Ken Davis

Before Kentucky and Connecticut come together Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden, coaches John Calipari and Jim Calhoun face a big decision. Will they choose the path of truth? Or will they opt for that road called Political Correctness?

Two years ago, when Calipari was still at Memphis and the Tigers defeated UConn in the 2K Sports Classic, they went all PC on us. Wouldn’t it be more fun this time around if these two highly successful coaches decided to bare their souls and talk about how much they dislike each other?

Maybe it’s old news. After all, the ill will between these two is rooted in activity that took place 20 years ago, before either coach rose to national prominence, before the conference championships, and Final Four trips. Calhoun, who has won two national championships, was on the verge of greatness at UConn. Calipari, who has had two Final Four trips vacated by the NCAA, was just starting out at UMass. Calipari wasn’t a real threat yet, just more of an annoying gnat that Calhoun kept swatting away.

College basketball today simply doesn’t have many great coaching feuds. But this New England battle involved a genuine dislike. And neither man has ever felt it was worth the investment of time or words to patch things up.

Calhoun put an end to UConn’s long-running series with UMass because he did not want to be associated with Calipari in any way. Calhoun didn’t like the way Calipari behaved on the sideline. He didn’t like Calipari’s approach to recruiting. He especially disapproved when Calipari crossed the border and grabbed recruit Marcus Camby out of Hartford.

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They went 17 years without meeting on the basketball court. When they were reunited in November 2007, this is what we got:

“My relationship with John is one of, ‘Hi John, how are you doing? Hi Jim, how are you doing?’ That’s what it is,” Calhoun said.

Calipari called Calhoun a “Hall of Famer” and said he had “respect for the program and what they do.” Calhoun called Calipari “a terrific coach” who had Memphis on “the cusp of being as good as anybody in America. If I didn’t have respect for that, I would be a phony.”

Blah, blah, blah. We don’t want to hear that again next week. The truth is both of these guys are intense competitors. They may sing R-E-S-P-E-C-T, standing at the podium in the media room, but wouldn’t it be more fun if they pointed and shouted at each other from their respective benches at MSG?

When Bob Knight coached at Indiana, he agitated almost every other coach in the Big Ten, especially Lou Henson of Illinois and Gene Keady at Purdue. After one confrontation with Knight, Henson said, “He’s just a classic bully . . . everyone in [Indiana] is intimidated by him.”

Calipari, on the other hand, simply has a way of getting under the skin of many opposing coaches. Once he’s there, he rarely leaves. The feud with Calhoun pales in comparison to former Temple coach John Chaney’s outburst in 1994. Who can forget Chaney crashing into a Calipari press conference in 1994, shouting, “I’ll kill you!” That outburst was over the way Chaney viewed Calipari’s manipulation of officials. It remains a YouTube classic.

When was the last time we had anything close to that kind of emotion?

Perhaps it's a good thing. Chaney came off as violent. But the characters have vanished from college coaching. The Big East was loaded with bullies and villains in the 1980’s — and that was part of the reason you watched. Then you had lovable Lou Carnesecca at St. John’s to balance everything out. The night Georgetown’s John Thompson came on the floor wearing a sweater to match Carnesecca’s own lucky sweater was one of the great moments in Big East history. Carnesecca could soften up anyone.