Charles Named Big East Player of the Week Again

For the third time this season and second straight week, UConn Huskies senior All-American center Tina Charles has been honored as the Big East Player of the Week.

UConn's Tina Charles shoots for two of her 25 first-half points against the University of North Carolina at Gampel Pavilion. Charles scored one more point than UNC scored in total in the first half. UConn was in total control, leading at the half, 56-24 - Cloe Poisson/Hartford CourantIn UConn’s three wins last week, Charles averaged 18.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.0 blocked shots.

Against South Florida last Monday, Charles scored 14 points and had eight rebounds. In the win over Cincinnati on Thursday, she had 17 points, five rebounds and six blocked shots. On Saturday in the win over North Carolina, Charles scored all of her 25 points in the first half and pulled down 13 rebounds.

Junior All-American forward Maya Moore was also honored as she was named to the Big East Honor Roll. Moore averaged 18.3 points, 9.3 rebounds, three assists and 2.3 steals in the three wins as well.

The Huskies are back in action on Wednesday night for a Big East matchup in Milwaukee, WI when they take on the Marquette Golden Eagles.

Tip is scheduled for 8 p.m. and the game will be broadcast locally here in Connecticut on CPTV. The game is also available on the internet for a fee through Hoop Streams. If you can’t catch the television broadcast, you can listen to the game on the WTIC/UConn Radio Network.

12 Players To Participate In Red Sox 2010 Rookie Program

Here’s a press release from the Boston Red Sox about the 12 players who are participating in the 2010 Rookie Program that got underway in Boston on Monday.

Boston Red SoxBOSTON — The Red Sox 2010 Rookie Program began today in Boston. Twelve of Boston’s top prospects are taking part in the two-week program, which is designed to expose the players to the expectations of being Major Leaguers for the Red Sox.

Eleven of the participants in the Rookie Program spent all of 2009 in the Red Sox organization: pitchers Randor Bierd, Felix Doubront, Casey Kelly, Ryne Miller, Junichi Tazawa, Kyle Weiland; catcher Luis Exposito; infielder Yamaico Navarro; and outfielders Ryan Kalish, Che-Hsuan Lin and Josh Reddick. Also taking part will be infielder Jose Iglesias, who was signed as a free agent in September 2009 and played in the Arizona Fall League.

The program includes two workouts daily that emphasize conditioning and strength training as well as concentration on fundamentals. In addition, the players are attending a number of seminars that will focus on the assimilation into Major League life off the field.

A number of individuals will speak to the group, including President/CEO Larry Lucchino, General Manager Theo Epstein, manager Terry Francona, Major League coaches John Farrell and Dave Magadan, sports psychology coach Bob Tewksbury, right-handed pitcher John Lackey, infielder Kevin Youkilis, Hall of Fame baseball writer and NESN reporter/analyst Peter Gammons, and Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers.

There will also be a public autograph signing with the Rookie Program participants at the Best Buy in the Landmark Center, located at 401 Park Drive in Boston on Monday, January 18 from 3:30 p.m. until 5:00 p.m. Fans making a $20.00 donation to the Red Sox Foundation will be able to take part in the signing on a first come, first served basis.

Reds Are The Winner of the Aroldis Chapman Sweepstakes

Walt Jocketty (L), Aroldis Chapman (R) - Cincinnati Enquirer photo

Yes the Cincinnati Reds are the winner of the prized Cuban free agent lefty Aroldis Chapman sweepstakes. A small market team and not a big market team like the Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees didn’t acquire him.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports first reported the Reds had agreed to a 6 year, $30 million deal with Chapman. It was later confirmed by many media sources and on Monday afternoon, the Reds made it official.

According to John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer, the deal is heavily backloaded with Chapman receiving just $1 million as his salary in 2010. The whole deal is spread out over a 10 year period and won’t tax the Reds budget until 2014.

Chapman will wear No. 54 and Walt Jocketty, the Reds GM, wasn’t sure if Chapman would start the season with the Reds. He explained the Reds involvement during the negotiations.

Jocketty  said the team really got involved in a significant way to sign Chapman just before Christmas. The Reds stayed in touch the whole time and negotiations really started heating up over the last 4 to 5 days.

“You have to make bold moves from time to time,” Jocketty said.

The Red Sox were involved early on in the process having made a $15.5 million offer to Chapman. But according to Alex Speier of WEEI.com, the Red Sox pulled the offer when Chapman switched agents.

On the baseball side of things, it’s good to see a small market team get involved and take a chance. Now if more of those small market teams took a risk like this, we might not see as much parity in baseball like we do now.

Oriakhi Named Big East Rookie of the Week

For the first time this season, UConn Huskies freshman forward/center Alex Oriakhi has been honored as the Big East Rookie of the Week.

UConn's Alex Oriakhi (34) attempts a tough shot in the lane against Georgetown defenders Hollis Thompson (1) and Jerrelle Benimon (20) during first-half action at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., Saturday, January 9, 2010 - Chuck Myers/MCTOriakhi averaged 11.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in a week that saw the Huskies beat Seton Hall and lose to Georgetown.

In the 71-63 win over Seton Hall, Oriakhi had 12 points, seven rebounds and five blocked shots. In the three point loss to Georgetown on Saturday, Oriahki had his first double-double with 11 points and ten rebounds.

The Huskies are back in action on Wednesday night at the XL Center when the Pittsburgh Panthers come to town for a Big East matchup.

The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2. If you can’t catch the television broadcast, you can listen to the game on the WTIC/UConn Radio Network.

Matsuzaka Hid Injury From Red Sox

Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona, left, takes Daisuke Matsuzaka out of the baseball game in the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Angels, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009, in Boston - AP PhotoWell this explains why Daisuke Matszuaka sucked balls for the Boston Red Sox in 2009.

Sometime during the devastating loss for the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team to Georgetown on Saturday afternoon, I came across a tweet from Daigo Fujiwara, who works at the Boston Globe, about Dice-K. I then retweeted it and clicked on the link but unfortunately it was in Japanese.

So I didn’t think anything of it after that until I saw the Daigo had translated it for Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. It’s definitely interesting to hear what Dice-K had to say and why he did it.

“Early on in January 2009, I hurt my right inner thigh. I consider movement around my hip joint a crucial part of my pitching motion. It happened during my exercise to strengthen my hip joint that I incorporated into training since 2008. I may have pushed myself just a little too hard. It wasn’t the pain that killed me, but it was the regrets and guilt that filled my mind. It was the time to start building up for the season, but I hurt myself because of my own doing.”

“I didn’t want to show my weaknesses. I didn’t want them to think I was making excuses. I would rather be criticized than ridiculed for making excuses. I repeat, I really didn’t want to be the center of concern for people. I believe when you say you are sick, you become sick. Sure I appreciate that you are concerned about me, but I don’t even like to be wished good luck about my health.”

That folks is just a sampling of what he had to say. I’d definitely head over to the Globe and check it out.

You have to wonder that since he’s an icon in Japan if he didn’t want to disappoint his country. He pitched well enough in the WBC to lead Japan to another title and his second consecutive MVP Trophy. But in the end hiding the injury from the Red Sox hurt him the most.

As he said, he pitched hurt and we all know what happens when a pitcher does this. But isn’t his obligation to the Red Sox and not his country? Given his status in Japan, it’s a fine line to walk. But the Red Sox are his employers and he should have told them.

Had he done this, he may have been able to heal the injury properly and contribute a little more to the Red Sox than he did. Now we have to hope he bounces back in 2010 and shows us the form of 2008.

Charles Dominates In UConn’s 41 Point Win Over UNC

Can you imagine what could have been if Tina Charles applied herself on the basketball court her first two years like she’s been doing this year? No, I can’t either.

UConn's Tina Charles shoots for two of her 25 first-half points against the University of North Carolina at Gampel Pavilion. Charles scored one more point than UNC scored in total in the first half. UConn was in total control, leading at the half, 56-24 - Cloe Poisson/Hartford CourantCharles totally dominated the first half as she put a double-double, including 25 points, to help the No.1 Huskies to a resounding 88-47 win over the No. 7 North Carolina Tar Heels in front of 10,167 at Gampel Pavilion on Saturday.

It’s the 54th straight win for the Huskies (14-0) and that now ties the Louisiana Tech teams from 1980-82 for the second longest in NCAA Division 1 history. The Huskies teams from 2001-03 hold the longest streak at 70 games. It’s just the second loss for the Tar Heels who fall to 13-2.

Charles also had 13 rebounds, 11 of which came in the first half. Tiffany Hayes bounced back from the ankle injury suffered on Thursday night to finish with 15 points and two assists. All-American Maya Moore had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds and led UConn with four assists. Kalana Greene also added a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds and led the Huskies with three blocked shots.

The energizer bunny, Lorin Dixon, even got in on the action of blocking shots as she had two of her own.  Dixon is listed at just 5’4″.

North Carolina stayed with the Huskies early on as they got out to a 10-7 lead. But then the wheels fell off the bus for Sylvia Hatchell’s squad and we saw that total domination by UConn we’ve grown accustomed too.

The Huskies put up their second biggest run of the season, 23-0, to take a 30-13 lead. UConn went into the locker room up by 32 points and never looked back during the second half.

It’s just another win by the Huskies that shows the country they are in a class all of their own. The question remains can anyone stop the Huskies this season? By the looks of what the Huskies have been doing teams, that answer is no.

It’s going to take a perfect game from someone and the Huskies will have to be totally flat for that happen. Can it take place? Sure it can but I highly doubt it will, especially with Geno Auriemma at the helm.

The Huskies get back into Big East action on Wednesday night as they are off to Milwaukee, WI to take on the Marquette Golden Eagles. Tip is scheduled for 8 p.m. and the game will be broadcast locally in Connecticut on CPTV.

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Freeman Leads Hoyas Past Huskies

Georgetown fans cheer for Austin Freeman, who scored 33 points in UConn men's basketball team's 72-69 loss to Georgetown Saturday January 9, 2009 at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC - Bettina Hansen/Hartford Courant

In the first half, it was total domination by the UConn Huskies for the latter part of the half. In the second half, it was all Austin Freeman.

Freeman scored 28 of his 33 points in the second half to help the Georgetown Hoyas come back for a 72-69 win over the Huskies in front of 15,654 at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. on Saturday afternoon.

With the loss, the Huskies fall to 11-4 (2-2 in the Big East). The Hoyas to 12-2  (3-1).

The Huskies held a 15 point lead heading into the second half but they came out flat and couldn’t make a shot. Meanwhile Freeman decided he was going to be a one man wrecking crew for the Hoyas. The Huskies left him wide open and the Hoyas got Freeman and the ball and he took advantage as he scored eight points during a 10-0 run to get his team back in the game.

During the first half, it looked the Hoyas were defeated.

Both teams were going up and down the floor in a style that more suits UConn. Eventually Georgetown looked lost as they were having trouble executing their plays and went cold. The Huskies took advantage of this as they went on a 16-0 run to open up a 19 point lead at 40-21.

The Hoyas would score the last four points of the half to cut UConn’s lead to 15.

UConn forward Stanley Robinson hangs off the basket after dunking in the first half. The Huskies led the Hoyas 40-25 at halftime at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., on Saturday - Bettina Hansen/Hartford CourantAfter a strong first half that saw him score 12 points including three dunks, Stanley Robinson went ice cold and finished with 16 points. He also had eight rebounds, three assists and three blocks.  Jerome Dyson, playing in front of friends and family, had 12 points while his backcourt mate Kemba Walker added 9 points, six assists but had five turnovers.

Alex Oriakhi had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds while Jamal Coombs-McDaniel came off the bench to spark the Huskies with 11 points. Ater Majok was a non-factor again as he played just eight minutes, picking up two fouls in the process.

Greg Monroe added a double-double of his own for the Hoyas with 15 points and 10 rebounds.  Chris Wright had 14 points and four assists.

This was a very disheartening loss for the Huskies who should have seemingly cruised to a victory after a great first half. Instead they now find themselves at 2-2 in the Big East with an improving Pittsburgh squad coming to the XL Center on Wednesday night. That game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.

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