UConn Football links

Chat Live With Scott Lutrus on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. [UConnHuskies.com]

A Busy First Day In Birmingham [UConnHuskies.com]

Scott Lutrus: UConn Defense Respects South Carolina Offense [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]

Q&A: The Feathered Warrior of Garnet & Black Attack [TheUConnBlog.com]

UConn prepares for stingy S.C. defense [Connecticut Post]

UConn’s Wreh-Wilson has work to do after getting past Howard’s death [Connecticut Post]

Huskies Facing A Tough Defense [Hartford Courant]

Alabaman Wilson Happy As Husky [Hartford Courant]

Desmond Conner: Postcard From Birmingham [Hartford Courant]

Huskies set to finish heartbreaking season [AP via the New Haven Register]

Marcus Easley: from walk-on to potential NFL draft pick [The Day]

Huskies’ offensive line more than big bellies [The Republican-American]

Players, coaches will never forget Howard’s death [The State]

Huskies have unique perspective on life heading into game vs. USC [The Times and Democrat]

Papajohns.com Bowl: Schools can win, lose big in bowl business [The Birmingham News]

Huskies Ready to go Bowling [NBC Connecticut]

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Fact: The No. 10 UConn Huskies men’s basketball team didn’t deserve to win this game.

Fact: They didn’t deserve to lose the game the way they did.

A controversial foul call on UConn’s Gavin Edwards with .7 seconds left gave Lance Stephenson a chance to win the game at the foul line. Stephenson hit both free throws and UConn’s desperation shot missed as the Cincinnati Bearcats pulled off the upset 71-69 in front of 10,409 fans at Fifth Third Arena on Wednesday night.

Trailing by three with under a minute to go, Stanley Robinson made a layup with 29 seconds to cut the Bearcats lead to one at 67-66. After a timeout by the Huskies, they didn’t foul anyone and allowed a dunk by Ibrahima Thomas to push the lead back to three with 18 seconds to go.

The Huskies brought the ball down the floor and Jerome Dyson hit Kemba Walker on the wing. Walker hoisted a three that he hit with 9.4 seconds left to go in the game.

Stephenson then brought the ball down the floor and drove past Dyson into the lane where he went for the layup. Edwards went up and it looked like he barely touched him. Alex Oriakhi blocked the layup attempt and the clock ran out.

But with the whistle blown, the referees went to the scorer’s table for a review and put .7 back on the clock. In watching the replays, I’ve still yet to see where the foul was.

The Huskies fall to 9-3 (0-1 Big East) while the Bearcats improve to 9-3 (1-0).

Dyson led the way for the Huskies with 24 points and had seven rebounds and five assists while Robinson had 22 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Walker finished with nine points and Edwards had eight points and seven rebounds.

Stephenson paced the Bearcats with 21 points while Deonta Vaughn had 17 points.

After going into the locker room trailing by one at the half, the Huskies fell behind by 12 points but Dyson rallied them with ten points during a spurt that cut the lead down to four.

Simply put, if the Huskies are going to have to rely on Dyson and Robinson for their scoring, it’s going to be a long season. They need somebody to step up and step up big time. Ater Majok was a non-factor again and Walker was his out-of-control self.

That’s not going to get it done folks. Until someone decides they want to play some ball and put some points on the board, we can expect games like this.

One thing’s for certain, head coach Jim Calhoun won’t stand for sloppy play like they did on Wednesday night.

The Huskies return to action in the new year when they host preseason Big East Player of the Year Luke Harangody and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at the XL Center on Saturday. Top is scheduled for 12 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.

UConn Huskies @ Cincinnati Bearcats 12.30.09 box score

It’s game day for the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team as they are in Cincinnati, OH to take on the Bearcats to open up Big East play. 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.

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Boston Red Sox infielder Kevin Youkilis was one of the guests at the Lowell Spinners alumni dinner on Tuesday night and offered his thoughts to reporters on the state of the Red Sox for 2010.

“I think [the offense] will be fine,” Youkilis said. “We’re definitely [going to miss] Jason Bay driving in all those runs, but the luxury we have with our team is if you hit in the seventh hole, like Mike Lowell was last year, he was hitting seventh a bunch and he was at the top of the RBIs most of the year until the injuries.

“Picking up John Lackey was huge, where you don’t allow as many runs,” Youkilis added. “The offense doesn’t have to be as great when you have great pitching. Great pitching always wins championships. We’ve got six starting pitchers again, so if they all can stay healthy, who knows what’s going to happen?”

Look if you really thought Jason Bay was coming back, I’d like to know what you were smoking. Bay made his choice and I’m fine with it.

Am I worried about the state of the Red Sox for 2010? Sure they may need a bat to replace Bay in the lineup but realistically like Youk said, you’ve added a horse to your rotation and that should help prevent runs. They’ve gotten better defensively with the additions of Marco Scutaro and Mike Cameron.

The Red Sox will be fine folks. You can expect Theo Epstein to make sure of that.

Youkilis sheds light on Bay, offseason, corner spots [Full Count]

Losing Bay will hurt a little less in June [Extra Bases]