FanHouse Uconn Huskies

Specifically, the Huskies' own guards killed them against Michigan State. In one of those nights where the stats do not lie, A.J. Price, Kemba Walker and Craig Austrie were every bit as miserable as their numbers suggested. They took 29 of the Huskies 59 shot attempts, but only scored 26 of UConn's 73 points.

Sadly that includes points from free throws.

Credit Michigan State's defense.

This is what we have been waiting all week for, through non-stories like Ty Lawson legally playing craps, through analysis beaten into the ground, through the cycling of the coaching carousel. Well, Michigan State and UConn tip off at 6:07 PM EST. We will start the live blog at 6 PM ET. Join us after the jump.

As UConn has rolled to the Final Four, UConn partisans have happily pointed out the similarities to runs by the Huskies in 1999 and 2004. UConn was shipped out West, just like the prior two times. Coach Jim Calhoun had to miss the opening round game because of illness, just like he missed part of the game in 2004.

The one thing they had in both runs that they lack this time: nuns.

This is a thank-you note.

On behalf of basketball fans everywhere, thank you, Missouri, for a brilliant run and a tough, impressive effort against Connecticut in the regional final. You gave us a great game to watch, and you really made the Huskies earn their way into the Final Four. And everybody should have to earn their way into the Final Four.

The way this thing started, it looked like a rout. UConn raced to that huge early lead, and you figured, "Oh well. Mismatch."

But then a funny thing happened. Missouri didn't go away.

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This is too easy, right? You watch all year as Memphis rolls through Conference USA without a challenge. You listen to the debates about whether it'd finish any better than sixth in the Big East. You ponder its tournament seeding, weighing the impressive lack of losses against the unimpressive quality of the competition against which the record was built. And then Memphis gets smacked in the mouth and knocked out in the Sweet 16 by a team from the Big 12 and you get to say, "See?? See?? We TOLD you they couldn't play with the teams from the real conferences! Oh-ver-RAY-ted!"

Gotta love Robbie Hummel's toughness, not to mention his ability. The kid did everything he possibly could to make sure the Boilermakers didn't get run out of the building. But in the end, Purdue didn't have anything or anybody that could do anything at all to combat Hasheem Thabeet.

There is no shame in this. No one does. There's no player in college basketball that has any kind of answer for Thabeet, which is why UConn remains a worthy 1-seed and one of the favorites to win the whole thing in spite of the absence of Jerome Dyson. They still have way too many good players to be counted out, and they have the game-changer in the middle. Thirteen rebounds, four blocks, just one foul...he did everything he wanted to do tonight, and as a result the Huskies didn't have to sweat.

UConn put this game out of reach early in coach Jim Calhoun's return to the sidelines. Apparently the players did not want to put too much stress on their overly dehydrated coach, so they never gave Texas A&M even a glimmer of hope. The Huskies got out to a 10-0 lead to start the game and never looked back.

Texas A&M looked overwhelmed and completely unprepared for the game at the beginning. As if the magnitude of what they had to do to win overwhelmed them.

By the time they got over that, the game was out of reach.

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After some vague information earlier in the day, UConn confirmed head coach Jim Calhoun was indeed hospitalized on Thursday. The hospitalization, according to the university, was purely precautionary.

Even without their head coach on the bench, the Huskies had little trouble with Chattanooga in the first-round game in the West Region. Connecticut ended up winning by 56 in a game that was a laugher 15 minutes in.

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UConn coach Jim Calhoun will not be coaching the No. 1 seed Huskies Thursday in their 3 PM ET game with No. 16 seed Chattanooga. After early reports indicated the Hall of Fame coach had been hospitalized, the school issued a press release .

"Coach Calhoun has not been feeling well for the past several days and it is best that he not coach the team today for precautionary reasons," said UConn Director of Sports Medicine Dr. Jeff Anderson.

Calhoun missed a game earlier this season with flu-like symptoms. The school is not saying what the issue is this time or whether the coach was taken to the hospital.

With Calhoun out, the team will be coached by associate head coach George Blaney.

You can't blame Jim Calhoun if he's whistling "Route 66" over the next couple of days because he certainly loves to travel west. Both of Calhoun's national championship teams, in 1999 and 2004, came out of the West Region. So Calhoun's probably feeling like a million bucks right now -- or $1.6 million bucks, as we all now know he makes (But he's worth it, just ask him.) -- with Connecticut grabbing the top spot out west.

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