By Donna Tommelleo
The Associated Press

STORRS, Conn. - Jim Calhoun has delivered many difficult speeches to his teams during 30 years of coaching. This one might have been the toughest.

The Connecticut men's coach informed the Huskies on Monday that he will be gone for about a month for treatment of the early stages of prostate cancer, a condition his doctors consider very treatable.

"It wasn't the easiest thing to say to them, that I'm not going to be with them," Calhoun said.

The 60-year-old coach will take a three- to four-week medical leave, with assistant George Blaney coaching on an interim basis. Surgery is scheduled for Thursday.

Calhoun's doctor, UConn Health Center urologist Peter Albertsen, said the cancer was detected early and was "relatively low-grade."

"Coach Calhoun's condition appears to be very treatable, and we anticipate his return to normal job-related activities within three or four weeks," said Albertsen, who will perform the operation.

Calhoun learned Friday he had cancer, and on Monday he used the language of war in declaring he would beat the disease.

"I want to attack this thing," he said. "I want to get it out of my system, and I want to fight this like I've fought everything else in my life. I'll win this battle, and with my family and the love and prayers of everybody, be back on the sidelines soon."

The 18th-ranked Huskies (13-4, 4-2 Big East) play Wednesday at Virginia Tech. The Huskies are coming off a 95-71 loss to Boston College on Saturday, their worst defeat ever at Gampel Pavilion.

"We can handle what we have to handle," Blaney said. "He's one of the strongest guys I ever met. I know that he will fight it - that's not been a question."

Before coming to UConn, Blaney was the coach at Holy Cross for 22 years; he then coached at Seton Hall for three years, until 1997.

Now in his 17th season at Connecticut, Calhoun has led the Huskies to national prominence, peaking with the 1999 NCAA title. With a career record of 637-290, including 14 seasons at Northeastern, Calhoun is eighth among active Division I coaches in victories.

Calhoun said his cancer was detected through routine prostate screening and touted the benefits of the procedure.

"Do your family, do your loved ones a favor, and make sure you get yourself screened," he said.

Former UConn star Donyell Marshall, who played for Calhoun from 1991-94 and now is with the Chicago Bulls, said his ex-coach has "always been a fighter."

"I'm just glad he caught it early. It's not going to take years or whatever," he said before Monday night's loss in Phoenix.

When Calhoun broke the news to his current squad, the locker room fell silent.

"My mouth just dropped," said guard Taliek Brown. "All my prayers are with him. Everybody will just play his hardest for him."

Added guard Tony Robertson: "He said he just wanted us to play hard. He said he has enough people praying for him to get better. Basketball is the least thing he should be worrying about right now."

On Sunday, Calhoun called up Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, who had prostate cancer surgery in St. Louis last December and missed three games. Boeheim also lost both parents to cancer.

"I know he's a lot tougher and in better shape than I was, so he'll come through this and be back out yelling at everybody," Boeheim said after Monday night's 88-80 win over Georgetown, which gave the coach 638 career victories - one more than Calhoun.

The Huskies have been to the NCAA tournament 10 times under Calhoun. Last year they made the round of eight before losing to eventual national champion Maryland.

UConn also won its seventh Big East regular-season title under Calhoun, and fifth conference tournament title last year.