DES MOINES, Iowa — On an impulse, Omar Calhoun hit a three-pointer and began putting his hand to his ear, pinky extended, as if making a phone call.
And it has become "a thing."
"For some reason, after I hit a three I just did it," said Calhoun, a senior playing off the bench for the Huskies in this NCAA Tournament. "It was more of a feel. Not something that I knew I was going to do, but I just felt it and from there, everyone started talking about it, so it was something I just felt I should bring to the game."
Calhoun came to UConn from Brooklyn with the reputation as a three-point shooter. He lost his touch for long stretches of his sophomore and junior seasons, with several injuries slowing his career. This year, he has settled into the role of providing instant offense, as well as rugged defense. Calhoun is 28-for-72 on three-pointers.
Kevin Ollie, who is not one for being so demonstrative, was not thrilled with the "dial-up" at first.
UConn's Omar Calhoun talks his three-point dial up.
"It grew on him," Calhoun said, "and he started seeing how animated the team got from that, so it's something he allowed to keep going."
The inspiration came from a former Husky, Caron Butler, who weighed in with his approval when he came to watch the Huskies play Tulsa in February, the night he went into the Huskies of Honor.
"I saw him do it in a game a while ago," Calhoun said. "He found some enjoyment from it. He's a UConn alum who follows us to this day."
With UConn now in the NCAA Tournament, to play top-seeded Kansas in the South Regional second round, any game could be Calhoun's last.
"We're definitely the underdog," Calhoun said. "But we've always played like that. You've just got to stick together."
Butlers Chips In
Butler and his wife, Andrea, brought more good news to the UConn program, making what was termed "a meaningful gift" toward putting the finishing touches on the Werth Family Center, the basketball training facility that opened last season. The amount if the gift was undisclosed.
"Andrea and I met at UConn and it has always held a special place in our hearts," Butler said in a statement released by the UConn Foundation. "Being recognized in the Huskies of Honor event brought back so many incredible memories and emotions. Coach Jim Calhoun an all the coaches — Karl Hobbs, Dave Leitao, George Blaney, Tom Moore — played a critical role in my life and we are blessed to be able to give back in this small way."
The Werth Family building needs another $3.5 million, according to Josh Newton, president and CEO of the UConn Foundation.
"It's just great to see Caron do that," Ollie said. "He's been a model of what we want our student-athletes to be on the basketball court, because he was just the toughest and the most fearless player."
One For Ivy League
Yale's victory over Baylor on Thursday was the latest blow struck for the Ivy League. Cornell reached the Sweet 16 in 2010, Harvard and now Yale have won first-round games. And Shonn Miller, who transferred from Cornell to play out his eligibility at UConn because the Ivy League does not allow redshirting, has certainly shown Ivy players can transition to a higher level.
"Well, people underestimate the athletes in the Ivy League just because they are smart schools," Miller said. "And obviously they show the league has gotten better and they can go out and play with anybody."
Self Admires Ollie
Kansas coach Bill Self was asked, as one coach watching another, what he sees in Kevin Ollie.
"Obviously he's got great poise on the sideline," Self said, "or they wouldn't experience the success that they've already experienced in his short tenure there. Seems like to me that his players really care about each other and he has a good relationship with his players, I think that's pretty evident. But I think he does a great job of getting after them and drilling them and really pushing them. Most teams that are successful, you know, the foundation is they guard, and I think they're really good defensively and he gives his players a lot of freedom offensively." … Stony Brook coach Steve Pikiell, from Bristol and UConn, said after his team was eliminated, "I told 'em 'only one team is going to leave this tournament happy.' They've been great all year. We didn't want to play like that because we know we're capable of playing better. But you've got to give Kentucky credit. They made us play this way." Pikiell, according to multiple reports, is one of three finalists for the open head coaching job at Rutgers, along with Iona's Tim Cluess and George Washington's Mike Lonergan. … Kentucky and Indiana play in the first game of the doubleheader at Wells Fargo Arena, in what is the second round of the East Regional. "We haven't played for a few years," Kentucky coach John Calipari said, "but I think both Indiana, Kentucky, you could say Kansas, you could say North Carolina, they're a bunch of programs that they would call the 'blue bloods' and I think all of us, the fans, they all watch those others, UCLA, more than likely do not root for those others. It's just how it is." Hmmm, did Calipari miss someone on that list of "blue bloods?"