All That ... And Moore

UConn set a new Division I hoops standard Tuesday night winning its 89th consecutive game in a blowout of #20 ranked Florida State, 93-62. Maya Moore has been part of all 89 wins, which sets her apart and has never lost a game in her four-year career. More importantly, the University of Connecticut women basketball team is doing it in the classroom, sporting an Academic Progress Rate ("APR") of 991 as reported by the NCAA in the May 1, 2009 report.

UConn has set a standard for all of us within the CIAA, SIAC, MEAC and SWAC to admire.  But, what can we learn from their work ethic and methods that can improve our success in competitive Division I intercollegiate athletics? What strikes me is the consistency of Coach Geno Auriemma and the UConn women basketball team and his ability to motivate his student-athletes to excel in all phases of life beyond their belief.

This is truly greatness that worth emulating!



UConn passes UCLA with record 89th straight win

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Geno Au riemma's women play like stars, but he supplies the drama.
Sunday, the UConn coach suggested that the streak -- now 89 consecutive victories and one more than John Wooden's UCLA teams' from 1971-1974 after a 93-62 win over Florida State -- had become a misogynist's worst nightmare.

"All the women are happy as hell," he said. "All the guys that love women's basketball are all excited and all the miserable bastards that follow men's basketball and don't want us to break the record are all here because they're [ticked]."

"To have this many people talking about it. . . . It's something to be celebrated. Just don't tarnish it by comparing what someone else did in another time, another era."



READ MORE, CLICK TITLE.

UConn Huskies take care of business, pummel Texas Southern

East Hartford, CT — UConn did exactly what you would expect it to do against an inferior opponent. The Huskies never gave Texas Southern a chance to breathe, scoring on their first five possessions, converting a pair of first-half turnovers into touchdowns and allowing the Tigers no room to roam on offense.

The result: After building a 45-0 halftime lead, UConn's reserves got the bulk of the work in the second half of a 62-3 victory over Texas Southern before 37,359 in the home opener at Rentschler Field.

In the first half, Jordan Todman rushed for 151 yards and three touchdowns, Zach Frazer threw a pair of touchdown passes and the UConn defense, which couldn't get off the field on third down a week earlier at Michigan, allowed only one first down. That's all you really need to take from this game, although you must applaud the Huskies for coming out prepared, not taking the Tigers lightly, and dominating from the start.

READ MORE, CLICK TITLE.

READ RELATED ARTICLES:

Connecticut easily handles Texas Southern 62-3 UConn regains winning form

UConn 62, Texas Southern 3: Todman 3:16 means I just scored on an inside draw

Texas Southern's Arvell Nelson: "It's An Opportunity For Us"

Football Overwhelms Texas Southern, Downs Tigers 62-3

A Look At The Texas Southern Tigers‎

Texas Southern University head football coach Johnnie Cole has the Tigers moving in a winning direction.

Texas Southern University Tigers of the Southwestern Athletic Conference are coming to Connecticut vs. the U-Conn. Huskies.

When: Sept. 11, 2010, Rentschler Field. First meeting

Last season: 6-5, 5-2 SWAC

Quick facts about TSU: School colors are maroon and gray and the mascot's name is Pretty Baby II. TSU is an HBCU -- Historically Black College and Universities -- located in Houston. Its most famous football alumni is probably former Giants defensive end Michael Strahan, but the Tigers have actually produced 15 All-Americans. Some well-know players were Horace Young, Herman Driver, Ernest Calloway and Kenny Burroughs in the 1960s to Mike Holmes and Ernie Homes in the '70s and Donald Narcisse in the 1980s. The 6-5 finish was one of the best in the last 10 years and it included a 42-0 loss to Rutgers. The Tigers are coached by Johnnie Cole, a former quarterback at TSU in the 1980s. He took the job at his alma mater in 2008 (4-8).

Who's gone, who's back: The Tigers will lose four starters – total. In this case, who's gone isn't nearly as important as who's back. So who is back? How about all three leading ground gainers from 2009: running back Martin Gilbert (644 yards, six touchdowns) quarterback Arvell Nelson (325, four TDs) and RB Joseph Warren (142, one) return. Nelson threw for 2,392 yards but also threw 13 interceptions compared to 12 TDs. Most of the TDs went to Joseph Anderson, who had seven TD receptions. Anderson is back, too. Warren also returns kickoffs and averaged 18 yards on 17 returns in 2009. All three leading tacklers are back including linebacker Dejuan Fulghum (88 tackles), defensive back Robert Joseph (80) and Shomari Clemons, also a linebacker who had 63 tackles.

The UConn-Texas Southern rivalry: There isn't one and probably won't be. UConn raced to fill a nonconference void after it had scheduled Northeastern and was left scrambling when the school decided to drop football last year.




READ MORE, CLICK TITLE.

UConn Crushes Southern U. In NCAA Opener

UConn Crushes Southern U. In NCAA Opener

NORFOLK, VA - Let's be honest, if this was about something other than basketball, like pep bands and cheer squads, the top-seeded UConn women would be heading home today, the Huskies' run in the NCAA Tournament ended by a national powerhouse. But this wasn't a battle of the bands. There was only so much pep Southern University's world-class brass and percussion could pump into the Ted Constant Convocation Center Sunday. It stirred the crowd early and often, beginning an hour before the tip.

However, there wasn't much they could do for their basketball team against the Huskies. Tubas and trombones don't win tournaments. "They were very loud," UConn's Maya Moore said. "They were doing their best to distract us. But we were listening to Coach." Led by Tina Charles, who scored 22 points on 9-for-10 shooting with 11 rebounds and three blocks, the Huskies pounded No. 16 seed Southern 95-39 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Moore added 21 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and three steals.

UConn rolls over Southern

NORFOLK, VA — Southern brought its hurricane defense north for Sunday’s first-round game of the NCAA women‘s basketball tournament. Problem was, the Jaguars ran into a Category 5 storm in top-seeded UConn, which blew out No. 16 seed Southern 95-39 in a first-round game of the Dayton region at the Constant Center. The Southwestern Athletic Conference champion and its rockin’ band refused to be discouraged by the 56-point beating suffered at the hands of the Huskies (34-0), who are looking to add a seventh national title to their legacy, which includes an NCAA-record 73 straight victories.

“We call our defense ‘hurricane,’ and we brought it,” Southern’s Ashley Augerson said, celebrating 21 Huskies turnovers. Southern (23-9) also forced UConn into two shot-clock violations. And despite having no following behind its bench, won over the local fan support that cheered the underdog. Despite the gritty effort, the Jaguars couldn’t hang with the eye of the storm, and that would be All-Americans Tina Charles and Maya Moore, who are battling each other for National Player of the Year honors. The 6-foot-4 Charles scored 22 on a pristine effort that left her without a miss in her first seven attempts, and Moore’s methodical afternoon produced 21 points and eight assists.

READ MORE, CLICK TITLE.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Southern, champions of the SWAC, are 0-4 all time in the NCAA Tournament. But the Jaguars played hard, just as they promised they would, giving the Huskies a tougher time in many ways than Northeastern or Seton Hall did during similar losses."

READ RELATED ARTICLES:
Connecticut women steamroll Southern
UConn is clinic-like in its precision
UConn destroys Southern, 95-39
Perfect start for UConn
Big on talent, big in size: No wonder UConn dwarfs its foes

NCAA: No. 1 UConn vs. No. 16 Southern University

Location: Ted Constant Convocation Center, Norfolk, Va.

Tip-off: 12:16 p.m. (ESPN2).

Records: Southern 23-8, UConn 33-0.
Probable starters: Southern, 5-11 Jr. F Tiffany Foster (8.6 ppg, 4.0 rpg), 6-1 Jr. F Freda Allen (5.8 ppg, 5.9 rpg), 5-8 Sr. F Ashley Augerson (8.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg), 5-7 So. G Carneta Henderson (3.5 ppg), 5-9 Jr. G Hannah Kador (12.9 ppg, 4.8 rpg).

UConn, 5-10 So. G Tiffany Hayes (10.4 ppg), 5-10 So. G Caroline Doty (7.0 ppg), 6-0 Jr. F Maya Moore (17.9 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 4.0 apg, 2.2 spg), 6-4 Sr. C Tina Charles (18.4 ppg, 9.4 rpg), 5-10 Sr. G Kalana Greene (12.0 ppg, 4.7 rpg).

Noteworthy: UConn is the 11th women's team in history to begin the NCAA tournament without a loss. Of the first 10, five won national championships, including Texas in 1986, Tennessee in 1988 and UConn in 1995, 2002 and 2009. No team has even done it twice in a row. Moore, a junior, said this tournament has a different feel for UConn, coming off of last year's success and having to replicate that with a different team. "But we're still the same program," Moore said. "We're going to approach every game the same way and we'll focus on Southern." Said Moore: "When you lose that respect, when you lose that sense of urgency for every opponent, that's when you play poorly or get beat. It's the first game at the NCAA tournament. Where else would you rather be?" … It is the first meeting for UConn and Southern. It is also UConn's first game ever against a team from the SWAC. … Southern played one ranked opponent this season in then-No. 22 Cal, falling 78-47.

READ MORE, CLICK TITLE.

READ RELATED ARTICLES:
UConn Women Focused On Ultimate Goal
Pugh: Jaguars 'are gonna battle'
SU looks to overcome odds‎
Responding to adversity
Jaguars see positives in UConn matchup
Tough Kador expands offensive repertoire

Yipes! Southern faces top-ranked Connecticut in NCAA

They all gathered at a restaurant on Coursey Boulevard to celebrate a championship, eat some food and find out where they’ll play in the big dance. Yet as the Southern women’s basketball team watched ESPN on Monday night, waiting to learn their first-round matchup in the NCAA tournament, their banquet room erupted well before the Jaguars saw their school name on the TV screen, paired with Connecticut — the No. 1 team in the nation, winner of 72 straight games and the reigning national champion.

The first eruption, in fact, came when ESPN revealed Tennessee, the No. 1 seed in the Memphis Bracket, and its first-round opponent. It wasn’t Southern. It was Austin Peay. That left the Jaguars to wonder if they’d somehow earn a No. 15 seed, thereby avoiding the mighty Huskies. Minutes later, the second eruption came when ESPN unveiled Duke, the No. 2 seed in the Memphis Region, and its first-round opponent — Hampton, champion of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. That left the inevitable. That led to the third and final eruption from the room. It came when SU saw its name next to UConn, top-seeded team from the Dayton Region.

READ MORE, CLICK TITLE.

READ RELATED ARTICLES:
Pugh, SWAC champ Jaguars savoring moment
Wahl leads SU sweep of Prairie View

SPECIAL FEATURE: Connecticut Governor Calls Jim Calhoun Salary Tirade 'Embarrassing'

Connecticut governor Jodi Rell is the latest person to weigh in on the Jim Calhoun salary controversy, and the governor said Tuesday that she found Calhoun's response to a question about his status as the state's highest-paid employee "embarrassing." Said Rell of Calhoun's answer to a question about his salary, "I think if Coach Calhoun had the opportunity right now, he would welcome a do-over and not have that embarrassing display."

Rell, whose salary is $150,000, wouldn't directly answer whether she believes Calhoun should take a pay cut. Calhoun declined to answer when the Hartford Courant asked him about the governor's comments. Calhoun was asked at a weekend press conference about getting the biggest paycheck in a state that is currently running a deficit, and before the questioner could even finish asking, he interrupted with "not a dime back." He then lectured the questioner about the revenue that his team generates, and told the questioner to shut up.

Although the questioner (a political activist who got to the press conference with a photo pass) didn't conduct himself in a very professional manner, the underlying question is a legitimate one, and Calhoun is wrong to suggest that his own salary is above being questioned. Rell is right to call his response embarrassing.



CONTINUE READING, CLICK BLOG TITLE.

If there was ever a case for a salary rollback, Jim Calhoun should be at the top of the list. I wonder what percentage of his former basketball players earned their degrees and make over $100,000 annually? This guy is a $2 million dollar jerk!

-beepbeep