The same could be said for Jerome Dyson, UConn athletic swingman who was a slasher on offense and a more than reliable one-on-one defender. Calhoun was just starting to accept the high-level virtues of his team when Dyson was injured Feb. 11. When it was learned Dyson would miss the rest of the season, the doubts about the Huskies started to compound.

UConn lost twice to Pittsburgh and then suffered the six-overtime setback to Syracuse in the Big East tournament. Many thought Memphis should have received a No. 1 seed over UConn, but John Calipari’s team has gone home while UConn rolled past Chattanooga, Texas A&M and Purdue before outlasting Missouri in the West Regional final.

“This team worked very hard to get to this point, and we deserve everything we’ve gotten so far,” UConn point guard A.J. Price said. “By no means is our journey over. We’re going to push to continue this ride.”

Michigan State, North Carolina and UConn have won national championships this decade. But Calhoun could join Bob Knight and Mike Krzyzewski as the only coaches to win three national championships. Only UCLA’s John Wooden (10) and Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp (4) have won more.

Slideshow   Psycho T Check out the heart and soul of the North Carolina Tar Heels, Tyler Hansbrough, in action. NBC Sports

The last five weeks can only be described as eventful for the Hall of Fame coach. Calhoun was questioned — during a postgame news conference — by a political activist about how much money he earns and it became a YouTube event. The governor of Connecticut and two members of the state legislature then publicly questioned Calhoun’s rather rude response.

After that, Calhoun picked up career win No. 800, placing him among the elite coaches of all time and then suffered the difficult six-overtime loss to Syracuse. He missed the first game of the NCAA tournament after falling sick and becoming dehydrated.

And now Calhoun heads to the Final Four at odds with the organization that runs the event. The NCAA, which will have its logo everywhere Calhoun goes in Detriot, has announced it is investigating UConn as a result of allegations of possible serious recruiting violations. The story involving possible special benefits given to recruit Nate Miles was first reported last week by Yahoo! Sports.

The last time there was this much tension between a Final Four coach and the NCAA was when Jerry Tarkanian led UNLV to the last weekend in 1990 and 1991. Calhoun won’t have enforcement officers following his every move, but there will be a cloud over the Huskies this time that didn’t exist in 1999 or 2004 when UConn won it all.

Slideshow   Man in the middle Take a look at Hasheem Thabeet, the former Connecticut defensive star more photos

Anyone who knows Calhoun, and anyone who saw the exaggerated fist pump he offered after the Missouri victory, knows he has a lot of fight left in him.

“I’m very emotional about this team getting to a Final Four,” Calhoun said. “I mean really emotional. ... I don’t run out of words. I just run out of really good words to express to you just how I feel about this team.”

Jim Calhoun at a loss for words. Now that is unusual. Perhaps college basketball does have an element of unpredictability remaining.

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