Rather than wait until the April 26th deadline,  UConn Huskies junior center Hasheem Thabeet has decided to put his name in for the NBA Draft.

Here is the press release:

STORRS, Conn. – University of Connecticut junior men’s basketball player Hasheem Thabeet (Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania) has chosen to give up his final season of eligibility and enter his name into the 2009 NBA Draft, it was announced Tuesday.

“After spending time with my family and friends and speaking with Coach Calhoun, I have decided to give up my final year at UConn and enter my name in the 2009 NBA Draft,” said Thabeet. “I have had a great experience at Connecticut and cannot thank my coaches and teammates enough. I look forward to the challenge of playing professionally and know that my time here at UConn has prepared me to be successful in the future. I also want to thank all of the fans in Husky Nation that have followed my career, especially those from my homeland of Tanzania, and hope they will all be as supportive of me at the professional level as they have been to this point.”

“Hasheem is more than ready to make the move to the next level,” said head coach Jim Calhoun. “He has been one of the most dominant defensive players in the history of college basketball and I am certain that where ever he ends up in the NBA, he is ready to be equally successful. He is a special player and even more special as a person. He will truly be remembered as one of the great players in UConn history, not only for his accomplishments, but also because of the type of person he is.”

Thabeet was named First Team All-American in 2008-09 by the NABC and the John R. Wooden Award. He was the NABC National Defensive Player of the Year and BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year in each of the past two seasons and was the 2008-09 BIG EAST Co-Player of the Year. He averaged 13.6 points, 10.8 rebounds and 4.2 blocked shots per game (No. 2 nationally) in 2008-09 and helped lead the Huskies the 2009 NCAA Final Four and a 31-5 final record.

Thabeet is the 11th player at UConn to declare early for the NBA Draft and nine of the previous ten were drafted in the first round. Eight of the ten were taken in the lottery portion of the first round.

I’m not surprised at this. Thabeet is definitely a lottery pick and could be one of the top three picks. I’d expect Blake Griffin from Oklahoma to go No. 1 overall.

It could now be a long season for the Huskies as they will now need to replace Thabeet as well as A.J. Price, Craig Austrie and Jeff Adrien. Kemba Walker should fill-in nicely at the point and will need Stanley Robinson to play consistently like he did throughout the NCAA Tournament.

Boston Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett has been suspended 6 games by MLB for his role in the incident during Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Here is the full release from MLB:

Discipline has been issued to five members of the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim as a result of the on-field incident that occurred in the bottom of the first inning of the Sunday, April 12th game at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Bob Watson, Vice President of On-Field Operations for Major League Baseball, made the announcement.

Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett has been suspended for six games and fined an undisclosed amount for intentionally throwing a pitch in the head area of the Angels’ Bobby Abreu and for his aggressive actions after the pitch that incited the bench-clearing incident. Beckett’s six-game suspension is scheduled to begin tonight, when Boston continues its series at Oakland; if he chooses to appeal, then his suspension will be held in abeyance until the process is complete.

Angels’ hitting coach Mickey Hatcher has been suspended for one game and fined an undisclosed amount for his aggressive actions during the incident. Hatcher’s suspension is scheduled to be served tonight, when the Angels play at Seattle.

In addition, undisclosed fines have been issued to Angels’ manager Mike Scioscia and players Torii Hunter and Justin Speier for their actions during the incident.

I would have to think that Beckett will appeal this decision. More on it as the information becomes available.

The left coast still isn’t treating the Boston Red Sox well as they lost yet another game last night, this time to the Oakland A’s 8-2.

Jon Lester got the start for the Red Sox and really struggled as he had trouble with location and left the ball up in the zone. The A’s hitters took advantage of this and pounded out 10 of their 12 hits and scored 6 of their 8 runs off of him.

Kevin Youkilis continues to rake at the plate as he had yet another multiple hit game including a solo home run. But with Youkilis the only one clicking at the plate and the pitching not really clicking at all, something needs to give.

We see teams go through stretches like this during the season where it seems everything goes wrong. Then we’ll see both things working together as one and a team will run off a stretch of 5 or 6 straight wins.  This is what we need the Red Sox to do.

It’s still not time to panic though. There’s still 154 games left in the season and by no means is this team out of it. It’s just a rough patch. They’ll get through it and come back with a vengeance. You definitely don’t want to see the Red Sox fall into a deeper hole and have to spend the early months digging out, especially in the competitive AL East.

As far as the lineup goes, I personally don’t think there’s too much tinkering you can do with it. What the Red Sox really need right now is for Jacoby Ellsbury to get going and get on base. When he does, things happen and that could help the hitters below him with the exception of Youk.

Lester, Sox can’t hold Athletics at bay [Boston Globe]

The low-down on Lowrie and other stuff [Full Count]

Lester bombed in Oakland; Sox now 2-5 for 2009 [Providence Journal]

Jon Lester, Red Sox go quietly [Boston Herald]

It’s Early [Hit and Run With Dan Roche]

Wrist trouble puts Lowrie on DL [Boston Globe]

Dustin Pedroia all good with hometown [Boston Herald]

Could it be 1996 all over again for the Red Sox? [Providence Journal]

Memories all fond for Garciaparra [Boston Globe]

Red Sox hitters believe runs will come [Boston Herald]

Red Sox mourn and remember Mark Fidrych, Harry Kalas [Providence Journal]

Detroit native Smoltz recalls Fidrych [redsox.com]

Sox have fond memories of Kalas [redsox.com]

The outlook has become ‘wait till this year’ [Boston Globe]

Jed Lowrie joins Julio Lugo on disabled list [Boston Herald]

Lowrie goes on DL, and Sox are suddenly short at shortstop [Providence Journal]

Pedroia called out after crossing home [Boston Globe]

Like others, A’s have Sox’ number [Tony Mazz]

And oh by the way, Justin Masterson has joined the blogging ranks as well.

For more slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, and Providence Journal websites.

And if you want to see what the enemy papers are saying, head over to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News and Contra Costa Times websites.

UConn Football links

UConn prospects enjoying the ride [ClevelandBrowns.com]

UConn Women’s Basketball links

UConn Huskies Women’s Basketball Parade Info For April 19th [SOX & Dawgs]

ESPNU’s “TMI” Game of the Week – Louisville vs Connecticut [SOX & Dawgs]

UConn fans speak out (sometimes loudly) [Waterbury Republican-American]

UConn women could be better in 2009-2010 [Waterbury Republican-American]

Returning Home A National Champion … What A Feeling [Heather Buck – Connecticut Post]

UConn Men’s Basketball links

Thabeet tweets about trip to Miami [AP]

2009 McDonald All-American: Alex Oriakhi [UConn Huskies Basketball]

Thabeet Gets Taste Of Celebrity Life [Hartford Courant]

UConn has the talent to plug holes [New Haven Register]

Other UConn related links

Walkon Boy: Being Fat–A Lifetime Membership [Thoughts From a Fat White Guy]

Softball: Truax Named To BIG EAST Honor Roll [UConnHuskies.com]

Women’s Soccer Announces Incoming Class for 2009 [UConnHuskies.com]

The left coast hasn’t been very kind to the Boston Red Sox as they lost once again, this time to the Oakland A’s 8-2 in front of 21,331 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

Jon Lester (0-2, 9.00) got the start for the Red Sox (2-5) and had trouble with his location as he left a lot of pitches up in the zone. He went 6 innings, allowing 6 runs on 10 hits with 5 strikeouts. Javier Lopez was charged with a run in 2/3 of an inning while Takashi Saito went 1 1/3 innings, allowing a run on 2 hits and a walk while striking out 3.

Dallas Braden toed the rubber for the A’s (3-4) and used his nasty changeup to his advantage. He scattered 6 hits in 6 innings of work while allowing 2 runs. He walked one and struck out 3. Three Oakland relievers shut down the Red Sox in the final 3 innings as they didn’t allow a hit and struck out 3.

Once again, Kevin Youkilis was the man on offense for the Red Sox as he led the way with 2 hits, including a home run and a RBI. David Ortiz had the other RBI on his only hit of the night. Dustin Pedroia, J.D. Drew and Jason Bay had the other hits.

After a rough weekend, Matt Holliday led the way for the A’s with 3 hits and 2 RBI. Jason Giambi was 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs and Orlando Cabrera and Kurt Suzuki also had 2 hits with Cabrera adding an RBI. Jack Cust and former Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra both added home runs for the A’s as well. New London’s Rajai Davis had a tough night as he was 0-for-4 with 3 strikeouts.

Tough loss for the Red Sox as they really can’t get anything going offensively. They only had back-to-back hits once in this game and you need to do that more often to give yourself a chance to win. Plus the starting pitching that was supposed to be among baseball’s best, really hasn’t been there other than Beckett’s opening day start.

Terry Francona will now look to the WBC MVP Daisuke Matsuzaka to turn things around for the Sox. He will be opposed by Dana Eveland at 10:05 PM on NESN.

Boston Red Sox @ Oakland A’s 4.13.09 box score

The Boston Red Sox and the Oakland A’s are set to do battle tonight at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum at 10:05 PM in the first game of a 3-game set. The game will be broadcast on NESN and is also available on MLB.tv if you live out of the Boston market and are a subscriber. The game can also be heard on the Red Sox Radio Network and if you’re a member of Red Sox Nation, you can listen to the game on MLB Gameday Audio.

Jon Lester will look to get Terry Francona’s squad back to their winning ways. Lester is 2-2 with a 3.94 ERA in 6 career starts against the A’s. He is 1-1 with a 2.31 ERA in 2 career starts in Oakland.

Bob Geren hands the ball to Dallas Braden, who has made one career start against the Red Sox coming at Fenway Park last season.  In the loss to the Sox, Braden went 3 1/3 innings, allowing 4 runs on 6 hits with a strikeout.

Earlier it was being reported that Jed Lowrie was going to be placed on the 15-day DL and now it’s official.

“It never fails. You don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Francona. “We had too many shortstops then all of a sudden you don’t have any. That’s the way the game is.”

“He showed up [Sunday] and said it was bothering him,” Francona said. “The more we started talking to him and pushing him a little bit, we realized we needed to get this thing checked out. He had such a good spring. When we pushed and prodded a little bit, he said it had started to bother him for the last couple of weeks, but he didn’t say anything to us. On one hand we told him, ‘Hey, you need to let us know.’ But on the other hand, that’s how players are and you respect that.”

Lowrie placed on 15-day DL with wrist injury [Projo Sox Blog]

Lowrie Heading to D.L. Due to Wrist Injury [Full Count]

Red Sox-A’s notes [Clubhouse Insider]

Here are your starting lineups for tonight’s game:

And here is how the hitters have fared against tonight’s starting pitchers: