UCTV

Coming of a disappointing season in which the Huskies finished an 18-16 season with a second round loss in the NIT, expectations weren’t that high. Add in the fact that three of the four players who averaged 30 minutes or more a game were graduating and they were even lower. It was expected that the team would look to Junior Kemba Walker and Sophomore Alex Oriakhi to lead the team this year, and just maybe we would get enough from the freshman to get back to the NCAA Tournament. What ended up happening nobody saw coming. Heading out to Maui a 3rd place finish looked to be a good goal. the opening game against Wichita State was going to be a test but then we would run up against second ranked Michigan State, and play the loser of #9 Kentucky and #11 Washington. But then Kemba put the team on his back to win the tournament and hasn’t let up since. After proving to the world just how good he is in shattering the Big East Tournament scoring record on the path to an unprecedented 5 wins in 5 days to win his second tournament of the year Husky fans will look to Kemba yet again as the team is now in The Big Dance.

Player to Watch
(more…)

First Team
Jimmer Fredette, BYU
JaJuan Johnson, Purdue
Nolan Smith, Duke
Jared Sullinger, Ohio State
Kemba Walker, Connecticut

Second Team
Kenneth Faried, Morehead State
Jordan Hamilton, Texas
Ben Hansbrough, Notre Dame
Marcus Morris, Kansas
Derrick Williams, Arizona

I will update this post as we go.

The NCAA Report

Jim Calhoun will be suspended the first 3 Big East games of the 2011-2012.
The Men’s Basketball team will be put on 3 years probation.
The Men’s Basketball team will lose one scholarship for the next 3 seasons.
The team will be limited to 5 paid Official Visits for the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 academic years.
Only two coaches will be allowed to make phone calls to recruits for 6 months.
(more…)

College Wrestling - 159 matches – 1999-2002 Cael Sanderson, Iowa State

College Tennis – 137 matches - Miami (FL)

Beach Volleyball – 112 matches – 2007-2008 Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh

College Volleyball – 109+ matches – 2007-2010 Penn State women

Division 1 Basketball – 89+ games – 2008-2010 UConn Women

Boxing – 87 matches – 1980-1993 Julio César Chávez

Professional Tennis – 74 matches — Martina Navratilova

Division 1 Football – 47 games – 1953-1957 Oklahoma

Division 1 Baseball – 34 games – 1977 Texas and 1999 Florida Atlantic

NBA – 33 games – 1971-1972 Los Angeles Lakers

MLB – 26 games – 1916 New York Giants

America’s Cup (Sailing) – 25 cups – 1851-1983 United States

NFL – 21 games – 2003-2004 New England Patriots

NHL – 17 games – 1993 Pittsburgh Penguins

MLS – 15 games – 1997-1998 LA Galaxy

PGA – 11 tournaments – 1945 Byron Nelson

NASCAR – 10 races – 1967 Richard Petty

* Active streaks in italics

Now that all the various teams have been announced here’s where the Huskies placed on them.

Jordan Todman

1st Team: CBS Sports, Rivals, SI, Sporting News

2nd Team: AP, Walter Camp, Scout

Zach Hurd

3rd Team: Rivals

Honorable Mention: SI

Lawrence Wilson

Honorable Mention: SI

Jordan Todman has been named a 1st team All-American by CBS Sports, and a 2nd team All-American by the Walter Camp Foundation.

The Big East announced today on Twitter(seriously), that RB Jordan Todman was named Offensive player of the year. Todman becomes the second Husky, joining Donald Brown, to win the award.

Also Randy Edsall was named Co-Coach of the Year along with Charlie Strong of Louisville. Edsall is the first UConn coach to win the award.

OT Mike Ryan, OG Zach Hurd, RB Jordan Todman, K Dave Teggart, DL Kendall Reyes, and LB Lawrence Wilson were named first team All-Confrence. Hurd and Todman were unanimous selections.

C Moe Petrus and Return-man Nick Williams were chosen to the second team.

Rivals has announced their football All-Americans

RB Jordan Todman was selected to the first team after averaging 143 rushing yards a game. Todman was also named a second team All-American by Scout.com

RG Zach Hurd was selected to the third team after anchoring the offensive line all year. Hurd was also a Rivals Pre-Season third team All-American.

Cameron Newton is the best player in college football. There’s no argument, he dominates the game in a way no other player does, and has carried a team with a bad defense to an 11-0 record and shot at a national title. It’s been quite a journey for Cam, from highly touted high schooler, to has troubles at Florida, his dominance playing at Blinn Community College in Texas, to his Heisman campaign this year. And there is no doubt he deserves he Heisman. If this story ends up being to good to be true, if the allegations are true, it will taint the image of college football, and in reality all college sports for years to come. (more…)

UConn’s football team has had an on and off season.  We’ve gone through three starting quarterbacks, several different combinations at wide receiver and special teams as well as some fantastic wins and a couple of debilitating losses.  (more…)

The UConn Huskies began their 2010-11 regular season with a 79-52 win over the Seawolves of Stony Brook Friday night.  Defense was the key to the victory as the Huskies held their opponent to 27% shooting in the game, including only 15% in the second half.  The defense coupled with their plus-26 rebounding advantage allowed UConn to put any early signs of an upset to rest, as they only held an 8 point lead at the half.  The Huskies came out of Coach Calhoun’s halftime speech much more enthused and at one point held a 30 point advantage with just over 4 minutes left in the game. (more…)

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has released his preseason NCAA tourney brackets, and despite being in the NIT last year he has projected the men’s team as a 12 seed in the east.

Maybe it was her strong play in the first preseason game or maybe it was Geno putting her in the starting lineup, but Bria Hartley is playing with a lot more confidence in the first half. Hartley not only looks more confident on the court running the team, but also shooting the ball. If she can keep up this deep shooting all year it will fill one of the few “holes in the two time defending champs. She scored 12 points on 4 of 6 shooting, including hitting 2 of 4 three point attempts, while adding 3 assists in the first half.

Bria Hartley has started tonight in place of Lorin Dixon. She joins Tiffany Hayes, Maya Moore, Stefanie Dolson, and Kelly Faris in the lineup.

The Huskies finished the first half up 55 to 18. They were lead in scoring by Tiffany Hayes with 15 points and Kelly Faris and Lorin Dixon with 9. Maya Moore added 8 points. Freshamn Bria Hartley made some fantastic passes on the fast break and at times Samarie Walker looked dominate in the post. Stefanie Dolson was strong on the boards, while at times she looked a little out of breath with the fast pace of play.

• Stefanie Dolson looks good rebounding in the post, but needs some work on the offensive side of her game
• Freshman Bria Hartley was first off the bench
• If it’s even possible, Maya Moore looks better than last year
• Both Lorin Dixon, and Bria Hartley look good running the fast break, but Dixon holds the edge in the half-court offense
• As expected Tiffany Hayes looks like the second scoring option