Jim Calhoun Thriving at St. Joseph's
WEST HARTFORD — It wasn’t until at least four minutes went by in the second half of St. Joe’s final regular season game against Regis that it started to become suspicious. With a tournament berth on the line, it was strange that USJ head coach Jim Calhoun had not yet returned from the locker room.
A USJ security guard said he was feeling “under the weather.” A university official said he was “in the restroom.” Nobody could see it from the stands, but Calhoun was watching from the doorway, just in case he had to run back to the bathroom.
“I had the stomach flu. I didn’t want to be out there,” Calhoun laughed.
It was a sight to see from anywhere in the gym. Leading by 10 at the half, the Blue Jays opened up a 30-point lead nine minutes into the second half on a 19-2 run. They looked like a quintessential Calhoun team: tenacious defense, tremendous ball pressure, finishing on offense.
The Jays closed off the season strong, putting two close losses behind with a commanding 85-68 win over Regis. The win was USJ’s ticket into the GNAC tournament. A Jim Calhoun team rose to the challenge when a win was necessary.
“I’m just proud of the way they’ve come and gotten better,” Calhoun said. “The fact that we play only freshmen—nobody in the country does that. No team anywhere. Sometimes [my team] may not want to listen, but I make sure they hear.”
Forty-five minutes before the game even started, the gym was barely a quarter full. A sellout crowd was slowly making their way in, most people clad in St. Joe’s gear but a few scattered UConn fans too. The USJ and Regis girls’ basketball teams were among the last to show up. They had trouble finding seats together.
Calhoun was surprisingly stoic in the first half. No chairs thrown, no technical fouls called. In fact, the only times he got up from his perch at all was during timeouts and to show his players how to make a layup. If you compared Saturday’s game to USJ’s season opener played at Trinity, it was like a completely different world of basketball.
Calhoun occasionally belted out a word, but it sounded like just another yell in the sea of voices reverberating off the concrete walls. He got to the edge of his seat on a breakaway, waiting for his team to complete the play, but instead he ended up calling for two subs once the Jays drew the foul instead of making the shot.
He threw his hands up when Jake Sullivan drove to the basket and sunk the layup. A sort of “See what I mean?” moment from the Hall of Fame coach. His demeanor was strangely calming, especially with the season on the line. If St. Joe’s lost, well, it would be all over.
But Calhoun had been here before. He coached in front of 70,000 people in 2011, after all. He came to St. Joe’s to not only scratch his coaching itch he’s had ever since he retired from UConn, but to make a difference in their lives and show them the power of basketball.
“After I got cut by the Celtics, lotta years ago, I got in coaching. And I knew it was the right place for me because the passion I had for the game, I could give that to other kids. I could show you what the game did,” Calhoun said. “I appreciate what the game can do for you. Socially, mentally, toughness-wise. Obviously I’m in a good place, the reason I came back here is because if I was coaching at UConn today or St. Joe’s… I’m not playing for the fans. I’m here for our kids.”
He finally got out of his chair after a defensive stop in the first half. While the Jays are taking foul shots, he yells at Nadir Dixon-Thompson to simply “GET IN THE LANE!” He walks over to his coach for more, but Calhoun waves him away. He’s said all he needs to.
Sullivan drives from the corner to the basket, but passes it back up the paint. He commits a turnover.
“SHOOT THE BALL!”
After a missed Regis jumper, the defense began to retreat, but the Pride got the offensive rebound.
“HEY!” Calhoun screamed. “REBOUND!”
No matter if it’s DI or DIII, Calhoun treats it for what it is—young men learning how to play the game. He calls Delshawn “DJ” Jackson his “Little Kemba,” but that’s about it for UConn comparisons.
“The good thing is that it’s a game,” Calhoun said. “They go to school. They’re growing. These kids, maybe, may have aspirations to play professionally somewhere. And the kids at UConn, too—they’re bigger, better, stronger, probably—but I don’t think about that. You gotta coach ‘em to win the games… watching Kemba grow to getting cut his freshman year of high school to now starting the All-Star Game… hopefully for some of these kids, this will be a starting point for them.”
Calhoun is no stranger to tournaments, of course. What makes it truly remarkable is that he built the program from the ground-up. USJ has lost its last two games in close fashion, and on Saturday they forced 22 turnovers, shot 47.7 percent from the field and saw two players finish with 20 points and one with 19. Jackson nearly recorded a triple-double with 20 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
The GNAC tournament is scheduled to start on Tuesday. They’ll play No. 2 seed Suffolk in Boston. St. Joseph’s will be the underdog, and Jim Calhoun knows how to handle that, too.
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