I’m dismayed, frustrated, angry, totally exhausted, violently sick and actually feeling a little stupid for staying up and watching every minute of the six overtime, marathon UCONN 127 to 117 loss to Jim Boeheim and company. When this annoying affair was finally over I felt like I had been sucking on a lemon for almost 4 hours. Now, before I really get going, I’ll try to first be kind and by giving the Huskies an A for effort. Then, relative to their ability to get the job done, I must give them and their coach a BIG FAT F. No excuses are good excuses relative to this, once again, quick exit from the Big East Tournament. Even worse than losing was the fact that it came at the hands of a team they should have beat.

After this game, I couldn’t help but sit in bed and laugh when I thought about “Jimbo” Calhoun and the question he had to answer regarding his taking a voluntary cut in pay to help the State of CT, with the current budget crisis. “Jimbo” your response, “Not a dime” should now be “NOT A PENNY”! If this nightmarish affair didn’t cost you some sleep, hair or years off your life, you must have had blinders on the entire game. That said, I do have three new questions for you and I think all of them are good and fair to ask.

1. When I see this team repeatedly making stupid plays, are they doing what you’ve instructed them to do or simply hard of hearing? This game was a microcosm of the entire season when it came to the players doing things that all season long have repeatedly hurt the team and even when winning games. Adrien and Thabeet should never put the ball on the floor, Austrie should stick to shooting foul shots and not threes and Walker should play in control and stop forcing poor or unmake-able shots. Also, why don’t Adrien and Thabeet ever set picks for each other and so someone may actually get open down low? As for Stanley Robinson, his defense sucks! Fortunately or, in Stanley’s case luckily,  his offensive and rebounding numbers last night and early this morning, were very good. That at least helped us to forget how many times he was totally lost or faked out on defense. Now, since he produced more than I or anyone else ever expected, I’m actually going to simply congratulate him for being one of the few who came up big in a big game. That’s more than I can say for Gavin Edwards, Walker and Austrie. Offensively, they were a disaster. Jimbo, everyone is asking me and so I’ll ask you, why were our guys, when leading by a couple of hoops, hoisting up threes and not trying instead to get easy hoops like Syracuse did?  Even when the two Syracuse big men fouled out, getting the ball inside to Thabeet, seemed like it was an after thought or chore. Flynn and Harris killed us inside, as well as at the line and while our boys were shooting a horrendous 24 of 42  (57.1 %) from the charity strip.  Furthermore, how come our guys kept giving up easy lay ups throughout OT?  Do you remember when Scotty Haralson took Jeff Adrien’s spot inside the foul line and hit a quick two pointer right after entering the game? Do you think we maybe should have tried that play again or do you think those threes made more sense? We lost this game by shooting a lousy 7 for 36 from three point range and by turning the ball over 28 times. Syracuse, on the other hand, should be commended for shooting 9 for 23 from three point range and 40 of 51 from the foul line. Not only did they hustle and fight for 70 minutes, they really took good care of the ball. When a tired team commits just 15 turnovers, during 70 minutes of play, they deserve to win.  Not only did UCONN have more  turnovers, most of them came at the worse possible times.

2. Jimbo - Why were you so calm last night and to the point you didn’t seem to get the message across to your boys? How about getting in the face of your players and not Blaney?  I don’t mean you have to go ballistic all night but, when players are making bad decisions and it’s killing the team, you need to get off your meds and be a little more animated.

3. Could you finally tell us what Mandeldove did wrong? This guy actually played some minutes his first year at UCONN and so, why does he appear glued to the bench all season long? As for added help from the bench, I still think you should have gotten Haralson more minutes early in the season and even if that meant not getting your 800th win so quickly.

Back in the late sixties, around the time the Beatles were first fueling the Rock and Roll explosion in this country, there was another pretty successful band called The Dave Clark Five. Well, last night and on numerous occasions, I couldn’t help but think about one of their biggest hits. The name of the song was “Glad All Over “. Well, last night, I was singing  “I’M GLAD IT’S OVER”!!!!! This team, even when it wins, can be ugly and hard to look at.  Well, when they lose, it’s even worse.

Do I think they have a chance to make it to the final four? NO WAY and if your smart, your brackets should reflect the same. Good teams find a way to win games like this one and bad teams find ways to lose and go home.

I’m out of here!  SIC RICK