A group of Division I men’s basketball coaches last week urged Congress to dedicate more money to cancer research.

Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun, currently undergoing treatment for skin cancer, participated. Others included Maryland’s Gary Williams, Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, Temple’s Frand Dunphy and Alabama’s Mark Gottfried. They were joined by more than 400 volunteers from the American Cancer Society.

The event was part of the Coaches vs. Cancer effort, which raises money for the American Cancer Society through events and a national preseason tournament.

“The funding freeze over the past five years has had a severe impact on cancer research and the prevention and early detection programs at the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute,” said John Seffrin, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. “It is time for Congress to increase funding for federal cancer research and cancer control programs by at least the 6.5 percent needed to keep pace with inflation.”