Today is game day for the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team as they host Stonehill College tonight at 7:30 PM at Gampel Pavilion.

UConn women’s coach Geno Auriemma named Renee Montgomery, Kalana Greene and Maya Moore as his captains for the 2008-09 season.

The expectations for Maya Moore this season are higher than last year.

Geno Auriemma announced 4 of the 5 starters for tonight’s game yesterday.

Geno Auriemma looks to test some new things out with his team tonight.

Kalana Greene and Caroline Doty look forward to returning to action tonight.

Kim Williams, the mother of former UConn women’s recruit Kelsey Bone, cleared the air about her daughter’s comments with the Connecticut Post’s Rich Elliot.

The UConn men looked sharp last night against AIC.

Kemba Walker admitted he was nervous before last night’s game.

David Borges of the New Haven Register has a breakdown of each UConn men’s player from last night’s game.

Neill Ostrout of the Connecticut Post has some postgame notes as does Mike Anthony of the Hartford Courant.

Mike Anthony of the Hartford Courant has some notes about Ater Majok and some other UConn men’s recruits.

Charles Okwandu didn’t play in last night’s exhibition game due to an issue that may stem from his College of Southern Idaho days.

Here’s a look at the past 10 years of UConn men’s basketball in pictures.

This is a couple of days old but the Golden State Warriors didn’t exercise the option on Marcus Williams’ contract and he’ll be a unrestricted free agent next year. It’s also quite possible he’ll be traded.

The UConn men’s soccer team will host DePaul in the quarterfinals of the Big East Men’s Soccer Tournament on Saturday night at 7 PM.

The UConn Student Athlete Advisory Committee would like to thank everyone for donating over 1,200 coats at the UConn football game last Saturday.

With GM Theo Epstein out in California for the GM meetings, news related to the Boston Red Sox has picked up over the past few days. The reason being is that the Red Sox have some free agents to discuss with respective agents and some possible trades to talk about.

Of course the big free agent the Red Sox have is Jason Varitek. And once again Scott Boras was spitting some hogwash out of his mouth yesterday.

“You’re going to have No. 3 starters making $12, $13 million a year. You’re going to have Nos. 1 and 2 starters making anywhere from $18-25 million,” said Boras. “When you talk about the fact that the person who is handling them, who can improve them, who can do all the things necessary to advance them, we really have to look at the fact that if we have a catcher who makes the staff’s ERA a half-run lower when you look at the pitching, the prominence and defense is something you have to look at as value. That’s why I was talking yesterday about Jason…

“(There are catchers who produce) literally little or no offense, but they’re playing in the big leagues because they can catch and throw,” Boras continued. “If you have a catcher that puts your team in a position to win and masters your pitching staff, that’s the issue. The issue is far afield from what he hits. If he does hit, if you have a catcher that does that and hits 25 homeruns, he may be a $20 million player.

“There just aren’t any catchers who have the ability to have the defensive acumen to lead a pitching staff where your team has a .600 winning percentage and you’re hitting 25 homers and driving in 90, those catchers don’t exist. They just don’t exist.”

Can someone please make him shut the heck up? Seriously, a $20 million catcher. For that price he better be hitting .400 with 50 home runs and 150 RBI and throwing every runner out. It will be interesting to see what develops with the Red Sox and Varitek before November 14th when the exclusive negotiation period runs out. At this point the Red Sox might be better served making a trade for one of the Rangers catchers.

One thing’s for certain, Varitek probably won’t end up with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Red Sox have had some discussions about trading Coco Crisp but are finding Julio Lugo to be a hard sell.

It’s that time of the year where other teams have managerial openings and some names from the Red Sox coaching staff pop up. This time around it is both John Farrell and Brad Mills as they have both mentioned as candidates for the Seattle Mariners opening.

Right now the Red Sox have about $110 million already committed to their 2009 roster right now and could do some spending during free agency.

Theo Epstein could care less if Manny Ramirez decides to sign with the Yankees. Me on the other hand would be a little bit scared if he did seeing how we face them 18 times a year and we all know what Manny can do.

Alex Speier of WEEI.com has some more news and notes from the GM meetings.

The Red Sox are interested in Billy Traber to provide some organizational depth.

Gary Marbry of WEEI.com has some nuggets on Charlie Zink and David Ross.

And last but certainly not least, Jason Bay would love to stay with the Red Sox long-term and hopes to work out a contract extension with them during the offseason. I am all for that one!!!

UConn women’s head coach Geno Auriemma has named Renee Montgomery, Kalana Greene and Maya Moore as his captains for the 2008-09 campaign.

This will be the third straight year that Montgomery has been the captain of the Huskies. For Moore, she is just the second true sophomore to be named captain for the UConn women, Montgomery is the other.

“I’m honored that I have the trust of probably the greatest coach in college basketball history to be a captain of the team,” Greene said. “With all due respect, I think I’ve earned it. I’ve been here a long time, seen a lot. I contribute a lot. I am honored, I’m excited and I’m ready to take the challenge.

“I can’t say i came to Connecticut to be a captain. I’m not caught by surprise by it, but I am really honored to be a captain here.”

“I do my best day to day to act like that anyways,” Moore said. “Renee is a great person, I feel blessed to be able to work next to her and learn from her one more year. If Coach believes in me, I would do my best to prove him right. It is something I aspire to be and something I feel capable of being. It is a big responsibility and it is one I will do my best at.”

The UConn women will kickoff their two-game exhibition slate tonight at 7:30 PM when they host Stonehill College at Gampel Pavilion.

The UConn Huskies finally stepped onto a court where the opponent wasn’t themselves as they beat the Division II American International College Yellow Jackets 83-58 at Gampel Pavilion.

Hasheem Thabeet paced the No. 2 Huskies with 21 points, 10 rebounds and 6 blocked shots against the vastly undersized Yellow Jackets. Gavin Edwards added 15 points and 7 rebounds in 15 minutes while Jeff Adrien had 13 points and 6 rebounds. Craig Austrie had a rough night from the field (2-of-8) but finished with 11 points and 6 assists. Kemba Walker’s Husky debut was a good one as he had 10 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists and A.J. Price returned to action with 8 points in 24 minutes of action.

Jim Calhoun’s alma mater was paced by Isiah Wallace with 16 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Colson Senat added 10 points while Lucius Millinder and Aikeem Vanderhorst both had 8 points.

The Huskies came out of the gate slowly but with the score tied 7-7 scored the next 7 points on 5 points from Walker and a layup by Austrie. After a Millinder 3, the Huskies opened the game with another 7-0 run as the Huskies never looked back the rest of the night.

UConn had a good shooting night from the floor as they shot 53.6% (30-of-54). The Huskies used their size to their advantage as they outscored the Yellow Jackets 44-20 in the paint and enjoyed a 44-25 rebounding advantage as well.

The Huskies return to action next Sunday afternoon when they host UMass-Lowell at the XL Center. The game isn’t on television and once again will be broadcast on AT&T Huskies All-Access and the UConn Huskies Radio Network.

AIC vs UConn 11.5.08 box score

The women’s basketball coaches have voted and they have chosen the UConn Huskies as the number one team in the land in the USA Today/Coaches Preseason Poll that was released earlier today.

The Huskies received 30-of-31 first place votes from the coaches which begs the question, which of these coaches didn’t vote for UConn:

The USA TODAY/ESPN Board of Coaches is made up of 31 head coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association. The board for the 2008-09 season: Agnus Berenato, Pittsburgh; Patricia Cage-Bibbs, North Carolina A&T; Pam Borton, Minnesota; Sandy Botham, Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Brian Boyer, Arkansas State; Lynn Bria, Stetson; Kenny Brooks, James Madison; Royce Chadwick, Marshall; Stephanie DeWolfe, St. Peter’s; Dana Eikenberg, Southern Illinois; Elaine Eliott, Utah; Sharon Fanning, Mississippi State; Julie Goodenough, Charleston Southern; Sue Guevara, Central Michigan; Maryalyce Jeremiah, Cal State-Fullerton; Aaron Johnston, South Dakota State; Nate Kilbert, Mississippi Valley State; Gela Mikalauskas, Wagner; Mike Morris, Samford; Dan Muscatell, Sacramento State; Lee Ann Riley, Stephen F. Austin; Jennifer Rizzotti, Hartford; Julie Rousseau, Pepperdine; Brady Sallee, Eastern Illinois; Sue Semrau, Florida State; Michael Shafer, Richmond; Dayna Smith, Cornell; Tammy Smith, Lafayette; Cindy Stein, Missouri; LaVonda Wagner, Oregon State; Adrian Wiggins, Fresno State.

Other teams from the Big East included Rutgers (3), Louisville (11), Notre Dame (14) and Pittsburgh (23). Syracuse, Marquette, West Virginia and DePaul were among the others receiving votes.

Here is a full look at the poll.

After the jump is the side-by-side comparison of the AP and USA/Today Coaches Women’s Polls.

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