UConn Men's Basketball: Jamal Coombs-McDaniels to Transfer from Connecticut

Coach Jim Calhoun experienced a plethora of strikes leading up to the NCAA National Title game against Butler. His friend of nearly 50 years died before the season even started. Not too long afterwards, his sister-in-law was also pronounced dead in the middle of the season.

To cap off a blasting start, Calhoun was plagued with allegations of NCAA violations that would lead to his suspension at the beginning of the 2011 season. Through it all, he remained aggressive in his coaching and never allowed his team to lose faith in his strategies.

He, in return, kept a sense of hope in his young team led by the talented Kemba Walker.

Winning the championship brought the sweet smell of victory as Calhoun became the oldest head coach to win a NCAA National Title. His players rallied around him in triumphant cries and an impression of relief as they had accomplishment the unthinkable.

The UConn Huskies put on an impressive run as they won eleven straight games, vanquishing the likes of Louisville, Pittsburgh and Arizona along the way. Shabazz Napier and Jeremy Lamb were key in adequately diminishing the hopes of prospective programs in the Big East Championship as well as in the NCAA Tournament.

The quakes returned to Storrs as Jamaal Coombs-McDaniel was arrested April 21 and charged with two misdemeanors, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was arrested along with several others and has yet to comment publicly about the incident.

Coombs-McDaniel was undoubtedly a vital fraction of the team that allowed the run deep into the Tournament. Names like Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lamb are constantly thrown around, but he was a major factor in their success.

Coach Calhoun has announced that Coombs-McDaniel has been given permission to partake in conversations with other universities and will be transferring from the program at UConn.

This does not come as a shocker, because the disciplinary measures taken would have likely kept him from playing a majority of the season. With Walker leaving, the success of the men’s basketball team relies heavily on the small parts coming together to influence the pace of the game. With McDaniel exiting as well, the chemistry of the team will be thrown off.

To what measure has yet to be predicted.