Big East Notes : Connecticut’s Calhoun Takes Flak for Pouring It On

Maybe somebody should remind Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun that he finished dead last in the conference last season. He seems to have forgotten what it feels like.

With a 51-20 lead over Boston College, a beleaguered crew on an eight-game losing streak, Calhoun refused to do the good thing Saturday and empty his bench as Jim Boeheim did in Syracuse’s monster defeat of St. John’s. Calhoun didn’t substitute for his regulars until less than four minutes remained in the 86-49 blowout.

Nor would Calhoun call the Huskies off Boston College point guard Dana Barros, a star on a mediocre team who has made at least one three-pointer in 62 straight games, second-best in National Collegiate Athletic Association history to Virginia Tech’s Wally Lancaster.

“I’m not saying how Jim Calhoun should coach his team,” said Boston College Coach Jim O’Brien, “but I just know that every dog has his day and there will absolutely be other days.” The teams meet again next Wednesday at Boston College.

Even the crowd implored Calhoun to clear his bench, with chants for freshman center Dan Cyrulik. “Crowds aren’t coaches; crowds don’t have bad stomachs from coaching basketball games,” the UConn coach said. “Coaches look at it differently. When you’ve coached against a Dana Barros for four years and he brings the ball up the floor, you’re not thinking about substitutions. You’re thinking if he makes three or four three-pointers, they’re right back in it. That’s what coaches think; that’s why we’re called coaches and that’s why we’re probably a little crazy.”

But the Eagles never got closer than 25 points over the final 18:39. Calhoun pointed out that he only played top scorer Cliff Robinson 19 minutes. But Robinson, hobbled by a sprained ankle, had four fouls when he came out. “I have never run up a score and I never will,” said Calhoun, who claims to “have empathy” for O’Brien.

Syracuse junior Derrick Coleman, who’s averaging 17.6 points, now has 1,019 career rebounds as he closes in on Rony Seikaly’s Syracuse record of 1,094. He’s averaging 11.6 boards a game, fourth in the nation. Against St. John’s, he broke Seikaly’s team record for blocked shots in a season, 97. He now has 101.

Impressed? Coleman is. “It’s a major step in my career,” he said. “I want to be known as a complete player and not just be labeled as ‘Derrick Coleman, power forward.’ I think I’ve accomplished a lot here; I think I have a ways to go.”

So Derrick, which way will you go -- off to the NBA early or back to Syracuse as a senior? “I’m not sure at all,” he said. “I’ll have to sit down and discuss it with my family and high school coach and the coach here.”

Reporters won’t be the first to know. Coleman isn’t talking to them. He’s still irked that they dared cover his on-campus brawling one Saturday night in December, for which he was charged with harassment and disorderly conduct, and sentenced to 50 hours of community service.

Meet Orlando Vega. Haven’t heard of him? The 6-5 swingman is enrolled at Providence this semester after transferring from Arizona, last week’s No. 1 team. A freshman sidelined because he failed to meet the academic standards of Proposition 48, he’ll be eligible, grades willing, next January.

At last year’s Dapper Dan Classic, he was named MVP over Alonzo Mourning and Billy Owens and LSU’s spectacular guard Chris Jackson. He grew up fast in Washington, D.C. He told the Providence Journal he knew his mother was a drug addict by the time he was 7 years old. “I knew I had the talent because I always could do things against the best players and if I didn’t have basketball, I would’ve started stealing like everyone else was doing,” he said.

Both Oklahoma and UNLV were interested after he left Arizona in November. Vega averaged 30 points his senior year at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia. But Rick Barnes had recruited him last year at George Mason, and Vega didn’t care for the West. He wanted to come back East.

“I always used to promise my grandmother that one day she’d see me play at Madison Square Garden,” he said. “And now it looks like I’m going to get that chance. But I’m going to do something with my life with or without basketball. I’ve come too far not to make it now.”

Pitt sophomore Sean Miller has been emptying his stomach before and at halftime of games. “It seems like all I’ve been doing is throwing up,” he said. “I think it’s a combination of things. My stomach has been bothering me ... plus it’s a lot of nerves. I’m the kind of person who gets hyper before a game.”

But in the Panthers’ 79-74 upset of Georgetown Saturday, Miller tied his career high with 11 assists, scored two points and did not vomit once. “I was much more relaxed before the game and didn’t have much of a problem,” said Miller, who is averaging 10.6 points, 6.2 assists and 3.2 turnovers in league play. He goes for a checkup this week.

Syracuse players expressed their frustration after Monday night’s 61-54 loss to Georgetown in Landover, Md. The Orangemen have lost six straight to the Hoyas, and they’re 0-9 at the Capital Centre.

“Ever since I’ve been here, we’ve never beaten Georgetown,” junior forward Stevie Thompson said. “We lost to them three times my freshman year and this makes six in a row. This is a real hurting feeling. All I know is, I’m not going to leave Syracuse with a record like that.”