Afternoon UConn Huskies Delight – 3/17

Head coach Geno Auriemma of the Connecticut Huskies encourages his team to play defense during the game against the North Carolina Tar Heels on January 19, 2009 at the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Imag

Are you ready for March Madness? Are you ready to see if the UConn Huskies men’s and women’s basketball teams can take home dual championships like they did in 2004?

Remember, if you need help making your selections for the NCAA Tournament, give Bracket Brains a look-see. And don’t forget, you can always watch the NCAA Men’s Tournament games online with CBS MMOD.

Now onto some links that I either missed this morning or have come across this afternoon.

UConn women’s basketball links

UConn women: Only one No. 1 [Journal Inquirer]

UConn Women The Talk Of The NCAA Tournament [New London Day]

It’s UConn … and then the rest of the field [USA Today]

Caught Between Huskies And a Hard Place [The Daily Californian]

Connecticut Generously Decides To Hold Women’s Basketball Tournament [Deadspin]

A different world [Elm City to Eagleville]

The Homecoming queen of the Gampel Regional [UConn | Women’s Basketball]

UConn women like to read [UConn | Women’s Basketball]

Tonya, Huskies Set To Reunite [Rich Elliot on UConn Women’s Basketball]

Thoughts Before the Madness Begins [The Road To the Final Four by Heather Buck

UConn men’s basketball links

Reality TV [Journal Inquirer]

For Chattanooga, Playing UConn No Longer A Joking Matter [New London Day]

Stepping Up [UConn Huskies Basketball]

Bruce Pearl Breaks down UConn’s game [UConn Huskies Basketball]

Thabeet vs. Varnado: Could it be? [Off the Glass]

Mocs head to Philadelphia [Chattanooga Times Free Press]

Fouls, a Fair Way to Predict a Champion [The Quad]

For UConn, Referee’s Whistle Sounds Sweet [New York Times]

Finding our way in Philly [My Two Cents]

Hoagies and grinders, hoagies and grinders… [In Storrs Now]

UConn football links

Backfield healthy for practice [New Haven Register]

UConn Football Spring Preview [Examiner.com]

First impressions [JSilver’s UConn Blog]

Opening Day Tempo A Big Time Change [UConn | Football]

Other UConn related links

St. Patrick’s Day [Thoughts From a Fat White Guy]

Report: Brewers Claim Littleton Off Waivers

 Pitcher Wes Littleton, recently acquired from the Texas Rangers, finishes a drill at Boston College on Wednesday, as the Red Sox held a rookie workout camp. (Globe Staff Photo / Matthew J. Lee)Apparently the Boston Red Sox tried sneak Wes Littleton waivers and failed to do. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is reporting that the Milwaukee Brewers have claimed Littleton off of waivers from the Red Sox.

Littleton was out of options and wasn’t doing much to help himself make the Red Sox out of spring training. He had an 18.56 ERA while giving up seven walks and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings.

To make room on the 40-man roster, the Brewers designated RHP Eduardo Morlan for assignment.

Red Sox Make Some More Cuts

Boston Red SoxThe Boston Red Sox announced some more cuts this afternoon and among them were prospects Lars Anderson and Josh Reddick.

Also joining the pair at the minor league complex will be catcher Mark Wagner, who was optioned to Pawtucket (AAA), outfielder Zach Daeges was re-assigned to minor-league camp, pitcher Felix Doubront was optioned to Salem (A) and pitcher Hunter Jones was optioned to Pawtucket.

Prospects Lars Anderson, Josh Reddick among cuts [Full Count]

Paw Prints – The Daily Roundup – 3/17

Paw Prints The Daily Roundup

The NCAA Men’s and Women’s NCAA Tournament selections are out and both the UConn men and UConn women have been tabbed as No. 1 seeds.

The UConn women are the No. 1 overall seed in the Trenton Region of the women’s tournament and should roll through to the Final Four in St. Louis. They enter the tournament as the odds on favorite to win it all.

On the other hand, the UConn men won’t have an easy road as their some tough matchups should they advance on Thursday. I still haven’t decided on how far I think the Huskies will advance but will get to that on Wednesday when I fill out all my brackets. There’s so many I lost count. And if you need help in your men’s pool, check out Bracket Brains for some help.

And not to get lost in all this NCAA Tournament madness, the UConn football team starts spring practice today.

UConn men’s basketball links

West Regional — the bottom line [LA Times]

Mocs Play #1 Seed UConn in First Round of NCAA Tournament [MocBlog]

Mocs Undaunted Preparing For Huskies [Hartford Courant]

Huskies confident loss to ’Cuse will pay off [Norwich Bulletin]

Chattanooga eyeing historic upset of No. 1 UConn [Norwich Bulletin]

UConn hopes to chew up Chattanooga [New Haven Register]

Mocs to get in-person look at Huskies [Connecticut Post]

Mocs used to playing long odds [Journal Inquirer]

Starting from the top [Journal Inquirer]

UConn worst 1-Seed? [UConn Huskies Basketball]

Don’t Mock the Mocs [Emeka, Nadav and Corny]

UConn women’s basketball links

Bracketology season is over [Elm City to Eagleville]

UConn gets Vermont, but Tonya Cardoza and Temple are lurking [UConn | Women’s Basketball]

UConn Women Lead The Field [Hartford Courant]

UConn Women Open NCAAs Sunday Vs. Vermont [Hartford Courant]

No. 1 UConn women draw Vermont in opener [Waterbury Republican-American]

Being No. 1 seed just the 1st step [Norwich Bulletin]

UConn gets a One-derful reward? [New Haven Register]

No. 1 UConn opens against Vermont [Connecticut Post]

Connecticut’s Auriemma as demanding as ever [Newsday]

Region-by-region breakdown [San Francisco Chronicle]

UConn, Terps, OU, Duke are top seeds [ESPN.com]

Connecticut Gets Top Seed in Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament [Bloomberg]

Forget it. No one will beat UConn in the NCAA Women’s Tournament [The Star-Ledger]

NCAA women’s tournament: Event is all about second [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

Unbeaten UConn’s presumed run to national title hardly an easy march [SI.com]

If UConn doesn’t win the title, who will? [ESPN.com]

UConn the team to beat, by far [Detroit News]

Aggies get No. 2 seed, but Connecticut looms [Dallas Morning News]

UConn earns No.1 overall seed for NCAA tourney [AP]

Mick McCabe’s five teams to watch [Detroit Free Press]

UConn football links

Spring Football Practice Opens On Tuesday [UConnHuskies.com]

QB Biggest Question As UConn Enters Spring [Hartford Courant]

UConn QB spot up for grabs [Connecticut Post]

Spring Practice quick hitter [JSilver’s UConn Blog]

Gearing up for spring [Ramblings from the Runway]

Pre-Spring Practice Talk With Coach Edsall [UConn | Football]

Petrus moving to center for UConn [ESPN.com]

Edsall previews UConn’s spring practice [ESPN.com]

Other UConn related links

Erickson Signs With Reading Royals Of ECHL [UConnHuskies.com]

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

M.E. Lapham Earns a BIG EAST Honor Roll Spot [UConnHuskies.com]

Fatse Leads Huskies Over Fairfield 5-4 [UConnHuskies.com]

Boston Red Sox News & Notes – 3/17

Boston Red SoxThe Boston Red Sox headed up to Dunedin yesterday to take on the Toronto Blue Jays and came away winners 6-4 behind the bat of Jed Lowrie.

Lowrie went 3-for-4 with 2 doubles, a home run and 2 RBIs to lead the way for the Red Sox. Chris Carter added 2 hits and 2 RBIs. The Red Sox had three home runs off of Jays starter Roy Halladay with the third one coming of the bat of Jeff Bailey who also had 2 hits.

Justin Masterson got the start for the Sox and he went 3 innings, allowing 3 runs on 6 hits while striking out 3. Daniel Bard followed him with 2 innings of work, allowing 2 hits while walking one and striking out 2. Michael Bowden was up next for the Red Sox and he went 3 innings, giving up a run on 4 hits and striking out 3. Hunter Jones allowed a hit and struck out one to pick up his second save of the spring.

The Red Sox are back in Ft. Myers today to take on the Minnesota Twins in the Mayor’s Cup which stands at 1-1. Josh Beckett will get the start and Jonathon Papelbon, Takashi Saito, Hideko Okajima, Jinuchi Tazawa and Wes Littleton are also scheduled to pitch. The game will be broadcast live on NESN and MLB.com and will also be available in Minnesota on FSN. For those at work, WRKO in Boston will have the game on your AM radio dial.

Other than the game in Dunedin, things were relatively quiet at Sox camp.

Dustin Pedroia is expected to take batting practice on Thursday after feeling much better while Julio Lugo will have his surgery today. Also, John Smoltz will finally get on the mound, throwing a bullpen session in 9 days.

Red Sox in the WBC news and links after the jump.

Continue reading

Hotties of the 2009 NCAA Women’s Tournament

2009 Women's Final Four in St. LouisBack by popular demand is our look at the hotties of the 2009 NCAA Women’s Tournament.

After the NCAA Women’s Tournament selection show, I perused all the rosters of the teams invited and picked one player deemed worthy for this post. Some may not agree with my selections and that’s okay. There are some repeat winners from last season.

Please give credit if any of the pictures are used. Thanks.

The pages are broken down by region. First up is the Trenton Region:

trenton region hotties

Trenton Region Hotties

Trenton Region Hotties

Trenton Region Hotties

Click on the name of the region to see the others.

Berkeley Region, Raleigh Region, Oklahoma City Region

UConn Women No. 1 Overall Seed In NCAA Tournament

The Road To St. Louis

We already knew that the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team would be playing on Sunday at Gampel Pavilion in the 1st round of the NCAA Women’s Tournament. What we didn’t know was who they’d be playing and what region they were going to. And now we do.

As expected, the Huskies are the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Women’s Tournament and will be taking on No. 16 seed Vermont on  Sunday afternoon at 12 PM at Gampel Pavilion. The winner gets the winner of the No. 8 Florida/No. 9  Temple game on March 24th at 7 PM. They have been placed in the Trenton regional bracket.

The other No. 1 seeds were the Duke Blue Devils, Maryland Terrapins and the Oklahoma Sooners.

NCAA Men’s College Basketball Final Regular Season Polls

AP & ESPN/USA Today PollsDespite earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Men’s Tournament, the UConn Huskies are only the No. 5 (AP)/6 (ESPN) team in the land.  Their Big East brethren the Louisville Cardinals are the tops in men’s basketball finishing on top of both polls.

Obviously the media and coaches think a little more of the Memphis Tigers than the selection committee did as the Tigers finished at No. 3 in the AP Poll and No. 2 in the ESPN/USA Today Poll.

Awful Announcing has your game times and announcers for the first two rounds of the NCAA Men’s Tournament. And remember if you need help making your picks, take a look at Bracket Brains for some help.

AP Top 25 PVS ESPN/USA Today PVS
1. Louisville (45) 28-5 1740 5 1. Louisville (14) 28-5 752 5
2. North Carolina (11) 28-4 1654 1 2. Memphis (11) 31-3 728 3
3. Memphis (11) 31-3 1621 4 3. North Carolina (6) 28-4 727 1
4. Pittsburgh (3) 28-4 1585 2 4. Pittsburgh 28-4 692 2
5. Connecticut (1) 27-4 1519 3 5. Duke 28-6 638 8
6. Duke 28-6 1444 9 6. Connecticut 27-4 621 4
7. Oklahoma 27-5 1281 6 7. Michigan State 26-6 569 6
8. Michigan St. 26-6 1257 7 8. Oklahoma 27-5 541 7
9. Missouri 28-6 1131 14 9. Missouri 28-6 505 15
10. Gonzaga 26-5 1060 12 10. Gonzaga 26-5 488 12
11. Villanova 26-7 1049 10 11. Wake Forest 24-6 429 9
12. Wake Forest 24-6 997 8 12. Villanova 26-7 402 13
13. Syracuse 26-9 903 18 13. Kansas 25-7 400 11
14. Kansas 25-7 874 11 14. Washington 25-8 389 10
15. Washington 25-8 751 13 15. Syracuse 26-9 373 20
16. Florida St. 25-9 667 22 16. Florida State 25-9 293 22
17. Purdue 25-9 643 24 17. UCLA 25-8 243 14
18. UCLA 25-8 491 15 18. Purdue 25-9 231 24
19. Arizona St. 24-9 381 23 19. Arizona State 24-9 212 23
20. Xavier 25-7 351 19 20. LSU 26-7 192 16
21. LSU 26-7 292 20 21. Clemson 23-8 132 18
22. Butler 26-5 284 16 22. Xavier 25-7 124 19
23. Marquette 24-9 277 21 23. Butler 26-5 104 17
24. Clemson 23-8 264 17 24. Marquette 24-9 80 21
25. Utah 24-9 150 NR 25. Utah State 30-4 40 NR
Others receiving votes: Others receiving votes:
West Virginia 89, Southern Cal 64, Illinois 63, Ohio St. 53, BYU 32, Mississippi St. 31, Utah St. 28, Saint Mary’s, Calif. 11, Oklahoma St. 9, N. Iowa 7, Temple 7, Siena 5, Texas A&M 4, Va. Commonwealth 3, Auburn 2, American U. 1. Illinois (24-9) 37; Ohio State (22-10) 31; Utah (24-9) 26; Southern California (21-12) 24; West Virginia (23-11) 22; Brigham Young (25-7) 7; Saint Mary’s (26-6) 6; Temple (22-11) 5; Texas (22-11) 4; Mississippi State (23-12) 3; Tennessee (21-12) 3; Siena (26-7) 2.
Dropped out Dropped out:
BYU 25. Illinois 25.

NCAA Women’s College Basketball Final Regular Season Polls

AP & ESPN/USA Today PollsSelection Monday is looming for the women’s college basketball teams and if the final polls are any indication, the No. 1 seeds should be UConn, Stanford, Maryland and Oklahoma.

To the surprise of no one, the UConn Huskies have finished on top of the polls for the regular season, going 33-0 and winning the Big East regular season and tournament titles.

AP Top 25 PVS ESPN/USA Today PVS
1. Connecticut (45) 33-0 1125 1 1. Connecticut (31) 33-0 775 1
2. Stanford 29-4 1062 2 2. Stanford 29-4 735 2
3. Maryland 28-4 1039 4 3. Maryland 28-4 713 4
4. Oklahoma 28-4 934 3 4. Oklahoma 28-4 644 3
5. Baylor 27-5 928 7 5. Baylor 27-5 639 7
6. Duke 26-5 891 6 6. Auburn 29-3 587 6
7. Louisville 29-4 846 5 7. Louisville 29-4 584 5
8. Auburn 29-3 827 8 8. Duke 26-5 569 8
9. Texas A&M 25-7 766 10 9. Texas A&M 25-7 554 9
10. Ohio State 27-5 739 9 10. Ohio State 27-5 496 10
11. North Carolina 27-6 698 11 11. North Carolina 27-6 450 11
12. Florida State 25-7 592 13 12. Florida State 25-7 399 13
13. California 25-6 541 12 13. Vanderbilt 24-8 374 15
14. Vanderbilt 24-8 522 15 14. California 25-6 365 12
15. Pittsburgh 23-7 492 14 15. South Dakota State 31-2 343 14
16. South Dakota State 31-2 386 17 16. Pittsburgh 23-7 276 17
17. Iowa State 24-8 370 18 17. Kansas State 24-7 268 16
18. Tennessee 22-10 322 19 18. Xavier 25-6 240 18
19. Arizona State 23-8 275 16 19. Iowa State 24-8 234 19
20. Xavier 25-6 243 20 20. Notre Dame 22-8 180 20
21. Kansas State 24-7 227 22 21. Florida 23-7 146 22
22. Florida 23-7 191 21 22. Virginia 23-9 121 23
23. Notre Dame 22-8 170 24 23. Tennessee 22-10 102 24
24. Virginia 23-9 163 25 24. Texas 21-11 98 21
25. Texas 21-11 113 23 25. Middle Tennessee 28-5 66 NR
Others receiving votes: Others receiving votes:
Middle Tennessee (28-5) 41; Wisconsin-Green Bay (29-3) 30; Marist (29-3) 22; Purdue (22-10) 22; LSU (18-10) 17; DePaul (23-9) 13; Southern California (17-15) 4; Utah (22-9) 4; Gonzaga (26-6) 3; Montana (28-4) 3; Ball State (25-8) 1; Bowling Green (28-4) 1; Florida Gulf Coast (25-4) 1; Villanova (19-13) 1. Marist (29-3) 28; Arizona State (23-8) 26; Wisconsin-Green Bay (29-3) 26; DePaul (23-9) 13; Villanova (19-13) 9; Bowling Green (28-4) 4; Gonzaga (26-6) 3; Liberty (24-8) 3; Boston College (20-11) 2; North Carolina A&T (26-6) 2; Mississippi State (22-9) 1.
Dropped Out: Dropped out:
None No. 25 Arizona State.

Thabeet Named Second Team All-American By USBWA

United States Basketball Writers Association Logo

The honors continue to roll in for UConn Huskies junior center Hasheem Thabeet as today he was named to a Second Team All-American by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA).

The First Team is headlined by Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina and includes DaJuan Blair of Pittsburgh, Stephen Curry of Davidson, Blake Griffin of Oklahoma and James Harden of Arizona State. Hansbrough is just one of 18 players to be named to the team three times joining UNC alum Sam Perkins as the only other Tar Heel to do it.

2008-09
USBWA MEN’S ALL-AMERICA TEAM
First Team Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown
DeJuan Blair, Pittsburgh F 6-7 265 So. Pittsburgh, Pa.
Stephen Curry, Davidson G 6-3 185 Jr. Charlotte, N.C.
Blake Griffin, Oklahoma F 6-10 251 So. Oklahoma City, Okla.
Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina F 6-9 250 Sr. Poplar Bluff, Mo.
James Harden, Arizona State G 6-5 218 So. Los Angeles, Calif.
Second Team Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown
Sherron Collins, Kansas G 5-11 200 Jr. Chicago, Ill.
Luke Harangody, Notre Dame F 6-8 255 Jr. Schererville, Ind.
Jodie Meeks, Kentucky G 6-4 208 Jr. Norcross, Ga.
Jeff Teague, Wake Forest G 6-2 180 So. Indianapolis, Ind.
Hasheem Thabeet, Connecticut C 7-3 263 Jr. Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania