Kudos all 'round

Recommended reading: Dana O’Neil’s ESPN piece on UConn forward Stanley Robinson, who was bounced from the team by coach Jim Calhoun, told to get a job and get his head together — and who did just that.

Robinson, a starter for the Huskies, wasn’t in trouble with the law and wasn’t academically ineligible. He was just acting immature, which prompted Calhoun to suspend him for the first semester of this year.

"The only one being harmed was Stanley," Calhoun said. "I had a couple of players I asked to leave the program. I didn't want Stanley to leave. He's a really good kid with a heart of gold, but he had to get his life square. I saw signs, little things. He'd be late to study hall or late to practice. He wasn't always going to class. He just wasn't focused."

After five months of sorting scrap, Robinson is back with the Huskies, focused and more grown up.

"I'm much different," Robinson said. "I'm more mature now. I'm a man. This made me a man."

Kudos to Calhoun for caring enough to risk losing a talented player, kudos to Robinson for taking the hard but correct route, kudos to Robinson’s family for encouraging him to listen to Calhoun, rather than transfering to another school.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=oneil_dana&id=3769359