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Here are the 2014 Elite Eight pregame quotes from UConn Huskies women’s basketball head coach Geno Auriemma and some of his players from Sunday’s media conference.

Geno Auriemma, UConn Head Coach
Opening Statement

“These are pretty much standard. You win a game. You don’t have time to celebrate the really good win that we had yesterday. And already you are thinking about what you have to do tomorrow night. That’s really one of the great challenges of this tournament. You don’t have time to dwell on what just happened. It’s a quick turnaround to play a completely different team tomorrow night than we played last night. And I know we put a lot of minutes in. These five guys played a lot of minutes yesterday. I think we’ve seen enough during the last four to five months that regardless of what happens tomorrow, we’ll be ready.”

On the Elite Eight being a gut-check game

“It’s just always been my experience. I don’t know how it is for anybody else. I like to read books obviously. As coaches, we have a lot of airplane time and bus time whatever. It’s like when you read about people who climb Mount Everest. You know? They get to where it’s 500, 600 feet away from the top and that’s when most accidents happen. That’s when most people die. That’s because you can see the end. You can see the result of all of your hard work. But now is when you have to be the most careful. So here you are, you are one game away from the Final Four. That’s every kid’s dream, you know, when you go to college. You’re right there. You are right on the edge. And it affects people in different ways. That’s why I think it’s difficult.”

On what his team needs to look out for tomorrow night

“Yesterday’s game plan probably won’t work. Our first play yesterday was we were going to have (Breanna Stewart) take an uncontested shot that she had no chance of making. And I think she was aiming for Hamson’s back of her head, maybe to get her out of the game for a couple times because it didn’t hit anything on the way to the floor. Starting the game in a way that from a conference standpoint, you get exactly the shots you want. And that’s so crucial I think at this time of the year. Right in those first five minutes you get shots that you normally get during the course of the year and you get off to a good start and your confidence is high. You can do different things defensively when you are making shots. I’m sure it’s the same thing with Texas A&M. At this time of the year, everyone’s biggest fear is making shots, because as you get closer and closer to the Final Four, kids are usually just carefree and line up threes and knock them in. It doesn’t work that way in the final eight. You saw those BYU kids in the first half. Hey, you know, this is like we are playing Gonzaga or playing Pacific. This is cool.

And then the last 15 minutes of the game they realize they are in the NCAA Tournament and playing for the national championship and those shots don’t go in anymore. I think every coach’s biggest fear is how do your players respond on the offensive end. The defensive end is the defensive end. You’re not going to shut anybody out at this time of the year. Bria (Hartley) said it right. We do a really good job of not fouling. I think we led the country this year in fewest fouls. So if tomorrow is a foul fest, if tomorrow all of a sudden becomes 20 fouls on them and 20 on us, we are going to lose.”

On if foul trouble concerns him with only six players playing significant time

“You usually get down to seven or eight max at this time of year. I think for teams that play 10 this time of year, it’s going to be a struggle. You really don’t have the kind of continuity that you want to have when you play that many players. Six is probably not enough. I remember in Minneapolis in 1995, we played six. And in the first half, we had three All-Americans on the bench with fouls. Then the officials went in the locker room and probably looked at each other and said ‘we are the dumbest people on the floor today. Not the players.’ And in the second half we didn’t foul and you win the game. I think any time you are playing in the NCAA Tournament, fouls are a huge issue, because the teams you are playing against are good enough that if you have a couple really good players on the bench, you can’t cover for that because the other team is really good. Like yesterday, BYU – a couple of their really good players got in foul trouble and they couldn’t make up for that. And it would be the same for us. Playing really intelligent basketball at this time of the year is probably the most important thing. Everybody’s tired. Everybody’s either in great shape or not. Everybody’s got strengths. Everybody’s got weaknesses. But generally speaking, the teams that are the most intelligent with their talent aren the teams that move on.”

On instilling discipline

“You start out with getting players that are really coachable. You heard Jeff talk about how we had the best players in the country. And I’m sure Gary will bring it up more than once in the next couple days about how we have the best players in the country and woe is me. I wonder how these other players feel when they’re coach is telling them they suck and that our players are really good. So it starts out with us getting the best players that ever lived. And then we try to just coach them a little bit. We try to recruit players that are coachable. And then we talk to them in practice about we’re going to work really, really hard. But the minute you smack somebody, all of your hard work is negated. So why would you want to work that hard on the defensive end and then be stupid and smack somebody for no reason whatsoever. And after a while they get to understand that if I want to stay in the game, I can’t foul. If I foul, I’m going to sit down. I don’t care who you are. You know? Somebody asked me yesterday, ‘were you mad at Bria?’ I said, ‘no. I wasn’t mad at Bria. Bria gets two fouls in the first half.’ They understand that if I foul, I’m not going to play. So if that’s part of your culture, then it just kind of becomes who you are year after year after year. It’s like teams who take bad shots. They take bad shots every year. They just come down and whatever shot they feel like taking, they take it. And that becomes who you are as well. I think it’s not necessarily that our players are better than everybody else, which in a lot of cases they are. But if we allow them to do some of the dumb stuff that other players do, they wouldn’t be any better. I don’t know. I just think that’s called coaching. You recruit coachable players and then you coach the hell out of them.”

On UConn’s recent history against Texas A&M

“I don’t know. When we played them there last year, it was really early in the season. They were playing a lot of young guys and a lot of those young guys have grown up a little bit. They are a year older this year. You can see the maturity in their team. I’ve always admired Courtney Walker. I think she’s one of the best guards in America today that a lot of people don’t even talk about. I liked her in high school and I like her even more now. They had Kelsey Bone and I think that their offense was maybe more geared to players in the post and I think their guards are more in charge now and I think it’s made them an even more dangerous team. The fact that we won by a lot down there last year, I don’t know that it has any significance this time of year. I think they are playing really, really well. Really good players have short memories. I bet if you ask them what the score was last year, they probably don’t even remember.”

On if he recruited any of Texas A&M’s players

“We got Moriah Jefferson. That was kind of unusual in the sense that we don’t get a lot of players from that part of the world for whatever reason. I think kids that grow up down that way; I think they think they need a passport to go to Connecticut. I’m not sure they realize we are all in the same Union here. So they tend to stay down south. (Jefferson) was an exceptionable situation, but generally speaking we haven’t had a lot of success down there. And from what I understand, she had committed to Oklahoma earlier. By the time I really got a chance to see her up front and center, she had kind of already made a decision about where she wanted to go. We were involved with Kelsey Bone a little bit. She went to South Carolina and then back to A&M, so that’s the neat thing about college basketball nowadays. There’s a lot of good players all over the country. And if you can keep the ones that grow up in the area close to you, then you have a chance to have a really good team and Gary (Blair) has done a really good job of that.”

On what he expects to see from Texas A&M style-wise

“They’ll probably play 40 minutes of zone. You know? You coach a certain way, that’s how you are going to play. I don’t think you change how you coach and change how your team plays at this time in the season. If they are a man-to-man team, which they are, that’s what they are going to do. They are going to play the way they’ve played most of the season. I think it’s a bad message to send to your team if you say ‘look, we are a really good man-to-man team, but not against these guys. We can’t play man-to-man. We are going to have to play zone.’ Then all of a sudden, the kids start to think, ‘oh, boy. Our best defense isn’t any good against their offense?’ I think you have to go with what your strength is and go to where you feel most comfortable. We’re going to do the same thing. We are going to play the same way we’ve played all year long. That’s why some matchups are better than others. Going into the BYU game, I thought this wasn’t an easy matchup for us for a lot of different reasons. But you can’t all of a sudden make a change in one day and go, ‘we defended the ball screen this way for four months and now we are going to defend it this way today.’ We guarded down screens this way and now we are going to do it this way.’ You can’t. You have to go with what your strengths are and we know what their strengths are. We know what they are. We know what our strengths are. They know what they are. We make a lot of money as coaches, so we have to make things sound complicated. But, basically speaking, when they shoot it and it goes in and we shoot it and it doesn’t go in, they are going to win. And if we make more shots than they do, we are going to win. The perfect example is yesterday. The NCAA Tournament is about making shots. We know each team has guys that can make shots.”

On Arkansas hiring Jimmy Dykes

“That’s funny. That was a topic of conversation this morning. As a matter of fact, I’ve known Jimmy for a long time. When I saw it, I was like ‘wow. How many Jimmy Dykes do I know?’ And I realized it was the same one. Hey, it’s certainly thinking outside the box, isn’t it? Like I said, I don’t know much about the University of Arkansas’ athletic program basketball-wise. I remember when Gary (Blair) was there and they went to the Final Four and had a lot of success. Tom (Collen) had a moniker of success there until recently. But I think changing conferences and going to the SEC, I think that changed a lot for them. Back in the day, even before Gary got there, I think they had a really high profile, and I think when Gary got there and they started playing Tennessee all the time and playing Georgia and you are playing all these really good teams, I think the expectations are really high there now. Jimmy certainly has an awful lot of basketball in his background. None of it with women. It will be interesting. That will be one I’m sure a lot of people will be watching pretty closely.”

Reporter: “Coach, you mentioned something about matchups and how teams do that. Gary’s going to say you have McDonald’s All-Americans and he’s got Burger King’s…”

Auriemma: “Actually that’s not really true, but that’s how those guys talk.”

On why Blair is able to win

“I think they start out from a defensive standpoint. They play pretty good defense night in and night out, so they give themselves a chance to win. They recruit pretty good athletes. They have their share of All-Americans that get better. They take advantage of their strengths, you know? I think he’s pretty good at getting his players to buy in to what he thinks is important. They rebound the ball. They do all the things that good teams do. They generally don’t beat themselves. They don’t come out do things that make you scratch your head. Like what are they doing? When you’re solid and you do fundamentally good things, then that transfers no matter what school you are at. You get a certain kind of kid, which he does, and his teams at Stephen F. Austin, at Arkansas, at Texas A&M – they all look the same. He has a philosophy and he sticks to it.”

On the DFW Elite

“I remember watching them when they had that run for three or four years it seemed like. And without question, they were one of the more dominant programs in America. So it’s no surprise that those kids have gone on to play at a really high level. They work at it all year round. They take it seriously. There’s probably more good players two hours in the Dallas vicinity than there are in all of New England. It’s no surprise what they did when they were in high school and it’s no surprise what they are doing now. It’s a credit to their program and the way they operate. Then right down the road in Houston, you have one that’s almost just as good. There’s an awful lot of All-Americans that are growing up in Texas. If you’re not getting them, don’t come crying to me.”

UConn Student-Athletes
Moriah Jefferson, UConn Sophomore Guard

On being recruited by Texas A&M

“I remember (Coach Gary Blair) is a funny guy. I was recruited by them starting in eighth grade and I went on a couple trips up there. It was a nice program, but I think UConn just fit me.” On her familiarity with the Texas A&M players “We played together in eighth grade through the rest of high school. We played on the same AAU team, but we’ve talked a couple of times since I’ve been here, but it’s strictly business now.”

Stefanie Dolson, UConn Senior Center

On preparing for a team that is more guard-oriented like Texas A&M

“We just have to make sure that we do a good job of containing their dribble penetration, making sure we make it difficult for them to get into the lane. Even though they’re different from BYU, they have Karla Gilbert, they have a really big man and they can rebound. They’re going to be extremely physical with us so we have to be ready for that. Today in practice we’re just going to focus on executing our offense and making sure we go out and execute our game plan.”

Senior Guard Bria Hartley, UConn Senior Guard

On the challenges of facing a physical team like A&M

“I think like Stephanie said, you really want to contain their dribble penetration, have really good help defense. I think it is important to go out there and play defense without fouling. With teams that like to attack, sometimes you get caught up and have a touch foul here or there. I think we really have to work on that and concentrate on that. I think our team does a really good job of communicating and helping each other out. We have to go out there, be aggressive and force them to make tough plays.”

Locker Room Quotes

Kiah Stokes, UConn Junior Center

On playing in the Regional Final fairly close to home

“It’s been great. It’s easy for my family to come out and drive a few hours out here instead of traveling all the way to the east coast. It’s great to have them here. We’re just excited and looking forward to the game tomorrow.”

On the team’s performance heading into the Regional Final

“I think we’re playing pretty well together. Obviously, yesterday was a good test for us, and I think we needed that. It’s not always going to be easy, so it was a good test. We’ve been playing pretty well, so we just need to keep it up and focus on a game at a time.”

On playing against a physical Texas A&M team

“I know they need me to come in and be a big defensive presence. It’s something I’m good at and something I can do, so I’m looking forward to it. It’ll be a great game for sure. It’ll be a different type of game than we played on Saturday, so we’re really excited for it.”

On Texas A&M

“They’re very aggressive, and they’re going to play physical. With fighting to get to the Final Four, it’s going to be intense. We can’t be afraid of contact, because there will be fouls on both ends. It’s going to be physical and aggressive, so we need to be ready.”

On being one win away from the Final Four

“We know it is crunch time. They’re playing to get to the Final Four just like we are, so it’s going to be tough. They want to be the ones to beat UConn, so we have to be focused and ready.”

Saniya Chong, UConn Freshman Guard

On finding a way against BYU on Saturday

“Yesterday wasn’t our best, but we played much better in the second half. We didn’t hit shots in the first half, but our defense was good which pulled us together. The second half was much better.”

On the lessons learned from Saturday’s challenging game

“Some of our other games have been blowouts. Yesterday kind of opened our eyes to how it’s going to be for the rest of this season. It also taught us that if our shots aren’t falling, still work hard and always get back on defense.”

On what they know about the Aggies

“They have pretty good scorers on their team. They go to the basket hard and are very aggressive. We have to be more aggressive than they are, and we need a good 40 minutes.”

On her freshman season with the Huskies

“Being a part of this team is so remarkable. They’re my family, so it’s great to be a part of this.”

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Quotes courtesy of UConn Athletic Communications

photo credit: cloe poisson – hartford courant

Paw Prints is our daily look at the happenings for the UConn Huskies football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball teams as well as the other sports the student-athletes engage in. We will do our best to bring you the links from all of the media that covers the Huskies on a daily basis.

Thank you for stopping by and making SOX & Dawgs your home for UConn Huskies news.

It’s game day for the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team as they’ll take on the Michigan State Spartans for the right to go to the Final Four in Dallas. Tip is scheduled for 2:20 p.m. and the game will be broadcast nationally on CBS. You can also watch it on your mobile device or tablet on the March Madness app. If you can’t watch the game and live locally in Connecticut you can listen to Joe D. and Wayne Norman on the UConn IMG Radio Network.

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

UConn Men’s Basketball links

UConn Men’s Elite Elight Pregame Quotes [sox & dawgs]

Video: UConn Men Prepare For Elite 8 [sox & dawgs]

UConn Vs. Michigan State: Taking The Train, ‘Not Backing Down,’ Notes, Quotes and Thoughts From The Garden [dom amore – hartford courant]

UConn’s Postgame Tradition, A Tweet from LeBron James, Kevin Ollie Explains His Samuel Slap [david borges – new haven register]

Huskies vs. Spartans; How game will play out [ed daigneault – the republican-american]

UConn prepares for tough test (video) [gavin keefe – the day]

Shouldn’t be much flack over smack [neill ostrout – journal inquirer]

Filling shoes, making Final Fours [neill ostrout – journal inquirer]

Playful smack causes stir for Huskies [william paxton – ct post]

Better get the Huskies early [john silver – snyuconn.com]

UConn has to check Payne, Dawson [john silver – snyuconn.com]

Huskies To Face Michigan State In The Elite Eight On Sunday [uconnhuskies.com]

Napier knows UConn in for ‘dogfight’ against Michigan State [ct post]

Dual point guard attack working for UConn [ct post]

UConn is back where UConn has long been [ct post]

UConn Men After Final Four Berth; Michigan State Stands In Way [hartford courant]

Sophomore Struggles Helped Transform Shabazz [hartford courant]

Young Cancer Victim Becomes Family To Spartan Star [hartford courant]

Ollie’s Bond With His Players Allows For Playfulness [hartford courant]

Last time UConn faced Michigan State, a tradition was born [new haven register]

UConn men play for trip to Final Four today [the day]

Ollie’s coaching career began with win over Spartans [the day]

Michigan State vs. UConn: Joe Rexrode’s scouting report [detroit free press]

To make Final Four, Michigan State will need to contain UConn’s Shabazz Napier [detroit free press]

Shabazz Napier helps UConn move past punishment [detroit free press]

Ollie-wood lights glow from Calhoun’s shadow [ny post]

Take UConn, trust me on this [ny post]

Elite Eight versions of Michigan State, UConn quite different from ones that met in Germany last season [mlive.com]

UConn Women’s Basketball links

Video: UConn Women Survive Challenge From BYU To Advance To Elite Eight [sox & dawgs]

Video: On To The Elite Eight For the UConn Women [sox & dawgs]

Mosqueda-Lewis, Huskies pull away late [carl adamec – snyuconn.com]

Auriemma, Jefferson didn’t count on violation [carl adamec – snyuconn.com]

Warde Manuel Thrilled About UConn’s NCAA Run [john altavilla – hartford courant]

UConn Survives BYU And Advances [john altavilla – hartford courant]

Mosqueda-Lewis Plays Tough In Win Over BYU [rich elliott – ct post]

Blair With Plenty To Say About UConn … Already [rich elliott – ct post]

A&M’s Gary Blair on facing UConn: “It might happen.” [jim fuller – new haven register]

Mosqueda-Lewis delivers again for UConn [jim fuller – new haven register]

UConn’s Hartley rebounds after quiet first half [jim fuller – new haven register]

Game report: UConn women survive early scare, beat BYU [ct post]

Tested by BYU, UConn finds a way to pull away [ct post]

UConn Rallies To Beat BYU, 70-51 [hartford courant]

Texas A&M Advances To Face UConn Women In Regional Final [hartford courant]

Notebook: Twin Elite Eights Another Chance To Be Noticed [hartford courant]

Huskies thwart pesky BYU, advance to Elite Eight [new haven register]

UConn women survive slow start and beat BYU 70-51 [the day]

With a Star Back in Form, UConn Shakes Off B.Y.U.  [new york times]

UConn passes test from BYU [espnW]

UConn Football links

Video: UConn Football Spring Practice No. 7 Highlights [sox & dawgs]

Video: Highlights From UConn Football Coach Bob Diaco’s Press Conference [sox & dawgs]

Blood screenings, better diet help UConn football players get fit [ct post]

Huskies Measuring Up Under Diaco’s Training Program [hartford courant]

Other UConn related links

M. Soccer. Chivas USA Carlos Alvarez — Latinos Are Baby Making Machines … Of Course We’re Taking Over California [tmz.com]

Baseball. Rutgers Tops UConn In Completion Of Halted Game, 7-5 [uconnhuskies.com]

Baseball. Melley and Marzi Lift UConn Past Rutgers, 11-4 [uconnhuskies.com]

M. Track. Huskies Tally Nine First-Place Finishes at UConn Spring Invite [uconnhuskies.com]

Softball. UConn Softball Picks Up First Conference Win [uconnhuskies.com]

W. Lacrosse. UConn Takes Down Temple, 15-9, In Big East Opener [uconnhuskies.com]

W. Track. UConn Wraps Up Competition at Raleigh Relays [uconnhuskies.com]

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.

Barring a bad report on the hamstring of Shane Victorino, who tweaked his hamstring on Saturday, this should be the 25-man roster for the Boston Red Sox to start the 2014 season.

Pitchers (12)

Starters (5) – Clay Buchholz, Felix Doubront, John Lackey, Jon Lester, Jake Peavy

Bullpen (7) – Burke Badenhop, Chris Capuano, Andrew Miller, Edward Mujica, Junichi Tazawa, Koji Uehara, Brandon Workman

Position Players (13)

Catchers (2) – A.J. Pierzynski, David Ross

Infielders (5) – Xander Bogaerts, Jonathan Herrera,  Will Middlebrooks, Mike Napoli, Dustin Pedroia

Outfielders (5) – Mike Carp, Jonny Gomes, Daniel Nava, Grady Sizemore, Shane Victorino

DH (1) – David Ortiz

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.

UConn Huskies head coach Kevin Ollie as well Shabazz Napier, Niels Giffey, Ryan Boatright and DeAndre Daniels met with the media on Saturday to discuss Sunday’s matchup in the Elite Eight with the Michigan State Spartans.

Q.  Talk about Branden Dawson and Adreian Payne as a tandem and the problems they create in terms of matchups and figuring out how to defend them and what they have kind of become cohesively?

COACH KEVIN OLLIE:  That’s a tough job creating, trying to find matchups for them guys.  First you got to play hard, you got to do your work early.  You can’t let them establish low‑post position.  So we want to do our work early.  We want to be aggressive, if we decide to trap and we want to limit them to no second‑chance points.  Branden Dawson does a wonderful job getting second‑chance points, and we can’t let them do that and get easy buckets.

So our focus is to do our work early, push them off their sweet spots and make it hard for them the whole day.

Q.  When you were a college senior your final game was in the Elite8.  What are your memories of that game, and now that you’re back to this game as a head coach, does this hold any significance for you personally?

COACH KEVIN OLLIE:  No.  The last Elite8 I remember is 2011 when we won, and went to the National Championship.  So that’s the one I’m worried about now.

The last one ‑‑ in 1995 it was my last game in an UCONN jersey.  So it ended not the way I wanted to, but I still remember the fond moments I had with my university and with my teammates, that I still have as friends to this day.  But the last Elite8 I remember is winning, and going on and playing in Houston.

Q.  For Shabazz and DeAndre, you guys have each probably had chances to leave, whether it was not being able to go to the post‑season last year or possibly going to the NBA.  Why did you stay?  And getting to this point does this kind of make the decision pay off?

DeANDRE DANIELS:  We stayed because we’re, first of all, we didn’t transfer because we’re loyal to UCONN and one another and the coaching staff.  And just coming back just for everything.  Just not the basketball, but just for life and just for school.  And with Shabazz to get his education, which is great, but we’re just loyal to UCONN.

SHABAZZ NAPIER:  Like I always said, I felt like I owed this university a lot.  I felt like after my first year we won, and the sophomore year I didn’t play up to my capabilities.  I felt like I owed the university, as well as the coaches and my teammates a good year.  And I just also felt like I felt something special with this team, everybody came back last year, who is on the team today, and I just felt that we had something that we were playing for for that year, and we just got to keep pushing each other and hopefully we get to the top.

Q.  Shabazz, off of that, you always talk about how important last year was leading into this year.  Last year of course started with the win over Michigan State.  How much momentum did that game give you guys for the rest of the year?

SHABAZZ NAPIER:  For that year it definitely helped us.  Michigan State, we knew they were a great team.  We knew it was going to be a tough game, and we just went out there and we wanted to play as hard as we can.  We understood that win or lose it really didn’t matter since we were not going to the Tournament, but we had so much passion for the game that we wanted to go out there and give them our best effort.  And the respect that we gave them and especially with the crowd there, it was just something that came over us that we wanted to win so badly.
But that’s a whole different team.  We don’t expect that game to be anything like this game.  Michigan State, they have grown.  We have grown.  And we know this is going to be a dogfight and that game we’re not even thinking about it.  It’s a new game and a new day.

Q.  Kevin, the Germany game the beginning of last season, how significant was that for you?  Not only as your first collegiate win as a head coach but going into the season with no post‑season and all that stuff.  With as that a particularly poignant and significant win for you guys?

COACH KEVIN OLLIE:  First win for me as a head coach, the players, it was just a great, like Shabazz said, it was just great to honor our soldiers, honor our Air Forcemen and just to be in that venue, to play in front of that crowd and give back and have them smile a little bit.  I wasn’t worried about myself and the first win; just to see that crowd and just see how much they appreciated us.

And just having in mind student‑athletes being around on the base with those guys.  And they were sharing stories about their service and what they have been through.  And they are almost the same age as our student‑athletes, and it clearly puts life into perspective.  I think that was a good time for us to bond as a team, when you’re away from other things and you got your immediate family here with you, your brothers.  It really gave us the opportunity to bond and forged a memory that we’ll always have, and nobody can ever take that away from us.

Q.  Shabazz, you were saying you think it’s going to be a different game, how different do you feel your team and this program is where it was entering last season?  The coach was still an interim coach at that time, and just as people are handling more uncertainty.  So how different do you feel this team is, you specifically, not even just the game.

SHABAZZ NAPIER:  I think one thing I know for sure is that we have experienced so much for the past two years.  No one left besides the seniors, and everybody that came back understood what it takes to get to the next level.  With the chemistry we have, with the brotherhood we have and the experience the core group that we have, and especially with the coaching staff we got two years under their belt now, I think that we understand how hard it takes.  And we noticed that in practice from the first day, when Coach Ollie had us running around with no basketballs for like 30 minutes.  And we just wanted to go out there and give everything we possibly can.

So the biggest thing I think that is different from that first game against them, Michigan State that is, is the experience.  We have been through a lot, we understand that this is definitely going to be another dogfight.  We don’t expect them to back down and I hope they don’t expect us to back down.  It’s going to be a fight, and we’re just hopeful that we’ll be on top.

Q.  A lot of time when you’re the guy that follows the legend, it doesn’t work out terribly well.  Where did the comfort and confidence for yourself come from that it’s been able to work out pretty well for you already?

COACH KEVIN OLLIE:  I just really get a lot of confidence from God.  I know He’s put me in this position.  I love this university, and hopefully my passion shows through.  I love my players, because they give me everything I can ask for as a coach but not just on the basketball court, off the court.

And just the opportunity that I have to coach my alma mater, come back, I mean it’s just a dream come true for me.  Being from South Central, coming to Connecticut and having the opportunity to coach, it’s a wonderful feeling.  I just want to do my best and be the best coach I can be, but also be a person that they know I have their back at the end of the day.  Hopefully my players know that.  We have great times and sometimes they don’t like me a lot, but that’s just coaching.  I try to push them and try to help them find something that they have inside.  At the end of the day that’s all I want to do.

I want them to be better people than basketball players, and I hope they know that about me by now, being two years as an assistant and two years as a head coach.

Q.  As you replaced Jim, Tom had to replace Jud.  He talked about in Germany he talked to you about that.  Do you remember what he said to you and how much you appreciated it at that time?

COACH KEVIN OLLIE:  I just appreciate Coach Izzo from what he’s done, the culture he’s built at Michigan State and how he kept it going after Jud.  The thing that sticks out to me is he just said “Be yourself.”  I can’t be Coach Calhoun.  I can’t build his program from ’86 when he arrived, I can’t do that.  But I can be Kevin Ollie.  I can take some great life lessons I learned from Coach and build on them and just try to create my own, forge away my own program and going forward.  And that’s all I’m trying to do.

We’re going to build it on love.  We’re going to build it on toughness and togetherness.  And one thing I learned from Coach is it’s all about family.  Your brothers, they all have each other’s back, no matter if it’s down times or no matter if it’s up times we’re going to have each other’s back and that’s how these guys are playing right now, and that’s what we want to continue, no matter what’s going on.

Q.  Shabazz, you said you felt like you owed something, because of your sophomore year or because of that NCAA Tournament game?

SHABAZZ NAPIER:  My sophomore year.  That’s the reason why I didn’t transfer.  I felt like I owed something.  That’s why I came back my junior year.

The reason why I came back my senior year is because I promised my mother I was going to get a degree.

Q.  What do you think changed for you?  Was there anything specific that happened?

SHABAZZ NAPIER:  My sophomore season, we had one of the best teams in the country.  I’m not sure.  I think we were ranked, we started off No. 4 in the country.  And we had great talent, Andre Drummond, Jeremy Lamb, Roscoe Smith, Alex Oriakhi.  And I didn’t know how to be a leader out there at that point.  I was doing things that I wasn’t definitely happy about.  I isolated myself a lot when things were down.  I didn’t learn how to be a leader, even though I had one of the greatest leaders in front of me my freshman year.  It was quite‑‑ I was quite flustered most of the time.

But I felt like I didn’t play to my capabilities my capabilities that year, and I wanted to show my teammates, show the fans, show the coaches that I’m going to come back strong and I’m going to come back better.

Q.  Shabazz, the last time that you guys made this run you came from the Big East Conference.  Now you’re doing it as part of the American Conference due to the landscape change of college basketball.  Is it any different coming from the American Conference or the way that basketball has kind of laid out these days?

SHABAZZ NAPIER:  I guess.  The difference is one is Big East, one is AAC.  I mean we’re just playing basketball.  I don’t know if that’s a difference at all.  I just felt like that American is one of the, I believe, one of the best conferences in the country, Top‑5.  Top‑5 of our programs in that conference was ranked at the end of the year.  So I think that the only difference is the name.  We have some great talent in each conference, and we’re not really looking really back at it.  We are here to represent the university and also represent our conference the rest of the tournament.

Q.  For actually for Niels, this is the best UCONN team from three‑point range since the 2004 team that won it all.  A lot of you guys can shoot so well from three, but Niels your role really boosted in a big way this season.  Were you expecting that sort of responsibility coming into this year or did it develop?  And what do you attribute that to in the past few months?

NIELS GIFFEY:  I kind of expected it for myself and I think the way we play this year is creating so many matchup problems for other teams with me and DeAndre playing the three and the four, just being able to stretch out the defense.  And then our guards are just one of the best in the country at penetrating and finding other people.  I think we have a lot of different weapons that we can use and utilize, just to stretch out the defense and put them in a position where they have to choose who to cover, and from there on definitely it helps us as shooters out there.

Q.  Ryan, when you play a team like Michigan State, how much is it about toughness?

RYAN BOATRIGHT:  It’s all about toughness.  That’s their identity.  They’re going to come out and try to punk you.  They’re big down low.  They got some strong guys on the floor.  The guards are big.  So it’s all about toughness, mentally and physically.

THE MODERATOR:  All right.  We’ll excuse you to the locker room and take questions for Coach.

Q.  Getting UCONN to an Elite8 like this does tremendous things for the team and the school’s profile overall.  It affects how people see them.  It looks like UCONN is obviously still a nationally relevant program but over the past two years with all the realignment, there was certain speculation about how the school would transition, both after Jim had left and into a new conference.  Did you care or think about that stuff as you got the job and as you took this program on in terms of, we need to keep this prestige, UCONN as a Top‑10 national program or is that stuff that you haven’t really worried about over the last two years?

COACH KEVIN OLLIE:  Those are things I can’t control.  What I can control is our attitude, how we play together, are we playing with effort, are we playing with passion.  And I knew the talent we had in our locker room.  I knew what type of character we had in our locker room.  So we did those different things and we brought that character leadership to the floor, I knew we were going to win and I knew we were going to stay relevant.

Like I said the last season, people didn’t see us.  We were just lapping everybody.  We were just lapping them.  We were in working while we waited, and that’s what we need to do each and every day, we’re going to work.  And we just wanted last season we wanted teams to be like, why are they working so hard?  Why are they playing so hard?  Everybody was saying we weren’t playing for nothing, and a lot of media outlets saying we weren’t playing for nothing, but we were playing for something.  We were playing for what’s on our jersey, and that means a lot.  If you step on our campus and the pride we have for UCONN, it means a lot to put on that jersey.

Q.  What’s the biggest difference you see between Shabazz now and two years ago?

COACH KEVIN OLLIE:  He told you.  He has a wonderful gift, and now he’s giving away his gift.  He’s not secluded and not trusting anybody.  Now he’s all right to say “I made a mistake and look at me, I’m going to correct it.”  And before he wasn’t able to come to that realization that “I made a mistake” or not give away his gift.  He’s encouraging guys to be better.  He’s encouraging himself to be better.

The first battle is within.  And he’s conquered within.  Whenever something comes up, he goes to the next play.  He recovers better now than he did in his sophomore year.  I think that’s a true testament of a leader to say “I’m wrong and now I’m going to prove you guys right.  I’m going to prove my coaching staff right and I’m going to go out and be a better person each and every day.”  And that’s what he’s doing.  He’s an amazing leader.  He’s an amazing basketball player, but he’s an amazing person.  He’s a coach’s dream to have a point guard as smart as he is.  Like I said many times, he’s my unpaid assistant coach and I love him to death.

Q.  We have talked a ton about experience in the last ten minutes.  In what ways this month have you seen that manifest itself, particularly with Shabazz and Ryan?  And how has that helped you where maybe if you had a couple younger guys, you wouldn’t be where you are now?

COACH KEVIN OLLIE:  I just think those guys are playing hard.  They’re playing together.  They’re connected.  We talk about connecting on and off the basketball court.  Talking to one another, it’s two ways, you can either be liked or be respected and we talk about respect a lot.  We want to be respected.  We want to challenge each other in that locker room, and nobody take it personal.  Only thing we want to do is make UCONN be a winner at the end of the day, and that’s not always on the scoreboard.  That’s the spirit of the team.  We want our spirit to be right.
Last night I know Iowa State was coming back, but I knew our spirit was right, and everybody was playing for one another.  And that’s always a good thing as a coach when you know your team is in there fighting for one another and that’s all we want to do.  That’s the culture we want to build.  That’s the culture we want to have consistently, each and every year.

Q.  You’ve had kind of a unique first two years as a head coach.  I’m wondering what surprised you?  Has anything?  Obviously your relationship with Jim, I’m sure he’s prepared you on a lot of things.  You’ve seen a lot.  You’ve been an assistant.  But what, has anything been unexpected?

COACH KEVIN OLLIE:  I didn’t expect Jim to retire when he did because he was in there, we were recruiting very hard and one day he said, “All right, it’s time for me to retire.  I want to spend a little time with my grandchildren and go play a little golf in January.”  And I was surprised with that, because his energy was good, his health was good.

But at the end of the day I just wanted to be who I am.  I knew I had a great passion for this university, and it’s a lot of things that are involved in it.  But I have a great coaching staff.  That coaching staff when I took over had probably about 40 years of head‑coaching experience.  We had Coach Blaney, I had Coach Miller, Coach Hobbs.  Then I had two wonderful young assistants that know what it is to be national champions.  They were our first national champions in 1999, and that’s Ricky Moore and Kevin Freeman.  So it made my job easier.

I had Coach Calhoun there.  I had Geno Auriemma there.  I had the great Dee Rowe there.  All these guys I can go and use them as a sounding board, and it was just a great situation for me, but at the end of the day you take suggestions, but you got to make the decisions.  And as a coach, I wanted to make the right decisions.  I wanted to stay hungry, but I always wanted to stay humble.  And it’s not about me, it’s about the university and me treating everybody the same, and going out there for one thing, and that common goal is us.  And that’s what we believe in and that’s what I’m all about.  It’s not one player.  It’s about a team effort.  And that’s what I try to establish, and that’s what I continue to try to establish in my young men.

Q.  Last season when you’re talking with your team about why they should played hard and playing for pride, how did this season fit into that knowing, that there would be a time, they would get a chance again to play in the post‑season, and how maybe last season could build into that next chance?

COACH KEVIN OLLIE:  Yeah, that’s what faith is all about.  When you can’t see it, you still got to believe it.  Most of the time we couldn’t see it last year.  But we knew we were continuing to plant seeds and sooner or later it was going to be that right time when we were going to be ready for this moment.  And that’s what you do when you have faith in one another, you have faith in your God and you believe.  If you believe anything, you can accomplish anything.  And that’s what we never wavered on our belief.  And those guys stayed together and now they’re reaping the benefits.

But everybody has their season and your season might not come, but you got to stay working hard and you got to stay dedicated to your craft and you always got to get better at something when you step out on the basketball court.  That could be cheering a teammate on, and everybody has a job but you got to get better at something every time you step out on the court.  I know these guys get tired of hearing me preach but I’m going to be in their face and I’m going to keep preaching because I know it works.  If you stay together, you believe and you keep fighting for one another, good things always are going to happen.

It’s no secret.  It’s no secret recipe to it.  It’s just hard work.  Hard work is going to make you successful.  I don’t know when, but it’s going eventually going to make you successful.  That’s what those guys did last year and I thank them to death for it.

Q.  You played for 11 NBA teams.  I think you played for 12 or 13 head coaches.  That’s a really unique basketball life to learn as a player from that many different diverse elite coaches.  How do you think that has helped you as a head coach to have that knowledge?  And is there a NBA, one or two of the NBA head coaches that stand out, that have had some kind of impact on how you’re coaching now as a head coach?

COACH KEVIN OLLIE:  Yeah, the first one that stands out is Larry Brown.  He’s still my great friend today.  If it wasn’t for Larry telling me to take this job, I don’t know if I would have took it.  I wanted to get an unbiased opinion and I went to Larry.  And Larry said, “I’m going hang up the phone on you if you don’t go back to UCONN.  I thought you were smarter than that.”  That’s his exact words.

So he was just telling me to stay in college.  “It’s a great dream to come back and coach your alma mater.  You would be a fool not to take it.”  And he is such a great person.  He’s so personable.  He treated me like I was Allen Iverson and that always stuck with me.  That’s why I try to treat every one of my guys the same.  He worked out with me more than he worked out with Allen Iverson.  He worked out with Todd MacCullouch more than he worked out with Dikembe Mutumbo.  He treated us the same and I always remember that.  That’s why I always want to be humble, and I always want to treat my players first.  They make the program.  That’s what I learned from him.

I could go through a bunch of Hall‑of‑Fame coaches that I played for, Chuck Daly, just a great person, God rest his soul.  I learned so much from Chuck.  Also he taught me how to dress, too.  He was always creased up.  He always had that blue suit on, you know.  He was a great coach.  And just my last coach Scottie Brooks, and just that organization at Oklahoma City, how humble they are.  I learned a lot from just watching how they uphold their organization, and from Sam Presti all the way down, they did a real good job.  And their culture kind of stood with me because it wasn’t about KD, it was about the team.  And that’s how he kind of built that.  And it always stuck with me.  And I’m trying to bring that to the University of Connecticut, and then hopefully we can continue to have that mantra.

Q.  It’s kind of gone viral here, your interview last night on national television, at the end you gave Terrence Samuel a smack there as it was breaking up.  What all happened there?  Did he make a gesture that needed a teaching moment or were you just goofing around?

COACH KEVIN OLLIE:  No, we were just goofing around.  It wasn’t no big deal.  So we were just goofing around and they play a game, and they were putting bunny ears behind me.  It just wasn’t nothing.

Q.  Going back to Kevin Durant, he recently said that the Oklahoma City culture, you were the player most responsible for shaping that culture, even though you weren’t there fore a long time.  What do you think you taught Kevin Durant, and how might that translate to a college basketball?

COACH KEVIN OLLIE:  I sure didn’t teach him how to score 30 points a game.  So I don’t take no credit for that.
Kevin and Russell, you don’t have to teach those guys too much.  I appreciate the comment, but them guys are just, they’re just are workers.  That organization is a great organization.  I thank them for taking a chance on a 38‑year‑old point guard and bringing me in just for that one year.  They taught me more than I believe I taught them,  just a player for his magnitude to be so humble.

In that interview, I know a lot of people caught on to what he said about me, but I caught on to what he said about the end, that I want to be known as a servant.  And that’s what I believe.  A player of his magnitude to say “I want to be a servant” is pretty big time.  And the humility that he shows, I want all our players to have that humility, and I think that’s why he’s such a great player.  And he’s going to be a great player for a long time.

And he just wants to win.  That’s what I’ve seen in him.  A tireless worker, always trying to give, always trying to evolve as a basketball player.  And if I can just bring a little something to the table, that’s good, but he gave me probably more than I gave him.  I appreciate our friendship.  We’re still friends to this day.  We talk on occasions.  We’re always praying for each other.  And I just love him.  I love the things that he’s doing.  It’s not only the basketball player, but it’s how he carries himself.  When he gets I know interviewed, it’s not about himself, it’s about a team.  And that’s a special individual when you got that type of talent.

Q.  Talking to Karl Hobbs about his journey this morning, I wondered how important is having a guy like that on your staff who has been a coach, a head coach for 10 years?  What has that meant?  What has he brought to the table?  How has he happened you here during this run?

COACH KEVIN OLLIE:  See, a lot of people get caught up in they’re my assistant coaches.  They coached me in college.  And that story should be written.  Glen Miller coached me my freshman year and my sophomore year.  He left to Conn College and then Coach Hobbs coached me my junior and my senior year.  So to have those guys on my staff, they were there when I was a knucklehead running around school, didn’t know what I was doing.  They were right there to reprimand me when I was wrong, to encourage me when I needed encouragement when my head was down.  When Coach was getting on me, they were telling me to stay with it.  “Coach really loves you,” and I didn’t understand it.

But those guys been there for me when I didn’t even know anything about college basketball.  I was just a freshman running around.  So to have those guys on my staff is just a wonderful compliment to me, and they know what it takes to be a head coach and be in that seat that I’m in.  So they helped me out.  I can’t even put a price tag on how much they helped me out.

Q.  He said he wasn’t sure when you realized you thought you would be a head coach.  I wondered when did you know coaching is my future?  Was there a moment, was there a year where you where it hit you?

COACH KEVIN OLLIE:  I always wanted to stay in basketball.  I used to get a little flak from my teammates and with the Timberwolves, with Oklahoma City towards the end of my career I wanted to keep the scouting reports.  So every scouting report I had, I still got them to this day.  And different plays that they ran, looking at timeouts, look what the coach drew up, looking at film.  I wasn’t the greatest player, so I always had to watch film and try to get an advantage on my opponent.  So if Coach threw me in there for five minutes, I better know my assignment.  And I always just prided myself on dedication.

But I kind of knew I wanted to be a coach, so I used to hold those scouting reports of different teams and different plays and that.  So when I get in that position I’d have the knowledge, the X‑and‑O knowledge but also the knowledge to get my guys prepared for the battles each and every day.

Q.  Does it feel like you’re playing in front of a home crowd and how important is that?

COACH KEVIN OLLIE:  I do feel out here, I do feel our fans energy.  They have been incredible.  Just to see the fans up there, our student section, they all had their same white shirts.  You could see it.  It’s a great feeling.  But at the end of the day it’s a basketball game, like I keep saying.

One thing I try to tell my guys, we played in Memphis twice.  And it was probably about 17,000 people there screaming for Memphis and we came out with victories.  So we like the crowd but at the end of the day, you got to win your individual battle and then you got to do it collectively as a group.

So we want to give our fans something special.  It will be amazing to play 40 full UCONN basketball and get a win, but I know it’s going to take every ounce of guts we have, every ounce of sweat and tears that we got to win against a great Michigan State team.  But it will be wonderful to do it here in Madison Square Garden, where we have so many memories.

Q.  You talked about the bigs being probably the toughest thing that you’re going to have to match up against tomorrow.  In your game last night there was a lot to like about how your guys played.  What did you like that you want to see carry over?  And what do you need to see improved on to matchup and overtake Michigan State and punch your ticket to Dallas?

COACH KEVIN OLLIE:  Yeah, probably what I don’t want to see, I don’t want to see a person get 34 points.  But we did a great job on Ejim, who is a Big‑12 Player of the Year.  I think Amida started it with his length, making him shoot over the top.  We are going to have to do the same thing with Adreian Payne, but then Dawson, we got to keep him off the backboard.  I thought we did that in spurts last night, but we have to do it at a level five tomorrow’s game at 2:30.  We’re going to have to hit first.  We’re going to have to commit to hit.  We’re going to have to corral basketballs and 50/50 situations, where it’s could either go their way or our way.  We got to get every one of those balls.  Because they’re a tough‑minded team.  And I think we’re tough, too.  Instead I think I know we’re tough.  We got some resilience in us and guys are going to fight through.

But we have to do the small things, we got to box out, we have to limit their second‑chance points and we got to get back in transition to establish our five‑on‑five defense.

THE MODERATOR:  All right.  Thank you, Coach.

COACH KEVIN OLLIE:  Thank you.

Michigan State Spartans quotes

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Quotes courtesy of ASAP Sports Transcripts

photo credit: brad horrigan – hartford courant

With Opening Day 2014 looming on Monday, the Boston Red Sox made their final cuts of spring training, getting the roster down to 25 players.

Here’s the release:

Prior to today’s game against the Twins, the Boston Red Sox made the following roster moves:

Left-handed pitcher Tommy Layne, right-handed pitcher Brayan Villarreal, outfielder Corey Brown, and infielder Mike McCoy were reassigned to minor league camp.

Right-handed pitcher Francisco Cordero was released.

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

With these moves, the Red Sox now have 25 players in big league camp and two players on the 15-day disabled list.

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Paw Prints is our daily look at the happenings for the UConn Huskies football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball teams as well as the other sports the student-athletes engage in. We will do our best to bring you the links from all of the media that covers the Huskies on a daily basis.

Thank you for stopping by and making SOX & Dawgs your home for UConn Huskies news.

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

UConn Women’s Basketball links

UConn Women’s Sweet 16 Pregame Quotes [sox & dawgs]

Video: UConn Women Prepare For Sweet 16 Matchup With BYU [sox & dawgs]

BYU’s Bailey knows nothing is impossible [carl adamec – snyuconn.com]

Notebook: Friends meet in Sweet 16 [carl adamec – snyuconn.com]

UConn prepared for BYU’s best shot [carl adamec – snyuconn.com]

UConn Not About To Let BYU’s Rejector Intimidate It [john altavilla – hartford courant]

Judkins Loves Geno; KML And Harry; UConn vs. Rutgers [john altavilla – hartford courant]

Friendship That Overflows [john altavilla – hartford courant]

Final Four Sked Might Change If BYU Makes It [john altavilla – hartford courant]

Bruno: DePaul To Meet UConn Dec. 21 [rich elliott – ct post]

Hamson Represents Latest Challenge For Dolson [rich elliott – ct post]

BYU Drawing On Success Of NC State For Added Motivation [rich elliott – ct post]

Long-Time Friends Harry, Mosqueda-Lewis Finally Face Off [rich elliott – ct post]

UConn all business in first trip to Nebraska [jim fuller – new haven register]

DePaul’s Bruno thrilled to get UConn back on the schedule [jim fuller – new haven register]

Close friends Harry, Mosqueda-Lewis to meet in Sweet 16 [jim fuller -new haven register]

Blocked shots could be plentiful in UConn/BYU game [jim fuller – new haven register]

UConn vs. Notre Dame: Countdown to collision? [ct post]

UConn Women Set To Take On BYU [hartford courant]

BYU’s Judkins, A Former Celtic, Says Geno Could Coach Men [hartford courant]

Cougars, 6-Foot-7 Hamson Defy Odds In Advancing To Meet Huskies [hartford courant]

Will BYU, Hamson block Huskies’ path? [new haven register]

Cinderella story inspires Bailey, BYU [new haven register]

BYU’s approach against UConn women … on any given night [the day]

BYU women’s basketball: Cougars face a daunting task against UConn [deseret news]

UConn Men’s Basketball links

Video: Daniels Powers UConn Into Elite Eight With 81-76 Win Over Iowa State [sox & dawgs]

Wrapping Things Up At The Garden [dom amore – hartford courant]

Post-NCAA game breakdown: Iowa State [gavin keefe – the day]

Another Garden party [neill ostrout – journal inquirer]

UConn notebook: Huskies enjoy Garden party [william paxton – ct post]

UConn, Michigan State to play for Final Four berth [john silver – snyuconn.com]

Garden Grove [uconn huskies basketball]

Social Media Buzzes as UConn Makes It to Elite 8 [the american]

Daniels lets it flow, leading UConn [ct post]

UConn’s offense lights up Garden [ct post]

UConn Holds On Against Iowa State, Steps Into Elite Eight [hartford courant]

For Samuel, A Home Game To Cherish [hartford courant]

Feeding DeAndre Daniels Satisfies The Whole UConn Team [hartford courant]

UConn men defeat Iowa State, advance to Elite Eight [new haven register]

UConn beats Iowa State 81-76 and will play Michigan State in Elite 8 [the day]

Daniels: A star is born in NYC [the day]

Close the book on the old DeAndre Daniels [the hour]

DeAndre Daniels Shines as UConn Advances to Elite Eight [zagsblog.com]

After Slow Start, UConn’s Samuel Coming Up Big in Postseason [zagsblog.com]

NCAA Tournament 2014: Bettor Wins $250000 on Connecticut Huskies [lost letterman]

UConn Football links

BYU AD excited about home and home series with UConn [jim fuller – new haven register]

McClain signs one-year tender [espn.com]

Other UConn related links

W. Lacrosse. UConn Begins Conference Play Saturday Against Temple [uconnhuskies.com]

Softball. UConn Softball Doubleheader Time Change [uconnhuskies.com]

M. Track. Men’s Track and Field Hosts UConn Spring Invite Saturday [uconnhuskies.com]

Baseball. UConn Baseball To Play Doubleheader Against Rutgers On Saturday [uconnhuskies.com]

W. Soccer. Sign Up for Pioneer Soccer Camp, August 3-6 at UConn [uconnhuskies.com]

W. Track. Mania Leads the Huskies On Day One at Raleigh Relays [uconnhuskies.com]

W. Tennis. Huskies Battle Back for 4-3 Win at Seton Hall [uconnhuskies.com]

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.

FORT MYERS, FL – Following this afternoon’s game against the Twins, the Boston Red Sox made the following roster moves:

Left-handed pitcher Drake Britton and catcher Ryan Lavarnway were optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket.

The announcements were made by Executive Vice President/General Manager Ben Cherington.

With these moves, the Red Sox now have 30 players in big league camp, including 25 active players from the 40-man roster, five non-roster invitees, and two players on the disabled list.

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