It seems that for one reason or another -- both metaphorical and real -- Jim Calhoun is always in the midst of a comeback. In a sense, those six words define his career. But the man has also battled cancer and knows something about overcoming adversity. His most recent obstacle: a fractured hip suffered in a cycling accident earlier this month.
Still, Calhoun was on campus Sunday to meet with the team -- something he had plans on doing -- and on Tuesday he suggested his recovery is ahead of schedule.
"Someday, there won't be a comeback," Calhoun told TheDay.com's Gavin Keefe. "I would prefer not to come back all the time. It would a heck of a lot easier. Certainly a fractured hip is something that I wouldn't recommend to anyone."
Perhaps fittingly, Calhoun was on his way to a doctor's appointment.
"I'm feeling better," Calhoun said. "It appears, from what they told me, that I'm ahead of schedule. Hopefully, I can move fairly quickly through the pain. Right now, I'm on crutches. But I can do one crutch at a time. I can stand by myself without crutches. There are some good positive steps."
Calhoun added that it was good to see his team Sunday.
"They've got a big task in front of them," he said. "They've got to really, really work and let no distractions get in our way and work like crazy. It would be our 26th consecutive season without losing. That's our initial goal. Beyond that, I'm not worried about."
Given all that's happened in recent months -- five players leaving the program, ineligible for the 2013 postseason -- cracking .500 seems like a reasonable goal. Ideally, the team's sights would be set much higher but Calhoun is also a realist.
"I think playing basketball and competing is easy," he said. "It's nice to have great lofty goals but sometimes they get in the way. I would like to have one in the way, but right now that's not feasible or possible. … But playing basketball for basketball is not a bad thing."
For now, the 70-year-old Hall of Fame coach is just looking to get healthy. Which means listening to his doctors and going from there. "Even though I'm making good progress, I don't want to screw anything up," he said.
