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 April 28, 2008 UConn picked up a major commitment Monday afternoon when Ater Majok called the Huskies to say he was coming to Storrs next season. Posted by Neill on 3:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) April 27, 2008 UConn center Hasheem Thabeet will return for his junior season, the school announced Sunday. The 7-foot-3 junior had been considering a leap to the NBA. "I am excited about the opportunity to stay at UConn and continue the mission that we started this season," Thabeet said. "I also want to thank my family and close friends for all their help and support. As a team, we took a step in the right direction this year, but I look forward to us working together to win a Big East championship and making a run at a national championship." Posted by Neill on 2:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) April 19, 2008 Sorry for not blogging much...not a lot of news. One tidbit from today's Blue White Game at Rentschler Field (spring game): Tackle Mike Hicks will not play and will not be allowed to participate in any team activities for two weeks. He's not suspended technically, a UConn official said, but he is being punished. No word yet on what the infraction was. Posted by Neill on 11:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) March 5, 2008 UConn guard A.J. Price was named Wednesday as one of 10 nominees for the U.S. Basketball Writers Association's player of the year award. The winner receives the Oscar Robertson Trophy. The players are: D.J. Augustin (Texas); Michael Beasley (Kansas State); Chris Douglas- Roberts (Memphis); Shan Foster (Vanderbilt); Tyler Hansbrough (North Carolina); Luke Harangody (Notre Dame); Robbie Hummel (Purdue); Kevin Love (UCLA); A.J. Price (Connecticut); D.J. White (Indiana). From the list of nominees, finalists for each award will be announced later this month. The presentation of the award will take place at the USBWA's annual awards breakfast at Sunset Station in conjunction with the Final Four in San Antonio. Each award is voted on by the entire membership of the association, which consists of nearly 800 journalists. The following coaches have been nominated for the Henry Iba Award (best coach): Rick Barnes (Texas); Keno Davis (Drake); John Calipari (Memphis); Mike Krzyzewski (Duke); Lon Kruger (UNLV); Sean Miller (Xavier); Matt Painter (Purdue); Bruce Pearl (Tennessee); Rick Pitino (Louisville); Bo Ryan (Wisconsin); Herb Sendek (Arizona State); Kevin Stallings (Vanderbilt). The Oscar Robertson Trophy is awarded to the USBWA's player of the year. It is the nation's oldest award and the only one named after a former player. The legendary Oscar Robertson was the USBWA's first player of the year in 1959. The USBWA renamed its player of the year award the Oscar Robertson Trophy in 1998. Posted by Neill on 4:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) It’s rare that a team openly admits it is out for revenge. It’s an extremely common motivational factor in sports, but few teams talk about such things with media types like myself before a game. So when UConn coach Jim Calhoun came out Wednesday to discuss his team’s matchup with Providence the following day, it came as no surprise that he downplayed the issue. Providence hammered UConn 77-65 on Jan. 17 in Hartford, but Calhoun said revenge wouldn’t be a factor Thursday. "They'll say it's payback and all that stuff, but it really isn't," Calhoun said. That comment should have prepared me. Calhoun was sort of letting it slip that his players certainly felt differently. When reporters were given a chance to speak with the Huskies, that was clear. The UConn players felt they were disrespected in that game and that the Friars did too much talking and laughing at UConn’s expense. “They don't know how to win, in my opinion, and it showed,” A.J. Price said. "We've been thinking about it since the last game," Doug Wiggins said. Price went so far as to wish for a blowout. "I usually have a little more respect for teams," Price said. "But they didn't show a lot of respect last time." UConn forward Jeff Adrien said there were “a lot of things said” that upset him the last time the Huskies faced Providence. Like what Jeff? "The kind of thing I can't say on camera," Adrien said. "Maybe I'll say it in the game." Adrien was then asked if the Huskies would respond to their earlier treatment by keeping their mouths shut and playing really hard this time. "I don't think there will be any mouth-shutting," he responded. Posted by Neill on 4:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) February 29, 2008 UConn’s center does at least one thing very, very well. This just in: Hasheem Thabeet can block shots. He’s third in the nation right now in blocks (4.4 per), and in Big East play he’s even better (5.1). Thabeet will probably pass Donyell Marshall (245) Saturday and will be second in UConn in history in that category. Only Emeka Okafor (441) will have more. "He's a huge factor because he guards the rim so well," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said Friday while discussing his team’s matchup with UConn. "I think he's blocking more than all but a couple of the teams in the Big East. He certainly fortifies their inside for them and makes it awful tough to get easy baskets." But the 7-foot-3 giant does have some problems guarding perimeter players. And that’s what West Virginia has plenty of. John Beilein recruited most of these guys, which means even the 7-footers can shoot. "They're going to spread you and space you," UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. "We've had varying degrees of success against that." Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody isn’t a perimeter star (at least, he wasn’t before turning into Jack Sikma Thursday night against Louisville) but he took Thabeet outside when they last met. And everyone knows what Georgetown’s Roy Hibbert did to Hasheem (don’t tell me again how it wasn’t a fluke John Thompson III. If it’s not a fluke, why doesn’t Roy shoot out there all day. I mean if you have a 7-footer who can shoot….OK, OK, sorry about that rant. Back to the subject at hand). Thabeet is generally taught to stay put in the paint when his man goes outside. He’s too valuable a defender to be pulled away and, besides, most big men can’t hit from out there. But West Virginia will often play without a true center on the floor, and even if someone like 7-foot Jamie Smalligan is in the game, he’s a pretty good passer from the top of the key so you have to go out and play him a little. So what does UConn tell Thabeet to do Saturday? "Both,” Calhoun said. “We're going to have him play the lane in certain situations, and then we're going to have him come out and pressure the ball.” Posted by Neill on 7:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) February 27, 2008 A few notes from the RAC now that my wireless card is back working and the chants of R....U....R....U have faded:
On UConn’s proposed 11-game series with Notre Dame: "We never comment on any games that we don't have a contract for," Hathaway said. Hathaway said he has no plans to make an announcement soon. "These conversations have gone on for a couple years," Hathaway said. "But at this time we don't have any contract with Notre Dame." Regarding the contracts of Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemma, who may be a tad envious of football coach Randy Edsall’s new deal (Calhoun still makes more, for now): "I don't think that's all interconnected," Hathaway said. "What we do is we look at the marketplace for each coach within their sport. That's what we've done in the past and that's what we'll continue to do." When asked about the end of Jerome Dyson’s suspension and the goings on as a whole over the last month with the men’s basketball team: "I never comment on disciplinary cases," Hathaway said. "Never have. Never will. … I think student-athletes and students as a whole are always entitled to privacy.”
"This is the smallest crowd I've ever coached against down here," Calhoun said of the 5,833 fans. Calhoun said it affected the game. "They (Scarlet Knights) would have been a lot better if some of their fans had turned out for them."
Adrien said after the game that he re-positioned himself to the left of center when shooting his free throws, which has helped his accuracy. "I tend, like the game against Villanova, I tend to miss right," Adrien said. "So I moved over to the left a little bit. "I was on a good roll when I was more to the left. It started with the Georgetown game," Adrien said. "Then I was talking to Donny Marshall and he said 'No, I told you go back to the right.' " Following the former UConn forward’s advice, Adrien moved back to the middle. It resulted in a few efforts from the line, so Adrien moved to the left again. "I went back to the middle and I started missing a lot more," Adrien said. "Then I went back to the left. Posted by Neill on 4:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) February 25, 2008 Jerome Dyson practiced with his teammates Monday for the second straight day in preparation for Tuesday’s game against Rutgers. Teammate A.J. Price admitted it was kind of weird to have the sophomore guard back at practice. "A little bit. Not having him out there for the past eight games or whatever it was, to get him back and adjust it did take a little longer in the first practice," Price said. "But I don't think we'll have a problem (today)." As for his ability to play, Price says that’s not much of an issue. Dyson is apparently in good shape. "He looked good. It looked like he was in good shape," Price said. "He didn't get winded, really, and he was very aggressive. So that was good to see." Dyson was not allowed to talk to the media by UConn officials. Coach Jim Calhoun has not says if Dyson will play tonight (expect him to, though) and says he definitely won’t start. "He's not being punished,” Calhoun said. “He was already punished by me for two games and the university, I guess, for the other period of time." Posted by Neill on 2:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) February 23, 2008 UConn guard Jerome Dyson will return to practice with his teammates Sunday in Storrs. Coach Jim Calhoun said after Saturday's loss to Villanova that Dyson would practice, though the coach did not guarantee that the sophomore would play Tuesday against Rutgers. Dyson has apparently passed his follow-up drug test. Posted by Neill on 3:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) February 19, 2008 Jim Calhoun is back to calling him “a player.” One day after mentioning Jerome Dyson by name, the UConn coach on Tuesday discussed Dyson without actually naming him. That’s been his general rule since Dyson was suspended for violating the school’s drug policy a second time. Calhoun was asked if Craig Austrie, who was again strong down the stretch for the Huskies Tuesday, had earned himself a starting job for the rest of the season. “I don’t know what’s going to change that,” Calhoun said. “We’ve won 10 in a row. I’m not going to fool with that. Dyson is expected to return in time for the Huskies’ Feb. 26 game against Rutgers, though Calhoun has not confirmed that timeline. Dyson must pass another drug test before returning. Speaking about Austrie’s starting roll on Tuesday, Calhoun said: “We have a player coming back...who will have to earn his way into the rotation like everybody else.” The coach then quickly changed the subject. “That’s the least of my concerns,” Calhoun said. “My concern (Tuesday) was beating DePaul.” The taboo question around the Huskies is “Are they better without Dyson in the lineup?” The easy answer is yes but show me a coach (or a fan, for that matter) who would turn away the addition of a talented guard with obvious skills to a team that is clearly in need of a body or two. The real question is “How do they incorporate Dyson back into what is essentially a different team than the one he left?” DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright, whose team absorbed a rather painful 65-60 loss to the Huskies Tuesday night, says the Huskies are playing quite well right now whatever their lineup is. "I don't mean this with any disrespect to the youngster that was disciplined _ all kids make mistakes _ but sometimes there is addition through subtraction," Wainwright said. "What's happened is they've gotten into a really good rhythm. Posted by Neill on 10:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) |
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Neill Ostrout covers UConn for the Connecticut Post.  
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