UConn women's basketball

There are currently less than 2,000 tickets remaining for UConn’s showdown with No. 2 Stanford Dec. 23 at the XL Center. And as part of a holiday promotion, some of the remaining tickets can still be purchased in a “Buy 1, Get 1 Free’’ fashion.
This means that for each ticket purchased – up to a maximum of 8 – fans will receive an additional ticket at no charge. Orders can be placed by logging on to www.uconnhuskies.com and clicking on the “Buy Ticket’’ link in the ticket center. Next, click the “Promotions’’ link and type in promo code “Huskies.’’ A limited number of promotional tickets remain.
Not only will the game feature the top two teams in the country this season, but UConn’s 1999-2000 national championship team will be inducted into the Huskies of Honor during a ceremony at halftime. Svetlana Abrosimova, Sue Bird, Marci Czel, Stacy Hansmeyer, Kennitra Johnson, Asjha Jones, Shea Ralph, Christine Rigby, Kelly Schumacher, Paige Sauer and Keirsten Walters are all scheduled to appear.

Rich

Tiffany Hayes is fourth on the Huskies in scoring (10.3), third in assists (3.6) and second minutes (27.5). But there is little doubt that she leads the team in one category that does not appear on the stat sheet – the number of times she ends up on the floor during a game.
There has not been a player at UConn that has hit the floor more often in games since Ashley Valley left in 2005. Whether it is driving to the basket, fighting in the lane for a rebound or simply playing defense, the floor has been a common resting spot for Hayes.
She fell so many times during the Huskies’ victory over Hartford last Thursday that she was actually asked about it during the postgame news conference. Some of her remarks drew laughter from the assembled media
“I try to work on not falling as much as possible,’’ Hayes said. “It’s kind of hard when you’re getting pushed around. I guess I’ve got to get it up in the weight room. Actually, I can have somebody hitting me with pads in practice or before or after practice. Like one of our practice players while I’m going up for a layup kind of beat me with a pad a little bit. I think that’ll help me a lot.’’
Coach Geno Auriemma said that he’s been told that it’s not a bad thing that Hayes is repeatedly falling to the ground.
“She’s a lot bigger and a lot stronger than when she got here,’’ Auriemma said. “Our trainer Rosemary Ragle told me that she’s happy she falls down a lot because kids that fall down a lot don’t get hurt.’’

The Huskies have been ranked No. 1 in The Associated Press national poll for 30 straight weeks, tying a team record set from Nov. 9, 1999 to Jan. 15, 2001. They are six weeks shy of tying Louisiana Tech’s all-time mark of 36 straight weeks set from 1980-82.

Don’t forget … I’ll be conducting another live chat tomorrow from noon to 1 p.m. See you then.

Rich

The Huskies have entered one of the most challenging periods of the season. And they won’t play one game.
Classes ended Friday for the fall semester. Final exams begin Monday and run through Dec. 19. Not only will the players be trying to ace their exams, they will also trying to ace what coach Geno Auriemma throws at them during practice. It’s not an easy task.
“Having to learn all this stuff from four different classes and learning plays, learning defenses, it’s definitely a hard thing,’’ sophomore Tiffany Hayes said. “But you just have to learn to balance the two things because you definitely need your education and you have to do well on the court for your teammates and for yourself and your coaches.’’
The Huskies have rolled over their first eight opponents by an average of 44.8 points. Still, this is far from a team that is content. Maya Moore and Caroline Doty each said following Thursday’s 80-45 victory over Hartford that they are hoping to shore up some areas as a team before the schedule begins to heat up, beginning with a Dec. 23 nationally televised showdown against No.2 Stanford at the XL Center.
There are specific areas Moore would like to see UConn polish over the next week.
“Our post play … I think we have to improve in that area,’’ Moore said. “It can’t be easy for other teams to score on us in the lane. I think we still can become an even more dominant rebounding team. And then really establishing our inside game as just being known to be tough. People shouldn’t come in and be confident that they can just come in and get a layup against us. And I feel like we gave up more layups than we wanted to (Thursday). And that’s definitely something looking back after these 10 days we’ll hopefully feel more confident and ready.’’
Said Doty: “We still have work to do, which these next 10 days are going to help with that. But I think we’re very focused and we know what we need to do. So what we take from practice to apply to games it’s all a mentality and we’re just trying to get that mentality 100 percent for every single game so we’re ready for the games in the future. And I think we’re getting there.’’
Auriemma normally shortens the length of practice during the week of final exams. But that won’t stop him from implementing new schemes that could prove to be helpful in the coming weeks, and maybe even against the Cardinal.
“We scored on a couple things that we just put in (Thursday),’’ Auriemma said. “I was happy to see that. But, yeah, that’s kind of what you want to use extended periods of time for. I think that’s how you don’t get stale and repetitive, repetitive, repetitive. You want to save a bunch of stuff so that down the road you just throw a couple things in. Maybe in the next 10 days one or two things and then two weeks from now one or two things. It keeps their interest up and makes it exciting for them and it keeps our opponents off guard a little bit. And then some things you just save for the NCAA Tournament just in case. Last year we spent about a week working on this one set and we were just only going to run it in the NCAA Tournament, and we didn’t need it. So we didn’t run it.’’

Rich

The road to a complete recovery from a second torn ACL in her left knee is an on-going process for sophomore guard Caroline Doty. It is a process that has seen her make continuous progress.
Doty had 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting (2-of-4 3-pointers), four rebounds, one assist, one steal and one turnover in Thursday’s 80-45 win over Hartford. She also tied her career/season-high by playing 33 minutes.
More importantly, though, it is a process that will not see her undergo any additional surgery this week. Doty had been toying with the idea of undergoing minor surgery on her knee with the Huskies now enjoying a lengthy break prior to facing Iona Dec. 20.
Doty would not have missed any games due to the procedure. It was the practice time that she would have been forced to miss that bothered her.
“During surgery (last Jan. 22) I had screws put in my knee and it was irritating the IT band, which is the muscle on the outside of your leg,’’ Doty said. “They were saying that they could take the screw out and let the bone heal over the graft and everything would be fine. We have the 10-day break and I wouldn’t miss any games. But I didn’t want to be out of practice three or four days recovering when I could be preparing for the games coming up. It hasn’t been irritating me that bad where I needed to get it worked on.’’
Doty said she knows her knee will not get any worse at this point. She will continue to play through any discomfort. She is averaging 10.0 points, 2.1 rebounds and a team-high 4.3 assists in 25.4 minutes through the first eight games.
Coach Geno Auriemma continues to keep a watchful eye on Doty’s health.
“I’m always concerned about it,’’ Auriemma said. “Even with Kalana (Greene)… I don’t worry about her as much now as I did last year. I’ll probably worry about Caroline until the whole year is over, and then she’ll have a year under her belt. But it won’t be a concern to a point where I won’t play her or I’m worried about playing her. None of that. I like to keep an eye on her and see how her body’s reacting. And if she’s reacting in a way that I don’t think it’s a great day for her, I don’t play her as much.’’

The technical foul Hartford coach and former UConn national Player of the Year Jen Rizzotti received with 17:11 left in the game last night for her use of some colorful language was a topic of postgame discussion for both Rizzotti and Auriemma. Of course, their responses provided plenty of comic relief.
“You know where I learned that from,’’ Rizzotti said referring to her playing career at UConn. “I’ve had lots of practice. I know all the secrets, but this one was no secret. This was just … You know. You all heard it. It was pretty obvious that I was trying to get a technical.’’
Said Auriemma: “I was thinking, `That’s the Jennifer that I used to coach, just a little bit older.’’

With Tina Charles and Kaili McLaren throttled with two fouls in the first half against the Hawks, the Huskies’ lineup featured 6-foot Maya Moore at center for a good chuck of time. The role was part of a dynamic half that saw her generate 15 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals in 15 minutes.
Charles played 12 minutes in the half. McLaren played just three.
“We’re not deep enough and we’re probably not talented enough in every area that we can afford Tina and Kaili to be sitting there with fouls,’’ Auriemma said. “So against a team like Hartford you can get away with it because they’re not overly big. So throwing Maya out there and playing without a center, that’s not an issue. That’s OK. Playing with Meghan Gardler inside, that’s not an issue. But moving forward against some other teams we can’t afford to have people in foul trouble. But it gives you an opportunity to try some things out too, which I don’t mind. Maya can play anywhere. She can let anybody she guards go by her. It doesn’t have to be a guard. It doesn’t have to be a forward. It can be a center. It doesn’t matter. She’s an equal opportunity matador.’’

Rich

Here’s the link …

Balancing both academics and athletics can be a daunting task for the Huskies, and for every other collegiate athlete for that matter. Sophomore Tiffany Hayes did her best today. And she pulled it off in impressive fashion.
With UConn scheduled to practice at 2 p.m. Hayes knew that it would conflict with her statistics (discussion) class from 3 p.m. to 3:50 p.m. It’s a small class so there is nowhere to hide, with professor aware of who is present and who is not. And with material that will she will see on the upcoming final exam being covered, Hayes knew that she had to be in attendance.
So she made the proper plans. First, Hayes scheduled an individual workout with assistant coach Shea Ralph at 11 a.m. to compensate for the practice time she would miss. Among the things they worked on was shooting off of a screen.
The Huskies had a film session from 2 to 2:20. Hayes then participated in practice until 2:45 before heading to class. Team manager Matt Gade saved her the 10-minute walk by giving her ride.
“Basically, I came in like I was going to practice the whole time because I didn’t want to be thinking, `OK, what time am I leaving,’’’ Hayes said. “So basically I just practiced until it was my time to go and (associate head coach Chris Dailey) let me know that I was leaving at a quarter of (3). I just put my pants and my sweater over my practice stuff and Matt took me to my class. I was actually focused because I need a good grade on this final. But I was kind of thinking like, `I wonder what they’re doing. I wonder what they’re going through right now, missing two people because Lorin (Dixon’s) already out.’’
Hayes caught a break when class ended 10 minutes early. But rather than shut it down for the day like many college kids might have done, she raced back to Gampel Pavilion to catch the end of practice. She was back out on the court at around 4, in time to take part in the final 30 minutes of practice.
“I think it was like seven minutes till 4 and I look at C.D. and I was like, `Should I come back in?’ She shrugged her shoulders so of course I ran in and I put my shoes back on,’’ Hayes said. “I didn’t put any ankle braces or knee pads on. I came back in and we ended up going till 4:30 anyway. I guess I should have put my ankle braces on because I ended up rolling my ankle. But I just tried to get out here and help my teammates as much as possible because I knew that they would probably be tired or they were hurting. So I just wanted to get back out here as fast as I could.’’
Hayes, who is hoping to earn a 3.0 grade point average this semester, said it was the first time that she has experienced such a conflict in her schedule.
“I think we try to recruit that kind of kid and then when they get here they act that way,’’ coach Geno Auriemma said. “Tiffany had an individual workout because she knew she was going to miss a lot of practice, then did part of practice, then left and then came back to finish practice. I think it’s part of our culture, but it’s also more I think part of Tiffany and who she is.’’
Tina Charles was also affected today. She had to leave late in practice because she had to make a presentation in one of her classes.
“We had to change our practice time to accommodate both of those guys,’’ Auriemma said. “But that’s why they’re here. I’ve always said a kid that comes to practice and their mind is (messed) up because they didn’t do a paper or they didn’t study or they didn’t well on an exam that kid’s not going to be worth anything when they’re here. So I’d rather them feel good about that situation so they’ll be free and clear to think about what I’m trying to teach them.’’
As much as the Huskies are fierce competitors on the court, it’s easy to tell that they are equally as competitive off the court. Hayes said the team came up with a competition where the members were divided up into teams in a battle for the highest combined GPA.
Hayes is teamed with Kaili McLaren, Heather Buck and Charles.
“Our group is called `The Answer’ and our catch phrase is `there’s no problem we can’t solve,’’’ Hayes said. “I think somebody else is called `Suma Cum Laude.’ There’s a lot of different names, and basically we’re just seeing which team can get the highest GPA or who can get 3.0. So it’s just a little competition that we made up.’’

Dixon (hamstring) did not practice today and is unlikely to play tomorrow against Hartford at the XL Center.

Just a reminder: I will be conducting a live chat tomorrow from noon to 1 p.m.

Rich

As you have heard the Huskies will make history Jan. 16 when ESPN will host College GameDay at Gampel Pavilion for a women’s basketball game for the first time. UConn will clash with No. 4 Notre Dame at 9 p.m.
The GameDay morning show is slated to air from 10-11 a.m., with doors opening at 7:30 a.m. ESPN personalities Rece Davis, Digger Phelps, Jay Bilas, Hubert Davis and Doris Burke will be on-hand for the live show, which will include contests, prizes, giveaways and entertainment for the fans.
Also, the first 750 fans in attendance will receive a free T-shirt.
Admission and parking – in the South Garage – is free.
A limited number of tickets are still available for the Huskies-Irish game that night. They can be purchased at www.uconnhuskies.com or by calling 1-800-745-3000.

Rich

UConn has announced that it will be giving tickets away to five games this month – two women’s games and three men’s games – as part of a holiday promotion. For each ticket purchased to each game (up to a maximum of 8), fans will receive one additional ticket to the same game free.
The promotion includes the women’s games against Iona Dec. 20 at Gampel Pavilion (6 p.m.) and against No. 2 Stanford Dec. 23 at the XL Center (5:30 p.m.). The men’s games, which are all at the XL Center, are against Central Florida Dec. 20 (1 p.m.), against Maine Dec. 22 (7 p.m.) and against Iona Dec. 27 (2 p.m.).
Orders can be placed at www.uconnhuskies.com and clicking on the “Buy Ticket’ link in the Ticket Center. Fans are then asked to click the “Promotions’’ link. The promotional code for this offer is “Huskies.”

Rich