UConn women's basketball

Renee Montgomery, Tina Charles and Maya Moore have already been named candidates for the Wooden All-American team and are on the Wade Trophy Watch List. They were among the 52 players named to the early-season list for the Naismith Trophy, it was announced Friday.
Along with Oklahoma All-American Courtney Paris, Moore is looking to become the sixth player to win the Naismith Trophy in both high school and college.
The list of players will be narrowed to 30 in February. The award will be presented in April at the Final Four in St. Louis, Mo.

Mel Thomas is off to a great start on her book signing tour of the state. There were more than 300 people at the Enfield Senior Center and Mel sold 264 books at $19.95. Last night roughly 150 people were on hand at the Waterford Library.

Rich

The stat of the week, as we’ve been told in the Land of Sun, is that the wait staff at the Moon Palace Resort earns $10 a day. That’s not $10 an hour. That’s $10 per day to work. That’s unreal. And, you know, I have not been to a place where the wait staff was more pleasant and on task with everything. They even fold your napkin every time you go back the buffet, which in my case is quite often. Especially when it comes to the dessert portion of the meal. I’m a huge fan of sweets.
This place is also extremely clean and well kept. How about this? The Palace Resorts logo is neatly carved in the sand in the high metal ashtrays.

Meghan Gardler will miss her second straight game tonight against Northern Colorado. The hope is that she will be able to play Sunday against Florida State. She was kicked in the head during practice Wednesday and has not been cleared to play by team doctor Thomas Trojian. Meghan joins Cassie Kerns and Heather Buck – the mono twins – on the inactive list for the Huskies.

It should be a special night for Paige Sauer. Northern Colorado isn’t likely to shock the world and knock off the Huskies. But it will be first time she will be pitted against Geno as a coach. She played for the Hall of Famer from 1996-2000, winning a national championship in Philly as a senior in 2000.
The Bears were blown out by Florida State by 43 Thursday. It could get worse for Paige’s team later on today. She joked last night that she might need something to ease the pain of a rout.
“Are they going to serve cocktails to me all game long,’’ she said. “That’s what I want to know. I think (Shea Ralph) should serve me a cocktail every five minutes.’’
Paige is extremely happy for Shea, who is in her first season as an assistant at UConn. The two were best friends and roommates at UConn.
“We keep in touch,’’ Sauer said. “She’s always going to be special to me. So I’m very happy for her. Any time you can go back to your alma mater … what an amazing experience.’’
Following the game, Paige, Shea and Kara Wolters plan to head to the Asian restaurant on the property for some dinner. It is the best restaurant the resort as far as I’m concerned.

Rich

The next time the Huskies compete in an in-season tournament there won’t be any need to board a plane or wear a colored wristband that entitles you to free food and drink for the duration of their stay. Next season this type of event will be held at either Gampel Pavilion or the XL Center.
It was announced this morning that UConn will host the eighth annual WBCA Classic Nov. 27-29. It will be a round-robin format that will also feature Clemson, Richmond and Hofstra.
The site of the tournament is still unknown.
This will mark the Huskies’ first appearance in the event. With Clemson in the field that will give them four ACC teams on their schedule next season (North Carolina, Duke and Florida State). Also, former UConn post player Kristen Phillips, who played a combined four scoreless minutes in two games before she was thrown off the team due to a lack of effort during the 2006-07 season, is a red-shirt sophomore at Richmond.

Rich

Every game Tina Charles is looking more and more like the best center in the country. She scored 29 points for the second straight game today. And she did it on 13 of 15 shooting, making the first 12 shots she took.
Geno couldn’t be happier. This is what he has been waiting for.
“One of the things that Tina’s been doing is she’s not in any hurry when she catches the ball,’’ Auriemma said. “She’s being a lot more patient with it. It’s just good to watch her kind of decide based on how the defense is playing or how to attack the basket as opposed to last year when she would just catch it, turn and throw it or catch it and dribble it without any purpose. So I think the rhythm that she’s in right now is just really effective for her.’’
Tina is tied with Maya Moore for the team-lead in scoring at 19.4 points and she is averaging 8.5 rebounds. But the astounding thing is she is shooting 71.4 percent from the field (65-of-91).
“Every time she catches the ball she’s going to think score,’’ Moore said. “She is physically and talent-wise extremely good and I believe is better than any post player that she comes up against. So with that combination, with her attitude of just, `I’m going to score,’ great things are bound to happen. She’s great.’’

Here’s some more info on Meghan Gardler. She was not in uniform tonight because team doctor Thomas Trojian failed to clear her to play.
Gardler fell in practice Wednesday and was kicked in the head. Auriemma is hopeful that she will be able to play tomorrow against Northern Colorado.
“I’m hoping that I get some good news tomorrow,’’ Auriemma said. “She got bopped pretty good in the head. You wait 24 hours and see what happens. So when we go to practice tomorrow well see what happens.’’

Bob Joyce and Kara Wolters called the entire game on the phone. Bob was forced to do the pregame show on his cell phone. At about $1/minute for roaming charges, Triple Crown Sports owes him some money.

Rich

The Huskies suffered their worst shooting performance of the season Sunday against Penn State (37.7 percent) and scored a season-low 77 points. They responded by making their first six shots today, eight of nine and 18 of 24 to take a 39-18 lead just over 13 minutes into the game.
Tina Charles had 18 points and made all nine of her shots in this span.
UConn later hit Washington with a 16-0 run that spanned 4:49 as its lead swelled to 55-20 with 1:56 left in the half. It leads 57-24 at halftime and is shooting 70.6 percent from the field (24-of-34).
Charles and Moore combined for 34 points on 15-of-19 shooting. Maya Moore (6-of-10) has 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Washington is shooting 24.4 percent (10-of-41).

Due to trouble with the phone line, WTIC-AM 1080 play-by-play man Bob Joyce and color commentator Kara Wolters called the first half over a phone.

Rich

Florida State coach Sue Semrau confirmed today that the Seminoles and UConn have finalized a home-and-home series that will begin next season when the Huskies will travel to Tallahassee after Christmas.
UConn, who will also travel to Oklahoma and Duke next season, will host Florida State in 2010-11. The teams also had a home-and-home series during the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons.
“Any time I think that you can get a team of Connecticut’s caliber with a home-and-home I think it’s the best thing for a program,’’ Semrau said. “I’m really excited that (UConn coach Geno Auriemma’s) working with us to start that series.’’

Rich

Just marked my territory on press row in the converted ballroom that’s subbing for a gymnasium this week. It’s truly a unique setup. There are two full bars, diagonally across from each other, in the room. There is a buffet featuring hamburgers, pizza, ribs and, of course, chips and salsa in the back corner. Eleven chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and Chris Dailey and Shea Ralph scouting.

Meghan Gardler just walked in wearing a dress. Suffice to say that she will not be playing today against Washington. She absorbed a blow to the head yesterday in practice.

The highlight of the trip for the Huskies has been an excursion that saw them swimming with dolphins Tuesday afternoon.

Tina’s mother, Angella Holgate, and Kaili’s mother, Rosemarie, made the trip to support their daughters.

Rich

Alright, so I thought I had problems getting to Cancun yesterday. At least I made it. Tournament director Melissa Koza was forced to push today’s game against Washington back one hour to 5:30 EST because Florida State could not get to Cancun yesterday. All of them that is. About half the team did arrive. But the other half, according to Koza, including head coach Sue Semrau, was stuck in Charlotte when the entire airport was shut down due to fog. The rest of the Seminoles are due to arrive this morning at about 10 CST and play Northern Colorado at 3 EST.
I’d rather sit on a runway for a while, de-ice and miss my connection than deal with that.

Rich