It should be no surprise that UConn Huskies junior center Hasheem Thabeet has repeated as Big East Defender of the Year.

Thabeet had 136 blocks (4.53 per game) this season with 89 of them coming during Big East play. The 4.5 blocks per game is good for second in the nation this season behind Jarvis Varnado of Mississippi State.

He ranks second all-time in Big East Conference play behind former Georgetown Hoya Patrick Ewing and ranks second in UConn men’s history behind Emeka Okafor.

Here are the other Big East Awards that were handed out today. Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Scholar-Athlete will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday.

Defensive Player of the Year
Hasheem Thabeet, Connecticut

Most Improved Player
Dante Cunningham, Villanova

Sixth Man Award
Corey Fisher, Villanova

Sportsmanship Award
Alex Ruoff, West Virginia

Although it appears only temporary, Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia has joined the blogging ranks as Rob Bradford of WEEI.com has snapped up the AL MVP. Pedroia will be posting throughout the WBC and checked in with his first entry last night.

Here’s a quick sampling:

There were other memorable moments from Sunday night, such a group of fans in center field who were yelling the whole game. At the end they started chanting Derek Jeter’s name, like they do at Yankee Stadium, which gets an acknowledgement from Derek with a wave of the glove. If you’re a Yankee you’re used to it. But then they start chanting my name. I didn’t know what to do. I just turned around a little bit and smiled. I was like, ‘Damn, dudes. It’s late.’ Evidently it was enough because they moved on to the next players.

I do wonder if Pedroia will use the blog to trash talk at all since we all know his reputation.

Dustin Pedroia, Blog Entry No. 1 [Full Count]

It’s game day again for the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team as it’s on to the semifinals of the Big East Tournament against the Villanova Wildcats. Tip is scheduled for roughly 6 PM and the game will once again be shown on ESPNU.  For those who don’t have ESPNU, you can always listen to Bob Joyce and Kara Wolters Wayne Norman on WTIC-1080 or online at WTIC.com.

UConn women’s basketball links

NCAA Women’s Basketball Single-Session Tickets On-Sale March 10 For Opening Round Games in Storrs [UConnHuskies.com]

Time for a revote? [Elm City to Eagleville]

We’re just wild about Harry [UConn | Women’s Basketball]

Faris Wins Fourth Title, Speaks About Her Career [Connecticut Post]

UConn Women Overwhelm South Florida [Hartford Courant]

Geno Auriemma Wants More From Maya Moore [Hartford Courant]

UConn Women’s Extras [Hartford Courant]

UConn women roll into Big East semifinals [Waterbury Republican-American]

Huskies dominate boards, advance to Big East semifinals [Norwich Bulletin]

Greene makes her case [Norwich Bulletin]

UConn dominates on glass in blowout [New Haven Register]

Huskies roll past South Florida [Connecticut Post]

UConn women’s notebook [Connecticut Post]

UConn women’s gameday [Connecticut Post]

UConn rolls to victory as Greene emerges as yet another weapon [New London Day]

Tale Of The Tape Might Make This Interesting [New London Day]

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

Courtesy of Daddychoc of the Boneyard, here’s Maya Moore talking about winning Big East Player of the Year.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJWagd7bRV4[/youtube]

UConn men’s basketball links

Sizing up Big East basketball tournament [Chicago Tribune]

The Envelope, Please … [Emeka, Nadav and Corny]

UConn Likely Will See Pitt Again [Hartford Courant]

Thabeet Named To Big East First Team [Hartford Courant]

Big East men’s tourney loses luster [Waterbury Republican-American]

Thabeet named 1st team All-Big East [Waterbury Republican-American]

Lack of production off bench hurt Huskies in loss to Pitt [New Haven Register]

Thabeet earns first-team Big East honors [Connecticut Post]

Thabeet Is First Team Big East Pick [New London Day]

What now for UConn? [UConn Huskies Basketball]

Khalid El-Amin Highlights [UConn Huskies Basketball]

UConn football links

UConn running back Brown out to prove he’s ‘legit’ [USA Today]

Other UConn related links

Baseball Falls Short to Sacred Heart 4-3 [UConnHuskies.com]

Softball Crushes Hofstra 6-1 [UConnHuskies.com]

If you’re a Boston Red Sox fan, you know how much of a trash talker Dustin Pedroia can be. His latest victim is none other than New York Yankees and Team USA captain Derek Jeter.

Being a (bleep)-talker, Pedroia hasn’t let Jeter escape his good-natured ribbing. The defending MVP has posted a copy of Jeter’s deodorant ad in his locker. It’s the one of Jeter outside Fenway Park waving confidently at a group of booing fans.

“I’ve got it up in my locker to give him a hard time,” Pedroia said. “He’s awesome, man. We have a good time. To get to know him has been pretty special for me.”

In case you were wondering, here is the said ad.

No one even the great Yankees captain is immune from trash talking of Pedroia. Gotta love it!!!!!! I know I do!!

WBC: Youkilis and Pedroia steal the show [Clubhouse Insider]

Boston Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis added another home run on Sunday night to help Team USA to a 14-5 pasting of Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada.

The win for the USA moves their record to 2-0 and means they will advance to the second round in Miami. Venezuela drops to 1-1 and will face the winner of Team Canada/Italy on Tuesday. The USA will face the winner of that game on Wednesday to determine seeding for the second round.

Youk was a big catalyst in helping getting Team USA on the board in the 4th inning.

After Chipper Jones struck out, Youk followed with a single off of Armando Galarraga. David Wright made the second out with a fly out and then Adam Dunn followed with a single that saw Youk go from first to third. Both Youk and Dunn came around to score on a Mark DeRosa triple to tie the game up at 2.

Youk also had a pretty good 6th inning that saw Team USA score 8 runs to put the game out of reach.

He started off the inning with a strikeout but reached on wild pitch by Victor Zambrano. Wright followed with a single and then Dunn worked a walk to load the bases. After a visit to the mound from the pitching coach, Zambrano walked DeRosa to force in Youk and chase Zambrano from the game.

Carlos Vazquez came in and the first batter he faced was Rhode Island’s Chris Iannetta who hit a bases-clearing double to put Team USA up 6-3. Iannetta ended up at third on the throw home. Venezuela finally got an out when Curtis Granderson struck out. Yoel Hernandez came in and walked Derek Jeter.

Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia followed with a double that scored Iannetta and Jeter to put Team USA up 8-3. Ryan Braun, pinch-hitting for Chipper, grounded out moving Pedroia over to third. It wouldn’t matter though as Youk ended the night of Hernandez with a long 2-run homer to center field to give Team USA a 10-3 lead.

Youkilis finished 2-for-5 in the game with the home run, 2 RBIs and 4 runs scored. Pedroia went 1-for-5 with 2 RBIs.

Team USA vs Venezuela 3.8.09 World Baseball Classic box score

Obviously the biggest news of the day wasn’t the fact that the Boston Red Sox won a spring training game but the fact that Jon Lester has reportedly been signed to a 5-year extension worth $30 million. While no one will officially comment on it, Lester did offer this up:

“I think it’s in the process of hopefully at some point getting done,” Lester also said, as he left City of Palms Park at 3 p.m. “I couldn’t tell you when or what day.”

“Nothing that I know of has been finalized,” Lester said. “I’m sure when it does become final, if it does, we’ll announce it.”

Obviously this is something both Lester and the Red Sox have wanted. Previously the Red Sox hadn’t been quick to give long-term contracts to their younger players but have finally realized it’s the right thing to do. They have now signed Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, and Lester, three players who have come up through the Red Sox minor league system, to long-term deals.

They lock up one of the best young pitchers in the game in Lester who has shown that he can overcome anything after a bout with cancer. As a fan, it will be great to see Lester pitching in a Sox uniform for the foreseeable future.

We can expect the announcement as early as Tuesday when Lester takes a physical.

Much better showing for the Red Sox today after yesterday’s 6 error debacle. They got three solid innings from Justin Masterson and a couple of RBIs from Julio Lugo on their way to an 8-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

Masterson allowed 1 hit in his 3 innings of work and had 3 strikeouts. Jonathan Papelbon followed with an inning of work, allowing 2 hits while striking out 3. Daniel Bard continues to impress as he struck out the side in his inning today. Junichi Tazawa worked 2 innings, allowing a run on 2 hits while striking out four. Michael Bowden also worked an inning allowing a run.

Lugo had a perfect afternoon at the plate going 3-for-3 with the 2 RBI. Nick Green added 2 hits, including a home run while Ivan Ochoa also had 2 hits. Jonathan Van Every and Zach Daeges also homered for the Red Sox.

The Red Sox will head to Bradenton tomorrow to take on the Pittsburgh Pirates. Lester will get the start for the Red Sox and Takashi Saito, Hideki Okajima and Manny Delcarmen will get work out of the bullpen. There is no television or radio coverage of the game.

Red Sox in the WBC and links after the jump.

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