Congratulations Geno on 600 WINS!!!

5/5 Connecticut Huskies (11-0)

Results: Connecticut 82, Sacred Heart 40
Player of the Game: Fr. PF Kaili McLaren
Defensive Player of the Game: Jr. PG Ketia Swanier
Freshman Player of the Game: Fr. PF Kaili McLaren
Stat of the Game: Rebounds UConn 57, Sacred Heart 20

With CP3 & Tennessee only a week away, UConn anticipates Charles' first dunk. Charles (who can dunk and has dunked once in high school) says she is more focused on getting healthy and hitting lay-ups than dunking on Parker (who we all know can dunk and has dunked 5 times in college).

It's Official, Phillips UConn career IS NOT over, but the basketball part of it IS. She has decided to continue her education at UConn for now, but finally admits that she was not at all prepared to handle this level of basketball. All the best to Phillips in whereever life now takes her!!

Game notes (pdf) for today's game vs. Sacred Heart Pioneers.

Today, Geno is on the verge of 600 wins. He will try to become the fastest coach to reach 600...this will be Geno's 716th try. He would move ahead of Pat Summit, who is currently the record holder at 600 wins in 734 tries.

UConn struggled with UHart...for a while in the 1st half, Montgomery and Greene finally stepped and helped the Huskies surge past Hartford eventually pulling away for a 62-36 win. UConn found enough energy to bring Geno within ONE victory of 600 career wins. The 5'10 Greene finished with her 2nd consecutive career double-double finishing with 14 pts. and a career-high 16 rebs. helping the Huskies run away in the 2nd half.

5/5 Connecticut Huskies (10-0)

Results: Connecticut 62, Hartford 36
Player of the Game: So. SF Kalana Greene
Defensive Player of the Game: Fr. PF Kaili McLaren
Freshman Player of the Game: Fr. PF Kaili McLaren
Stat of the Game: Assists - UConn 13, Hartford 3

Last night, it was the Maya Moore show on Versus as she tops herself again. She single-handedily led her #1 Collins Hill HS team to a 45-36 halftime lead over #11 St. Elizabeth's in the T-Mobile Invitational Championship game outscoring St. Elizabeth's herself 38-36. After getting 10 hours of sleep, a rested Moore lifted CHHS to a 74-63 title win...finishing the game with a career-high 48 pts. to go along with 13 rebs. and 7 stls. It is hard to imagine how good she actually is until you see her in action and then she ends up being way better than ever imagined.

With the Huskies depleted upfront with injuries and the departing of Phillips from the team, the UConn backcourt will need to step up big as they take on Hartford. And add Gardler to the injured list as she injured her elbow fooling around at home during X-Mas break.

Game notes (pdf) for today's game vs. Hartford Hawks.

The Williams twins are closer than most and most don't even know Williams is a twin since her twin is male, who doesn't play basketball or attend UConn. Both are great athletes and play for top Division I sports in their respective sport. Her younger (by a minute) brother, Isaiah, starts at wide receiver for the Maryland Terrapins. She comes from a very athletic family as her older brother played football at Wake Forest and her father played football at Rutgers.

Update: Per the Courant and Geno, Phillips' very brief UConn career is apparently...OVER.

Phillips remains in North Carolina at her home. She says she still has not made a decision on whether she will come back to UConn and that decision doesn't seem to be coming any time soon. She has not withdrawn her name from the school or decided if she will transfer or not. Everyday that goes by though, makes the likelihood that she will ever put a Husky uniform on again get smaller and smaller.

Of note, Hunter and Charles still remain questionable against Hartford, who look up to UConn, as of last night's first practice since X-Mas.

UConn-bound Maya Moore fought through some serious fatigue last night to led her team (27 pts. and 15 rebs.) to an OT victory 60-58 over #15 Winter Haven HS and remain an undefeated 14-0 on the season. With the nation's best girls basketball player, #1 Collins Hill HS was down, but never out as Moore stole a pass with 16 secs. remaining in OT and got fouled while she hit the game winning lay-up (she missed the and-one free throw). Moore and CHHS will now play #11 St. Elizabeth's HS led by Rutgers-bound Khadijah Rushdan, who beat Issaquah HS 58-37, tonight in the T-Mobile Invitational Championship game. This will be CHHS 8th game in a 14 day span after playing the 15th & 16th, the 18th thru 21st, and now the 27th & 28th of December (not to mention flying back and forth between time zones for Christmas) and making Moore's incredible play that much more impressive.

Charles was named Big East Freshman of the Week today after averaging 12 ppg, 6 rpg, and 2.3 bpg and helping UConn to a 3-0 record last week.

Auriemma vs. Summit...through the years.

Some good news from the holiday break, Hunter says knee feels better, but she isn't sure if it is well enough to practice on yet. No word yet on Charles' shoulder; also the status of McLaren, Montgomery, and Houston's sore feet is unknown.

All is quiet this holiday break with the current Huskies but not with a future Husky. Fresh of her MVP performance at the Nike TOC, Maya Moore, who is simply the best, heads to Seattle to kick off the inaugural T-Mobile Invitational. She leads her #1 ranked Collins Hill HS team in their pursuit of an undefeated, national championship.

["She makes everyone around her better," Collins Hill head coach Tracey Tipton said. "Maya raises the level of play of everyone around her. The great thing about her is how selfless she is. All she cares about is winning." "Maya is the best teammate," Texas Tech signee and Collins Hill teammate Jordan Jones said. "She has this way to inspire people to perform at the highest possible level. She's a very unselfish player. She realizes the value of her teammates." Last season, Moore became only the second junior to win the Naismith Award, given to the nation's best player. (Current Tennessee star Candace Parker is the other.) She was a consensus All-American, the Georgia state player of the year, and was a member of the United States' Under-18 team that won a gold medal last summer at the FIBA Americas Tournament. She entered this season as the unquestioned No. 1 player in the country in one of the deepest recruiting classes in years. "The closest comparison I can find to her is a young Tamika Catchings," said Chris Hansen, the national recruiting director at Scout.com. "There are not many players who can do the number of things she can, especially in terms of rebounding and defense. She really gets after it on both ends of the floor."]

NOTE: For those of you with DirecTV Sports Package, you can check Moore out live on Ch. 608 Wed. 12/27 at 4pm ET (1pm PT).

With Greene believing in her talent, a new star has emerged for the Huskies. The player Geno says has improved the most since last year and played the best this preseason is finally translating all her off season success onto the court. Averaging 17.3 ppg, 10 rpg, 2 apg, and almost 2 spg while shooting over 70% from the field this past week just shows us some of what the 5'10 slasher is capable of. It seems that as long as she continues this kind of play, UConn will be in the running for a 2nd consecutive Big East Most Improved Player (although she's getting some very tough competition from fellow slasher, Louisville SF Angel McCoughtry).