The Big East Conference announced this afternoon that UConn Huskies center Hasheem Thabeet was named the Big East Player of the Week for the week-ending 2/8.

In UConn’s win over Louisville last Monday, Thabeet had 14 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. In the win over Michigan on Saturday, Thabeet had 17 points, 12 rebounds and 6 blocked shots. He was also 11-of-13 from the free throw line in both games.

The Huskies return to action on Wednesday night when they will host the Syracuse Orange at 7 PM at Gampel Pavilion. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.

When the rankings come out this afternoon, the UConn Huskies men’s and women’s basketball teams will most likely be No. 1 again. There’s no reason for the men to fall from their perch and definitely no reason for the women to fall either.

If anyone’s in the Providence area, can you please go by there and ask the schedule maker why on earth they would schedule the UConn men and women at the same time on Wednesday night. Once a season is understandable but this is getting ridiculous. Both the UConn men and women play at 7 PM on Wednesday night. So if you’re not going to the men’s game at Gampel then you’ll have your choice of what to watch. For me it’s simple, I watch both at the same time.

UConn women’s basketball links

Great feature on Jacquie Fernandes [Waterbury Republican-American]

UConn’s defense and rigorous practices are what’s leading them [Hartford Courant]

Kalana Greene has helped fill the scoring void since Caroline Doty’s injury [New Haven Register]

Jim Fuller has some notes on former Huskies Swin Cash and Nykesha Sales [Elm City to Eagleville]

John Altavilla of the Hartford Courant has some notes on the UConn women’s team.

UConn men’s basketball links

The Michigan win as a postseason primer for the Huskies [Norwich Bulletin]

The accolades keep piling up for Jeff Adrien [New Haven Register]

Michigan was the perfect tuneup for March [Hartford Courant]

There was no day of rest for Jim Calhoun on Sunday [New London Day]

Matt Stout of the Norwich Bulletin and Gavin O’Keefe of the New London Day have notes on the UConn men’s team.

Here is the complete list from the Boston Red Sox of their non-roster invitees to big league spring training.

Pitchers (8): Daniel Bard, Fernando Cabrera, Enrique Gonzalez, Kris Johnson, Marcus McBeth, Dustin Richardson, Billy Traber and Charlie Zink.

Infielders (6): Lars Anderson, Jeff Bailey, Angel Chavez, Green, Ivan Ochoa and Gil Velazquez

Outfielders (4): Chip Ambres, Zach Daeges, Paul McAnulty and Josh Reddick

Catchers (1): Carlos Maldonado

Brad Wilkerson is not on the list yet because he has not taken his physical yet. Once he passes his physical, he’ll be added to the list of non-roster invitees.

They will join the players on the Red Sox 40-man roster in Ft. Myers this week. Pitchers and catchers report on Thursday (February 12th) with their first workout on Saturday (February 14th). Position players will report on February 16th with the first full team workout on February 18th.

I don’t really have much to offer as far as the Boston Red Sox are concerned. Spring training is right around the corner as in just 4 days pitchers and catchers will report to Ft. Myers.

It’s definitely exciting though as we’ve all been looking forward to the return of Red Sox baseball. There are some who just follow the Red Sox so I say to you, dust off everything and get yourself ready for an exciting season of Boston Red Sox baseball. For everyone else, don’t forget about the Red Sox, they’re your team to along with your other favorites.

Rocco Baldelli has adjusted to the medical ordeal he’s gone through [Boston Globe]

According one AL West GM, the Red Sox boost the deepest pitching staff in baseball [Boston Globe]

The Red Sox bench has some versatility to it [Boston Herald]

With the truck leaving on Friday, there are still some questions to be answered for the Red Sox [Union Leader]

After losing 566 player-days to the disabled list, the priority for the Red Sox this season is to stay healthy [Boston Herald]

Theo Epstein stands behind his beliefs in the Red Sox farm products [Boston Herald]

For seven straight days last week, grown ups got to play Red Sox [Boston Herald]

Lars Anderson marches to the beat of a different drummer [Union Leader]

One of the potential sites for the new Red Sox spring trianing complex is raising a concern [MSNBC]

One possible Red Sox spring training site is a benefit for Alico Lakeside [The News-Press]

A Red Sox fan got 9 months in jail for pushing an Angels fan down the concrete stairs back in October of 2004 [Orange County Register]

With both the UConn men’s and women’s basketball teams winning last night, Storrs will remain the basketball capital of the world for another week. It wasn’t a pretty win for the UConn men last night against Michigan who controlled the tempo of the game. But in the end a win is a win and there was a lot for UConn to learn from playing an opponent like Michigan.

For the women, it wasn’t pretty early on either. The play of Meghan Gardler off the bench was excellent again and even Lorin Dixon and Kaili McLaren had good games as well. They were just as big of part of the decisive run in the first half as Maya Moore and Renee Montgomery were. Eventually this UConn team may get tested but I just don’t see anyone beating them unless they get everyone on UConn in foul trouble especially if the role players keep this up.

You’ll notice who was playing at home and who was on the road when going through the links. Blame it on the economy that the UConn women can’t get the same coverage on the road that the UConn men usually do.

UConn men’s basketball links:

David Borges of the New Haven Register, Matt Stout of the Norwich Bulletin, Neill Ostrout of the Connecticut Post all have notes on the UConn men’s win over Michigan.

UConn played ugly in the first half but gutted out a win [New Haven Register]

UConn beat Michigan with a late surge [Hartford Courant]

It was the 11th straight win for the Huskies last night [Connecticut Post]

This UConn team works best when it goes inside-out [New Haven Register]

Here are some extras from the win over Marquette [Hartford Courant]

Jeff Adrien’s final rebound of the night put him in some elite company at UConn [New Haven Register]

The Huskies survived a scare from Michigan [Norwich Bulletin]

Jeff Adrien picked up yet another double-double last night [Connecticut Post]

Jeff Adrien now has 1,436 points and 1,000 rebounds at UConn [Hartford Courant]

Here is how the 5 players compare at UConn who had at least 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds [Hartford Courant]

UConn’s defense came up big in the win over Michigan [The News-Times]

Jeff Adrien joined some elite company at UConn with his 14th rebound in the win over Michigan [Norwich Bulletin]

The UConn men gutted out a win last night [Journal Inquirer]

Michigan pushed UConn to the brink last night [MGoBlue]

Jeff Adrien reached a nice milestone last night [Waterbury Republican-American]

Michigan hung around for 30 minutes but lost to No. 1 UConn [Ann Arbor News]

The UConn men gutted it out last night [Waterbury Republican-American]

It was another Adrien moment last night [New London Day]

David Gillett has his take on the win last night [UConn Huskies Basketball]

Jim Calhoun said his team played with heart last night [NECN]

UConn women’s basketball links:

Maya Moore ignited the UConn women last night [AP via the Norwich Bulletin]

The Marquette Golden Eagles were out of there league last night [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

The UConn women rolled over Marquette last night [Hartford Courant]

The UConn women’s bench helped them to the win last night [New Haven Register]

Kalana Greene is contemplating staying another year at UConn [Hartford Courant]

Here are some extras from the UConn women’s win over Marquette [Hartford Courant]

Kalana Greene will make her decision soon about her basketball future [New Haven Register]

The recent struggles by Tina Charles give Geno Auriemma cause for concern [New London Day]

UConn men’s and women’s hockey links:

The UConn women’s hockey team lost 3-1 to Boston University [UConnHuskies.com]

The UConn men’s hockey team lost 4-1 to the Air Force Academy [UConnHuskies.com]

Believe it or not, this game was close for about 10 minutes or so. Then the No. 1 UConn Huskies turned on the afterburners and never looked back.

Maya Moore had 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Huskies to an 83-49 win over the Marquette Golden Eagles in front of 4,000 at the Al McGuire Center in Milwaukee, WI.

With the win, the Huskies improve to 23-0 (9-0 Big East) while the Golden Eagles drop to 13-10 (4-5).

Moore also added 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocked shots. Kalana Greene had another great game with 16 points and 6 rebounds while Renee Montgomery chipped in with 15 points and 6 assist. Tina Charles rebounded from her bad performance the other night to score 10 points but had just 3 rebounds. Lorin Dixon also had a good game with 7 points and 5 rebounds.

No one on Marquette scored in double figures with Courtney Weibel leading the way with 9 points. Both Krystal Ellis and Paige Fiedorowicz had 8 points with Fiedorowicz pulling down 6 rebounds. Jessica Pachko had a team-high 7 rebounds.

The Huskies got out to a 4-point lead at 7-3 before Marquette came back to tie the game up at 7. Marquette eventually took a 12-9 lead before a 6-0 run by UConn gave them a 3 point lead. Marquette responded and then the two teams exchanged baskets with Marquette ending up with a 21-20 lead with 10:27 to go.

Then the game took a turn for the worse for the Golden Eagles.

UConn went on a 17-1 run over the next 8:51 minutes behind Moore and Montgomery along with some strong bench play from Meghan Gardler, Kaili McLaren and Lorin Dixon and of course that vaunted Connecticut defense. The run ended when Lauren Thomas-Johnson hit a 3-pointer with 1:42 to go. The Golden Eagles would add a basket at the end of the half Ellis stole the ball and made a layup but the Golden Eagles still trailed by 16, 42-26 at the break.

Things got even worse for the Golden Eagles to start the second half as they went the first 7 minutes without scoring a basket as UConn opened up a 30 point lead with a 14-0 run during that stretch. Marquette wouldn’t get any closer than 26 points the rest of the way.

It was nice to see the UConn bench step up after everyone questioned whether or not it had the depth to do so. If this continues, no one may be able to touch the Huskies the rest of the way. But as is their motto, it’s one game at a time.

That next game will come when they head to New York to take on St. John’s Wednesday night. Tip is scheduled for 7 PM and the game will be broadcast locally on CPTV.

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When you’re the No. 1 team in the country, you have a nice huge bullseye on your back. That bullseye was evident as the Michigan Wolverines were unfazed by the No. 1 UConn Huskies throughout the game.

But in the end UConn persevered behind 19 points by Jerome Dyson to take a 69-61 win over the Wolverines in front of a sellout crowd at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, CT.

The win is the 11th straight for UConn as they improve to 22-1 on the season. They will become the first team in the last 4 polls to hold onto the No. 1 spot for a second week. Michigan falls to 15-9.

Hasheem Thabeet had another solid game with 17 points, 12 rebounds and 6 blocked shots. A.J. Price chipped in with 11 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists while Jeff Adrien narrowly missed a double-double with 9 points and 14 rebounds. The 14 rebounds gives him 1,000 in his career and he becomes just the 5th player in UConn history to have 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.

Stu Douglass led Michigan with a game-high 20 points on six 3-pointers. Manny Harris added 15 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals while DeShawn Sims had 8 points.

The Huskies got out quick taking an 8-1 lead before the Wolverines fought back to tie the game at 14. The two teams exchanged the lead and with UConn leading 21-20, Michigan went on a 9-0 run to take an 8 point lead. The Huskies responded though with a 12-5 run to close out the half and went into the locker room trailing by one point at 34-33.

It was an ugly first half for UConn that saw them have 11 baskets and 10 first half turnovers. It was just the second time this season the Huskies had trailed at the half. The loss to Georgetown was the other.

The two teams exchanged the lead again in the second before the Wolverines took a 43-39 lead with 14:05 to go in the game. Then the Huskies exploded for a 9-0 run to take a 5 point lead. UConn would expand the lead to 10 points but Michigan wasn’t going away though as UConn went scoreless for just over 4 minutes late in the game.

Dyson ended that drought with a layup to give UConn a 61-53 lead. Douglass hit two 3-pointers to keep Michigan close but the Huskies made their free throws to hold off Michigan for the win.

The Huskies go back to Big East play on Wednesday night when the Syracuse Orange come to Gampel Pavilion. Tip is scheduled for 7 PM and the game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.

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