STORRS, Conn. -- Stanley Robinson walked down the steps of Gampel Pavilion, stuck out his hand and reintroduced himself.
That was the first visible change in Robinson.
Robinson had moments at Connecticut when he had an aversion to the media. He wasn't thrilled about engaging in postgame chatter. That's fine. He didn't have to do it, but he also didn't send out a welcoming vibe.
He does now. He's clearly trying to put forth a different, more open persona.
Robinson, a 6-foot-9 junior at UConn, is spending the fall semester working at Prime Materials in Willimantic, Conn., stacking copper and other materials in an effort to prove he can work a real job, earn money, take care of his business and be accountable for his actions.
Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said Robinson received a second semester redshirt status and a midterm exception for the fall semester despite playing in all 33 games last season. Calhoun said Robinson is NCAA eligible, but last spring he never had the time to take care of things he needed to do to meet the coach's standards.
Robinson isn't allowed to work out with the Huskies in any official capacity, so he comes into Gampel after the Huskies are done to get in his work.
He showed up Tuesday afternoon and was told he couldn't participate with the team during its official workout so he was heading to the track to run.
"I'm working 6:40 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. or 7 to 4:30 every day to get consistent work and then work out,'' Robinson said. "I'm stacking iron and copper on trucks. Some people do this as a career. I'm seeing that life is hard. I was always eligible, but I have to show coach that I'm responsible. I moved into my own apartment and [am] paying my own bills.''
Robinson, who averaged 10.4 points and 6.5 rebounds last season, said he didn't show up to class at times. Even though he said that didn't affect his grades, he wasn't being responsible.
He also said he never considered transferring or moving back to his home state of Alabama.
Robinson fully expects to be back in mid-December, in time for games against Stony Brook (Dec. 15) and Gonzaga in Seattle (Dec. 20). His chief competition was supposed to be
Nate Miles, but Miles was expelled recently for violating a restraining order after he called a female within 20 minutes of the edict.
"I definitely have to show up and play my position and can't have any errors like I did last year,'' Robinson said. "With Miles gone, it's my position but I have to show improvement.''
Final nugget
• Robinson hasn't won a Big East tournament game during his two seasons at Connecticut. Not one of the players on the current roster has won a conference tournament game. Only seniors
Jeff Adrien and
Craig Austrie have won an NCAA tournament game (when they were freshmen in 2006). But even that team got knocked out in the first round (quarterfinals for the Huskies) of the Big East tournament by Syracuse. The 2006 Huskies lost to George Mason in the Elite Eight. The 2007 Huskies lost in their first game of the Big East tournament to Syracuse again and then didn't go to the postseason. The 2008 Huskies lost to West Virginia in their first Big East tournament game and were upset by San Diego in the first round of the NCAAs -- a game in which guard
A.J. Price tore his ACL. He has since recovered.
"A lot of people want to know what makes this team different and why should we believe in this team,'' said Price, a senior who didn't play in 2006. "We've got something to prove. We haven't won a Big East game or a Big East championship even though we've been in the thick of it. We have nothing to show in postseason as a group. That's been very frustrating because we have the immense talent and all the pieces.''
Price said there is no reason why the Huskies shouldn't be playing deep into March.
• Price admits the likely three-guard starting lineup of
Jerome Dyson and
Kemba Walker and himself may hurt the team in defensive rebounding, but offensively the Huskies play their best basketball when they're fast-paced.
"We play at a pace that a lot of teams don't want to,'' he said.
• Price on the improvement of junior center
Hasheem Thabeet: "He's not the same player offensively. Before he didn't understand time, score and when you threw the ball in the post, you were worried. Now you give him the ball in the post, and he's going to make a positive play. He's got a great attitude. He should be one of the best players in the country.''
• UConn put down its new men's 3-point line of 20 feet, 9 inches at Gampel Pavilion and painted the line red. The women's line, the old men's line of 19-9, is blue. It will be interesting to see how many schools go with two different colors to draw a sharp distinction between the two shots. The better idea would have been to have a solid, thick line instead of two lines, but that wasn't the consensus.
Andy Katz
