Senior CLASS Award

UConn All-American Sr. C Stefanie Dolson has been selected as one of 30 student-athletes to be considered for the 2013-14 Senior CLASS Award in women’s college basketball, as announced on Tuesday. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School ®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. Of the 60 candidates, 20 have grade point averages of 3.5 or higher. There are eight CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-Americans® and seven returning All-Americans. Twenty-four of the 32 NCAA Division I basketball-playing conferences are represented as well. Each of the 30 candidate classes will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one male candidate and one female candidate who best exemplify excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition. The Senior CLASS Award winners will be announced during the 2014 NCAA Men’s Final Four® and NCAA Women’s Final Four®.

Dolson, a 2012-13 WBCA/State Farm All-America selection, enters her senior year with 1,299 career points and is fourth on UConn's all-time field goal percentage list at 59.8 percent. A 2013 First Team All-Big East selection, Dolson has been selected to the All-Big East Tournament team in each of her three years in Storrs and was an NCAA Tournament All-Region Team pick in each of the last two seasons. Dolson also was honored as an All-American by the United States Basketball Writers and earned All-America Third Team honors from the Associated Press last year. Two former Husky greats, Sue Bird in 2002 and Maya Moore in 2011, have been honored as the Senior CLASS Award winner. Sr. G Shabazz Napier of the UConn men's basketball team was selected as a candidate for the men's basketball Senior CLASS Award.

Wooden Award Preseason Top 30

UConn All-Americans Sr. C Stefanie Dolson, Sr. G Bria Hartley, and Jr. W Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis as well as So. F Breanna Stewart have each been selected to the Wooden Award Preseason Top-30 List as announced by the Los Angeles Athletic Club today. The list is chosen by a preseason poll of national college women’s basketball media members. UConn led all programs with 4 selections to the 30-member list. Players not chosen to the preseason team are eligible for both the midseason team and the National Ballot. The National Ballot consists of 20 top players who have proven to their universities that they are also making progress toward graduation and maintaining at least a cumulative 2.0 GPA. The Wooden Award All American Team, consisting of the nation’s top five players, will be announced the week of the Final Four.

Preason AAC Player Honors

Four Huskies earned American Athletic Conference Preseason Accolades as announced by the league during Media Day, which was held at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT. UConn All-American candidate So. F Breanna Stewart was honored as the 2013-14 Preseason AAC Player of the Year while UConn All-Americans Sr. C Stefanie Dolson and Jr. W Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis joined Stewart on the Preseason All-Conference First Team. Stewart, Dolson, and Louisville Sr. G Shoni Schimmel were unanimous selections. For some unbeknownst reason, Mosqueda-Lewis was not picked by every coach even though she was unanimously selected as a 2012-13 All-Big East First Team member last season after leading the COUNTRY in 3pt FG percentage (a UConn single-season record 118 3pt. FG's made on 50%). Now I can't wait for the AAC season!!! Because you know KML is goin "lights out" on those dumb coaches' ass-ets. UConn All-American Sr. G Bria Hartley earned Honorable Mention status.

2013-14 Preseason AAC Player of the Year:
So. F Breanna Stewart, UConn

2013-14 Preseason AAC Freshman of the Year:
Fr. G Tyler Scaife, Rutgers

2013-14 Preseason All-AAC First Team:
So. G Briahanna Jackson, Central Florida
RSr. G Dayeesha Hollins, Cincinnati
Sr. C Stefanie Dolson, UConn*
Jr. W Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, UConn
So. F Breanna Stewart, UConn*
Sr. G Keena Mays, Southern Methodist
Jr. F Sara Hammond, Louisville
Sr. G Shoni Schimmel, Louisville*
Sr. W Antonita Slaughter, Louisville
Sr. W Inga Orekhova, South Florida

2013-14 Preseason All-AAC Honorable Mention:
Jr. W Betnijah Laney, Rutgers
Sr. G Bria Hartley, UConn

* - unanimous selection

Preseason AAC Team Honors

The defending 2013 National Champions, UConn Huskies, were chosen as the unanimous favorite to win the 2013-14 American Athletic Conference inaugural regular season title. Louisville, the national runner-up, was chosen to finish second. The selection was made by the league's 10 head coaches, who were not permitted to select their own teams. The 2014 AAC Women's Basketball Championship will be hosted at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., March 7-10, 2014.

2013-14 Preseason AAC Coaches Poll   Points 
1.      Connecticut (9)                                   81
2.      Louisville (1)                                      73
3.      USF                                                   59
4.      Rutgers                                              57
5.      SMU                                                  50
6.      Memphis                                            32
7.      Cincinnati                                           30
8.      UCF                                                   28
9.      Temple                                              25
10.     Houston                                            15

(  ) - first place votes

First Night Teams Announced

Pick the starting five for #TeamGeno and #TeamKevin! The men's and women's players receiving the most votes will be named the starters during the first-ever inter-squad scrimmage between players from the men's and women's basketball teams, led by head coaches Geno Auriemma and Kevin Ollie. Gampel Pavilion doors will open at 6:00pm. The first 2,500 fans in attendance will receive either a #TeamGeno or #TeamKevin t-shirt and 2,500 fans will also receive Husky glow sticks.

#TeamGeno
Omar Calhoun
Saniya Chong
DeAndre Daniels
Niels Giffey
Bria Hartley
Pat Lenehan
Shabazz Napier
Phillip Nolan
Briana Pulido
Terrence Samuel
Breanna Stewart
Kiah Stokes
Tor Watts

#TeamKevin
Brianna Banks
Ryan Boatright
Amida Brimah
Stefanie Dolson
Kentan Facey
Moriah Jefferson
Lasan Kromah
Tierney Lawlor
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis
Tyler Olander
Rodney Purvis
Leon Tolksdorf
Morgan Tuck

Vote for the starting line-up here. Doors open at 6:00pm and it's SHOWTIME at 7!

The University of Connecticut has been selected as one of the 16 1st and 2nd round sites for the 2014 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship, which, along with the NCAA Regional sites, were announced today by the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee. The selection will mark the 19th time that UConn has hosted NCAA Tournament games at Gampel Pavilion, with the most recent coming in 2013. The Huskies boast an all-time record of 32-2 in NCAA Tournament games played at Gampel.

Weekly Spotlight #9

UConn All-American Candidate So. F Breanna Stewart Primed For Another Big Season.

Wade Watch

UConn All-Americans Sr. C Stefanie Dolson, Sr. G Bria Hartley, and Jr. W Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis as well as So. F Breanna Stewart have each been selected to the 2013-14 Wade Watch list as announced by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association on Tuesday. The Huskies led all teams with 4 players on the 25-member list. No other team had more than two selections. All four players were recently invited to attend the United States Women's National Team Training Camp in Las Vegas from October 3-6, 2013. Hartley was unable to attend due to a minor ankle injury as a precaution.

Today the UConn Athletic Dept. announced that the UConn men's and women's basketball teams will each play a regular-season game at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Conn., this season for the first time ever. It will be the first home game for the UConn men played outside of Storrs or Hartford since a 1987 game against Syracuse at the New Haven Coliseum. The UConn men's team will host Eastern Washington on Sat., Dec. 28, at 1 p.m. while the defending 2013 NCAA champion UConn women's team will host the Temple Owls in an American Athletic Conference game on Sat., Jan. 11, at noon.

UConn First Night

The University of Connecticut men's and women's basketball programs will tip-off the 2013-14 season with "First Night" presented by Webster Bank and Connecticut Army National Guard on Friday, October 18, 2013. For the first time ever, First Night will highlight an inter-squad scrimmage between players from the men's and women's basketball teams, led by Head Coaches Geno Auriemma and Kevin Ollie. Meet the 2013-14 men's and women's basketball teams as they sign autographs for Husky fans from 6 - 6:45 p.m. in the AD's lobby (located between the East and South entrances).

Admission is free and open to the public. Gampel Pavilion doors will open at 6 p.m.