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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted at 12:48 a.m., Sunday, March 22, 2009

NCAA: With Calhoun back on sideline, good times rolled for UConn

By Kelly Whiteside
USA TODAY

PHILADELPHIA — Two days after being hospitalized overnight because of dehydration, Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun was back to his old self. Top-seeded UConn was also looking like the dominant Huskies of the past, playing like a team that could bring Calhoun his third national title in a decade.

UConn throttled No. 9 Texas A&M, 92-66 on Saturday in the second round of the West Regional, giving Calhoun little reason to raise his stress level to any great height. Of course, he still was stomping his feet, chomping on gum, hands on hips, tie slightly loosened.

"I think I was my usual. I yelled a couple things out," he said with a smile. "My wife will tell me about them later. But our kids were playing so well, a lot of it took encouragement. It was not a game where I had to get them going. They were very focused on their own. They came in really with a purpose. I don't think it's a chip, but it's a purpose, no question."

The Huskies, national champions in 1999 and 2004, had a combined margin of victory in their first and second rounds of 82 points, their largest in history. UConn defeated No. 16 Chattanooga 103-47 on Thursday as the Hall of Fame coach watched from his room at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania while undergoing tests after not feeling well for several days. Associate coach George Blaney led the Huskies in his place.

"I had an awful lot of pressure after what George did the other day," Calhoun cracked about his friend of 40 years and frequent foil.

Just like old times.