Thanks to the folks associated with the Channel 3 Kids Camp for allowing me to take in today's Women Raising Awareness Philanthropically Luncheon I have a chance to update the good works of former UConn star Tina Charles.

I am working on a story schedule to run in tomorrow's edition of the Register about Charles being the annual event's honoree. UConn associate head coach Chris Dailey was there as the keynote speaker and the part of her 30-minute speech which was of the most interest to me came when she said junior guard Bria Hartley volunteered to come off the bench for the NCAA tournament during a meeting that Hartley and the rest of UConn's guards had with head coach Geno Auriemma.

I knew that Hartley accepted the role but was not aware that she was the one who actually volunteered to come off the bench.

I thought people might be interested in what Dailey had to say about Hartley's decision which Dailey believes was pivotal in the Huskies run to an eighth national title.


"I guess you guys know Geno and know his personality, there is no real roundabout way of him saying anything," Dailey said. "We had some real direct conversations with our players and the conversation that he talks about which I think was one of the turning points for us was he met with our guards for probably an hour or hour and a half and talked  with them about what we needed moving forward and how important their pay was going to be on whether we were going to have a chance to win a national championship. He had to get the guards to see what he saw and that we needed to have more from our guards and we needed to bring more off the bench and in doing that he had to ask Bria Hartley, actually she volunteered, to volunteer to come off the bench.

"Bria Hartley last year was an All-American as a sophomore when we went to the Final Four. There is was in this meeting, she had a difficult year because of injury, she didn't play the same way, she struggled and was up and down the whole year. In this meeting she volunteered to come off the bench and be that person that we need to give us more offense off the bench. I couldn't have been happier for Bria (after the national title game) because I think that says everything you need to know about her. She wants to win a national championship and she knew that was what she had to do, that was the role she had to fill and she was a big part of why we won the game. People like to point out Breanna Stewart and how she played but I am telling you that if Bria Hartley doesn't accept that role and doesn't realize that 'hey I want to win a national championship and this is my best chance to do it with my teammates and my teammates need' then we don't win the national championship this year regardless of how Breanna Stewart played. I was happiest for Bria. She is our most confident, most competitive (player). We were standing in the runway (the day before the national semifinal) and I looked at her and said 'this could be our last practice.' She said 'it won't be.' I said 'are you guaranteeing that?' She said 'yes.' I said 'all right.' I knew for three days that there was no way we were going to lose to Notre Dame because of the way our kids approached it and the way Bria approached it and the way people accepted their roles."

After heaping incredible praise on Hartley, she did the same for another veteran Husky - little-used senior forward/center Heather Buck. Dailey said she had a heart to heart with Buck before it was announced that she would return for her fifth season and needed an assurance that Buck would be able to handle a role similar to the one she had in her first three seasons. Buck said she was and other than one time early in preseason camp when Dailey had to remind Buck of the talk that they had, Dailey couldn't have been more impressed with the way Buck acted as the good and supportive teammate even though her minutes were limited. Dailey said one of the highlights for her in the title game was the steal and layup by Buck.

There were moments of jaw-dropping brilliance, especially on the four blocked shots that freshmen Breanna Stewart and Moriah Jefferson combined for, but it so many ways the Huskies punched a ticket to their 14th Final Four including a record-setting sixth in a row the same way they got there so many times before - with an absolutely suffocating defensive effort.

The Elite Eight game was a tad bit interesting when UConn's leading scorer Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis headed to the bench with 11:42 left in the first half while the Huskies were locked in a tight game.

When DeNesha Stallworth hit a pair of layups 29 seconds apart, Kentucky led the top-seeded Huskies by a point. What followed next was a defensive stretch as impressive as the Huskies have had this season.

The Wildcats missed 11 straight shots and committed three turnovers over the next 7:45. By the time Jelleah Sidney ended the drought with a banked-in 3-pointer, the Wildcats were already down by 16.


"They really whipped us in every way imaginable tonight," Kentucky coach Matthew Mitchell said. "It was a rough 40 minutes for us and they had a lot to do with that."

The focus of UConn's defensive effort was slowing down redshirt sophomore guard Jen O'Neill who had Kentucky's first five points.

Who better to make her life difficult that her former AAU teammate Bria Hartley?


"I thought keeping the ball out of Jen's hands and A'dia Mathies got into foul trouble so that  didn't really help Kentucky," Hartley said. "Jen was kind of the one who gets the offense going so keeping the ball out of her hands really helped in those last few minutes of the first half."

Kentucky made seven of its first 11 shots to keep pace with the Huskies but would shot 23 percent the rest of the way as the Huskies finished off an dominating run through the Bridgeport regional.


"I certainly didn't expect to win the Maryland game by 26 and certainly wasn't going into tonight thinking that this was going to be a 36-point game like it was at one point but if we get on those runs like the ones we get on today at the end of the first half, we just take people and make them feel like there is nothing they can do about it," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "Our defense starts it and our defense finishes it off and today was a perfect example of that. They are not an easy team to defend because they have great quickness and they are an aggressive offensive team. We knew that and for us to do what we did, we turned it over less than they did and we outrebounded them and we did all the things we needed to do and that was pretty special tonight."

While everybody chipped in defensively, the 26-3 run started with a 3-pointer by senior Caroline Doty which gave the Huskies the lead for good.


"I was like 'it is about time,'" Doty said. "I was working on it forever but it was part of the game. My role here is to keep the team composed, I know what Coach wants from the team. If Kaleena is hot, if Bria is hot, if Stef is hot, Stewie is hot it is my job to get them the ball because when the ball is in their hands good things are going to happen."

Doty and fellow fifth-year senior Heather Buck joins the LSU duo of Khalilah Mitchell and Marian Whitfield by being members of five Final Four squads.


"People say I am unlucky because of injuries and stuff but I am pretty lucky to go to five Final Fours," Doty said. "It is something every basketball player dreams of and the fact that I was able to do it five years in a row with such a great team, I give all the credit to the coaching staff. Every single year they are on top of us from day one about getting everything perfect and if we didn't strive for perfection there is no way we would be here."

You know it's been a long season when a head coach is asked questions about the workload that the squad's athletic trainer has needed to endure.

Such was the case as Geno Auriemma met with the reporters in between his official off day press conference and a scheduled radio interview.

Stefanie Dolson, dealing with some issues in her legs, feet, ankles and knees, is the latest player added to the injury list.

When you go down the roster, the only UConn player who has physically been able to practice every day this season is senior reserve forward/center Heather Buck and even she missed practices due to the clinicals that she is required to attend as a nursing major.


"It has just been a 24 hour a day job for her and the her whole staff, mostly for her," Auriemma said. "It is just non-stop. It started on Oct. 15 and just hasn't stopped, then you throw in Brianna Banks (who suffered a season-ending torn ACL) and that is three hours of rehab every day so you put that plus everybody else, she (UConn athletic trainer Rosemary Ragle) deserves everything she is getting paid and is woefully underpaid as are most of the athletic trainers in the country."

I asked Auriemma that if UConn is able to have the full use of the rest of the Huskies for the remainder of the NCAA tournament would he consider nominating Ragle for a Huskies of Honor spot.

"Depends on how she gets everybody through the next game and if we win tomorrow and everybody is healthy beyond it will be a miracle," Auriemma said. "There is the ongoing Caroline one, there was the Stewie out for two weeks or a week, there was Stefanie, Kelly with the boot on her foot, Kaleena missing time, Morgan Tuck didn't practice regularly until three weeks, four weeks ago, Kiah Stokes got an MRI on her back about a week ago but look at Maryland's team, they had it worse than we did so there is no feeling sorry for yourself because everybody has had their issues all season long."

Dolson said she is feeling better and merely has to fight through whatever pain she is feeling which is not too different from what she said yesterday or the day before.

While UConn could have as many as three more games in the Connecticut this season counting tonight's game against Vanderbilt, the second-round game will mark the final true home game for seniors Kelly Faris, Caroline Doty and Heather Buck.

While the trio was honored before their final regular-season at Gampel last month, there is a sense of finality for the three who have only been on the losing side two times inside their basketball home since arriving at UConn.


"We pretty much live here if we are not in our apartment or we aren't in class we are probably here so this is pretty much our home away from home," Faris said.

"This is it. This is our last chance to play on this court, this is our main home court and to think that four years ago I was coming in and it was my first game and now the excitement that came with that and now it is all about to  and it is hard to believe it went by fast."

Faris will make her 111th career start and become the sixth Husky to play 150 games while Doty will play in her 127th game.

"Every good thing has to end. I was fortunate to be able to play here," Doty said. "Gampel is known to be one of the best places to play for college women's basketball and to be a part of it for five straight years is a dream come true and I am happy. I am going to miss it but I have the memories."

The Huskies will miss the blue-collar aspect of the senior class when they aren't here for the start of practice in October.


"They have both been here, Carol five and Kelly four and they do a great job of playing, even though they are more facilitators than scorers," UConn junior center Stefanie Dolson said. "Kelly has become more of a scorer so they really work really well together.

"We are going to miss them a ton, just (Doty's)  leadership on the floor and her aggressiveness on defense kind of controls things on offense and with Kelly, just hard hard she works. She always holds herself accountable and we are going to miss them both with their leadership and how awesome they are."

There is always something special when UConn honors its senior class and today was no different.

The biggest question coming into the game was whether Kelly Faris would record her 1,000th career point, being the first senior to do it on Senior Day since Ashley Battle 2005.

Faris needed 18 points coming into the game and was stuck on the 10 points she had at halftime for what seemed like an eternity. She hit a 3-pointer with 11:48 to play and another with 8:34 remaining to get within two points of her milestone.

She missed a pair of 3-pointers as her teammates were running plays to try to get Faris the ball which wasn't lost on Faris.


"I eventually figured it out because I saw Coach (Geno Auriemma) call a few people over," Faris said. "I think we were forcing it a little too much. They got really excited and I said 'wait a second, I see what they are doing.' I pulled them in and said 'I know what he is telling you to do but it will come within the offense and don't force it too much.'

"I am not usually the one who has to take every shot and I am not sure I like that position but it was good. It means more to me that they were bound and determined to give me those shots. I am usually the ones trying to get people those shots so it is different. It is a great accomplishment and definitely credit a lot of my teammates for those."

Nobody was happier to see Faris scored her 1,000th point than teammate Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, who scored her 1,000th point earlier in the game. She thought it was fitting that Faris' milestone basket came after a steal.




"I wouldn't have it any other way that for Kelly  to get her 1,000th on a hustle play, that is Kelly Faris all the way," Mosqueda-Lewis said.

"For her to be able to have her 1,000th point on senior night and to have us win the way we did, I couldn't be happier for her. I wouldn't rather have scored my 1,000th point with anybody else."

As for Mosqueda-Lewis, only Maya Moore (55 games) and Svetlana Abrosimova (63) got to the milestone in fewer games than the 64 it took Mosqueda-Lewis. It was also the first time that two UConn players scored their 1,000th point in the same game since Nykesha Sales and Carla Berube accomplished the feat on Nov. 17, 1996.

Since I look at Mosqueda-Lewis filling the same role of being the young, talented shooting star like Sales was in the 1996-97 season while a jack of all trades player like Faris plays a game similar to the way Berube  did in the mid and late 1990s.

"I see a similarity there," Auriemma said after the game.

"Kaleena, the she started the game was kind of a reflection of  what I think all great players do. What great players do is they impose themselves on the game right away and they continue to impose themselves on the game the entire time they are out on the floor.

"What Kelly does is sometimes Kelly's contributions are a little less noticeable, they don't hit you right between the eyes like  those first five minutes that Kaleena was on the floor, not everybody can do that and that takes kind of a special player. The two of them have a lot in common, the both  want to impact the game, they both want to win and they are both changing their games to suit the occasion. I am hopeful that today was an omen of things we can do down the road. It is a good day for our seniors and I think some of our younger guys made sure that it was."

A couple other statistical notes about Faris: 

She recorded her 500th assist 43 seconds after recording her 1,000th point as she set up fellow senior Heather Buck for her first basket.

She had seven steals to move by Renee Montgomery and into sixth place on the Huskies' all-time list. She moved by Pam Webber and Tina Charles and into eighth place on the all-time list in minutes played and she will tie Ann Strother for 10th on the all-time list at UConn in games played when UConn hosts Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

There used to be a time when the Senior Day/Senior Night festivities had a sense of finality to it. Well, that is certainly not the case today.

While eight UConn seniors including players Kelly Faris, Heather Buck and Caroline Doty will be honored before today's game, it seems surreal to go crazy on Senior Day coverage since the Huskies could play eight more games in Connecticut this season including the regular season home finale on Tuesday against Pittsburgh at the XL Center. UConn could play three more games at the XL Center in the Big East tournament, the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament will be played at Gampel Pavilion while the regional semifinals and finals will be held in Bridgeport.


"It is kind of how it goes," Faris said. "Technically it is not our last game but  it is the only for sure given. We are different because we have two venues and it depends on the tournament who goes where but this night that is what it is meant for and that is the way we are going to treat it."

As for Buck, the game has special meaning for her even if she plays in more games in her home state.

"It's our last Gampel game before the tournament," Buck said. "The Big East and NCAA tournament it is a otally different focus. It is a different kind of feeling to those games so having the last regular season game here, we love playing in Hartford and we've had Senior Night there before, it feels right when it is in Gampel on campus and all the students are here, this really is our home."

Shortly after 3:42 p.m. Heather Buck and Caroline Doty will make the emotional walk onto the court at Gampel Pavilion with their parents by the side. As the fans inside Gampel Pavilion roar their approval, a flood of images figure to be bouncing around inside the heads of the two fifth-year seniors.

They have been members of undefeated national championship teams but individually their basketball careers have not lacked for either ebb or flow.

“It's definitely been a roller coaster, that is for sure,” Doty said. “If we were at an amusement park, I would think our five years have been the most insane roller coaster there can be. You can't regret it, you have to learn from everything, from the ups and downs and have it fulfill you not only as a player but as a person.”

Most of the downs for Doty are a result of her surgically-repaired knee. She suffered her first torn ACL when she was playing soccer as a senior at Germantown (Pa.) Academy. A couple more followed. One ended her freshman season after 17 games another resulted in her sitting out the entire 2010-11 season.

This won’t be Doty’s final game in Connecticut as the home regular-season finale is Tuesday at the XL Center versus Pittsburgh and there could be three Big East tournament games at the XL Center and if the Huskies advance to the Elite Eight, their first four NCAA tournament contests will be played in the Nutmeg State. Still, this day is going to be one Doty doesn’t figure to forget.

“You know you never want to go through an injury or anything like that but everything happens for a reason and the coaches make decisions for a reason and you kind of have to trust (them),” Doty said. “It is hard kind of thing to trust but looking back on it, the best you can do is have fun, play smart and just trust everybody around you.

“(It is special) just to have your parents and take one quick kind of view of the fans, the atmosphere and just know that nothing really ever lasts. We are lucky to be here and have five years to be able to play and be on the court and contribute. You can contribute even when you are not on the court and that is an important thing that we have learned that if you are on the team, no matter what your role is you are important to it and you are on the team for a reason and I am just happy to be a part of this team.”

Buck sat out the 2008-09 season as a non-medical redshirt with the hope that she could be a go-to post player by the time she was an upperclassman.

However, Buck’s minutes have been limited over the last four seasons. Still, while some players in a similar situation have opted to transfer out of UConn, Buck is glad she stuck around for the long haul.

“My whole career took a different track than I think anybody expected so it has been about adjusting and finding new ways to contribute,” Buck said. “It really is all about the love of the game. You still want to have that opportunity to come out and compete every day in practice and hopefully you get that opportunity in a game too but if you don't you find another way to contribute, another thing you can do that can help your team so that is what it has all been about.”

In a perfect world every senior would be like Kelly Faris, who has started every game in the last three seasons or former teammates of Buck’s and Doty’s like Maya Moore and Tiffany Hayes who earned quality minutes pretty much from the time they first slipped on a Connecticut jersey. However, life is not always a fairy tale. Nobody is more appreciative that they both stuck it out than their head coach.

“What it does is it tests how much you love this game,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “If somebody loves the game, they love coming to practice and they love being on the team and love everything that goes along with that than it is not a grind at all, it is a labor of love. In our situation we are lucky, we have two fifth year seniors who love the game, they love coming to practice, and they love being a part of a team.

“In Caroline's case she has had a chance to experience the absolute best, being a starter on a team that is 39-0, sitting on the bench and watching an entire season of basketball and then being somewhere where she is hoping she can rekindle some of the things she used to be able to do. You've got that and then you have Heather who has had a completely different experience that really tests your love of the game and wanting to be a part of the team.”

Had circumstances played out differently, Caroline Doty and Heather Buck would be a mere nine days away from their final game at Gampel Pavilion.

However, the combination of Doty's battles with ACLs and Buck needing an extra year of seasoning means that neither will be taking part in Senior Night festivities before the Feb. 18 game against St. John's leaving Tiffany Hayes as the only player to be honored before the Huskies' final game of the season at Gampel.

"The fact that I can't walk with Tiffany, we came in together ...," Doty said. "I think we had like (four) girls come in together and now it is just Tiffany walking. It is going to be an emotional time because we did grow up and we have been through so much together. I will probably cry, it will be a special moment. I know she is going to do great things in the future but we still have the whole postseason but just to know it is going to be that last (Gampel) home game is going to touch our hearts."

Although the persistent knee issues have forced Doty to miss 61 games since arriving at UConn, she has no second thoughts about leaving at season's end.

"I want to try to milk this for as long as I can," Doty said. "It is too much fun not to stay."

Doty certainly had fun in her most recent game, playing a season-high 35 minutes against Louisville even though she was in pain and limited in the practices leading up to the game.

"It felt to play again, it's been a while since I played that much in a game," Doty said. "I felt good, I felt fresh on the court. We went on the lockeroom and put ice on that knee. I was definitely exhaused after it. During the game I didn't feel anything, I felt great. The whole adrenaline just kept the mind right in terms of staying focused on doing the right things on the court.

"I was going to play no matter what. These games are getting crucial now towards the end of the season, we want to keep getting better and keep improving. To go up against a physical team like that, other teams are going to be as physical and just to be able to prepare and come out and play the way we did get a litle taste of it."

Doty did not practice on Thursday but it was more of a precaution and a chance for her to rest the knee with games cpoming up against Georgetown on Saturday and at Oklahoma on Monday.

"It is nice, it was much needed rest," Doty said. "We need to get our minds right and get the kinks out of the way and get reasy for Georgetown which is a really good team. Definitely my body's not the same as it was freshman year but I feel good. I am ready to go. If they told me to practice today, I would be ready to practice. I am going to follow the rules and see what my body gives me and go with it."

Doty figures to be a key part of the 2012-13 Huskies but Buck's situation is a little more unclear. With the emergence of freshman Kiah Stokes, Buck has failed to hit double-figures in minutes played since a Jan. 10 game against Providence. Add in the arrival of highly-touted recruits Breanna Stewart and Morgan Tuck, playing time next season is going to be difficult to earn but Buck never wavered in her decision to stay at UConn for five seasons.

"They will be honoring just one senior, Caroline and I will be back and the original class of 2012 has slowly dwindled," Buck said. "As soon as Coach presented it as an idea, I was all for it and have been ever since."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

Freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis led five players in double figures with 18 points as UConn defeated the TDT Slammers 112-36 in Florence, Italy on Monday.

Mosqueda-Lewis also had six rebounds and five steals. Senior Tiffany Hayes 17 points and nine rebounds, sophomore Bria Hartley had 16 points, seven rebounds, nine assists and five steals while Brianna Banks and Heather Buck added 11 points as UConn improved to 3-0 on its tour of Italy. The Huskies will wrap up play on Wednesday against the Nigerian national team in Como, Italy.

Heading into the final game, four Huskies are averaging more than 10 points per game led by Mosqueda-Lewis' 17.3. She also has 13 3-pointers but more impressively is shooting 54 percent from 3-point range. Stefanie Dolson is averaging 16.3 points (on 71 percent shooting) and 6.3 rebounds per game. Hartley is averaging 14 points and a team-best 6.7 assists while Hayes is contributing 13.7 points per game even if she is struggling from 3-point range while adding 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3.3 steals per game. Banks is averaging 9.3 points, 4 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 2 steals and 1 blocked shot per game. The top two rebounders are Kelly Faris (25 rebounds in the three games) and Kiah Stokes (20).

Jen Rizzotti is no stranger to playing UConn as the head coach of the Hartford women's basketball program. However, Sunday at noon will mark the first time she matches wits with her college coach Geno Auriemma inside Gampel Pavilion.

Even though Rizzotti's No. 21 is hanging in the Huskies of Honor, Auriemma doesn't anticipate one of his all-time favorite players being too overcome with emotion during the NCAA first-round tournament game.

"I think when Jen comes back there will be a lot of moments when she will get emotional," Auriemma said. "Connecticut basketball started with Jen and Rebecca (Lobo), with Jen and Jamelle (Elliott). That is where it started."

This will be the sixth time Rizzotti has led Hartford into the NCAA tournament but it has been a bit of a rugged road. The Hawks opened the season 1-9 and ended the regular season with a losing record before catching fire at the perfect time. Hartford upset top-seeded Maryland-Baltimore County in the America East semifinals before winning at second-seeded Boston University to claim an automatic spot into the NCAA tournament.

"She told me at the beginning of the year that she really liked these kids, she really thought they were going to be good," Auriemma said. "She enjoyed coaching them and then when it started the way it did, I think she was a little surprised. I know for sure, she didn't expect that."


BUCK HOPES TO RETURN TO PRACTICE ON TUESDAY
The waiting has been the toughest part for Heather Buck, who has missed the last five games with a stress reaction in her left ankle. But the sophomore forward/center believes she could be back at practice on Tuesday. It will be her first practice since late February.

"As far as I know I am going tomorrow," Buck said. "Hopefully I can really come back and get things right from the start, be ready whenever Coach (Auriemma) calls on me."

Reserve forward/center Heather Buck injured her left ankle during UConn's practice on Thursday. Although the former Stonington High star and three-time New Haven Register State Girls' Basketball MVP said that her wearing a walking boot on her left foot and having crutches to help her get around was merely precautionary, UConn officials have confirmed that she suffered a stress reaction and is expected to miss a minimum of two weeks.

Buck appeared in all 28 games and averaged 2.3 points, 2.1 rebounds and 9.3 minutes per game.

If you want to truly understand just how young this current UConn team is consider that only three of the nine healthy Huskies have played at Rutgers.

So tomorrow night Kelly Faris, Heather Buck, Stefanie Dolson, Bria Hartley, Michala Johnson and Lauren Engeln will be introduced to a new experience. Buck may have some sense of the energy that UConn's arrival causes at the Louis Brown Athletic Center since she was on the roster as a redshirt the last time the Huskies made the trip down to Piscataway, N.J.

With the Big East changing things up and replacing Rutgers with Notre Dame as the team the Huskies play twice in the Big East regular-season schedule, there are no longer annual trips to Rutgers. It is something that UConn coach Geno Auriemma seems to miss even though he is the subject of boobirds and taunts every time UConn plays at Rutgers.

"I think it will always be there, them being who they are," Auriemma said on Monday two days before UConn plays at Rutgers. "I don't think it is the same as it was a few years ago. Things change. When we were playing them twice every year, that makes it even more of a competitive thing. All it is going to take is one really good game by them, one bad game by us down there. They win and all of a sudden it is all back to the craziness that it used to be. It will be back, I am sure of that.

"It reached a peak there for a while. I think it has calmed down a little bit. I think the personalities on their team aren't quite as outgoing as they used to be and we don't have as many kids that you used to hate like we used to have so it has been toned down a bit on both sides.

"The guys in the band are my favorite. They start on you as soon as you get off the bus and they don't stop. If you beat them, they go 'good job Coach, that was great.' For the two hours that you are there, it is pretty good, you have to admire some of them. They are good and they are right next to you. In that sense, it's like a lot of other places. It is not the kids you worry about, it is the adults that are the goofiest. The kids are fine, they are a lot of fun and they enjoy poking at you. There always seems to be a certain edge, I think it comes with the territory. If you like in New Jersey and you get that reputation that you are a little bit of a tough guy. I think a lot of those kids probably fancy themselves as that. How many times can you get asked 'what exit are you from?' before you want to punch somebody. I tell that to (UConn associate head coach and Rutgers graduate) Chris Dailey all the time, you are the only state where you don't have towns you just have exits."

Just a reminder to those who do not have access to CPTV, this game will not be available on hoop streams.

Here is what CPTV had to say about the situation.

Since the game is being played in Piscataway, New Jersey, Rutgers as the home team controls the TV and streaming rights for their women’s basketball games which are available for local production. While CPTV was granted permission to broadcast the game, the company which holds the rights to this game has decided not to permit CPTV to stream the game on its Hoop Streams service. Representatives from the statewide public television network fervently appealed the decision, but to no avail.

“We are very disappointed by this turn of events,” commented Harriet Unger, Executive Producer of UConn Women’s Basketball for CPTV. “It has always been CPTV’s goal to broadcast and stream every UConn women’s basketball game that is made available to us. Unfortunately, this is a game to which we have not been given full access.”

Wednesday's game will start at 7:30 p.m.

After rolling to halftime advantages of more than 20 points in the last three games against Pittsburgh, things were a little more challenging on Saturday night.

Pittsburgh cut a 13-point first-half lead down to four and only trailed 34-28 at halftime. With less than 12 minutes to play, the Panthers were only down six with possession of the ball before the Huskies put the game away with a 15-2 run.

"I am proud of how we pulled it out, we couldn't pull it away more than 10 points but we kept fighting," said UConn senior forward Maya Moore. "I think the coaching staff said it really well that it is OK to struggle. We are not machines, we have off nights shooting but as far as the effort that can't happen and I thought in the second half we brought better effort and I thought that is why we are able to pull away more."

UConn coach Geno Auriemma cited an unlikely source for playing a key role - senior guard Lorin Dixon. Dixon missed her only shot, was scoreless and had two rebounds and three assists in 20 minutes but Auriemma felt that Dixon's speed and ability to push the ball helped open avenues for her teammates.

"I didn't see a whole lot, there wasn't a great flow to the game," Auriemma said. "It seemed to be a chore, a struggle to get anything done for whatever reason. Except when Lorin Dixon was in the game, there didn't seem to be a lot of good stuff happening. It seemed to be forced. Lorin I thought changed the game the whole time she was in there. Pittsburgh did a really good job of keeping the tempo at a walk, making sure we didn't get too many run outs. It wasn't until the second half that we really got organized better defensively and it made all the difference in the world."

Pittsburgh coach Agnus Berenato, while proud of the moxie her team displayed, was not quite as pleased with the disparity in fouls called and free throws taken as the Huskies attempted 20 free throws to just four for the Panthers.

"I'll be very select in my words because I felt like we really did attack," Berenato said. "In the first half we had 22 points in the paint and imagine that, we did not have a free throw. We did not have a free throw until the end of the game. I guess we weren't working hard enough to get to the free-throw line. I don't know. It is amazing to me. We like to attack. It's not like our posts are the only ones to attack, we really like to go up and down. It was a pretty fun game to watch and I guess they didn't want to stop the clock."

Berenato was also asked about UConn playing the rest of the season with six or seven players in the main rotation following Samarie Walker's decision to transfer. It is something she dealt with in the last year on her own team. She didn't seem to think it should be a cause for concern.

"I just think that if you look at his stats, he only plays about seven people anyways, that is where it comes into play," Berenato said. "The tricky part is your practices. I know they have a fun squad of men's practice players, it really affected us. We had a few injuries. (Assistant coach) Mallorie Winn plays for me. I just don't see Shea (UConn assistant coach Shea Ralph) playing for them in their practices because they have so many practice players. I don't look at that as a negative. I think whatever hand you are dealt with, with him seven, eight or nine. You want the people who want to be there and you want the people there who are committed. You only need five to win and there are many games in the history of basketball that have probably been won (with five players). If I were a player, (Stefanie) Dolson averages 19 minutes, I am think cha ching, cha ching. If I am Heather Buck, I am thinking cha ching, cha ching that is more minutes for me."

First let me admit that I was shocked by Samarie Walker's decision to leave the UConn program. As my story in Friday's Register documents, she was talking very much like a member of the UConn program when I interviewed her on Jan. 14, the day before she would play her last game at UConn.

There were some signs that something might be up. First came in the preseason when UConn coach Geno Auriemma wondered aloud why Walker's hamstring issues were keeping her off the court longer than anticipated. Just a couple weeks ago he said "Samarie I don't think has made as much progress that she did in the first month, she has slowed down for whatever reason and that is something that has to get better and it has to be addressed."

True to his nature, it was addressed. Auriemma and his coaching staff are a demanding bunch. You don't win six of the last 11 national championships, win 90 straight games and develop the number of WNBA players that they do at UConn by casually looking the other way when players aren't performing to their expectations. They demanded more out of Samarie in practice and she either wasn't willing or able to oblige. I truly expected as did one of my sources close to the program that she would be at practice on Thursday and would begin the process of working herself back into the good graces of her teammates and coaches. Instead she decided she couldn't make it work.

Next up for Samarie is to figure out what she wants to do. She can remain in school at UConn and transfer at the end of the spring semester. After sitting out next season, she would have three years of eligibility. She could leave in the coming days although she only has until Jan. 31 to withdraw from class without it impacting her academic standing or grade-point average.

As for UConn, this is a big blow simply because UConn wasn't a deep squad to begin with. The Huskies' starting lineup of Maya Moore, Tiffany Hayes, Kelly Faris, Bria Hartley and Stefanie Dolson is talented enough to make a serious run at a third straight national title. The problem is that the margin of error is extremely slim. Many eyes will turn to Heather Buck and see if the sophomore center can be a consistently effective option off the bench.

It's tough to read too much into what happened at North Carolina when the Huskies relied mostly on a six-player rotation and still ran a veteran Tar Heels squad off the court because it was North Carolina. I doubt any other top team will settle for jacking up 3-pointers when the Huskies use Maya Moore at center like UNC did and teams like Duke, Oklahoma, Notre Dame and West Virginia will not let Moore and Tiffany Hayes take whatever shot they want whenever they want to like the Tar Heels did. What happens if Dolson gets two fouls before the first TV timeout against Duke or West Virginia or Moore picks up a couple of silly fouls and is forced to sit out for an extended period? It's pretty difficult to play Lorin Dixon and Heather Buck together because they simply are not offensive threats so now opponents can focus on the other three players on the court. But there will be stretches when they have to play together. The other issue is if Dolson is struggling to defend an opposing center, UConn no longer can pluck an athletic replacement like Walker off the bench to try to change things up like it did against Baylor.

Personally, I'd like to see Auriemma give Buck and Michala Johnson quality minutes and let them learn on the job so that come NCAA tournament time, they can be counted on for 20-25 minutes a game between the two of them. I'm not sure if he'll do that or if Buck and Johnson will give him a reason to do just that.

Last but certainly not least, I feel compelled to address to issue of UConn's recruiting methods. I've received e-mails that UConn needs to look at the way it recruits. The fact of the matter is that is not a recruiting issue but a practice issue. The Huskies set the bar high, they expect nothing but the absolute best out of their players. It's a reason why kids from all parts of the country come to Connecticut, it's why UConn has won seven national championships, why Auriemma was the quickest Division I women's coach to 750 wins as he will be the quickest to 800 wins and why come April, UConn will have produced four No. 1 overall picks in the WNBA draft since 2002. I remember when an entire recruiting class blew up on them when Kia Wright, Kiana Robinson and Liz Sherwood all transferred out before the start of their sophomore year and the attack dogs were out saying no top players would come to UConn. Renee Montgomery, Tina Charles and Maya Moore had no such reservations nor did Tiffany Hayes or Bria Hartley. UConn's incoming recruiting class includes the No. 1 ranked player in Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and the No. 1 player in the next recruiting cycle (Brenna Stewart) is very much on UConn's radar. UConn will continue to recruit the nation's best players and when they get to Storrs will continue to expect nothing but their absolute best. Will that mean a team member may look at themselves in the mirror and say "I just can't deal with all of this" and head home, perhaps but life will go on both for that player and the UConn program.