St Joseph's Basketball

Hall of Famer Jim Calhoun, currently serving as the head coach of the Saint Joseph's men's basketball team, responded Saturday to accusations of "sexual discrimination and creating a hostile work environment" in the lawsuit filed against the university by former associate athletic director Jaclyn Piscitelli.

His statement read, in part:

"I was stunned and saddened to read the inflated and misleading headlines and the accusations directed at me this past Wednesday...by an ex-USJ employee and an all-too-eager click-driven media.

"I am angry and hurt that the reputation that I've worked so hard to achieve for over 50 years—actually, for more than 77 years—was so easily dismissed and thrown aside in return for headlines or eyeballs or whatever the appropriate term is here. And I'm especially angry that my career and my name are being used for legal grandstanding instead of in support for the victims of discrimination."

In the lawsuit, Piscitelli—who was fired by the university in June—accused Calhoun and top assistant Glen Miller of several incidents of treating her in a demeaning manner, per Dom Amore of the Hartford Courant.

Among her accusations:

"Calhoun, according to the 13-page complaint, asked Piscitelli to open his office door despite his keys being in his hand and, in another incident, knocked over a number of single-serve coffee 'K-cups' onto the floor and stepped on them, making Piscitelli clean up. She claimed Calhoun stated that if he made such a mess at home, his wife would clean up after him.

"The suit alleged Miller, who has not commented, told Piscitelli she should 'smile more and be more cheerful,' and said he would 'swipe left,' a reference to rejecting a person on the dating website Tinder. She also claims that Calhoun referred to her as 'hot.'"

In his statement responding to the accusations, Calhoun said he "firmly and unequivocally, at no time, knowingly treated any woman unfairly because of her gender. In addition, let me be clear, I have never treated any woman inappropriately."

He added that he wasn't "sure when asking a colleague if they would mind opening the door because my hands were full became discrimination or when self-deprecation for being an aging, clumsy husband became an insult."

He also said he would only use the word "hot" in reference to "the weather and the temperature of my morning coffee," adding that "the only woman I openly compliment is my wife of 53 years."

Calhoun, 77, served as the men's head coach at Saint Joseph in the 2018-19 season after the university shifted away from being a women-only school. He previously spent 14 seasons as the men's head coach at Northeastern and 26 seasons as the men's head coach at UConn, leading his teams to 23 NCAA tournament appearances.

He also won three national titles with UConn and was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005.

Saint Joseph's traveled up Broad Street on Saturday to battle city foe, the Temple Owls. 

In this 153rd meeting between the two schools, the Owls proved to be the better team, defeating the Hawks 78-60. 

In a sold-out Liacouras Center, Temple set the tone right from the start, led by seniors Juan Fernandez and Ramone Moore.

Of Temple's 38 first-half points, Fernandez and Moore accounted for 32. When asked what was the reason for their hot start, Moore said, "In the beginning of the game Juan came out firing. In the huddle we said we were going to get him the ball, then I caught fire as well."

On St. Joe's side of the ball, they seemed to never really get any sort of flow to the game. One thing head coach Phil Martelli had preached all season was pace of the game, which was absent on Saturday.

Martelli gave credit to Temple for dominating the game, saying, "That wasn't much of a contest. We were dominated, but they dominated, it wasn't that we just gave in."

Phil even went on to say, "We got waxed."

Just as it seemed the Hawks were going to put on a run, the Owls would come right back answer with a basket of their own.

With three minutes left in the first half, Langston Galloway drilled a three-pointer. Then Temple missed a layup and St. Joe's pushed it down the court. Chris Wilson missed a layup, but big man Ron Roberts was right there to grab the board and slam it home, resulting in Temple calling a timeout.

But this was about as close as the Hawks would get, as Fran Dunphy's squad seemed to be too experienced and too talented for the Hawks to handle.

An interesting tidbit about the game, it was part of the annual Coaches vs. Cancer "Suits and Sneakers" weekend, in which both coaching staffs wore sneakers to show their support for the American Cancer Society.

St. Joe's will travel to Richmond on February 1 for a very important Atlantic-10 road game.

SJU is now 13-9 overall and 3-4 in the A-10.

Eddie Ravert is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand.

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Forget the man of the hour, how about the man of the night? Ronald Roberts had a career-high 27 points as the Hawks beat the Atlantic-10 leader Dayton, 77-63 on Wednesday.

In a much-needed win, the Hawks fed off the home crowd at a jam-packed Hagan Arena. This was the upbeat, fun basketball SJU fans loved seeing in the first half of the season. According to head coach Phil Martelli, they needed to get back to controlling the game.

One of the things that had been missing for us had been pace of the game. We have not played basketball in a month.

The Hawks came into this game on a three-game losing streak and did not play well in either of those losses. This was the perfect game for St. Joe's to make a statement that they are a dangerous contender in the Atlantic-10.

SJU got off to a rather sluggish start in the first half, shooting just 32 percent but quickly turned that around in the second half, shooting an impressive 70 percent.

Also, Dayton committed 13 turnovers, which led to 13 SJU points. 

Part of the success was due to Ronald Roberts. Not only did the sophomore have 27 points but he also was 7-of-9 from the free-throw line, a place that has haunted him throughout the season. He even hit an acrobatic, off-balance three as the shot clock was waning.

Phil Martelli had nothing but praise for the big man after the game.

"Ron starts. He doesn't get his name called. I'm sure that every young kid wants his named called at the beginning of the games so that he can dance or whatever they do when they announce their names, but Ron is an unbelievable listener and really takes it to heart whatever we bring to his attention." 

However, the play of the evening came on an SJU in-bounds play where Roberts performed a windmill dunk that practically was a new coming of Moses parting the Red Sea. The jubilation from teammates and fans almost blew the roof off the place.

Roberts is known for his massive dunks, but this one was earth-shattering.

This SJU team, although young, seems to be forming a unique style with each player adding his own special identity. 

C.J. Aiken is the elegant swat team officer, Ronald Roberts is the new coming of Chocolate Thunder, Carl Jones is the drum major, Halil Kanacevic is the better-playing and better-looking form of Ilya Bryzgalov and Daryus Quarles is the sharp-shooting Beetlejuice.   

Now, if they can keep this consistent, fast, fun, fierce style of play up, "No one, and I mean no one, is going to come into their house and push them around."

But for Phil Martelli, it's those who win on the road in the Atlantic-10 who pose the real threats.

Everybody is really good at home, and the separation is how good are you on the road, and we'll find out. This is a magnificent league and we want to be in the conversation for being, not the best team, but being one of the better teams. We've given one away at home so we have to get that back on the road somewhere.

That game they "gave away" was against Charlotte, a team their next opponent, Temple, just beat on Charlotte's court. 

The Hawks will play Temple on Saturday, Jan. 28 at the Liacouras Center. Maybe this will be the game the Hawks can "get back."

Hopefully SJU can play like they did against Dayton because Temple will be a tough opponent, especially in their building. And if Ronald Roberts continues his dominant play, no one will be able to stop him.

Eddie Ravert is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand.

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"We're not going to be able to play with him in a vacuum," SJU head coach Phil Martelli said. "Wherever he was, he came back from that trip away," he added.

Who exactly is Phil Martelli talking about? That would be sophomore guard Langston Galloway, who tied his career high Wednesday with 30 points.

The match up between SJU and Fordham was not only an Atlantic 10 competition but also was part of the Jesuit Basketball Spotlight, using Jesuit basketball to raise awareness of Jesuit education. In front of a near sold-out crowd on the campus of St. Joe's, the Hawks proved they were the all-around better team, winning 80-62. 

Galloway shot lights out from behind the arc hitting seven three-pointers. After an unusual performance against Charlotte, Galloway said he just needed to relax and let the game come to him.

"I was stressing too much trying to make the ball go in, I was just relaxing and playing well," Galloway said. 

Galloway has always been a team first guy, so when he hit his last three with just 27 seconds remaining all he was trying to do was lead his team to victory.

"Just trying to win, that's all that counts to me," Galloway said.

As for the rest of the Hawks, they weren't so bad either. C.J. Aiken added 15 points of his own and the Atlantic-10 leading scorer, Carl Jones, included 11 points himself. 

One department SJU needs some serious work in is foul shooting.  They were 18-32 from the line as a team and Ron Roberts was 1-10. Phil Martelli isn't too worried about the big man at the line though.

"I wanted him (Roberts) to get fouled at the end of the game," Martelli said, "he'll make them, I'm confident he'll make them."

Apart from Roberts' foul shooting woes, he played a pivotal role in the Hawks' 18-point victory over the Rams.

Halil Kanacevic ran into foul trouble early in the game and Roberts boosted a spark in not only the players but also the fans at Hagan Arena. Roberts led the team in rebounds,12, and added five points, including a monster two-handed slam in the first half, which really caused the crowd to erupt.

An interesting tidbit about this game: Peter King was in attendance. King is the U.S. representative for New York's 3rd Congressional District.

The Hawks go on a two-game road trip playing UMass on Saturday in another Atlantic-10 matchup. Then, they have an extremely crucial league game at Xavier on Wednesday, January 18.

The lone undefeated team in the Atlantic-10 is La Salle, who was projected to finish 13th in the preseason poll and just upset Xavier. It's been that kind of year in this division, so put your hands up and smile for the camera because the Atlantic-10 roller coaster is just beginning. 

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Eddie Ravert is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand.

For the first time all season, St. Joe's lost on their home court of Hagan Arena. The Hawks played host to Atlantic 10 foe, the Charlotte 49ers. In one of the most physical games all year, SJU couldn't mount a come back, losing 57-52.

The 11-5 Hawks seemed flat from the start as Charlotte controlled the pace of the game, something the Hawks yearned to do. 

"We wanted to pace the game. We don't want to have 50 point games. People have tape and we didn't go at them," said Hawks coach Phil Martelli.

However, the Hawks did not go down without a fight.

Some bright moments from the game included the powerful play by Halil Kanacevic. He had an apparent size advantage all game, and the Hawks feasted on that early. Kanacevic finished the day as the SJU second leading scorer with 12 points. He also lead the team in blocks with four.

Another bright moment was the 14 points Carl Jones accounted for, including a huge fade-away three-pointer from the corner. This gave the Hawks a 38-36 lead as the fans almost tore the roof off Hagan Area with jubilation.

As the Hawks started to gain momentum, they also continued to turn the ball over, which ultimately led to 49er points.

St. Joe's was down three points as time was waning. Jones took an off-balance, fade-away three that was no good, but hit a Charlotte player and bounced out of bounds. What a break this was for SJU.

This gave the Hawks one more shot, down three, with 13 seconds left. They inbounded the ball to Kanacevic, who then attempted to hand the ball off to Jones, which resulted in an SJU turnover.

SJU desperately fouled and Charlotte made two shots, sealing the 57-52 victory for the 49ers.  

The Hawks are coming off a bad three-game skid, after blowing a lead to Harvard, desperately coming back against Duquesne and now loosing at home to Charlotte. 

Head coach Phil Martelli knows his team is better than what they have been showing recently, and said it was his job to have his team mentally prepared.

"I should've done more with them mentally," said Martelli.

Also, Martelli stated that his team needs to regain their energy that they seem to have lost.

"For whatever reason, our energy has dissipated. We've had energy deficiencies," proclaimed Martelli.

Where do the Hawks go from here and what does this Atlantic 10 loss mean for St. Joe's? Well this is a very talented division and the craziness has already begun around the league. Temple beat Duke, then lost to Dayton at home. La Salle beat heavy favorite Xavier by ten. So the league is still wide open.

The Hawks need to get back on track and need to push the basketball and spread the floor. That's when they are most successful. If Carl Jones can get back to playing fearless basketball, and C.J. Aiken can get his "swagger" back, this SJU team will be just fine.

They take on a tough Fordham team Wednesday, January 11 at Hagan Arena. Fordham just beat nationally ranked Harvard, who the Hawks just lost to.

This will be a statement game for SJU and you can be sure they will come out running on Wednesday. 

Eddie Ravert is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand.

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Phil Martelli won his first game on Hawk Hill on December 2, 1995. Sixteen years later, on December 28, 2011, he won his 310th basketball game, passing Billy Ferguson to become the winningest coach in St. Joseph's 112-year history.

The win came against Morgan State, at home in Hagan Arena, in front of a sell out crowd of 4,200, in a blowout 81-50 victory. After the game, Martelli, who said he hoped to win 310 more games and dedicated the accomplishment to his wife and children, was presented with the game ball.

The student section busted out the infamous chant, "Phil Martelli, Phil Martelli," which was a moving moment on this special night.

As for the game, the Hawks and the Bears traded baskets for the first four minutes, and Morgan State even led 12-10 at one point. The Bears lead didn't last very long, however.

St. Joe's found their groove when Halil Kanacevic threw an alley-oop to who else but C.J. Aiken. Just seconds later Carl Jones made a quick steal, which led to yet another Aiken slam dunk.

It was all Hawks from that point on.

But no one knew what Kanacevic was about to do. He single-handedly took over the game without scoring a single point. He was a one-man SWAT team. Recording seven blocks, he also took a page out of out of Jones' book with 12 assists while grabbing eight boards.

The best part is that he accomplished all of this before fouling out.

Another break-out star came off the bench in Ron Roberts. The big forward was good for 15 points, four rebounds, one block and one steal in 26 minutes of play. He provided the physicality the Hawks needed since they were out-sized by the Bears.

Roberts only had one assist, however it was as fancy as it gets. In a 2-on-1 situation, Roberts made a behind-the-back pass to silver-shoes Carl Jones, who put it in for the Hawks, which resulted in the fans almost taking the roof of Hagan Arena.

Other brilliant performances came from Langston Galloway and Daryus Quarles. Galloway added 16 points, seven rebounds and two blocks. Quarles added eight points of his own and a steal. Also, Papa Ndao was second in blocks with four.

The difference maker in the game was speed and overall athleticism. The Hawks were without a doubt the faster and quicker team, which allowed them to push the ball more and control the tempo of the game. 

The Hawks improved to 10-3 on the season and will take on an extremely-talented Harvard team on New Year's Eve in Boston. If the Hawks can win that game, they should be able to crack the Top 25.

Either way, their outstanding performances thus far has SJU turning heads. Let's hope they can keep the consistent play up. 

Phil Martelli, the man-of-the-hour, may have just won his 310th game, but he is nowhere near satisfied. He realizes the talent he has on his 2011 Hawks team and demands they out-perform their opponents.

But for a little while at least, both he and St. Joe's fans can celebrate all the good Martelli has done for St. Joe's over his 16 year career.

I hope he is right about one thing, because another 310 wins would certainly be nice. 

In the last 24 hours, St Joe’s basketball program has received more national press than they have since they were the No. 1 team in college basketball and the national player of the year graced the Philadelphia campus back in 2004.

Unfortunately the press is not related to St. Joe’s (8-3) fighting their way towards a national ranking or their dunkfest beatdown on Villanova last week.

On Monday, Todd O’Brien, a former St. Joe’s player (also by way of Bucknell) published an article in Sports Illustrated regarding how the NCAA, and St. Joe’s in particular, had “shafted” him by blocking him from playing at the University of Alabama at Birmingham this coming season. The article reads a bit like a sob story, with O’Brien being blocked from pursuing his academic dreams while remaining a STUDENT-athlete.

Before I go any further, here’s some full disclosure—I’m a St. Joe’s grad, I used to cover the men’s basketball team for the school’s student newspaper and I’ve had the, yes, pleasure of speaking with St. Joe’s coach Phil Martelli on several occasions. I don’t know Todd O’Brien at all, but I do know one thing—neither Sports Illustrated nor ESPN is presenting us with the full story.

Yes, I say this with my knowledge of Phil Martelli in mind. This guy is everything a college wants its college basketball coach to be, and his impact on the university is hugely positive. He genuinely cares about the well-being of his players, and if you need any proof of this fact speak to any of his former players, many of whom regard the man as something of a father figure.

Phil Martelli is a huge reason why many young players choose St. Joe’s over other schools. In my few conversations with Martelli, he’s been nothing but engaging, humble, passionate and invested in the players on his team. Needless to say, something about this situation smells a little fishy to me.

So, what else do we know? We know that we have a player, O’Brien, who is being blocked from playing basketball…which sucks. We know that Martelli is being stubborn and holding one hell of a grudge for some reason. He called O’Brien “the most disloyal player I’ve ever coached.”

Still, Martelli is a man and can get over player issues or minor squabbles here or there. He’s done it before with far better players than O’Brien, such as Abdulai Jalloh and D.J. Rivera, both of whom brought numerous and severe headaches Martelli’s way. Yet Martelli allowed both players to transfer, granting them the right to play elsewhere.

In O’Brien’s case, Martelli is standing his ground. He’s clearly incensed, and there’s got to be a reason why. What it is, I’m not sure.

O’Brien was supposedly involved in some sort of laptop theft while at St. Joe’s, which is potentially an indication that his image and intentions aren’t as squeaky clean as the claims in his Sports Illustrated article.

My intent here is not to side with Martelli and St. Joe’s over O’Brien—far from it. But while I don’t know O’Brien, I do know St. Joe’s to be fantastic place and Phil Martelli to be a stand-up guy. So before bashing the school for its lack of Jesuit ideals or the coach for holding an unfair grudge, realize that O’Brien’s Sports Illustrated article is presenting only one very biased side of this story.

Geoff Roberts is the Founder and Managing Editor of howiGit.com, a Boston sports blog.

Todd O'Brien should be prepared to suit up tonight for UAB's tilt with VCU. However, Phil Martelli—O'Brien's former coach at St. Joseph's—has obstinately refused to grant the seven-footer a release from his scholarship, relegating him to the sideline.

SI.com published O'Brien's account of the abhorrent situation on Monday.

In sum, O'Brien—a graduate student with one year of eligibility remaining—elected to transfer from St. Joseph's last summer to pursue a graduate degree in Public Administration. However, Martelli refused to grant O'Brien his release.

In Martelli's defense, O'Brien's decision was spontaneous and rather late.

But how tenable is that?

Not very.

Check that—not at all, especially considering Martelli is on the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Ethics Coalition. The ethical response... well, that's painfully obvious.

Also in Martelli's defense, we've only heard one side. However, Martelli hasn't made an effort to respond to reporters, which enraged Seth Davis.

The St. Joseph AD's statement to SI.com was pathetic. Martelli's silence even more pathetic. He's acting like he has reason to be ashamed.

— Seth davis (@SethDavisHoops) December 20, 2011

O'Brien's pursuit of a graduate degree is genuine—he adamantly says he'll achieve his degree before he even considers playing professionally overseas.

In other words, basketball is only secondary. He'd love to play for UAB because of his voracity for the game, but he left St. Joseph's for academic reasons—not, according to him, because of his reduced playing time with the Hawks.

Yes, some have also cited Martelli's support of O'Brien after his alleged involvement in a laptop theft as a reason for O'Brien to be loyal. But, regardless, shouldn't education supersede basketball—hence, STUDENT-athlete?

How could such an "ethical" man not support this?

Also, O'Brien didn't choose a rival school like Temple. Martelli's anger would be more justifiable then, but his decision probably wouldn't be. 

Martelli's obstinacy, compounded by O'Brien's plea, has already resulted in potentially irreparable damage to the longtime coach's reputation.

George Dohrmann of Sports Illustrated tweeted this:

If this is all true then no parent should ever send their kid to play for Phil Martelli. Truly classless.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/basketbal…

— George Dohrmann (@georgedohrmann) December 19, 2011

Overall, the public sentiment supports O'Brien. How could it not?

Hopefully Martelli has a justifiable response.