2006-07 Record : 32-4, 16-0 in the Big East, lost to LSU in Regional Finals

Returning Players: Everyone is back from last year’s team.

Who’s gone: No one

New faces: Maya Moore, Lorin Dixon

Last season: The women started out the season with 12 straight wins before losing to Tennessee at home. After winning two more games, they lost to North Carolina in Chapel Hill and then ran the table in the Big East, finishing a perfect 16-0. They got to the Big East Tournament finals where they lost to Rutgers 55-47. They cruised until the Regional Finals where LSU outplayed them and got a revenge win. UConn had beaten LSU 72-71 in Baton Rouge earlier in the season.

Looking forward to: This year’s senior class has never been to a Final Four but that should change this season as the Huskies added the top high school player in the land, Maya Moore. There is no Tennessee on the schedule this year for the first time in a long time but big games with Purdue, North Carolina and Rutgers twice should test the Huskies.

Key Player(s): Tina Charles. With Charles 100% healthy this season, we should expect her to dominate in the paint and average almost a double-double.

Prediction: 1st in the Big East, win the Big East Tournament, and win the NCAA Championship over Tennessee.

2007-08 Schedule

Here is a look how the former UConn players fared in last week’s play in the NBA.

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The Boston Celtics won a hard fought game on the road over the New Jersey Nets 112-101 to improve to 5-0 on the year. The Celtics had a pretty comfortable 22 point lead early in the fourth quarter but the Nets chipped away at it to cut it as low as 8 points but that was a close as they would get.

Paul Pierce led Boston with 28 points, UConn product Ray Allen had double-double with 27 points, 10 boards, 5 assists and Kevin Garnett had his 5th double-double of the year with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Eddie House was also in double figures with 11 points for the Green.

The Celtics had a big fouth quarter outscoring New Jersey 28-14 to open the game up with some help from rookie Glen “Big Baby” Davis who prior to fouling out had 6 points and 8 rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench. Davis was forced into a bigger role tonight due to some injuries and he played extremely well earning high praise from Tommy Heinsohn.

The Celtics started a bit sluggish and it was possibly because it was Boston’s first back-to-back games of the year after a win last night at home against Atlanta.

There was also the emotions the players were feeling for their coach Doc Rivers who lost his father earlier in the week and attended his funeral this morning in Chicago. Rivers said the only reason he came to the game tonight was because his mom said “you need to go the game”. Rivers, who made it to the IZOD Center with Danny Ainge 75 minutes before tip off, said he is returning to Chicago tonight and will rejoin the team on Monday evening in Indianapolis where they face the Pacers on Tuesday night.

The Nets were led by Richard Jefferson who had 24, Vince Carter had 17 points and Jason Kidd chipped in with 13 points and 8 assists. Former UConn forward Josh Boone played five minutes and didn’t score and had 1 rebound.

Boston played with out James Posey (ankle) and Brian Scalabrini (concussion). New Jersey’s Vince Carter left the game with a sprained ankle and did not return.

The Result:

UConn left it’s offense and defense at home in Storrs as Ben Mauk threw for 276 yards and 3 touchdowns to lead the Bearcats past the Huskies on Saturday at Nippert Stadium on the campus of the University of Cincinnati. The loss was the Huskies first in Big East Conference Play and drops them to 4-1 in the conference and 8-2 overall. The Bearcats are also 8-2 overall and are 3-2 in the conference.

UConn was totally dominated on both sides of the ball today as Cincinnati racked up over 400 yards of total offense to UConn’s 204.

Scoring Plays:

1st quarter

• CIN – Mauk 1-yard pass to Barwin – kick good -Cincinnati 7-0
• CIN – Mauk 6-yard pass to Howard – kick no good – Cincinnati 13-0

2nd quarter

• CON – Ciaravino 22-yard field goal – Cincinnati 13-3

3rd quarter

• CIN – Mauk 12-yard run – kick good – Cincinnati 20-3

4th quarter

• CIN – Mauk 37-yard pass to Goodman – kick good – Cincinnati 27-3

Offensive Player of the Game:

Cincinnati quarterback Ben Mauk. He threw for 276 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also rushed for one touchdown.

Defensive Player of the Game:

Cincinnati defensive end Anthony Hoke had 3 sacks and 3 tackles plus 1 pass block.

Turning Point(s) of the Game:

UConn had allowed only 24 points all season in the first quarter. Cincinnati scores on it’s first possession and never looked back.

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The final University of Miami football game in Orange Bowl history is being played this weekend. There’s a few other events, a FIU game and a high school game and then the venerable old stadium will close it’s doors. Miami officials want to tear it down and Florida Marlins officials are hoping to use the site for a new baseball stadium. But over the 70 years there were some great games played there.

With apologies to Frank Sinatra here’s my Ode to the Orange Bowl….Thanks for the Memories.

Thanks for the memory
Of things I can’t forget
A guarantee by a Jet
Our wond’rous week
And then Namath and an upset
How lucky I was

And thanks for the memory
Phelan from Flutie
Miami lost to BC
Doug was propelled to the Heisman
off the throw to his roomie
what a miracle it was

Now since your going I wake up
Alone on a gray morning-after
I long for the sound of the fans chatter
And then I see the laugh’s on me

But thanks for the memory
Of every last minute touchdown drill
I’ve been through the mill
I’ve cheered a lot and jeered a lot
You loved me not and still
I’ll miss you so much

Thanks for the memory
It was here I found about Lennon
watched Nebraska loose to Johnson
I recall the night they shut down Payton
and saw the block on Von Schamann
How shocking it was

Thanks for the memory
a three pick game by AJ Duhe
Dorsey’s 13 yarder to Shockey
Wide right two and three
Vinny T and his 4 TD’s
How incredible it was

Gone are those evenings on Third Street
And those five Super Bowls
The first bowl game played at night
Maryland and a great comeback by Reich
We were all watching too

I know it’s a fallacy
but I saw the fumblerooskie
and Howley named Super Bowl MVP
acrobatics by Swann
and so many other icons
And thank you so much

The super sexy Texy from Center Field wants to know where is Julian Tavarez?

The elegant and beautiful Yankees Chick gives you her top 10 things she doesn’t understand about baseball.

The sexiest USC fan on the planet, Gridiron Goddess, gives you her college football picks for the weekend.

Melissa from Babes Love Baseball says you can stick a fork in the Rocket.

Gordonshumway from Ladies… shows you how to make a muffuletta sandwich.

Richie Rich from Home Run Derby gives you Josh Beckett on a Wheaties box.

Awful Announcing wants you to know that Erin Andrews is aware of the AOL/AA Worst Announcers bracket.

The Big Lead has a gnarly fútbol tackle.

We Are the Postmen tells you that Jose Canseco preaches about the dangers of steroid use at his baseball camp.

You Been Blinded wants to know which athlete has the best shoe.

And last but certainly not least, Fitzy from the Townie News gives us his latest Wicked Pissah webcast. This time he talks about his walk into the RCA Dome before Sunday’s Pats-Colts game. Video is NSFW.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=
http://youtube.com/watch?v=pw8lMAvo-AU[/youtube]

Tough enough to play the last two months of the season with a broken hamate bone in his left hand. He’s not exactly sure when the injury happened but according to the Boston Herald article, it was found during an MRI and bone scan on September 10th.

This would explain why the trainer and Terry Francona had to come out a few times when he got hurt diving for ground balls.

“Some days I would wake up and it would be hard to grip a bat,” Pedroia said. “I changed my grip a little bit on the bat and went from there. It was just one of those things you know you have to take care of after the season, but you have to play through. A lot of guys have done that. You definitely don’t want to shut it down and have surgery during the whole thing. We just had to find a way to fight through it.”

This is definitely a ball player I want on my team. Any player willing to risk further injury for the better of the team is all right in my book.

Don’t worry though Red Sox fans, Pedroia says he will be ready to go at the start of spring training.

“It won’t affect my offseason workouts at all. I’ll be coming in 100 percent and ready to roll.”

Pedroia also hopes that Mike Lowell will be back next season, even going as far as calling him his favorite teammate.

“I hope Mikey is back. He’s my favorite teammate of all time,” said Pedroia, in the midst of his move across town to new digs in Chandler, Ariz. “He’s been so great to me and my wife and helping us adjust to the major leagues. I’m pretty confident that something is going to get done.

“He got talked about a lot there at the end, but he didn’t get talked about as much as he should have. When David (Ortiz) was banged up, Manny (Ramirez) was hurt, and J.D. (Drew) was struggling a little bit, Mike Lowell was the guy who picked up the slack and carried us the whole year.”

As far as the situation with Lowell goes, there is really nothing to report on. He’s mulling over a 3-year deal supposedly worth $12-15 million a year although as Steve reported in a comment on Friday night, it’s a 3-year deal for $12 million a year.

Want the best tickets in town? Be sure to get your MLB tickets from ticketsolutions.com. It’s the fast and easy way to get Red Sox tickets right near the action. You can also get great Cubs tickets if you are in Chicago. Get your tickets before they are gone!

Former UConn Huskies and current Dallas Cowboys fullback Deon “Cricket” Anderson is out for the season after suffering a torn rotator cuff in Sunday night’s win over the Eagles.

Anderson has played a vital role for the Cowboys opening up holes for Marion Barber and Julius Jones. Anderson is expected to make a full recovery and be ready for the start of training camp next year.

Anderson was a 6th round draft choice of the Cowboys in the 2007 NFL Draft.

The Boston Celtics improved to 4-0 on the young season as they beat the Atlanta Hawks at the TD BankNorth Garden 106-83 behind Kevin Garnett’s 4^th double-double of the season as he knocked in 27 points, swept the boards clean 19 times, chipped in 6 helpers and had 3 swats.

Captain Paul Pierce added 23 points and Eddie House had 19 points off the bench. Former UConn star Ray Allen contributed 14 points and has now scored in double figures in 102 consecutive games.

Atlanta was led by former Celtics first rounder Joe Johnson and this years 3rd overall pick Al Horford who each scored 16 points.

The Hawks stuck close in the first quarter and had the score tied at 24-24 early in the second quarter but the Green pulled away were up 14 at the half 55-41 and never looked back as they shot 61% from the field.

Celtics head coach Doc Rivers left the team after the game to fly back to Chicago for the funeral of his father tomorrow morning. His plans are to be in New Jersey and coach the team tomorrow night against the Nets.

It will be interesting to see how the Celtics play in Jersey tomorrow night it will be their first back-to-back games of the season.

James Posey missed the game with back spasms and the Celtics lost Brian Scalabrine with a possible concussion in the 4^th quarter.

Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona was at the game tonight, he and Rivers are close friends. During a break in the action “Lucky” the Celtics mascot trampoline jumped over Francona to dunk the ball.