Waterbury native Ryan Gomes wrapped up his accomplished basketball career more than a decade ago, earning first-team All-America honors at Providence before logging nearly 500 games in the NBA.

Still, every time the calendar flips to January, Gomes is dragged back to a memorable afternoon in 2004 at the Hartford Civic Center. He scored 26 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in a 66-56 upset over the No. 4-ranked UConn men’s basketball program, but former Huskies coach Jim Calhoun wrestled the spotlight away from Gomes during his postgame interview, in which he launched into a legendary rant about his decision not to recruit the Connecticut prospect.

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“Have I seen it? Yes. I see it every year,” Gomes said about Calhoun’s rant on NBC Sports Boston on Sunday. “It’s like me and my wife’s anniversary gift. Whenever it’s that date when it came out, on Twitter and Instagram, everyone is posting it. I play golf now, so I’m on the golf course and people see me and say, ‘Hey, I have it saved on my phone; that’s one of the best things ever.'”

As a two-year captain at Wilby High School, Gomes became one of Connecticut’s premier statistical performers, averaging 26.9 points and 16 rebounds per game to earn Naugatuck Valley League MVP honors. Still, that production couldn’t land him on Calhoun’s radar.

Gomes made an immediate impact with the Friars, finishing his freshman season as the team’s top rebounder and second-leading scorer before exploding as a sophomore with 18.4 points and nearly 10 boards per game. This frontcourt dominance led to some frustration from UConn fans that Calhoun failed to recruit an in-state standout, especially after his 26-point outing against the Huskies as a junior, leading former New Haven Register columnist Dave Solomon to ask what aspects of Gomes’ game weren’t evident during the recruiting process.

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“I’ve explained it a thousand times. I f—ed up,” Calhoun said after the game. “I didn’t take Ryan Gomes. Does that make you happy? It took Wayne Simone [Gomes’ AAU coach] 18 months to convince [Friars coach] Tim Welsh to take the kid. I don’t know what else you want me to say. I f—ed up. Write it. I f—ed up, for the fifth time.”

The 6-foot-7 forward noted his belief that Calhoun’s rant launched him onto the national radar. Despite posting nearly identical stats as a junior, Gomes suddenly landed on the first-team All-America list. Providence’s overall success likely boosted Gomes’ candidacy as well. The Friars entered the NCAA Tournament at 20-9 and earned a No. 5 seed, then their highest since the tournament expanded to 64 teams.

Gomes finished his college career as one of the nation’s leading scorers, averaging 21.6 points per game as a senior and was selected No. 50 overall by Boston in the 2005 NBA Draft. He enjoyed the most successful stretch of his career with Minnesota, averaging 12.3 points across three seasons. He then played in Germany and Spain before retiring in 2016.

The program’s all-time leading scorer, Gomes returned to Providence as an assistant under Kim English. Incoming head coach Bryan Hodgson did not retain Gomes.

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This article originally published at Ryan Gomes still gets reminded of Jim Calhoun’s infamous recruiting rant: ‘See it every year’.