UConn sports

Big East men’s basketball preason info from today’s media day in New York:

Preseason Coaches Poll

Team Points

1. UConn (9) 214

2. Louisville (3) 205

3. Pittsburgh (3) 200

4. Notre Dame (1) 195

5. Villanova 153

6. Marquette 146

7. Georgetown 141

8. Syracuse 139

9. West Virginia 121

10. Providence 99

11. Cincinnati 91

12. Rutgers 53

13. Seton Hall 50

14. St. John’s 44

15. DePaul 43

16. South Florida 26

Preseason All-League:

*Luke Harangody, Notre Dame

Deonta Vaughn, Cincinnati

A.J. Price, UConn

Hasheem Thabeet, UConn

DaJuan Summers, Georgetown

Terrence Williams, Louisville

*Sam Young, Pittsburgh

Jerel McNeal, Marquette

Kyle McAlarney, Notre Dame

Jonny Flynn, Syracuse

Scottie Reynolds, Villanova

Honorable Mention:

Jeff Adrien, UConn

Earl Clark, Louisville

Dominic James, Marquette

Preseason Player of the Year _ Luke Harangody, Notre Dame

Preseason Rookie of the Year _ Greg Monroe, Georgetown and Samardo Samuels, Louisville

- Neill

Only have a second:

– Quarterback Zach Frazer is still iffy. No decision on whether or not he’ll play Saturday.

No talk of concussion but..

“The way we classify his injury is it’s a head injury,” Edsall said. “He has gotten better each day.”

– David Teggart will be the field goal kicker this week, pushing Tony Ciaravino aside.

Edsall said the move is based on Ciaravino’s struggles and Teggart’s work in practice.

“We chart them (in practice). Those two guys are very, very close. There’s not much difference,” Edsall said.

– No changes on punt return or kick return this week.

“I believe in both those kids,” Edsall said of Robbie Frey and Jasper Howard.

Evening update:

Had a chance to finish my work for the print edition and grab a little dinner. Here are a few more notes from the day’s affair:

– Edsall expounded on his decision not to allow Frazer to speak to the media. It seems Frazer has class on Tuesday’s when we are around, making it difficult for him to spend time doing interviews.

There’s still his rule about first-time starters, but that sort of like Rule 1A.

“Zach has obligations first and foremost as a student here at the university,” Edsall said. “That’s one of the reasons he isn’t available this week.”

I understand that. It makes sense. I also would have understood that if I was told earlier. (And I would have complained a lot less, as would have many other of my brethren).

Moving on…

– Randy expounded on his rather snappy comeback to my question about fans and media (I called us semi-educated, for the record) understanding what the team is trying to do offensively.

“There are things that are appropriate to share with people and there are things that you don’t share with people,” Edsall said.

Of course, I wasn’t asking for in-depth information. I just wanted a general thought.

Anyway, Edsall offered something of an apology.

“That wasn’t a knock on anybody,” Edsall said. “There’s certain things that go on with this program that you’re not going to know, that you’re not going to give out. That’s no disrespect to you (media) or to all of our fans.”

– New Jersey native Donald Brown is still not over what happened against Rutgers Saturday.

“I’m still pretty bitter about the game,” Brown admitted Tuesday.

– Tackle Dan Ryan wore No. 73. Now that he’s a part-time tight end he’s wearing No. 88.

He also has a new name.

“I want to be known as ‘Ocho-ocho’ ” Ryan joked Tuesday.

– The fans aren’t the only ones who want UConn to air it out a bit more.

“I would like to throw the ball more,” wide receiver Kashif Moore said with a smile.

Moore, though qualified his answer.

“We have a different game plan every week,” Moore said. The redshirt freshman also agreed that feeding Brown the ball most of the time is a pretty smart game plan.

- Neill

Just got the word that UConn’s Nov. 1 game against West Virginia at Rentschler will kickoff at noon.

It will be an ESPN Regional TV deal, with MyTV9 (WCTX-59) picking it up as well as SNY.

- Neill

Randy Edsall didn’t want to talk about quarterback Zach Frazer’s status Monday morning on the Big East coaches’ conference call.

The sophomore, who appears to have suffered a concussion (though no one at UConn will say such a thing yet), “was at practice” on Sunday, Edsall.

Of course “AT” means only in attendance. He did not practice.

More updates this afternoon with a few other nuggets from the call or maybe a start time for UConn-West Virginia.

- Neill

There wasn’t a lot of warm and fuzzy talk with UConn coach Randy Edsall Sunday.

Well, there were some fuzzy things but the coach wasn’t too keen on defending his play calling after a 12-10 loss to Rutgers.

But if you watched the game it’s likely you question the play calling. I’ll admit I did.

Anyway, here’s the news:

– Quarterback Zach Frazer has a concussion. Or at least he has concussion-like symptoms. Or at least he’s a little “fuzzy.”

“He’s a little fuzzy,” Edsall said Sunday. “We’ll monitor him.”

Edsall refused to even say the word concussion or acknowledge that’s what the injury is. He wouldn’t say whether or not he’d practice Sunday (that means no). He said he would have more information Tuesday (that means Monday) on Frazer’s status.

– The pass interference call on the Huskies’ final drive that may have changed the outcome of the game was still bothering Edsall Sunday, though he didn’t say much about it.

The coach has submitted a video clip of the play to the Big East’s officiating boss, Terry McAulay, in hopes of some clarification.

– Why didn’t Jordan Todman play more or actually get to touch the ball?

Good question.

“He wasn’t hurt,” Edsall said. “That’s something we have to try to do, get him a little more involved.”

– Defensive end Cody Brown was good against Rutgers. Really good.

“He made some disruptive plays on defense. Cody really played to the level we expect him to play,” Edsall said.

– OK, now the fun stuff.

Looking back, Edsall does not think the Huskies should have thrown the ball more often or (gasp!) deeper against Rutgers.

“No.”

He also didn’t like answering questions about the play calling. (Though he did answer nearly all of them, which is good for inquisitive folks like myself)

“Every game is a game within itself,” Edsall said. “There’s things that go into dictating what plays that you call, what you do, based on your own personnel, based on weather conditions, based on field position, based on everything.”

The coach obviously doesn’t like one particular word.

“You call it conservative. I don’t call it conservative. I call it trying to win games,” Edsall said.

“We’re trying to win games,” Edsall said. “The object for us is to try to win games. As coaches that’s what we’re trying to do. If we need to throw the ball, we’ll throw the ball. If we need to run the ball, we’ll run the ball.”

The coach was then asked by an intelligent young reporter who knows a little something about football (you guessed it, yours truly!) if he could understand why some fans and media members couldn’t understand how such an attack would work.

“Is it important that they understand what we’re trying to do?” Edsall said. “I didn’t think it was important that everyone understood what we’re trying to do. I think the bottom line is we’re trying to win games.
“You can throw the ball 50 times a game and not win games.”

The real answer to the question, of course, is no and yes.

No, if you’re winning.

Yes, if you’re losing.

If your mystery play book and plan of attack beats USC 51-13, you can keep everyone in the dark.

If it loses to Rutgers 12-10 (especially this Rutgers team), you probably got some splainin’ to do.

Plenty more to come this week.

- Neill

UConn and Rutgers are tied 3-3 at halftime.

No official word yet, but apparently both teams have been threatened with 15-yard penalties if they actually enter the end zone with the ball.

OK, that’s a little harsh. Both defenses are getting tough in the red zone.

Still, two missed field goals for UConn, one for Rutgers.

Talk to you after the exciting game-winning safety. (No Dan Orlovsky jokes, please).

- Neill

UConn football coach Randy Edsall, as he is kind enough to do each week, gave us a little info about the Huskies preparation for Rutgers this week. Here are some snippets:

– It’s been all business this week at practice, Edsall thinks.

“This group has been very businesslike. They don’t get real rah-rah. They’re pretty even keeled,” Edsall said. “They’ve gone about their business. The focus and attention to what we have at stake on Saturday has been good.”

And no one on the team is thinking they’ll have it easy on Saturday.

“They’re a 1-5 team but they’re a very hungry 1-5 team that’s probably better than their record indicates,” Edsall said of Rutgers. “We know how good they are. We play them each year and know their personnel pretty good, just like they know us.”

– No new injuries, the coach says.

“We’ve been fine this week,” Edsall said. “Nothing has come up.”

– UConn would be bowl eligible with a win but the coaches haven’t been using it as motivation.

“The kids know. We just talk about getting win No. 6 and being 2-0 in the Big East Conference,” Edsall said. “The kids are well aware of that. I don’t have to say anything in regards to that.”

– Edsall hinted that there will be changes on the punt team, though not drastic ones. The Huskies had three punts blocked in their last game against North Carolina.

“We always evaluate our personnel after every game,” Edsall said. “We’ll see what happens on Saturday but there could be a change.”

In Edsall-ease, that usually means there IS going to be a change.

– The nation’s leading rusher (isn’t that becoming part of his name now?) Donald Brown continues to carry quite a load for the Huskies. Edsall isn’t overly concerned, though.

He said a few weeks ago that he wanted Brown to touch the ball about 25 times per game.

“Ideally if we could say it yeah we’d like him to have 25. But if it takes 30 to win the game and he’s still strong and going good, we’ll probably take 30,” Edsall said. “It all depends on the game and the situation.”

- Neill

Another Husky Run is in the books.

Dan Kim, a UConn senior majoring in molecular and cell biology, won the race (which is in the 3.3-mile range) in 17:22.

Forward Gavin Edwards and walk-on Kyle Bailey (in the pic above) were the first basketball players across the finish line at Gampel Pavilion, covering the course in 21:21.

“I think I was a little bit ahead,” Edwards said. “I probably should have dove at the end.”

Husky Run Results

Players:

Gavin Edwards 21:21

Jerome Dyson 22:11

Craig Austrie 23:49

Hasheem Thabeet 24:00

Kemba Walker 24:28

Jeff Adrien 24:38

Donnell Beverly 24:40

A.J. Price 25:02

Scottie Haralson 25:08

Jonathan Mandeldove 25:30

Walk-ons:

Kyle Bailey 21:21

Alex Hornat 21:34

Kyle Hayes 22:54

Jonnie Byrd 23:58

John Lender 27:44

In other news:

– Coach Jim Calhoun made his first (maybe second) comments about freshman Nate Miles and his recent expulsion.

“The young man was the best offensive player in this program,” Calhoun said. “I’ll just leave it at that.

“My relationship with him? He’s a terrific kid, learning, and what happened was more than unfortunate.”

– Center Hasheem Thabeet is sporting a new tightly cropped haircut.

“I got a little quicker,” Thabeet joked.

Calhoun has said he likes the look, too.

“Plus I told him I think you look younger,” Calhoun said. “You look at least 28.”

Thabeet says he’s put on about seven pounds and is up to 272.

– Calhoun expects both Ater Majok and Stanley Robinson to join the program in December.

“Theoretically, most likely, I certainly think it’s going to happen, we will then add a 6-10 (Majok) and a 6-9 (Robinson) guy to our lineup. And all of a sudden we change a little bit.”

– There are obviously high expectations this season.

“We’re definitely capable of a national championship,” Edwards said. “We have all the tools, everybody has the right mindset.”

“The sky’s the limit for this team,” forward Jeff Adrien said.

– The coach says he feels fine but that his baseballl team is not helping his sleep patterns.

“A, the way the Red Sox are playing. And B, the time the Red Sox are playing,” Calhoun said. “I found myself going to sleep a little bit more.”

- Neill