Feb. 16: Starting point guard Jerome Dyson underwent season-ending surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee.

Feb. 24: Head coach Jim Calhoun was criticized by the governor of Connecticut for berating a freelance journalist who questioned Calhoun about whether he deserved his $1.6 million salary.

“My best advice to you is, shut up,” Calhoun told the journalist. “Quite frankly, we bring in $12 million to the university, nothing to do with state funds. We make $12 million a year for this university. Get some facts and come back and see me. Don’t throw out salaries and other things.”

Said Connecticut governor M. Jodi Rell: “I think if coach Calhoun had the opportunity right now, he would welcome a do-over and not have that embarrassing display from last week.”

March 12: UConn lost a six-overtime thriller to Syracuse in the first round of the Big East Tournament.

March 19: Health issues prevented Calhoun from coaching his team’s first round game in the NCAA Tournament against Chattanooga.

March 27: It was revealed that the NCAA had launched an investigation to explore alleged recruiting violations committed by the UConn men’s basketball program.

The allegations, first reported by Yahoo! Sports, call into question the school’s recruitment of former guard Nate Miles.

On Friday, Calhoun was asked whether he’s been able to enjoy the ride despite all the bumps in the road.

“It’s been great, it really has been,” Calhoun said. “This team has given me incredible joy this year. They came back from 17-14 (Connecticut’s record two seasons ago), A.J.’s (Price) ACL, near-death experience, self-induced problem he had, the journey of Hasheem Thabeet. I got so much joy watching these kids grow.”

Speaking about his silence
Perhaps knowing he wouldn’t be able to get through the press conference without shaking a question about it, Calhoun addressed the reason he’s been so mum about his program’s alleged recruiting violations.

“As far as me speaking to the things that are swirling around, I can’t speak factually on any base for one simple reason. I was accused today that I would, today, make the definitive decision of whether we were guilty or not guilty. I can’t say anything.

“The NCAA has put a gag order. While they’re doing their, not an investigation right now, but a review, they have told us we cannot speak to the facts.

“Please do not think by my silence about what’s been swirling around a little bit, quite a bit actually, that it’s not because I don’t want to say anything, it’s ‘cause I can’t say anything else.”

‘Mirror images’
Although the Big East and Big Ten, for the most part, are considered polar opposites in terms of style of play, Calhoun said he’s noticed a lot of similarities between his team and MSU.

In fact, he said if the Spartans joined the Big East tomorrow, they would “fit right in” because of the way they crash the boards and execute on fast-break opportunities.

“I think we’re much more mirror images of each other than people realize,” Calhoun said.

Calhoun said he’s prepared his team for the challenge of matching MSU’s intensity on the glass. But he admitted he’s done trying to get his team ready for the lengthy series of sets the Spartans run.

“We went over 15 different plays and finally gave up because we had 85 more to go,” he said. “Tommy runs so many different offenses. They play great defense. They prevent you from running. I say (they’re) a real sneaky fast-break team.

“Because of the way they play, they’re a much better fast-beak team than people realize.”