Obviously a big win last night for the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team as they were able to overcome all of the distractions the past few days to put up a good effort to get themselves to the Final Four with an 82-75 win over the Missouri Tigers.

Kemba Walker stepped up big time for the Huskies with 23 points and his play was just one of the reasons why the Huskies were able to win last night. UConn used his speed to break Mizzou’s pressure and that’s what helped the Huskies win. If he hadn’t of stepped up his game, UConn probably wouldn’t be heading to Detroit.

Now it is off to Detroit where they will await the winner of the Louisville/Michigan State game next Saturday evening at Ford Field. The game time will probably be announced after today’s games finish up.

Now it’s the UConn women’s turn to get to the Women’s Final Four as they will take on the California Golden Bears in Trenton, NJ. Tip time is scheduled for 12:04 PM and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.

UConn Men’s Basketball links

Watch CBS Videos Online

NCAA investigation underway [Matt Stout’s UConn Men’s Basketball Blog]

Calhoun on retirement [Gavin Keefe – New London Day Blog]

UConn Statement [UConn | Men’s Basketball]

Gov. Rell Seeking Free Beer [UConn | Men’s Basketball]

UConn in the Final Four [UConn | Men’s Basketball]

Fantastic Four [UConn Huskies Basketball]

All-Regional [In Storrs Now]

Rise of the (out of) Phoenix [In Storrs Now]

The MC 5 [Emeka, Nadav and Corny]

Missouri Proves UConn is Favorite [Fanhouse]

Shady past clouds once-bright future [San Antonio Express-News]

UConn frosh Walker a man among boys [FOXSports.com]

For UConn, a Well-Worn Path to the Final Four [New York Times]

From The Desert To Detroit, Hellbent Huskies Punch Final Four Ticket [ZSmart’s Sports Blog]

Need to slam programs like UConn [New York Daily News]

UConn Leaves Tigers, and Nets, Behind [Fanhouse]

Connecticut advances to Final Four [The Arizona Republic]

Jim Calhoun’s legacy on the line as scandal swirls [New York Daily News]

Kemba Walker Brilliant For UConn [Hartford Courant]

UConn Advances To Third Final Four [Hartford Courant]

Adrien Shows Them The Way [Hartford Courant]

Calhoun Must Forget He Cut The Net [Hartford Courant]

UConn Men’s Extras [Hartford Courant]

Calhoun No. 6 On All-Time Win List [Hartford Courant]

UConn men’s notebook [Connecticut Post]

Walker leads UConn to Final Four [Connecticut Post]

UConn advances to Final Four [New Haven Register]

Walker grows up just in time for Huskies? [New Haven Register]

Huskies head to third Final Four [New Haven Register]

Walker’s game built for speed, and it shows [New Haven Register]

UConn dunks any doubts with Final Four trip [Waterbury Republican-American]

Fast tempo was just what Walker wanted [Waterbury Republican-American]

Adrien determined not to miss Final Four trip [Waterbury Republican-American]

Happy Huskies motor on to Final Four [New London Day]

Defense Saves Huskies [New London Day]

Walker Plays Like A New York Giant [New London Day]

UConn Women’s Basketball links

Might as well enjoy the ride … the Huskies are [Vickie Fulkerson – New London Day Blogs]

Business as usual for women or ladies but not girls [UConn | Women’s Basketball]

Renee Strikes Again … This Time Meghan Is The Victim [Rich Elliott – UConn women’s basketball]

Just A Scare [Rich Elliott – UConn women’s basketball]

Huskies Get Ready for Sweet 16 Action in Trenton [UConnHuskies.com]

UConn Keeps Focus On Perfecting Its Game [Hartford Courant]

Cal A Long Way From Home [Hartford Courant]

Cal Coach Expands Team’s World [Hartford Courant]

Cal’s Boyle on amazing journey [Connecticut Post]

For UConn women, no complacency [Connecticut Post]

UConn women’s notebook [Connecticut Post]

UConn women’s game day [Connecticut Post]

Trenton Regional notebook [Connecticut Post]

Experience is big edge for Huskies [Norwich Bulletin]

Auriemma appreciates Boyle’s toughness [New Haven Register]

UConn, California will be battle of the ‘Big Threes’ [New Haven Register]

Despite scare, Hayes ready to go full tilt [Waterbury Republican-American]

UConn women try to guard against complacency [Waterbury Republican-American]

UConn bench players play key role Sunday [Waterbury Republican-American]

UConn’s ‘Mouse’ Playing Big In Tourney [New London Day]

No. 1 UConn Vs. No. 4 California [New London Day]

California Has Big Three Of Its Own [New London Day]

Golden Bears need the magic of one New Jersey team in Trenton [Cal Bears Examiner]

Clash against No. 1 Huskies? Just routine [San Francisco Chronicle]

UConn Women Near Perfection, but Have Room to Improve [New York Times]

Huskies Provide Daunting Task in Sweet 16 [The Daily Californian]

Hayes Has Had Role In UConn Women’s Dominance [Lakeland Ledger]

UConn Football links

Another Update [UConn | Football]

Young UConn Receivers Showing Heart [Hartford Courant]

Youthful Group Hopes To Catch On With Huskies [New London Day]

Other UConn related links

Why I Love Brady Quinn [Thoughts From a Fat White Guy]

UConn Pimp Slaps Missouri: On To The Final Four [Thoughts From a Fat White Guy]

Softball: Huskies Drop Doubleheader To DePaul In Home Opener [UConnHuskies.com]

Baseball Splits Second Day Against USF on Saturday [UConnHuskies.com]

Editors note: While this post is being posted late due to the pain of the kidney stone, most of this post was done during the night and in the morning on Sunday. I feel as though I’ve let my readers down by not getting this posted up in the morning.

Here are the postgame quotes from the UConn Huskies after their 82-75 win over the Missouri Tigers to advance to the Final Four in Motown next weekend.

If you want to watch the press conference, you can click here.

CONNECTICUT QUOTES

THE MODERATOR: We will stick to the same format. We will ask Coach Calhoun for a few opening comments and then questions for the student-athletes and then questions for Coach.
Coach?

COACH CALHOUN: I’m ecstatic. I have had the opportunity now, this is our third time going. Quite frankly, the first one was emotional. The second one was actually wonderful because we had the best team in the country, in my opinion, when Emeka was healthy. I’m going now with a group now who found a way, found a way to get to a Final Four. That’s a hard, hard, hard thing to do. It is a very difficult thing to do.

When Jerome went down, we had to adjust so much with so little time left in our schedule. And to have A.J. pick up the pace, to average almost 20 points a game. When Jerome went down and to have Stanley become a special player, some of the things he did today, blocking shots, rebounding, to have Kemba come off the bench and do some of the things he was doing today, was really, really, special.

I couldn’t be happier. As far as Mike and Missouri, we really gave them great credit for their full-court defense. And it bothered us obviously up to 17 turnovers. The remarkable thing to me is when we got into the half-court set they disrupted us between traps and other things. We went nine out of ten trips, couldn’t score.

The good news is they went nine out of ten trips and couldn’t score and that’s why we are sitting here with smiles on and feeling elated, in all honesty. Because our defense was the thing that did it. And then we had big plays by Kemba, a dagger shot by the MVP of the Western Regional. I just reminded him that the guys before him who were MVP in this regional were Richard Hamilton and Emeka Okafor and now A.J. Price.

For freshmen to come off in a game like Kemba did is really, really special. Missouri is really good. They are relentless. They are talented. The way Mike has taken that program to where it is right now, where it is a national program, is, I mean — they certainly could be sitting here. We had a little something extra. Someone asked me yesterday about grit of a team, how do you measure that, you measure it by what you saw today. Our offense, we shot 70 percent in the first half, 30 percent in the second half, yet still found a way by making 11 straight foul shots and making big defensive plays.

I’m as happy as I possibly can be about the basketball situation. I’m so proud. I said to the kids, so happy for this group. I mean, I feel like busting out just — because I just think they are really special, what they did once they get dealt a real tough blow. It took some bounces, it too many some bruises. Here we are going to the Final Four and, once again, I’m just elated.

Q. A.J., such a frenzied game watching Mizzou play. Could you just talk about how Kemba fit into that and how he excelled today during that?

A.J. PRICE: You know, they applied so much pressure. They make you play at a frenetic pace even though you try not to get into that type of game with them. They almost force you to do that.

You know, I told Kemba around the ten-minute mark, he’s growing up today. He grew up. He played like a man among boys. There was times he dominated the game. They couldn’t pressure it. He was breaking the press and dribbling through two or three guys and still had enough in him to go down and finish the play-off. He played phenomenally today and I couldn’t be more happy for him.

He definitely helped us get over this hump today.

Continue reading →

Boston Red Sox skipper Terry Francona has decided upon his rotation to the start this season. This is how it shapes up.

1. Josh Beckett
2. Jon Lester
3. Daisuke Matsuzaka
4. Tim Wakefield
5. TBA

The 5th spot in the rotation will most likely be Brad Penny. Francona is waiting to see how Penny feels before the first game the Red Sox need a 5th starter which would be on April 12th.

This means that Clay Buchholz, despite his 0.46 spring ERA, will most likely start the season in Pawtucket unless he’s needed for the April 12th game.

Oh, by the way, Justin Masterson finally knows his role this season. He will be pitching out of the bullpen.

The Sox set their rotation [Extra Bases]

My apologies for this getting up a little late today. I woke up at around 2:30 AM in extreme pain. After laying around for a bit, the pain subsided a bit so I went back to bed at about 4:30 AM. Within minutes of being back in bed, the pain came back worse than it was before so I headed off to New Britain General Hospital. After undergoing some tests, it turns out the pain I have was from kidney stones. So I’ll be resting comfortably numb all day I hope and drinking lots of fluids to get rid of them. But enough about me already.

It’s game day for the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team as they are in Glendale, AZ for the finals of the West Regional where they will take on Missouri Tigers for the right to go to the Final Four in Motown next weekend. The tip is scheduled for around 4:40 and the game can be seen on CBS or CBS online. And for those in Connecticut, you can always catch on WTIC 1080 AM on your radio dial. Due to NCAA regulations, WTIC isn’t able to stream the game online.

UConn Men’s Basketball links

Fun with Sticks, Friday’s press conferences, UConn-Missouri [UConn | Men’s Basketball]

Calhoun Q&A in Glendale [UConn | Men’s Basketball]

Reaction times [In Storrs Now]

Modern Day Cowboy [In Storrs Now]

‘Hashan TheBeast’ [Emeka, Nadav and Corny]

My Name Is … [Emeka, Nadav and Corny]

[1] Connecticut Huskies vs. [3] Missouri Tigers West Region [The Washington Post]

For UConn, Trouble Ahead and Behind [New York Times]

Calhoun, UConn battle adversity [Arizona Republic]

Did UConn Athletic Department Do Its Job? [Hartford Courant]

5 Keys to Beating UConn [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Coaches weigh in on UConn troubles [The State News]

UConn-Missouri: Who Will Set The Pace? [Hartford Courant]

West Regional Final Preview: Missouri Vs. UConn [Hartford Courant]

UConn’s Administrative Oversight Of Sports Programs Faces Scrutiny [Hartford Courant]

Calhoun: Mistakes possible, but unintentional [Waterbury Republican-American]

Road to Final Four opens up for UConn [Waterbury Republican-American]

Missouri has the edge in numbers [Waterbury Republican-American]

Huskies ready for next test [Waterbury Republican-American]

Tigers standing in Huskies way [Norwich Bulletin]

Excited Missouri faces daunting task in UConn [Norwich Bulletin]

Allegations against UConn basketball team display Internet’s muscle [Norwich Bulletin]

Rell, Nixon place wager on UConn-Missouri Elite 8 match-up [Norwich Bulletin]

Focused Huskies not looking ahead [New Haven Register]

Calhoun: says errors were possible in courting of Miles [New Haven Register]

UConn’s wild West showdown [New Haven Register]

UConn’s Calhoun: Conscience clear [Connecticut Post]

Missouri’s plan: Make UConn’s Thabeet run [Connecticut Post]

UConn men’s game day [Connecticut Post]

UConn vs. Missouri: 5 important questions [Connecticut Post]

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

Thin Huskies must play it smart today [New London Day]

This is too serious to dismiss [New London Day]

So how will the West be won? [New London Day]

UConn Women’s Basketball links

Maria Conlon: What’s better than a good steak and a top seed? [UConn | Women’s Basketball]

UConn women win “Hangman” national championship [UConn | Women’s Basketball]

Would you trade Trenton for Glendale? [UConn | Women’s Basketball]

On the defensive [Elm City to Eagleville]

McLaren Makes An Impact [Rich Elliott – UConn women’s basketball]

Fans Logging On [Rich Elliott – UConn women’s basketball]

Cal vs. UConn preview [BearTerrritory.net]

UConn tall order for Cal women [Contra Costa Times]

UConn’s Buck healthy, but still on the bench [Waterbury Republican-American]

UConn Football links

C.Brown And Mel KiperJr. Tomorrow [UConn | Football]

Other UConn related links

Baseball Games Against South Florida Date and Time Changes [UConnHuskies.com]

Baseball: Huskies Down South Florida 2-0 To Earn First BIG EAST Win Of The Year [UConnHuskies.com]

Lacrosse Holds Off Cincinnati for 11-9 Victory [UConnHuskies.com]

Softball To Take On DePaul And Syracuse In Home Opener [UConnHuskies.com]

I received an email the yesterday asking me if I had abandoned the Boston Red Sox news that I normally post each day. I kind of chuckled to myself and said wow, you really haven’t done much with the Sox the past few days.

I do apologize for that. I got caught up with the UConn recruiting scandal along with some personal stuff.

While I am not going to totally rehash the past few days of Red Sox news, I’ll just give the brief synopsis of Wednesday and Thursday.

Wednesday was a big day for John Smoltz because it meant that he could finally touch his spikes on a mound and actually throw from it. From all accounts, the mound session was a success and Smoltz will throw again today.  That afternoon, they got a brilliant outing from Clay Buchholz to beat the Cincinnati Reds 2-1 in Sarasota.

With the way he’s pitching this spring, I find it hard to see how the Red Sox can leave him off the roster.

Thursday brought us an off day for the Red Sox as far as games are concerned. But that didn’t mean Justin Masterson wasn’t busy as he threw 4 2/3 innings for the Portland Sea Dogs. Masterson allowed no runs on 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 6.

Yesterday things picked back up in Ft. Myers as Daisuke Matsuzaka threw his first bullpen for the Red Sox. Dice-K, coming on an MVP performance in the WBC, was just a tad bit wild in his 54-pitch session.

It was a dangerous morning for pitching coach John Farrell. With a wild Daisuke Matsuzaka on the mound in the bullpen, Farrell stepped in as a lefthanded batter against the starter. He nearly got hit multiple times, mostly in the foot, as Matsuzaka threw 54 pitches in the side session.

Matsuzaka was out of the strike zone high, low, inside, outside, as he threw first to George Kottaras, then bullpen catcher Mani Martinez.

The afternoon brought a game against the St. Louis Cardinals with Josh Beckett on the mound. The Red Sox ended up winning the game 11-8 on a Chip Ambres 3-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th.

Beckett went 6 innings in the game, allowing 4 runs on 6 hits while walking one and striking out 4. Takashi Saito followed Beckett with an inning of work, giving up 2 hits and striking out 1 and Ramon Ramirez worked a perfect inning. Felix Rodriguez got hit hard for the Sox, allowing 4 runs (2 earned) on 3 hits and 2 walks that allowed the Cardinals to tie it up in the 9th.

Nick Green led the Red Sox with 3 hits while Jason Varitek was one of 5 regulars to have 2 hits in the game. Varitek went 2-for-3 with a 2-run home run. Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz, J.D. Drew and Chris Carter all had 2 hits. Jason Bay left the game in the third inning with a bout of dehydration.

Continue reading →

Solid win for the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team last night. It may not have been as pretty as the wins in the first two rounds but it was good enough to advance to the Elite Eight against the Missouri Tigers on Saturday afternoon at 4:40 PM on CBS.

Two players stood out to me in last night’s game, Craig Austrie and Stanley Robinson. Austrie had been mirred in probably the worst shooting slump of his career and didn’t look like he had any confidence at wall. Last night it looked as though the basket was 6 feet in diameter for him as he hit some clutch shots for the Huskies. You could definitely see his confidence was back because he was smiling again on the court.

After Robbie Hummel of Purdue single-handedly kept his team in the game in the first half with 15 of their 25 points, Jim Calhoun made an adjustment and had Robinson guard him. The results were successful as Robinson held him to two points in the 2nd half on a layup where Robinson was beaten down floor by Hummel. Other than that, Robinson was glued to him forcing Hummel’s supporting cast to step up.

UConn Men’s Basketball links

UConn 72, Purdue 60 [UConn | Men’s Basketball]

Let’s be frank about Purdue [In Storrs Now]

Stuck Inside of Glendale with the Memphis Blues Again [Emeka, Nadav and Corny]

UConn-Missouri for Final Four berth [UConn | Men’s Basketball]

Know Your Enemy: Missouri [UConn Huskies Basketball]

Austruck [UConn Huskies Basketball]

UConn Defeats Purdue For Spot In Final 8 [Hartford Courant]

Austrie A Light Amid Storm [Hartford Courant]

More Nochimson Details Emerge [Hartford Courant]

Robinson Become A Defensive Stopper [Hartford Courant]

UConn men’s extras [Hartford Courant]

Huskies’ grit gets them to Elite Eight [Waterbury Republican-American]

Austrie’s shooting touch returns [Waterbury Republican-American]

Missouri promises UConn ’40 minutes of hell’ [Waterbury Republican-American]

NCAA probe may cover entire UConn athletic department [Waterbury Republican-American]

UConn to follow up on report alleging violations [Waterbury Republican-American]

Huskies advance despite distractions [New Haven Register]

More details of NCAA probe coming to light [New Haven Register]

UConn men roll into Elite 8 [Connecticut Post]

What’s ahead for UConn [Connecticut Post]

Calhoun: My job is to coach [Connecticut Post]

Missouri ousts Memphis, next up for UConn [Connecticut Post]

UConn puts away pesky Purdue, reaches regional final [New London Day]

Austrie picks good time to end shooting slump [New London Day]

UConn to face surprising Missouri in regional final [New London Day]

Off-court issues continue to dog Huskies’ on-court success [New London Day]

Sources: UConn probe may expand [New London Day]

Thabeet long on persistence [Denver Post]

Win Shields UConn, If Only for Now [Fanhouse]

Next win always biggest for Mizzou [Arizona Republic]

UConn Women’s Basketball links

Golden Bears’ date with UConn is 4 years in making [International Herald Tribune]

Sweet 16 contest more like a Final Four matchup [Cal Bears Examiner]

Big East Women Also Faring Well [Hartford Courant]

Huskies eyeing title; others will take aim at top dogs [The Tufts Daily]

UConn Football links

Brown’s Preparation Yielding Results [Hartford Courant]

Other UConn related links

Softball: Neushwander Pushes Huskies Past Boston College In Extra Innings 3-2 [UConnHuskies.com]

The Black Lions Home Page [Thoughts From a Fat White Guy]