles, prompting Nochimson to make contact with the prospect later that day.
Eight days later, Miles committed to the Huskies during an unofficial visit to the school.
Miles, who attended five high schools over three years, was kicked out of Connecticut for allegedly assaulting a female student and violating a since-dismissed restraining order. After a 16-week probationary period mandated by junior college rules, Miles first suited up Feb. 6 for the CSI Eagles.
In response to the report, Connecticut's sports information department issued a release that didn't mention Miles by name but did indicate the school had responded to a Freedom of Information request filed by Yahoo! Sports.
Calhoun, armed with this press release the university had dispatched a few hours earlier, characterized the story as an issue that has nothing to do with any current Huskies and, thus, irrelevant to Thursday's looming battle with Purdue.
"The only thing we can do is play basketball," Calhoun said. "I can't control what people do, say and how they act toward us. I can just control what we do on the court against Purdue."
While Calhoun seems to have publicly compartmentalized this speed bump on the road to the Final Four, it must be difficult to keep it from becoming a distraction to his players, right?
Perhaps not. These players are well-coached.
Seniors Jeff Adrien and A.J. Price preceded Calhoun to the interview hall and claimed the presumed Miles distraction was no distraction at all.
"We're just mentally tough," said Adrien, well-cast as a power forward. "It starts with our coach. We're just mentally tough kids."
Price, the point guard whose responsibilities grew when Dyson went down, concurred.
"Everything else will come out in the wash and take care of itself," he said. "We really don't pay any attention to it. We don't know anything about it."
According to their coach, the players did know the Phoenix Suns were scheduled to play a home game Wednesday night, and that any road trip means different dining options.
Other than that, Calhoun instructed his team, which whacked far-lesser foes in the tournament's opening weekend, to remain focused on the task at hand.
"We're here to beat Purdue," the coach said when asked what he told his team.
As road trips go, that seems like enough confrontation to satisfy everyone.
