Coke Zero Gives NCAA Basketball Fans Chance to be in TV Ad

Coke ZeroNow that March is upon us, UConn is gearing up for the Big East and NCAA Tournaments that are just around the corner. In celebration of this time of year, Coke Zero is calling on fans from UConn and around the country to demonstrate their passion for their favorite college basketball team and giving them the chance to be featured in a new TV commercial debuting during the NCAA championship game.

Between now and the NCAA Men’s Final Four, fans can log onto the Coke Zero “March Madabase” — http://www.tastethemadness.com — to upload their craziest and most fanatical videos/photos supporting their favorite NCAA college basketball team. There are no UConn videos yet, so check out this one of St. John’s fans as an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrEFKFP_Q5Q

The best fan submitted entries will be featured nationally in a new Coke Zero ad airing immediately prior to tipoff during the championship game on April 6th. Coke Zero has made just two of these before – take a look at the Kansas one here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVtLBzX1fic

Visit the official “Taste the Madness” site to upload and view videos/photos from colleges around the country: http://www.tastethemadness.com

NCAA Women’s College Basketball Polls – Week 16

AP & ESPN/USA Today PollsWith the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team back at No. 1, Storrs, Connecticut is officially back as the college basketball capital of the world as the UConn women are still the unanimous No. 1 team in the women’s basketball land.

It’s the 14th straight week in the AP Poll and 16th straight in the ESPN/USA Today Poll that the Huskies were an unanimous No. 1 selection.

And now with conference tournaments starting to get underway and the NCAA Tournament looming, we will be hearing a lot about a team’s RPI rating. And just to think about 5 years ago, we never really heard them talk about this in women’s basketball. Oh how the game has grown.

AP Top 25 PVS ESPN/USA Today Poll PVS
1. Connecticut (45) 29-0 1125 1 1. Connecticut (31) 30-0 775 1
2. Stanford 24-4 1043 3 2. Stanford 24-4 730 2
3. Oklahoma 25-3 999 1 3. Oklahoma 25-3 701 3
4. Maryland 25-4 971 5 4. Maryland 25-4 673 5
5. Baylor 23-4 927 6 5. Auburn 27-2 642 6
6. Auburn 27-2 915 7 6. Baylor 23-4 606 7
7. Louisville 26-3 887 8 7. Louisville 27-3 583 8
8. Duke 24-4 806 10 8. Texas A&M 22-5 557 9
9. California 23-4 743 4 9. California 23-4 534 4
10. Texas A&M 22-5 731 12 10. Duke 24-4 509 11
11. North Carolina 25-5 710 9 11. North Carolina 25-5 447 10
12. Florida State 24-6 603 11 12. Ohio State 24-5 425 14
12. Ohio State 24-5 603 14 13. Florida State 24-6 381 12
14. Pittsburgh 21-6 434 15 14. South Dakota State 28-2 343 16
15. Texas 20-8 408 16 15. Xavier 25-5 316 13
16. Xavier 25-5 363 13 16. Texas 20-8 247 18
17. South Dakota State 27-2 324 21 17. Notre Dame 21-7 232 22
18. Arizona State 22-6 307 24 18. Florida 23-6 209 17
19. Tennessee 20-9 302 18 19. Pittsburgh 22-6 195 20
20. Notre Dame 20-7 291 23 20. Virginia 22-8 167 19
21. Florida 23-6 268 17 21. Kansas State 21-6 152 15
22. Vanderbilt 21-8 217 19 22. Iowa State 21-7 143 24
23. Iowa State 21-7 212 25 23. Vanderbilt 21-8 119 21
24. Virginia 22-8 194 22 24. Tennessee 20-9 107 23
25. Bowling Green 25-2 74 NR 25. Bowling Green 25-2 96 25
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
Kansas State 63, LSU 27, Middle Tennessee State 26, Wisconsin-Green Bay 12, DePaul 10, Georgia Tech 9, Marist 7, Michigan State 7, Virginia Commonwealth 2, Florida Gulf Coast 1, Gonzaga 1, Purdue 1, San Diego State 1, Temple 1, Arizona State 76, Middle Tennessee State 48, Marist 32, Wisconsin-Green Bay 16, DePaul 5, LSU 2, Boston College 2, Arkansas-Little Rock 2, Gonzaga 1, Mississippi State 1, North Carolina A&T 1,
Dropped From Rankings Dropped From Rankings
Kansas State 20. None

Drew Back To Boston For Injections

Boston Red Sox J.D. Drew laughs while waiting to take batting practice during spring training workouts at the team's practice facility in Ft. Myers, Florida February 22, 2009. REUTERS/Hans Deryk (UNITED STATES)After missing the last part of the regular season with some back issues, Boston Red Sox outfielder J.D. Drew’s back is acting up again as he was sent back to Boston on Sunday for another round of injections. This does appear to be the same issue that bothered him last season.

“The reason we did it was kind of precautionary,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “We have some time right now because it is so early in March and J.D., through getting looked at with some different people, thought this could be of benefit to him. If it worked, we thought, ‘good’ and if it didn’t seem to do anything, ok, it’s March 2 or 3. If he reports last night and is here today and says it worked, that’s great, ok, that’s good news. I just think we did it if we run into a problem later this year, we know where to go.”

Backs can be a troubling thing, trust me on that one. Back injuries never seem to go away and usually linger. Sometimes it can just take sleeping wrong to cause the problem to act up again. So you can imagine what swinging a bat will do.

Like Francona said, it’s still early in spring training but as we get closer to the season we can only hope that Drew’s back is better. We’re already down Mark Kotsay to start the season and Rocco Baldelli won’t be able to play every day.

Back to injections for Drew… [Full Count]

J.D.’s back is back [Extra Bases]

Drew receives injection [Projo Sox Blog]

Update 1:15 PM: NESN’s Heidi Watney spoke exclusively with J.D. Drew and Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe provides us with the transcript. The interview will air tonight on NESN SportsDesk.

Paw Prints – The Daily Roundup – 3/3

Paw Prints The Daily Roundup

The end of the regular season has come upon the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team and they finished up the season 30-0. It’s the 5th time they’ve finished with a perfect record and first time since 2002-2003. Now they move onto the Big East Tournament where they will start their run for another title on Sunday at 2:00 PM against either Marquette, Cincinnati or South Florida.

UConn women’s basketball links

Huskies finish season 30-0 [New Haven Register]

UConn finishes perfect regular season [Connecticut Post]

UConn’s best of the best [Connecticut Post]

Unblemished Division I teams [Connecticut Post]

UConn women’s report card [Connecticut Post]

UConn women’s notebook [Connecticut Post]

Not pretty, but Huskies finish perfect [Norwich Bulletin]

UConn Women Beat Rutgers, Finish 30-0 [Hartford Courant]

A Perfect Setting For UConn Women [Hartford Courant]

For Auriemma, Security Guard Good Guy To Know [Hartford Courant]

UConn Women’s Extras [Hartford Courant]

UConn women finish regular season 30-0 [Waterbury Republican-American]

Montgomery makes case of being best in Big East [Waterbury Republican-American]

UConn’s undefeated women’s basketball teams [Waterbury Republican-American]

Huskies take care to appreciate accomplishments [Waterbury Republican-American]

Huskies survive Rutgers, own sloppy play to finish regular season 30-0 [New London Day]

Big East women’s basketball pairings [New London Day]

Huskies continue to thwart Scarlet Knights [mycentraljersey.com]

Perfection In Storrs [ESPN.com]

Women’s Notebook: Big East tourney on tap for women [Journal Inquirer]

History in the making [Journal Inquirer]

UConn men’s basketball links

A.J. Price was named to the Big East Weekly Honor Roll [BigEast.org]

Monday night thoughts [Matt’s UConn Huskies men’s basketball blog]

Calhoun cashes in on success [Boston Globe]

UConn Huskies Analysis [CollegeHoops.net]

Countdown to Showdown: HASHEEM THABEET VS. DEJUAN BLAIR [New Haven Register]

Calhoun proud of big salary even in troubled times [AP via Norwich Bulletin]

Eternal wait [Journal Inquirer]

UConn football links

For Orlovsky, Texans a ‘good, good situation” [Connecticut Post]

Another Media Opp Tomorrow, The Offense And Underachieving [UConn | Football]

Other UConn related links

Its Been Too Long…but I’m In Austria [Thoughts From a Fat White Guy]

Welcome to Austria! [Thoughts From a Fat White Guy]

Former Connecticut Volleyball Standout to Compete at 17th Marianas Cup [UConnHuskies.com]

Erickson Named Atlantic Hockey Goaltender Of The Week [UConnHuskies.com]

Let’s Throw Another Shrimp On The Barbie [Thoughts From a Fat White Guy]

Boston Red Sox News & Notes – 3/3

Jacoby Ellsbury #46 of the Boston Red Sox looks on before a game against the Baltimore Orioles during a spring training game at Fort Lauderdale Stadium on March 2, 2009 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (Photo by Rob Tringali/Getty Images)

The Boston Red Sox traveled across the state yesterday to Ft. Lauderdale to take on the Baltimore Orioles in a Grapefruit League game. The Red Sox lost 5-3 but got two good innings of work from Justin Masterson.

Masterson threw 27 pitches, 17 for strikes in his two innings. Nick Green led the Red Sox with 2 hits and Ivan Ochoa added a 2-run homer.

Today the Red Sox will host the Cincinnati Reds at City of Palms Park. There is no television or radio coverage of the game.

If you missed the Amalie Benjamin chat over at Boston.com yesterday, don’t worry you can read the archive if you’re interested.

And if your interested, you can chat with the Boston Globe’s Tony Massarotti at noon today.

Penny’s first Sox start may be delayed [redsox.com]

More to Red Sox prospect than blazing fastball [Boston Herald]

Justin Masterson roles with it [Boston Herald]

He’s going the extra miles [Boston Globe]

Masterson on solid footing [Boston Globe]

What Masterson had to say… [Full Count]

Bailey, Wilkerson, Carter, McAnulty scrap for final spot on the roster [Providence Journal]

Masterson should be ready to start if Penny can’t [Providence Journal]

If it’s spring, it must mean Yankees and Red Sox books [ESPN.com]

Impact Analysis: Boston Red Sox shortstop [KFFL]

Red Sox add money to Moneyball [Cape Cod Times]

UConn Women Finish Regular Season Undefeated

Maya Moore dribbles past Rutgers' Heather Zurich (21) during the first half Monday in Piscataway, N.J - Mel Evans/AP

For the fifth time in the history of UConn Huskies women’s basketball, they have finished undefeated in the regular season as they beat a tough Rutgers Scarlet Knights squad 69-59 at the RAC in Piscataway, NJ. It’s the first time since the 2002-03 season that the Huskies have finished the season undefeated.

No. 1 UConn finishes up 30-0 (16-0 Big East) and will have a double-bye in the Big East Tournament that gets underway on March 6th. Rutgers ends the regular season at 18-11 (9-7) and will be the 7th seed and has a first round bye.

Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma hugs player Renee Montgomery after defeating Rutgers 69-59 in an NCAA college basketball game Monday, March 2, 2009, in Piscataway, N.J. With the win, Connecticut completed an undefeated (30-0) season. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)Renee Montgomery paced the Huskies with 23 points and 5 assists. Tina Charles added 14 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals and 4 blocks while Maya Moore had 12 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Kalana Greene chipped in with 10 points.

Rutgers was led by Kia Vaughn who had 24 points to go along with 7 rebounds. Epiphanny Prince added 11 points and 4 steals while Heather Zurich had 10. Khadijah Rushdan had a game-high 9 rebounds for the Scarlet Knights.

Things got a little dicey for the Huskies in the second half. They took a 36-20 lead into the locker room and were up 43-26 when things took a change for the worse. Rutgers took advantage of four UConn turnovers and went on a 12-4 run to cut the lead to 9.

The Huskies recovered though to get the lead back up to 16 points as they went on a 7-0 run started by a Montgomery three pointer. Rutgers didn’t go lightly though as they cut the lead down to 6 points at 65-59 but the Huskies hit their free throws to finish their season undefeated.

Montgomery got the Huskies off to a hot start as she hit three 3-pointers and helped UConn to a 21-5 lead. Rutgers battled back though using an 11-2 run to cut the lead down to 7 points. The Huskies pushed the lead back to double-digits with a 6-0 run on their way to a 17-point lead at the half.

While the Huskies may have finshed the regular season with a perfect record, they were far from perfect tonight. It was a good test but they will need to find a way to take better care of the ball when facing pressure.

As stated above, the Huskies will have a double-bye and start the Big East Tournament on Sunday in the quarterfinals at 2 PM. Their opponent won’t be known until play is over on Saturday.

Continue reading →

NCAA Men’s College Basketball Polls – Week 16

AP, ESPN/USA Today PollsIt’s official. The UConn Huskies men’s basketball team is back at the No. 1 spot in the land although it’s not unanimous this time around.

The Memphis Tigers picked up some first place votes in the ESPN/USA Today Poll and in the AP Poll while the North Carolina Tar Heels and Pittsburgh Panthers picked up first place votes in the AP Poll as well.

There’s only one poll that matters and that’s the one that comes out in April after the NCAA Championship Game.

As we approach the conference and NCAA Tournament, we will be hearing a lot about a particular school’s RPI ranking. To see where your favorite team stands in the RPI, click here.

AP Top 25 PVS ESPN/USA Today Poll PVS
1. Connecticut (67) 27-2 1,792 2 1. Connecticut (27) 27-2 769 2
2. North Carolina (3) 25-3 1,678 4 2. North Carolina 25-3 711 5
3. Pittsburgh (1) 26-3 1,612 1 3. Memphis (4) 26-3 698 4
4. Oklahoma 26-3 1,576 3 4. Pittsburgh 26-3 667 1
5. Memphis (1) 26-3 1,543 5 5. Oklahoma 26-3 653 3
6. Louisville 23-5 1,462 6 6. Louisville 23-5 630 6
7. Duke 24-5 1,340 7 7. Duke 24-5 597 7
8. Michigan State 23-5 1,302 9 8. Michigan State 23-5 557 9
9. Kansas 24-5 1,190 15 9. Kansas 24-5 509 15
10. Wake Forest 22-5 1,158 13 10. Wake Forest 22-5 480 14
11. Villanova 23-6 913 10 11. LSU 25-4 420 18
12. LSU 25-4 894 18 12. Missouri 24-5 377 8
13. Marquette 23-6 860 8 13. Washington 22-7 346 21
14. Gonzaga 23-5 837 17 14. Gonzaga 23-5 339 17
15. Missouri 24-5 795 11 15. Marquette 23-6 327 10
16. Washington 22-7 704 21 16. Villanova 23-6 324 12
17. Xavier 23-5 629 19 17. UCLA 22-7 295 19
18. Clemson 22-6 564 12 18. Xavier 23-5 260 22
19. Purdue 22-7 545 16 19. Clemson 22-6 219 13
20. UCLA 22-7 497 22 20. Purdue 22-7 211 16
21. Arizona State 21-7 347 14 21. Arizona State 21-7 189 11
22. Butler 25-4 302 24 22. Butler 25-4 168 23
23. Illinois 23-7 287 20 23. Illinois 23-7 107 20
24. Florida State 22-7 272 23 24. Florida State 22-7 67 25
25. Syracuse 21-8 99 NR 25. Syracuse 21-8 37 NR
Others Receiving Votes Others Receiving Votes
Creighton 52, Brigham Young 41, Utah 22, Saint Mary’s 13, Dayton 11, West Virginia 10, Davidson 9, Texas 9, California 8, South Carolina 7, Providence 7, Washington State 4, Arizona 3, Oklahoma State 2, Boston College 1, Rhode Island 1, American University 1, Utah State 1. Saint Mary’s 26, Utah State 17, Texas 15, Creighton 13, Brigham Young 12, Utah 10, Dayton 9, California 6, Providence 4, Boston College 4, West Virginia 2.
Dropped From Rankings Dropped From Rankings
Texas 25. Texas 24.

Paw Prints – The Daily Roundup – 3/2

Paw Prints The Daily Roundup

It’s game day for the No. 1 UConn Huskies women’s basketball team as they are in lovely Piscataway, New Jersey to take on their archrival the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. For the Huskies, it’s a chance at perfection. The game is scheduled to start at 7:30 PM and will be broadcast to a national television audience on ESPN2.

UConn women’s basketball links

Perfect regular season one win away [New Haven Register]

Huskies look to finish perfect Big East run [Connecticut Post]

UConn women’s gameday [Connecticut Post]

Huskies’ perfect season on the line at the RAC [Norwich Bulletin]

UConn Women Face Final Hurdle Before Postseason [Hartford Courant]

No. 1 UConn Women At Rutgers [Hartford Courant]

UConn women not taking accomplishments for granted [New London Day]

Former Timberland High basketball star Kalana Greene doing what it takes to win [Charleston Post Courier]

Scarlet Knights Host No. 1 Connecticut in Regular Season Finale [ScarletKnights.com]

Rutgers women brace for showdown with No. 1 Connecticut [The Star-Ledger]

UConn men’s basketball links

Huskies will get plenty of rest [New Haven Register]

Huskies will ‘hone in’ in five days before Pitt showdown [Norwich Bulletin]

Huskies Have Week To Prepare For Pitt [Hartford Courant]

Big East still in strong NCAA tourney shape [Waterbury Republican-American]

UC men take timeout with Pitt, postseason looming [New London Day]

UConn football links

Interview With UConn DE/OLB Cody Brown [Dawgs By Nature]

Football’s Donald Brown Honored As ECAC Player Of The Year [UConnHuskies.com]

Other UConn related links

Calhoun, Auriemma are worth every penny [New Haven Register]

Ohio State Wins Battle of the Bats Against the Huskies with a 21-14 Victory [UConnHuskies.com]

Boston Red Sox News & Notes – 3/2

Team Japan pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka of the Boston Red Sox delivers a pitch against the Yomiuri Giants during their exhibition game at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, Sunday, March 1, 2009. Japan will play with South Korea, Taiwan and China in Pool A of the World Baseball Classic which begins March 5. (AP Photo/Toru Takahashi)

It’s been a bit since I’ve had a chance to talk about the Boston Red Sox here and I won’t rehash everything that’s missed.

There may be a foot of snow on the ground up here in Connecticut but there’s some spring training baseball being played in Ft. Myers, FL. It had been rough going to start for the Red Sox but they had a good day on Saturday and then finished off the Minnesota Twins yesterday afternoon.

The Red Sox are in Ft. Lauderdale this afternoon to take on the Baltimore Orioles. Justin Masterson is expected to get the start. There is no television coverage and the only radio coverage is available on 105.7 The Fan in Baltimore.

After the game yesterday, the Red Sox lost their 6 players plus 8 minor leaguers to WBC camps. This does pose a problem for skipper Terry Francona when they have to play road spring training games as MLB mandates that you bring 4 regulars with you on road trips. Hopefully MLB grants the Red Sox some type of waiver for this because the regulars left are Jason Varitek, Jacoby Ellsbury, J.D. Drew, Jed Lowrie and Julio Lugo. Mike Lowell isn’t ready for game action yet and should start playing in about 2 weeks.

Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe will be stopping by Boston.com to chat this afternoon at 2 PM, so let’s get our intrepid reporter some great questions.

Daisuke Matsuzaka threw 3 scoreless innings in a WBC tuneup on Sunday [AP]

Due up next: WBC [Boston Herald]

Jonathan Papelbon lays off fastball [Boston Herald]

It’s the going rate [Boston Globe]

Papelbon bullish on ‘pen [Boston Globe]

Papelbon is perfect in first spring outing [Providence Journal]

Red Sox’ stars set to compete in World Baseball Classic [Providence Journal]

Nathan happy to see Papelbon get paid [Full Count]

Papelbon’s star continues to rise at Red Sox vs.Twins game [News-Press]

So Long Youk-Fu [Center Field]

Orlovsky Signs With Texans

Dan OrlovskyFormer UConn Huskies and Detroit Lions quarterback Dan Orlovsky has decided to sign a 3-year, $9.1 million contract with the Houston Texans to be their backup quarterback. Included in that contract is a signing bonus of $2.4 million.

Orlovsky decided not to re-sign with the Lions when he found out he’d be backing up Daunte Culpepper but decided Houston was the place to be because of head coach Gary Kubiak.

“I think the big reason here is just coach Kubiak,” Orlovsky said. “Spending time with him and coach [Kyle] Shanahan, sitting down with them and really getting to know them, not only as football coaches but as people, what they preached and what they believed in, was important to me.”

“Coach Kubiak carries a reputation with quarterbacks. The economics of it wasn’t a big deal to me; it was about the opportunity to learn and get better. I’m still only 25, so I know I have a long career ahead of me, and my biggest thing was to try and become as good of a quarterback as I can, and I think that this situation presents that.”

It’s good to see Orlovsky get rewarded for his time in Detroit. They may have sucked this year but when Orlovsky was in, he gave them a chance to win. Unfortunately for him and the Lions, he didn’t get them a win this season.

In 10 games (7 starts) for the Lions in 2008, Orlovsky threw for 1,616 yards with 8 touchdowns and 8 interceptions.

Texans sign ex-Lion Orlovsky as backup quarterback [Houston Chronicle]