ATLANTA – University of Connecticut sophomore standout Breanna Stewart has been selected as the winner of the Naismith Trophy, presented by AT&T, as announced by the Atlanta Tipoff Club on Monday.

Stewart not only became the sixth UConn player to win the Naismith Trophy presented by AT&T, but she joined some stellar company in becoming just the seventh player to win the Naismith Trophy in both high school and college.  Former Huskies star Maya Moore was the last to achieve that feat.

Stewart was announced as the award winner from among a field of finalists that included University of Notre Dame senior Kayla McBride, Stanford University senior Chiney Ogwumike and Baylor University senior Odyssey Sims.   UConn has won more Women’s Naismith Trophies than any other school – now with a total of eight, including seven times in the last 13 years.

“Having watched Breanna win the Naismith Trophy in high school, it’s no surprise that she’s dominating at the college level,” said Eric Oberman, Executive Director of the Atlanta Tipoff Club.  “And equally as impressive is the way she’s contributing to her team’s success – which reinforces her status as the ultimate team player.  We are excited to present her with another Naismith Trophy.”

“I am thrilled that Breanna has been selected as the winner off the Naismith Trophy,” head coach Geno Auriemma said.  “She worked extremely hard in the offseason to put herself in a position to have a great year and I know being selected for this prestigious honor, among this great group of finalists, is very rewarding for her.”

Stewart was chosen by the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s national voting academy.  Selections were based on individual performances throughout the 2013-14 women’s college basketball season, and the fan vote, which accounted for 25 percent of this year’s total.  This is the 10^th year fans played a role in the selection process.  The vote was tabulated by the accounting, tax and business consulting firm Habif, Arogeti & Wynne, LLP. HA&W is a top 50 US accounting firm and a 2013 “Best of the Best” firm, as named by Inside Public Accounting.

ABOUT THE WINNER:

• Stewart has averaged 19.4 points, 8.1 assists, and 3.3 assists per game for the 39-0 Huskies.
• Was named an American Athletic Conference Player of the Year and Associated Press Player of the Year
• Scored her 1,000^th career point in her 63^rd career game, marking the third-fewest games to reach 1,000 points in UConn history.
• Has scored in double-figures 36 times this season and 20+ points on 20 occasions.
• Named the 2014 American Conference Tournament Most Outstanding Player and a member of the 2014 All-American Conference Tournament Team.

First created in 1983, Old Dominion’s Anne Donovan claimed the inaugural award.

“We want to congratulate Breanna for her fantastic season guiding the success of the UConn women’s basketball team,” said Jamie Kerr, Director, AT&T Corporate Sponsorships. “We’re proud to present the Naismith Trophy to an individual like Breanna, and applaud her for being the best player in women’s college basketball this season.”

Notable Naismith Women’s College Player of the Year winners include Chamique Holdsclaw, Lisa Leslie, Maya Moore and last year’s winner, Brittney Griner, from Baylor University.

The Naismith Women’s Trophy presented by AT&T is the most prestigious national award presented annually to the women’s college basketball player of the year.  For more information, visit www.naismithawards.com.

photo credit: cloe poisson – hartford courant

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Stefanie Dolson of the University of Connecticut is the 2014 WBCA Division I Defensive Player of the Year presented by the United States Marine Corps, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) announced during the fourth annual WBCA Awards Show on Monday night. The event is part of the WBCA National Convention held in conjunction with the NCAA® Women’s Final Four®.

The Defensive Player of the Year award honors the best defensive collegiate Division I women’s basketball player. All Division I conference defensive players of the year are eligible to be nominated for the award. A selection committee makes the final decision on the winner. Baylor’s Odyssey Sims and Stanford’s Chiney Ogwumike were also finalists for the award.

Stefanie Dolson leads the American Athletic Conference in defensive rebounding with 7.1 per game and paces the Huskies effort on the glass, bringing down an average 9.1 boards per contest. Her season total of 90 blocks is the second-highest on the team and the third-highest by a senior at Connecticut. Moreover, Dolson has contributed to a UConn team that not only leads the nation in blocked shots per game (8.2), but set the NCAA single-season record with 318 heading into Tuesday’s National Championship matchup with Notre Dame. The Huskies also lead Division I in scoring defense, allowing a mere 47.3 points per game throughout the season.

Earlier this season, the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year became just the fifth Husky to record at least 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds. Among numerous career highlights from this season, Dolson logged UConn’s second-ever triple double on Nov. 20 against Oregon and became the second Husky to four-peat as an conference All-Tournament selection.

On Saturday, Dolson and teammates Bria Hartley and Breanna Stewart were named WBCA All-Americans at a presentation at the Final Four in Nashville, Tennessee. The squad will look to bring home the program’s ninth national championship on Tuesday against Notre Dame.

Past WBCA Division I Defensive Players of the Year:
2013 – Brittney Griner, Baylor University
2012 – Brittney Griner, Baylor University
2011 – Brittney Griner, Baylor University
2010 – Monica Wright, University of Virginia
2009 – Jennifer Risper, Vanderbilt University
2008 – Sylvia Fowles, Louisiana State University
2007 – Lindsey Harding, Duke University

photo credit: cloe poisson – hartford courant

UConn Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma along with Moriah Jefferson, Bria Hartley, Kaleena Mosqueda‑Lewis, Breanna Stewart, and Stefanie Dolson sat down with media in anticipation of Tuesday night’s NCAA Women’s Championship Game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN.

THE MODERATOR:  Joining us on the dais from Connecticut, head coach Geno Auriemma and student‑athletes Moriah Jefferson, Bria Hartley, Kaleena Mosqueda‑Lewis, Breanna Stewart, and Stefanie Dolson.  Any questions?

Q.  Stefanie, so much is made all season long about you guys potentially meeting for this historic game.  Now that it’s here, what does it mean to be playing in this game tomorrow night?

STEFANIE DOLSON:  Obviously historically it’s pretty cool.  It’s not something that happens all the time, having two undefeated teams play each other in the National Championship game.

For us, we’re not really thinking about that.  You can’t focus on all that stuff, all the hype that’s around the game.  We know it’s going to be a tough game with Notre Dame.  It always is.  We have to focus on ourselves and make sure our game plan is on point for the game on Tuesday.

Q.  For both Coach and maybe Kaleena, can you talk about last year, the difference between the first three games and maybe Breanna’s emergence in the Final Four and getting over the hump against Notre Dame in that matchup?

COACH AURIEMMA:  The difference between the semifinal game?  Yeah, I mean, I think every team goes through growing pains, you know.  I think for us asking so much out of our freshmen last year, I think that’s hard to do.
There aren’t a whole lot of teams that get to the Final Four that are relying on a lot of freshmen.  It’s not easy.
And funny stuff happened in those three games.  And I think in the Big East championship games, Bria had a pretty good game.  I think she played really, really well in the Big East championship game.  We just came up short.  In all three of those games had the ball or had the lead in the last minute of the game and we didn’t get the job done.

And when we got to the semifinals last year, Stewy played great, the rest of the team played great, and we handled them pretty easily.

So I guess that goes to show you that through the course of the season things change and you hope you get better.  And we got better as the season went on.

Q.  Geno, would it be one of your goals tomorrow night to make Notre Dame miss Natalie Achonwa more than they did last night?

COACH AURIEMMA:  I don’t know.  When players get hurt, sometimes that just opens up opportunities for other players.  I remember when we played Notre Dame in the 2001 semifinal, we were missing Svetlana Abrosimova and Shea Ralph.  People thought it was going to be hard for us to get to that point, to get to the Final Four.  But we had players step up and played better than they had their whole regular season.

So they’re more than just one player.  They’re more than any one individual.  And if they can continue to get contributions from their other three post players like they got yesterday, they won’t miss Natalie at all.

Q.  Coach, looking at Notre Dame, the point guard spot, how, if at all, has going from Skylar to Lindsay changed their team?

COACH AURIEMMA:  Well, the biggest notable difference is that both Kayla McBride and Jewell Loyd have gotten a lot more shots, a lot more opportunities, have been more involved in handling the ball.  So in one sense it’s made them even more dangerous.

You can just see how hard it is to defend those two.  They’re not always necessarily waiting to get the ball.  They have the ball in their hands a lot right from the beginning of the possession.  And that’s one big difference that I’ve seen in watching them play this year.

Q.  For Breanna.  Hi, Breanna.  Quick question.  Speaking to the intense rivalry between these two teams, could you‑‑ did you have a sense of appreciation for that when you sat Saturday at that table when you were named Player of the Year and you looked around, and was the tension in that room pretty appreciable and was it such that if someone had rolled a ball into the room it would have been game on?

BREANNA STEWART:  I think there were two teams in the room and they were both supporting‑‑ can you hear me?  I think that there was two teams in the room and they were both supporting their respective player and coaches.  And I don’t think that we are very fond of each other.  I think everyone knows that.  But at the same time we still respect each other and know that tomorrow night it’s going to be a huge battle.

Q.  Bria, you obviously had a chance to play in those great Tennessee games, but probably that legacy was part of what drew you to Connecticut.  I’m wondering if you could tell us what playing Notre Dame for the three years and now in your career, what it’s been like, both in terms of the games themselves and the intensity that Breanna just referred to?

BRIA HARTLEY:  Yeah, throughout my career we all know we played Notre Dame a number of times, and I think every time we played them the game was played at a really high level.  It was always really competitive, and I think those are the games we kind of live for.  Those games we were playing a really good team and you know it comes down to who is going to make the plays, who is going to step up and win, whether we came out on the losing end on the win.

It’s always been a great rivalry, great thing for women’s basketball.  I think the fans enjoy watching games like that.  Just in my career, I think it’s just great that we’re able to play them in a National Championship in my senior year, because it’s been such a competitive game throughout all the years, and I know we’ve all enjoyed it.

Q.  Breanna, when you come to Connecticut, how do you get introduced to the notion that you’re not very fond of Notre Dame, or did you know that before you came in?  How does that kind of atmosphere seep into your consciousness?

BREANNA STEWART:  Well, I don’t think it was anything when I was in high school.  I didn’t have any sense of rivalry between college teams.  But I think that last year when they beat us three times in a row, that created a sense of rivalry just because they were all so close, the games were all so close, came down to the last minute.  And we eventually were able to get them back in the semifinals last year.

Q.  Stefanie, I know how beloved you guys are in your region of the world.  But outside that, women’s basketball fans are always like anybody but Connecticut.  They want to see you guys lose.  Geno has always sort of embraced that.  He likes to be the one with the target on his back.  How as a player have you embraced that?  Do you like being the heavy, so to speak, that maybe the rest of the country is kind of rooting against because you guys are so good?

STEFANIE DOLSON:  It was something that Breanna and I stepped into when we were freshmen coming off as they had just won.  So when we initially came here to Connecticut, we already had a target on our backs.  It’s something that Coach has done, definitely embraced.  It’s something you get used to.

We know every game we play the other team is going to give us their best game and knock down shots they don’t usually make.  We’re always prepared for that.  We’re always expecting it.

And it’s something that you get used to and you definitely embrace because you just have to go out on the court with that confidence that we known one wants to see us win, so we’re going to win anyway.

Q.  Stefanie and Bria, anyone else who wants to take it, all the games last year were so intense.  This rivalry is so intense.  Have you missed not playing Notre Dame this year?  National title aside, are you looking forward to getting back on a court to test yourselves again against Notre Dame?

STEFANIE DOLSON:  We always know when we play Notre Dame it’s going to be a good game.  They’re a tough team.  We’re a tough team.  I mean, we played some great teams this year.  We’re not going to take any credit away from them, obviously.  We had some tough games this year and in the tournament.

And we’re definitely looking forward to playing the best in order to win, obviously.  It’s going to be a fun game tomorrow.  I think we’re all looking forward to it.  I’m sure they are too, so…

BRIA HARTLEY:  Yeah, I don’t know if we necessarily missed it this year, because playing a team 12 times in three years is a lot.  But I know we enjoyed the games and playing them and they were always competitive.

But like Stefanie said, we’re going to go out there go over our game plan, and we want to go out there really confident.  And I think this run in the tournament we’ve been playing pretty well, and we’re excited to go out there just play on Tuesday.

Q.  Stefanie, one of the other major differences between the programs is in terms of social media, like the Notre Dame kids can do what they want during the season with Twitter and whatnot and you guys can’t.  And they also ‑‑ strangely enough, they’re told to wear green fingernail polish and you guys can’t do that stuff.  As ladies, as social media mavens, do you miss being able to participate in any of that and being blacked out of that during the season, and will you be happy when you can go back on?  Does it have a factor at all?

STEFANIE DOLSON:  No, it’s not a factor at all.  First of all, as seniors you get used to it.  You just don’t really care.  And for us, I think it’s a benefit.  I mean, it takes away from the distractions.  I think social media is such a narcissistic thing.  I think people do it for themselves and to kind of get themselves out there.

And I think for us it just takes away that attraction and makes us focus on what we’re doing and why we’re here in college, is to play basketball, not to go on social media and boast about ourselves.

THE MODERATOR:  Thank you, ladies.

Questions for Coach Auriemma.

Q.  Geno, Muffet McGraw, in the locker room just shortly, a while ago, talked about the lack of civility that now exists in your relationship with her and the relationship between the two programs.  I wanted to know if you sort of wanted to comment on where you see or how you view your relationship with her and how you view Connecticut’s relationship with Notre Dame.

COACH AURIEMMA:  I don’t know.  I mean, I think when you play as often as we have in a short period of time, I think a lot of things happen that wouldn’t happen if you didn’t play that often.

I think you guys alluded to what’s it like being us.  Nobody knows what it’s like being us.  Nobody knows what we go through every day, what our players go through every time they win award, they get pissed off.  Worst off, they act pissed off because our guys won an award because it’s Connecticut all the time, all Connecticut all the time.

People are sick of it.  It’s just natural.  We live with it 365 days a year.  If you come in with that air, then you have to live to deal with it.

Q.  Geno, I’m wondering if Muffet‑‑ given where you’re both from, tranquility is not what’s expected of people in Philadelphia, is she taking a page from your play book, trying to get under your skin?  Is it like a‑‑

COACH AURIEMMA:  I don’t know.  I don’t know.  You’d have to ask her that.  I don’t know.  I don’t think anything about me has changed.  People who know me know I haven’t changed, and the program hasn’t changed and the respect we have for everybody else hasn’t changed.

We think we’re the best basketball program in America, but we don’t flaunt it, we don’t go around talking about it all the time.  We’re not out there all the time.

So I haven’t changed.  But a funny thing happens once they start beating us.  Everything changes.  It’s just the world we live in.  I’ve learned to deal with it.  I don’t put too much stock into what anybody says.  For me, I’m at an age now where if it’s not happening between the lines, I really don’t care.  I don’t care what anybody says.  I don’t care what anybody does.  I don’t care what conference you’re in or what school you’re at.  I don’t care about anything.

I’m at an age where I spend whatever time I need to spend worrying about those 40 minutes we’re going to be playing.  The rest of the stuff, I could care less.

Q.  Kayla McBride, who’s experienced both of you, at least you briefly at that camp and Muffet now for four years, said in many ways you’re actually the same coach and that’s why the demand for excellence, the demand for precision is why your two teams have separated themselves from the country.  Do you see that that is the one similarity left between you two?

COACH AURIEMMA:  Well, I think I said this either yesterday or the day before, when you are able to recruit really good players, which Notre Dame can and we can, and you know how to coach them, which they do and we do, you tend to have happen what’s happening.

If we were to stop getting good players or they were to stop getting good players, doesn’t matter what kind of coaches we are, we wouldn’t be here.  So we have‑‑ the only thing similar in our background, we grew up in the same area.  But there’s a lot of similarity in terms of how her team plays and how my team plays.  I think that’s very similar in what’s demanded and what’s expected and how we share the ball, the intensity level we play at, and I think that’s probably why the games are the way they are.

We’ve got two really, really good teams.  Forget the other stuff.  The other stuff is such nonsense.  Really, that’s nonsense.  I could sit here and list 10,000 coaches that don’t interact with each other whose rivalries are intense.  This is a function of women’s basketball.  Sometimes we act like girls, like we’re supposed to go to dinner every night.

We’re supposed to play each other, try to beat each other’s brains in, try to win a National Championship and compete like hell, Muffet and Geno, and then we’re supposed to get together afterwards and go have a bottle of wine.  That’s just not going to happen.  So stop asking us why it doesn’t happen.

Q.  Geno, like with boxers when you have two heavyweights in the press conferences before they fight, they often go back and forth to try to get under each other’s skin.  Is there any element of that in this?

COACH AURIEMMA:  I don’t think so.  I mean, I don’t know.

Q.  Is there any advantage?

COACH AURIEMMA:  Not on me, not on my end.  Because I don’t think it means anything.  I don’t think it means anything at all.  This isn’t Muhammad Ali taunting Joe Frazier.  That’s not what this is about.

I think deep down that’s not who Muffet is, and that’s not who I am.  We don’t sit up here and taunt each other because we’re trying to get under each other’s skin.  I don’t think that’s got any part of it.

It’s superfluous.  We use big words, too.

Q.  There’s been a lot of talk about the undefeatedness and all the other stuff.  But the sort of under‑angle is this would be No. 9 if you win and doing it here in Tennessee and just what would it mean to win that ninth title and become the all‑time winningest coach as far as championships go as far as in women’s basketball?

COACH AURIEMMA:  I don’t know.  I think if you win a National Championship, that doesn’t really‑‑ I don’t think it really matters where you win it, who you’re playing against.

Anytime you win a National Championship, it’s pretty special.  When Pat won No. 8, there may have been a perception out there nobody’s ever going to catch Pat.

So if Connecticut or anybody else were to win eight or nine, somebody’s going to come around someday and win ten.  I’m really not a numbers guy.  I don’t really get caught up in that stuff.  I’ve said this 100,000 times.  Wednesday morning, when I wake up, win or lose, my life doesn’t change one iota.

Now, Stewy said she came to Connecticut to win four national championships.  So that’s what I think is more significant for Bria and Stefanie Dolson, to win a National Championship their senior year.  That’s pretty significant, because they only get X amount of chances to do it.

God willing, I’ll get more chances down the road.  So that’s kind of been my focus.  Ever since maybe like the second or third one, you know, after a while it’s just like, yeah, it’s great, but it’s not, not because it’s going to change my life.

At one time I did want to win championships because it was going to change my life, because I thought I wasn’t getting paid enough.  But now that I am, I really don’t care.

Q.  Coach, I have a two‑parter here.  A, was it uncomfortable for you to be in that room with them the other day?  And, B, I wonder if you would comment on what Muffet said earlier about how, quote, it’s amazing how they’ve committed the fewest fouls in the country, unquote.

COACH AURIEMMA:  Actually it was not uncomfortable for me at all to be in that room.  I thought Stewy deserved to be Player of the Year and I’m glad I was there to be a part of it, and I thought Muffet deserved to be Coach of the Year and I’m glad I was a part of it.

It wasn’t uncomfortable for me at all.  Not at all.  Maybe because I’ve been in those situations so many times, it doesn’t bother me.

When you won as much as we won you get to appreciate when other people win.  So it’s not all about Connecticut all the time.  So it wasn’t uncomfortable for me at all.

As far as the foul part, the only thing more amazing than that, than how we’ve committed so few fouls, is how many free throws they’ve shot against us in the last three years; that only one team in America gets to shoot free throws against us.  You want to talk about amazing, that’s amazing.

Q.  It’s following up on what Doug was asking you about, winning the ninth one.  Would it be meaningful, though, to do it in this state?  I know you said it doesn’t matter, but where Pat Summitt made her name, where you guys have enjoyed an intense rivalry, too, over the years.

COACH AURIEMMA:  Honest to God, I may have said this when I first got here.  When I found out that the‑‑ when I found out that the Final Four was going to be in Nashville, I just assumed that if we got this far, if we were fortunate enough to get this far, that we would have to play Tennessee at some point.

And I know how disappointed their fans are and their coaches and their players, obviously.  And I’m sure if that had happened, then it would all be brought out and it would‑‑ all those memories would come back, you know.
But not now.  Not now.  It’s‑‑ I think Connecticut, Tennessee, Geno, Pat, all that stuff, that’s history.  It’s great while it lasted, but that’s history.

Q.  Coach McGraw said playing in the ACC helped make them tournament‑ready.  Did you get that from the American, and if not, how do you grow‑‑

COACH AURIEMMA:  No, we didn’t.  We got it by beating all those ACC teams.

Q.  How do you grow a conference, or do you focus on the nonconference?

COACH AURIEMMA:  Like what I said was we really can’t focus on any of that.  In 1995‑‑ I don’t remember when Notre Dame joined the Big East, but in 1995 we were undefeated going into the NCAA Tournament.  Exactly two teams from the Big East went to the NCAA Tournament that year.  And everybody, all they kept talking about was you’re not tournament ready, not like the SEC teams are, not like the Pac‑12 teams are.  You’re not tournament ready.

I wish I could say there’s some truth to that, but I don’t know.  I don’t know because I’ve had teams play in the best conference in the country in the Big East and not get to the Final Four and I’ve had teams play in the old Big East where we won every game by 40 and win the National Championship.

So I don’t know.  I don’t know.  If Muffet thinks that helped them, I would venture to say Muffet played a lot better teams last year in the old Big East than she did this year.  Guarantee it.

Q.  Your success has given her a bit of a chip on her shoulder.  You just made two remarks, one about Moriah getting a good education and not a Notre Dame education, and another, superfluous ‑‑ we use big words too ‑‑ is there some chip on your shoulder about Connecticut education against the Notre Dame education?

COACH AURIEMMA:  No.  No, but you have to understand in recruiting, when we recruit somebody and the kind of kids that we recruit, it always comes down to us, Stanford, Duke, Notre Dame.  I would say 90 percent of the kids we recruit, it always comes down to that, and the refrain that we always hear in recruiting is how could you pass up a world‑class education to go to UConn.

So I just kind of like to laugh about it.  Last time I checked our library, we have lots of books.  And they’re all pretty good.

Q.  Geno, seems like you’ve played a role in just about every significant historical moment this sport’s had in the last 20 years.  You’re going to have another one tomorrow.  And I’m wondering, is there a parallel to be drawn between what we’ll see tomorrow and what happened that night at Gampel against Tennessee, and do you think this might help in some way take the game another step?

COACH AURIEMMA:  I think whenever you have‑‑ whenever you have the two best teams in America playing against each other, obviously there’s going to be a lot more interest than their normally would be.

The fact that it’s Notre Dame and Connecticut, I think the women’s basketball fan obviously has an interest in tomorrow night’s game; the almost women’s basketball fan will have an interest in the game; those that have not had any interest may tune in to see what’s going on.

So I think all that is important.  All that is good on the way to, I think, where we want the game to go.  There needs to be more rivalries like Connecticut and Notre Dame.  There needs to be more games like Connecticut and Notre Dame where the intensity level is that high, where you have so many good players on the floor playing at a real high level.

And there are more than there have been in the past, but I think people out there need to see it.  And I think it’s good that an awful lot of people on a really big stage are going to get to see it tomorrow night.

So whether Connecticut wins tomorrow or Notre Dame wins tomorrow, the actual game itself will‑‑ the actual game of women’s basketball come Wednesday morning will be better off for what happens tomorrow than if it had never happened.  I truly believe that.

Q.  Geno, along those lines, was this sort of the perfect storm this year because you guys didn’t play and if you had there wouldn’t be two undefeateds and there is this rivalry?  Was it sort of everything came together here for this potential historic game that could grow the sport and make it more along the lines of what people are hoping it becomes?

COACH AURIEMMA:  Yeah, I think sometimes the women’s NCAA Tournament is kind of predictable, but predictable is not always good.  Like tonight our men are playing Kentucky and it’s a No. 7 versus No. 8.  The chances of that happening in women’s basketball are probably zero.  It’s just not going to happen.

So the predictable part of it is you know which teams are going to win pretty much all the time.  There’s a reason for that.  All of our players stay pretty much four years.  I understand that Connecticut wouldn’t be here if our players were able to leave early.  Kayla McBride wouldn’t be there, Jewell Loyd wouldn’t be there, Stewy wouldn’t be here, Bria and Stefanie probably wouldn’t be here.

The fact that all these guys get to stay for four years allows the absolute best teams in the country to play each other on the final night.  That’s what’s best for women’s basketball.

There’s a lot of bad games on television.  There’s a lot of bad men’s games on television, too, don’t get me wrong.  But I think whenever it is a game on national television between two great teams and it’s going to be played at a high level, there’s nothing that could be better for the sport.

Q.  Could you talk about matchups and what are key areas, key player matchups as you look at this game?

COACH AURIEMMA:  Well, there’s absolutely‑‑ I don’t think‑‑ there’s no matchup for Kayla McBride and Jewell Loyd.  I don’t think anybody in the country has figured out how to guard those two.  And I’m not sure we’re going to be able to guard them either.  I think we’ve got to come up with a game plan where we’ve got some things they’re going to struggle with trying to defend.

But the two teams are so similar.  If somebody were to ask me what’s the biggest downside to playing these guys tomorrow is that we’re just too similar.  We do a lot of the same things.  That’s always not good.  I’d rather play somebody that’s completely different than us that looks at what we’re doing and goes:  What?  What is that?

But they know exactly what they’re doing.  We know exactly what they’re doing.  So it’s really going to come down to if one team shoots 55 percent from the floor, there’s no way the other team is going to win tomorrow unless the other team gets every offensive rebound like Notre Dame did last night.

So it’s going to come down to just making shots, because I think each team is going to struggle defensively to stop the other team.

Q.  I just sat down, Geno.  I don’t know if anyone approached you, but do you feel it’s kind of surreal that Immaculata a few minutes ago‑‑ that whole era, you were associated with the camps, kids named in the Hall of Fame, and now you and Muffet, who also was involved, are playing for a championship?

COACH AURIEMMA:  Philadelphia has been at the center of women’s basketball since Immaculata.  And I don’t know that the city or its products have ever been away from that.  It’s been a constant from as long as I can remember.

And rightly so.  I mean, that area of the country produced some of the best players ever, some of the best coaches ever, some of the best teams ever.

And finally I’m thrilled that Immaculata is in there.  We tend to forget just the impact that they had.  Had they been doing today what they were doing back then, they would be off the charts.

So they did it in an era when not too many people are paying attention, but I think it’s important for our history that we go back and celebrate that.  And I’m proud to be from that era and I’m proud to know all those people that were part of it.  I think Muffet and I are part of that.

Q.  Geno, Lindsay Allen in this tournament has 24 assists with just four turnovers.  Is there anything you can do to throw her off her game tomorrow night?

COACH AURIEMMA:  I don’t know.  She’s had a great year all around.  Somebody asked me recently how come we have so many assists, and I said because every time you pass the ball, you’re passing it to a pretty good player.
And I wish I could have been Lindsay Allen this year and just come down the floor and make a decision, should I pass it to Kayla McBride or should I pass it to Jewell Loyd.  I think players that understand their roles and players that play their roles really, really well are a huge key to having a championship team.

And the outside world probably doesn’t appreciate it.  But I’m sure her teammates and her coaching staff understand the impact she’s had on their team.

And we’ve got a pretty good point guard, pretty good defensively.  So we’ll see.

Q.  Geno, if they send their guards to the board the way they did last night, how vulnerable do they become to your fastbreak?

COACH AURIEMMA:  Only if we rebound it.  I mean, there’s a lot of‑‑ there’s a lot of things you can do to stop a team in transition.  The two best are send everybody back on defense or send everybody to the offensive boards.

But those are both really good.

Now, one of the things‑‑ it’s not bad strategy to do either one.  I don’t know which is the best strategy.  But one strategy that I know you have to have, and that’s defensive rebounding.  If you can’t defensive rebound, then you can’t beat Notre Dame in a million years.  And that’s going to be a huge challenge for us tomorrow night.
Everybody’s so serious here today.  What’s going on?

Q.  We’ll try to make it loose then?

COACH AURIEMMA:  Loosen it up a little, would you?

Q.  Two‑part question.  First, could you talk about’95 when you played Tennessee during the regular season and beating them.  What do you remember about that day?  Also, the second part, can you talk about just now from that day to now what your kids have accomplished here to go from a losing program to one that can set a record tomorrow night?

COACH AURIEMMA:  That day was one of the‑‑ that day was one of the most amazing days that I’ve ever experienced.  We had come so close to playing them in the NCAA Tournament and we always seemed to lose before we got to them early on,’88,’89.  I know ESPN was working really, really hard to try to put together a Martin Luther King Day game, and they approached us and I was really excited that somebody would want to do that.

When we found out that Tennessee was going to be the opponent, it was just exactly what we needed at that time.  We needed to be in that game on national television, to be tested like that.  And for us to win that game and the fan reaction the way it was and the aftermath of that game, we went ten straight years until 2004 where we sold out every single game at Gampel Pavilion and XL Center.

That’s what that game did.  And what it also did was give us a platform to go out and recruit the best players in the country.  I think without that happening, without us winning the National Championship in Minneapolis, we probably wouldn’t have been able to do that.

At that time, you know, when we won that game and when we won in Minneapolis, I never imagined that it would come to this.  That’s a little farfetched to think that this was in the cards.  So to look back now, whenever I see the numbers and the things that we’ve done, I kind of just shake my head.  I would hate us, too.

Q.  If Muffet is talking, have you succeeded in getting in her head?  Isn’t that when people generally talk?  Two, isn’t there some side of you that kind of appreciates that when other people are talking trash a little bit?

COACH AURIEMMA:  I don’t think Muffet’s going to win the game tomorrow night.  I don’t think I’m going to win it.  I don’t think I’m going to lose it.  I don’t think Muffet’s going to lose it.  So all that other stuff I think it would be much more interesting if Kayla McBride and Stewy were going at it, like they do in the NBA.  You don’t see in the NBA the coaches saying this, that, the other thing.  It’s all the players talking trash.

And I don’t think it’s anything like that.  I don’t think it’s anything like that.  I think it’s just natural.  Like I don’t know why everybody thinks it’s like a big deal or that it’s like a wow moment, I can’t believe that.  I just think it’s natural.

Like when we came along and started beating Tennessee, you know at some point it was going to get a little chippy.  And it did.  So you know at some point when you play Notre Dame enough times and it’s not one‑sided anymore.  For the longest time, from 2001 to I don’t know when, it was all one‑sided.  So, of course, it was civil.  Because it just doesn’t have that intensity level yet.  But then once you start playing each other two, three times, four times a year, it gets pretty intense for lots of reasons.  It’s only natural.  It’s only natural.  It will probably‑‑ it will probably die down, now that we’re not in the same conference, now that we probably are only going to play each other once a year.  If you get to the tournament, maybe two.

But what was happening before, that’s just not realistic.  That’s not normal.  It’s not healthy, to be honest with you.  I don’t think it’s healthy.  Play teams four times a year.  I don’t think they want to do it.  We certainly didn’t want to do it.  It’s just too much.

Q.  Coach, just curious, some coaches who have coached men and women will say I don’t ever want to coach that side anymore, I’d rather coach this side.  What has kept you with women’s basketball as opposed to dabbling, say, in men’s basketball?

COACH AURIEMMA:  Well, probably two reasons.  One, for the longest time no one even in women’s basketball wanted me.  So I got the Connecticut job and I thought four years from now I want to go to a really good school and win a National Championship.  And nobody wanted me so I’m stuck.

And then when we got to be really good, there weren’t any men’s programs knocking on my door saying I have a great idea, let’s hire the women’s coach from Connecticut.  That wasn’t going to happen.

I coached my son’s AAU team, and we had five Division I players on that team, and I said now I know why I’m not coaching men.

A lot of things have happened to make me think I’ve got a pretty good job where I am.

What did coaching my son’s team tell me about men?  They’re uncoachable.  Don’t get me wrong.  It was fun.  You don’t have to throw nine passes to get a shot.  You just screw up a play, throw it up at the rim, guy catches and dunks and you go like this.  I love that about coaching guys.

Here are the Notre Dame National Championship Pregame quotes.

quotes courtesy of asap sports

photo credit: john woike – hartford courant

After being swept by the Milwaukee Brewers, the Boston Red Sox will finish up the six game homestand starting tonight with the first of three against the Texas Rangers at Fenway Park.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. The game will be broadcast on NESN in the Red Sox television market. If you live in the Rangers market, you can catch the game on Fox Sports Southwest. If you don’t live in either market you’re in luck as ESPN will have coverage of the game. You can also catch the game online at WatchESPN. And if you can’t catch the game on television, you can always listen on the 2014 Red Sox Radio Network.

John Lackey gets the ball tonight for the Red Sox for the second time in 2014. He picked up the win in his first start after allowing two earned runs in six innings of work. He made two starts against the Rangers in 2013 and was 0-1 with a 3.27 ERA. He’s made 38 career starts against them and is 12-15 with a 6.01 ERA.

Tanner Scheppers makes his second start of 2014 after getting the nod on Opening Day for the Rangers. He picked up a no decision in that start after allowing seven runs in four innings of work. He made three appearances against the Red Sox in 2013 and had no record with a 2.70 ERA (1 ER/3.1 IP). He’s made five career appearances against the local nine and had no record with a 1.80 ERA (1 ER/5 IP). Three of those appearances have come at the Fens where has no record with 3.38 ERA (1 ER/2.2 IP).

3-3		2-5
1. Shin-Soo Choo	LF	1. Daniel Nava	LF
2. Elvis Andrus	SS	2. Dustin Pedroia	2B
3. Prince Fielder	1B	3. David Ortiz	DH
4. Adrian Beltre	3B	4. Mike Napoli	1B
5. Alex Rios	RF	5. Grady Sizemore	CF
6. Mitch Moreland	DH	6. Xander Bogaerts	SS
6. Donnie Murphy	2B	7. A.J. Pierzynski	C
8. Leonys Martins	CF	8. Jonathan Herrera	3B
9. J.P. Arencibia	C	9. Jackie Bradley Jr.	RF
Tanner Scheppers	SP	John Lackey	SP

NOTES:

The Red Sox signed Ryan Roberts earlier in the day. To make room on the 40-man roster, they transferred Steven Wright to the 60-day DL. To make room on the 25-man roster, they optioned Brock Holt to Triple-A Pawtucket.

Here is how the hitters have fared against the starting pitchers during the regular season over their careers.

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After Ortiz, White House may ban Presidential selfies [csn new england]

Are they who we thought they were (in 2013)? [csn new england]

Red Sox try to end skid at three [espn boston]

Video: Forget about the Brewers. Red Sox get ready for Rangers [extra bases]

Red Sox-Rangers series preview [full count]

A Series Matter: Red Sox-Rangers and Ranking Small-Sample Worries [providence journal]

Lackey faces familiar foe as Rangers come to town [red sox]

Different cast, different challenges: Adversity arrives early for 2014 Red Sox [redsox.com]

Red Sox haven’t had a smooth start, and you know what that means? Nothing at all [touching all the bases]

photo credits: getty images, getty images

BOSTON, MA-The Boston Red Sox today signed free agent infielder Ryan Roberts, who will be active for tonight’s game against the Rangers at Fenway Park, wearing No. 7. To make room for him on the 25-man roster, infielder Brock Holt was optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket.   To make room for Roberts on the 40-man roster, right-handed pitcher Steven Wright was transferred to the 60-day disabled list.

Executive Vice President/General Manager Ben Cherington made the announcement.

Roberts, 33, is a veteran of parts of the last eight major league seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays (2006-07), Texas Rangers (2008), Arizona Diamondbacks (2009-12), and Tampa Bay Rays (2012-13). He played 18 games with the Chicago Cubs this spring.

The right-handed batter has hit .266 against left-handed pitching in the major leagues, with a .341 on-base percentage and .444 slugging percentage against southpaws. Originally signed by the Blue Jays as an 18^th-round selection in the 2003 June Draft, he has hit .245 (363-for-1,481) with 204 runs scored, 71 doubles, four triples, 46 home runs, 169 RBI, 163 walks, and 35 stolen bases in 510 big league games overall.

Defensively, he has primarily played third base (217 games, 195 starts) and second base (197 games, 148 starts), while also appearing in left field (36 games, 24 starts), first base (3 games), shortstop (1 game), and right field (1 game).

In four stints with the Rays last season, Roberts hit .247 (40-for-162) with six doubles, five homers, 1 RBI, and 11 walks in 60 games. He batted .305 with an .845 OPS against left-handed pitching, with four of his five homers coming off southpaws. One of his two multi-homer games of the year came on April 22 at Tropicana Field, when he went deep twice off New York Yankees lefty CC Sabathia.

In 2013, he appeared defensively for Tampa Bay at second base (48 games, 30 starts), third base (9 games, 6 starts), and first base (3 games). He also played in 30 games for the Rays’ Triple-A affiliate in Durham.

The native of Fort Worth, TX made a career-high 127 starts with the Diamondbacks in 2011, playing 107 games at third base. That year he set single-season highs while ranking among primary National League third basemen with 66 walks (1^st), 18 stolen bases (1^st in MLB), and 19 home runs (3^rd).

He started all five games in Arizona’s 2011 National League Division Series loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, hitting .350 (7-for-20) with a double, two homers, and six RBI. In Game 4, he hit a first-inning grand slam.

Holt, 25, was recalled to Boston yesterday but did not appear in the Red Sox’ loss to the Brewers. He returns to Pawtucket, where he hit .364 (4-for-11) with two doubles, two walks, three runs scored, and a stolen base in three games to begin the season. Acquired by the Red Sox as part of a six-player trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates in December 2012, the left-handed batter appeared in 26 games with the Red Sox in 2013 and made 17 starts, all at third base, hitting .203 (12-for-59) with two doubles, 11 RBI, and seven walks.

Wright, 29, had been placed on the 15-day disabled list on March 27 (retroactive to March 21) while recovering from right sports hernia surgery. The right-handed knuckleball pitcher made his big league debut with four outings for the Red Sox last year, including one start, and went 2-0 with a 5.40 ERA (8 ER/13.1 IP) and 10 strikeouts. He spent the majority of the 2013 season with Pawtucket, where he posted an 8-7 record with a 3.46 ERA (52 ER/135.1 IP) in 24 starts. Signed by the Indians as a second-round selection in the 2006 June Draft, he was acquired by the Red Sox at the 2012 trade deadline after converting to knuckleball to begin the 2011 season.