He definitely improved his skating from last year..it showed in how he played in the WJCC. He needs more work though that's for sure.
Despite the title of his article, Jacobs does give UConn credit for getting the program to the point it's at now. They just need to take that next step and if some things fall into place next season should be a fun one to watch.
It's gonna be a process...one that both basketball teams went through and one that Edsall navigated the football team through. With kids committing earlier and earlier now it will take time. If anyone remembers how long it took Calhoun to clean up the mess he inherited from that dope Dom Perno they can understand this.
Dom Perno won i his first year or 2 with Dee Rowe's players and kids like Mike McKay, Corny Thompson and Earl Kelly who wanted to stay home...when he needed to step his game up and keep kids like Charles Smith home he failed miserably! I was at his final home game...it was a utter embarrassment! I went to a lot of games when he was here and his tenure was NOT good at all! To say he did a "pretty good job" is flat out ridiculous! He is probably one of the worst coaches in men's basketball history!
I went to all his games at home and tons of NE games and while he wasn't a very good recruiter he was a decent coach
BTW - Corny and EK would not have stayed in state if they didn't like/respect Perno - especially with their options
I'm going to disagree with you on his coaching...he was in WAY over his head coaching in the Big East against Thompson, Carnesseca and Boeheim. Among many games I went to..I vividly remember being at the HCC for his last game against Boeheim and Syracuse...it was not a pretty sight. What Calhoun inherited from him wasn't very pretty either. Perno never coached in college again after being fired at UConn and outside of doing color analyst for the BE Television Network was out of college athletics until 11/1/1997 when GW hired him as a Assoc AD.
My knowledge of UConn basketball...I started going to games as a kid under Rowe then Perno. Watched the Huskies get their teeth kicked in by the Big East teams year after year. Was lucky enough to get my dad to buy season tickets to HCC for the 81-82, 82-83 and 83-84 seasons. By the time I got to high school I was lucky to get a education in the game of basketball by one of the best HS coaches in eastern CT..a man who went on to coach with Tom Penders at URI. And who had a player who was a McDonald AA spurn Perno and leave CT to go to college. That's where I learned my opinion of Perno. As for my comment..men's basketball = Uconn...I didn't think I had to clarify that on a UConn board.
Yes it was....sat on the floor behind the hoop UConn shot at in the 2nd half..watched Kenny Scott dunk the ball at the end and then the "Fire Perno" sign was unfurled in the upper section across from us...very disheartening. That team went 1-9 down the stretch of the final 10 games before getting beat by Seton Hall in the play in game in the BE tourney. The Perno years were my impressionable memories of UConn basketball...and why I enjoyed every minute of what Calhoun & Edsall did and what Cav is doing now. The person I described in my other post told me the day Calhoun was hired he would get UConn into the NCAA tournament with in 5 years and would eventually win a title at UConn. He was right on the money with both.
