Here is the press release from the UConn athletic department concerning the pep rally that will be scheduled for the 2009 National Champion UConn Huskies Women’s Basketball Team when they return back to Connecticut later this afternoon.

STORRS, Conn. – The University of Connecticut women’s basketball team travel party will leave St. Louis, Mo., via charter flight at 1:00 p.m. EDT (12:00 p.m. St. Louis time) on Wednesday, April 8, 2009. The team is expected to return to Bradley International Airport at approximately 3:15 p.m. EDT.

Upon arrival at Bradley, there will be a short public event – rain or shine. That event will include remarks from UConn head coach Geno Auriemma and the team will also be in attendance.

UConn fans looking to greet the team at the airport event should take Route 75 in Windsor Locks and follow signs on Route 75 for the event. The public availability at the airport will take place in an area near the intersection of Route 75 and Firehouse Road.

The team will then return to Gampel Pavilion in Storrs for a Championship Pep Rally. The doors to Gampel Pavilion will open to the public at approximately 3:00 p.m. and the team is expected to arrive in Storrs at approximately 4:30 p.m.

The event at Gampel is free and open to the public. The program will include the introduction of the team and also include brief comments from Auriemma and other individuals.

Pep Rally Schedule [Connecticut Post]

Geno Auriemma and the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team started the season with one goal. And that was to win a national title and reestablish Storrs, CT as the women’s basketball capital of the world.

With an absolutely monster game from Tina Charles, UConn can now call itself National Champions again as they took down the Louisville Cardinals 76-54 in front of 18,478 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

For the Huskies, this is there 6th national championship and first since 2004. They also won it in 1995, 2000, 2002 and 2003. It’s also the third time they have finished the season undefeated doing it in 1995 (35-0) and 2002 (39-0). And they are also the 5th team to finish the season undefeated as Texas finished undefeated in 1986 and Tennessee in 1998 did it as well.

Charles, who was named the Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, played probably the best game she’s ever played in her three years at UConn. She has 25 points, 19 rebounds and was the reason why UConn won the game tonight. Without her stepping up her game, this game may have been closer.

In her final game at UConn, Renee Montgomery finished with 18 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals on just 5-of-14 shooting. Maya Moore also had a rough night from the floor as she was 7-of-18 but finished with 18 points, 9 rebounds and team-highs of 5 assists and 3 steals. Kalana Greene chipped in with 9 points and 5 rebounds while Tiffany Hayes had 5.

Angel McCoughtry’s final game at Louisville started fast but went south as the game went on as she went cold. She did finish the game with 23 points on just 9-of-24 shooting and also added 9 rebounds. The only other Cardinals player in double figures was Candyce Bingham who had 10 points.

This game was very close early on as McCoughtry was a one man wrecking crew. She had 11 of Louisville’s first 17 points as the teams went back and forth with the lead. But that was the last we would hear of McCoughtry on the scoreboard in the 1st half. With the score tied at 17, the Huskies went on a 6-0 run and seemingly seized control of the game.

With 6:14 to go in the half, Becky Burke drained a 3-pointer to cut UConn’s lead to 26-22. But that was as close as the Cardinals would get the rest of the way. Their last basket of the first half would come at the 4:43 mark when Bingham made a jumper to UConn’s lead to 6 at 30-24. The Cardinals missed their last 10 shots of the half and only got a free throw from Monique Reid. The Huskies closed out the half on a 9-1 run to take a 37-25 lead at the break.

Charles had 15 points and 12 rebounds at this point in the game as she could not be stopped down low.

Just like the national semifinal game, any chance of UConn’s opponent coming back and win was put to rest as Louisville missed their first 8 shots and were held scoreless for the first 4:44 of the half. Meanwhile UConn had opened up with 9-0 run before Reid stopped the bleeding with a layup.

At this point, the game was really over and it was just a matter of playing out the final 15 minutes or so as UConn got the lead up to 26 points before ending up with the 22 point victory.

It was a marvelous run for the 2008-2009 UConn women’s team accomplishing what they did. They lost Caroline Doty to an ACL injury but never faltered. No one could touch the Huskies this season as it was their fate to win it all.

There couldn’t be a much better perfect ending for Montgomery who now ends her career as one of the best players in UConn women’s history. The other best part??

She can now call herself a national champion as well as her teammates.

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Josh Beckett was in mid-season form as he struck out 10 Tampa Bay Rays batters to help the Boston Red Sox to a 5-3 win in front of 37,057 at Fenway Park on Opening Day 2009.

Beckett (1-0) was outstanding today as he had a lot of life on his fastball and for the most part had a nasty curveball. He did run into trouble a few times but was able to escape each time with minimal to no damage done to his pitching line. Beckett went 7 innings, allowing 1 run on 2 hits and 3 walks to go along with the 10 strikeouts.

Hideki Okajima worked 1/3 of an inning, allowing 2 runs on no hits, a walk and a hit batter and a strikeout. Justin Masterson went 2/3 of an inning, giving up 1 hit with a strikeout. Jonathan Papelbon finished off the Rays with 2 strikeouts in the 9th to pick up his first save of the season.

James Shields had another rough outing at Fenway Park for the Rays as he was hit hard today. He gave up 5 runs on 9 hits and 3 walks with 2 strikeouts.

Every Red Sox starter had a hit today with the exception of Jacoby Ellsbury who went 0-for-4. Kevin Youkilis led the way with 2 hits and both Dustin Pedroia and Jason Varitek hit solo home runs. J.D. Drew, Jason Bay and Mike Lowell had the other RBIs.

Beckett came out firing right away in the 1st inning as he struck out Akinori Iwamura to lead off the game. He then got Carl Crawford to ground out to Jed Lowrie and finished the inning with a strikeout of Evan Longoria.

After Shields struck out Ellsbury in the home half of the 1st, Pedroia crushed a home run in the Green Monster seats to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead. David Ortiz followed with a single but Youk flew out to right for the second out. Drew then hit a wall-ball double moving Big Papi to third. Shields walked Bay but got Lowell to pop out to Rays catcher Dioner Navarro to get out of the bases loaded jam.

Beckett cruised through the 2nd inning but ran into some trouble in the 3rd when he had trouble locating his curveball.

He got Navarro to ground out to start the inning and then walked Gabe Gross, who stole second with Jason Bartlett at the plate. Bartlett ended up working a walk and Iwamura followed with a single to load up the sacks full of Rays. Carl Crawford tied the game up at 1 with a sacrifice fly to deep center. Beckett got out of the inning by getting Longoria to fly out to right.

Shields walked Pedroia to start the bottom of the 3rd but Big Papi to fly out for the first out. Youk followed with a single with Pedroia advancing to third. Drew drove in Pedroia on a ground out to first that would have probably gone for extra bases had Carlos Peña not made a great diving stop. Bay then laced a single to score Youk from second to put the Red Sox up 3-1. Lowell made it 4-1 with a double off the Green Monster. Lowrie then hit a single but Lowell was held up at third. Shields escaped any further damage by getting Tek to fly out to right.

Beckett once again found himself in trouble in the 6th after getting 7 consecutive outs.

He started the inning off with a walk to Iwamura who then went to third on a Crawford double.  Beckett got the first out when he got Longoria to foul out to Tek. He then struck out Peña, who picked up the golden sombrero with four strikouts on the day, 3 of them by Beckett. He got of the jam he created by getting Pat Burrell to ground out to Lowell at third.

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While we wait for the 8:37 PM tip of the UConn Huskies vs Louisville Cardinals in the NCAA Women’s Championship game tonight, let’s take a look at some of the links that have come across today or I missed in the morning.

UConn Women’s Basketball links

Maria Conlon: This is the day – National Championship Day! [UConn | Women’s Basketball]

Auriemma Wins 6th Naismith Coaching Award [SOX & Dawgs]

Connecticut Goes For Perfection Once Again [Deadspin]

Final Four notes: Moore has had a lot of help [Journal Inquirer]

U.S. representatives Yarmuth, Courtney place wager on NCAA women’s championship game [Business First]

Louisville-Connecticut Preview [AP via ESPN.com]

Perfection is boring [State-Journal.com]

UConn vs. Louisville: Round 3 [Connecticut Post]

McCoughtry-Louisville: A great match [Connecticut Post]

UConn vs. Louisville: Who has the edge? [Connecticut Post]

Championship game fast facts [Connecticut Post]

Swin Cash interview [ESPN.com]

UConn Men’s Basketball links

UConn men: It’s been a glorious run [Journal Inquirer]

UConn Football links

Cha Cha Cha Changes? [UConn | Football]

Moore Offense For Huskies [UConn | Football]

But… [UConn | Football]

Practice 10 in the books [Ramblings From the Runway]

Other UConn related links

Charlie Villanueva Expresses His Displeasure With Title Game On Twitter [Mouthpiece Sports]

Charlie Villanueva makes good on his bet with Charlie Bell [TwitPic]

The Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bays will try it again today as yesterday’s season opener was rained out. The weather should be okay for the game as the forecast for the Fenway Park area calls for early evening showers. With the game starting at 4:05 PM, they shouldn’t be affected.

Today’s season opener will be broadcast on NESN with the pre-game show starting at 3:00 PM. The game will also be broadcast on WEEI and the Red Sox Radio Network on your radio.

Josh Beckett will take the ball for Terry Francona and the Red Sox today. Beckett has made 10 career starts against the Rays and sports a 5-3 record with a 3.10 ERA.

Rays skipper Joe Maddon will send out his ace James Shields to the mound for the opening day start. Shields has made 8 career starts and is 2-4 with a 5.23 ERA. Shields is 0-3 in 4 starts with a 10.12 ERA at Fenway Park.

Francona: ‘The excitement’s there’ [Boston Globe]

Baldelli most likely to play tomorrow against lefty Kazmir [Projo Sox Blog]

Sellout Today; Tito Hopes for Much Longer [Projo Sox Blog]

Beckett ready to go [Projo Sox Blog]

News and notes from Home Opener, 2.0 [Clubhouse Insider]

Here are the lineups for today’s game:

And here is how the hitters have done against today’s starting pitchers:

Here is the press release about UConn Huskies women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma winning his 6th Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year Award.

AURIEMMA NAMED NAISMITH WOMEN’S COLLEGE COACH OF THE YEAR

ATLANTA (April 7, 2009) – On the eve of a potential third undefeated season and sixth national championship, University of Connecticut head basketball coach Geno Auriemma has been named winner of the 2009 Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year award, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced today. In the 23-year history of the Naismith Coach of the Year Award, Auriemma now claims six (1995, 1997, 2000, 2002 and 2008) honors, and has won more than any other coach. He was previously tied with the University of Tennessee’s Pat Summitt with five.

Auriemma was selected by the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s board of selectors, a collection of leading basketball journalists, coaches and administrators from around the country, based on his coaching performance this season. The Naismith Award, presented annually to the top women’s college coach, is the most prestigious national award in college basketball.

Other finalists included Sherri Coale (University of Oklahoma), Nell Fortner (Auburn University) and Aaron Johnston (South Dakota State).

In his 24th season at the helm, Auriemma has led the Huskies to a 38-0 record, registering UConn’s fourth consecutive 30-win season and the program’s 14th in the last 16 seasons. He was named BIG EAST Coach of the Year for the eighth time while guiding Connecticut to both the BIG EAST regular season (17th overall) and BIG EAST Tournament (15th overall) titles, the 13th time in the program’s history both have occurred in the same season. With the current tournament run, Auriemma has now posted 70 NCAA Tournament wins in his career – one behind Mike Krzyewski (71) for the second-most all-time in NCAA history (men’s and women’s). Auriemma has a career mark of 695-122 at the school.

“It’s been a remarkable season for Connecticut and a continuation of the strong foundation that Geno has built throughout his career,” said Gary Stokan, Atlanta Tipoff Club president. “He is a tremendous ambassador of the game of college basketball and a deserving Naismith Award winner.”

In 1987, Indiana’s Bob Knight and Summitt became the first men’s and women’s college coaches, respectively, to win the award. Summitt has gone on to win four more awards (1989, 1994, 1998 and 2004).

For more information, visit www.naismithawards.com