I am going to go out on a limb and guess that if you are reading this you probably have not won 796 basketball games as a Division 1 basketball coach. In fact, the chances are pretty good that you have never even won a single game, or even worse, you have only won a paltry 788. But do you know how has won 796 games? Jim Calhoun. That is a pretty big number, and not coincidentally, it is close to an even bigger, fancier number, 800. Winning 800 games will be an incredible achievement, (only six other coaches have done it), and at this point it is clear that Calhoun is going to reach the plateau in the next couple of weeks.
Hit the jump to check out UConn's remaining schedule and my shot in the dark guess on when Calhoun will reach the magic number. (Here's a hint, I tend to think UConn will win.)
UConn's upcoming schedule is as follows:
| Wd 11 | Syracuse [gp] | ||
| Sa 14 | at Seton Hall | ||
| Mo 16 | Pittsburgh [xl] | ||
| Sa 21 | South Florida [xl] | ||
| Wd 25 | at Marquette | ||
| Sa 28 | Notre Dame [gp] |
Barring some sort of embarrassing upset, one can feel pretty comfortable about the matchups with Seton Hall and South Florida. Also, I have a hard time seeing a sliding Syracuse team coming into Gampel and pulling the upset, so that leaves Pitt as UConn's main obstacle in the next four games. That game, especially since it is at the XL center, might as well be a toss up. Assuming UConn wins, I think it is a pretty safe bet that Calhoun will be celebrating his 800th win in Hartford on the 21st.
A loss in the next four games would make things a lot more interesting however, as Calhoun's next chance would be on the road against a talented Marquette team that has given UConn trouble ever since it joined the Big East. Certainly UConn could win that game, but it would be tough. However, even assuming UConn drops games to both Pitt and Marquette, I cannot imagine that the Huskies would lose to Notre Dame, so by the 28th, expect Calhoun to hit the mark.