Elm City to Eagleville

Doty delivers in Duke win

2012-01-31T09:10:00.000-05:00

A lack of confidence has never been an issue for Caroline Doty. However, this season has tested the bravado of the UConn junior guard.

The recovery from a third torn ACL in her left knee cost Doty the entire 2010-11 season and even now as she is back in the fold, the multiple knee surgeries have kept Doty from reaching the level she played at earlier in her collegiate career.

The games against the top teams have been a bit frustrating for Doty. She missed eight of 10 shots both against Stanford and Notre Dame. In a Dec. 18 contest at No. 1 Baylor she did not even attempt a shot in 15 minutes of action. If not for a lone offensive rebound, her stat sheet would have been completely blank.

That is what made Monday night so special for her. Doty made four of her five shots and was a perfect 3 for 3 from 3-point range. Her first trey was in the midst of a 6-0 run to give the Huskies their first double-digit lead. In the second half she hit a pair of timely 3’s in the first 7:12 to give the Huskies some breathing room. Doty finished with 11 points, three rebounds and three assists in 27 minutes.

“The fact that I was able to knock some shots down, it was great for my teammates to get me in position to have those open shots,” Doty said.

Nobody was happier to see Doty deliver some key shots than UConn coach Geno Auriemma. He knows the road to recovery has been a long one for Doty.

“She hasn't made any shots,” Auriemma said. “She didn't make a lot of shots in practice, she didn't make a lot of shots at shootaround, she has been struggling in and out with the knee bothering her. I think when she made her first one; I think it kind of let the air out a little bit. People forget that Caroline knocked in some big shots as a sophomore. We are trying to get back to that point where she felt like she is contributing. When you are coming back from injuries like she is, you wonder whether or not you are contributing, She is the first one out (of the game) all the time, you have Kaleena (Mosqueda-Lewis) coming off and everybody's talking about (her). It's always the new kid in town and Caroline just wants to feel like she is contributing. I was thrilled for her.”

TURNOVERS A CONCERN

Auriemma has downplayed the turnover totals in previous games against ranked teams but after Monday’s game Auriemma said he will need to address the carelessness which has been creeping into his team’s play.

There were 21 turnovers against Duke and too many of them were of the unforced variety.

“That is the next step we have to address, we have to stop throwing the ball away,” Auriemma said. “We have three or four possessions in a row where we don't get a shot. We can count on Caroline to kind of get us out of that rut.”

A true team effort for Huskies

2012-01-30T23:12:00.000-05:00

There have been times this season when one player would have the weight of the world placed on them. Whether it was Bria Hartley scoring 25 points in the losses at Baylor and Notre Dame or watching Tiffany Hayes post games of 35 and 33 points, it seemed like a little bit of a different way for the Huskies to play.

However, in Monday's 61-45 win at Duke, it was truly a case of seven players all contributing to a winning effort.

Stefanie Dolson dominated early, scoring the Huskies first six points before foul trouble limited her to 13 minutes. Tiffany Hayes a stretch with five points and an assist during an 8-2 run which gave the Huskies a lead it would never relinquish. Kiah Stokes ripped down 12 rebounds and five blocks, Caroline Doty, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Bria Hartley took turns draining clutch shots in the second half and Kelly Faris also hit an important 3-pointer.

"That is where teams kind of grow a little bit is when you go on the road against a really good team on their court," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "You kind of grow up as an individual because you get to make tough shots, you make plays that mean something, you grow as a team because the last time anybody beat these guys here was us. It is not an easy place to win and I think we grew up as a team tonight and hopefully that gives us confidence going forward. That is why we play these games. Some teams say 'well maybe we don't want to play those games in the Big East part of your schedule but you play these games because they are great challenges."
HAYES IS OK
Auriemma was at his story telling best when asked about what happened to UConn senior guard Tiffany Hayes, who fell hard to the floor in the first half and did not return until 12:45 remained in the game.

"You either get up and keep playing or you lay down and you are coming out, that is all there is to it," Auriemma said. "None of this crap that a kid lays there for five minutes and you play the next 25 like nothing happened. You are either hurt or you are not. When she stayed down, I knew something happened. When she came out, she didn't look good. That is why we didn't start her in the second half because Rosemary (Ragle, UConn's trainer) wanted to take her down there (to the locker room) and put her though that whole test that trainers have these kids when they get hit in the head. We were prepared to play in the second half (without Hayes) if we had to. When I came upstairs for the second half, I didn't think she was going to play in the second half. As soon as they told me, Bryan (Enterline) came over and said whoever you sub in is going to shoot the free throws, I couldn't wait to get Stefanie (Dolson) in. That took about three seconds."

UCONN/DUKE SERIES HAS THREE MORE YEARS
This game was the first of the four-year deal between the teams as UConn will return to Duke during the 2012-13 season while UConn will host the Blue Devils next season and in the 2014-15 season.

CHRIST THE KING STILL AIDING HUSKIES
New York powerhouse Christ the King has been kind to the Huskies over the years as All-Americans Sue Bird and Tina Charles both played their ball for the Middle Village, N.Y. squad.

While new recruiting target Saniya Chong doesn't play for Christ the King, former Royals head coach Vince Cannizzaro is said to have been the one to tip off the UConn coaching staff to the talents of the high-scoring junior guard at Ossising (N.Y.).

Assistant coach Shea Ralph is planning to check out Chong's game tomorrow while Marisa Moseley will be boarding a flight to California to do some recruiting including checking out UConn recruiting target Karlie Samuelson out of Edison (Calif.) High.

Former Connecticut star aids in Duke star's development

2012-01-30T18:27:00.001-05:00

Part of my interview with Duke freshman phenom Elizabeth Williams was spent talking about her relationship with former Bridgeport Central star Nadine Domond, who founded a training service after her professional career ended.

I filed a notebook for Tuesday's edition of the Register with the lead item focusing on Williams' thoughts on Domond, who is expected to be at tonight's game.

Here's some of what she had to say about Domond, who is still sixth on the Connecticut career scoring list.

"One of my AAU teammates at the time had trained with her and said 'hey, I want you to meet this lady, she is a really great trainer,'” said Williams, Duke’s leading scorer and rebounder who has already broken the Blue Devils’ single season record for blocked shots for a freshman. “This player, she really came a long way from the season before so that was how I got introduced to her.

“She talked a lot about footwork. When I was young she tried to get me to be patient as a player and make the right moves.”

UCONN/MARQUETTE GAME TIME CHANGED
It was just announced that the Feb. 25 UConn/Marquette game has moved from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. The game could set up a huge regular-season finale for UConn as the Huskies may need to beat Notre Dame two days later just to earn a share of the Big East regular-season title.

Hayes honored by Big East

2012-01-30T12:40:00.000-05:00

UConn senior guard Tiffany Hayes was named the Big East Player of the Week for the first time in her career after a record-breaking week.

Hayes had a career-high 35 points in Wednesday's win over Syracuse and then on Saturday came back with 33 points and 10 rebounds against South Florida. The 68 points is a Connecticut program record for scoring output in consecutive games, breaking Kerry Bascom's mark of 65 set in 1991. Hayes also averaged 8.5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals per game while making 21 of 30 shots from the field, 8 of 12 from 3-point range and 18 of 20 from 3-point range.

She is the first UConn player to be named Big East Player of the Week this season

Rutgers' Rushdan hurt in loss to Georgetown

2012-01-30T10:58:00.000-05:00

Rutgers senior guard Khajidah Rushdan suffered a head injury in Sunday's loss to Georgetown and missed the second half. Rushdan left the game with 5:37 left in the first half after falling hard on her head.

There's no word on Rushdan's status for the Scarlet Knights game agaunst Notre Dame on Tuesday or Saturday's game at UConn. She is Rutgers' second-leading scorer, averaging 12.7 points per game, has a team-high 77 assists and is in the top three in rebounding, steals and blocks. She is the only Rutgers player to start all 21 games this season.

Elizabeth Williams dishes on Breanna Stewart

2012-01-29T15:30:00.002-05:00

I just got back from Cameron Indoor Stadium for a sit-down interview with Duke freshman phenom Elizabeth Williams. While the main purpose of the interview was to do an advance on Williams and UConn freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, I did have a chance to talk to Williams about UConn recruit Breanna Stewart.

The two post players were teammates on the U.S. U-16 team in 2009, the U-17 squad in 2010 and last summer helped the U.S. win the U-19 World Championship,

"She has unlimited potential, she is a great player and person," said Williams of Stewart, who led the U.S. U-19 team in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots. "I was just talking to her yesterday. She is a great kid and is a really good player. She is a quick learner and she is eager to get better, definitely."

Stewart, a senior at Cicero-North Syracuse (N.Y.) High, was named the USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year, the first time an active high school player won that prestigious honor.

"To earn such an award at such a young age really shows the type of player that she is and all types of people are starting to see that," Williams said.

TICKETS GOING SLOWLY
As of Thursday, there were about 5,000 tickets sold for tomorrow's game being played in the 9,314 seat Cameron Indoor Stadium. While tickets are being steadily sold, it might be pushing it to expect a sellout for the nationally-televised game.

A week to remember for Breanna Stewart

2012-01-29T06:06:00.002-05:00

Breanna Stewart has to be loving life right now.

This is how the second half of her week finished out.

On Wednesday the Cicero-North Syracuse, N.Y. senior sat in the stands at the Carrier Dome with her family to watch her future teammates at UConn beat Syracuse.

Two days later USA Basketball named her the Female Athlete of the Year after she was the leading scorer on both the Under-19 and Pan Am squads.

Also on Friday, she scored the 2,000th point of her high school career Stewart had 20 of her 26 points in the first half as Cicero-North Syracuse to a 94-39 win over Auburn.

Limited number of tickets remain for Duke game

2012-01-28T20:56:00.001-05:00

According to a release on the Duke website, a limited number of tickets remain for the Monday's night showdown between No. 3 UConn and No. 5 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium

UConn will be playing at Duke for the fourth time and third during the Geno Auriemma era.

On Feb. 1, 2003 UConn beat Duke 77-65 and on Jan. 18, 2010 the Huskies went to Durham, N.C. and won 81-48.

Monday's 7 p.m. game will be televised on ESPN2.

Dolson has a monster game against USF

2012-01-28T17:36:00.000-05:00

It didn't take long to figure out what the focus of UConn's offensive game plan was in Saturday's win over South Florida.

Sophomore center Stefanie Dolson had averaged 7.8 points, 6.9 rebounds and 7.1 field-goal attempts in her last eight games, erupted for a season-high 22 points, a career-high 18 rebounds and her 15 shots were also the most for her this season.

"Coach challenged to the bigs to be what we are - which is a big - I was really focusing on rebounding, being strong out there, finishing inside which I didn't do a great job of," Dolson said. "I was definitely focused on rebounding and getting us more possessions.

"We as a group, we had a horrible half at Syracuse. We did a better job of coming out and being more aggressive, more awake and aware of things. Today I wanted it to translate to an entire game and have one half be one way and one be the other way."

Dolson was expected to be a focal point of UConn's offense this season but she has had a few more peaks ad valleys than she would like.

"The inconsistency comes probably from my mindset," Dolson said. "I think sometimes before a game, before practice I don't have the correct mindset, mentality. The other day against Syracuse I (mistook) energy for being too goofy so I don't think I came into the game being focused where as today I was extremely focused but with high (level of) energy. CD (UConn associate head coach Chris Dailey) has talked about killer mentality, if you want to punch the practice players and then it will happen in the games."

Emotional day for Tiffany Hayes, Huskies

2012-01-28T16:18:00.002-05:00

Tiffany Hayes wasn't particularly impacted when she found out that she set a Connecticut program record for points in consecutive games.

However, she was reduced to tears when the subject of playing on what would have been the 23rd birthday of her close friend Jasper Howard.

"One of my friends (Howard) who passed said to play every play like it is your last you will ever play and his birthday is today. I think I have been living by that and it gives me a lot of motivation."

That was about all Hayes could get out as she was asked a pair of follow up questions about the emotional impact of playing on Howard's birthday as well as the No. 6 UConn hat she was clutching while meeting with the media after Saturday's 77-62 win over South Florida.

Yeah, it is," Hayes said when asked if it was extra emotional game playing on his birthday. Then her words trailed off as she began to cry and turned away from the group of reporters surrounding her.

Hayes had 33 points in the game giving her 68 over her last two games. Before this week, the highest scoring total by a Husky in consecutive games is 65 set by Kerry Bascom in 1991.

Doty glad hiatus was a brief one

2012-01-27T17:12:00.000-05:00

Caroline Doty practiced without restriction today - or at least as close to "without restriction" as one can with three torn ACLs. She is slated to return to the lineup on Saturday when UConn plays South Florida after missing Wednesday's game against Syracuse with a bone bruise in her left knee.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma said Doty will return to her role as a starter while Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis will go back to being the first player of the bench.

"I wanted to be smart and not fight through it," said Doty, who asked out of the Jan. 21 game against DePaul with 17:40 remaining in the first half. "I've learned from the past that if you fight through something it possibly could get worse. I am trying to be smarter this time around so it is only a few days and not a few months down the road. I guess it takes three ACL tears to realize what's worth fighting through."

Doty said she first felt something during pregame warmups but it wasn't until after a collision early in the DePaul game that she asked to be taken out of the game. She did not return.

Hartley, Mosqueda-Lewis named to Wooden midseason list

2012-01-27T17:00:00.000-05:00

UConn sophomore guard Bria Hartley and freshman guard/forward Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis were named to the Wooden Award Midseason Watch List.

Surprisingly, UConn's leading scorer Tiffany Hayes was not among the 20 players named to the list.

Breanna Stewart named USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year

2012-01-27T16:10:00.000-05:00

UConn signee Breanna Stewart has been named the USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year.

The 6-foot-4 senior at Cicero-North Syracuse, N.Y. was a member of the Under-19 national team as well as the Pan Am Games squad.

"It is exciting because this is a pretty big award," Stewart said in a statement. "I'm just honored to be thought of as USA Basketball's Female Athlete of the Year."
Jen Rizzotti, who coached Stewart on the U-19 squad said "Breanna Stewart ranks up with Maya Moore as one of the most competitive young players that I've ever seen,. She has the ability to tremendously impact the game on both ends of the floor. She works constantly to improve all aspects of her game, and I look forward to watching her growth as she develops into an even more complete player. Her desire to win and compete on every possession raised the level of intensity for our team and was crucial to our winning the gold medal."

USA Basketball will nominate Stewart for the U.S. Olympic Committee's 2011 SportsWoman of the Year, which will be announced later this year

Tiffany Hayes has a career night

2012-01-25T23:19:00.002-05:00

Tiffany Hayes wasn't sure what to expect when she couldn't buy a basket during UConn's shootaround on Wednesday morning. But once she the game started, Hayes was unstoppable as she scored a career-high 35 points in Wednesday's win at Syracuse.

"I just think it was a good day," Hayes said. "From what I remember, it has definitely been a hard place to shoot from. At shootaround, I was struggling but during the game I felt it so I kept letting it go and they were going in."

The amazing thing is that Hayes needed only 15 shots for the 35 points.

"It reminded me a game Sveta had when she scored 39 points on 14 or 15 shots," Auriemma said. "That kind of production, that kind of efficiency that is what good players do. Anybody could get 35 if you take 30 shots or 25 shots but to do it the way she did it and still get everybody else involved in the game ... It wasn't just solely coming down and doing my thing, she did it within the framework of what we do and that makes it all the better."

Auriemma was actually encouraged by what he saw from Hayes at shootaround. Sure, he would have preferred she made a few more shots but her attitude when the shots didn't go in was a positive step forward.

"Unlike other times, she didn't just walk away from it and say (forget) it," Auriemma said. "She got involved. Our shootarounds are not just come out here and throw up balls at the rim. She got involved and did other things, she was part of 'this is what we are going to do offensively, this is what we are going to do defensively' and she was able to kind of capitalize on that. Sometimes you come to shootaround and you make everytthing and in the game, nothing goes in. I am happy for her. There has been a big difference in her, I have seen a change in herin the last couple of weeks and not just on the court either. She has a pretty clear vision right now of what she wants to do and how she wants to do it and I thrilled for her."

Her teammates obviously could tell early on that Hayes was feeling it.

"I knew when we were playing you could just see that Tiff was going," said Hartley, who assisted on three of Hayes' six 3-pointers. "She gets out in transition and has a lot of open 3's. She knew she was going to take them and she knocked them down."

Hayes passed Cathy Bochain, Jen Rizzotti and Wendy Davis to move into 14th place on UConn's career scoring list.

In perhaps the biggest statistical oddity of the night, this is the fourth time in the last five games against Syracuse that a UConn player had at least 34 points. As a point of reference, there have been 17 such games in the history of the program. It started back on Jan. 17, 2009 when Maya Moore had 40 points. Then in a game on Feb. 24, 2010 Moore went off for 38 points. Tina Charles put up 34 points in a Mar. 7, 2010 game against the Orange in the Big East tournament.

STEWART IS IN THE HOUSE
UConn commit Breanna Stewart, a star at nearby Cicero-North Syracuse (N.Y.) was part of the record crowd of 4,357 at the Carrier Dome for the game.

Naturally, Auriemma was asked about Stewart in the post-game press conference.

'"Our coaches, we like to ask if this kid was 5-10 instead of 6-4, would she be a really good basketball player, would she be one of the top 10 players in the country?" Auriemma said. "A lot of times the answer is no. The reason a kid, a big player, is good is that they are 6-4. Breanna, if she was 5-10, she'd still be one the best players in America (because of) the fact that she is so competitive and is skilled and has a really good understanding of not only the game but her affect on the game.

"It's tough being a freshman at UConn and she will find that out. It is very difficult because the expectation level is going to be really high. There are going to be times when she can't meet those expectations. But if you were to draw up something and say what does a kid need when you come to UConn as a post player, wing or anything - she can play any position she wants - what does that person need? She has all of those qualities and she is an even better person than she is a basketball player and you don't find that too often. We are lucky, we end up finding those kids."

DOTY SET TO RETURN TO PRACTICE
After the game Auriemma said that junior guard Caroline Doty, who missed Wednesday's game with a bone bruise in her left knee, is still on track to return to practice on Friday and play on Saturday against USF.

"Right now that is the plan," Auriemma said. "We have a day off tomorrow. Friday, she is going to get a workout in, hopefully the entire practice and we are planning on playing her on Saturday."

Doty suffered the injury when UConn played at DePaul on Saturday and missed her first game of the season. Freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis started in her place and had 19 points.

"Not being able to be on the bench and see the mistakes we are making and then go out there and make a change, you kind of just have to go on the fly," Mosqueda-Lewis said after her first collegiate start.

Syracuse game brings reunion with Stefanie Dolson's high school rival

2012-01-24T17:22:00.001-05:00

Stefanie Dolson's and Rachel Coffey's names were forever intertwined during their brilliance high school careers.

Dolson's Minisink Valley and Coffey's Kingston squads were always on a collision course to meet in the sectional finals and their individual brilliance was typically the focus of newspaper articles advancing the colossal showdowns.

The rivals will meet again tonight as Dolson is UConn's starting center while Coffey is a guard who has started 12 of 20 games for Syracuse.

"I can't tell you how many times in the newspaper, it was never Minisink vs. Kingston. It was always Stefanie vs. Rachel which I don't understand because we are completely positions but it was always a huge rivalry because it was always us two in the finals," Dolson said. "Any time we played them, it was fun.
"It is interesting. It is always fun to see somebody make it to a college basketball team from the same town or area you are from. I know for me personally, I don't have man of them because of where I am from so to see Rachel there, I am really happy for her and glad that she made it because I knew playing against her in high school that she is a great player. hat she made it to Syracuse and is starting now, I am really proud that, we are not from same town, but from the same area, county."

DESHIELDS HOPING TO BE BACK FOR STATE PLAYOFFS
Upon hearing the news that UConn recruiting target Diamond DeShields suffered a wrist injury that will sideline her for the next few weeks, I reached out to Norcross (Ga.) High coach Angie Hembree to see how long she expects the highly-touted junior to be sidelined.

"Diamond injured her left wrist in our game with North Gwinnett," Hembree said in an e-mail on Friday morning. "This is her non shooting hand and we expect her to be back in time for the playoffs."

Norcross is in Georgia's AAAAA class and the state tournament begins on either Feb. 24 or 25.

Doty won't play against Syracuse but should return against USF

2012-01-23T18:11:00.002-05:00

Caroline Doty underwent an MRI today, showing the condition of her meniscus and ACL are unchanged according to an official release sent out by UConn. Doty suffered a bone bruise in her left knee during warm-ups, prior to the game against DePaul on January 21, and began experiencing soreness early on in the game at DePaul. She will not play against Syracuse on Wednesday but is probable to play against South Florida on Saturday.

It will be the first game that Doty has missed this season. While Doty was not available to the media on Monday, we were able to get reaction from Geno Auriemma and some of Doty's teammates.

"Every time she goes up for a layup, does this or does that we are kind of holding our breath," UConn junior forward Kelly Faris said. "You hate to see a good player like that going through injury after injury (plus) the fact that she has worked her butt off to get back. When she went out, immediately 'shoot, where's she at? What she is doing?' Once I saw her and made eye contact (and knew) she was fine it is a little
settling."

Auriemma believes the fact that they are celebrating that it is "only" a bone bruise is an indication of just what Doty has been through since suffering her first of three torn ACLs as a senior at Germantown Academy.

"I am sure everybody was fearful that it might be something a lot more serious but I guess it takes having three ACL repairs to say it's only a bone bruise," Auriemma said. "For most people 'hey it's a bone bruise and I am going to be out for two days, five days, who knows.' But in Caroline's case saying it was only
a bone bruise, it was like somebody broke a fingernail. She is not going to play Wednesday and then we will see for Saturday. She is a tough kid and if there is anyway at all you come back from something like that, if somebody says it is six days, she will do it in three days. That is just the kind of kid she is and I am happy to hear it is 'only' a bone bruise."

Auriemma never saw the series of events early in the game leading up to Doty asking to be taken out of the game.

"She asked to come out," Auriemma said. "Nobody saw it, a collision that 'oh my God, look.' It was (UConn assistant coach) Shea (Ralph) saying 'get Caroline.' I turned around, looked and she was (motioning) 'get me out.' It is a good sign on her part because in her younger days, she wouldn't have said anything, she just would have kept playing and it would have gotten worse. Then she would have been out three weeks. I am glad it worked out like it did."

With Doty out, freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis is expected to make her first career start on Wednesday.

An update on Moriah Jefferson

2012-01-23T12:25:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the Texas Home Educators Sports Association (THESA) Riders coach Alan Burt, I have UConn signee Moriah Jefferson's up to date statstics.

Jefferson is averaging 18 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists. 5.6 steals and 0.9 blocks per game. Jefferson is shooting 57 percent from the field, 49 percent from 3-point range and 76 percent from the free-throw line and she has committed just 1.6 turnovers per contest. In 33 games, Jefferson has scored 20 points 13 times and 30 points three times.

The THESA Riders are 33-5 going into tonight's game against a 32-0 Pflugerville squad led by North Texas signee Itiana Taylor and American University commit Ari Booth.

MIXED BAG ON INJURY FRONT FOR UCONN TARGETS
While reports recently surfaced stating that UConn recruiting target Diamond DeShields could be sidelined for 2-3 weeks with a wrist injury, another high school junior being pursued by the Huskies has returned to action.

Karlie Samuelson, a wing out of Edison (Calif.) High, missed 10 games with a sprained ankle. In her first game she, Samuelson had 28 points and had four 3-pointers in a 75-59 win over The Bishop's School on Saturday.

Mosqueda-Lewis added another Big East honor

2012-01-23T11:38:00.005-05:00

UConn's Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis has been named the Big East's Freshman of the Week for a sixth time after averaging 16.7 points and 6.7 rebounds in wins over North Carolina, Cincinnati and DePaul.

Mosqueda-Lewis had 15 points, six rebounds and two assists in win over North Carolina, had 10 points and seven rebounds in a victory over Cincinnati and wrapped up her week by tying her career high with 25 points in Saturday's win at DePaul. Mosqueda-Lewis leads up in scoring, averaging 14.8 points per game and also had a team-high 50 3-pointers. She is the fifth UConn freshman with 50 3-pointers. Maya Moore set the school record for 3's by a Connecticut frosh with 73, topping Diana Taurasi's total of 71. Bria Hartley made a run at that mark last season before finishing with 69. Ann Strother and Jen Rizzotti finished with 58 and 53 during their freshman year.

It is the sixth time Mosqueda-Lewis has been named the Freshman of the Week, which ties her with eight other players including teammate Bria Hartley and former Huskies Svetlana Abrosimova and Tina Charles for the third most in Big East history.

She needs one more to tie former UConn star Rebecca Lobo for second on the all-time list. Maya Moore set the conference record with 10 selections in the 2007-08 season.

UConn's defense too much for overmatched DePaul

2012-01-21T23:34:00.000-05:00

With four players including All-American candidate Keisha Hampton sidelined for DePaul, it was pretty clear that Saturday night's UConn/DePaul game was not going to resemble the thriller played at McGrath-Phillips Arena back on Mar. 1, 2008 when a Maya Moore steal and Ketia Swanier coast to coast layup pulled out an improbable Connecticut victory.

Still, it was hard to expect the relative ease with which UConn dismantled No. 21 DePaul before a sellout crowd of 4,001.

UConn set McGrath-Phillips opponent records with 18 steals and a season-high nine blocks and the Huskies held Anna Martin, the Big East's second-leading scorer without a point.

"Everywhere she went tonight, we were able to get a hand on her," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "Kelly (Faris) is tough enough to play against when you have two or three options but when you are the single, most important option - it is difficult. What we wanted to do is make sure we pushed her out of her comfort zone and try to make her be a playmaker instead of a shooter. We've got a couple of kids on
our team that take their defensive assignments and they knew they were going up against a very good player today. She had some open looks that she didn't make so I think she probably contributed to this as much as we did."

Offensively, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis had five 3-pointers en route to a career-high tying 25 points.

The only drawback in the game was UConn junior guard Caroline Doty leaving the game with 17:40 left in the first half because of soreness in her surgically-repaired left knee. The initial tests were encouraging as the knee showed no signs of instability.

"Caroline's knee is sore every single day and it will probably be sore every single day for the rest of her life," Auriemma said. "I didn't see it happen but she said that she just felt something and there was a little bit of swelling in it which is not that unsual but Rosemary (Ragle, UConn's trainer) and (UConn team doctor_ Tom Trojian said let's just keep her out and they are not that concerned about it."

Auriemma also spoke about the high regard in which he holds DePaul coach Doug Bruno, going as far as saying the first thing he did when he was named the U.S. senior national team coach was put into motion to play to have Bruno be one of his assistant coaches for the 2012 Olympics. The official announcement was made about Bruno's appointment (as well as those of Jen Gillom and Marynell Meadors on Friday).

"The opportunity for me when I was named the coach to just immediately say 'this is a guy I want on my staff," Auriemma said. "Whatever committee looked at his qualifications, there was never any of 'why him?' He has given his life to the game. I just felt like he deserved it because of what he has done and what he has given to the game. He is a really smart guy and he knows a lot about the game that helps me and I think helps our players. for me, it is was the first thing I did when I got the job."
Finally, UConn signee Morgan Tuck (who lives about 30 minutes away in Bolingbrook) was a part of the 4,001 in attendance tonight.

Doty out of game with sore knee

2012-01-21T20:46:00.004-05:00

UConn junior guard Caroline Doty left Saturday's game against DePaul with 17:40 left in the first half complaining of soreness in her surgically-repaired left knee.

UConn officials said the soreness developed over the last week since UConn is finishing up a stretch of four games in eight days, When examined by Dr. Tom Trojian, the knee was stable. She will not return to the game.

Caroline's knee is sore every single day and it will probably be sore every single day for the rest of her life. I didn't see it hapen but she said that she just felt something and there was a little bit of swelling in it which is not that unsual but Rosemary and Tom Trojian said let's just keep her out and they are not that concerned about it

Live chat starts at 7 p.m.

2012-01-21T18:35:00.000-05:00

A final reminder that I will be hosting a live chat from 7-7:45 before signing off in time for the start of UConn's game against DePaul.

Here is a link to join the chat
="https://mail.journalregister.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=0a34bae175d647ce88e1c50d8588fd1a&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.coveritlive.com%2findex2.php%2foption%3dcom_altcaster%2ftask%3dviewaltcast%2faltcast_code%3df2640aa885%2fheight%3d550%2fwidth%3d470"

Big game for Moriah Jefferson; Huskies Back Pat

2012-01-21T15:44:00.001-05:00

Here are a couple of links people might be interested in.

First, thanks to Moriah Jefferson's coach with the THESA Riders for letting me know of a gamer from last night's game against Wylie when Jefferson had 28 points and four 3-pointers to lift THESA past Wylie 62-60. Wylie was led by Peyton Little's 34 points. If Little's name sounds familiar it is because very briefly she was linked with UConn in the recruiting process.

Also, courtesy of my colleague Dave Borges you can find a photo and video of the UConn men's basketball team wearing "We Back Pat" t-shirts in honor of Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt's battle with early onset dementia. UConn plays at Tennessee this afternoon. Dave also has some additional details about the UConn women's team needing to fly to Indianapolis with some UConn donors in order to make it into Chicago for tonight's game.

Finally, feel free to join me on a live chat before tonight's game. I'll be fielding questions from 7-7:45 p.m. I'll provide a link as it draws closer.

Another huge game for Breanna Stewart

2012-01-21T08:41:00.002-05:00

It's been a pretty impressive week for Breanna Stewart.

On Sunday the UConn commit and No. 1 ranked high school senior by all the major recruiting services had 44 points to lead her Cicero-North Syracuse (N.Y.) team to a win over the Hill School in the Blue Star Invitational at Upper Dublin (PA) High. Then she had 24 points in a victory over Proctor out of Utica, NY. In her most recent game, she had 39 points in Friday's win over West Genesee.

Stewart is now averaging 24 points per game.

Stewart's future UConn teammate Moriah Jefferson is also enjoying an outstanding senior season. For those who haven't seen her play, here is a highlight video of her

As for the final member of the class, when I spoke with Morgan Tuck's head coach at Bolingbrook (Ill.) High last Friday, he thought she would be at the DePaul game since Bolingbrook doesn't have a game tonight. I will try to keep an eye out to see if Tuck is indeed among the sellout crowd at tonight's game.
Changing gears a little, I caught up with DePaul coach Doug Bruno after yesterday's USA Basketball press conference where he, Marynell Meadors and Jen Gillom were officially named as the assistant coaches on Geno Auriemma's U.S. Olympic team staff.

His take on this year's UConn team was the focus of the advance I wrote for tonight's game but for those who missed that story, here's some of what he had to say.

"UConn, it looks to me like they are on a mission and the mission is to prove that 'we are somebody, we are a great UConn team without Maya,' I don't think there is a kid on the UConn team who wouldn't want to have Maya right now. But it looks to me like they are trying to prove and show the world that (they) can win games before Maya and afer Maya. This ia a very good basketball teams and like all really good basketball teams, you change one player and you change an entire group dynamic. Bria (Hartley) is the leader of the pack but Tiffany (Hayes) is a senior who has been though a lot, a lot, a lot of tough experiences through her three years, Kelly Faris is so underrated and (Stefanie) Dolson is a very critical inside player, Caroline (Doty)can shoot the ball and Kaleena (Mosqueda-Lewis) is a great freshman. It is a real strong team, they have no weakness."

LIVE CHAT TODAY
I will be taking questions on a live chat between 7-7:45 p.m. today. You can log in by clicking the link below

http://www.coveritlive.com/index2.php/option=com_altcaster/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=f2640aa885/height=550/width=470

Travel woes for UConn; live chat tomorrow

2012-01-20T18:36:00.001-05:00

Even before taking on Cincinnati on Thursday night, UConn got word that its flight to Chicago today had been cancelled.

Well, even with a charter flight things can be complicated. The team had to fly into Indianapolis and as we speak they are taking a bus to Chicago.

LIVE CHAT BEFORE TOMORROW'S GAME
I'll be taking questions in my first live chat of the season tomorrow before the game (likely between 7-7:45 p.m.).

Here's a link to the chat

A little USA Basketball talk

2012-01-20T18:32:00.000-05:00

After a longer than anticipated trip to Chicago for tomorrow's DePaul game, I now can get around to talking about the naming of Geno Auriemma's Olympic staff.

My initial plan was to arrive in Chicago in plenty of time to make it to the USA Basketball press conference today. That was before US Airways set back customer service several decades today. Not only did they expect people flying into areas under winter advisories to voluntarily give up their seats to take a later flight (sure, I'd love to sit in an airport for 12-18 hours because you overbooked your flight) but the people in Philadelphia refused to hold the doors for another 5-10 minutes even though about 10 customers taking a flight out of New Haven were on the connecting flight from Philadelphia to Chicago. We got to the gate about 5-6 minutes before the flight was scheduled to depart but were told we were too late.

OK, my travel rant is over.

While I didn't make it to the press conference, I was able to catch up with DePaul head coach and U.S. Olympic assistant coach Doug Bruno (officially named to the staff today along with Atlanta Dream head coach Marynell Meadors and Washington Mystics assistant Jen Gillom) and USA Basketball women's national team director Carol Callan.

Callan spoke about the importance of continuity as the same staff which helped the U.S. win the World Championships in 2010 will be coaching the U.S. at the Olympics later this year.

"It's incredibly important," Callan said. "When you take Geno and these three coaches together, we don't have a whole lot of time to train and a whole lot of time to sit together, prepare leaidng up to it and for them to be able to come in for three days before we even head over the Europe, it is like an old shoe, you just fit right in. They understand their roles, they know what Geno wants, they know the players. We want
players to play over and over again but we also want coaches to coach over and over again so it is invaluable. It is a comfort level, it is an intelligence level and we are already coming in at this level rather than starting fresh every single (year)."

Callan said part of the purpose of doing this announcement to coincide with tomorrow's game between Auriemma's Huskies and Bruno's Blue Demons is that it gives her a chance to talk some things through with Auriemma not the least of which are his thoughts on the available players. The men's program just released its player pool and Callan said "I think soon. Nothing planned but the plan is to do something soon. Part of this weekend, we're not going to take Geno too far away from his (UConn) responsibilities, but there are a couple of things I want to get his opinion on and one of them is let's get deadlines and time lines on certain things."

Callan said ideally she'd like to Olympic team to be named in the spring, perhaps in late March or early April if for no other reason so that the players can make plans to get friends and family over to London.

She said the team will likely gather at an East Coast location for a few days before heading to Europe. Playing a group of non-Olympic WNBA All-Stars is not an appealing option but playing international teams both in the U.S. and then in Europe is a better way to prepare in the mind of the USA Basketball folks.

"It would be nice to do something here, have a nice kickoff, send off thing," Callan said. "Our history has been if we go to Europe, we try to train on the East Coast, if we go to Asia we try to train on the West Coast I think while we have significant time to when we have to play our first game in London, that transition body clock wise is important as well. It helps if we start on the East Coast and we already have that piece done.

"We are talking first to opponents to where we think we can get some games. Typically what we do is when the WNBA breaks and they have now released their schedule so I guess their last round of games before the Olympics is around the (July) 13th. Typically what we'll do is gather domestically, get a couple of days in. In the past we have played a WNBA all-star team and we are kind to try to do more international things so w are in the process of putting that together. We have already announced that we are going to play Great Britain in Manchester, England on July 18. That leaves us a five-day period of that and really needing to be in London. I hope in next month or so we will have that all tied down as we can even announce what we were doing, put the blueprint (together)."

Playing friends not always easy for Auriemma

2012-01-19T23:12:00.000-05:00

On Thursday night UConn coach Geno Auriemma squared off against former UConn star and longtime assistant coach Jamelle Elliott. On Sarturday he will match wits with one of his closest friends in DePaul's Doug Bruno.

After Thursday's win over the Bearcats, I asked Auriemma his thoughts of playing against such close friends.

"I think the more you play them, the less those things come into play," Auriemma said, "I remember the first time we played Jamelle or Jen's team or you have a certain, a little apprehension there but the more we play like tonight, I was more concerned about our team. I spent a lot of time with Jamelle last night. The same with Bruno, he and I have had a long relationship but if you pay attention to him on Saturday, he doesn't treat me any different from any other guy. He is a competitive guy, he is getting after the officials when he thinks he has to, he is passionate and he is not really worried about who is on the other sideline. I am not either. The only time I feel for them is when their team doesn't play well because if you don't play well against us, you don't have a chance. The only thing I wish for when i play people I have a relationship with and hope their team plays well."

HAYES MOVING ON UP
Tiffany Hayes became the 18th UConn player to score 1,500 points and moved by Asjha Jones and into 17th on Connecticut's career scoring list. She also tied Kerry Bascom for ninth on the career 3-pointer list.

"It's just a pat of it," said Hayes, who was also a part of her 130th victory at UConn. "I didn't really know. That is a plus that I have been able to be on that list with all those great players but I have to continue to focus on getting better."

Auriemma talked about the select company Hayes has put herself in during the last four years.

"Tiffany's been fortunate, she has been here during an era when we have played a lot of games. I would hate to think how many points Kerry would score if she played 40 games a year," Auriemma said. "But I think you have to give Tiffany a lot of credit because she has been pretty consistent the whole four years she has been here Yeah, she's had her moments when she's been great and had moments when she has not been great but you don't get to be on the list of most things at Connecticut (by accident). She is up there
with some good players."

North Babylon reunion tonight

2012-01-19T13:35:00.001-05:00

Long before Bria Hartley emerged into an All-American candidate at UConn, she was a wide-eyed middle school phenom hoping for a chance to suit up at North Babylon High School.

When Hartley got her chance as an eighth grader, among the players there to ease her transition was Chanel Chisholm.

Tonight the two former teammates will square off when Hartley and UConn host Chisholm's Cincinnati squad.

"She was definitely one of the stars on that team and the leader of that team and you could tell how hard she worked and how talented she was," Hartley said. "She was always giving me pointers even though I was one of the younger ones. Then when I was in eighth grade, I finally got to play with her. Playing with somebody like that and being around the older girls, it helped me.

"I was very young, really little but she helped me know what I am supposed to do when I am on the court and just do what I did best."

Hartley and Chisholm were teammates for two seasons. Their last year together was a special one. When Hartley was a freshman and Chisholm a senior, they helped North Babylon win its first Long Island title.

"She had a really big role, actually, even though she was in middle school," Chisholm said. "She was playing up on the varsity team and played a really big role competing and getting us to the state finals (during the 2006-07 season)."

Chisholm headed to Vanderbilt for two seasons before transferring to Cincinnati. While Chisholm was adjusting to college life, Hartley was developing into one of the top players in Long Island. Her emergence was not a surprise to Chisholm.

"She has always been a really good player, she has always competed at a high level so I am not surprised at all.

"I thought Bria was really good, especially when she was younger. She had a good understanding of the game and had a really good basketball IQ, she was very fundamentally sound as well as she has a lot of skill and is talented. I knew she was going to be really good the older she got."

Both Hartley and Chisholm are eager for tonight's reunion.

"She was a lot older than me but we were still pretty close and pretty good friends," Hartley said. "Anytime you are playing against somebody that you knew for a long time growing up, you see that you are both doing well and both playing Division I basketball, you just smile and have fun while you are playing.

"I think a lot of fans that saw us play in high school, they watch the games. I talk to some old friends and they talk about how we are playing each other. It is something special."

CPTV SPORTS AIRING BREANNA STEWART'S HOOPHALL GAME
For those of you who have CPTV Sports, they will be televising the Cicero-North Syracuse (N.Y.)/West Springfield (Mass.) game from last week's HoopHall Classic beginning at 5 p.m. tonight. It will give people a chance to see UConn commit Breanna Stewart in action before checking out the UConn/Cincinnati game.

WNBA SCHEDULE IS OUT
The WNBA announced its 2012 schedule which kicks off on May 18 when Seattle hosts Los Angeles.

The Connecticut Sun opens up the following day with a 4 p.m. game at New York with the two teams playing in Connecticut's home opener on May 20 at 5 p.m.

Tracking the former Huskies coming to Mohegan Sun Arena
June 1: Minnesota (Maya Moore, Charde Houston), 7 p.m.
July 1: Seattle (Sue Bird), 5 p.m.
Aug. 26: Chicago (Swin Cash), 5 p.m.
Sep. 7: Phoenix (Diana Taurasi, Ketia Swanier), 7 p.m.

Here is Connecticut's entire schedule
Saturday, May 19 at New York 4:00 pm
Sunday, May 20 New York 5:00 pm
Friday, May 25 San Antonio 7:00 pm
Friday, June 1 Minnesota 7:00 pm
Sunday, June 3 Washington 3:00 pm
Friday, June 8 at Indiana 7:00 pm
Sunday, June 10 Atlanta 5:00 pm
Wednesday, June 13 Los Angeles 8:00 pm
Friday, June 15 New York 7:00 pm
Sunday, June 17 at Atlanta 3:00 pm
Tuesday, June 19 Indiana 7:00 pm
Thursday, June 21 at Indiana 7:00 pm
Friday, June 29 at Washington 7:00 pm
Sunday, July 1 Seattle 5:00 pm
Friday, July 6 at Tulsa 7:00 pm
Saturday, July 7 at Minnesota 7:00 pm
Tuesday, July 10 at Washington 11:30 am
Wednesday, July 11 Washington 7:00 pm
Friday, July 13 at Chicago 7:30 pm
Thursday, August 16 at New York 7:00 pm
Saturday, August 18 New York 7:00 pm
Tuesday, August 21 Tulsa 7:00 pm
Sunday, August 26 Chicago 5:00 pm
Tuesday, August 28 at Chicago 7:00 pm
Thursday, August 30 at San Antonio 7:00 pm
Sunday, September 2 at Atlanta 3:00 pm
Tuesday, September 4 at Washington 7:00 pm
Friday, September 7 Phoenix 7:00 pm
Sunday, September 9 Chicago 5:00 pm
Wednesday, September 12 at Phoenix 7:00 pm
Friday, September 14 at Los Angeles 8:00 pm
Sunday, September 16 at Seattle 6:00 pm
Wednesday, September 19 Indiana 7:00 pm
Sunday, September 23 Atlanta 5:00 pm

Banks back at practice; cleared to play

2012-01-18T17:58:00.000-05:00

UConn freshman guard Brianna Banks, who missed Monday's game with North Carolina because of a head injury, returned to practice on Wednesday and should play on Thursday against Cincinnati.

Banks was hurt during Sunday's practice.

"I was dribbling down the court, slipped and turned around. That's when I took a knee to the head," Banks said in a statement released by UConn.

"I felt fine pretty shortly after and wasn't ever really worried."

Banks was encouraged by how she practiced on Wednesday.

"It went really well today. I felt totally normal and was glad to be back out there."

All three UConn signees nominees for McDonald's All-American game

2012-01-18T15:00:00.000-05:00

It was pretty much a foregone conclusion considering how many players make the initial list but UConn signees Moriah Jefferson, Breanna Stewart and Morgan Tuck are among the nominees for the McDonald's All-American game, which is being played on Mar. 28 at the United Center in Chicago.

Hillhouse's Bria Holmes, a West Virginia commit, is the only Connecticut player nominated for the girls' game.

The list of 24 players picked to compete in the game will be announced on Feb. 9.

UConn-dominated U-19 team honored by USA Basketball

2012-01-18T13:27:00.001-05:00

The United States team which won the U-19 World Championship for Women were named the 2011 team of the year by USA Basketball.

Not only was the team coached by former UConn great Jen Rizzotti but also four of the top five scorers either currently play for UConn or in the case of leading scorer Breanna Stewart, has signed a letter of intent with Connecticut.

Joining Stewart on the squad were UConn sophomores Stefanie Dolson and Bria Hartley, freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and another UConn signee Morgan Tuck as well as UConn recruiting target Diamond DeShields.

The team certainly deserves recognition for winning the world title but if I had a vote (which I do not) I would have selected the U.S. 3x3 girls team that was forced to play in the semifinals with just two players when Rebecca Greenwell suffered a knee injury and UConn recruiting target Taya Reimer was already out with a sprained ankle. The team lost in the semifinals and in the bronze-medal game but received an honorary bronze medal for their efforts.

Also, USA Basketball will hold a press conference to announce its Olympic assistant coaches on Friday in Chicago. Hmm, UConn is playing at DePaul on Saturday and DePaul coach Doug Bruno has been an assistant with head coach Geno Auriemma during the run to the World Championship gold medal. Something tells me there will be a Bruno sighting at the press conference (especially since the DePaul official athletic site will be providing a live stream of the press conference). Barring any traveling issues, I'm planning to be at the press conference and will file a report when it becomes official.

Video of UConn target Taya Reimer's most recent game

2012-01-18T10:45:00.001-05:00

For those interested in seeing UConn recruiting target Taya Reimer's most recent game, last night's game between Reimer's Hamilton Southeastern (Ind.) squad and Lawrence North was the IHoops Game of the Week.

Reimer, a 6-foot-3 junior, finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds as Hamilton Southeastern improved to 16-0 to a 67-52 victor. I don't have her updated stats but through games of Jan. 3, she was averaging 18.8 points, 10.1 rebounds and 1.8 blocks.

Hartley joined 100 3-pointer club; Doty is next

2012-01-17T21:25:00.000-05:00

Sorry to admit I completely missed the fact that Bria Hartley made the 100th 3-pointer of her career in Monday's win over North Carolina (joining Jen Rizzotti, Diana Taurasi, Ann Strother, Mel Thomas and Maya Moore as the only sophomores to reach that milestone). Then I noticed that Caroline Doty has 99 career treys heading into Thursday's game against Cincinnati. It got me wondering how many times has UConn had three players with 100 career 3's playing at the same time since Tiffany Hayes has 160 career 3-pointers.

I leafed through the UConn media guide and the only other time I could find it happening was during the 2003-04 when Taurasi, Maria Conlon and Strother accomplished the feat.

Cincinnati up next

2012-01-17T13:32:00.000-05:00

On Thursday night former UConn player and assistant coach Jamelle Elliott will bring her Cincinnati squad into Gampel Pavilion as the Huskies begin a stretch of four straight games against Big East foes.

The process of attempting to build the Cincinnati program has been a slow one for Elliott. This seat the Bearcats are 9-8 but at 0-4 are one of three winless teams in Big East play.

At Big East media day I spoke with Elliott for a few minutes to check on the progress of her team. I know it's been three months but I figured some people might be interested in her take on this year's squad.

"We are putting in the work, we are looking forward to it paying off. We don't have the injuries this year so we actually are able to go down 5 on 5 and practice. I truly believe we are better at this time this year than we were last year. That has to do with the numbers and - knock on wood - we don't have any injuries so far this year. Our mindset is different. Our freshmen last year, they played a lot of minutes, they know now what it takes to compete in a conference like the Big East Conference. I think they approach every practice knowing what is down the line."

I was curious how deep she thought Cincinnati would be this season.

"I think we have a good solid eight that could potentially play a lot of minutes and we are hoping that (grows) as practice goes on," Elliott said.

This season four Cincinnati players, led by sophomore Dayeesha Hollins, rank among the top 10 in the Big East in minutes played.

When Elliott was hired, she said she'd like to have an exciting, aggressive style of play. Points have been hard to come by at times during her stint so I asked her if we could expect more of an uptempo style this season.

"More than last season, yes," Elliott said. "I don't think last year we were able to score a whole lot of points in transition just because our point guard was injured and we couldn't be as mobile and push the ball as much. This year we have a point guard that wants to push it and we have big guys willing to run the floor so I think we definitely will score more in transition this year."

FUTURE OF NORTH CAROLINA SERIES IN DOUBT
Even after being on the receiving end of the worst loss in program history, North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell said she likes to play UConn and would like to continue the series. However, even before the 51-point beat down, the word I was hearing that ESPN had tired of airing the UConn/North Carolina games only to see the game decided by the second television timeout.

With Maryland being added to the UConn schedule for the next two seasons, it's uncertain if North Carolina will be playing UConn in the immediate future. It's just me talking but I doubt Maryland is dying to have a long-term rivalry with UConn so after the two-year agreement with the Terrapins comes to an end, perhaps North Carolina and UConn could resume their series. I look at Oklahoma in a similar light. The North Carolina game becomes sort of irrelevant now that UConn is set to play Duke and Maryland for the next two seasons while regular-season games against Texas A&M and Baylor makes me wonder what the purpose of playing Oklahoma would be. Another thing to ponder is whether the new-look Big East would go to an 18-game schedule. If that's the case, there would be two fewer non-conference slots making the prospects of playing three teams from one conference a bit on the unlikely side.

Tuck stars in McDonald's Shootout

2012-01-17T01:30:00.000-05:00

UConn signee Morgan Tuck had 26 points (including 14 in the first quarter), eight rebounds and three steals to lead her Bolingbrook (Ill.) High team to a 67-36 win over Niles West in the McDonald's Shootout.

Niles West was led by Notre Dame-bound Jewell Loyd, who had 23 points and eight rebounds.

UConn crushes North Carolina

2012-01-16T23:18:00.000-05:00

Considering that North Carolina was coming off a stunning loss to Clemson, nobody was expecting the Tar Heels to come into Gampel Pavilion and end the Huskies' NCAA women's basketball record winning streak.

However, there was no way of anticipating the event which unfolded on Monday night as UConn rolled to an 86-35 win over the Tar Heels. It was the most lopsided defeat in North Carolina's history and fell two points shy of UConn's biggest win over a ranked opponent.

"We don't base our win off the score but it is still a little bit surprising for a program like that and a team like that," UConn junior forward Kelly Faris said. "You don't expect going into the game where you are going to play UNC, you don't expect to comer out with a gap in the score like that so it is a surprise."

Bria Hartley led six players in double digits with 17 points. UConn was aided by 26 North Carolina turnovers (against just four turnovers).

"They had the pedal to the metal and were really rocking and rolling out there," North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "We were just a step slow and couldn't get anything going. I don't think we quit, but I think we got real frustrated."

Later in the post-game press conference, Hatchell went into a long dissertation bemoaning the excessive physicality prevalent in today's game. She opened longed for a return to the days when finesse ruled the sport (perhaps in 1994 when the Tar Heels won the program's only national title).

Naturally Auriemma was asked for his opinion and he did not hold back.

"That is her opinion," Auriemma said. "I don't think Stefanie Dolson is physical at all so if Sylvia is worried about how physical Stefanie Dolson is, she should try to play in our league for about a month and then you could see what physical really is. I think the stuff off the ball and obviously if you watch the game, you see the fouls off the ball impact the game. I didn' t see a lot of that tonight. There wasn't a lot of that tonight, it was just run up and down and I didn't see any of that tonight. I would like for our big guys to be physical, that is part of being a big guy. That is what you are supposed to do.

"I don't want to disrespect anybody but in their league, they don't guard anybody so in our league we do.
(Former New York Knick stars) Bill Bradley and Dave DeBusschere were really good. I don't know how good they'd be today. Games change, men, women, high school, college, games change in some instances for the better and in some instances for the worse. I don't think we did anything today where you would say 'wow, that Connecticut team was really physical.' I remember when Shea, Sveta and those
guys were playing, you are talking about physical games we would have against Rutgers, Tennessee or anybody else. In some ways I think they cleaned up some of that. I don't think they let you play like they used to let you play. Yes, there was finesse back in the game when I was coaching at Virginia in 1983. I think those days are long gone. The kids are quicker, faster, they are better It doesn't mean they are better basketball players, don't get me wrong, but the game we played against Notre Dame, nobody could open. The game we played against West Virginia, nobody could get open. That is not good."

BANKS ON THE MEND
The play when freshman guard Brianna Banks suffered the head injury which sidelined her for Monday's game against North Carolina was pretty innocuous.

"It wasn't one of those things that was evident," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "She slipped and fell down and as she was going down she banged into somebody's knee and the next thing you know she is in the training room. Nobody really saw it, there was just too much activity going on. They went in and Rosemary said they went through the routine and they asked her a bunch of questions and
couldn't give them any straight answers. I thought, not much has changed why are we worried? In today's day and age, I think you want to be careful with those things. It was good to keep her out and we'll see how she feels on Wednesday."

Brianna Banks won't play tonight

2012-01-16T16:48:00.002-05:00

UConn freshman guard Brianna Banks suffered a head injury in practice on Sunday and won't play tonight. She is expected to return to practice on Wednesday and should be able to play on Thursday against Cincinnati.

Banks is averaging 4.3 points, 1.5 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 0.9 steals for UConn. She has scored in double figures three times including a season-high 17 against Fairleigh Dickinson.

Mosqueda-Lewis honored by Big East

2012-01-16T12:52:00.001-05:00

UConn's Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis was named the Big East's Freshman of the Week as she averaged 14.5 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists in wins over Providence and Villanova.

It is the fifth time Mosqueda-Lewis earned the honor which puts her halfway to Maya Moore's conference record. If she wins the honor one more time, she will move into a tie for third with eight players including UConn products Svetlana Abrosimova, Tina Charles and Bria Hartley. Rebecca Lobo, who will handle the color commentary for tonight's game against North Carolina, is alone in second place with seven Freshman/Rookie of the Week selections.

Tickets available for tonight's game

2012-01-16T11:01:00.000-05:00

Somewhere between 1,500-2,000 tickets are still available for tonight's game between UConn and North Carolina.

The game is set to tip shortly after 7 and will be televised on ESPN2.

While that game is being played, there will be another contest of note with UConn signee Morgan Tuck's Bolingbrook squad playing a Niles West team led by Notre Dame commit Jewell Loyd at 8 p.m. in the McDonald's Shootout at Willowbrook in Villa Park, Ill. Unfortunately I just checked my schedule grid and did not see that game televised which is a shame because I'd tune in to see that one.

Huskies right back to work

2012-01-15T13:24:00.000-05:00

The schedule makers didn't do UConn any favors having the Huskies play Villanova and North Carolina, who stylistically couldn't be more diverse, in a span of three days.

"This Saturday/Monday thing, there is just no way to get around it," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "I think that is what our program is, we are a Monday afternoon or Monday night kind of program so if you want to take advantage of the opportunities you get (to be on national TV) you have to go Saturday/Monday and those are going to be Carolina, Oklahoma, Stanford, Baylor, Duke, it is going to be somebody that you are going to go 'oh Jesus.' The fact that it is Villanova and whoever on Monday, yeah you have to change gears pretty quickly. (Sunday) what we talked about will be completely different from what we talked about coming down here. But it is how you get better. You go into the NCAA tournament and you play somebody Saturday in a conference you haven't seen before and it is walk it up (the floor) and the next day you can play Oregon who is trying to get 120 so it is good preparation."
The Villanova game began a stretch of four games in eight days as the Huskies host Cincinnati on Thursday and then travel to Chicago for a Saturday game at DePaul.

"Four games in eight days, this will be a good week for us," Auriemma said. "I want to see how they come out of this. I am pretty happy with where we are right now but it starts to get pretty serious now, it's downhill. It's a bobsled from now until the end of March."

GENO HAPPY BAYLOR REMAINS ON THE SCHEDULE
Among the topics Auriemma addressed after Saturday's win over Villanova was the agreement to extend the regular-season series with Baylor for two more years. The teams will play in Connecticut next season before squaring off in Waco, Texas the following season.

"I remember saying to Neal (Eskin, UConn's Senior Associate Director of Athletics/Special Projects & External Services) that these are the kinds of games you want to play in and these are the kinds of games that TV wants to put on television so what's the down side?" Auriemma said. "There really isn't (one). As long as you aren't worried about your record. Every coach has a different perspective on things. I am not worried about my record, if we win, we lose, I don't care. The bottom line is we are going to play the games I think are great to play in, great for our fans to watch, ones that my players get all excited about. Win or lose, who care? That game isn't going to keep you out of the NCAA tournament so I don't see any down side to it."

With my tongue plantled firmly in my cheek, I asked him if he pushed for the renewal so he could get another standing ovation from the Baylor fans as he did in last month's game?

"There are a lot of strong Americans down there, there is a lot of patriotism down there in Texas. If we come up third in the Olympics, there might not be a standing ovation. The Alamo might not be the only place where guys get killed. That might be part of a song 'Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and Geno Auriemma hanging there with a Mexican lance through them.'"

Switching gears, Auriemma talked about the decision not to play freshman forward/center Kiah Stokes on Saturday and the process of getting Stokes to become a more impactful player in practice and during games.

"She is frustrating, so frustrating, just frustrating, it is the only thing I can tell you is that she is frustrating because she is really, really good," Auriemma said. "I am tying to instill in her what it takes to play at this level and I don't want to reward a mediocre and even less of an effort. 'This is what I did in high school, Coach.' Well it doesn't work here. You are too good, too talented and have too much potential. We are going to find out how bad you want this. I think she does."

MISSED FREE THROW IRKS ROBERTS
Even four days after the fact, the biggest missed free throw of Rachel Roberts' career at Villanova still irked the former Mercy High star.

The Wildcats were leading Marquette by two points when Roberts was fouled with 3 seconds left. If she makes both shots, the game is over. However, the junior guard missed the front end of the one and one setting the stage for Katie Young to hit a 40-footer at the buzzer to give Marquette an improbable 51-50 win.

"I don't know if words can honestly describe what that felt like because I have been struggling from the free-throw line," Roberts said. "I got up there and said 'I can't miss this.' Instead of being the confident person I should have been, I was doubting myself. I knew the moment I missed it that there was something that was going to happen and this game isn't over. It really felt like someone put a dagger in my heart. My dad was saying that there is nothing that you can do about it."

Roberts was able to put it behind her as she led the Wildcats with 16 points in Saturday's loss to UConn.

UConn plays Small Ball in win

2012-01-14T18:53:00.001-05:00

In the eyes of UConn coach Geno Auriemma, the best way of beating Villanova was to join them.

Two days before facing the Wildcats, Auriemma hoped that he would be able to use his 6-foot-5 sophomore center Stefanie Dolson as much as he does in a normal game. However, he openly wondered if that was going to be a realistic possibility considering how difficult it is for a post player to come out and guard a Villanova team that uses all five players as threats from the perimeter.

With 13:20 left in the first half he reluctantly went to Plan B. Auriemma went with a five-guard lineup and there was little arguing with the results as a 15-0 first-half run set the wheels in motion for a 72-49 victory.

"Villanova makes it very difficult on you to defend them because what they will do is take whatever big guy is the least mobile and make you come out on the perimeter and there is nothing you can do about that, that is how they are going to play," Auriemma said. "We were hoping that we would be able to have enough success that if we miss enough 3's that it didn't hurt us and still play our regular lineup. They shot the ball really well from the 3-point line so it forced us to go in the other direction. I thought those kids did a great job when they came in, I felt like we really stepped up. The pressure had its desired effect. Villanova very rarely turns it over and they turned it over a lot today (23 turnovers). There was one stretch in 12 possessions where they had eight an that is where the game kind of got separated."

Senior Tiffany Hayes played a starring role with 22 points while Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis added 16.

"We worked on that some in practice this weekend," Hayes said. "It is just a faster pace for us. Although we are small, we have some strong guards who can post up in there - Kelly, me, Kaleena sometimes. I don't think it is a disadvantage for us because we can still moving the ball and have a post presence. I think it was a good look for us and we got a lot of steals."

ROBERTS NOW ON OTHER SIDE
If former Mercy High star Rachel Roberts had her way, she would have received a scholarship offer to play for UConn and would be realizing a lifelong dream. However, since the Huskies went in a different direction, the Marlborough native has no qualms about the cards she was dealt. She has emerged into a reliable offensive option in her junior season at Villanova.

"Every girl grows up dreaming of playing for Connecticut and I grew up 20 minutes (from UConn) and always wanted to be a Husky but you grow up and I realize that I really can't compete with some of those girls so being here at this place is amazing for me, the academics and basketball is probably the best decision I've ever made," Roberts said. "Being from Connecticut, I know my grandparents were watching, my high school coach was watching, my mom and dad where watching. Just seeing Meghan (Culmo) out there doing the announcing (for CPTV), I grew up watching that, I grew up supporting the Huskies and I wish them all the best. Maybe if we see them in the NCAA tournament we will beat them but I wish them all the best. It is one of those programs,I hold it dear to my heart. I used to cry when they would lose but I am here now so I have to support the Wildcats."

STOKES SITS
Geno Auriemma couldn't use the word "frustrating" enough to describe UConn freshman Kiah Stokes.

Stokes did not get into Saturday's game and it wasn't because of the tough matchup for post players against Villanova but her continuing struggles to put forth the proper effort in practice.

Auriemma sees the potential in Stokes but has stressed to her that playing at UConn requires more energy and commitment to play at this level, He believes in Stokes and thinks she will "get it" but it is going to be a long process,

Unselfishness part of Stewart's makeup

2012-01-14T11:12:00.000-05:00

Considering that the tallest player on the opposing team was a 5-foot-10 freshman, Breanna Stewart could probably have dropped 40 or 50 points in Friday night's game in Springfield, Mass.

However, in the early going the UConn signee and top-rated high school senior in the country, spent the early stages of Cicero-North Syracuse's game against West Springfield looking to get her teammates open looks.

"I think I am a very unselfish player, and I like to get it to my teammates as much as possible," Stewart said after scoring 22 points and adding 18 rebounds in a 60-20 win. "I want them to have a great game. It is just how I play. I want to get them the ball and get them involved. You are playing on a five-person team. Why not try to get them opportunities to score, as well. "

She also brought the ball up the floor on a regular basis not bad for somebody projected to be a power forward at the next level.

"I used to dribble around the block. I can’t do that as much now because it is snowing, of course, and I’m a little busy. But I try to dribble around my block doing different things. It just has progressed over the years. It started in sixth or seventh grade and it has always worked out."

For those who couldn't get to the game and want to see it again, the game will air on CPTV Sports on Thursday before the Cincinnati game.

As for Stewart, she will be at today's Villanova game with the entire Cicero-North Syracuse team and will also be in attendance on Jan. 25 at Syracuse.

Staying on the subject of recruits take in UConn games, I spoke to Bolingbrook (Ill.) High coach Tony Smith last night and he said he thought UConn signee Morgan Tuck would be at the DePaul since Bolingbrook isn't playing that day. He told me that Tuck's season averages are 30 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals,

Also in Springfield was Christ the King and I never pass up the chance to talk to the Royals' coach Bob Mackey.

Much of the interview session with Mackey was spent talking about his gifted sophomore Sierra Calhoun, who is attracting interest from UConn as well as "everybody and their brother. The line starts around the block. I know what block you guys all want it to start, and I am not going there.

"She is really coming into her own. She had a couple really good games out in Phoenix where she stepped up really big. I think she is really starting to be a really good team player. She had seven assists the other night. Tonight she had two. It is starting to come. It is really coming along really well. What a great athlete. What a great kid."

Mackey put Calhoun in select company when asked about where she ranks among the sophomore stars at Christ the King.

"She is comparable to a Chamique Holdsclaw, a Sue Bird, a Tina Charles, a Bria Smith. She is in that realm. As sophomores they were all a cut above most kids."

Stewart enjoys her latest visit to New England

2012-01-13T21:50:00.001-05:00

There are more than a few games worth circling on the Cicero-North Syracuse calendar but for UConn commit Breanna Stewart, it's hard to top playing a game just over the Connecticut border and at an event sponsored by the Basketball Hall of Fame.

The 6-foot-4 Stewart did her part with 22 points, 18 rebounds, four assists and seven blocks in less than three quarters of play in a 60-20 win over previously undefeated West Springfield.

Being so close to the UConn practice made her think about how things will be next year when she suits up for the Huskies.

"I try to be as prepared as I can because I know it is going to be a step up and I try to prepare myself as best as I can," Stewart said.

"I feel really good with Coach Auriemma and his staff and how he gets the best out of them. He's had so many players come from that program that have become high-profile players - Maya Moore, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi and I want to reach my full potential."

She certainly doesn't have the game of a typical 6-4 high school senior. She stepped out and hit a pair of 3-pointers, soared over the rim on a couple of her rebounds, was able to bring the ball up the court and has a game that has so many dimensions to it.

"She is going to be different from anything I think he's had," said Christ the King coach Bob Mackey, who coached former UConn All-Americans Sue Bird and Tina Charles. "He's never had that big forward who can do a lot. He's always had good guards. Swin Cash might yell at me on that one but that is OK. But it will be fun to watch."

It certainly was on Friday. The crowd rose out of their seats when Stewart got ahead of field in anticipation of her attempting a dunk. She did not. At least two of her blocked shots created audible gasps from the fans. Yet, for as talented as she is, she is not an attention craver.

"I think she is as humble as can be," Cicero-North Syracuse coach Eric Smith said. "You can't tell she is the best player until you see her play. She will converse with anybody, she will converse with the kids. When you get on the court, she is going to do anything. She is a smart kid so when she sees the triple team, she will find the open player.

"I think the best quote that anybody said is the Dr. Phillips coach at the Tournament of Champions and that her only fault is she plays too hard. She is diving on the floor, she is running into people, throwing her body anywhere. She is all over the place. Even though she is the best player in the country, she works harder than anybody in the country that puts her a step above everybody else."

The modest part of her personality showed itself when Stewart passed on having a ceremony at her school to sign her national letter of intent. She signed the letter at home, actually she signed it on the hood of her Honda CRV.

"I wasn't planning on doing anything but when I knew I had to fax it to UConn and Coach Auriemma, I wasn't ready to do fax it to them as soon as they needed because they needed it because they have a game that night so I had to sign it on the hood of my car and give it to my dad to fax it from work."

Auriemma loves Stewart's no-frills approach to things, there will not be any problems with a superstar's ego when she gets to UConn.

"She has been unbelievably great to work with in the whole recruiting process," Auriemma said. "The people in USA Basketball are amazed that a young kid can carry herself the way she does. They ask her to play in every single event that they have. Her mom and dad are down the earth. They are grounded people who aren't trying to live their lives through their daughter. It is just really refreshing to see where she comes from, once you do that you can really appreciate where she is right now.

"For a young kid, you say to yourself 'how did she learn so much at a young age.' It is hard to say because she didn't really grow up in an area where women's basketball is a huge hotbed of high school basketball. You just have this thing where she has, I think way kids with all the travel and all the teams they play on and all the stuff they are exposed to at a young age, it is kind of a throwback when you played in your neighborhood. You were a good player and kept it all in perspective. Maybe that is why she is so successful at a young age, against USA Basketball and against older kids, she doesn't take herself that seriously."

Stewart and the entire North-Cicero team will be at tomorrow's UConn/Villanova game and she will be at the Jan. 25 game at Syracuse.

Mackey's Christ the King team beat East Longmeadow (Mass.) 64-33 with sophomore Sierra Calhoun leading the Royals with 14 points. Calhoun, the sister of UConn commit Omar Calhoun, is on UConn's recruiting radar and I will have an entry on what Mackey had to say about his talented sophomore tomorrow.

Geno loves recruit's low-maintainance attitude

2012-01-13T17:28:00.000-05:00

When I spoke with Geno Auriemma yesterday about his highly-touted incoming freshman Breanna Stewart, he couldn't say enough good things about the down to earth persona of her as well as her parents.

"She has been unbellievably great to work with in the whole recruiting process," Auriemma said. "The people in USA Basketball are amazed that a young kid can carry herself the way she does. They ask her to play in every single event that they have. Her mom and dad are down the earth. They are grounded people who aren't trying to live their lives through their daughter. It is just really refreshing to see where she comes from, once you do that you can really appreciate where she is right now."

Stewart and her Cicero-North Syracuse (N.Y.) team will play undefeated West Springfield (Mass.) High at the HoopHall Classic in Springfield in a little bit. The game was scheduled to start at 6 but looks like it will be a little later than that because the boys' game preceding it is still in the third quarter.

UConn/Baylor series extended

2012-01-13T14:08:00.000-05:00

It's just been announced that the regular-season series between UConn and Baylor has been extended for two years.

Next year's game will be played in Connecticut and there have been reports that it will be held in conjunction with ESPN's "Rivalry Week" in February with the game in 2013-14 being played in Waco.

Both sides have been in talks with ESPN and others to extend the home and home series which expired at the end of this season. An issue on Baylor's side was a preference not to have to travel to Connecticut in the middle of the Big 12 portion of its schedule but those concerns have been worked through.

High praise for Breanna Stewart

2012-01-12T23:59:00.002-05:00

I headed over to a forum featuring UConn coach Geno Auriemma, former UConn star and current Hartford women's basketball coach Jen Rizzotti and Trinity College men;s squash coach Paul Assaiante at the University of Hartford.

While I caught just the tail end of the hour-long event and listened to Auriemma's take on the state of college athletics and it was thought provoking to say the least, the purpose of my trip was to speak to Auriemma and Rizzotti about UConn signee Breanna Stewart since I will be heading to Springfield tomorrow to watch Stewart play in the HoopHall Classic.

I'm going to save some of the stuff for the story on her which will run in Saturday's edition of the Register, here are some of the highlights.

"I don't know if a high school game is going to do her justice because she rises to the occasion based on the competition," said Rizzotti, who coached Stewart on the U.S. U-19 squad over the summer. "The bigger game we played, the better she was. She is really, really competitive. She is far from her limit in terms of her potential. She has a lot of room to improve, she has the intangible things that you can't coach. You can't teach somebody to be competitive, hard working or willing to learn. You can teach them how to dribble and how to have a better jump shot, the things he will be able to do with her in basketball because she brings so much more to the table."

Stewart is the latest UConn commit to play in the HoopHall Classic and she will likely receive a similar reception from UConn fans that Tina Charles, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Elena Delle Donne (when she was still headed to play for the Huskies).

"Her being up her at a lot of games, I think she is pretty familiar with what it is all about. I think she will see another side of it," Auriemma said. "She will probably go up there and say 'I can't believe people from Massachusetts and people drive from Connecticut up to Massachusetts to watch me play. Then again, she is such a humble kid, so down to earth that she signed her letter of intent on the hood of a car so I don't think she is one of these kids who goes for all the fanfare."

Other item to come out of the interviews was that Bria Hartley will head to the wake for her AAU coach Robert "Apache" Paschall tomorrow.

"After we practice tomorrow, her dad is going to pick her up, they are going to go down and then they
are going to come down after the service and meet us down there (in Philadelphia) tomorrow night."

It was also the first chance I had to speak to Rizzotti since word came out that UConn/Hartford will resume their regular-season series beginning next season with a game at Hartford's Chase Arena.

"The series itself now that it's been played, it's been done it is not new anymore but the chance for our kids to have UConn in the building is awesome," Rizzotti said. "We have played them, other teams have had chances to have them in their building and we've never had that. I think it will be fun for our kids. We have just one senior so it will be good to have them back, our juniors, and it will be fun for their senior year and experience that excitement. It is always good to play the No. 1 team in the country and to be able to do that in your own gym makes it that much better."
Finally I leave you with an entry in the "it's a small world" department. Before heading up to Hartford, I attended the press conference announcing Tony Reno as Yale's new football coach. Big deal, you say. Well, when I spoke to Tony last week trying to get a sense of how seriously he was being considered for the Yale opening he told me that he went to high school with former UConn star Carla Berube. I never made the connection back when he was an assistant coach. He asked me if Chris Dailey still coaches at UConn and I told him that she did. He said he still remembers when Chris came to Oxford (Mass.) High to recruit Berube and what a big deal that was. Reno is 37 so that visit took place at least 20 years ago so next time you wonder why UConn is such a major player in recruiting, it doesn't hurt that their coaches can leave a lasting impression like Chris Dailey did two decades ago.

Springfield game fast approaching

2012-01-11T23:25:00.001-05:00

UConn fans from the area can head up to Springfield on Friday to check out top recruit Breanna Stewart and as an added bonus, those who live in the Philadelphia region can see her play down there on Sunday.

First things first. Stewart's Cicero-North Syracuse team will face West Springfield High on Friday at 6 p.m. on day two of the HoopHall Classic. That will be followed by East Longmeadow (Mass.) High facing perennial New York power Christ the King, a team that features a talented sophomore named Sierra Calhoun who is on UConn's recruiting radar.

The event is being held at Springfield College's Blake Arena and if you need directions, here you go

If I were you, I'd call (413) 781-6500 to make sure there are tickets available.

The five-day event begins on Thursday with four boys' games. It's historically a star-studded boys' tournament which the latest highly-touted UConn commit (Tina Charles, Elena Delle Donne, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis) being a showcase of the one day that girls' games are played. West Springfield is led by Boston University signee in Dana Theobald.

The game will be a homecoming for Stewart's high school coach as Eric Smith was a 1996 graduate of Springfield College according to a story on the http://www.masslive.com/ site. Speaking of Smith, he provided me with Stewart's updated stats. She is averaging 20 points, 15 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 5 blocks per game. CPTV will be filming the game which will be aired on CPTV Sports Network.

Smith also filled me in on the details on Cicero-North Syracuse's game on Sunday as they play Hill School out of Pottstown, Pa. at Upper Dublin High School at 1 p.m. as part of the Blue Star Invitational. In the latest USA Today national rankings Riverdale Baptist is second and Cicero-North Syracuse comes in at No. 7.

SNY stepping up attempts to televise UConn games

2012-01-11T16:10:00.000-05:00

Whispers have circulated over the last year about SNY’s intention of making a run at securing the right for UConn women’s basketball games.

A source confirmed to the Register that SNY is expected to make a presentation to UConn officials on Friday, information first reported by The Day of New London.

CPTV has been broadcasting UConn women’s games, not contractually obligated to other stations, for the past 18 seasons but their contract with UConn expires at season’s end.

SNY, which has a working agreement to televise selective UConn football and men’s basketball games, has enough financial clout to make the people at CPTV concerned. The Day reported that CPTV made its presentation to UConn last week and that Fox 61 is also involved.

Multiple sources told the Register that there is no firm timetable for all of this to be resolved but what I am hearing is that the winning bidder could be announced by the end of the month.

I could be wrong but I don't see Channel 61 being a major player in all of this. If the money figures are close and I have been receiving conflicting reports regarding that, I would think that CPTV would be the leader in the clubhouse thanks to its years of service and the fact that there are no concerns about scheduling conflicts for CPTV where UConn women's basketball is of the highest priority. I just don't see that being the case. If CPTV does lose the rights, it will because it became a victim of its own success. When CPTV first started televising UConn women's games a generation ago, there were a few raised eyebrows from naysayers wondering if enough people would tune into a women's basketball game. Well CPTV's broadcasts set records and became must see TV in Connecticut. Another thing perhaps working in CPTV's favor is that the station can be viewed without cable television or a satellite dish. UConn games can be seen not only in Connecticut but in pockets in New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

One person I spoke to today about the matter said "it would be a huge disservice for the state" if CPTV were to lose the rights.

On the other side, if SNY were to pony up the big bucks to secure the rights I don't buy the argument that it would give UConn women's basketball second-rate coverage. Sure, the other responsibilities the station has (Jets, Mets come to mind) may muddy things a bit, I would think SNY is smarter than securing the rights to the games and then do a substandard job with its coverage.

Auriemma defends his young team

2012-01-10T23:54:00.002-05:00

The question was innocent enough as Geno Auriemma was asked if he liked the way his team responded in practice and during Tuesday's Providence game following Saturday's loss to Notre Dame.

That was all Auriemma needed to go on for more than six minutes about the reaction that follows a loss by the Huskies.

"They (UConn's players) were concerned about my job so I appreciate that," Auriemma said. "I don't how it got to (Providence coach) Phil Seymore but when we talked before the game, he mentioned that too. He said 'are you OK.' He said people were moaning and groaning because we lost so he was concerned. I said that the kids have responded pretty well. They are learning what is involved in all of this. Tiffany Hayes has now lost how many games in her career? Four, I think so she really doesn't have a lot of experience coming off a loss so something you are just stunned, how does this happen. Caroline Doty, the only other year she played and the other 17 games she played, she never lost a game so for her 'how do we react after a loss.' I think it is a learning process and it is kind of unfair to the kids at times, the demands that are placed, the questions that you guys ask, the things that people ask.

Why did you turn it over?
I don't know, I just made a bad pass.
Why did you miss free throws?
I don't know, I just missed free throws.
Why didn't you call a timeout when you knew Kaleena (Mosqueda-Lewis) was in the wrong place.
Well, I didn't want to give them free throws for the technical because we didn't have any timeouts left.

"There is this stuff that you should always have something for everything and after a while it just gets tiresome. They should be allowed to lose once in a while without facing an inquisition from all of their friends, fans, you guys and I think the older they are, the more they are able to handle it. The young kids they get shell shocked. Those are the things that as a young player, you have to try to figure it out. If you come to Connecticut and you are a young player and you think that one mistake, two mistakes, three mistakes are going to cost you a game and 'oh my God, I am the first player at Connecticut to lose a game.' You get scared and you play scared, I don't know any other place in America where they are afraid to lose a game."

I don't want them to feel that way. It is difficult to impress upon them to just play and don't worry about the outcome. When the outcome isn't what we want it to be 'what happened, what happened, what happened.' You take the Notre Dame as a perfect example, nobody talked about how good our defense was.' They are averaging 100 points a game (actually closer to 85) and they are scoring 60 (in regulation). They turned it over 20 times, one kid (Natalie Novosel) shot 5 for 20 from the floor. Nothing we did well was ever mentioned to any of the kids, it was all what we didn't do to win the game. After a while that gets tiresome, it gets very tiresome. It gets tiresome and you say 'Coach you only have to face that four times in the last four years.' That is what I mean, for these kids losing should be a part of the game. It shouldn't be 'how the hell did you let that happen.' They get scared, they get tentative. If I throw a bad pass it will cost us the game so what ends up happening is if you are not careful you freeze up because you play not to lose instead of playing to win. Our job as coaches is to get us past that, play to win,play to win, play to win, make plays, make plays, make plays as opposed 'I don't want to miss this.'

'That stuff usually shows up on the road against really good teams when you don't have. I've never known a team to win a national championship that didn't have a somewhat solid nucleus of seniors and juniors, some combination of good seniors and good juniors and more than one because it is very difficult for a freshman and even a sophomore to come to Connecticut without that kind of leadership from juniors and seniors and 'I've got it. I'm going to go to Connecticut, I am going to Rutgers, I am going to go to Notre Dame, I am going to go to Duke and North Carolina and I've got it.' No you don't. You are going to be scared
(out of your mind) unless you have some juniors and seniors who are going to be able to talk you through it and that is the hardest thing to learn coming to Connecticut. I kind of felt for them after that loss after that."

There may be people who viewed what Auriemma said as a tantrum but it was not, a stern lecture might be more accurate. He was very composed and cool while making these comments. He usually has his pulse on his teams at UConn and it seemed to me that this was a way to try to ease some of the pressure off a young squad. When UConn played Notre Dame, only eight players got into the game. Five of them were freshmen or sophomores and one of the upperclassmen was Caroline Doty, who has missed almost as many games as she has played because of a string of serious knee injuries.

Auriemma knows the way this team is constructed could result in them being a bit fragile because there are so many youngsters in key situations, If five of his top eight were seniors and juniors I have a hunch that he would be signing a different tune but he doesn't want a bunch of first and second-year players to feel like they have the weight of the world on their shoulders.

All 11 players get involved in win over Providence

2012-01-10T22:55:00.001-05:00

As if there was ever a doubt that UConn was going to extend its winning streak over Providence to 27 games, a 31-4 first-half run pretty much did the trick.

Seven different Huskies scored in the run led by Bria Hartley's 13 points. Getting everybody involved was the theme of the night. For just the second time all season all 11 players scored. UConn shot 65.5 percent from the field and had 29 assists on 35 baskets. I know its easy to justify those numbers since they came against Providence but good basketball is still good basketball. The 29 assists is the most in a Big East game since also having 29 against West Virginia on Mar. 2, 2004.

"I thought we moved the ball really well and it took us a little bit of time to get into the flow of things but we waited a little bit to shoot the 3's that we have been shooting a little earlier," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "We gave ourselves a chance to get more things done in the lane and it did happen for us. Having Bria (Hartley) making as many shots as she has been making kind of loosens things up a
little bit. It was a really good effort by everybody. It was one of those wins where your team feels pretty good about the win because everybody had a little bit of a hand in it."

Hartley shared team scoring honors with Tiffany Hayes with 19 points. Hartley was 7 of 7 from the field which is the fourth best performance in program history. Nykesha Sales was 10 for 10 against St. John's in 1996 and Notre Dame in 1997 (which is tied with Louisville's Jazz Covington for the Big East record) while current assistant coach Shea Ralph was 8 for 8 against West Virginia in 1999.

"Everyone had energy," Hartley said. "I think Kelly made a point early in the game to come out and have a lot of intensity. Everybody was having fun out there because we all love to play basketball.

"A lot of it came from our defense, we got a lot of steals and our offense worked well. We are all on the same page, talking and knowing where to be on the floor. Everyone is really excited with the way we played today and it makes the fun again."

Former Hopkins star Lady Okafor led Providence with eight points. Look for more on Okafor in Thursday's edition of the Register.

Notre Dame loss not sitting well with Huskies

2012-01-09T18:04:00.000-05:00

UConn coach Geno Auriemma tried to play down the ramifications of Saturday's loss at Notre Dame but his players were signing a different tune when meeting with the media on Monday.

Kelly Faris, who addressed the team in the locker room after UConn squandered an eight-point second-half lead en route to an overtime loss, said that the team needs to take ownership and learn from the second-half meltdowns in losses to Baylor and Notre Dame.

Freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, who was held to seven points and had a costly turnover in the final minute of the second half, admitted that she took this most recent loss extremely hard.

"I let myself get out of the game, let my teammates down and that should never happen again," Mosqueda-Lewis said. "I really don't know what happened, I just got into a funk and I blacked out, zoned out.

"I expect a lot out of myself so when I am not performing at my best and not helping out the team in some sort of way, it really hurts. After the Notre Dame something in me just changed, I just have to fix something within myself, I have to be more committed to the team. I have to be more for my all teammates for anything to get better for anything to change.

"The same thing did happen in the Baylor game and it did happen in the Notre Dame game, hopefully I have gotten those feelings out of the way and hopefully now coming to practice with a different mindset is going to get me ready for those other games."

Auriemma said that of the concerns he has with this group, getting Mosqueda-Lewis shots in high-profile games isn't even on the radar screen.

"It is so much earlier for guys like Bria Hartley, Diana Taurasi to get any shot any time you want because they have their ball in their hands all the time and they don't have to worry about anybody getting it to them," Auriemma said. "There were times when I thought she had a chance to make a play and didn't, there were times when she was open and we didn't get her the ball and then there were times when she just hid because she was probably a little bit gun shy. That is why you play all of these games and that's why it is hard to win on the road most times. I am not worried about it."

Auriemma said that is focus with the team was more on how UConn built up the second half leads at Baylor and Notre Dame rather than the fact that the Huskies failed to seal the deal.

"I think it is probably trying to figure out a little bit of how you manage the expectation of this what the expectation was of last year's team and the year before and the year before," Auriemma said. "You have to be careful that you don't get frustrated that 'we should have won at Baylor, we should have won at Notre Dame.' Because we didn't, we aren't as good a team as we were last year.

"I just think that is a very difficult balancing act for our team. They have to understand that we may be the only team in America that will go up to Baylor and be up 11 and will be up 1 with 4 minutes to go. We might be the only team in America that will be at Notre Dame up two and with the ball with 25 seconds left. If that is the team that we are then they need to understand who we are but then letting those two get away, that's OK, we are that team too but which team are we more of. I think it is important that we realize we are probably more of the team that did those two really good things than the team that gave both of those back to other guys. It's not like we gave the game back to two teams that didn't deserve it. It's not like we played a Division II team and we are up and say 'here take the game back.' It's a balancing act. Don't think you are so good that you don't have to work at it but also don't let those two games define, at this point in the season, who we are. I would venture to say that what team this year is dealing with the loss of a player more important than the one we are dealing with. How many teams lost what we lost and are second in the country? Nobody. Our job as coaches is to make them see what that line is and see that we are doing a good job balancing it."

Another big-time Big East player is out for the year

2012-01-08T18:48:00.000-05:00

First it was Louisville's Monique Reid sidelined for the rest of the year with a knee injury and now word comes that DePaul's Keisha Hampton has suffered the same fate.

Hampton played in 12 games, averaging 16.6 points per game, so she will not be eligible to come back for a fifth season.

Miscues prove costly for UConn

2012-01-07T19:43:00.002-05:00

Up four with the ball in the final two minutes, victory was well within the reach of the UConn women's basketball team.

Then, much as it did in the Huskies' last high-profile road game, it began to slip away.

UConn committed six turnovers in those final two minutes and the five-minute overtime period to allow Notre Dame to come back for a 74-67 victory on Saturday at the Joyce Center.

"It is unfortunate and the kids feel terrible about it back there (in the locker room)," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "We had the game won. We get one stop at the end of the game, we're sitting here talking about wow we came into Notre Dame and beat them but we didn't."

Even after allowing Notre Dame to come all the way back, the Huskies had a chance to take the last shot and UConn coach Geno Auriemma said he was certain his team was going to score. Then Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis went to a spot on the floor she wasn't supposed to be and when she got the pass at the top of the key, her errant pass intended for Bria Hartley gave the ball back to Notre Dame. Natalie Novosel wasn't able to hit the game-winning layup but the Fighting Irish took over in the extra session to beat the Huskies for the second straight time.

"Not only did we do it once at Baylor but we followed it up with another one," UConn junior forward Kelly Faris said. "There really isn't much to say, there is pure frustration. We had it on our hands, it was our game to win. Even with how badly we have played, we could have won. We didn't deserve to win it."

UConn's 27 turnovers are the most the Huskies have committed in a Big East game and the third highest total in the program history as UConn had 30 turnovers against Southern California on Dec. 7, 2002 and 28 in a game at San Diego Srare on Dec. 21, 2007.

"I think a lot of it was their ball pressure - no question about that," Auriemma said. "Some of it was their abiliuty to get their hands on the ball and some it was that we were just a little careless. It happened in spurts. We would have two or three in a row and in a game that you know is going to be pretty close, any time you don't get a shot you don't get to make up those possessions.

"We have 100 more assists than turnovers this season, we are one of the best ballhandling teams in the country but not today. Kaleena is a freshman and she had six of them and you can say 'well she is a freshman.' Bria had seven and that's 13 right there between just two players. You are just not going to be able to beat a really good team giving up shots at the basket."

Faris glad to be back in home state

2012-01-07T15:46:00.000-05:00

Although Notre Dame's campus is about three hours from Kelly Faris' hometown of Plainfield, Indiana, it is always a big deal for the UConn junior each time she plays a game in her home state.

"It is always fun to go home see family and friends," Faris said." You have to block it out as much as you can. It is not that difficult, you have to be able to control it because while it is nice to see family and friends, you know what you are there for."

Another road test for Huskies

2012-01-07T12:25:00.000-05:00

We're less than four hours away from UConn's second major road test of the season. The first one brought mixed results as the Huskies seemed overwhelmed in the early stages of last month's game at Baylor only to rebound to go up by 11 points. However, the Huskies were unable to hold onto the lead as top-ranked Baylor rallied for a 66-61 win.

Other than getting used to jumping on a plane and playing in a jam-packed arena on the road, UConn coach Geno Auriemma isn't sure how much the experience of playing at Baylor is going to help prepare for today's game at Notre Dame simply because of the differing styles of play between the teams.

"Whatever happened as Baylor isn't going to have any impact on what happens at Notre Dame,"Auriemma said. "We could play the exact same game we played against Baylor and win by 15 or lose by 20. Comparing Notre Dame and Baylor is two completely different animals. The experience of playing on the road against a big crowd, yeah that might help but the crowd at Notre Dame might be even more animated than the one against Baylor. I won't get a standing ovation at Notre Dame? They are nice Catholic folks but no I won't get a standing ovation."

Auriema's coaching counterpart tried to downplay the importance of the game other than being a chance to further evaluate the Fighting Irish.

"The fact that we get to play them twice (in the regular season) puts a little less emphasis on this game," Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said. "I think for us, this is a game we look at and say 'how far do we have to go to be ready for March? What do we need to improve on.' I don't think you learn as much about your team when you win by 30 or 40 points. You want to play a good team so you can see what your strengths and weaknesses really are. It is a measuring stick. It is still early in January, we have a long way to go and we want to keep on improving. This is really a game to say 'this is where we are right now.' It is not going to mean a lot in terms of where we are going to be."

USA Basketball honors Rizzotti

2012-01-06T18:11:00.000-05:00

Jen Rizzotti, the USA Basketball National Coach of the Year, shares a laugh with U-19 team member and UConn sophomore Stefanie Dolson during the medal ceremony.

Former UConn star and current University of Hartford coach Jen Rizzotti has been named the 2011 USA Basketball National Coach of the Year after leading the United States to the gold medal at the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship for Women.

“It is an honor to be named the USA Basketball National Coach of the Year,” Rizzotti said. “I had a great group of players and an extremely hard working staff that deserves equal credit. Our players worked really hard in a short amount of time to become not just the best players, but the best team in the U19 Championship. Joi Williams and Sue Semrau, my assistants, worked tirelessly to prepare for our opponents and help me keep perspective and balance throughout the tournament.

The U.S. won by an average of 16.6 points per game in the tournament while limited their opponents to 33.2 percent shooting from the floor.

Among her players were UConn's Stefanie Dolson, Bria Hartley and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis as well as UConn commits Breanna Stewart and Morgan Tuck and UConn recruiting target Diamond DeShields.

“I liked playing for coach Rizzotti because she was always intense and into the games, and even in practice she was intense,” Stewart said. “I think she wanted to get the best out of us in the little time that we had together, and I really enjoyed playing for her.”

Another monster game by Morgan Tuck

2012-01-05T23:55:00.001-05:00

UConn signee Morgan Tuck continued her spectacular senior season with 41 points, 14 rebounds and five assists to lead Bolingbrook (Ill.) High to a 90-61 win over Homewood-Flossmoor on Thursday night. Tuck was 11 of 11 from the free throw line and had a pair of 3-pointers.

Tuck will square off with another high-scoring senior when Bolingbrook faces Niles West and Notre Dame commit Jewell Loyd on Jan. 16 at the McDonald's Shootout at 7 p.m. at Willowbrook High School in Villa Park, Ill.

UConn/DePaul game sold out

2012-01-05T16:32:00.000-05:00

DePaul just announced that the Jan. 21 game against UConn has been sold out.

The game will be played at McGrath-Phillips Arena in Chicago beginning at 8 p.m.

Notre Dame ready for the challenge

2012-01-05T13:03:00.000-05:00

With UConn playing West Virginia and Notre Dame facing Seton Hall on Wednesday night, there wasn't too much hype surrounding Saturday's clash of the Big East titans when Notre Dame hosts UConn on Saturday.

Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw met with the local media and also had a phone hookup to take questions from the Connecticut media. She was almost matter of fact in answering questions about the magnitude of Saturday's nationally-televised game.

"We are anticipating that we will have a sellout crowd and it will be a great atmosphere for college basketball," McGraw said in her opening statement.

Here are some of the other highlights of what she had to say about the game.

"We've been drawing great crowds all year. I think the electricity will be up for this game because it is No. 2 vs. No. 3 and it is going to be such an exciting game for national TV.
"They are definitely the best team we have faced since Baylor and it is going to be a challenge for us. They do have a size advantage for Stefanie Dolson, just such a great player on the block. She is big, she is strong, she is physical, she is really difficult for us to guard. You (combine) that with all the 3-point shooters that they have, it makes them a really tough team to defend.

"I think they would rather play in a game like this than in a game where the starters only get to play half a game. When you are a player at this level and have a competitive part of you that wants to be great, you have to play really good teams in order to be good. That is what they are looking forward to - a challenge to a really exciting game."

It should be noted that in the latest NCAA stats Notre Dame is leading the country in scoring offense (85.9 points per game) while UConn is tops in scoring defense (41.4)

Bria Hartley remembers Apache Paschall

2012-01-04T23:51:00.001-05:00

UConn sophomore guard Bria Hartley was on the verge of tears when I asked for her reaction and recollections of her AAU coach Robert "Apache" Paschall, who died on Tuesday at the age of 38.

"He was my AAU coach and he meant a lot to me," Hartley said after scoring a team-high 18 points in UConn's 79-60 win over West Virginia on Wednesday night. "It is sad he had to go. I loved him. I knew he was sick but I didn't think it would be this soon. He just found out (he had skin cancer) in October. When I first started playing after my freshman year (at North Babylon High) and he did a lot for me and helped me get better and threw me out there on the AAU circuit against the good teams and it helped me."

The New York Daily News reported that Paschall is believed to have suffered a fatal heart attack. The founder of the Exodus AAU program and highly successful high school coach at St. Michael's Academy and Nazareth is credited for developing a host of New York stars.

"He did a lot for New York City basketball," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "He did a lot for kids growing up there, gave them a lot of exposure and created a program out of nothing in both high school and in AAU.
"I had no idea that he was sick as he was so that kind of came as a surprise to me but then I found out he had been battling that for a while so it was a big shocker for me. I think for a lot of kids playing in college, I know Bria Hartley played for him so she was affected a little bit by it."

UConn wins a rugged affair with West Virginia

2012-01-04T22:58:00.000-05:00

Tiffany Hayes headed to the sidelines with a tender knee, Bria Hartley had to exit after landing hard on her elbow and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis needed a second or two to shake off the cobwebs after being hit in the back of the head. In other words, it was a typically rough and tumble UConn/West Virginia game.

If UConn coach Geno Auriemma was asked to come up with a list of Big East teams which play harder than West Virginia, he would not need a heck of a lot of time. The West Virginia players may come and go but as long as fiery Mike Carey is coaching the Mountaineers they won't lack for effort or physicality.

"(West Virginia) makes it difficult to get things accomplished on the offensive end," Auriemma said. "We’ve got to be really tough with the ball and really patient and decisive. We have to make sure that whatever we do, know that there is going to be a lot of physical contact. They did a good job tonight getting us out of any rhythm we wanted to be in.”

“When you go through the league season there are going to be a lot of (games like this) where it is not just pass and cut."

UConn won't be thrilled that it was outrebounded (37-35) but the Huskies displayed their toughness in other areas in posting a 79-60 win in their Big East home opener.

"It's always a tough game when you play them," UConn senior guard Tiffany Hayes said. "They always come out and try to punch us first, they are always physical with us especially down in the post and we had to fight back."

The good news is that none of the injuries were serious ones as all three players were able to return to the game. It did make for an interesting scene (or so I am told) in the locker room with ice bags being handed out to just about every UConn player.
"All in all givcen the way the game was played, given the nature of the game and the games we play with these guys I thought we grinded one out pretty good," Auriemma said.

"There were a lot of knockdowns and takedowns in this game. There is a lot of ice right now in the locker room."
Auriemma said the Heather Buck didn't play for matchup reasons since points were not going to be easy to come by but he is expecting her to see plenty of time when UConn plays at Notre Dame on Saturday.

UConn starting to talk the talk in practice

2012-01-04T14:10:00.001-05:00

One of the first things I noticed when I walked into UConn's practice yesterday is that there was more talking on the court than I had seen out of this particular group.

It doesn't hurt that Caroline Doty, perhaps the team's most vocal player, seems to be feeling much better than she did in recent days and weeks. Tiffany Hayes, Stefanie Dolson and Bria Hartley always tend to talk more during practice while Kelly Faris continues to improve in that matter as are the three freshmen.

"The more they understand what is going on, the easier it is to communicate that with each other," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "The hardest thing there is to do as a player is to constantly communicate with other people because it takes an awful lot of confidence in your own ability to be able to do that. Sometimes what young players don't understand is the more you can verbalize what it is you are trying to do, the more you do that, the more you get used to doing it, the better you understand what it is you can do to contribute. It helps you and it helps the other people. It is personalities too. Stefanie talks a lot because that is her personality,Tiffany talks a lot because that is her personality. With Bria it is the same thing. You hope that the longer they play and the more confident they get, the more they talk. It is all related."

Dolson tends to be more among the most vocal UConn players but she has seen a difference in the last few days of practice.
"I think everyone can be more comfortable with the team so everyone is stepping up, they feel like they can say things and people will listen," Dolson said. "I think everyone has done a great job of listening, following some people leading. We are definitely becoming more of a team in our last couple of practices, the last couple have been really good and I just hope everyone keeps it up."

Pendergast won't pursue AD position

2012-01-04T09:45:00.001-05:00

UConn announced that interim athletic director Paul Pendergast asked UConn president Susan Herbst to take his name out of consideration for the permanent athletic director position.

UConn will begin the process of finding its next athletic director with the help of Parker Executive Search, Inc. of Atlanta. A new AD is expected to be announced in the next three months.

“This is one of the most important positions at the university, given our tremendously successful athletic programs and the challenges ahead in college sports,” Herbst said in a statement. “We seek an extraordinary leader who will shape the future of our program, emphasizing above all else – academic performance, transparency and integrity. Our new athletic director will build upon the strength of our programs and will be welcomed into this highly ambitious Husky family. I expect our new leader to maintain the excellence we already have, but to also forge new paths, so that UConn can lead the nation in both winning and student-athlete academic success. We have such wonderful young men and women in our program, across so many highly competitive sports and I expect our athletic director to be a role model to them and to our entire student body.”

Pendergast will remain at the university, working with the UConn Foundation, and focusing on fundraising for the UConn Health Center and the Division of Athletics. Pendergast will also manage UConn’s outreach efforts and relations with the business community, alumni, partners, donors and fans.

The Athletic Director Search Committee members are:

Paul Pendergast, Committee Co-Chair, Interim Athletic Director

Carol Polifroni, Committee Co-Chair, Professor of Nursing, and Chair of the President’s Advisory Committee for Athletics.

Andy Bessette ‘75, Executive Vice President and CAO, The Travelers Companies, Former men’s track All-American and Olympian

Scott Brown, Professor of Educational Psychology, NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative

Andrea Dennis-LaVigne ’03, Former UConn Board of Trustees member, Owner, Bloomfield (Conn.) Animal Hospital

Jim Penders ’94, ‘98, Head Baseball Coach, Former Baseball Student-Athlete

Tom Ritter, ’77 Law, Vice Chairman, UConn Board of Trustees; Partner, Brown Rudnick, LLP

Rachel Rubin ‘77, Chief of Staff, Office of the President

Geno reacts to trade of Swin Cash

2012-01-03T16:30:00.000-05:00

Geno Auriemma wasn't surprised that one of his former star players was traded yesterday but he was a bit stunned that the Chicago Sky gave up the second overall pick in April's WNBA draft to acquire Cash, former Connecticut Sun forward Le'Coe Willingham and a second-round pick.

"I kind of had an inkling that something was going to happen with Swin because Seattle, I know they want to rebuild and don't have many tradeable players - Swin being the only one," Auriemma said. "I don't know what they got - the No. 2 overall pick, that is pretty good. So they have the No. 2 pick, that is a bad trade by Chicago unless they want to win right now Swin's only got two or three years left."

AURIEMMA TALKS ABOUT HILLHOUSE'S BRIA HOLMES
Bria Holmes was among the talented recruits at the SuperShow at Gampel Pavilion in 2010 before she ended up signing with West Virginia.

With West Virginia playing UConn at the XL Center tomorrow night, Holmes is expected to be in attendance to watch her future teammates play. I asked Auriemma if he thought Holmes will be a good fit for the Mountaineers.
"She is the kind of player that they like to recruit," Auriemma said. "She is long, she is athletic and Mike has had a lot of those kids over the years. Defensively she can do some things that I think she can really take advantage of. It may not happen right away as a freshman because he has a lot of young guys now."

Swin Cash traded to Chicago

2012-01-02T14:00:00.001-05:00

Former UConn star Swin Cash, a member of WNBA championship teams in Detroit and Seattle, has been traded by Seattle to Chicago in a package for the second overall pick in April's WNBA draft.

Seattle gave up Cash, former Connecticut Sun forward Le'Coe Willingham and the No. 23 pick for the second selection.

The move makes me wonder whether the Storm are rolling the dice on Elena Delle Donne entering the draft. If that does happen, Seattle would get either Delle Donne or Nneka Ogwumike which would be a good value. If that isn't the case, you'd have to think Seattle may look at a player like Shenise Johnson of Miami or perhaps Shekinna Stricklen out of Tennessee.

The move could also open up some salary cap space for Seattle to pursue a free agent.

Mixed bag for the freshmen

2011-12-30T00:06:00.000-05:00

As UConn approaches the halfway point of the season, it's an interesting time for the freshmen.

Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis has already become an invaluable part of UConn's rotation and Thursday night was no different as she had 12 points, her seventh straight double-digit scoring game. However, it has been a tougher road for her classmates.

Brianna Banks did not play in a loss to Baylor and has played less than 10 minutes in three other games. Stokes was in for just one minute against Baylor. That was one more minute than she played against Fairfield.

A day after UConn coach Geno Auriemma said that he may have to just start playing Banks and Stokes even if their work rate in practice isn't up to the standards he is looking for, he did not put Stokes into the game.

Auriemma said he is still hoping to get valuable contributions from Stokes this season.

"I am sure we will get something out of her, we are just not sure what that is yet," Auriemma said. "She has too much ability and is too nice a kid, too conscientious for us not to get anything out her so we will get something out of her. Right now we are trying to impress upon her that what we are getting out of her is not what I want or what the team needs and she has to make some changes. When she does that, I think she is going to be fine."

Banks had one of her best efforts of the season with 12 points (on 5 of 5 shooting), two rebounds and two steals in 17 minutes.

"Somebody must have spiked her egg nog," Auriemma said. "She actually had the ball on top, yelled at Michala (Johnson) to come to the high post, threw it to her, cut and got a layup. Three weeks ago she couldn't spell high post and would not have called out Michala's name and just grunted so for her to do all of that, it is progress. It means she is starting to get what we are trying to do and that is a great sign. She has the ability, we generally don't recruit kids that don';t have the ability to play here at Connecticut, it is other things that get in the way. It is taking a little bit of time and hopefully she can build on today."

HAYES MOVES INTO TOP 20
Tiffany Hayes' game-high 23 points moved past Tamika Williams and Chris Gedney and into a tie with Peggy Walsh for 19th on UConn's career scoring list. Hayes now has 1,413 points and next up is Kalana Greene,, who finished with 1,444 career points.

Werth family has long relationship with UConn women

2011-12-29T23:32:00.000-05:00

UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma couldn't recall when he first became aware of the philanthropic Werth family from Woodbridge but he believes they have been loyal supporters of the Huskies for about the last 15 years.

Peter and Pam Werth, who also own a home in Phoenix, got to know former UConn star Diana Taurasi when she was a rookie with the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury. On Thursday it was announced that they pledged $4.5 million to the building of a basketball practice facility on the land where Memorial Stadium now stands.

If all goes well, Auriemma has heard that the facility could open as early as in September of 2013.

"I think what Peter and Pam Werth did was just kind of jump start the process in a lot of ways because when people see that, they all want to jump on board and be a part of it," Auriemma said. "Peter and Pam have been involved with UConn women's basketball for a long time and they were at the World Championships last year in the Czech Republic. They are great people, two of the nicest people you will ever meet. Once that word got out that this is what they were going to do, I think all of a sudden everybody else who is in position to be able to do that starts contacting the school and see 'how do I get involved?'

"When something is a priority, it is going to get done. It was a priority to build the football practice facility and it got done. It was a priority to build Rentschler Field and it got done. If it is priority to build this thing, it will get done. We just need a couple more people like Pam and Peter to step up and they will. They are out there and it our job to go out (and find them). Having lunch with Peter and Pam for me was like the greatest thing in the world because you are telling people what you are going to do and you are not lying to them. When I first started in 1985 and I was telling people what I was going to do, I was lying. Now you look people right in the eye and say we are going to do this, we are going to do that and we just need your help to do that. People are just dying to help because they know you are telling the truth because they have seen it and have already felt it. I am thrilled to death, I can't wait."

Heather Buck happy to be back

2011-12-29T19:05:00.001-05:00

When Heather Buck felt the pain in her right wrist after tumbling to the court in a loss to Baylor earlier in this month, the junior forward/center was understandably concerned that she could be sidelined for a bit.

The wrist injury did force her to sit out the College of Charleston game but she returned to practice on Dec. 26 and is ready to return tonight against Fairfield.

"I had a lot of time to rest it. It was kind of lucky the way Christmas landed so I have been trying out some different stuff and see what works, trying to get me back as quickly as possible," Buck said.

"It hasn't been as bad as if could have been so it is good."

After a series of tests it was announced that Buck has a bone bruise. She will continue to receive treatment but is not expected to miss additional time.

ABROSIMOVA TO SEE BANNER FOR FIRST TIME
Former UConn All-American Svetlana Abrosimova has not back been inside Gampel Pavilion since her No. 25 jersey was unveiled as part of the inaugural Huskies of Honor class back in 2006. So with Abrosimova in attendance for a ceremony honoring the 2001-02 UConn squad (she was a graduate assistant on the national championship squad), UConn covered over her placard so it could be unveiled for her during a halftime ceremony.

Woodbridge family makes a major donation

2011-12-29T17:44:00.000-05:00

The Werth family from Woodbridge made a $4.5 donation to UConn which will to put towards building a basketball practice facility at UConn.

Here is the official release from UConn

STORRS, Conn. (Dec. 29, 2011) -- Peter J. and Pamela H. Werth of Woodbridge, Conn., have made a $4.5 million pledge toward the construction of a basketball practice facility on the University of Connecticut campus. The commitment from the Werths is the largest single private gift ever to Athletics at the University.

“The entire University of Connecticut community is grateful to the Werth family for the leadership role they are taking with this generous commitment towards the building of our new men’s and women’s basketball facility,” says UConn President Susan Herbst. “This historic gift will help us maintain the excellence that has long been synonymous with our University and its outstanding athletic programs.”

Mr. Werth is the founder and CEO of Chemwerth Inc., a full service generic drug development and supply company based in Connecticut. Established in 1982, Chemwerth provides high quality active pharmaceutical ingredients to regulated markets worldwide. Chemwerth has operations in China and India.

“We are proud to make this commitment to UConn and its outstanding basketball programs,” says Peter and Pam Werth. “UConn Basketball is part of the fabric of our state, and we know that this facility will help the men’s and women’s teams be successful for years to come. We hope that other UConn fans, who derive the same joy from the Huskies as we do, will support this project so that construction can begin as soon as possible.”

The Werths are avid Husky fans and season ticket holders for men’s and women’s basketball, and football. They have been active UConn Athletics donors since 2003, supporting overall program enhancement in the Division of Athletics. Their strong connection to the University began with their children – Peter III, Debbie and Jackie – all of whom attended UConn.

“Peter and Pam have a great passion for UConn Athletics and our student-athletes,” says Interim Director of Athletics Paul Pendergast. “This wonderful gift demonstrates their dedication to enhancing the academic and athletic experience of the young men and women who wear the Husky uniform.”

The UConn Basketball Development Center will be a 70,000 square foot facility to be located on the current Memorial Stadium site, adjacent to Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. It will feature dedicated practice gyms for the two basketball programs, along with locker rooms, coaches’ offices and areas for academic support, video analysis, sports medicine and strength training. The facility is being designed by Populous, the former HOK Sport, which designed The Burton Family Football Complex and Mark R. Shenkman Training Center.

With this pledge from the Werths, nearly half of the approximately $30 million project cost has now been committed, all through private sources.

“On behalf of everyone associated with our women’s basketball program at UConn – past, present and future – we are grateful to Peter and Pam for their generosity,” says Head Women’s Basketball Coach Geno Auriemma. “The Werths know what it takes to be successful, and they know that this facility will allow our team to practice, train and study in a setting that promotes achievement.”

“It takes great players to win, and the Werths are great players,” says Head Men’s Basketball Coach Jim Calhoun. “Through this commitment, they have shown their desire to be leaders and help young people have a very special college experience in Storrs. The Werths are helping us take a very important step toward the building of this much-needed facility.”

Abrupt end to practice

2011-12-28T14:09:00.001-05:00

When I walked into the open portion of Wednesday's practice at Gampel Pavilion at 12:30 p.m., UConn women's basketball SID Pat McKenna told me he expected practice would run past its scheduled 1 p.m. ending. That's hardly unusual especially when the men's team isn't coming up next and needing the court.

I was in there enough to see about a minute's worth of drills. When reserve guard Lauren Engeln took the ball in the backcourt, raced up the court and sliced into the lane with limited resistance from the Blue team, consisting of the starters. Engeln delivered a pass to a cutting practice player for an uncontested layup. Michala Johnson, Engeln's teammate on the White or reserve team, clapped her hands and said 'way to go, White team." UConn coach Geno Auriemma had a different reaction as he blurted out 5-spot. The 5-spot is the drill that the Huskies end every practice with. When they team finishes and gathered around him, an irate Auriemma let them have it going as far as telling the team that they should raise their hands when they are tired of practicing just so he knows.

Auriemma asked that the players be interviewed first and when he came back to meet with the media, he had cooled off. He said that about 90 percent of the practice was productive but the last few minutes left a lot of be desired. He is attempting to get his squad to push through the mental and physical fatigue. It will be a theme of his this season as he asks his players to reach back for energy and a sense of focus that they probably don't think they possess.

"I think we go in spurts and we don't last the whole practice so I think that's our big thing," junior Kelly Faris said. "It is hard to get everybody on the same page, some people don't get it yet and some people don't have the right mentality. We don't do a good job of keeping everybody accountable."

Sophomore center Stefanie Dolson agreed with Faris.

"The reason he did it was we did really well for the first two hours of practice and that last hour we just kind of lost focus," Dolson said. "We weren't doing things correctly, we weren't going hard like we were for the first two hours. I definitely understand why he is getting upset like that. I think at this point he is getting so fed up with us doing that. I can't say this is the first time we have done it.

"It is halfway through the season and the way we responded to the Baylor loss is not the way we should at this point., Maybe if they were the second game of the season but they weren't, the fact that we are not on the same page we just have to come together. I think we are so young that we lose focus so easily. I know it bothers me. I think some people are bothered by things and some people aren't. You never want to end a practice like that. It is frustrating because I see what he sees too and it is me too. We were so high in the first two hours, our energy, our competitiveness and then we just lost it."

Auriemma downplayed what he saw from his squad on Wednesday when he met with the media. I think he was wise to have us interview the players first so he could get some time to settle down because he was one unhappy camper when he left the court.
"It is just we don't have enough bodies that can operate at a certain level," Auriemma said. "I don't want to go through what we went through last year when we were scrambling to constantly find seven, eight or nine people that can perform at a certain level. If we are not careful, it kind of takes it toll on players especially when there are no practice players. Some of our guys don't get a break. I am kind of excited that (next season) we will have 13 and that will make it so much better, so much easier. Today, we had a great 90 percent of practice was really good and the last 10 percent when we were trying to assimilate the last three miutes of the game and we have to get to that point."
In other news, Heather Buck was able to take part in practice. She will likely have to wear a hard cast or at least a splint wrapped with an ace bandage but she is expected to play tomorrow when UConn ends the 2011 portion of its schedule by playing Fairfield.

Speaking of Fairfield, Auriemma said he likes playing the in-state teams, as long as they want to step up to the challenge of playing the Huskies. He said he wouldn't mind playing a game at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport but he believed that the XL Center would have to be agreeable to it since they have the rights to all home games not played at Gampel. Rather than playing a regular-season game, Auriemma said he would like to have a preseason game there. It couldn't come against Fairfield or Sacred Heart since the only way UConn could play another Division I team in a preseason game would be if the game/scrimmage was closed to the public. Perhaps a Division II squad like Bridgeport, New Haven or Southern Connecticut State could be an option or a Division II team from New York.

In other scheduling news, ESPN is getting involved in having UConn and Baylor play next season. Both Baylor coach Kim Mulkey and Auriemma said earlier this month that it was quite possible that the teams would not meet in the regular season next year. But a source at UConn confirmed that ESPN is pushing for the teams to play a game in February in Hartford, something UConn is in favor of. Baylor would rather have the game played before the start of the Big 12 season but it doesn't look like they have that option.

Heather Buck back at practice

2011-12-28T11:16:00.000-05:00

UConn junior forward/center Heather Buck is listed as probable for tomorrow's game against Fairfield. Buck, who injured her right wrist in the Dec. 18 loss at Baylor, has practiced for the last three days (including today).

An update on the list of players from the 2001-02 squad returning for the Huskies of Honor ceremony, Jessica Moore will not be able to attend.

2001-02 national champs to be honored

2011-12-27T09:59:00.001-05:00

The 2001-02 UConn squad, which posted a 39-0 record and won the Huskies' third national title, will be inducted into the Huskies of Honor during halftime of Thursday's game against Fairfield. While playing and coaching conflicts will keep many of the players from attending, Sue Bird, Ashley Battle, Maria Conlon (also a former assistant coach for Fairfield's Joe Frager), Stacey Marron and Ashley Valley are expected to be in attendance.

The '01-02 Huskies featured five WNBA first-round picks including Bird and Diana Taurasi, the No. 1 overall picks in 2002 and 2004, and five first-round picks. The top two and four of the top six picks in the 2002 WNBA draft were members of that squad which averaged 87 points per game and defeated Tennessee and Oklahoma in the Final Four to win its second national title in the last three season. .

UConn returns to the court

2011-12-21T09:42:00.000-05:00

If there is one statistic which best describes the sustainability and dominance of the UConn women's basketball program it is that the Huskies have not lost consecutive games since 1993. In other words, the players the Connecticut coaches are currently recruiting were not even both the last time the Huskies had a losing streak.

With that in mind, we don't often get to write about UConn losing games or how the Huskies plan to rebound from a loss. I was given that opportunity and my advance for tonight's game against Charleston is focused on how the players and coaches compare last year's season at Stanford to the one on Sunday at Baylor.

Speaking of Charleston, they are pulling out all the stops for tonight's game. According to a story in today's Charleston Post and Courier, former Charleston stars Regina Brown Hall and Lisa Washington will have banners in their own raised to the rafters at TD Arena at halftime. Before the game Charleston's AIAW powerhouse teams in the early 1980s will be recognized as will Kalana Greene, the only player from South Carolina to suit up for the Huskies and other dignitaries with ties to South Carolina.

Stewart, Tuck light it up at TOC

2011-12-20T17:29:00.001-05:00

A day after squaring off against each other, UConn commits Morgan Tuck and Breanna Stewart found points a little easier to come by.

According to tweets from ESPN HoopGurlz, Tuck had 35 points as Bolingbrook rebounded from its first loss of the season by routing St. Mary's of Stockton, Calif. 60-39. Then Stewart, who had 15 points in Monday's 43-40 win over Bolingbrook, had 33 points as Cicero-North Syracuse (N.Y.) topped Dr. Phillips out of Orlando, Fla. 48-28 to move the Northstars into the winners' bracket semifinals at the Nike Tournament of Champions. Next up is a game against St. Mary's of Phoenix on Wednesday at 4:30 in Arizona (7:30 p.m. in Connecticut).

UConn/Baylor garners a 0.9 rating

2011-12-20T11:56:00.000-05:00

Sunday's UConn/Baylor game, televised by ESPN, drew a rating of 0.9. In Hartford the number was 12.4, down from the 16.3 that the UConn/Stanford game had on Dec. 30 of last year.

UConn is currently in South Carolina preparing for tomorrow's game against the College of Charleston, which fell to 2-7 after a 71-52 loss at Appalachian State. Charleston was outrebounded 60-38 and committed 28 turnovers (against just seven assists) to fall to 2-7. In other words, the Huskies incredible streak of not having lost consecutive games, which dates back to the 1992-93, will continue.

Breanna Stewart, Morgan Tuck square off in Arizona

2011-12-20T11:13:00.001-05:00

If you haven't already checked out ESPN's story on yesterday's showdown between UConn commits Breanna Stewart and Morgan Tuck, I'd advise you to do it. There is a great photo of the two future teammates mixing it up taken by Chris Hansen which is worthy of taking a look at.

Stewart had 15 points to lead Cicero-North Syracuse (N.Y.) to a 43-40 win over Tuck's Bolingbrook (Ill.) squad at the Nike Tournament of Champions at Hamilton (Ariz.) High,

In other news out of the tournament, UConn recruiting target Karlie Samuelson suffered an ankle injury in Edison (Calif.) High's 67-51 win over Centennial out of Las Vegas.

Another player being looked at by the Huskies in the Class of 2013 is Diamond DeShields. With UConn in South Carolina to play Charleston, Geno Auriemma headed over to the Crescent Bank Holiday Invitational in Myrtle Beach (about a two hour ride from Charleston) to see DeShields' Norcross (Ga.) team beat St. James. DeShields had 24 points, half of them coming on four 3-pointers, in the 95-22 win.

Although it did not happen in the tournament, it is also worth noting that ESPN is reporting that Malayna Johnson, the sister of UConn forward Michala Johnson, has committed to Wisconsin.

Buck to miss Wednesday's game

2011-12-19T12:47:00.003-05:00

UConn junior forward/center Heather Buck, coming off one of her most impactful
performances with the Huskies, will not play against the College of Charleston on Wednesday because of a right wrist injury she suffered in Sunday's loss to Baylor.

Buck will have her wrist examined by the UConn medical staff when the Huskies return to Connecticut after Wednesday's game. Her status for the Dec. 29 game against Fairfield will be determned by the test results and how quickly she is able to return to practice.

Buck didn't play against Stanford and saw jsust three minutes of action against Texas A&M but with starting center Stefanie Dolson in foul trouble and strugglng to slow down Baylor's Brittney Griner, Buck came into the game and in 12 minutes of action she helped to keep Griner scoreless.

Waco crowd gives Geno a warm reception

2011-12-19T04:19:00.000-05:00

Without warning the packed house at the Ferrell Center began to clap and the welcoming reception continued on.

The first thought is that the Baylor team was emerging from the locker room or perhaps recently-crowned Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III was spotted by the Baylor faithful. No, the applause was a result of UConn coach Geno Auriemma making his way across the court and to his team's bench.

Auriemma said he was surprised and appreciative of the way he was greeted by the Baylor fans.

"People said that people down South are a lot nicer and they proved it," Auriemma said. "It really took me by surprise, the reception I got in the gym. I don't know if they do it for everybody when they think they are going to kick their butt.

It was a great game for people to be a part of and watch. I know we had the same environment last year and I am just thrilled to be a part of it."

Auriemma wasn't the only person curious how the UConn coach was going to be received the first time he stepped onto the court in front of the largest women's basketball crowd in Baylor's history.
"He's a legend and they appreciate what they've done for women's basketball," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. "I was kind of curious how they were going to react to Geno. I know they reacted to (Tennessee coach) Pat (Summitt) the way that they did and hopefully recognize that because that s nothing more than great appreciation for what they have done for the women's game."

AURIEMMA SADDENED BY GEMELOS' LATEST INJURY
On the bus ride to Sunday's game Auriemma heard the news that Jacki Gemelos, who initially committed to UConn before changing her mind and headed to Southern California, suffered yet another knee injury during a game against Texas A&M.

"I knew things were difficult for Shea (Ralph) and they've been difficult for Caroline (Doty) but wow to have that happen to a kid ... Just the fact that she has been able to come back as hard as she has, she is one tough cookie. She had a great summer playing with USA Basketball. I hope she is OK."

Huskies fail to deliver knock out blow

2011-12-19T00:29:00.000-05:00

UConn coach Geno Auriemma thought that his team had about 35 minutes against top-ranked Baylor on Sunday night but as it turns out, one four-minute stretch did in the Huskies.

Connecticut was up by 11 and had silenced the largest women's basketball crowd in Baylor history. Then UConn went scoreless for a span of 4:06, missing six straight shots to allow the Lady Bears to pull within a point. Down the stretch the Baylor duo of Brittney Griner and Odyssey Sims took over to lead Baylor to a 66-61 victory.

"If you come into a place like this, go on the road and play a really good team you have to be able to withstand a lot of things not going your way," Auriemma said. "I thought for the most part we did. I thought for 35 minutes there, we were good enough to win the game. But there was a five minute stretch and maybe less than that where I thought Baylor's aggressiveness and intensity level kind of took over. They made some plays offensively and we didn't make shots on the other end and kind of got out of (a rhythm). When you are on the road and allow that to happen, your chances of winning are obviously much less."

Other than a long stretch in the first half when she was flustered by UConn reserve Heather Buck, Griner played like the All-American and national player of the year candidate that she is. She had 25 points, nine rebounds and nine blocks. She was 7 of 7 from the free-throw line which was a far cry from her nightmarish effort shooting foul shots in last season's loss to UConn.

Auriemma said that he considered Sims to be the pivotal player for Baylor. Figuring that Griner would get hers, he was hoping the Huskies could limit Sims' impact. They did not. The sophomore had 23 points and four steals. She was 3 of 4 from 3-point range (making her 6 of 7 from downtown in two games against the Huskies) but it was her blazing speed which UConn couldn't deal with.

Bria Hartley starred for UConn, hitting five 3-pointers and scoring 25 points and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis had 15 points. They were 8 of 16 on 3-pointers and the rest of the Huskies were 3 of 13.

"Maybe we are just not there yet to win this game on this night in this building against this team," Auriemma said.
After the game Auriemma said he believed Baylor and UConn would play in the future but it likely won't happen next season.

"I have to believe that we are going to be playing them again. I don't know if it is going to be next year because we have some commitments with some other teams. You hate to say this but there should maybe be 10 or 15 of these every year by us and by them. There should be 15 games like this where it comes down to the last two minutes of the game."

There was a funny scene outside the media room when Auriemma was being interviewed and Baylor coach Kim Mulkey walked over to shake his hand. She told him it would mean a lot to Griner if he were to congratulate her after she was done with the press conference. "She loves you," Mulkey said.

"Yeah, I love her too. Like a tooth canal."

UConn leaves for South Carolina tomorrow to play the College of Charleston on Wednesday. The game is part of a home and home as Charleston will play at UConn next season.

Settting the stage for UConn/Baylor

2011-12-18T19:42:00.000-05:00

Both teams are out on the court as tip is about an hour away.

I wasn't at shootaround this afternoon but heard that the Huskies were pretty loose and in a good frame of mind.

I believe UConn is going to try to put just one person on Baylor's national player of the year candidate and try to limit the impact of the other players. It won't be easy. Sophomore guard Odyssey Sims can be electric, Brooklyn Pope is a dynamic offensive rebounder and forgetting about Kimetria Hayden, Jordan Madden and Destiny Williams would be a mistake.

"A lot of people focus on her and forget about the other players," UConn junior forward Kelly Faris said. "You have to do both, you have to cover it all. There is not one way. Can you let her get that and guard the rest of them or we'll focus on her and not guard the rest of them, I think we are going to do our best to cover everything."

On the other end, Baylor has to guard UConn as well. If Stefanie Dolson is able to play a full game, UConn will have scorers at every position which could put the Lady Bears in some tough spots.

Buck and Stokes believe they are ready

2011-12-18T12:20:00.000-05:00

Starting center Stefanie Dolson played a season-high 31 minutes in victories over Stanford and Texas A&M. The UConn coaching staff will be content if Dolson can match that number tonight. Even if she does, that is nine minutes that somebody else will need to square off against Baylor's Brittney Griner. Perhaps UConn could go with its all guard lineup of Kelly Faris, Tiffany Hayes, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Caroline Doty and Bria Hartley but against an athletic front line like Baylor's that's a risky proposition. There figures to come a time when one of the Huskies' post reserves will get the assignment of defending Baylor's national player of the year candidate.

Heather Buck, who played well against Griner in one stretch when Dolson was sitting with foul trouble in the 2010 Connecticut victory, and freshman Kiah Stokes said they are looking forward to the challenge.

"It is another huge game for us," said Stokes, who played 14 minutes against Stanford but only four against Texas A&M. "So far we have played all right during the season but it is just another game, a challenge that we are all looking forward to. We are looking forward to this 1 vs. 2 matchup, it is something where you want to play in the big game.

"It will definitely be a challenge. I have never played against somebody her size and her talent. In practices, we are trying to be more aggressive defensively and offensively. The both of us and Stef, all the post players, we have been working hard and think we can get the job done."

Stokes thinks she has been making progress in practice.

"Each day is a new challenge but every day you have to try to compete," Stokes said. "We'll see how it goes. It is definitely a mental thing. The coaches and Amanda Kimball, our trainer, have told me I have all physical ability and once I get past that, I will be fine."

As for Buck, you could make the argument that her seven minutes in last year's game against Baylor was the most impactful playing time she has had with the Huskies. Buck didn't score a point (or even attempt a shot) and had only one minute but she was able to provide a steady presence during the time she was in there. Buck has pleasant memories from that game.

"I just remember drawing the offensive foul on her, it was really exciting," Buck said. "We'll see what happens. That was last year and she has changed a lot as a player and hopefully I have grown as a player as well and we'll see.

"She just has an amazing ability to find the ball, she is a good shot blocker. She is a great player and we are going to have our work cut out for us but we are looking forward to the challenge."

Catching up with Moriah Jefferson

2011-12-17T19:37:00.003-05:00

Just consider this weekend a 2 for the price of 1 special.

My trip to Texas for tomorrow's clash between No. 1 Baylor and No. 2 UConn, but I was able to catch UConn commit Moriah Jefferson in action with the THESA Riders on Saturday afternoon.

Jefferson's statistics (11 points, nine rebounds, three assists and three steals in 18 minutes) in the 71-41 win over host Roosevelt High of Dallas won't blow you away but realizing that the game was under control early on, Jefferson took only one shot in the second half (she didn't play at all in the fourth quarter). If you take the stats of Jefferson from her USA Basketball bio and combine them with the ones I just received a few minutes ago from Riders coach Alan Burt, Jefferson scored the 3,000th point of her career in the gane, These stats include those from when she was in eighth grade, On the season she is averaging 17.8 points, 4 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 6 steals while shooting 49.7 percent from the floor including 48.7 from 3-point range. She had 10 20-point games in 26 official games ( a couple of exihibitions don't count towards her stats) and three times had more than 10 steals in a game.

A few observations. Watching her in pre-game drills, she has a sweet shot and is also extremely athletic. The best play I saw in the game was when she caught, shot and scored all in one motion for a fast-break layup. She has a nice handle and made a sweet no-look pass for one of her assists.

Look for a story on Moriah in tomorrow's edition of the Register. A few things of note. First, she said she already has a sister-like bond with fellow UConn incoming freshmen Breanna Stewart and Morgan Tuck and said she is planning to enroll in summer session at UConn around June 20 as are Stewart and Tuck.

Her main objective right now is leading the THESA Riders to a sixth National Christian Home School title which is why she was so willing to pass up open shots during Saturday's games.

She is rather thrilled that Southern Methodist and Houston are joining the Big East since it will give her some home games in her native Texas.

Finally, I was a bit surprised to hear that she is only "hoping" to be in attendance at tomorrow's Baylor game. I would have figured she had gotten tickets a long time ago but not so.

"I might be, I think I might. Somebody might take me after I leave here. I hope to."

Don't take that as a sign that she isn't thrilled at soon joining the UConn program.

"I can't wait, it should be fun. We have a good group of girls coming in and hopefully we'll do big things. It was fun."

She hung out with Stewart at the Dec. 6 game against Texas A&M and she said she had the time of her life.

"It was like a sense of what it is going to be like when I get there. It wasn't as cold so I didn't get to see that but it was fun and I had a good time. I met everybody and bonded with the team and the coaches. I already knew that was what I wanted or I wouldn't be going there. I love that place."

Looks like good news for St. John's

2011-12-17T09:16:00.002-05:00

When St. John's guard Nadirah McKenith went down with a knee injury during Sunday's Maggie Dixon Classic many people (including me) feared she was another victim of the dreaded ACL. However, I just heard that she has a sprained knee and not any torn ligaments.

McKenith will miss some time but it could have been a lot worse for the Red Storm's floor leader.

Griner and Auriemma to be reunited

2011-12-16T19:16:00.000-05:00

The last thing Baylor junior center and national player of the year candidate Brittney Griner said to UConn and U.S. senior national team coach Geno Auriemma before heading back to campus after a couple of weeks in Europe was "see you in Waco."

Well, the time for the reunion is quickly approaching.

After a couple of years of trying to get the immensly talented Griner to take part in one of the U.S. senior national team training camps, Auriemma finally got his wish in late September and early October when Griner was there for a series of practices as well as five games against European pro teams.

In the five games the U.S. team played, Griner shared the team scoring lead with former UConn star Tina Charles, had a team-high nine blocked shots and was second on the team with seven rebounds per game. Griner was the leading scorer for the U.S. team in two of the five games. She scored in double figures in the first four games she played including scoring 22 points in a loss to Ros Casares on Oct. 5.

“It was a great experience playing for Coach Auriemma because he is really passionate and he is a great coach,” Griner said. “He was working on my game, just getting big and just playing to my full ability.”

Auriemma was thrilled that Griner chose to come to the latest training camp and he believes there is a chance she could be a member of the 2012 Olympic team.

"We've always in the three years I have been involved with USA Basketball at this level, you are always trying to figure out what is missing that would make our team better," Auriemma said. "Even after we won the World Championship we sat back and said what we do we have to do to make this team better. Brittney Griner's name was always at the top of the list. How can we get her involved? We realized we couldn't make her do it, nobody could make her do it and we just worked pretty hard with talking with her and
Kim (Mulkey, Baylor's coach) and making sure everybody was on board with what we are trying to do and I think she brings something, there is nobody else in the world like her. I don't care who Australia has, who Russia has or who anybody else has. Nobody has anybody else like Brittney Griner.

"I remember Kara Wolters made the Olympic team to go to Sydney. She was the 12th man on the team. She knew she was there just in case in a three-minute stretch she was going to have to play. She never had to because they didn't need her. Brittney Griner might make the Olympic team and might play 20 minutes every night or there might be two games in one game where she wins the game and we win the gold medal because there are things that she can do than nobody else can do on any other team in the world."

Auriemma tells the story of how dominating Griner could be during half-court drills courtesy of her rare dunking ability.

"What I am used to see in drills is stuff we are doing in breakdowns, you throw the ball in there and you work on your post moves and then you realize that every post move she is working on ends with a dunk, one-handed, two-handed," Auriemma said. "You just kind of smile and say I haven't seen that in one of my practices since I coached the guys' AAU team that my son played on. That is how those guys would end
every drill. I just started smiling and saying it must be good to go to practice. I found myself saying that. We would work on something in a game, we are going to screen here and take it, slip the screen and dunk it. She would go 'OK', slip it and dunk it. I was saying 'guys coaches have it easy.'"

UConn in unchartered waters

2011-12-16T18:19:00.000-05:00

When the question was posed to Geno Auriemma, the UConn women's basketball Hall of Fame coach admitted he wasn't quite sure how to respond.

Auriemma has grown so accustomed to being what he affectionately dubs being "an overdog" that he wasn't certain what the appropriate response that his second-ranked Huskies would be the lower-ranked team on Sunday for the first time since the 2006-07 season.

Since the No. 6 ranked Huskies lost to No. 2 North Carolina on Jan. 15, 2007, UConn has played 183 straight games (including 68 against ranked opponents) while being the highest ranked team on the court.

"I don't know if it will play as well as it does in Storrs when we go in as the underdog," Auriemma said. "I don't think it would be any big surprise if Baylor wins the game Sunday night, I don't think anybody's going to call it a monumental upset and I don't think the opposite is true either. If we were to win the game Sunday night, I don't think anybody is going to say 'wow, that was a huge upset by Connecticut over Baylor.' I think Baylor deserves to be where they are, they deserve the No. 1 ranking, they deserve to be treated the way they are being treated because they put themselves in that situation."

Three UConn signees on Naismith watch list

2011-12-15T13:35:00.001-05:00

Moriah Jefferson, Breanna Stewart and Morgan Tuck, UConn's entire recruiting class, were among seven players named to the watch list for the Naismith Girls' High School Player of the Year award. UConn recruiting target Diamond DeShields is the only non-senior on the list.

Jefferson is a 5-foot-7 guard from Glenn Heights, Tex. who is home schooled and plays for the THESA Riders. Stewart is a 6-foot-4 forward/center out of Cicero-North Syracuse (N.Y.) High and the top player in the current high school senior class while Tuck is a 6-foot-2 forward who already has two 30-point games for Bolingbrook (Ill.) High this season.

Joining DeShields, a 6-1 wing out of Norcross (Ga.) on the list are former UConn recruiting targets Jewell Loyd and Jordan Adams, who have signed with Notre Dame and Southern California respectively and Duke commit Alexis Jones.

The winner will be announced in March. Current UConn freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis was last year's winner.

DeShields hits seven 3-pointers in win

2011-12-14T22:40:00.000-05:00

I'm a day late on this but thought people might be interested to know that UConn recruiting target Diamond DeShields had 34 points and seven 3-pointers to lead Norcross (Ga.) High to a 75-46 win over Collins Hill (yes, the same Collins Hill where Maya Moore starred at) on Monday.

DeShields, a 6-1 junior, did her damage despite checking out of the game with 2 minutes left in the third quarter as Norcross improved to 3-2. It's kind of ironic that two of the three wins come against Moore's alma mater and also Fayette County where UConn freshman Brianna Banks played as a senior.

Next up for Norcross is a home game against Peachtree Ridge on Friday followed by a three-day tournament in Myrtle Beach, S.C. beginning on Monday. With UConn headed to South Carolina for a Dec. 21 game against the College of Charleston, I'd be shocked if at least one UConn coach wasn't in attendance for at least one of those games in the Crescent Bank Invitational.

Speaking of recruiting trips, something tells me that not all the UConn coaches will head directly from Waco, Texas to Charleston as a detour to Arizona to check out the Nike Tournament of Champions would seem a natural destination for at least one member of the UConn staff considering the incredible field put together by tournament organizers. As previously mentioned in this blog, UConn signees Morgan Tuck and Breanna Stewart will square off when Bolingbrook (Ill.) plays Cicero-North Syracuse (N.Y.) in the first game for both teams in the Joe Smith Division on Monday. At the same time, UConn recruiting target Karlie Samuelson will lead her Edison (Calif.) team against Centennial High out of Las Vegas.

UConn/Hartford to resume regular-season series

2011-12-14T17:04:00.001-05:00

According to a report by Lori Riley of the Hartford Courant, UConn and Hartford will resume its regular-season series.

The teams have played 12 times, all won by the Huskies, including six straight times from 2004-09 before the contract was not renewed. Hartford coach and former UConn All-American guard Jen Rizzotti said the Hawks wanted to try to pursue sgames featuring top teams coming in and playing at Chase Arena in West Hartford. Part of the new contract will feature a game on Dec. 22, 2012 in West Hartford followed by two UConn home games including at least one played at Gampel Pavilion. In the past, the UConn/Hartford games were played at the XL Center.

Info on announcing team for Baylor/UConn game

2011-12-14T14:28:00.000-05:00

ESPN will have a four-person crew televising Sunday's UConn/Baylor game.

Play by play man Dave O'Brien as well as analysts Doris Burke and Rebecca Lobo are no strangers to calling high-profile women's games but ESPN will also call on former NBA coach Jeff Van Gundy during the showdown between the top two ranked teams in the country.

Langley stepping up for St. John's

2011-12-12T20:19:00.000-05:00

It's a pretty safe assumption that Keylantra Langley never drove into the lane during her time at Lauralton Hall and encountered anything like Baylor's 6-foot-8 Brittney Griner. Yet here she was in her second year at St. John's showing the willingness to venture into the paint during the first game of the Maggie Dixon Classic on Sunday.

Langley got an early call when Eugeneia McPherson picked up two quick fouls and less than 30 seconds after coming into the game she headed towards the basket, drew Griner towards her and delivered a perfect pass to teammate Amber Thompson for a layup. Langley played 25 minutes and had four points, one rebound, one assist and two steals in the Red Storm's 73-59 loss to Baylor.

"When you are playing against her, you can't really back off," Langley said. "You still have to go through your game plan. You know she is there but you have to try to attack the basket the best you can.

"We are trying to go out there and play St. John's basketball and do the best we can. We came into the locker room with a lead (at halftime). I think we played with a lot of energy and a lot of heart today."

While Langley put up some modest stats, there is no questioning the impact she is making in her sophomore season or the rapid development she has shown since last season.

"She has been playing much better for us and her confidence has been getting a lot better," St. John's coach Kim Barnes Arico said. "She really brings a lot to our team. I don't know what's going to happen with Nadirah but if she is (out), she will have to give us more. She is having a significant impact for us right now. She is aggressive on the offensive end, she can handle the ball, she rebounds like crazy and can defend. She is playing with a lot more confidence and has grown since her freshman year."

Barnes Arico was referred to the knee injury suffered by starting point guard Nadirah McKenith in the second half. The fear is that it is an ACL which would cost St. John's its unquestioned floor leader. If McKenith is out for an extended time, Langley could find herself as the starting point guard.

Is Langley ready for this challenge.

"Of course, if coach has confidence in me then I have to have confidence in myself," Langley said.

Speaking of injuries, St. John's senior forward and former Trinity Catholic star Da'Shena Stevens is close to playing for the first time this season. Stevens suffered a knee injury in the offseason and was cleared to practice on Dec. 2.

"I think she is close, maybe this weekend," Barnes Arico said. "She has to go see the doctor again. She has been practicing and has been getting banged around a bit.

"She is not doing all the contact but she is running up and down and doing all the (non-contact) drills but she is not doing offensive/defensive stuff."

"It is tough and our schedule we went to the Bahamas and played in the Maggie Dixon Classic, we did all this stuff for her senior year and it has to be tough. We try to keep her upbeat at times but it really has to wear on her, it has to be devastating. She has done so much for our program, as been the face of our program for so long that you really wanted her to enjoy this season. She has been positive and hopefully she finishes strong."

Some early thoughts about Baylor/UConn

2011-12-12T15:41:00.000-05:00

Having watching No. 2 UConn and No. 1 Baylor play in a span of three days, the first thought that comes into my head as I look ahead to Sunday's nationally-televised showdown is that I hope I don't see UConn's second-half performance against Seton Hall and Baylor's first-half effort against St. John's.

Something tells me both teams will be a little more zoned in when the ball is thrown into the air a little past 8:30 Sunday night.

I'll start with that I saw on Sunday when Baylor allowed a small but athletic St. John's team to dictate tempo for the first 30 minutes. I loved the Red Storm's game plan. On offense they drove the ball towards Brittney Griner whenever possible and if they couldn't get her far enough away to set up a cutting teammate for a layup, they would kick it out to the perimeter. When St. John's let the game get away in the second half it was in large part because of ill-advised drives right at Griner. While Griner's shot-blocking numbers (she is quickly closing in on Courtney Paris for No. 5 on the NCAA Division I all-time list) are impressive, it is her ability to block the ball and keep it in play which leads to the Lady Bears getting out on the fast break. I fully expect to see UConn try to do what St. John's did during the first half and try to get Griner moving laterally and throw the ball to offensive players away from Griner to limit her impact as a shot blocker.

Defensively, I was impressed with what Mary Nwachukwu was able to do early on against Griner. I doubt Nwachukwu's name made it into too many game stories since she was scoreless (missing all four of her shots) and had just two rebounds, one assist and one steal in 34 minutes. However, she was able to get physical with Griner and pushed the Baylor star off the blocks whenever she could. That style seemed to fluster Griner. Although giving up six inches, she was able to front Griner and teammates would cheat down from the other Baylor forwards to keep Griner from getting the ball. St. John's also did a good job of applying pressure on the ball so they couldn't have an easy time throwing the ball into the post. What this did was open up room for Brooklyn Pope and she responded with 19 points and eight rebounds and give Baylor some open looks from 3-point range.

With all due respect to Nwachukwu, I don't see her as being a pivotal part of St. John's offensive game plan so the Red Storm could afford to let her bang Griner around and if she picked up some early fouls, no harm done. I don't think that is the case with Dolson. I don't see UConn beating Baylor if Dolson is saddled with foul trouble so she will need to be careful just how physical she gets with Griner. Depending how quickly Dolson gets her first foul, I wonder if the UConn coaching staff might go to either Heather Buck or Kiah Stokes early on and use up some fouls.

I also doubt that Odyssey Sims will commit as many silly fouls as she did on Sunday. Once she was out of the game, the Baylor offense seemed like a rudderless ship. Also, Destiny Williams was benched for the first half for a disciplinary matter and she will be available for all 40 minutes against the Huskies. Having those two on the floor brings a different dimension to Baylor.

On UConn's end, I already addressed the Dolson factor. Tiffany Hayes figures to play a key role. If she steps up in a big way, I think she can wreak havoc with the Baylor defensive scheme with her ability to penetrate as well as being able to hit from the perimeter. I would expect to see Hayes and Bria Hartley drive into the lane early and often giving Caroline Doty, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Kelly Faris opportunities from the perimeter.

I have a hunch UConn will try to deal with Griner one on one more often than not and make the other players beat them. They need to keep Pope off the offensive glass and turn Kimetria Hayden and Jordan Madden into jump shooters. I know Hayden has eight 3-pointers but I'd take my chance with her having to knock down shots. More than anything, they need to make Sims' life as difficult as possible. Before Sunday I thought UConn would be crazy to try to press Baylor but watching how out of control Sims was at times bringing the ball up the floor makes me think the Huskies will attempt to extend their defense against Baylor.

I will be curious to see who Kelly Faris matches up with defensively, will she be asked to deal with Griner (even if she is giving up nine inches) or get out on Sims? Perhaps she'll be asked to lock up on either Williams or Pope, two outstanding offensive rebounders. There will be some intriguing individual matchups going on during the course of the game. It should be a fun one, I am looking forward to it.

Mosqueda-Lewis wins Big East Freshman of the Week once again

2011-12-12T12:06:00.001-05:00

UConn's Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis has been named the Big East Freshman of the Week for the fourth straight time, one shy of the conference record set by West Virginia's Meg Bulger from Jan. 19-Feb. 16, 2004. It should be noted that Bulger was a co-winner of the award twice during that span. The only other player in Big East history to earn the award by themselves for four consecutive weeks is Maya Moore from Jan. 14-Feb. 4, 2008.

Mosqueda-Lewis, who averaged 14.5 points in wins over Texas A&M and Seton Hall, became the first player in Big East history to open her career with four straight Freshman/Rookie of the Week honors. Angie Clark of St. John's owned the mark with three straight honors in the 2003-04 season.

Stewart opens season with a double-double

2011-12-11T22:43:00.002-05:00

UConn incoming freshman Breanna Stewart began her senior campaign with Cicero-North Syracuse (N.Y.) with 18 points and 11 rebounds (including the 1,000th of her career) in a season-opening 61-19 win over Liverpool in the Tip-Off Classic at the Carrier Dome on Sunday.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma was among those in attendance at the game.

Trip to New York not soon to be forgotten by Baylor

2011-12-11T19:58:00.000-05:00

When Baylor agreed to take part in the Maggie Dixon Classic, little did the school known what a special weekend it would be for the athletic department.

The headlining event was Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III becoming the school's first Heisman Trophy winner. Adding to the festive occasion was that the Baylor women's basketball team was in New York at the time and was taking in the Spider Man play when they received text messages informing them of the good news.

I'll let Baylor junior center Brittney Griner take it from here.

"We got the text that he won and it was perfect timing because the people were cheering for Spiderman and they were yelling so I yelled out 'RGIII,'" Griner said after Sunday's 73-59 win over St. John's.

Baylor women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey had plenty to say about Griffin's magical moment and used the forum to serve as the defender of the Baylor athletic department's run of success.

"He is everywhwere on campus," Mulkey said. "Don't be surprised if he comes back. That is the kind of kid that he is. It would not surprise me if he said 'I don't care how much money you throw at me, I don't care when I go in the draft, I am living the time of my life.' He would have been here today if he didn't have obligations. He would have been sitting here right behind the bench like he does at home. He's been bugging me to have a dunking contest with Griner for three years. I might have to relent on that in the offseason. He is everything you see. He is articulate, his parents raised him well. I am so happy for Baylor University.

"I am going to say this and take it the right way guys, the so-called experts are talking about 'it can't be done at Baylor.' I listened for a month about the so-called experts saying Robert Griffin can't win the Heisman. He won it. We've got the Heisman Trophy winner at Baylor, we have the player of the year in women's basketball at Baylor, we have two top draft picks on the men's team at Baylor, we have the best pitcher in the country in softball at Baylor. Every NCAA tournament across the board at Baylor. This is not the Baylor of old, this is a commitment by the administration to go hire the best coaches to bring a team or teams to that university to compete and compete at the highest level. I really wish that the little digs, the little things that were said stop. Stop it. It is unnecessary. We have a good thing going at Baylor and that's the truth."

Mulkey wasn't called out on her premature crowning of Griner as the national player of the year but was asked if she really felt that Baylor was being disrespected.

"You didn't hear them?" Mulkey said. "I don't have to call out names. 'He can't win it at Baylor, know your place at Baylor.' I am getting tired of it. What else do we have to do? We have to do it on a consistent basis and that is our job as coaches to do that now. Baylor is a little more than an insignificant part of the Big 12 and the national scene."

On a day when Tennessee coach Pat Summitt received the Maggie Dixon Courage Award, Mulkey was rather emotional when talking about the Lady Vols' Hall of Fame coach.

"We got out of our huddle quickly (during the TV timeout when Summitt received the award) and gave her a standing ovation because Pat Summitt is our John Wooden," Mulkey said. "I am going to go out there and watch her team play because you never know how many games she has left. Just her presence on the floor and what she means to all of us, I don't know if any will ever have that presence. I've said this before, there may be coaches who win more championships than her but they won't be Pat Summitt."

Mulkey was asked to recall the day when she heard the news that Summitt was diagnosed with early onset dementia.
"My cell phone was one and you kept getting the ding, ding, ding, ding and the first thought is that it's your children," Mulkey said. "After about the fourth ding, which is a text message, I look at it and it said what it said. I picked it up and dismissed my staff and kind of gathered my composure. I thought to myself 'I am in here stressing over a basketball game and a staff meeting and practice?' I just called her assistants Mickie (DeMoss) and I talked to Holly (Warlick) because you knew people were going to call and ask questions. I didn't want to give an uneducated opinion or statement because that is a personal thing. I wanted to talk to them first and get a little more information. When I read the article and how Tyler was with her, I don't mind telling you and I am not too proud to say it got kind of emotional because my son is still at home with me and no son should have to stand there at his age and take care of his mom and listen to that diagnosis. My thoughts just went to Tyler. I called her about two weeks later after everything kind of died down and we just talked. I didn't go into great detail on anything, I didn't think those things were necessary.

"I guess the special that Robin Roberts did hit me really, really hard because there was a doctor that kind of gave a description of what we are dealing with and I didn't want to hear that. I started hugging her then. There is not an opportunity that goes by. If I see her, I am going to hug her and that is what I did and told her I loved her."

No renewal of Baylor/UConn series is in the works

2011-12-11T14:45:00.002-05:00

When UConn travels to Baylor a week today for a much-anticipated showdown between the nation's No. 1 and 2 ranked teams it will mark the third straight season the Huskies and Lady Bears have met. It looks like it could be the last one for a while.

After playing in the 2009 national semifinals, the teams agreed to play a home and home series. UConn edged Baylor 65-64 on Nov. 16, 2010 at the XL Center and now comes the rematch in Waco.

Following Baylor's 73-59 win over St. John's in the first game of Sunday's Maggie Dixon, I asked Mulkey for an update on whether the teams will be renewing the contract.

"I don't think so," Mulkey said. "We've had talks. We couldn't and they couldn't and just never got anywhere. This is the tail end of a two-year deal. That doesn't mean it won't happen. That depends on television, that depends on what we get invited to. Both programs are going to be outstanding. It is not because we don't both want to but he may want to do it on this date and I may want to do it on another date, things like that you have to work out in the future."

I asked Mulkey if the addition of Southern Methodist and Houston to the Big East, which gives the Huskies a minimum of two games in the state of Texas every two years beginning in the 2013-14 season might impact Connecticut's desire to sign up for a trip to Baylor. She actually thought my question about Geno Auriemma perhaps not needing any additional games in the state of Texas was actually an inquiry about keeping him from recruiting the best players in the state of Texas.

"I don't want him in Texas," Mulkey said with a laugh. "I would imagine he would come to Texas. He got his first one (Moriah Jefferson) so I would imagine he would try to get back in the area."

POTENTIALLY COSTLY LOSS FOR ST. JOHN'S
A day start started in such impressive fashion for the St. John's women's basketball team turned sour in a hurry when junior guard Nadirah McKenith suffered a knee injury in the second half of the loss to No. 1 Baylor.

After the game St. John's coach Kim Barnes Arico was hoping for the best but bracing for the worst.

"She hurt her knee and is going to have an MRI tomorrow but don't know too many details," Barnes Arico said. "She seems pretty hurt but I don't know (how seriously). I would say it is a significant loss for us, she runs our team.

"She was in a lot of pain. I just feel bad for the kid, you don't even think of wins and losses. She is just a great kid. She is one of the best kids we have in our program, she's so full of personality and when she was down it had to be tough for her. She was playing her butt off. She was going against a top point guard in the country (Odyssey Sims) and I thought she looked great in the first half. I thought she looked as good if not better. It was devastating but maybe tomorrow we get some good news."

If the injury keeps McKenith (who had had nine points, four rebounds, seven assists and two blocked shots) out for an extended period of time, former Lauralton Hall star Keylantra Langley could become the Red Storm's starting point guard. I caught up with Langley after the game and look for more on her emergence as a sophomore for St. John's as well as an update on senior forward and former Trinity Catholic star Da'Shena Stevens who missed her 10th straight game with a knee injury but has been cleared to practice on a limited basis.

Jefferson is Catclaw Classic MVP

2011-12-11T07:43:00.000-05:00

UConn signee Moriah Jefferson had 23 points as the THESA Riders defeated Wall 46-44 in the championship game of the Catclaw Classic on Saturday.

Jefferson's strong performance, highlighted by her 32 points and six 3-pointers in a win over Early on Friday, earned her MVP honors.

UConn rolls by Seton Hall in a weird one

2011-12-09T22:56:00.001-05:00

The stretch in the first half when UConn looked absolutely unstoppable en route to racing out to leads of 20-0 and 30-2 was countered by a span of more than 9 minutes in the second half when UConn failed to score a point in a 70-37 victory over Seton Hall.

Naturally UConn coach Geno Auriemma was somewhat perturbed at what he saw from his team after they raced out to the big early lead going as far as saying that the scoreless stretch was unacceptable for a team with as many gifted offensive players as the Huskies possess.

"A little bit of everything, that is an understatement," Auriemma said with a laugh. "It was really weird. The first 10 minutes was kind of productive, we got some things done. The first five or six minutes of the second half, maybe the first 10 minutes, we got a bunch of stuff done. Everything else was a struggle. The fouls in the first half, I think we were called for more fouls in the first half than we had in the entire (Texas A&M) game so the game had no rhythm to it, no flow to it. There were a lot of missed shots. Maybe it is this gym. There are a lot of times when we come down here and not exactly played stellar basketball."

Auriemma was happy to see Caroline Doty drain five 3-pointers and also play a solid floor game with five assists and no turnovers and was also happy with Heather Buck, who had four points and nine rebounds in relief of a foul-prone and ineffective Stefanie Dolson.

Doty, Tiffany Hayes and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis had 15 points each as UConn beat Seton Hall for the 28th straight time. Hayes added nine rebounds and six assists. Speaking of assists, the Huskies assisted on their first 16 baskets and had 20 assists on 23 field goals.

"I thought in the first half we really got into our stuff and the pressure really helped us," Doty said. "I wasn't sure what it was in the second half. We weren't rebounding when we should of. I don't know if we kind of
got lackadaisical with the way we played but we are hoping to kind of working on in practice in the coming week."

UConn won't play again until Dec. 18 when the Huskies play at Baylor. Final exams start next week so much of the focus will be on taking care of business in the classroom while making time for practice.

"The good thing about exam week is you only have four or five classes so it is only two hours of exams so preparation is the best thing for the actual exam," Doty said. "We had study hall (on Friday) and getting ready for exams that way. When we are on the court, we get away from it that way, reading books, studying and getting all the stuff in your head is draining so it will be nice to just forget about that and just play ball."

While Doty should be well versed in balancing basketball and academics, next week could be challenging for the three UConn freshmen.

"It is all about time management," Mosqueda-Lewis said. "When I have a little break I am doing a little bit of homework. I am not taking as many naps, as much free time as you have is as much time as you need to spend studying."

Future UConn teammates Stewart, Tuck to square off in Arizona

2011-12-09T17:54:00.001-05:00

The schedule of the Nike Tournament of Champions was released today and of particular interest to UConn fans might be the first-round game in the Joe Smith Division as a pair of UConn's incoming freshmen will be going head to head when Breanna Stewart leads her Cicero-North Syracuse (N.Y.) squad against Morgan Tuck and Bolingbrook (Ill.) at Hamilton High School on Dec. 19 at 4:30 (6:30 p.m. Eastern time).

For those interested in the full schedule, here you go

Another big game for Tuck

2011-12-09T00:41:00.000-05:00

You know somebody's pretty good when a 38-point effort results in being the second player mentioned in a game story.

That was the case with UConn signee Morgan Tuck who followed up her 40-point outburst in her last game by putting up 38 in a 77-22 win over Lincoln-Way Central on Thursday.

Huskies, Pirates playing for a cause

2011-12-08T16:43:00.001-05:00

Both the UConn and Seton Hall teams will be wearing neon gold shoelaces in tomorrow night's game in support of Go 4 the Goal Foundation to raise awareness for Pediatric Cancer. Shoelaces can be purchased

at the game for $1 with all proceeds helping with the cause. For more information, visit http://www.go4thegoal.org/

The 7 p.m. game at Walsh Gymnasium in South Orange, N.J. will be the Big East opener for both teams.

The 2013-14 season could be an interesting one

2011-12-08T10:56:00.000-05:00

I took part in yesterday's conference call with Big East Commissioner John Marinatto as well as the presidents from South Florida, Boise State, Central Florida, Houston, San Diego State and Southern Methodist.

While the impact on women's basketball is not a consideration in the changing landscape of Division I athletics, the portion of the question and answer session which had the most relevance to women's basketball was when the makeup of the 2013-14 Big East was brought up.

Unless Syracuse, Pittsburgh and West Virginia are able to pry themselves free from the Big East umbrella a season early there will be 19 teams in the conference with Central Florida, Houston and Southern Methodist joining the conference in all sports in 2013. Marinatto said that so much focus has been spent on trying to add teams to the conference that there have not been official discussions about the conference scheduling format. However, I'd have to think that the conference would have to go to an 18-game format for at least the 2013-14 season.

Marinatto was asked whether the Big East would have each team face the other once if there is a 19-team league in the 2013-14 season.

"I think if that is the case, that would probably be a model that we would employ where everybody would play each other once," Marinatto said. "But we haven't gotten into the specifics of that. I'm just looking at the numbers as you've outlined them and that would make sense. We haven't had any discussions in regard to what the tournament might look like under that scenario. That would be another discussion I'm sure that would have to follow."

The Big East has not played an 18-game schedule since the 1998-99 season and I'd have to think the conference will need to decide whether it intends on going back to 18 games sooner rather than later so the conference schools know how many non-conference slots need to be filled in the schedule. Another aspect I'm curious about is whether the conference will opt to utilize a travel partner concept. In other words, if Houston or SMU has to come East to play UConn and Providence in the same season, wouldn't it make sense to have the games come during the same trip? Conversely, wouldn't it make sense to have UConn make one trip to Florida and play Central Florida and South Florida a couple days apart. It's something the conference has not utilized nearly enough, in my opinion, in past years but as the Big East broadens its borders in order to survive, I would think there has to come a time when concessions are made to cut down on travel as much as humanly possible.