Diaco’s Harsh Truth: “We’re Not a Good Team”

UConn Huskies AD Warde Manuel brought in Bob Diaco to turn UConn football back into a winning program after three lackluster bowl-less seasons. He also happens to be the third coach at UConn since the 2013 season.

With a change in coach, comes a change in philosophies. Not just offensively, defensively or special teams, everywhere within the program, on and off the field.

"We have our culture set. It's posted all around the building," Diaco said. "So we can hit them with quick-hitting thoughts and implant that language into their hearts and minds."

"Then, we have to create activities that reinforce that ideology. And then we have to demand that they do it. Demand it in terms of coaching them through those activities, pointing out to them they're not doing it and heaping praise on them when they are."

And with spring practice No. 1 in the books, Diaco laid down the harsh truth.

"We've got enough players to have a good team, but we're not a good team," Diaco said. "We're not a good team."

To be honest, it caught me a little off guard when he said it. I wasn't quite sure he had even said it. But then he continued on and gave his reason why. And it made sense.

"Because they persist in continuing to do things that cause losing," said Diaco. "It's still a team that needs to come a long way in caring for each other."

"It's a group that needs to come a long way in understanding effort, energy, energy expenditure and strain necessary to win their individual matchups. It's a group that is an average to below average communication group. Positive communication, encouraging communication, demonstrative communication in whether its encouraging words or bringing guys along or just communicating in a drill."

"It's an easily frustrated group. When a drill comes off track or they're surprised with something else outside the scope of what they thought (would happen). It's a group that has trouble persevering through adversity and rolling with, `Hey, whatever we've got to do, let's do it, here we go.' Whatever comes at us, let's roll. It's a group that's starting to learn finishing but has trouble finishing, finishing drills, finishing plays, finishing workouts, so there are a lot of things that are present that cause losing. It's not just about a collection of players."

And if these guys can't get it done in practice how are they going to get it done in a game. But that's why there's 15 (now 14) spring practices. That's why there's a preseason camp, to get these things all corrected.

When you think about it, every single one of these guys on the team is on their third head coach. For some of the fourth-year players, this is their fourth coach (Randy Edsall, Paul Pasqualoni, T.J. Weist, Diaco). That's four different styles of coaching, four different sets of philosophies.

But something tells me that when you listen to Diaco and what he's trying to instill in the minds of the student-athletes on his team, it won't be long before these guys get it.

The reason.

One, Diaco is a great coach, a great motivator.

Two, I'm pretty sure these guys don't want to go through what they did last year.

With Diaco and his coaching staff at the helm, something tells me the latter won't happen.

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Video: UConn Women Win Inaugural AAC Title

After falling to the UConn Huskies women's basketball team last Monday night on their Senior Night, the Louisville Cardinals said they would be out for retribution the next time the two teams met.

As we all thought, that next matchup would come in finals of the American Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament. And let's just say, the Cardinals didn't exact revenge. They really didn't even come close.

UConn got out of the gates quickly with the first eight points and never looked back in a 72-52 win over Louisville in front of 8,034 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT to win the inaugural AAC Tournament and earn an automatic NCAA bid on Monday night.

The Huskies will enter the NCAA Tournament at 34-0 while Louisville will wait to see if they'll be a No. 1 or No. 2 seed after finishing at 30-4. Three of those four losses were to UConn.

Breanna Stewart, who picked up AAC Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament award, had a great game with 20 points, nine rebounds, six assists, four blocked shots and two steals. Bria Hartley added 16 points and six assists while Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis had 13 points.

Stefanie Dolson rounded out the Huskies in double digits with a double-double of 10 points and a season-high 16 rebounds.

Shoni Schimmel paced the Cardinals with 20 points and had seven rebounds. Asia Taylor added seven points and eight rebounds while Jude Schimmel and Tia Gibbs both had six points.

After UConn got out to that early lead, the Cardinals battled back to make it 13-8. The Huskies countered with a 14-2 run to go up by 17 points but their was no quit in Louisville as they went on a 10-1 run of their own to cut the lead back to eight.

Apparently Stewart had seen enough of Louisville being close as her old fashioned three point play kicked off a 12-2 run to close out the half with UConn enjoying an 18 point lead.

The Cardinals never really threatened the Huskies in the second half.

There's the real possibility that these two teams could meet up in the NCAA Regionals if Louisville isn't given a No. 1 seed because of one of the regionals will be on the Cardinals home court at the KFC Yum! Center. We all know Geno Auriemma doesn't want this and I'm sure Jeff Walz won't either.

Hopefully, the NCAA will either give the Cardinals a No. 1 seed or send UConn to a different bracket. It would be better for the game of women's basketball if that were to happen.

Both teams will found out their destination next Monday (3/17) during the NCAA Selection Show.

UConn Huskies vs Louisville Cardinals AAC Tournament Finals 3/10/14 box score

Here are the postgame quotes from UConn head coach Geno Auriemma and Louisville head coach Jeff Walz.

Here are UConn's postgame notes as well as Louisville's.

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photo credit: the american; cloe poisson – hartford courant

Video: UConn Football Coach Bob Diaco on “Face The State”

This past Sunday, UConn Huskies football coach Bob Diaco appeared on "Face The State' with Dennis House of WFSB.

In the interview, the pair talked about the impact of UConn football amongst many other things.

Part 1

Part 2

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Former UConn Men’s Coach Jim Calhoun To Co-Host Better Connecticut

If you're around on Tuesday afternoon, you might want to turn your television to WFSB Channel 3. If you're not going to be around set your DVR to tape "Better Connecticut" as former UConn Huskies men's basketball coach Jim Calhoun will co-host with Kara Sundlun.

Former UConn coach Jim Calhoun to co-host talk show http://t.co/qmvIc11lIp @UConn @karasundlun @betterct

— Dennis House (@DennisHouseWFSB) March 10, 2014

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Video: UConn Football Coach Bob Diaco on His Returning QBs

The UConn Huskies football team technically returns three starters at the quarterback position, a rare thing in these days of college football.

Chandler Whitmer started the first four games and was 0-4 under former head coach Paul Pasqualoni. True freshman Tim Boyle followed in the next four and was also 0-4 under interim head coach T.J. Weist. Casey Cochran was under the center for the final four games under Weist and finished up 3-1, with the three wins coming in the final three games of the season.

Now with a new head coach in Bob Diaco along with a new offensive philosophy, those three along with Kivon Taylor are vying to be the starter for UConn during the fall 2014 season.

For now though, Diaco isn't worried if one of them doesn't emerge as the starter after the 15 spring practices. He was also very pleased with their performances in their first spring practice in the new system.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=h41ScjeMvjQ?rel=0

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For Grumet-Morris, It’s All About “the Process”

By Bob Crawford

Even with their 3-2 loss Sunday in Manchester, the Hartford Wolf Pack have played better than .650 hockey over a span of 19 games (12-6-0-1), exactly a quarter of an AHL season, and no single factor has been more responsible for that run than the goaltending of Dov Grumet-Morris.

With his 33-save performance in the Wolf Pack’s 4-3 win over the Albany Devils Saturday at the XL Center, Grumet-Morris improved to 10-1-1 in his last 12 decisions, dating back to January 24. In 22 total appearances since being acquired by the Wolf Pack from the San Antonio Rampage December 13, the ninth-year pro is 12-5-4, with a 2.32 goals-against average and a fine 92.5% save percentage.

Before Sunday’s game, in which he backed up David LeNeveu, Grumet-Morris spoke about the team’s recent surge, which has taken the Pack from last overall in the AHL to within two points of 11^th place in the Eastern Conference standings.

“I think that this game is about momentum, both within a game itself, in between periods or during periods, and then also within a season,” the recently-turned-32-year-old said. “You can see the power of the negative, downward momentum, and I think that’s what happened to the team in November, and now you see the effects of the positive, upward momentum. Right now we’re not really focused on the points, we’re focused on appreciating and enjoying the process, because points happen when you take the proper steps. And when you focus on the steps, the points usually just come.”

Saturday’s game against Albany featured several momentum swings, the most abrupt of which came in the seventh minute of the third period. After giving up the first goal of the game in the second period, the Wolf Pack had countered with two quick ones, and then made it a 3-1 lead with a tally by J.T. Miller only 2:02 into the third. Shortly after that, though, the Devils struck for a pair of scores only 28 seconds apart, starting at the 6:29 mark. The Wolf Pack ended up shrugging off that punch in the gut, and got a goal from Ryan Bourque at 12:25 that would hold up as the game-winner. From an outsider’s perspective, the team’s recovery from those two rapid-fire goals-against seemed significant, but the always-analytical Grumet-Morris dismisses that notion.

“Goals happen, both for and against,” he said. “The fact that they could score quickly is not really indicative of anything, that’s just the way the game went. There were two quick goals in 30 seconds, that’s not ideal, but it’s not really that unusual, especially in this league, and it doesn’t matter. We just continued to play after that, they had some chances, we had some chances, and we ended up scoring and they didn’t. And at the end of the day, what does it matter if they score one in the first, one in the second and one in the third? It’s still three goals.

“People fixate sometimes on the number of seconds between goals, but it’s essentially irrelevant, if you, again, are focusing on each individual step, focusing on the process, because we scored four and they scored three. I don’t think they gained any victory whatsoever over the fact that they tied the game three to three. It doesn’t matter, they’re still [angry] about losing four to three.

“I don’t really focus on that, and I try to play my game accordingly. Sometimes people say, ‘Oh, well you settled down after that,’ it has nothing to do with settling, it just has to do with playing. What does it matter if I had made the save before? I still have to make the next save. So I don’t really focus on that.”

Similarly, Grumet-Morris is not about to turn handsprings over the record he has put together in a Wolf Pack uniform, even as compared to the 1-6-1 slate he compiled in his eight appearances with San Antonio prior to the trade. In considering that point, he had some interesting things to say about the significance, or lack thereof, of individual goaltending statistics.

“If you want to digest blocks of the season, I started in San Antonio 1-6-1,” Grumet-Morris said. “In my six losses, five of those games I had either zero or one goal scored-for, and in only one game did we have more than one goal. So you can’t win games 1-0. You can win one a year, maybe two.

“If my team had scored four goals each and every one of those games, I would have been 6-1-1. Would that mean that I was playing better hockey because my team was scoring four goals? No, it means that offensively we were clicking, and when I was there we weren’t. And that’s just part of hockey. I don’t blame anyone, it’s not my responsibility to worry about goal-scoring, and that’s why the record was 1-6-1. And then you come here, and maybe you’re struggling one night but your team scores six goals, and you win 6-3. Great, OK, good job, does that mean that it was a better game than the previous game that you lost 2-1, but maybe statistically you had a better game?

“It really doesn’t matter, I think people get fixated because it’s hard to watch every individual game, and every individual save, and analyze it down if you’re not doing it for your living. I don’t really worry about the stats in that sense, I worry about the process and I worry about doing the right thing all the time.”

The team as a whole has seemed to feed off of that approach, and Grumet-Morris feels that the entire group is in a good collective rhythm at this point.

“It helps that we’re playing some home games, because we get the crowd behind us and we’re sleeping in our own beds and we’re just a little more comfortable, so that’s nice,” he said. “And overall I think our team has been just much more consistent from day to day, and even from shift to shift. So we’re getting better, it’s a process but we’re real excited, we’re making a great push right now. We have to continue that, we understand, but we are excited.”

Grumet-Morris’ own situation has stabilized considerably as well, now that he has moved his wife, Rachel, and their two daughters, Gabriella and Leah, from San Antonio out to Connecticut. Rachel was still pregnant with Leah when Grumet-Morris was traded, and Leah did not arrive until January 19. Shortly thereafter, the three ladies relocated north to rejoin their favorite goaltender, who had made several trips back and forth to Texas prior to Leah’s birth.

“It’s great,” said Grumet-Morris of having the whole brood back under the same roof. “It certainly is chaotic with a family, and it’s very difficult when you’re trying to move a whole crew and all your stuff, especially the toys, but it’s been great and I appreciate having my family here. And I do think it makes a difference, and I think it helps.”

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photo credit: chris rutsch

Video: UConn Football Coach Bob Diaco On His First Spring Practice As Head Coach

After the UConn Huskies football team finished up their first spring practice of 2014, new head coach Bob Diaco talked about what it was like for him on his first day as a head coach.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=D1tbcXrK8ps?rel=0

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Paw Prints – The Daily UConn Roundup – 3/10

UConn Huskies Daily Roundup

Paw Prints is our daily look at the happenings for the UConn Huskies football, men's basketball and women's basketball teams as well as the other sports the student-athletes engage in. We will do our best to bring you the links from all of the media that covers the Huskies on a daily basis. As always, links can be found by clicking on the read more button below if you're on the home page.

Thank you for stopping by and making SOX & Dawgs your home for UConn Huskies news.

It's game day for the UConn Huskies women's basketball team as they'll take on the Louisville Cardinals in the finals of the AAC Tournament at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN. You can also catch the game online at WatchESPN. If you can't watch the game and live locally, you can listen to Bob Joyce and Debbie Fiske on the UConn IMG Sports Radio Network.

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

UConn Women's Basketball links

Video: UConn Women Cruise Past Rutgers, 83-57 [sox & dawgs]

Video: UConn's Breanna Stewart's Monster Block vs. Rutgers [sox & dawgs]

UConn gains AAC final, Louisville next [carl adamec – snyuconn.com]

Notebook: KML slowly making progress [carl adamec – snyuconn.com]

On Rutgers, LSU, ND And Morgan Tuck [john altavilla – hartford courant]

Louisville Ready To Take Another Shot At UConn [rich elliott – ct post]

Tremendous Block Was Simply Stewie Being Stewie [rich elliott – ct post]

Mosqueda-Lewis Showing Signs Of Progress [rich elliott – ct post]

Mosqueda-Lewis getting back into the flow for UConn [jim fuller – new haven register]

Stewart's block one for the ages [jim fuller – new haven register]

Huskies Down Rutgers 83-57; Head to Championship [uconn huskies youtube]

UConn routs Rutgers in semifinal, Louisville up next [ct post]

UConn Never Lets Rutgers Into AAC Semifinal [hartford courant]

Rutgers Vs. UConn Rivalry Will Live On [hartford courant]

Huskies sink Rutgers, advance to inaugural AAC title game [new haven register]

Huskies continue their roll [the day]

The historic UConn-Rutgers rivalry isn't history yet [the day]

Mosqueda-Lewis bounces back again to help UConn win [the hour]

UConn Men's Basketball links

Here's How I'd Pick the AAC Award-Winners [david borges – new haven register]

Napier, Boatright did not share well at Louisville [ct post]

Huskies About To Show If They're Ready For March [hartford courant]

UConn Football links

UConn Football Spring Practice Starts Monday [sox & dawgs]

5 keys heading into spring practice [jim fuller – new haven register]

Other UConn related links

Baseball. UConn Downed In Extras For Third Straight Day At Florida, 6-5 [uconnhuskies.com]

W. Lacrosse. Kahn's Game-Winner In Overtime Lifts UConn Past JMU, 14-13 [uconnhuskies.com]

W. Track. Women's Track & Field Wins 2014 ECAC Championship [uconnhuskies.com]

M. Track. Men's Track & Field Places Second at IC4A Championship [uconnhuskies.com]

M. Ice Hockey. Huskies Will Host Robert Morris in Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinal [uconnhuskies.com]

Softball. Huskies Add to Win Column at Winthrop Adidas Invitational [uconnhuskies.com]

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Gigantic SOX & Dawgs 2014 MLB Preview – Day 2 – AL West

Welcome to the Gigantic Sox and Dawgs 2014 MLB preview. Over the next few days you will get a team by team look at its key players, new faces, their potential MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year candidates, their possible starting lineup and rotation as well as a quick summary.

We will also select a MVP candidate and Cy Young candidate for each team no matter what their predicted team outcome is.

Also added this year is some home stadium information along with dates the teams will play against the Boston Red Sox. The red shaded games are at Fenway; the blue shaded games are road games.

This preview was sculpted over the off season with some mild tweaking as we went along prior to publication. It comes from a culmination of reading many hours of baseball research.

I hope you enjoy this look at the upcoming season.

Yesterday we looked at the NL West, today it’s the AL West.

To continue reading, click on the read more button below if you're on the home page.

American League West

There is a lot of change in Seattle this offseason, new manager, big free agent signing, signed a closer and made a nice trade with Miami and the Mariners are posed to start a move up in the AL West. In their way will be Oakland and Los Angeles who will fight for the division with the Mariners just on the outside as Texas falls down to fourth. The Rangers aren’t as deep as they once were and the rotation and bullpen have many questions. Houston will just try not lose to 100 games again and make up some ground against their division opponents who beat them up all season in 2013.

1. Oakland – Manager Bob Melvin (4th year/11th overall)

For two years in a row the unassuming Oakland A’s have captured the AL West over the divisions big brothers the Los Angeles Angels and Texas Rangers. Can they make it three in a row? Biggest changes for the A’s are adding FA SP Scott Kazmir to the rotation and bringing in closer Jim Johnson in a trade from Baltimore. They will be solid as they always are and will be a factor again in the AL West.

Home Field: O.com Coliseum; Playing Surface: natural grass; Opened: 1966; Capacity: 35,067

2013 Attendance: 1,809,302 (9th in AL)

Key Players: RF Josh Reddick; LF Yoenis Cespedes; SP Jarrod Parker; 3B Josh Donaldson; SP Sonny Gray

MVP Candidate: LF Yoenis Cespedes

Cy Young Candidate: SP Jarrod Parker

ROY Candidate: none

Key Additions: RP Joe Savery; RP Eric O'Flaherty; INF Nick Punto; OF Craig Gentry; SP Scott Kazmir; RP Jim Johnson; RP Luke Gregerson; RP Fernando Abad; SP Josh Lindblom; SP Drew Pomeranz; RP Philip Humber; OF Billy Burns; OF Sam Fuld

Possible lineup: Crisp CF; Lowrie SS; Donaldson 3B; Cespedes LF; Moss DH; Reddick RF; Callaspo 2B; Jaso C; Barton 1B

Possible rotation: Parker; Gray; Kazmir; Straily; Griffin

Games against Red Sox in 2014: May 2-4; June 19-22

2. Los Angeles – Manager Mike Scoscia (15th year)

For the first time in three offseasons the Angels didn’t make a huge free agent splash. In 2012 they signed 1B Albert Pujols and SP C.J. Wilson, in 2013 it was OF Josh Hamilton. This year they’ve stood pat on the big free agent move preferring to improve through a three way deal with Arizona and Chicago (AL) by moving INF/DH Mark Trumbo to the Diamondbacks for SP Tyler Skaggs and SP Hector Santiago from the White Sox. Does it help them reclaim the west or a playoff spot? This remains to be seen but they finally dealt from strength to improve the rotation. They also got 3B David Freese from St. Louis to help solidify the infield. But are those moves enough?

Home Field: Angel Stadium; Playing Surface: natural grass Opened: 1966; Capacity: 43,250

2013 Attendance: 3,019,505 (4th in AL)

Key Players: 1B Albert Pujols; CF Mike Trout, LF Josh Hamilton; P Jered Weaver; SP C.J. Wilson

MVP Candidate: CF Mike Trout

Cy Young Candidate: P Jered Weaver

ROY Candidate: RP Brian Moran

Key Additions: 3B David Freese; SP Tyler Skaggs; DH Raul Ibanez; SP Hector Santiago; RP Joe Smith; RP Brandon Lyon; RP Brian Moran; INF John McDonald; P Mark Mulder; 1B/DH Carlos Pena; OF Brennan Boesch

Possible lineup: Kendrick 2B; Trout CF; Pujols 1B; Hamilton CF; Freese 3B; Ibanez DH; Iannetta C; Calhoun RF; Aybar SS

Possible rotation: Weaver; Wilson; Richards; Skaggs; Blanton

Games against Red Sox in 2014: August 8-10; August 18-21

3. Seattle – Manager Lloyd McClendon (1st year/6th overall)

Jay-Z delivered All-Star 2B Robinson Cano to Seattle this offseason but it didn’t come cheaply, 10 years for $240 M. But Cano does give the M’s a lot of things. Gold Glove defense, Silver Slugger offense, legit threat for a batting title and MVP candidate. Now what remains to be seen is can he deliver? Is he the leader, the star who sparks a culture change? With the other additions this offseason of LF Logan Morrison and DH Corey Hart paired with the rotation the Mariners have anchored by Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma (to start to season on DL) they should be able to make some noise in the west. They won’t get a playoff spot this year but look out they’re coming and they’re bringing some young arms to back up the two big guns. Highly thought of prospects Taijuan Walker (#1) and James Paxton (#3) are both projected for the rotation. If this team hits…watch out.

Home Field: Safeco Field; Playing Surface: natural grass/retractable roof; Opened: 1999; Capacity: 47,476

2013 Attendance: 1,761,546 (11th in AL)

Key Players: 2B Robinson Cano; SP Felix Hernandez; SP Hisashi Iwakuma; 3B Kyle Seager; LF Logan Morrison

MVP Candidate: 2B Robinson Cano

Cy Young Candidate: SP Felix Hernandez

ROY Candidate: SP Taijuan Walker; SP James Paxton

Key Additions: Mgr. Lloyd McClendon; 2B Robinson Cano; LF Logan Morrison; RP Fernando Rodney; DH Corey Hart; C John Buck; INF Willie Bloomquist; SP Scott Baker

Possible lineup: Ackley CF; Seager 3B; Cano 2B; Hart DH; Morrison LF; Smoak 1B; Saunders RF; Zunino C; Miller SS

Possible rotation: Hernandez; Iwakuma*; Baker; Walker; Paxton; Ramirez

* Iwakuma expected to start season on DL with finger injury. Expect Scott Baker to fill the slot.

Games against Red Sox in 2014: August 22-24; June 23-25

4. Texas – Manager Ron Washington (8th year)

For the second season in a row we watched as the Rangers choked away the AL West. As late as September 4, Texas led the division only to go in the tank and play some of their worst ball all season that saw them lose 13 out of the next 17 and slip to 8.5 GB in just 19 days. Yet they were able to recover enough in the seasons last week to play in game 163 against Tampa Bay that they lost, 5-2. And now here we are in 2014 and Ron Washington still has a job and somewhere in Arlington pigs are flying. There’s a lot of questions about Texas especially in the pitching department after losing SP Derek Holland for at least half a season due to a microfracture in his knee in January. To replace Holland they signed SP Tommy Hanson in mid-February to a one-year deal. The top half of the lineup will hit with LF Shin-Soo Choo, 1B Prince Fielder and 3B Adrian Beltre but the bottom half seems a bit weak and the bench is lacking too. I don’t see Texas getting to the postseason and that will spell the end of Washington.

Home Field: Globe Life Park in Arlington; Playing Surface: natural grass; Opened: 1994; Capacity: 48,114

2013 Attendance: 3,178,273 (2nd in AL)

Key Players: 1B Prince Fielder; 3B Adrian Beltre; LF Shin-Soo Choo; SS Elvis Andrus; SP Yu Darvish

MVP Candidate: 3B Adrian Beltre

Cy Young Candidate: SP Yu Darvish

ROY Candidate: 2B Jurickson Profar

Key Additions: 1B Prince Fielder; LF Shin-Soo Choo; 2B Jurickson Profar; SP Tommy Hanson; C J.P. Arencibia; OF Mike Choice; RP Chaz Roe; OF Alex Castellanos; IF Andy Parrino

Possible lineup: Choo LF; Andrus SS; Fielder 1B; Beltre 3B; Rios RF; Soto C; Moreland DH; Profar 2B; Martin CF

Possible rotation: Darvish; Harrison; Ogando; Perez; Hanson

Games against Red Sox in 2014: April 7-9; May 9-11

5. Houston – Manager Bo Porter (2nd year)

The Astros moved to AL West in 2013 and not much changed. Sure the players came and went but it didn't add up to very good baseball and they will lose a ton of games again. The team has lost 324 games the last three seasons and you can look for another 100 losses this year. The starting pitching has little MLB experience and they are very weak across the board in all phases’ offense, defense, pitching and their bench. The best thing the Astros have going on the field is 2B Jose Altuve. Also I think UConn product George Springer, the Astros #2 prospect, gets a crack in the outfield and makes the most of it. Maybe not out of camp but sometime early in the season. The best thing the Astros have going off the field is the ownership group bringing in Reid Ryan as President last spring and this spring they added his dad Hall of Fame pitcher and former Ranger President Nolan Ryan as an executive advisor to the owner, president and GM. It surely can’t hurt having the Ryan’s in positions of influence.

Home Field: Minute Maid Park; Playing Surface: natural grass/retractable roof; Opened: 2000; Capacity: 42,060

2013 Attendance:

Key Players: 2B Jose Altuve; SP Scott Feldman; C Jason Castro; 3B Matt Dominguez

MVP Candidate: 2B Jose Altuve

Cy Young Candidate: SP Scott Feldman

ROY Candidate: OF George Springer

Key Additions: Executive Advisor Nolan Ryan; CF Dexter Fowler; IF Cesar Izturis; SP Scott Feldman; RP Jesse Crain RP Matt Albers; RP Chad Qualls; OF George Springer

Possible lineup: Fowler CF; Altuve 2B; Castro C; Carter 1B; Domiguez 3B; Hoes DH; Springer RF; Grossman LF; Villar SS

Possible rotation: Feldman; Cosart; Oberholtzer; Peacock; Clemens

Games against Red Sox in 2014: August 14-17; July 11-13

Tomorrow: The National League Central

photo credits: getty images; getty images; getty images, getty images, getty images

Video: UConn Women Cruise Past Rutgers, 83-57

Right now, the only way to stop the UConn Huskies women's basketball team is to sneak in and put a lid over their basket. And that might not even work because of how tenacious they are on the defensive end.

And oh yeah, they've got Breanna Stewart and the other teams don't.

For the second straight game, Stewart led the Huskies in scoring as they crushed the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 83-57 in the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference Tournament at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT on Sunday afternoon.

UConn moves to 33-0 on the season while Rutgers falls to 22-9 and will now have to wait eight days to find out if they're NCAA Tournament bound.

All five Huskies starters were in double figures led by Stewart's 22 points and team-high seven rebounds. She also had two blocked shots. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis had 19 points with five made threes while Stefanie Dolson had 15 points.

Bria Hartley just missed a double-double with 12 points and nine assists. Her backcourt mate Moriah Jefferson added 10 points and seven assists.

Briyona Canty came off the bench to lead the Scarlet Knights with 16 points. AAC Freshman of the Year Tyler Scaife added 12 points as did Kahleah Cooper. Rachel Hollivay led Rutgers with seven rebounds and had seven points.

If there was any doubt as to who was going to win this game, UConn made sure it was going to be them by playing their finest 20 minutes of basketball this season.

They started out the game with the first 13 points then followed that with a 12-2 run to take a 25-4 lead. Rutgers would cut the lead down to 16 points before the Huskies went on 10-0 run to push to 26.

By the time the first half was over, UConn had hit the half century mark and led by 31 at 50-19.

Rutgers actually outscored UConn in the second half by five points but when you're trailing by 31 at the half, it didn't even matter. If you're looking for a moral victory, Rutgers did lose twice to the Huskies this season by over 40 points each time.

The win by UConn and the win by Louisville in the nightcap sets up the final for Monday night at 7 p.m. And we all know the Cardinals will be out for revenge after falling twice to the Huskies this season.

It should be an interesting and great battle.

Here are the postgame quotes from UConn head coach Geno Auriemma and Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer.

Here are the postgame notes for UConn and Rutgers.

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photo credit: cloe poisson – hartford courant