HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Stop the Press!! Stop the Press!! Today Connecticut was picked to win the 2008-09 Big East Conference Regular Season title in a poll voted on by the league coaches. Connecticut was the overwhelming favorite by the coaches. Connecticut's Maya Moore was picked as the 2008-09 Preseason Big East POTY and Rutger's April Sykes was picked as the 2008-09 Preseason Big East FOTY. Eleven players were named to the 2008-09 Preseason All Big East Team including Connecticut's Moore, Tina Charles, and Renee Montgomery.

2008-09 Preseason Big East Poll:
1. Connecticut (14) 224
2. Rutgers (1) 201
3. Louisville (1) 200
4. Notre Dame 182
5. Pittsburgh 162
6. Syracuse 156
7. Marquette 147
8. DePaul 132
9. West Virginia 109
10. Villanova 85
11. Georgetown 77
12. South Florida 76
13. St. John's 66
14. Seton Hall 40
15. Cincinnati 33
16. Providence 30

(-) - Indicates first-place votes

2008-09 Preseason BIG EAST Honors:
Player of the Year: Maya Moore, Connecticut, So., F
Freshman of the Year: April Sykes, Rutgers, Fr., G/F

2008-09 Preseason All-BIG EAST Team:
Candyce Bingham, Louisville, Sr., F
*Tina Charles, Connecticut, Jr., C
*Krystal Ellis, Marquette, Sr., G
Shantia Grace, USF, Sr., G
Chandrea Jones, Syracuse, Sr., G
*Angel McCoughtry, Louisville, Sr., F
Renee Montgomery, Connecticut, Sr., G
*Maya Moore, Connecticut, So., F
*Epiphanny Prince, Rutgers, Jr., G
Kia Vaughn, Rutgers, Sr., C*
Shavonte Zellous, Pittsburgh, RS-Sr., G

Honorable Mention:
Laura Kurz, Villanova, Sr., F
Deirdre Naughton, DePaul, Jr., G
Lindsay Schrader, Notre Dame, Sr., G

* - unanimous selection

(Great) Recruiting News!!!

The #1 HS Junior (Class of '10) according to HoopGurlz, 6'1 SF Samarie Walker verbally committed to the UConn Huskies this weekend after being offered a scholarship during her unofficial visit to campus for First Night and opening day practice. Walker attends the same HS as former UConn Great Tamika (Williams) Raymond and the two spoke recently about how great UConn is athletically and academically and how she would be a perfect fit. Her HS coach says that this weekend's visit was just a confirmation of all Walker's dreams and hard work paying off.

Still no word on 6'0 SG Krista Gross (Class of '09) who visited First Night and opening day practice as well. Gross is down to UConn, Stanford, North Carolina, and Florida. Also attending First Night and opening day practice were Kelly Faris, a 5'11 SG from the Class of '09, the only player that has already given an oral commitment and Olivia Bresnahan, a 5'11 SF from the Class of '10.

My 2008-09 Preseason Top 25 Poll:

1. Connecticut
2. Stanford
3. Maryland
4. California
5. Rutgers**
6. Oklahoma*
7. Louisville*
8. Duke
9. Tennessee
10. North Carolina*
11. Arizona State
12. Oklahoma State
13. Vanderbilt
14. Notre Dame*
15. Texas A&M
16. Texas
17. Virginia
18. Xavier
19. Ohio State
20. Florida State*
21. Purdue
22. Syracuse*
23. Auburn
24. Penn State*
25. LSU*

*UConn opponent

UConn First Night 2008



Dunk Contest

6'0 So. SF Maya Moore vs. 6'4 Jr. C Tina Charles

More from the Courant's John Altavilla:

All she wants is to be consistent and become a leader. Jr. C Tina Charles is looking for that consistency coming into her third season as UConn's main offensive and defensive threat in the post. Her coach says he will keep pushing Charles around until he gets that consistency. He wants her to impact and not just be a part of every game. And if she wants a career in the WNBA, she better start playing much harder and much, MUCH MORE physical.

SWEEP!!!

Led by Finals MVP Katie Smith (21.7 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 3.3 apg) the Detroit Shock won their 3rd WNBA Championship by sweeping the San Antonio Silver Stars 3-0. Former UConn Husky Kelly Schumacher (who was signed during the Olympic break) wins her 2nd straight WNBA Championship ring after winning her first last season with the Phoenix Mercury (who didn't re-sign her). Schuey played a major role of the defensive end (16.7 mpg, 5 rpg, 1 bpg) for the Shock during these Finals and deserves a lot of credit for coming up big after hardly getting of the bench during the first two rounds (9.0 mpg, 2.3 rpg, no blocks) of the playoffs.

The Courant's John Altavilla has kept up on the UConn roster this preseason:

Progress. That's all that matters for Jr. SF Kalana Greene when it comes to her knee. She is getting closer and closer to being back on the court. Dealing with complications has gone from frustrating to empowering. She has already had two surgeries to clean out scar tissue, but she is learning very quickly, 'that which does not kill me, only makes me stronger'.

UConn's backcourt of Sr. (State Farm All-American) PG Renee Montgomery and So. PG Lorin Dixon have been sharpening their skills with new assistant coach and former UConn Great Shea Ralph in an attempt to UConn's backcourt. Improved shooting especially from 3-land, ball-handling, and perimeter is desperately needed from this PG duo, who will be looked upon by their head coach to lead this team and set up their fellow teammates.

Hoping to avoid any type of sophomore slump, So. (AP 1st-team and State Farm All-American) SF Maya Moore took the summer to rest, relax, and come back refreshed. Moore's goals for this season include continuing where she left off on the offensive end (but with HUGE increase in trips to the FT line), improved rebounding, and stellar on- and off-the-ball defense.

UConn's frontcourt of Jr. PF Kaili McLaren and Fr. PF/C Heather Buck have been working to shore up UConn's post with assistant coach and former UConn Great Jamelle Elliott. They both are looking to lose their very bad habits. McLaren is looking to ensure she won't be on the bench during crunch time in a NCAA Final Four game ever again. Buck has learned quickly that things that she got away with against high school opponents will not work against college defenses.

It has been almost exactly one year since her surgery, but Fr. SG Caroline Doty in finally ready to put her injury out of her thoughts. Her thoughts are now focused on worrying about what is in store for her and her fellow freshman teammates in Geno's practices. She's just ready to get the season started already, and says watching from the sidelines has made her realize she needs to try some new things.

UConn's First Night will take place Friday, October 17, 2008 at 6pm at Gampel Pavilion. The event is free and open to the public and the doors will open at 6:00 p.m. The men’s and women’s teams will hold an autograph session that will last for 45 minutes and start at 6:00 p.m. Players and coaches from both teams will be available and a free poster will be distributed to fans. “First Night” will begin at 7:00 p.m. and will be highlighted by: a Women’s Team/Student Relay Race, a Men’s and Women’s Two-Ball Contest and a Slam Dunk Contest by the mens’ team. Both teams will also hold mini-intrasquad scrimmages.

The 2008-09 national television schedule for the UConn's women's basketball team was released today. The Huskies will play 9 regular season games on national TV, and will appear on ESPN's family of networks for the 20th consecutive season for a total of 7 games (not including post-season play) and on CBS for the 19th consecutive season.

Get those TiVo's ready fans, all of the BIG EAST Conference national TV games here!!!

In recruiting news,

UConn target SG Krista Gross (HoopGurlz #23, Class of '09) will make her official visit to Connecticut for the weekend of UConn's First Night via the Courant's John Altavilla's blog. Her final four schools are Connecticut, North Carolina, Florida, and Stanford.

UConn's newest target SF Samarie Walker (HoopGurlz #1, Class of '10) shares her top choices with a local paper, and adds that UConn is her 'dream school' and back on top of her list. She attends the same high school as former UConn star Tamika (Williams) Raymond and says, "Growing up, I watched Tamika since I was in the fourth grade, I saw her go to UConn, saw some of the championships, and that's when I knew I wanted to go to UConn. My freshman year, I thought they were going to be recruiting me and they weren't, so I kind of changed my mind about where I wanted to go. Now, they're recruiting me and I'm on top of their recruiting list and they're on top of my list, too." Her top schools are Connecticut, Rutgers, Maryland, Duke, Southern California, Georgia, and Notre Dame.

The 2008-09 WCBB preseason polls have begun to be released and UConn is #1 on both Lindy's and Athlon' lists, but come in a very low #3 on SLAM's (Oklahoma is their #1 and Tennesee is their #2).

The 2008-09 schedule for the UConn women's basketball has officially been released. The Courant's John Altavilla breaks down the schedule here. The television schedule will be released at a later date.

Domination:

A Look Back at the USA Women's Run to Fourth Consecutive Olympic Gold.

Delle Donne to play VOLLEYBALL at Delaware. Good Luck Elena!!

GOLD!!!!!!

The United States Senior National Team won its 4th consecutive gold medal by blowing away Lauren Jackson and Australia in the gold medal game, 92-65. First-time Olympian and former Tennessee star Kara Lawson led the Americans with 15 pts. on perfect shooting. Four-time Olympian and former USC great Lisa Leslie added 14 pts. and 7 rebs.

The Americans went undefeated again and now have a 33-game Olympic win streak. They won all 8 games by a scoring margin of 37.6 points. Former Husky Greats Taurasi and Bird have picked up their 2nd straight Gold Medals, but this time played a much larger and impactful role on the team. Starting all 8 games Taurasi, led the team to the gold medal game with 21 huge points in the semifinals vs. Russia and finished 3rd in scoring, 2nd in assists and minutes, and lead the team in 3's made and FT shooting (15-15). Also starting all 8 games, Bird finished leading the team in steals.

Final Olympic Standings:
1. USA (8-0) - Gold Medal
2. Australia (7-1) - Silver Medal
3. Russia (6-2) - Bronze Medal**
4. China (5-3)
5. Spain (3-3)
6. Belarus (2-4)
7. Czech Republic (2-4)
8. South Korea (2-4)
9. Latvia (1-4)
10. New Zealand (1-4)*
11. Brazil (1-4)
12. Mali (0-5)

*Recent UConn transfer signee Jessica McCormack started 4 of 5 games for the Tall Ferns and playing 16 mpg, 2.6 ppg, and 2.6 rpg. Not tooo bad for a 19 y.o. Olympic rookie.

**Former UConn Great Svetlana Abrosimova played a much larger role as well this time around for the Russians. She started 4 of 8 games and finished 5th in scoring and steals, 3rd in rebounding, 2nd in 3's made, and led the team in 3pt shooting (58%).

Delle Donne has been officially released from her basketball scholarship at Connecticut. She plans to attend the University of Delware. It is not known at this time if she will play a sport, but if she doe sit will likely be volleyball (at least for her freshman season).

Finally!!!

Looks like Geno is finally going to get his wish afterall. And it doesn't have anything to do with a top recruit or championship, well actually it does. UConn has hired HOK Sport, Inc., of Kansas City, Mo., to coordinate architectural and design services for the construction of a new men's and women's basketball practice facility. In Geno's opinion, this type facility is needed to continue the growth and success of the men's and women's programs. Calhoun's agrees, saying the lack of a facility has hindered recruiting, putting the school at a disadvantage with top high school athletes who might be awe-struck by newer, bigger buildings on other campuses.

The preseason awards lists have begun and UConn's All-American trio is at the top of the 1st list. Today the 2008-09 Wade Watch was released and included Sr. Renee Montgomery, Jr. Tina Charles, and So. Maya Moore. Moore is finally eligible for the Wade Trophy now that she is no longer a freshman (BTW -- the dumbest rule in the WCBB game).

Recruiting Update:

....and NOT a good one. Incoming freshman SF Elena Delle Donne has decided not to enroll at Connecticut and will no longer be a member of the UConn Huskies women's basketball team. It sounds as if she is sick of basketball and will be searching for a life (at least in the very near future) without it. And if your heart isn't in it then you should play, especially if you want to play for a coach like Geno Auriemma. My guess is she decided on a new home before the Geno's dog house became her new permanent residence on the UConn Storrs campus. We shall see shortly where she'll end up.