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Start dancing, Husky Nation! UConn is headed back to the Final Four!

UConn rolled into its 11th Final Four Tuesday night with a 90-50 victory over Florida State in the East Regional final at the University of Dayton Arena. The Huskies (37-0) will play Baylor on Sunday night at 9:30 p.m. EST.

Here are some less than stellar pictures (hey, I tried) from my seat at courtside.

Maya Moore looking focused in the pregame warm-ups.

The UConn cheerleaders try to pump up the volume during a timeout.

The Huskies hold up the East Region championship trophy.

ESPN’s Rebecca Lobo interviewing Geno Auriemma after the game.

The celebration goes on!

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BREAKING NEWS!
Just got a call (8 p.m.) from Fairfield men’s basketball coach Ed Cooley. Boston College has asked permission to speak with Cooley regarding the vacant Eagles job. Cooley has said from Day One this is the one job he would leave Fairfield for. The meeting could come as soon as tomorrow.
More info to come.

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Now the Boston College has say goodbye to Al Skinner, will they say hello to Ed Cooley?

Cooley, the Fairfield men’s basketball coach, was Skinner’s assistant at BC for 10 years between 1997-2006. He said that he has not been contacted by the university regarding the Eagles’ vacant head coaching job but that if he was, he certainly would have to listen.

“I’ve said from Day One that would be my dream job and that if they called, of course I’d be interested,” Cooley said by phone Tuesday. “But I haven’t been contacted by anyone there and I really don’t expect to.”

Cooley said that he’s committed to continue the work he’s built at Fairfield over the past four seasons, including leading the Stags to a 23-11 record in 2009-10 and a postseason win over George Mason in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.

“I’ve still got a lot more to do right here,” he said.

Cooley confirmed that he had been contacted by telephone from officials from Seton Hall about the Pirates vacant job (Iona’s Kevin Willard was hired on Monday) but that’s as far as that conversation went.

“Yes, they called and asked me what I thought of their program and I told them I wasn’t interested. I’m very happy at Fairfield,” Cooley said.

In other Stags news, Cooley said that sophomore forward Shimeek Johnson has formally requested a release from his scholarship. Johnson, who apparently wasn’t happy with his playing time – he averaged just 2.4 points and 2.3 rebounds in 11.5 minutes per game – and wishes to look for another school.

In addition, guard Derek Needham was named to the CollegeInsider.com freshman All-America team. Needham led Fairfield in scoring with a 16.4 average, sixth-best among all college freshman, and averaged 5.2 assists a game. He scored 543 points and handed out 172 assists, both school records for a freshman.

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Here are some pictures from Sunday’s NCAA Sweet 16 romp by the Huskies, 74-36 over Iowa State.

UConn’s Tina Charles shaking hands with Iowa State’s 6-7 freshman center, Anna Prins in the pre-game introductions.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma discussing strategy with guard Tiffany Hayes.

UConn and Iowa State in the post game handshake line.

It’s a final, UConn 74, Iowa State 36

The UConn cheerleaders doing their thing.

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Hello! Welcome to the University of Dayton Arena and the 2010 NCAA Women’s East Regional. It will be UConn vs. Iowa State and Mississippi State against Florida State (a lot of state’s here) for the right to meet on Tuesday with a trip to the Final Four in San Antonio going to the winner.

The Dayton Arena holds about 10,000 and has a huge skybox area over one end of the building.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma met the media Saturday and talked about the memories of the last time he faced Iowa State (a 64-58 loss).

The team had an open workout for the fans that lasted for an hour before heading off to an undisclosed location to go over their “real” practice plans.

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Here are some pictures that yours truly took in UConn’s 95-39 opening round victory over Southern University in the NCAA tournament Sunday at the Ted Constant Convocation Center in Norfolk, Va.

The captains meet with the officials at center court.

Discussing strategy in the huddle.

Setting up on defense.

Geno waiting to go on the air with ESPN after the game.

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The Connecticut Huskies are in the final stage of their quest toward a second straight undefeated season as they practiced for their opening round NCAA game tomorrow afternoon against Southern University at the Ted Constant Convocation Center on the campus of Old Dominion University.

The Huskies warm up before practice.

Geno Auriemma chatting it up with the media before practice.

Before the team went out for it’s hour-long shootaround, they engaged in an intense battle of “Pictionary” with Tiffany Hayes drawing a picture of a car next to a rather less than descriptive map of the United States, only to have Jacquie Fernandez shout out “Coming to America” and win the game.
The beginning of practice was spent trying too see how many basketballs the players could get stuck in the basket (they got 11).

It’s obvious that the Huskies are loose and ready to go as they search for NCAA title No. 7. Step one comes Sunday at 12:16 p.m.

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Well, that stinks.
Late, late, late Monday night as Fairfield was coming home after pulling off the greatest postseason comeback in NCAA Division I history, Stags coach Ed Cooley called and told me that Fairfield had a “definite” chance to host a second round game in the CollegeInsider.com tournament, saying that he’d been told that if Harvard defeated Appalchian State, Fairfield would host the game at the Arena at Harbor Yard and that if, Appalchian State won, then there was a possibility that the Stags might play there but the school was trying to make that a home game too.
As it turns out, Fairfield isn’t playing either of those teams.
They’re not playing at home, either.
On Monday night in the CIT quarterfinals, Fairfield will be at Creighton (17-15, Missouri Valley Conference).
I don’t how or why the CIT committee has Fairfield on the road AGAIN … but it doesn’t seem fair to give a team with barely a winning record a home game over a team that’s having one of the best season’s in program history.

Here’s the upcoming schedule:

Monday, March 22
QUARTERFINALS
Appalachian State (23-10) @ Marshall (24-9)
Fairfield (23-10) @ Creighton (17-15)
Pacific (21-11) @ Northern Colorado (25-7)
Missouri State (21-12) vs. S. Mississippi (20-13) or La Tech (23-10)
NOTE: Winner of the Thursday’s Southern Mississippi vs. Louisiana Tech will determine site of the this game. If Southern Miss wins, Missouri State will be on the road. If Louisiana Tech wins, Missouri State will be at home.

Wednesday March 24
SEMIFINALS

Tuesday March 30
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME