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UConn, You Can Still Compete

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 2, 2008

The Connecticut Huskies (15-5, 5-3), shooting for their fifth straight victory, face the Pittsburgh Panthers (17-4, 5-3) in today's Big East Conference headliner. UConn can amplify what has been a fairly remarkable 10-day span of basketball.

•Winning at Cincinnati 84-83, rallying from a 12-point deficit with 5:51 to play.

•Upsetting No. 7-ranked Indiana 68-63 on the road, even without suspended guards Jerome Dyson and Doug Wiggins.

•Two days later, still short-handed, holding off Louisville 69-67 with A.J. Price working for 20 points and seven rebounds in 39 minutes of play.

"The character they displayed makes me proud they wear the uniform that says Connecticut on it," Huskies coach Jim Calhoun said. "I do think we have some pretty good basketball players. Right now, we don't have enough of them, all the time. We've been able to survive a couple of games."

Louisville coach Rick Pitino said he wasn't surprised.

"What I've found in coaching, the wounded tiger is much more dangerous," Pitino said. "You can't get too down with this league because you don't know where your wins are going to come from.

"I'm sure Pitt looked on the schedule and said, 'I think we can get Rutgers tonight Rutgers won.' I'm sure we looked down on the schedule and said, 'I think we can get Cincinnati tonight Cincinnati won.'"

It doesn't work that way.

Not in the rugged Big East, where Georgetown (17-2, 7-1) leads the way, where the next 10 teams in the standings are, incredibly, separated by just one game.

And one of those teams is surging UConn, even with its depleted lineup.

Courtside

Memphis Coach John Calipari

The Memphis Tigers (20-0, 6-0 Conference USA) defeated Houston 89-77 on Wednesday night for the best start in school history.

Memphis coach John Calipari talks about his team, the last remaining unbeaten in Division I.

Have you thought about finishing with an unbeaten record?

The only time we'll think about that is April 7 [night of the national championship game]. If we're undefeated at that time, we're all going to be really happy. Two years ago, Florida lost four straight games and went on to win the national title. So winning every game is not what we're trying to do. We're trying to win a national title.

What has changed since the last unbeaten team in Division I (1975-76 Indiana)?

The parity. To have a team like Coach [Bobby] Knight had, which, I believe all five starters were first-round draft picks … nowadays, if a kid is that good, he doesn't stay. I don't care if he's at North Carolina, Duke, Kentucky, Kansas. It was unusual that Billy [Donovan] got those guys to stay at Florida. Three of them could have left and there never would have been a back-to-back.

What do you like most about your team?

The biggest thing is we are swarming. Our team defense has been really good. It has made us more aggressive, where players aren't afraid to take chances and go after people because they know other players have their back.

The New England Patriots are trying to go undefeated in the NFL. Are you watching them?

I've been following it very closely. I love what [Patriots linebacker] Junior Seau said: 'We major in the major and minor in the minor here in New England.' If something isn't important, they don't dwell on it. I want the same thing for our team because there are so many experts out there saying that our team is not that good. If they weren't in that league [C-USA] or this or that. I mean, who cares? Those are all minor things. I've never tried to make it us against the world. We're watching [the Patriots] very closely. And whether we go undefeated or not, we'd still be watching very closely, just to learn from what they are doing.

Joey Johnston

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