UConn Huskies women’s basketball players Tina Charles, Maya Moore and Renee Montgomery were all named to the Preseason Wooden Award team. Moore was a member of the team last season.

They were among 30 candidates on the initial list which serves as precursor to the final team and award winner that will be announced in March during the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Final 8.

The list will be paired down to 20 players in January and the final 15 players will be put on the ballot in March.

The Huskies are the only team with 3 members on the list. Maryland (Kristi Toliver and Marissa Coleman), Rutgers (Epiphanny Prince, Kia Vaughn) and California (Devanei Hampton, Ashley Walker) all have 2 players. The Big East is well represented as well with a total of 8 players as Louisville’s Angel McCoughtry, Pittsburgh’s Shavonte Zellous and Marquette’s Krystal Ellis were named as well.

A full look at the team after the jump.

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Donald Brown, UConn Huskies RB

UConn Huskies running back Donald Brown has been chosen as one of 15 semifinalists for the 72nd Maxwell Award, which is given to the top college football player in the country.  The award is handed out by the Maxwell Club of Roslyn, PA.

The award will be presented on December 11th during the  Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards Show that will air on ESPN that night at 7 PM. The three finalists for the award will be on hand for the presentation. The formal presentation will take place at the Maxwell Football Club’s Awards dinner on March 6, 2009 in Atlantic City, NJ.

“To be honest with you, it’s an honor, but at the same time, it’s unrealistic,” Brown said. “A kid from UConn will never win an award like that. I know it just as well as anyone else – a kid from UConn will never win an award like that.”

Brown has been the man for the Huskies all season long and currently leads the country in rushing at 156.22 yards per game. He has rushed for 1,406 yards and leads UConn with 15 touchdowns scored, a career-high.

The complete list of semifinalists include: Sam Bradford, So., QB, Oklahoma; Donald Brown, Jr., RB, Connecticut; Darryl Clark, Sr., QB, Penn State, Michael Crabtree, So., WR, Texas Tech; Chase Daniel, Sr., QB, Missouri, Shonn Greene, Jr., RB, Iowa; Graham Harrell, Sr., QB, Texas Tech; Jeremy Maclin, So., WR, Missouri, Colt McCoy, Jr, QB, Texas; LeSean McCoy, So., RB, Pittsburgh; Knowshon Moreno, So., RB, Georgia; Javon Ringer, Sr., RB, Michigan State; Zac Robinson, JR., QB, Oklahoma State; Mark Sanchez, Jr., QB, USC; Tim Tebow, Jr., QB, Florida.

As part of Boston Celtics power forward’s Kevin Garnett’s Adidas TS Commander basketball shoe line, Adidas has made a special version of the shoe in Boston Red Sox colors. They were created specifically for KG and it’s not known whether or not they will be released to the public.

In Buster Olney’s latest blog post over at ESPN.com, he checks in with his thoughts on the Mark Teixeira sweepstakes. I won’t get into what he said about the other teams, just what he said about the Red Sox.

If the Red Sox were to sign Teixeira, they would have a glut of slugger/corner guys, with Kevin Youkilis, Lowell, Ortiz and Teixeira; if the Red Sox were to sign Teixeira, Boston might move Youkilis to left, Jason Bay to right field and J.D. Drew to center, with Jacoby Ellsbury working into the rotation in the way that Coco Crisp did in 2008, through injury and planned rest.

Remember this, too: Epstein really covets high on-base percentage guys, even if it means working in the face of conventional wisdom. The baseball industry was very down on Drew, but Epstein valued him for his ability as a professional hitter and signed him to a five-year deal. Twenty months ago, he went to the verge of completing a trade for Todd Helton — a player who, in his prime, was very much like Teixeira.

I really don’t see the Red Sox taking Jacoby Ellsbury out of the outfield and out of the lineup at all especially when you’ve heard Terry Francona’s comments all season long about the impact of Ellsbury at the top of the lineup. Ellsbury is the type of player who needs to play everyday and not be put into a rotation. The league adjusted to Ellsbury and I’m sure he’ll be working on that during the offseason.

To me the best move IF they did acquire Teixeira would be to move Lowell to another team. Don’t get me wrong, I like Lowell a lot. He brings the intangibles to the team but if you have a chance to get better you have to do take that chance.

Editor’s note: The link to Olney’s column is for ESPN insiders. If the link I provided didn’t work, you can click here for the PDF of the page.

Now I’m sure you’re asking yourself, Ian why are you posting this when it doesn’t have UConn Huskies implications. Well in a way it does.

Even though Tyler Hansbrough from North Carolina was an unanimous selection on the AP Preseason All-America Team, UConn’s A.J. Price and Hasheem Thabeet did receive votes on the team.

Price was selected as a First Team Preseason All-American by NBCSports.com.

So what does this mean? Absolutely nothing at this point. Let’s revisit this at the end of the season and see who the real All-Americans will be.

Here is your look at the team:

Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina, 6-9, senior, 72 votes (22.6 ppg, 10.2 rpg)

Stephen Curry, Davidson, 6-2, junior, 66 (25.9 ppg, 4.6 rpg)

Luke Harangody, Notre Dame, 6-8, junior, 58 (20.4 ppg, 10.6 rpg)

Darren Collison, UCLA, 6-1, senior, 46 (14.5 ppg, 3.8 apg)

Blake Griffin, Oklahoma, 6-10, sophomore, 45 (14.7 ppg, 9.1 rpg)

Others receiving votes (alphabetical): A.J. Abrams, Texas; DeJuan Blair, Pittsburgh; Jon Brockman, Washington; Chase Budinger, Arizona; Earl Clark, Louisville; Sherron Collins, Kansas; James Harden, Arizona State; Jrue Holiday, UCLA; Lester Hudson, Tennessee-Martin; Damion James, Texas.

Ty Lawson, North Carolina; Patrick Mills, Saint Mary’s, Calif.; Jeremy Pargo, Gonzaga; Patrick Patterson, Kentucky; A.J. Price, Connecticut; Tyrese Rice, Boston College; Tyler Smith, Tennessee; Hasheem Thabeet, Connecticut; Sam Young, Pittsburgh.

The Result

It was a back and forth game all night that was just strange from the coaching challenges to the time outs to the poor penalty by David Thomas to the Jabar Gaffney dropped TD to the two point conversions to the final score.  Maybe it was the Halloween weekend thing but it was a strangely played game that saw the Indianapolis Colts beat the New England Patriots 18-15 when Adam Vinatieri kicked a 52 yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter to eek out a win over their arch AFC nemisis and beat his former team they way he used to beat everyone else.

All that matters is what the scoreboard says in the end but if you look at the stat sheet the Patriots had their way with the Colts they had more first downs, more net yards, more rushing yards, fewer punts and more time of possesion.  It just wasn’t meant to be.

Scoring Plays

1^st Quarter

• IND – Manning 12 yard pass to Gonzalez – Viniateri PAT

2^nd Quarter

• NE – Gostkowski 29 yard FG
• NE – Gostkowski 35 yard FG

3^rd Quarter

• NE – Green-Ellis 6 yard run – 2 point conversion failed
• IND – Manning 8 yard pass to Gonzalez – 2 point conversion pass to Wayne

4^th Quarter

• NE – Gostkowski 25 yard FG
• IND – Viniateri 52 yard FG

Offensive Player of the Game

Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning was 21 of 29 for 254 yards and 2 TDs.

Defensive Player of the Game

New England LB Jerod Mayo had 11 tackles and knocked down one pass.

Turning Point(s) of the Game

Personal foul penalty on New England TE David Thomas for 15 yards after BenJarvus Green-Ellis would have been close to a first down.  That made 3rd/16 from the IND 46 instead of 3rd/1 at the IND 31 and took the Patriots out of at least field goal range and possibly a first down to keep the drive running.

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Darius Butler is out 4-6 weeks.

It’s a good news bad news situation for Darius Butler and the UConn Huskies.

The good news is that he’s out 4-6 weeks meaning it’s probably an MCL injury and not a ACL tear. The bad news is that Butler will most likely miss the rest of the regular season with the knee injury.

It is quite conceivable that Butler could return for the Pittsburgh game on December 6th but with a bright future ahead of him in the NFL, there’s no reason to risk it.

Butler was injured in the 3rd quarter of yesterday’s loss to West Virginia during a kickoff return.

Four more members of the Boston Red Sox have filed for free agency as Curt Schilling, Sean Casey and Bartolo Colon filed on Friday and Mark Kotsay filed this morning.

We all know Schilling’s situation right now as he is undecided on whether or not he plans to return in 2009. He has said that if he did return, he may do so for only 1/2 a season in the same manner that Roger Clemens did with the Yankees.

Colon will most likely not be back with the Red Sox in 2009. His actions late in the season when the Red Sox asked him to pitch out of the bullpen sealed his fate with the club.

Casey spent the 2008 season as a reserve filling in during the time that Mike Lowell was out with an injury during the early part of 2008. His role disappeared though late in the season and during the playoffs with the acquisition of Kotsay. Casey has stated a desire to return to the Red Sox in 2009 in the same capacity that he had this season.

Kotsay probably won’t be back with the Red Sox in 2009 either as he will seek a full-time job with another club. When Lowell went down late in the season and then again during the playoffs, Kotsay did an excellent job at first base which will probably enhance his chances during free agency. Theo Epstein has said that if Kotsay doesn’t find anything to his liking on the market, the Red Sox would gladly have him back.

The lone two remaining free agents the Red Sox have are Paul Byrd and Mike Timlin. Both will probably file in the coming days but we do know that Timlin has been leaning towards calling it quits.

Once again Tina Fey was back as Sarah Palin during this weekend’s Saturday Night Live (11/1). Fey was along side Senator John McCain as they made fun of Senator Barack Obama’s appearance on the three major networks this past Wednesday night. It also included a guest appearance by McCain’s wife Cindy as well.