The NCAA women's tournament kicks off on Friday and of course UConn's quest for an unprecedented fifth straight national title will be among the top story lines. However, UConn's fingerprints can be felt in other ways as Husky of Honor members Rebecca Lobo and Sue Bird will be prominently featured in ESPN's coverage of the event.

Lobo will continue in her role as studio analyst along with host Maria Taylor and former Georgia head coach Andy Landers.

Bird will join Lowell Galindo to call the games in the Waco subregional including Saturday's Baylor/Texas Southern and Cal/LSU games.

There will also be some familiar faces calling the games in the Storrs subregional with Eric Frede, who is the play by play announcer for the UConn games for SNY, and former San Antonio Stars head coach Dan Hughes who was a part of the announce team for the American Athletic Conference tournament..

Also, Jenn Hildreth and Steffi Sorensen are on the call for Saturday's Quinnipiac/Marquette first-round game.

ESPN is putting its No. 1 team on the Bridgeport regionals with Dave O'Brien being joined by Doris Burke, Kara Lawson and Holly Rowe.

Most of the broadcasters have been a part of ESPN's women's basketball coverage in the past. A couple of notable exceptions are Kaylee Hartung, a key member of ESPN's college football coverage and Molly McGrath, who in my opinion is emerging into one of the best and most versatile broadcasters employed by ESPN. Hartung will be working at the Oklahoma City regional while McGrath will be part of the announce team at the regional in Stockton, California.

Also, former Connecticut Sun coach Mike Thibault will be a part of the announce team for the subregional hosted by Notre Dame.

In her first three seasons at UConn the only time that consistency was used when describing Kiah Stokes usually came in a quote from Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma bemoaning the lack of consistent production from the talented forward/center.

However, in at least one area of her game, Stokes is in the midst of one of the most consistent seasons any UConn player has ever enjoyed.

Over the last five games Stokes' blocked shot totals are 7, 6, 7, 7 and 7. The single-game blocked shot totals in the UConn record book stop at 8 so I did some research to find the last time a Husky had at least six blocks in five straight games and found it has happened exactly once by Kiah Stokes.
So where does Stokes' shot-blocking prowess come from?

"I remember my freshman year Marissa (Moseley, UConn's assistant coach who works with the post players) would make up drills to block shots so maybe that has something to do with it but I played volleyball so that has something to do with it, that is my only answer," Stokes said.

During this recent stretch Stokes has blocked some shots with both hands and that is not a coincidence.

"Marissa said a lot of my fouls, I will block the ball up here but my other hand will be on their body so she keeps reminding me to have both hands up and don't push them with our body because they are going to call fouls if you have one hand on them," Stokes said.

Stokes has 80 blocked shots in the first 18 games of the season, one shy of her career high set a season ago and it is the ninth best total in UConn history. With as many as 21 games remaining, Stokes is on pace to shatter the single-season program record of 131 blocks set by Rebecca Lobo during the 1993-94 season. If she were to keep up her current pace and play the maximum of 39 games (if UConn reaches the American Athletic Conference and Division I title games) she would finish with 173 blocked shots which would be the fourth best title in NCAA Division I history trailing only the 223 and 206 recorded by Baylor's Brittney Griner during her freshman and junior seasons and the 195 blocked by Louella Tomlinson of St' Mary's during the 2009-10 season.

As much as Stokes loves blocking shots, you rarely see exuberant reactions from her after she swats away a shot.

"I may not be the most emotional person on the court but it is something I love to do, I love to get all hyped up," Stokes said. "I was taught as a kid to keep a cool head and not get too emotional so that is the one thing that is hard for me it to show excited emotion so I am good as hiding it if I am mad or frustrated but positive emotions, I don't really express  my feelings but I am excited and it is the one thing I know I can do well and I am excited to do it." 

Ironically, the one person who would like to see the blocked shot numbers go down is Auriemma.

"I think the fact why Kiah has so many blocked shtos is that our guards are just so bad at keeping the ball in front of them and it is providing those guys a lot of opportunities," Auriemma said. "I wish they didn't have as many blocked shots because that means there would be less people in there."

Dave O'Brien and Doris Burke will be calling the three games for ESPN in the Storrs subregional beginning with the 11:05 a.m. game between Saint Joseph's and Vanderbilt on Saturday and followed by the UConn/Idaho contest, likely around 1:30 p.m. Both of those games will be on ESPN2 (or at least parts of them due to ESPN's whiparound coverage. The winners meet on Monday at 7 p.m. for a spot in the regionals in Bridgeport.

Speaking of Bridgeport, Beth Mowins, Burke and Holly Rowe will call those games. The regional semifinals are set for noon and approximately 2:30 p.m. on Mar. 30 with the regional final at 7:30 p.m. on April 1.

Former UConn star Swin Cash will be a part of the announcing team in the Columbus, Ohio subregional while Rebecca Lobo is part of the team announcing the subregional at Delaware before going to the Oklahoma City regional. Lobo is also a key member of the announcing team for the Final Four.

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced the 12 finalists for the 2013 induction class including two women's basketball nominees. Former UConn star Rebecca Lobo, who made the initial list of candidates, was not on the of finalists as North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell and former Virginia All-American Dawn Staley were the two women's basketball finalists.

The 2013 Hall of Fame class will be announced during the men's Final Four on Apr. 8.

On Friday Geno Auriemma and Chris Dailey made the 2 1/2 hour drive to Ossining, N.Y. to check out his lone incoming freshman Saniya Chong lead her Ossining team against a Christ the King squad led by 2014 UConn recruiting target Sierra Calhoun.

While Auriemma was not able to comment on the record about the 30-point performance by Calhoun, he had no such restrictions when it came to the scintillating effort put forth by Chong. All the 5-foot-9 guard did was score 29 points in the fourth quarter alone in a 89-84 victory.

"She didn't score in the first quarter," Auriemma said. "She was not feeling good, she had a stomach virus so they played 32 minutes so in (24) minutes of basketball she scored 46 points. We are talking about in a game that was a one-point game, a tie game back and forth the whole game. She couldn't buy an outside shot, she is usually a great 3-point shooter so what she did was she just took the basketball and said 'I am going to drive this thing to the rim, you either foul me or get out of the way.' Most of the time they tried to get out of the way but they fouled her anyway. It was incredible. At one point she was 2 of 6 (from the free-throw line) and in the fourth quarter she didn't miss one - she made them all. It was an unbelievable performance in a great game against another great team in a great environment. It was almost like the other team said this is what we are going to do, everybody knew she was going to get the ball, everybody knew what she was going to do and she did it any way. It was a phenomenal performance, it really was."

Chong finished with 46 points despite only making one 3-pointer. She was 17 of 21 from the free-throw line and added seven rebounds, 12 assists, five steals and two blocked shots in the game. She is averaging 35.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 9.8 assists and 4.4 steals per game.

Auriemma also reacted to the news that former UConn star Rebecca Lobo is one of 12 women's basketball nominees for the Naismith Hall of Fame.

"There are a lot of people (in the Naismith Hall of Fame) and don't get me wrong they deserve to be in there but certainly don't deserve to be in there more than Rebecca does not just her playing career here or her playing career that was shortened in the WNBA but her contributions to the game, what she has meant to college basketball and the WNBA. I hope this is the time but I have no doubt her time will come."

Former UConn star Rebecca Lobo is one of 12 women's basketball nominees for induction into the Naismith Hall of Fame.

Among the other nominees are Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey, Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw, North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell as well as former All-Americans Jennifer Azzi, Dawn Staley and Theresa Weatherspoon (Lobo's former teammates with the New York Liberty).

Lobo is UConn's seventh all-time leading scorer with 2,133 points, is third with 1,268 rebounds and is the Huskies' all-time leader with 396 blocked shots.

The finalists will be announced on Feb. 15.

Almost like clockwork you could head to Hartford in December to check out the UConn women's basketball team face a Hartford team coached by former UConn great Jen Rizzotti play.

After six straight seasons of the matchups, Rizzotti needed a change. She wanted to offer slots to teams from the power conferences to come to Chase Family Arena in return for a road game.

When Rizzotti approach her mentor, Geno Auriemma, about starting the series at Hartford's on-campus facility, Auriemma thought it would be a nice change of pace. So now the teams will play tomorrow at 1 p.m. at Chase Family Arena.

"I think it is great for our seniors," Rizzotti said. "They have played UConn a few times in their careers but never at home. Going into the (XL) Center and playing in front of 12,000 people is exciting the first time or two but it gets kind of old. Now they have a chance to play in our own arena with a comfort level and in front of our fans, we’ve had people who have been season ticket holders since they’ve gotten here and this game is for them. They come to every game whether we blow people out or we lose and they support our team. Now they get a chance to have a front-row seat for UConn and they can’t get that when they go to UConn.

"It is a nice opportunity to celebrate the success of our program, the atmosphere we already have here and to have people who have a chance to come into our gym and see what we are all about. It is a great place to watch a game, it is going to be fun and electric and the fans are going to be on top of you. For our kids I think it will be a wonderful experience and for our fans, it is kind of a reward for them."

Auriemma chuckled when asked about the atmosphere his team will face inside a building with a seating capacity of 4,017.

"(UConn assistant coach) Shea (Ralph) and I were talking and it is going to be like when we went to Holy Cross back in 2000, the place was sold out and the students were right on top of you," Auriemma said. "It does bring back memories to them of being in a big, huge game in a state tournament. It is not an arena, it is not a 16,000 or 12,000 so I think the kids are going to love it. I think they are going to have a great team, the fans are going to love it, Jen’s kids are going to love it. I am actually kind of excited about it."

If Auriemma were asked to list his favorite UConn players of all time, it likely would not take long for him to rattle off Rizzotti’s name.

She was the starting point guard on UConn’s first national championship team and as fiery of a competitor as Auriemma has ever coached. His feelings as so strong that he is putting off a trip to Florence, Italy so he can attend Rizzotti’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Knoxville, Tenn.

"There was a four-year period or at least three where the average around the country yeah they got to know Rebecca Lobo but our program was kind of defined by the little kid in the pony tail that was all over the place," Auriemma said. "It is hard for a 6-5 player to inspire everybody because you’ll say ‘well, I’ll never get to be 6-5.’ But when you see Jennifer out there running around and she is 5-5, she is national player of the year as a senior and she averaged 11 points a game I think every little girl in Connecticut and across the country said ‘yeah, I can do that.’ Just for that alone she should be in the Hall of Fame much less for what her accomplishments were."

Jen Rizzotti, the point guard on UConn's first national championship team, is one of six players elected into the next class for the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. Rizzotti will join her former UConn teammate Rebecca Lobo to become the second former Husky in the Hall of Fame. Rizzotti, currently the head coach at Hartford, played at UConn from 1992-96 and 1,540 points, 637 assists, and 349 steals. Rizzotti joins Annette Smith-Knight, Peggie Gillom-Granderson and Sue Wicks in the players category while Ohio State's Jim Foster (one of the people who gave UConn coach Geno Auriemma his shot in the coaching profession) and Texas A&M's Gary Blair will be inducted as coaching representatives. The Class of 2013 will be formally introduced at the 2012 State Farm Tip-Off Classic between Baylor and Kentucky on Nov. 13 in Waco, Tex. and inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame on June 8 in Knoxville, Tenn

Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis was named the Big East Freshman of the Week for the seventh time this season, tying her with former UConn star Rebecca Lobo for the second most in conference history.

Mosqueda-Lewis averaged 14 points, 4 rebounds and 2.5 assists in leading UConn to victories over ranked teams Louisville and Georgetown.

Maya Moore's record of 10 conference freshman/rookie of the week selections is safe for another year as there will be only two more weekly awards given out by the conference.

Asya Bussie, who played a starring role in West Virginia's stunning win at Notre Dame, was named the Big East Player of the Week.

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

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

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

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

According to a story on the NBA.com website, former UConn star Rebecca Lobo, who led the Huskies the first of their seven national titles, was named as a candidate for the Naismith Hall of Fame - the one of four nominees affiliated with women's basketball.

Lobo played at UConn from 1991-95 and was the 1995 national player of the year after leading UConn to a 35-0 record and national championship. She was the second UConn player to score more than 2,000 points and first Husky to record at least 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.

Lobo went onto play in the WNBA and is now a highly-recognized figure in the women's basketball world as an ESPN commentator.

Finalists will be announced in late February.

ESPN just announced its announcing teams for the regular-season games being televised. Obviously they like the job former UConn star Rebecca Lobo does on UConn games because she is scheduled to be on the broadcasts for all six of UConn's games being shown on either ESPN2 or ESPNU.

Nov. 21 Stanford (Beth Mowins, Rebecca Lobo) ESPNU, 7:30 p.m.
Dec. 6 vs. Texas A&M (Dave O'Brien, Doris Burke, Rebecca Lobo) ESPN2, 7 p.m.
Jan. 16 North Carolina (Pam Ward, Rebecca Lobo) ESPN2, 7 p.m.
Jan. 30 at Duke (Pam Ward, Rebecca Lobo), ESPN2, 7 p.m.
Feb. 13 at Oklahoma (Pam Ward, Rebecca Lobo), ESPN2, 9 p.m.
Feb. 27 Notre Dame (Dave O'Brien, Doris Burke, Rebecca Lobo) ESPN2, 9 p.m.

Doris Burke, who will do the Texas A&M and Notre Dame games, was selected to receive the NCAA Silver Anniversary Award at a ceremony in Indianapolis on Jan. 13.

HOLMES SIGNS WITH WEST VIRGINIA
Hillhouse senior Bria Holmes signed her letter of intent with West Virginia today, on the first day of the early signing period.

In an official release put out by West Virginia announcing its five-member play, Mountaineers coach Mike Carey said “Bria is a great sized guard that can play several positions. She is one of those players that with her size, at 6-foot-1, can go inside out, shoot the three and also take it off the dribble on the fast break. The flexibility of someone like her also gives us a lot of things we can do on both sides of the court. She is highly recruited and we are very excited to have her. She gives us a type of player that we haven’t had here in a very long time.”


 

For anybody wishing to pay their respects to RuthAnn Lobo, the mother of former UConn star Rebecca Lobo, the calling hours are today from 4-8 p.m. at Hayes-Huling & Carmon Funeral Home (364 Salmon Brook St., Granby). The funeral will be held on Friday at 9 a.m. at St. Mary’s Church (940 Hopmeadow St., Simsbury). The graveside service and burial will follow in Granby Cemetery.

With RuthAnn Lobo will be remembered by many as the mother of one of the most popular players in not only UConn but women's basketball history, she was a great deal more than that. A well-respected teacher and guidance counselor in the Granby Public Schools system for 35 years, she touched a great number of lives. Diagnosed with breast cancer 17 years ago, she became a tireless advocate in the fight against breast cancer.

Although I met RuthAnn Lobo a couple of times, I can't say that I knew her particularly well. However, reading the guest book on her obituary has allowed me to get a sense of how deeply she has touched people's lives. She was a truly wonderful woman who will be greatly missed.

UConn senior forward Maya Moore was named to the Capital One Academic All-American team for the third time and was named the Academic All-American of the Year in the University Division for a second time.

Moore had previously joined Rebecca Lobo, Jen Rizzotti and Leigh Curl as the only players in program history to be named an Academic All-American multiple times but she is the first Husky to earn the honor three times. She is the first player to be named Academic All-American in the University Division more than once.

Moore, who carries a 3.70 grade point average with an individualized major titled “sports, media and promotion", leads the top-ranked Huskies in scoring (23.6 points per game), rebounding (7.8) and also leads the team with 124 assists, 64 steals and 35 blocked shots.

She was joined on the University Division first team by Army's Erin Anthony, Kathleen Barry of Columbia, Amanda Johnson of Oregon and West Virginia's Liz Repella.

Speaking of grade point averages, UConn will honor the student/athletes with 3.0 GPA during halftime of Monday's game against Syracuse.

A total of 327 student-athletes from all 24 of UConn’s athletic teams will be honored for earning a 3.0 grade point average in the spring 2010 and/or fall 2010 semester.

There will be a special recognition for the 16 student-athletes who earned a perfect 4.0 grade point average in either semester. Those exceptional scholar-athletes are: junior Michelle Bashaw (Salisbury) of the women’s track and field team, an elementary education major, who earned a 4.0 in both semesters; senior Robert Brickley (Wethersfield) of the men’s soccer team, a civil engineering major; freshman Courtney Gregorian (Burlington, Ont.) of the women’s swimming and diving team, a nursing major; freshman Julia Hamer (Burlington, Ont.) of the volleyball team, a kinesiology major; senior Angelika Johansson (Falkenberg, Sweden) of the women’s soccer team, a doctoral student in math; senior Greg King (Queensland, Australia) of the men’s soccer team, a psychology major who graduated in December; sophomore Hillary Lackman (Storrs) of the women’s soccer team, a psychology major; junior Megan Lally (Westwood, Mass.) of the women’s lacrosse team, a biology major.

Also: freshman Scott McCummings (Natick, Mass.) of the football team, a management major; senior Kathleen Moritz (York, Pa.) of the women’s tennis team, an exercise science major; senior Mike Rutt (Sinking Springs, Pa.) of the men’s track and field team, an exercise science major; senior Lauren Sparks (West Chester, Pa.) of the women’s lacrosse team, a communication and English major; junior Jens Peter Traff (Lyngby, Denmark) of the men’s swimming and diving team, a computer engineering major; sophomore Siobhan Wilcox (Glastonbury) of the women’s lacrosse team, a nursing major; sophomore Hillary Wiles-Lafayette (Litchfield) of the women’s rowing team, a ecology and evolutionary biology major; and senior Annie Yi (Indianapolis, Ind.) of the women’s soccer team, a doctoral student in physical therapy.

In addition, 11 teams will be honored for having a cumulative 3.0 squad grade point average for the fall semester: field hockey, women’s lacrosse, men’s tennis, women’s rowing, softball, volleyball, women’s ice hockey, women’s soccer, women’s swimming and diving, women’s tennis and women’s track and field.

The women’s soccer team will be honored for having the highest grade point average for both the fall 2010 semester and the combined spring 2010 and fall 2010 semesters.

UConn guard Bria Hartley, fresh off a career-high 29 points in Saturday's win over Notre Dame, has been named the Big East's Freshman of the Week for the sixth time.

Hartley averaged 20 points per game and shot 62.5 percent from the field, including 42.9 percent from 3-point range in wins over Oklahoma and Notre Dame.

The six FOW honors ties Hartley for third place all time with seven players including former UConn stars Svetlana Abrosimova and Tina Charles. If she wins the award next week, she would tie ex-Husky Rebecca Lobo for second with seven selections. Maya Moore won the award a record 10 times during the 2007-08 season.

UCONN BACK AT NO. 1
As expected, UConn has returned to the top spot in the Associated Press national poll after extending its winning streak to 14 games and aided by former No. 1 Baylor's loss to Texas Tech. UConn received 37 of the 40 first-place votes.

UConn's Maya Moore was named the Big East Player of the Week for a record-tying seventh time after averaging 31.5 points, 10.0 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game while shooting 75.8 percent from the floor and 66.7 percent from 3-point range in wins over Duke and DePaul. Moore had 29 points, nine rebounds and seven assists against No. 3 Duke. Moore had 34 points, 11 rebounds and six assists against No. 9 DePaul.

During the 1997-98 season Nykesha Sales won seven Big East player of the week honors while Louisville's Angel McCoughtry matched the feat in the 2008-09 season. With 11 career player of the week awards, Moore is one shy of the Big East record shared by McCoughtry and former UConn star Rebecca Lobo.

Stefanie Dolson was named the conference's freshman of the week for the first time as she averaged 14.5 points and 9.0 rebounds per game and shot 72.2 percent from the field. Dolson had eight points, 12 rebounds and two blocks against Duke and then had a career-high 21 points as well as six rebounds against DePaul.

One of the advantages of making it to the XL Center on Dec. 23 at an event commemorating UConn winning its NCAA Division I basketball record 89th straight win was getting a chance to interview Geno Auriemma and Rebecca Lobo in almost a 1-on-1 setting.

It was during that time that I got Rebecca Lobo's opinion on the upcoming UConn/Stanford game. Bear in mind, this came before Lorin Dixon's injury and Stanford's absolute dissection of fourth-ranked Xavier.

"I think they are going to pose some matchup problems," Lobo said of Stanford's frontline which is taller than some WNBA teams. "I think each team will pose matchup problems for the other. UConn is so thin in the post. I thought Ohio State would give them a good game and UConn whooped them. Coming into the season I was saying they were going to lose to Stanford. I am not convinced they are going to lose to Stanford anymore but I still think it is going to be a good game."

With Lobo, motherhood takes precedent so she is passing on working the game so she can be at home with her kids. Still, I respect her opinion and basketball insight probably more than any other women's basketball broadcaster so I was curious what her keys to the game would be.

"How healthy both teams are," Lobo said in reference to Kayla Pedersen's health and not looking into the future in terms of Dixon's bum foot. "I think the key will be how UConn handles their size and experience. For Stanford, can they handle Maya. She had 41 (against Florida State) and it was unbelievable."

It should be noted that with no Rutgers players remaining from the squad that beat UConn on Feb. 5, 2008, Stanford seniors Kayla Pedersen, Jeanette Pohlen and Ashley Cimino are the only active college players who can say they played in a game which UConn lost. Pedersen had 17 points and 7 rebounds, Pohlen had two points and two assists while Cimino did not score in her brief appearance in Stanford's 82-73 win over UConn in the 2008 national semifinals. That was the last time UConn lost a game.

LSU's Hall of Fame coach Van Chancellor was the star of the show at Gampel Pavilion in between games at the World Vision Challenge on Saturday.

Chancellor, who coached Houston to four WNBA titles and later was the coach of the U.S. gold-medal winning team at the 2004 Olympics, will face the Huskies on Sunday at 4:30 in the final game in the three-day tournament.

It didn't take much prodding from the assembled media for Chancellor to heap a flood of compliments on the UConn program.

"They do a great job of putting the right people in the right position, they can shoot the ball really well," Chancellor said. "I've said it for a year and a half, they have great defense. I'll tell you what is remarkable - to be undefeated. I have coached forever and I have never been close to being undefeated. To win two national championships and to be undefeated at the same time, it is incredible.

"The hardest thing to do when I was at Houston was not to 3-peat but to 2-peat. Geno has done a great job of not allowing complacency to set in. It is amazing what they have done of letting them shoot when they ought to shoot and not shoot when you are not supposed to shoot. They do a great job of shot selection."

WALKER DRAWS STARTING ASSIGNMENT
UConn freshman Samarie Walker will start ahead of classmate Stefanie Dolson against Lehigh. Freshman Bria Hartley, sophomore Kelly Faris, junior Tiffany Hayes and senior Maya Moore join her in starting lineup.

MOORE CLOSING IN
UConn senior Maya Moore needs eight rebounds to join Tina Charles, Rebecca Lobo and Jamelle Elliott in the 1,000 rebound club at UConn. One blocked shot will move her into sole possession of fifth place and with five 3-pointers she would pass Renee Montgomery and move into the No. 4 spot on UConn's career charts.

LEHIGH COACH REMEMBERS LAST TRIP
If Lehigh coach Sue Trojan wonders how much time has passed since she last played UConn, seeing her 13-year-old son David on the bench certainly did the trick.

Before the game Trojan recalled that when Lehigh played UConn in the first rounnd of the 1997 NCAA tournament, she was six months pregnant with David. Now he is sitting on the Lehigh bench.

Jen Rizzotti completed the USA Basketball Triple Crown by winning gold medals as a player, assistant coach and head coach.

In 1996 she was a member of the championship team at the R. Williams Jones Cup. A decade later she was an assistant to DePaul's Doug Bruno on the U.S. squad which won the 2006 FIBA Americas Under-18 Championship for Women. Rizzotti was the head coach of the U.S. squad which rolled to the 2010 FIBA Americas Under-18 Championship for Women title winning its five games by an average of 55.8 points per game.

"It's a great honor," Rizzotti said. "I take a lot of pride working with USA Basketball, it means a lot to me."

Rizzotti, whose agreement with USA Basketball is a two-year commitment as she will be head coach of the U.S. squad competing in the 2011 FIBA U-19 Championship for Women, knows that her role comes with significant responsibility.

"There's more pressure as a coach," Rizzotti said. "As a player you look at these events as being similar to all-star games but as the coach you want to make the players get the best of the experience."

Although Rizzotti is not on the committee which selected the U-18 squad and will select the U-19 team, she knows the squad she coaches next year will be a star-studded one as the pool of players from both teams will vie for 12 spots.

"I got to see the U-17s because they trained with us (in Colorado Springs) and it's going to be very competitive although I think the kids going (to college) could have an advantage."

Two of those players headed to college as UConn signees Bria Hartley and Stefanie Dolson. Hartley said she was planning to fly straight to Connecticut from Colorado Springs on Monday while Dolson is heading home on Monday before making her way to the UConn campus on Tuesday.

Rizzotti had plenty of praise for two of UConn's five incoming freshmen both as players and people.

"She's an outstanding player and she is very coachable, she wants to learn and wants to get better," Rizzotti said. "I think she is going to be a great player at UConn."
Rizzotti has similar praise for Dolson, especially her thirst to be challenged which is a must for any player going to play for UConn's Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma, his equally demanding associate head coach Chris Dailey and the rest of the top-flight Connecticut coaching staff.

"She's an outstanding player and she is very coachable, she wants to learn and wants to get better," Rizzotti said about Hartley. "I think she is going to be a great player at UConn.

"I talked to her about playing hard on every possession and observe how each player plays and what they (are comfortable doing)."

As for Dolson, Rizzotti said "She is a great finisher and I am always teasing her because I expect her to make every shot. She has great hands and great footwork and I think she's going to be a good player at UConn as long as she keeps doing what they ask her to do.

"She wants to get better and wants to be an All -American and she wants them to push her. That's the right attitude for a kid to have who is going to be coached by Geno and Chris.

"She's not going to be compared Tina Charles because she is just a different type of player but think of some of the other bigger players (at UConn) like Kara Wolters, Paige Sauer and Rebecca Lobo."

I asked Rizzotti if it was going to be strange come December when there is no UConn game on the schedule since the former UConn star took her Hartford squad against the Huskies in each of the last six Decembers.

"Not really, I don't think I feel like that at all," Rizzotti said.

Rizzotti said she will play UConn again but her goal at the current time was to entice more teams from BCS conferences to sign up for home and home series with the Hawks something that was never going to happen with UConn.

"We're always going to have a tough (non-conference) schedule even though we aren't playing UConn," Rizzotti said.

UConn rising senior forward Maya Moore and former Penn State volleyball star Megan Hodge were named the co-winners of the Honda-Broderick Cup, one of the premier awards for collegiate athletes, on Monday.

It is just the second time in the awards; 34 years that there has been a tie in the voting for the collegiate female athlete of the year award.

Moore, the first junior to score more than 2,000 points at UConn, averaged 18.9 points and 8.3 rebounds during the 2009-10 season to lead the Huskies to their second straight 39-0 season and second national title in a row.

Moore is the third UConn star to win the award, joining Rebecca Lobo and Jennifer Rizzotti who won it in consecutive years in 1995 and 1996.

Moore is the 12th basketball player to win the honor but just the fourth in the last 14 years. She has a chance to join swimmer Tracy Caulkins as the only two-time winner of the award if she repeats in 2011.

CHARLES HONORED BY WNBA
Former UConn star Tina Charles was named the WNBA's Eastern Conference Player of the Week after averaging 25.5 points and 15.5 rebounds in wins over Los Angeles and Phoenix.

Charles had 26 points and a franchise record 19 rebounds in Friday's win at Los Angeles and then had 24 points and 12 rebounds on Sunday as the Sun defeated the reigning WNBA champion Mercury, Connecticut's first win at Phoenix since 2005.