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. As always, links can be found by clicking on the read more button below if you're on the home page.

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 head to land of Super Bowl XLVIII to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at the RAC. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.  You can also catch the game online at WatchESPN. If you can't watch either, you can listen to the game on the UConn IMG Sports Radio Network with Joe D and Wayne Norman.

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UConn Men's Basketball links

Boatright Back, Other Notes, Quotes From UConn Practice [dom amore – hartford courant]

There'll Be A 'Black Out' for UConn's Final League Visit to the RAC on Saturday [david borges – new haven register]

UConn prepares for Rutgers [william paxton – ct post]

UConn Continues Conference Play Against Rutgers Saturday [uconnhuskies.com]

As UConn hits the road, rebounding remains key to victory [ct post]

UConn Ready For Showdown At Rutgers On Saturday [hartford courant]

UConn to bid farewell to Rutgers [new haven register]

Huskies have been on target [the day]

Rutgers bracing for visit by UConn before a sold out RAC [nj.com]

UConn Women's Basketball links

On Wisconsin: Ex-Husky Johnson thriving [carl adamec – snyuconn.com]

Recruit Williams plays, tweaks knee in loss [carl adamec – snyuconn.com]

Huskies Have Been Criminal Defensively This Season [rich elliott – ct post]

Williams Expected To Take Some Games Off After Knee Scare [rich elliott – ct post]

UConn signee in a holding pattern [jim fuller – new haven register]

No. 1 UConn Squares Off With South Florida on Sunday [uconnhuskies.com]

UConn, And Three Other Schools, Await A'ja Wilson's Decision [hartford courant]

The Geno Auriemma Show: Moriah Jefferson [snyuconn.com]

UConn Football links

Brown brings passion back to football at UConn [ct post]

UConn's Stephen, Smallwood Invited To NFL Combine [hartford courant]

Other UConn related links

Two Former UConn Baseball Players On MLB.com Top 100 Prospect List [sox & dawgs]

Men's and Women's Swimming Set To Face Princeton and Seton Hall This Weekend [uconnhuskies.com]

M. Ice Hockey. Two in the Third Lifts UConn to Win at AIC, 3-2 [uconnhuskies.com]

W. Track. Huskies Enjoy Fine Showing at Terrier Classic [uconnhuskies.com]

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STORRS, Conn. – Two former UConn baseball stars are currently among Major League Baseball’s top-100 prospects, according to MLB.com draft and prospect expert Jonathan Mayo.  The 2014 ‘Prospect Watch’ list was published on Thursday night.

Astros prospect George Springer (UConn ’11) comes in as the No. 21 prospect in all of baseball. Springer had one of the most productive seasons in MiLB history in 2013, finishing three home runs shy of a 40-40 season. Across AA and AAA in Houston’s system, Springer batted .303 with 37 home runs, 108 RBIs and 45 stolen bases. His .303/.411/.600 slash line would have placed him among the leaders in both the Texas and Pacific Coast League, had he posted enough at bats in either league to qualify. Despite only playing 73 games for AA-Corpus Christ, Springer was named the 2013 Texas League MVP.

While at UConn from 2009-11, Springer hit .346 with 46 home runs, 196 RBIs and 76 steals in 186 games. He was a 2009 Baseball America Freshman All-America First Team member, and became the first Husky to take home BIG EAST Rookie of the Year honors. In 2011, Springer was the league’s Player of the Year, garnering First Team All-America nods from Perfect Game USA, Louisville Slugger and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

Former UConn pitcher Matt Barnes (’11), a prospect in the Boston Red Sox organization, comes in as the No. 86 prospect on the list. Barnes spent the majority of 2013 with AA-Portland of the Eastern League, making 24 starts and posting a 4.33 ERA along with 135 strikeouts against 46 walks in 108 innings. Barnes was called up to AAA-Pawtucket for one start at the end of the year, in which he went 5.1 scoreless innings with seven strikeouts, allowing just three hits to pick up a win.

During his career in Connecticut from 2009-11, Barnes went 24-11 with a 3.30 ERA in 45 career appearances, 37 starts. In 256.2 career innings, he struck out a program-record 247 batters against 81 walks and allowed just 212 hits. His 2011 year was one for the record books, as Barnes went 11-5 with a 1.93 ERA and a 117:33 strikeout to walk ratio in a program-record 121 innings. He was named a First Team All-American by the NCBWA and Louisville Slugger, also taking home Second Team honors from Perfect Game USA and Baseball America. Barnes was the 2011 BIG EAST Pitcher of the Year and a First Team All-Conference selection.

Both Barnes and Springer have been invited to their respective club’s Spring Training camps this season, and Mayo projects both to make their major league debut in 2014.

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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. As always, links can be found by clicking on the read more button below if you're on the home page.

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

Auriemma’s message to KML: Get more involved [carl adamec – snyuconn.com]

UConn May Consider Redshirt For Tuck [john altavilla – hartford courant]

Chris Dailey And The Ham Sandwich [john altavilla – hartford courant]

A’ja Wilson’s Normal Life Has Its Extraordinary Side [john altavilla – hartford courant]

The Story Of UConn And “The Toilet Bowl” [john altavilla – hartford courant]

Dolson, Stewart, Stokes Inaugural Members of 50-50-50 Club [rich elliott – ct post]

Hartley On A Hot Streak Offensively For Huskies [rich elliott – ct post]

No MRI yet for UConn signee Gabby Williams [jim fuller – new haven register]

Little bit of an update on redshirt situation [jim fuller – new haven register]

UConn turning up the heat on defense [jim fuller – new haven register]

Time Running Out For UConn's Morgan Tuck This Season [hartford courant]

UConn women holding season-long block party [new haven register]

The Geno Auriemma Show: Behind the scenes at practice [snyuconn.com]

UConn Men's Basketball links

UConn's Shabazz Napier Named To Oscar Robertson Trophy Midseason Watch List [sox & dawgs]

Looking Ahead To Rutgers, UConn’s Next Opponent [dom amore – hartford courant]

UConn hoops alumni second highest paid [john silver – snyuconn.com]

Stacking up Napier against the nation [john silver – snyuconn.com]

A Conversation with Connecticut's Own Scott Burrell [the uconn blog]

UConn Football links

Ex-UConn coach Pasqualoni hired by Bears [jim fuller – new haven register]

Meet The Coaches: Wayne Lineburg [uconnhuskies.com]

Other UConn related links

M. Ice Hockey. UConn Faces AIC in Home-and-Home this Weekend [uconnhuskies.com]

M. Track. Huskies Look to Perform at Terrier Classic [uconnhuskies.com]

W. Track. Women's Track and Field Set for Terrier Classic [uconnhuskies.com]

W. Ice Hockey. UConn Primed For Home-And-Home With Providence [uconnhuskies.com]

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

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. As always, links can be found by clicking on the read more button below if you're on the home page.

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

Video: UConn Women Spank Memphis, 83-49 [sox & dawgs]

Video: Geno Auriemma Suckers Players into Running With $100 Bill [sox & dawgs]

Huskies roll past Memphis for 20th win [carl adamec  – snyuconn.com]

Tuck sits out again, return date unknown [carl adamec – snyuconn.com]

Notebook: Recruit Williams hoping for best [carl adamec – snyuconn.com]

Geno Concerned About Morgan Tuck [john altavillla – hartford courant]

Geno Not Surprised Warde Manuel’s A Popular Guy [john altavilla – hartford courant]

UConn Commit Williams Has Knee Scare; Will Undergo MRI [rich elliott – ct post]

Tuck Misses Fourth Straight Game; Red-Shirting A Possible Option [rich elliott – ct post]

Is UConn's Morgan Tuck's sophomore season at risk? [jim fuller – new haven register]

Game report: Mosqueda-Lewis, UConn romp to 20-0 [ct post]

Mosqueda-Lewis comes to life for UConn [ct post]

UConn Routs Memphis, 83-49 [hartford courant]

UConn women improve to 20-0 with rout of Memphis [new haven register]

UConn Men's Basketball links

Former Husky Cliff Robinson Will Be on Survivor: Cagayan [sox & dawgs]

UConn's Shabazz Napier Named To Wooden Midseason Top 25 List [sox & dawgs]

DeAndre Daniels Continues To Provide Offensive Spark [uconnhuskies.com]

Huskies Visit CT Children's Medical Center [uconn huskies youtube]

UConn's Daniels Needs To Maintain Focus, Get Off See-Saw [hartford courant]

UConn Football links

Britton, Summers Join UConn Football Team [sox & dawgs]

Other UConn related links

UConn's youth movement will inevitably spark rumors [ct post]

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As we learned earlier, the Boston Red Sox and Grady Sizemore agreed to terms on a one-year deal worth $750,000 with incentives that could bring the deal to $6 million. The Red Sox have now made it official.

Here's the release:

BOSTON, MA – The Boston Red Sox today signed three-time All-Star outfielder Grady Sizemore to a one-year contract through the 2014 season. To make room on the 40-man roster, right-handed pitcher Brayan Villarreal was designated for assignment. Executive Vice President/General Manager Ben Cherington made the announcement.

The 31-year-old Sizemore has played eight major league seasons, all with the Cleveland Indians from 2004-11, batting .269 with 216 doubles, 43 triples, 458 RBI, 430 walks, and 601 runs scored. During that eight-year span, no other major leaguer reached both his totals of 139 homers and 134 stolen bases in 892 games.

Sizemore was named an American League All-Star in each of his last three full seasons from 2006-08. During that three-year stretch, he combined for a .279 batting average, a .380 on-base percentage, and a .499 slugging percentage. He also averaged 160 games played, appearing in all 162 Indians games in both 2006 and 2007.

Hampered by injuries over the last five years, he missed the past two seasons recovering from right knee and back surgeries. Before 2009, he had never been placed on the disabled list.

The left-handed batter has hit at least 20 home runs with at least 20 stolen bases in each of his four full major league campaigns from 2005-08, the most 20/20 seasons in Indians history. The only other players ever to record three 20/20 seasons within their first four years appearing in the big leagues are Darryl Strawberry (1984-86) and Bobby Bonds (1969-71).

From 2006-09, Sizemore ranked second in the American League with 426 runs and 276 extra-base hits (Alex Rodriguez, 438 runs; David Ortiz, 291 extra-base hits). He was the only AL player to score at least 100 runs in each of those four campaigns.

Sizemore led the majors with 134 runs, 53 doubles (tied, 1st in AL), and 92 extra-base hits in 2006. With 11 triples and 28 home runs that year, he became just the fourth player with a 50-double, 10-triple, 25-homer season, along with Hall of Famers Joe Medwick (1937), Chuck Klein (1932), and Lou Gehrig (1927).

In 2008, he became the 10th player in AL history to put together a 30-homer/30-stolen base season (33 HR, 38 SB) and earned a spot on the Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Team.

The Indians' leadoff hitter for most of his career, Sizemore led the AL in pitches seen in three consecutive seasons from 2006-08 and has averaged 4.0 pitches per plate appearance in his big league career. He is Cleveland's all-time franchise leader with 22 leadoff home runs.

Exclusively a center fielder in his major league career, Sizemore earned back-to-back Rawlings Gold Glove Awards in 2007 and 2008. His lifetime .993 fielding percentage ranks second all-time among AL outfielders with at least 800 games played.

Sizemore was originally a third-round selection by the Montreal Expos in the 2000 June Draft. In 11 career postseason games, all with the Indians in 2007, the Seattle, WA native owns a .279 average (12-for-43) with two doubles, a triple, two home runs, and eight walks.

Villarreal, 26, was acquired from the Detroit Tigers last July 30 as part of the three-team trade that brought Jake Peavy from the White Sox to the Red Sox. He combined to allow 10 runs in 4.1 innings in the major leagues last year with the Tigers (7 games) and Red Sox (1), and also made 35 minor league relief appearances between Detroit's Triple-A Toledo, Boston's Triple-A Pawtucket, and a rehab stint with Short-A Lowell. The right-hander is 4-8 with a 4.56 ERA (38 ER/75.0 IP) and 86 strikeouts in 74 career major league outings from 2011-13.

LOS ANGELES (January 22, 2014) — UConn Huskies senior guard Shabazz Napier (Roxbury, Mass.) has been named to the Midseason Top 25 for the John R. Wooden Award, presented annually by the Los Angeles Athletic Club to college basketball’s top player. 

The list is comprised of 25 student-athletes who are the front-runners for the sport’s most prestigious individual honor based on their play so far this season. The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the official voting ballot, which will consist of approximately 20 top players who have proven to their universities that they are making progress toward graduation and maintaining at least a cumulative 2.0 GPA. However, players not chosen to the midseason list are still eligible for the ballot. The Wooden Award All-American Team, consisting of the nation’s top 10 players, will be announced the week of the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament. 

Napier has sparked the Huskies to a 15-4 start this season, leading the team in scoring (17.4), rebounding (6.2), assists (5.9), steals (1.9), and minutes played (34.5). He has been named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week twice and has been named to the league’s weekly Honor Roll six times.  

Napier is also on the watch lists for a number of other prestigious awards, including the Bob Cousy Collegiate Point Guard of the Year Award, the 2013-14 Senior CLASS Award, the Oscar Robertson Trophy, and the Naismith Trophy. 

Creighton senior forward Doug McDermott, a Wooden Award All-American in 2012 and 2013, looks to become the first three-time selection on the men’s side since North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough (2007-09). McDermott is the nation’s No. 2 scorer at 24.9 ppg (through Jan. 19), and averages 7.1 rebounds per game while shooting 50.2 percent from the field for the 16-3 Bluejays. He is the only returning Wooden All-American this season.

In terms of conferences, distribution of players was fairly even atop the top traditional conferences. The ACC had five selections from three schools, followed by the Pac-12 and Big Ten with four selections each, the Big 12 and SEC with three each, The American Conference had two, Napier and Louisville senior Russ Smith, while the Atlantic 10, Big East, Missouri Valley, Mountain West had one each.

Wooden Award Midseason Top 25

The players named to the Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 on Wednesday:

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STORRS, Conn. – Chris Britton, a 6-2, 235-pound, linebacker from Harrisburg, Pa., and Jamar Summers, a 5-11, 178-pound, cornerback from East Orange, N.J., have enrolled at the University of Connecticut and joined the Husky football team. They will both take part in UConn's 2014 spring practice.

Britton, a product of Harrisburg High School, had more than 125 tackles in his senior season of 2012. Harrisburg went 11-3 in his senior season and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Pennsylvania Class AAAA playoffs. Britton played in the Big 33 All-Star Game on June 15 in Hershey, Pa. He was also a standout basketball player in high school.

Summers played high school football at Orange High School and was named honorable mention All-State by MSG Varsity and first team All-Essex County by the Newark Star-Ledger. He spent the 2013 season at Milford Academy (New Berlin, N.Y.) and led the team in interceptions with five and had 20 tackles on the season. He was also a standout track and field performer in high school.

"The UConn football team is proud to welcome these two fine young men to our family," said UConn head football coach Bob Diaco. "Our veteran players and our coaching staff will immediately begin to help them with the transition to becoming members of the UConn student body and our athletic department's culture."

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