SUPER BOWL 2012

With one former UConn assistant coach already at a rival Big East school (Andre LaFleur as associate head coach at Providence), the Huskies nearly had another plotting against them in conference play.

Patrick Sellers interviewed with Louisville, and apparently had a very good, two-hour meeting with head coach Rick Pitino. Sellers has known Pitino's son, Richard, for a long while, and it was Richard who initiated the interest.

It didn't wind up working out -- perhaps because hiring a UConn guy, with the controversy surrounding the program, might attract some negative attention in the wake of Louisville's own recent controversies. Instead Sellers is at Hofstra, where he'll be an assistant to Mo Cassara. Also on Cassara's staff are former Providence College assistant Steve DeMeo and ex-Syracuse Allen Griffin, so it'll be a bit of a Big East reunion on the Pride staff.

Jim Calhoun did a conference call this morning to promote the Jim Calhoun Ride and Walk, coming up on Saturday, June 11 in Simsbury. He's expecting about 1,000 participants -- hopefully more -- and plans to ride either the 25-mile or 50-mile course.

Calhoun says he's feeling great and that he's working out now at the level he was "about 25 years ago."

"My wife says I’m trying to ride my bike away from something called 'age,'" he joked.

We'll have more on the event later. For now, here's what he said about some issues involving UConn:

Calhoun says he hasn't decided either way on whether he'll retire or not. He said he'll tell recruits that ask that he'll be at UConn, but that few (none from the Class of 2012) have asked.

"The best thing for me to do, very honestly, is just let it happen," Calhoun said. "Right now, I’m doing everything possible to make sure UConn is as strong as it can be … I’m not going to set any more dates ... The best thing for me is to get as much distance from it as I can and … make sure the future of UConn is as bright as it can be."

"It will evolve. It’s just gonna happen," he added. "I’m not going to speak about it again."

*** Calhoun said he expects to add one more new player, possibly within "7-8 days." Otherwise, Ryan Boatright is expected to start summer classes on June 26; Niels Giffey is playing with the junior national team in Germany; Alex Oriakhi may try out for Team USA at the World University Games; Shabazz Napier is intending on attending Chris Paul's camp and Roscoe Smith will attend Amar'e Stoudemire's camp.

***The coach was happy to hear that Patrick Sellers has been hired as an assistant at Hofstra.

"I’m ecstatic," Calhoun said. "I couldn’t be happier for him. Pat’s good for the game, he’s a good person, he was completely exonerated by the NCAA. He’ll be good for the kids. I talked to Mo (Cassara) a great dal about him, and he’ll be a great addition to Hofstra."

*** Calhoun is hearing Kemba Walker could go as high as No. 3 in the NBA draft.

Patrick Sellers was officially named an assistant coach to Mo Cassara at Hofstra today. Could Jamal Coombs-McDaniel be the next ex-Husky to join the Pride?

Here's the press release:


Hofstra University named Patrick Sellers to the position of men's basketball assistant coach, it was announced today by Head Coach Mo Cassara.

Sellers recently served on the men's basketball staff at the University of Connecticut for six years, three as the director of basketball operations from 2004-07 and three as an assistant coach from 2007-10. While serving as an assistant, Sellers was responsible for recruiting several of the players on UConn's 2010-11 national championship team.

Sellers also was responsible for developing Connecticut's frontcourt players during his time as an assistant coach. He worked closely with Hasheem Thabeet and Jeff Adrien, who helped the Huskies reach the 2009 Final Four. Thabeet was the No. 2 pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, while Adrien played this past season for the Golden State Warriors.

Prior to his stint at UConn, Sellers served for one season as an assistant coach at the University of Massachusetts (2003-04) and for four years at his alma mater, Central Connecticut State University (1999-2003). Sellers helped Central Connecticut earn a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances in 2000 and 2002 under head coach Howie Dickenman, as the Blue Devils earned regular season and postseason Northeast Conference titles in both years.

Sellers began his coaching career at the high school level at St. Thomas Aquinas in New Britain, Connecticut. He served as assistant from 1994-97, before taking over head coaching duties in the 1997-98 season, when he guided his team to a conference title. He led the Saints to appearances in the Connecticut state tournament in both seasons as a head coach.

During his playing days at Central Connecticut, Sellers was a team captain as a senior and was named the East Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 1991. He led the Blue Devils in rebounding as a junior and senior and finished with 581 boards in his career. He also has international basketball experience, playing professionally in England after graduating from Central Connecticut and coaching last year in China.

Sellers replaces Allen Griffin on the Hofstra coaching staff, after Griffin resigned to accept an assistant coaching position at Dayton in May.

The Hofstra men's basketball team could start to look like mini-UConn pretty soon.

According to Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com, former UConn assistant coach Patrick Sellers is expected to be named one of Mo Cassara's assistants. And, the Dutchmen are one of the possible destinations for Jamal Coombs-McDaniel, who has already made one unofficial visit to the Hofstra campus and is hoping to take another.

Either way, good to see Sellers land on his feet. He was let go by UConn in the wake of the Nate Miles recruiting violations, but since then his name has been cleared of all wrongdoing.

For anyone who thinks Jamal Coombs-McDaniel was pushed out of UConn after his arrest for marijuana possession, think again.

Coombs-McDaniel told me on Thursday that he had decided to transfer prior to his April 21 arrest on the UConn campus.

"Oh yeah, yeah, I had made up my mind before that," he said. "I was just looking for schools, and I found some schools, so I'm just going from there."

(Read my article in the Register here).

Coombs-McDaniel listed Hofstra, Miami (Fla.), Missouri and UC-Irvine as potential destinations. He's already made an unofficial visit to Hofstra, which is coached by longtime New England basketball guru Mo Cassara, and plans on visiting Miami next week and Missouri the week after that. Phil Pressey, Coombs-McDaniel's AAU teammate and good friend, plays at Mizzou.

As to the reason why he's transferring, Coombs-McDaniel said: "I just wanted to play more, finish up my career strong, personally, and basically be a main, focal player on a team at this point in my career ... My playing time was going up, going down, going up, and we have a lot of good kids coming back next year. I don't want to spend my junior year like that. I want to be happy throughout the year."

He added that he and coach Jim Calhoun were "cool."

"I respect him, I'm sure he respects me. It's just personal business. I have to look for a better situation for me."

Coombs-McDaniel said he'll return to UConn on June 1 to take a summer school session, then be on his way.