AP: Calhoun Criticizes Stat Crew

[DFW HOYA]

"As for Calhoun, his top gripe in his postgame remarks concerned Georgetown's statisticians, who he felt shortchanged his players by crediting the Huskies with just three blocks and eight assists.

"I don't think you should take that away from them just because you don't want to get someone to properly handle a stat sheet," Calhoun said. "We were asked to bring our team here, so obviously that doesn't make me particularly happy."

("Asked" to bring the team?)

sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/recap?gid=200501080229&prov=ap

[lichoya68]

are you kidding are you kidding he complained about our stats sheets... woooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaa he complained about most of the fouls most of which he got the call yes he got the call and we had what ten fouls on uconn vs like 25 or whatever on us hes my number one whiner after hearing he complained about our stat people wowowowowo

[lichoya68]

ps can we ask the team and not the coach next time ouch hes unreal

[ScreamingHoya]

He's nothing but an arrogant, petty thug.

[DanMcQ]

As I've said before, the guy is entertaining.











...FWIW, I used to work as part of the stat crew. Complaints like this are nothing new.

[FLHoya]

No amount of Calhoun whining for extra stats will ever convince me that Josh Boone had a good defensive game today. Perhaps Mr. Calhoun would be satisfied having heard that Josh was given that Defensive Player of the Game thing, which is essentially the equivalent of docking Jeff Green 10 points and half his trips to the line today. And ignoring the fact that Josh Boone can't play defense, but that's neither here nor there. I REALLY need to stop letting that award bug me.

[StPetersburgHoya (Inactive)]

Jim Calhoun is one of the most annoying people in college basketball. He talked about JTII in his post game comments - he's not even fit to shine JTII's shoes. No matter how good Calhoun's teams are they will always be a shinning example to winning the wrong way - lower academic standards, questionable off the court incidents, low graduation rates, and a coach who thinks he's God's gift to basketball. Last time I checked UCONN has the same Big East record that Georgetown does - so maybe little Jimmy would like to think twice before he talks about having to come to DC to play a CONFERENCE GAME.

[HoyaFanNY]

calhoun is a [edited], we all know that. my hatred for him and boeheim grows by the day.

[SaxaCD]

I watched the game today, and I can't for the life of me figure out what he's talking about. You don't get assists for scoring on putbacks or from the foul line (which is where a majority of UConn's points came from), and I can't rememeber very many blocks. I was surprised they even had 3, to tell you the truth. He's delusional, even after a win.

[MCIGuy]

StPetersburgHoya said:

Jim Calhoun is one of the most annoying people in college basketball. He talked about JTII in his post game comments - he's not even fit to shine JTII's shoes. No matter how good Calhoun's teams are they will always be a shinning example to winning the wrong way - lower academic standards, questionable off the court incidents, low graduation rates, and a coach who thinks he's God's gift to basketball. Last time I checked UCONN has the same Big East record that Georgetown does - so maybe little Jimmy would like to think twice before he talks about having to come to DC to play a CONFERENCE GAME.

Calhoun was VERY complimentary of what JT3 was doing with the team before the game and even more so after it. This evening on Comcast they showed clips of Calhoun's post game interview and he looked and sounded like a proud papa. Here's the highlight:

"Its remarkable to me what John's done. That offense takes two to three years....and to some degree taking everything instinctively these kids have poorly learned and applied it to actually great team basketball. He really should be saluted."

For more of Calhoun's feelings about the Hoyas check out the WPost game article

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58970-2005Jan8.html

[tboy]

i hate to say it but i have watched the game again and watched for some clue as to Calhouns rant and he may have a beef. i have heard inside story's that our stat and game notes and such are just terrible because of our less than professional SID, who does not care what kind of face we put on the program.(lazy)

[Big Dog]

I like Calhoun and I'm not afraid to say it. Would take him over Boeheim a hundred times.

[SaxaCD]

I watched the game again, too, and I still think he's crazy. You might have been able to stretch out another assist or two for guys who were passed the ball, and then made a move with it and then put up a shot, but those kinds of calls are always subjective. To worry about individual numbers that were certainly not clear-cut anyway after a victory is petty, to be kind about it. Some coaches go crazy when they don't have homers keeping the official stats calling every missed shot that's rebounded home an "assist" or every time a defender touches a shooter's hand after the ball has been released a "block".

I would be interested to see what Evan Chvotkin, official stat keeper for Rich, had in his tallies. The guy keeps a real impressive spreadsheet going during the game, to say the least!

I have to say, I thought the missed hack calls against Bowman on his drives to the hoop in the first half were a hell of a lot more egregious than a possible missed block or assist or 2. If Jim would like to go back and trade the phantom stats for a few calls our way, I'd take him more seriously.

[DanMcQ]

tboy said:

i hate to say it but i have watched the game again and watched for some clue as to Calhouns rant and he may have a beef. i have heard inside story's that our stat and game notes and such are just terrible because of our less than professional SID, who does not care what kind of face we put on the program.(lazy)

I'd have to take issue with that. The SID may not "care", but as someone who worked in that office when I was a student and who WAS a part of the stats crew, I can tell you with certainty that the people who do that job DO care and do their best to get it right. We had three stats people - one keeping a book for each team and one spotting for play-by-play and keeping track of the minutes played. It's a tough job and only people who really care about getting it right do it.

Calhoun's beef would make more sense if the UConn players got performance bonuses for number of assists or blocks. Hey... wait a minute...

[SFHoya99]

Big said:

I like Calhoun and I'm not afraid to say it. Would take him over Boeheim a hundred times.

Yeah, but you like Glenn Robinson, too. ;D

Seriously, I think a lot of coaches are people you really wouldn't want to be social with in real life -- or at least you wouldn't be good friends with them. None of us has really any idea what kind of person Calhoun is deep down, but he's obviously arrogant (surprise!) and tempermental. Not my idea of fun. But he may be nice guy at hom. Or not.

He is arrogant, blustery and an in-game whiner. And kind of a jerk for going after the stats crew.

But he's a great college basketball coach for one reason or another (and some of those may not be within the rules).

I'm just glad we happen to have a coach that seems pretty top notch in the coaching and personality areas. Now he's just gotta prove it.

[jerseyhoya34]

DanMcQ said:

I'd have to take issue with that. The SID may not "care", but as someone who worked in that office when I was a student and who WAS a part of the stats crew, I can tell you with certainty that the people who do that job DO care and do their best to get it right. We had three stats people - one keeping a book for each team and one spotting for play-by-play and keeping track of the minutes played. It's a tough job and only people who really care about getting it right do it.

Calhoun's beef would make more sense if the UConn players got performance bonuses for number of assists or blocks. Hey... wait a minute...

I don't think the issue of whether Person X or Person Y cares is the real issue here. From my perspective, the issue is whether they are getting the job done. Respectfully, when you size up the job performance of quite a few folks in McDonough, there is room for improvement to say the least.

When you look at the Sports Info Dept., more often than not, they need to be embarassed into generating publicity. This may be what they are told to do, in which case, the blame doesn't fall completely on their shoulders. Otherwise, pretty poor performance...

One needs to look no further than the events that followed March 2004. Once a certain former member of the basketball program decided to make some ill-advised remarks, he was hung out to dry because the SID was nowhere to be seen, and a bunch of folks, using this website, another website, and e-mail managed to generate more publicity than the SID in drawing attention to some of the program's failings and shortcomings, thereby drawing away from any support that could be given for an embattled coach.

Once JT3 has come on board, it seems like most of the SID shop is being run from the basketball office. JT3 seems to be generating his own stuff by appearing on radio shows and getting out in the local media. Meanwhile, nary a press release from the SID on athletics fundraising or the MIA search for a new director of athletics to say nothing of the launch of a new website for the athletics program.

Anyway, appreciate the insight Dan on your experiences, and it is important to remember that these folks are people too, but, at the same time, it is also important to see what is happening in terms of output.

[DanMcQ]

JerseyHoya34 said:

I don't think the issue of whether Person X or Person Y cares is the real issue here. From my perspective, the issue is whether they are getting the job done. Respectfully, when you size up the job performance of quite a few folks in McDonough, there is room for improvement to say the least.

When you look at the Sports Info Dept., more often than not, they need to be embarassed into generating publicity. This may be what they are told to do, in which case, the blame doesn't fall completely on their shoulders. Otherwise, pretty poor performance...

One needs to look no further than the events that followed March 2004. Once a certain former member of the basketball program decided to make some ill-advised remarks, he was hung out to dry because the SID was nowhere to be seen, and a bunch of folks, using this website, another website, and e-mail managed to generate more publicity than the SID in drawing attention to some of the program's failings and shortcomings, thereby drawing away from any support that could be given for an embattled coach.

Once JT3 has come on board, it seems like most of the SID shop is being run from the basketball office. JT3 seems to be generating his own stuff by appearing on radio shows and getting out in the local media. Meanwhile, nary a press release from the SID on athletics fundraising or the MIA search for a new director of athletics to say nothing of the launch of a new website for the athletics program.

Anyway, appreciate the insight Dan on your experiences, and it is important to remember that these folks are people too, but, at the same time, it is also important to see what is happening in terms of output.

Perhaps the fact that they care was the wrong way to put it. The people that do that specific job (i.e., keeping the stat books) are generally people who have done it before (in high school etc) and are usually students. I was objecting specifically on their behalf, not on behalf of those who run the SID's shop. Those in charge are responsible for the output you and others find inadequate. I can't say I'm not of like mind on that point.

[kchoya]

More from Calhoun:

Calhoun opened his post-game press conference complaining about what he perceived to be inaccurate statistics. He couldn't believe UConn was credited with only eight assists and three blocks.

He particularly had a problem with two statistics — Boone's one block and sophomore Marcus Williams' three assists. “We doubled your crowd, so you can afford to pay somebody,” Calhoun said.

The game drew 11,363 fans, well above Georgetown's season average of 6,525 heading into game.

[JimmyHoya]

I don't get how he can complain.

He readily admitted his offense was based on offensive rebounding...and I can't remember the last time an offensive rebound counted as an assist...?

They MIGHT have missed a FEW, but certainly not THAT many and it is certainly not a reason to get his panties in a bunch.