Former UConn forward Michala Johnson had 24 points (on 12 of 15 shooting) and eight rebounds to lead Wisconsin to an 80-49 win over Winona State in a preseason game on Sunday.

Johnson, who played in 56 games during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons with the Huskies, sat out last season after transferring out of UConn due to a lack of playing time.

"With Michala, I already knew that she could do this," Wisconsin coach Bobbie Kelsey said. "We’re happy to have her. I know that she wants to play, and we’re going to play her, as you can tell. She can do a lot of things out there—not only at the block but also at the high post area and running the floor. When we rebound like we need to and she gets out and runs, that’s hard to stop because there’s nobody in front of her.”

Wisconsin faces UW-Stevens Point in its final preseason game on Thursday before opening the regular season against Drake on Sunday.

A year ago the thought was that the 2012-13 could be one of the deepest UConn women's basketball teams in a while with only Tiffany Hayes moving on and three prized recruits coming into the program.

However, with the offseason departures of Michala Johnson and Lauren Engeln, the Huskies will have an 11-player roster as they did last season. That is fine with UConn coach Geno Auriemma who said having a smaller roster is not an issue at practice because of the use of male practice players.

"We need a lot of guys to get a lot of minutes," Auriemma said. "Unfortunately or fortunately, for Michala and Lauren not to be here is kind of a blessing for them and blessing for us because they weren't going to play. Now we have 11 players who for the most part are going to play and in some way, shape or form are going to be deserving to play. I think that makes practices even better and even more competitive. I am looking forward to that. We haven't had that in a while.

"You take a chance on kids when you are recruiting them. They are not all Jamelle Elliotts or Meghan Pattysons or Jessica Moores. Some kids who take a chance on and they get here and it doesn't work out. While they are here and it is not working out, it is a drain. I know everybody loves to see them in the last two minutes 'oh aren't they cute and why aren't they playing more?' They don't realize it is a drain because they can't keep up with everybody at practice and it make it difficult so going into the season feeling like it is going to be more competitive than ever."

As for this UConn team Auriemma said the players should start returning to campus as early as this weekend and he is excited about the potential of the group. He went as far as saying that he doesn't see himself as a candidate to coach the U.S. Olympic team in 2016 because he wants to devote all of his energy on coaching UConn for the next four years and that the next couple of seasons could be "special."

Auriemma was asked if any of his current UConn players could be in the mix for the 2016 U.S. Olympic team. First, he expressed hope that three-time Olympians Sue Bird, Tamika Catchings and Diana Taurasi will be around to play on that team but if that is not the case any players with previous USA Basketball experience could find themselves in the equation.


"Four years in a long time, a lot can happen between now and then," Auriemma said. "I think the beauty of USA Basketball is  you start paying it at age 15 or 16, thwey don't do that just because they don't know what to do. They try to identify the best 16 year olds and say 'OK, how many Olympians do you think we can develop?' If you see kids moving through the system and they are still key players then that is what USA's goal is to bring kids through the system so when the Olympics come around they have a pool of players that they know are going to fill the bill. As long as our guys keep playing USA Basketball, keep being effective and keep bringing home gold medals then they've got a chance. Anybody who has ever won a gold medal at any level like Morgan (Tuck) has, like Breanna (Stewart) has, like Kaleena (Mosqueda-Lewis) has as Stefanie (Dolson) and Bria (Hartley) have obviously is in the mix but what happens over the next four years is anybody's guess."

There is a story up on the University of Wisconsin website announcing that former UConn forward Michala Johnson is transferring there. This is not exactly new news but figured I would pass it on.

Johnson will sit out next season and have two years of eligibility remaining.

The Tulsa Shock announced that it has invited former UConn guard Lorin Dixon to its training camp which, by my count, makes 12 former Huskies heading to WNBA training camps.

I'm not going to lie about being a little surprised about Dixon getting an invite. It will be interesting to see how she fares in training camp. I do think that her chance of making the Shock would increase dramatically if Tulsa were to schedule North Carolina in a preseason game or at least let Dixon go up against former North Carolina guard Cetera Degraffenreid, who seemed to bring the best out of Dixon.

All kidding aside, Dixon was a top prospect coming out of Christ the King who can be a disruptive force on the defensive end. She was not much of an offensive threat at UConn so for her to avoid being among the first cuts I would have to think she'd have to look for her own shot a little more than she did during her collegiate career. I'm hoping she'll be around long enough to take part in at least one preseason game. Tulsa plays at Atlanta in its first exhibition game on May 5 and wraps up its preseason schedule by hosting Seattle on May 11.

By my count seven of the WNBA's 12 teams will have UConn grads competing for roster spots. The Connecticut Sun leads the way with four players (Tina Charles, Kalana Greene, Asjha Jones, Renee Montgomery) while Atlanta (Tiffany Hayes, Ketia Swanier) and Phoenix (Charde Houston, Diana Taurasi) also have more than one former Husky heading to training camp. Chicago (Swin Cash), Minnesota (Maya Moore), Seattle (Sue Bird) and Tulsa (Dixon) have one UConn product each.

Speaking of UConn guards, Bria Hartley was among the 5,500 fans who were at Rentschler Field for UConn's spring football game on Saturday. She was joined by Michala Johnson, who is finishing out the semester before transferring to Wisconsin.

The chance to play basketball and go to school about two hours from home led to Michala Johnson to leave UConn.

Johnson, who informed UConn coach Geno Auriemma and her teammates of her choice to transfer to Wisconsin at the end of the semester, talked publicly about the decision on Friday.

“I really missed my family and never really had a chance to see them,” said Johnson, who had 77 points and 76 rebounds in 56 career games at UConn.

An added bonus for Johnson, who will have two years of eligibility beginning in the 2013-14 season, will be the chance to play with her younger sister Malayna who will be a freshman at Wisconsin in 2013.

“We played together a little bit when I was a senior at high school and I am excited about it,” Johnson said.

Johnson said she met with Auriemma on Tuesday afternoon to tell him of her decision and then told her teammates individually.

“It was hard, there were a lot of tears shed,” Johnson said. “I am going to miss my teammates a lot especially the three (Stefanie Dolson, Lauren Engeln and Bria Hartley) I came in with."

I asked Michala what she'll remember most about the two years she was at UConn.

"Probably all the good times with my teammates," Johnson said. "We were together so often and we got along so well from day one."

Johnson has three weeks left at UConn and she is planning to enroll at Wisconsin for summer classes in June. She will be able to practice at Wisconsin during the upcoming season but won't be able to play for the Badgers until the 2013-14 season because of NCAA rule mandating transfers sit out one season.

It is now official as UConn released a statement on sophomore Michala Johnson's decision to transfer earlier today.

“I have really enjoyed getting to know Michala over the last two years,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said in a statement.  “She is a great kid who works really hard in the classroom and on the court.  Recently, she came to us and expressed an interest in being closer to home and I can respect that.  I wish Michala nothing but the best in the future.”

Johnson will complete the spring academic semester at UConn.

Johnson, a native of Bellwood, Ill., saw time in 56 games during her two years at UConn.  She
averaged 1.4 points and 1.4 rebounds in 5.1 minutes per game.

Here is what I have to report regarding Michala Johnson. First, a source close to the situation confirmed that the sophomore forward will be transferring from UConn at the end of the spring semester. Although ESPN HoopGurlz reported on twitter that Johnson would be heading to Wisconsin (where here younger sister is committed to play) and WTNH had a report confirming that information, my source did not know of her final destination.

UConn is not planning to release a statement on the matter tonight but once the details are ironed out, I expect that the school will put out a release.

Johnson averaged 1.5 points, 1.2 rebounds and 4.9 minutes in 26 games as a sophomore. She will have two years of eligibility remaining but will have to sit out next season per NCAA transfer rules.

According to a ESPN HoopGurlz tweet, Michala Johnson is transferring to Wisconsin.

I have reached out to Johnson's high school coach Jason Nichols as well as UConn to confirm this report.

Johnson, a 6-foot-3 sophomore forward from Bellwood, Ill., played in 56 games at UConn and finished with 77 points, 76 rebounds and 15 assists.

Johnson would have to sit out the upcoming season and would have two years of eligibility remaining. She would be reunited with her younger sister Malayna, who has committed to Wisconsin.

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.

As 18th birthdays go, it was not a perfect day for UConn freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis but it was pretty close.

The highly-touted 6-footer hut five 3-pointers and finished with 17 points, three rebounds, three assists and four steals as UConn defeated Division II Assumption 89-30 in the first exhibition game for the Huskies. Mosqueda-Lewis would have likely added to those number had she not felt some discomfort in her left calf leading to her playing just the first 1:40 of the second half.

"At some point in the game, my calf started hurting," Mosqueda-Lewis said. "It just felt like a pull, I don't know yet. I was out there for a while and told Rosie (UConn trainer Rosemary Ragle) it was bothering me. She said to go out and see if you can play and I played for a couple more minutes and Coach (Geno Auriemma) took me out."

As for the game, Mosqueda-Lewis had her first shot blocked but once she found the range, there was no stopping her.

"In the beginning it was a little rocky but I started to get into a rhythm," Mosqueda-Lewis said. "We were playing good defense as a team and it got rolling from there."

As for her birthday, she did have a full class schedule but her teammates did not forget her special day.

"It was a good day. I had four classes but other than that, I had a good day. It wasn't that bad. Caroline got me first beanie (hat). She said I needed to cover my ears (in the winter). They sang to me and made me skip around the room - tradition."

It was pretty well known that Mosqueda-Lewis is an outstanding shooter but the intensity in which she got after it on the defensive end really impressed me. Apparently, I was not alone.

"The high school that she comes from (Mater Dei in Santa Ana, Calif.), they picked up full court every possession so their coach did a really good job of instilling in them a certain attitude of how to play defense and she has brought that with her," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "She wants to be a good defender and she is smart. She is in the passing lanes a lot and she is a really good passer. I don't want to make it sound like she is already an All-American. She has a long, long way to go but she has basketball stuff, she knows how to play. She wants to be great, that is the best way to say it  but at the same time, she is going to keep growing because right now she doesn't know how to handle how it is not great for her. That is going to take a little bit of a adjustment.

Senior Tiffany Hayes led UConn with 18 points and was quite proud of getting a double-double with 10 assists. Bria Hartley had 13 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals, Stefanie Dolson 12 points and 10 rebounds while Kelly Faris had 10 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals. Michala Johnson had nine points in nine minutes while freshman Kiah Stokes added seven points and six rebounds.

After the game Hayes was asked about the frame of mind of Doty, who has dealt with a lifetime's worth of injuries in her time at UConn. Doty missed the game with a sprained ankle.

"No matter what, she is such a fighter," Hayes said. "She is definitely going to come back stronger than ever. I just talked to her and she said maybe another week or so. Once she gets back, I just hopes that she stays healthy."

Perhaps the biggest surprise in Sunday's UConn/Hartford game is that Michala Johnson was the first player summoned from the bench in the second half.

Johnson, who did not play in the first half, rewarded her coaches' confidence with a solid 14 minutes of work in the 75-39 win over Hartford.

"It felt really good," said Johnson after scoring five points and adding five rebounds. "I wanted to work harder, I wanted to be a little more aggressive. I am more comfortable now. I know it took me some time but after two (knee) surgeries it has taken me some time."

It might be a reach to expect Johnson to make a major impact during this NCAA tournament but this offseason could be a time for the wiry Johnson to add some muscle to her frame so she can match up against physical post players. She has already added 20 pounds since arriving at UConn but will need to add more weight before she becomes a game in, game out contributor. Still, the progress she has made in the last five or six weeks is hard to ignore.

"Some of it was situational, it wasn't really her fault," UConn associate head coach Chris Dailey said of the time it has taken Johnson to become a regular contributor in practice. "It was a matter of getting used to practicing. She has not really had that kind of practice in two years. It is obviously a different level but she tries. She gives us good effort, she tries to do what we ask her to do. There has been a significant (improvement) probably since about the (Feb. 12) Providence game. She has a knack around the basket, she rebounds and she finishes pretty well around the basket. We are trying to keep encouraging her to run the floor. it is tough coming off two ACLs and not just one."

ATLANTA DREAM POINT GUARD IMPRESSED WITH HARTLEY
Kansas State was eliminated from the tournament with a loss to Purdue in the second game of Sunday's doubleheader at Gampel Pavilion. However, before the Wildcats took to the court, assistant coach Shalee Lehning was scouting the UConn/Hartford game. Yes, the same Lehning who has started 53 games for the WNBA's Atlanta Dream over the last two seasons. So I asked her what her impressions of UConn freshman guard Bria Hartley were.

"I love her, she is so young but you would never know it," Lehning said. "She is in total control, she is not afraid of anything. She goes in there, takes the big shots. She is obviously a great point guard playing on a great team and what she really does well is manages the game with a bunch of stars around her. She knows how to get to people the ball when they need it. She is also not afraid to take her own shot herself. That is half the battle when you playing on a team as good as Connecticut - learning to make the right decision."

Lehning, a former star point guard for Kansas State, understands the difficult transition from high school to college for a point guard.

"I think it is a huge adjustment that people overlook a lot of times," Lehning said. "It is just a bigger, faster, stronger game. Especially coming to play at a school like UConn, you have to learn how to make decisions faster, you have to get in better shape and you have to learn mental toughness and I think they obviously do a great job of that here at UConn."

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.

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.

One of the sidebars for Thursday's Marquette/UConn game at Gampel Pavilion is the reunion of former Montini Catholic teammates Michala Johnson of UConn and Courtney Thomas of Marquette.

"It will be exciting," Johnson said. "We have played against each other before with AAU and stuff because we weren't on the same team before. We only played two years together but it should be a good time."

Neither freshman is seeing a ton of time.

Johnson played a career-high 11 minutes in Sunday's 86-32 win over Sacred Heart and is slowly working her way into the physical condition she needs to be a regular contributor after suffering two serious knee injuries in high school.

She has played in seven of the eight games and is averaging 1.1 points, 1.7 rebounds and 4.9 minutes per game.

"It's hard on her," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "She has a ways to go. She hasn't played in so long, it is difficult."

Then, of course, Auriemma couldn't resist retelling a story of Johnson's wide-eyed innocence during the recent trip to Tampa for the game against South Florida.

"We had to stop in Carolina for fuel," Auriemma said. "Michala was kind of
incredulous and wanted to know why do you have to stop for fuel, why don't we just get it now. So that gives you an indication of where she is right now. You know I
never thought to say to the pilot 'let's get it now. Why do you want to get it in Fayetteville?' So you know what, she's still a freshman. She is growing into being a
sophomore."

Thomas has played in six games for the 7-1 Golden Eagles and is averaging 0.8 points, 1 rebound and 5.3 minutes per game.

So what does Johnson remember about her high school teammate's game?

"She is a good passer, she can penetrate in (the lane) and kick it out," Johnson said.

CARUSO FIRED BY LONGWOOD
Former UConn star Kristin (Lamb) Caruso was fired as Longwood's women's basketball coach on Monday.

Caruso was suspended indefinitely and then the Farmville, Va. school announced that she was being relieved of her duties and men's basketball assistant coach Bill Reinson would be taking over as interim head coach effective immediately.

Lamb, who was 34-60 in three-plus seasons at Longwood, played at UConn from 1986-1990 and had 1,244 points in 110 career games.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma's opinion of his top-ranked team has been all over the place. He has seen his freshman look like the next big thing and look completely lost - all in a matter of seconds. He has seen ebbs and flows from some of the returning players which will occasionally make his giddy and other times he is left to shake his head in contempt.

Some of the early tests including Tuesday's game against Baylor will go a long way towards allowing Auriemma to figure out where his team is headed.

"By the start of finals, by December 12,in a month we will know what kind of team that we have," Auriemma said after Tuesday's practice.

Auriemma has yet to set a starting lineup. You can pencil in Maya Moore, Tiffany Hayes and Kelly Faris into the starting five. Stefanie Dolson started both exhibition games at center but her performance in the practice before the Indiana (Pa.) preseason finale had him considering starting Samarie Walker in place of Dolson. He started senior Lorin Dixon at point guard against Franklin Pierce and then went with freshman Bria Hartley against IUP. I'd expect Dolson to start but what happens at point guard is anybody's guess.

"We went back and forth," Auriemma said. "Part of me wants to (start Hartley), part of me doesn't want to. I just think it is always good to bring a really good offensive player of the bench, it is what we have done especially with a good freshman. It has worked really well in the past, I just have to see where everything is. We want to because the game starts off and we have a lot of offense, right now we are going to be scrambling around to find offense. Whther she does or she doesn't (start), it's not going to be long before she is in the game, that is for sure."

Auriemma had words of praise for Dolson, big-time words of praise.

"I think she's going to be one of those four-year, huge-impact players, there's no doubt in my mind," Auriemma said.

Don't expect to see freshman Michala Johnson for much more time than she was out there in the two preseason games. The issue is that her surgically-repaired knees kept her out of the conditioning program for so long that she has a lot of work to do to get to the point physically where the UConn staff will throw her out there for extended stretches.

"That is going to be a long time," Auriemma said of the time frame for Johnson to get significant minutes.

I asked Auriemma if it was more of a case of her knees giving her problems or a lack of conditioning setting her back.

"A little bit of both, you can't separate the two," Auriemma said. "She hasn't played and she is so weak from not having played and not being able to work out."

Speaking of weak, Auriemma was growing annoyed at seeing his players not only hit the deck a little too often but stay down too long when they were on the floor. So he instituted a three-second rule. Any player who crashes to the floor and stays down for more than three seconds comes out of practice immediately.

"We have a team that falls down more than anybody," Auriemma said. "There are guys in the NHL who go 40 miles an hour on skates who don't fall down as much as these guys. Now we have the new rule, three seconds. If you hit the floor and you don't come up in three, you are coming out. Three, two, one, you are out. We had to, we are looking like Champions' League soccer league. The trainer will come out, carry them over and get some ice and then they come out and say 'I am ready to go Coach.' Dead serious. If you stay down, that means you are hurt. You can't stay down there for five minutes and say 'I am all right Coach.'"

Geno Auriemma admitted that he has no sense of what he will see from his two-time defending national champions when UConn hosts Franklin Pierce, a team which has played in the last three Division II Elite Eights, on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Gampel Pavilion.

He is pretty certain that Maya Moore, who Auriemma said "watching her practice these last three weeks, she's even better than she was the first three years."

Tiffany Hayes and Kelly Faris are still trying to grow into expanded roles, Lorin Dixon is listed as the starting point guard which would allow UConn to bring much heralded freshman Bria Hartley off the bench. Stefanie Dolson seems like a lock to be the starting center.

Here's his breakdown on the five freshmen

Stefanie Dolson: "I think if we were starting a game tomorrow, Stefanie would start and we would go from there and see how that worked out. The things she was good at she has gotten a little better at. I've always knew she was a pretty good passer, she is pretty good finishing around the basket. She has a pretty good feel for the game and those things, how many minutes she can play on any given night, I think that remains to be seen."

Lauren Engeln: "Probably has made some progress."

Bria Hartley: "Bria is still Bria, she's really, really, really good and then she is a typical freshman or high school senior that's kind of what we are getting right now. Hopefully she will get more and more consistent."

Michala Johnson: "I think she still has a ways to go to get her strength back. There's been days when she looks like she is able to really contribute a little bit and days when she is really struggling. She hasn't played in two years almost so I don't think you can expect somebody to come in here and be ready to go. You've got to play her a little bit so you get a feel of what it's like to play. That's something we are counting on for sure. She's not out, she is not injured, she's not on injured reserve. She is on the team, she is playing, she is practicing but how much she can be effective playing, I have no idea."

Samarie Walker: "Samarie's gotten better, she shows flashes of being a good rebounder, really a good finisher around the basket."

One noteworthy thing about UConn's practice on Tuesday is that it was the first time in the first three weeks that UConn brought in officials to give practice a game feel.

"You just want try to simulate something that looks like a game before you actually go on Thursday night," Auriemma said. "You try to get them here a couple of times before you play, get the kids used to understanding that it is a foul that they are going to call fouls. It is all part of getting ready for games, the whole game mode thing. That's all it is."

Among the many subjects UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma addressed at Thursday's Big East women's basketball media day at B.B. King Blue Club and Grill in New York was the progress of the five freshmen.

Auriemma said that Bria Hartley, who was voted as the Big East's preseason freshman of the year, and Stefanie Dolson have been the most consistent of the freshmen. He also said that Samarie Walker could be cleared for full practice in time for Friday's practice.

Auriemma did not pull any punches regarding the first official practice on Saturday.

"It was as bad as any day I've had since I've been here," Auriemma said. "I just couldn't believe how little (the freshmen knew). Let's put it this way, the last time we had five freshmen, we had seven or eight returning guys so I could get rid of the five freshmen and scale them in little by little and not have them dominate practice with their stupidity. Now I have five of them and I have five of their guys so it is us against them and they dominated the first day of practice with their dumbness, the stuff the didn't so they ruined the practice for everybody."

The good news is Auriemma has been progress from the five freshmen.

"There have been a couple of days when I said these guys could be pretty good," Auriemma said.

Auriemma said that Michala Johnson has displayed a knack for offensive rebounding but also delivered a classic line on his rail thin 6-foot-3 frosh.

"Our trainer Rosemary (Ragle) said she is developing some muscle strength and I said 'how can you tell?' She is the skinniest kid I have ever recruited, she makes Tiffany (Hayes) look like Dwyane Wade."

Regarding Walker, Auriemma said that "(she's beind doing) only some half court stuff. Hopefully, she'll be cleared for tomorrow. That was the next step that she could do some full court stuff."

He said that Lauren Engeln has been making some stuff happen but consistency has been an issue.

That has not been the case for Hartley and Dolson.

"They've been on the court more," Auriemma said. "Both of them have a certain level of endurance. They can be out there a long time so the longer they are out there, the more stuff they can get done. Bria has so much confidence in her offense that she doesn't look lost as much. Stefanie has such a good feel for the game, when to flash, when to post up, which was to turn after she catches the ball. She is a pretty good passer so she is not stuck when she catches the ball. A lot of freshmen when they catch it and don't now what to do with it, they panic and throw it away or throw it at the rim. She has a pretty good sense of what to do with the ball when she catches it. Those two more than everybody else has had more good days out of the five days than the other three."

Here are a couple of videos I took at UConn's media day. The first is of freshman Michala Johnson talking about being cleared to take part in on-court drills and the second features UConn coach Geno Auriemma discussing Johnson and fellow freshman Samarie Walker, who will likely be sidelined for the first week of practice because of a strained left hamstring

FIRST NIGHT SCHEDULE
Here are some details about First Night being held on Friday night
5 p.m.: FanFest begins on Fairfield Way (across from the North Entrance at Gampel Pavilion
5:45 p.m.: 75 VIP students are let into Gampel
6 p.m.: Doors open at Gampel/Autograph session begins
6:30-6:37: Band, UConn twirlers, UConn dance team perform
6:45: Autograph session ends
6:50: Student On Court Contest
7: Master of Ceremonies takes the court
7:06: Player introductions begin
7:35: UConn women's coach Geno Auriemma and men's assistant coach Kevin Ollie address the crowd
7:40: Team warmups
7:45: Skills competition (and the only basketball portion of the event)
7:52: Minute to Win It event

RECRUITS IN THE HOUSE
It should be quite a collection of talent in the stands. While I have not confirmed every recruit expected to be at the First Night event, UConn commits Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Brianna Banks, top uncommitted senior post Kiah Stokes, Hillhouse junior forward/guard Bria Holmes and highly-touted sophomore Diamond DeShields are planning to be there. If I am able to confirm others before the start of the event on Friday, I will certainly post it here.

GENO REACTS TO TAURASI'S PHOTO SHOOT
The photos of former UConn star Diana Taurasi wearing nothing and I do mean nothing on the cover of ESPN the Magazine met with the approval of her college coach.

"I think it was tremendous, one of the best pictures I’ve ever seen of a female athlete," Auriemma said. "Anybody that saw Diana as a freshman in college and even as a senior in college would be unbelievably impressed and proud, especially those of us around here at how hard she’s worked to get herself in that kind of physical condition.

"I was with her a whole month (at the FIBA World Championships when Auriemma coached the U.S. team and Taurasi was the leading scorer for the gold-medal winning U.S. squad). She was the quickest I’ve ever seen her. She’s more explosive than I’ve ever seen her. She’s a pro now. She’s not a college kid eating seven meals a day because you’re bored and you don’t know what to do. She treats herself like a pro, acts like a pro, works out like a pro. When I saw that picture I was like, `Hell, yeah, man.’ I’m really happy for her."

Much of my focus at Wednesday's media day at UConn was on the Huskies' two ailing freshmen.

Michala Johnson, who suffered two torn ACLs during her high school career, took part in half-court work on Oct. 7 and 8 and since there were no issues, was cleared to go full court for the first time on Tuesday. She is expected to be able to be a full go at the first practice of the season on Saturday.

"I do everything the team does," Johnson said. "The only thing I don't do is play pickup games with them. Last week I played half court. Yesterday was my first time playing full court. I was pretty comfortable and excited. I was very excited because I haven't played in such a long time, getting back into the speed of things, running and playing games it felt pretty good.

"My knees are the last thing on my mind. I'm not letting that get into my head. I am not worried about that, anything I do I am not concerned about that. I am right on time, right on schedule. I am very excited."

Samarie Walker's right knee which she contemplated having surgery on because of an issue with her meniscus is fine but she tweaked her left hamstring twice in the month of September and will not be able to practice on Saturday.

"I've been out pretty much all preseason with a hamstring strain," Walker said. "I've been working back in from that. I know people keep asking from my knees and they are a lot better than they were before."

Walker suffered the hamstring issue shortly after arriving on campus for the fall semester.

"We were working out, I turned the wrong way and I felt it pull," Walker said. "They are working on that. Hopefully another week or so not (before she is back at practice) but too much longer."

Notre Dame junior Devereaux Peters has acted like a kid at a candy store during the Big East tournament. Knee injuries during her freshman and sophomore years prevented her from playing a postseason game in her first two seasons at Notre Dame.

So when Notre Dame defeated Louisville in the second round of the Big East tournament and then topped St. John's in the quarterfinals, Peters was loving life.

"I am excited to play in the postseason for a change," Peters said. "I was nuts in the lockerroom and everybody was laughing at me and saying are you serious Dev, you've never played but if you think about, I have been out."

Since Peters has suffered two torn ACLs in the last two seasons and has a similar build to UConn incoming freshman Michala Johnson, who has also suffered two season-ending knee injuries, I asked Peters about how frustrating the second torn ACL was.

"The second one was actually easier after being out for so long and you do it again, at first it was rough but I was so used to being out so it was smoother the second time," Peters said. "It wasn't that bad and I am happy to be back."

I also asked her that if she could offer Michala Johnson any advice, what would it be?

"Just go out there and give 100 percent, don't think twice about anything," Peters said. "I think a lot of people when they heard ACL they think they have to think through stuff and they are nervous but I don't think about it. I am out here so I want to give it 100 percent."

Speaking of Johnson, her Montini Catholic of Lombard, Ill. team not only won a state title without the athletic 6-foot-3 forward but were inspired to win it in her honor

Johnson's future UConn teammate Stefanie Dolson has a huge game tonight when she leads her Minisink Valley of Slate Hill, N.Y. team against Kingston in the New York Section 9 Class AA championship game. The contest tips at 6 p.m.

Another UConn recruit has had to contend with a flood of emotions in the last week or two. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, a 6-foot junior guard at Mater Dei in Santa Ana, Calif. was devastated - as was the entire Mater Dei community - with the recent death of the school's softball staff Bri Matthews. Mosqueda-Lewis's locker at school was right next to Matthews so obviously they built a strong bond. There was a nice piece on the OCVarsity.com site about how the Mater Dei squad honored their fallen classmate
when they played Woodbridge in the CIF-SS 2A title game.