UConn men just aren't that special

Aside from the countless hours of practice and pickup games, time spent in the weight room and scrimmages, the UConn men are 24-16 in games that actually count over the past two seasons.

They have zero wins against ranked opponents and their most impressive game came in an 11 point loss to Memphis at the beginning of this season.

For a while, we gave them a pass, chalking it up as a young team trying to grow. But now, after 40 games together, the painful truth is all too apparent: Jim Calhoun is not coaching a big time basketball team anymore.

This is one of the least exciting teams Calhoun has ever coached. A.J. Price still hasn’t become the star he was supposed to be and Hasheem Thabeet is still miles away from being Travis Knight, let alone Emeka Okafor. They’re led by Jerome Dyson, the only player who makes you feel like the Huskies can compete with Georgetown or Pittsburgh. He’s probably the only player on the roster that will have any type of NBA career.

After that, you have Jeff Adrien, who works his butt off but was never supposed to be more than a role player. Stanley Robinson is developing into a nice player, but it has taken much longer than people though. The rest of these guys are mid-major players at best, and that just doesn’t cut it in the Big East.

It’s a crazy thing to say. After all, the school should have won a third National Championship just a few seasons ago. But since that all-time upset loss to George Mason, the Huskies have become an afterthought. We all know they can handle the local teams, but as we approach the start of Big East season, no one in their right mind actually thinks they look like a threat to win the league.

And they’re not.