Maya Moore Named AP Women’s Preseason All-American

Maya Moore is the only sophomore on this year's AP Preseason All-American Team UConn Huskies sophomore Maya Moore fell one vote short in joining Oklahoma’s Courtney Paris as unanimous selection on the AP Women’s Preseason All-American Team.

Moore garned 44-of-45 votes from the assembled writers across the country and could have been the 7th unanimous selection. The others besides Paris are Chamique Holdsclaw, Diana Taurasi, Alana Beard, Seimone Augustus and Candace Parker.

Joining the pair on the team are Louisville’s Angel McCoughtry, Maryland’s Kristi Toliver, and Oklahoma State’s Andrea Riley. UConn’s Renee Montgomery and Tina Charles were among the others receiving votes.

“It’s a great honor to be selected as part of that group,” Moore said. “Last year was special, but we have bigger things that we still want to accomplish as a team at UConn.”

Here is a full look at the team:

Courtney Paris, Oklahoma, 6-4, senior, 18.6 ppg, 15.0 rpg, .561 fg pct (45 votes).

Maya Moore, Connecticut, 6-0, sophomore, 17.8 ppg, 7.6 rpg, .543 fg pct, 73 3-pointers (44)

Angel McCoughtry, Louisville, 6-1, senior, 23.8 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 4.1 spg, 50 3-pointers (39)

Kristi Toliver, Maryland, 5-7, senior, 17.1 ppg, 7.4 apg, .860 ft pct, 78 3-pointers (38)

Andrea Riley, Oklahoma State, 5-5, junior, 23.1 ppg, 4.1 apg, 3.0 spg (19).

Others receiving votes (in alphabetical order): Jayne Appel, Stanford; DeWanna Bonner, Auburn; Tina Charles, Connecticut; Marissa Coleman, Maryland; Briann January, Arizona State; Jantel Lavender, Ohio State; Rashanda McCants, North Carolina; Renee Montgomery, Connecticut; Epiphanny Prince, Rutgers; Takia Starks, Texas A&M; Ashley Walker, California; Morgan Warburton, Utah; Monica Wright, Virginia; Shavonte Zellous, Pittsburgh.

Buster Olney’s Lost His Marbles

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.

Paw Prints – The Daily Roundup – 11/4

Paw Prints Daily Roundup

The UConn football team is in search of a big playmaker at wide receiver.

Rob Lunn checks in with his final thoughts on the West Virginia game at Thoughts From a Fat White Guy. He also asks for some prayers for Darius Butler.

Maya Moore, Tina Charles and Kali McLaren are involved with Athletes In Action, which is a college faith-based orgainzation for student athletes.

Joe Perez of the Norwich Bulletin shares his thoughts on former women’s basketball recruit Kelsey Bone’s comments as well as Rich Elliot of the Connecticut Post.

The UConn men’s basketball team will be looking to lead the country in shot blocking for the 8th straight season.

The Hartford Courant has a look at the shot blocking numbers over the past 7 years.

David Gillett has video of former Husky Charlie Villanueva with a big dunk.

The field is set for the Big East Men’s Soccer Tournament and the UConn men’s soccer team will host the winner of DePaul/Pittsburgh on Saturday at 7 PM at Morrone Stadium.

UConn field hockey player Lauren Aird was named Big East Offensive Player of the Week.

Boston Red Sox News & Notes – 11/4

Dustin Pedroia says you should vote

It’s Election Day today so make sure you get out and exercise your right to vote. Now on to the Boston Red Sox news.

The general managers around the league right now are assembled out in California for the annual GM meetings. It’s a time where they take care of some procedural things and then listen to trade offers plus listen to agents talk about their clients and why they deserve more money than your willing to spend.

Theo Epstein made his way out to California yesterday after stopping off in Arizona to see Clay Buchholz make his final start in the Arizona Fall League. Theo also revealed that his contract was officially done although we already knew that.

It appears that Mike Timlin and Theo talked after the season and whether Timlin retires or not, he will not be back with the Red Sox next season.

“we came to a mutual understanding that Boston probably wouldn’t be the best fit for him going forward, that there would be other places with greater opportunities.”

“But what a career that guy had in Boston,” Epstein said. “He was really the staple down there for us–very reliable, very effective, a big part of two World Series teams. We should not let the offseason go by without tipping our cap to him.”

Kevin Youkilis and Jonathan Papelbon could be in for big pay days during the arbitration process.

We all know that San Diego Padres Jake Peavy is on the trading block but the Red Sox will not be a destination of choice for him. The only two AL teams he has on his list are the Angels and Yankees.

Theo Epstein gives his thoughts on how the Red Sox will be approaching free agents this offseason, including Mark Teixeira.

Theo will also be meeting with Scott Boras to talk about Jason Varitek and Alex Cora’s futures.

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe says that the Red Sox still appear to be the frontrunner for Junichi Tazawa from Japan.

Gary Marbry of WEEI.com has some more Red Sox nuggets for us to enjoy.

In The Red Zone – 11/4 – Election Day Edition

ITRZ

Sunday night was a tough loss. Errors, physical and mental, cost the team a game and we can honestly say in the last 8 seasons that hasn’t happened very often. Jabar Gaffney dropped a surefire TD bomb on a perfect pass by Matt Cassel and of course the David Thomas 15-yarder was the most costly as it killed a drive late in the fourth quarter. There were also some curious decisions made by the staff and I know I’ve never written that sentence before. They got burnt on the 12 men on the field challenge, looked shakey burning their final timeout with nearly a quarter to play on a 4th and 1 at the Indianapolis 7 yard line and then the play call selection for 3rd and 16 near midfield was far from stellar.

But the thing about football is you watch the film, learn from it and move on to your next opponent which is the Buffalo Bills this Sunday in Foxboro. It should be a good game as the Bills are much improved, even though they’ve slid a bit in the last four weeks going 1-3 after a 4-0 start. The Bills and Patriots find themselves in a three way deadlock with the New York Jets for the AFC East lead and the winner could still find themselves tied at games end.

In case you want to see some highlights of the game from Sunday night here is the video package from Patriots.com

As we do each and every week here is the Patriots Monday interview with head coach Bill Belichick on WEEI in Boston.

Reiss’ Pieces has the ups and downs from a Week 9 to Indianapolis.

The AP’s Howard Uhlman says Belichick’s time out call was questionable.

The Herald’s Karen Guregian says Randy Moss wasn’t fine with the officiating in Sunday’s game.

The ProJo’s Mike McDermott feels no one stepped up when it was needed Sunday night. His co-worker Jim Donaldson says bad decisions and pointless possessions doomed the Pats.

As WEEI producer Andy Massaua says losing to the Colts sucked because we didn’t get to see the Manning face but hey Pats fans don’t fret for it is always just a click away. It’s mostly Peyton and Eli but they even have a few of Archie in there for good measure.

Don’t forget to look for the official Sox & Dawgs Bills vs. Patriots Week 10 Preview available on Friday morning at your local computer.

The Patriots find themselves now tied for first in the AFC East with the Bills and the Jets as the teams head into Week 10 play.

1 (tie). New England 5-3
1 (tie). Buffalo 5-3
1 (tie). New York 5-3
4. Miami 4-4

AFC East Week 10 games are:

Patriots entertain the Bills
Jets host the Rams
Dolphins welcome the Seahawks

Just an editorial note for next week, with the Patriots playing the Jets on Thursday (November 13) the regular schedule will be modified. In the Red Zone will run as usual on Tuesday, the Jets/Patriots game preview will run on Wednesday and hopefully on Thursday prior to the game we will have enough information to give you a Patriots Tailgating Tidbits prior to Belichick-Mangini VII.

Byrd Ready To Fly The Coup

Paul Byrd is the latest member of the Boston Red Sox to file for free agency joining 7 other teammates in doing so. Byrd was picked up in a trade by the Red Sox with the Cleveland Indians in August.

The move proved beneficial to the Red Sox as he provided some stability to the Red Sox rotation at a time when he was much needed. Byrd went 4-2 with a 4.78 ERA in 8 starts for the Red Sox and finished with a 11-12 record in 30 starts combined.

Byrd most likely won’t be back with the Red Sox in 2009 as they have a plethora of starting pitching.

The only other member of the Red Sox eligible for free agency is Mike Timlin and he’ll most likely be retiring.

Hansbrough Heads AP Preseason All-America Team

Paw Prints Men's Basketball

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.

UConn-Syracuse To Kickoff At 7 PM On Nov. 15

Paw Prints Football News

The Big East Conference and ESPN have announced that the UConn Huskies football game against the Syracuse Orange in the Carrier Dome will kickoff at 12:00 PM 7:00 PM on November 15th. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU.

Remember I use the term broadcast nationally loosely since ESPNU isn’t available in a good portion of homes across the United States.

Editor’s note: The time originally had been announced as a noon start but has been changed to 7:00 PM by the powers to be at ESPN. Unfortunately, it’s still on ESPNU.

Paw Prints – The Daily Roundup – 11/3

Paw Prints Daily Roundup

As we found out yesterday, the UConn Huskies football team will be without the services of Darius Butler for the next 4-6 weeks after he suffered a knee injury on Saturday.

Joe Perez of the Norwich Bulletin has some notes from Randy Edsall’s teleconference yesterday.

Could the UConn men’s basketball team challenge North Carolina for the title this season?

Jim Fuller of the New Haven Register takes a look at the comments made by former women’s basketball recruit Kelsey Bone.

The UConn women’s soccer team overcame a 1-0 deficit to beat the Georgetown Hoyas and advance to the semifinals of the Big East Women’s Soccer Tournament this weekend at Notre Dame.

The UConn women’s field hockey team will host the Big East Tournament this weekend. The Huskies are seeded 3rd and will take on the Louisville Cardinals.

The UConn women’s volleyball team shutout the Villanova Wildcats yesterday afternoon.

Vinatieri’s 52 Yarder Wins It For Indy

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

PATRIOTS	0	6	6	3	15
COLTS	7	0	8	3	18

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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