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King's legacy lends UConn perspective
Posted: Thursday March 16, 2000 10:12 PM
By Ivan Maisel, Sports Illustrated BIRMINGHAM -- People change. Teams change. No one really thinks of Connecticut as still owning the NCAA title. "We have to get beat in order for us not to be defending champion," junior point guard Khalid El-Amin pointed out Thursday, the day before the No. 5 seed Huskies play No. 12 Utah State. El-Amin still considers UConn to be hoop royalty. When the team entered its locker room Thursday, El-Amin asked, "Are the games on? Is Coach Dickenman's team on?" Central Connecticut State, coached by former UConn assistant Howie Dickenman, was playing Iowa State. Senior forward Kevin Freeman replied, "There's no TV in here. We're a five seed." The Huskies struggled with their identity for a long time this season. They are 24-9 because they won seven of their last eight games, a streak that coincided with the realization that last season is no more than a ring on their fingers. "We had to admit that we aren't as good as we were last year," coach Jim Calhoun said. "That's a tough admission for anybody. ... We would win a game and think we could go back to who we were. No, let's be who we are." The idea that people change is vital in this city, one that has a legacy of hate. Before Connecticut practiced Thursday, Calhoun took his team to the Civil Rights Institute in downtown Birmingham. It is a museum dedicated to telling a story that for years this city didn't like to tell. "I could have spent three hours there," Calhoun said. "The kids, I don't know. They understood some of it." For the 57-year-old Calhoun, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is a flesh-and-blood memory. For his players, Dr. King is a reason for a holiday, like George Washington, and Birmingham is just another city with a big gym. Calhoun, meanwhile, couldn't get over the fact that the team's bus driver this week is a black policeman. That's what Birmingham is, not what it was. Ivan Maisel is a senior writer at Sports Illustrated. The opinions expressed
here are solely those of the
writer.
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