UConn sports

The UConn men’s basketball team won by 34 points Monday night over Stony Brook. You’d never tell by the head coach’s demeanor during or after the game, though.

Jim Calhoun was not pleased. Not by a longshot.

Also:

– Calhoun began his post-game press conference with a pretty good one. Poking fun at the George Bush-in-Iraq press conference, Calhoun opened with:

“Before we start we’re going to have a shoe check,” Calhoun said.

I was actually getting my size 14 loafers ready for flight so it’s a good thing the coach said something.

– The coach had plenty of praise for guard Jerome Dyson. He was perhaps the only one, thought.

“Jerome played an absolutely terrific game the whole game,” Calhoun said. “He was tough. The coach’s voice doesn’t actually make him melt, which is pleasant on our team to see.”

Yes, the coach spent a lot of time screaming.

– Calhoun wasn’t pleased with A.J. Price’s play in the first half so he decided to start freshman Kemba Walker when the second half began. That lasted a little more than a minute as Calhoun quickly sent Price to the scorer’s table to check in.

“Kemba didn’t want to start so the first two minutes in the second half he made sure that A.J. got right back on the court,” Calhoun said sarcastically. “They had a deal or something. I wasn’t involved.”

Price actually played pretty well in the second half, finishing with 13 points and five assists.

As for starting the second half on the bench?

“It didn’t bother me too much,” Price said. “It wasn’t the first time it happened to me and it won’t be the last.”

As for his understudy’s quick hook?

“I guess his leash is shorter than mine,” Price said.

– Former UConn point guard and assistant coach Steve Pikiell gave Calhoun plenty of thanks for helping him in his career. Pikiell also said he took some of his style from Calhoun.

“I take a lot from him,” Pikiell said. “I don’t yell at the referees as much as he does, though.”

– Stanley Robinson returned with something of a flourish Monday. He had only seven points but the first two came on a major league alley-oop (his calling card in years past).

The toughest part of the game for Robinson was plowing into a screen set by Stony Brook’s 300-ish-pound center Desmond Adedeji.

“My guys have to call out screens, my God!” Robinson said. “That guy is 320! The only thing I saw was the floor.”

– Pikiell was glad to see his former coach and boss, but not during the game.

“Coach was in the Christmas spirit, too, which was nice,” Pikiell joked. “It was press, press, press the whole first half.”

- Neill

Update from the Monday morning football stuff:

– Donald Brown says he’ll return for his senior season at UConn. Forget all the NFL stuff, the junior running back says.

“I’m coming back,” Brown repeated over and over.

Mentioning some of the same things he said after the Pittsburgh loss, Brown insists he’s returning for his senior season.

“I’d like to go to a BCS game. I’d like to be outright Big East champs,” Brown said.

Coach Randy Edsall spent much of the morning explaining to reporters what he’s doing to gauge the interest in Brown for the upcoming NFL Draft. Brown, though, says he won’t be swayed.

“I’ve known all along that I’m coming back,” Brown said.

Let me say this. I don’t doubt Brown’s honesty or his intent. I truly believe what he’s saying.

But if Edsall comes back says he truly believes Brown will be taken early in the second round of the draft this season, I think Brown would change his mind.

We’ve learned long ago that definitive statements are sometimes not as binding as they appear.

- Neill

A few notes from UConn football coach Randy Edsall’s meeting with the media Monday morning:

– RB Jordan Todman is on the depth chart on offense for the first time this season. The freshman is listed as the backup running back (which he’s essentially been for more than a month) instead of Andre Dixon.

– Dixon appeared briefly at the Rockville Superior Courthouse Monday morning to answer his DUI charge.

Dixon applied for a state program for alcohol education and he is scheduled to appear back in Rockville on Jan. 12.

Edsall said Dixon is back with the team (ending his suspension) and will be allowed to play in the International Bowl. The coach met with Dixon on Sunday and was scheduled to sit down with the junior from New Jersey again Monday afternoon.

“Andre took full responsibility, which he should,” Edsall said. “We discussed it and we’ll discuss some more things today.”

– Quarterback Tyler Lorenzen may have been at his worst in the loss to Pitt, but Edsall thinks he’s going to be awesome against the Bulls.

“I can guarantee that Tyler Lorenzen will go out and play well in this game,” Edsall said. “There’s no doubt in my mind.”

The coach then took it one step further.

“I think Tyler’s going to go out and have a great game,” Edsall said. “He’ll probably throw the ball better than he’s thrown the ball in the two years he’s been here.”

– LB Greg Lloyd is listed as the starter at middle linebacker. Lloyd missed the final two games of the regular season for “personal reasons.”

C.J. Marck is also on the depth chart as Lloyd’s backup. Marck missed the Pittsburgh game, also for undisclosed “personal reasons.”

“They were there yesterday,” Edsall said of Sunday’s practice, not sounding truly sure of the duo’s availability.

– Darius Butler is listed as “OR” with Robert McClain at cornerback. Butler missed the final three games of the regular season with a knee injury.

Butler is not on the depth chart at kick returner. Todman remains there with Robbie Frey.

“Darius is getting closer. I’m not sure exactly where he’s going to be,” Edsall said.

Butler is doing plenty of running but the coach won’t say he’ll play for sure against Buffalo.

– RB Donald Brown is exploring his NFL prospects with Edsall’s blessing _ sort of.

“I’ve already told him I don’t want him to go,” Edsall said with a smile.

The coach knows the reality, however, and won’t stop Brown if everything looks too good.

“It might be too good to pass up,” Edsall said.

- Neill

Just got back from the XL Center (still not used to calling it that) and watching Stanley Robinson and the Huskies practice Sunday afternoon.

Yes, I know there are other players on the team still but Robinson drew the most eyes (and a few ahhs) on this day. The 6-9 junior makes his return to the team Monday night against Stony Brook.

– For starters, Robinson is in pretty good shape. It won’t take him long to get back into the swing of things.

“He’s in good shape. I don’t think that will be a problem,” coach Jim Calhoun said. “I don’t think you play him 40 minutes but physically I don’t think it’s a great problem for him.”

“I’m in long-distance shape. I’m not in sprint shape,” Robinson said. “Give me like two weeks and everything will work out fine.”

Robinson said his former and new teammates have been great about his return.

“It was all love,” Robinson said. “They welcomed me back with open arms. That was a great feeling.”

– PF Jeff Adrien has a sprained right ankle and only practiced for an hour or so Sunday.

“I’m sure he’ll try to give it a go,” Calhoun said. “But he couldn’t jump today (Sunday).”

– PG A.J. Price isn’t overly worried about his slow start this season. His surgically repaired knee is fine, but it’s still in his head.

“I feel pretty good. I just have to play better, I know that,” Price said. “The thing is, I’m not going to force it. I’m not going to put pressure on myself and say that I need to play well right now. I would like to but I’m just not right now. I’m not going to give up by any stretch of the imagination. It’s going to come sooner or later, I’m sure of that.”

Price said he knows he has to stop settling for jump shots so often. And he knows he has to take it harder to the rim when he does drive.

Calhoun says he’s seen a different Price lately.

“I thought yesterday (Saturday) was far and away his best practice in quite some time,” Calhoun said. “I know he did very well in school and this is his last semester playing college basketball. He and I have had that discussion.”

– Freshman Ater Majok, he of the Sudan and more recently Australia, is seemingly no closer to enrolling.

“We’re still up in the air with Ater as far as the NCAA,” Calhoun said. “We have until Jan. 17 or something, the beginning of the second semester.”

The Huskies were hoping to have Majok in the fold at the end of this week. That doesn’t appear likely now.

“It’s become more complex as it gets down to one class,” Calhoun said. “It was re-taking over by someone who went all through the case again. It isn’t that he discovered more, he just didn’t know the case.
“It’s taken much longer than we thought it would,” the coach continued. “Hopefully it turns out well.”

– Robinson won’t start (unless Adrien can’t go and the Calhoun wants to start a really quick lineup) but there might be a change in the starting five. Freshman PG Kemba Walker has been hot, the coach says.

“The only chance would be Kemba, whose had real good practice sessions,” Calhoun said. “But we’ll probably stick with the same lineup. We’ve won eight straight. Besides, you can make a substitution after a minute if you wanted to.”

- Neill

NEW HAVEN – University of Connecticut junior running back Donald Brown (Atlantic Highlands, N.J.) was named Second Team All-America on Thursday by the Walter Camp Football Foundation. The entire 2008 Walter Camp Football Foundation All-America team will be announced later Thursday night.

The Walter Camp Football Foundation All-America team is the oldest in the country dating back to 1889. Members of the 2008 Walter Camp All-America team will be honored at the organization’s national awards banquet on Jan. 17 at the Yale University Commons in New Haven.

Brown becomes the first UConn football player to be named to an All-America team since the program was elevated to the Football Bowl Subdivision (former Division I-A) in 2002.

The award is the second in two days for Brown as he was named the 2008 Big East conference offensive player of the year on Wednesday.

Brown rushed for 1,822 yards and 17 touchdowns during the regular season and has been atop the national leader board in rushing yards (151.8 yards per game) for the majority of the year. He ran for at least 100 yards in 10 games.

Brown and his UConn teammates take on Buffalo in the International Bowl on Saturday, Jan. 3 in Toronto at 12 p.m.

UConn running back Donald Brown was named Big East offensive player of the year Wednesday.

UConn DE Cody Brown, CB Darius Butler and OT Will Beatty also made first team.

LB Scott Lutrus and S Robert Vaughn made the second team.

Brown is the first UConn player to win one of the league’s major individual awards and the first running back to earn the Big East’s offensive award since Miami’s Willis McGahee shared the honor with teammate Ken Dorsey in 2002.

The format’s a little rough, but here are the teams:

BIG EAST CONFERENCE OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Donald Brown, RB, Connecticut (Jr., Atlantic Highlands, N.J.)

BIG EAST CONFERENCE DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Scott McKillop, LB, Pittsburgh (Sr., Export, Pa.)

BIG EAST CONFERENCE SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Mardy Gilyard, WR, Cincinnati (So., Palm Coast, Fla.)

BIG EAST CONFERENCE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

Victor Anderson, RB, Louisville (Fr., Louisville, Ky.)

BIG EAST CONFERENCE COACH OF THE YEAR

Brian Kelly, Cincinnati

ALL-BIG EAST CONFERENCE FIRST TEAM

OFFENSE

Pos. Player School Cl. Ht. Wt. Hometown/High School

WR Mardy Gilyard Cincinnati So. 6-1 190 Palm Coast, Fla./Flagler Palm Coast

WR Kenny Britt Rutgers Jr. 6-4 205 Bayonne, N.J./Bayonne

OT Will Beatty Connecticut Sr. 6-6 300 York, Pa./William Penn

OT Ryan Stanchek West Virginia Sr. 6-4 303 Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle

OG George Bussey Louisville Sr. 6-4 306 Louisville, Ky./Western

OG C.J. Davis Pittsburgh Sr. 6-3 310 Imperial, Pa./West Allegheny

C Eric Wood Louisville Sr. 6-4 301 Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder

TE Nate Byham Pittsburgh Jr. 6-3 255 Franklin, Pa./Franklin

QB Pat White West Virginia Sr. 6-2 190 Daphne, Ala./Daphne

RB Donald Brown * Connecticut Jr. 5-10 208 Atlantic Highlands, N.J./Red Bank Catholic

RB LeSean McCoy * Pittsburgh So. 5-11 210 Harrisburg, Pa./Milford Academy

K Conor Lee Pittsburgh Sr. 5-11 200 Upper St. Clair, Pa./Fork Union

KR/PR Mardy Gilyard Cincinnati So. 6-1 190 Palm Coast, Fla./Flagler Palm Coast

DEFENSE

DL Connor Barwin Cincinnati Sr. 6-4 255 Hazel Park, Mich./U. of Detroit Jesuit

DL Cody Brown * Connecticut Sr. 6-3 246 Coral Spings, Fla./Coral Springs

DL George Selvie USF Jr. 6-4 245 Pensacola, Fla./Pine Forest

DL Arthur Jones Syracuse Jr. 6-4 291 Endicott, N.Y./Union-Endicott

LB Scott McKillop * Pittsburgh Sr. 6-2 240 Export, Pa./Kiski Area

LB Tyrone McKenzie * USF Sr. 6-2 235 Riverview, Fla./Riverview

LB Mortty Ivy West Virginia Sr. 6-2 236 Monroeville, Pa./Gateway

CB Mike Mickens * Cincinnati Sr. 6-0 165 Huber Heights, Ohio/Ohio Wayne

CB Darius Butler Connecticut Sr. 5-11 181 Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Coral Springs Charter

S Brandon Underwood Cincinnati Sr. 6-1 190 Hamilton, Ohio/Toledo St. John’s

S Courtney Greene Rutgers Sr. 6-2 215 New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle

P Kevin Huber Cincinnati Sr. 6-1 210 Cincinnati, Ohio/McNicholas

* unanimous selection

ALL-BIG EAST CONFERENCE SECOND TEAM

OFFENSE

WR Dominick Goodman Cincinnati Sr. 6-1 210 Cincinnati, Ohio/Colerain

WR Doug Beaumont Louisville So. 5-9 176 Louisville, Ky./Male

WR Jock Sanders West Virginia So. 5-8 174 St. Petersburg, Fla./St. Petersburg Catholic

OT Marc Dile USF Sr. 6-4 309 Miami, Fla./Edison

OT Anthony Davis Rutgers So. 6-6 325 Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway

OT Trevor Canfield Cincinnati Sr. 6-5 305 Cincinnati, Ohio/Western Hills

OG Matt Huners USF Sr. 6-3 305 Palm Harbor, Fla./Palm Harbor University

OG Ryan Durand Syracuse Sr. 6-5 303 Leominster, Mass./Saint Bernard’s Prep

C Mike Dent West Virginia Sr. 6-4 285 Jeannette, Pa./Jeannette

TE Cedric Hill USF Sr. 6-3 230 Valdosta, Fla./Valdosta

QB Tony Pike Cincinnati Jr. 6-6 225 Cincinnati, Ohio/Reading

RB Victor Anderson Louisville Fr. 5-9 182 Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier

RB Curtis Brinkley Syracuse Sr. 5-9 203 Philadelphia, Pa./West Catholic

RB Noel Devine West Virginia So. 5-8 173 Fort Myers, Fla./North Fort Myers

K Pat McAfee West Virginia Sr. 6-1 220 Plum, Pa./Plum

KR/PR Trent Guy Louisville Jr. 5-9 165 Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte

DEFENSE

DL Terrill Byrd Cincinnati Sr. 6-1 290 Cincinnati, Ohio/Colerain

DL Greg Romeus Pittsburgh So. 6-5 265 Coral Springs, Fla./Coral Glades

DL Jamaal Westerman Rutgers Sr. 6-3 265 Brampton, Ont./Notre Dame

DL Scooter Berry West Virginia So. 6-1 288 North Babylon, N.Y./North Babylon

LB Scott Lutrus Connecticut So. 6-3 228 Brookfield, Conn./Brookfield

LB Jon Dempsey Louisville Jr. 6-0 233 Willingboro, N.J./College of the Sequoias

LB Ryan D’Imperio Rutgers Jr. 6-3 240 Sewell, N.J./Washington Township

CB Aaron Berry Pittsburgh Jr. 5-11 175 Harrisburg, Pa./Bishop McDevitt

CB Ellis Lankster West Virginia Sr. 5-10 191 Whistler, Ala./Jones JC

S Robert Vaughn Connecticut Jr. 6-0 192 North Attleboro, Mass./North Attleboro

S Carlton Williams USF Sr. 6-4 214 Valdosta, Ga./Valdosta

P Pat McAfee West Virginia Sr. 6-1 220 Plum, Pa./Plum

Note: The All-BIG EAST Second Team includes additional players due to ties in the voting

From UConn, here are the rules for traveling to Canada (as you may be to the International Bowl).

Air Travel:

All Persons are required to present a U.S. passport

Land/Sea Travel:

Citizens ages 19 and over: U.S. Citizens need to present (a) either a passport OR a passport card OR government-issued photo identification (i.e., driver’s license) ALONG WITH (b) proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate. Children ages 18 and under will only be required to present proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate.

- Neill

Some bowl info as UConn gets ready for the International Bowl and the school’s second big game against the University at Buffalo (SUNY-Buffalo, UB, whatever you want to call it):

– UConn AD Jeff Hathaway took the call from International Bowl executive director Ken Hoffman while he was in church Sunday morning.

“I had my phone on vibrate. I pulled it out kind of subtly and saw that it was Ken Hoffman. I gently made my way outside the church and accepted the invitation,” Hathaway said.

– The Huskies were allotted 10,000 tickets at $40 a pop.

Plenty of info on tickets at uconnbowl.com

– The payout from the Big east will be $1.1 million for UConn (it was about $1.15 last year for the Meineke). By contrast, Cincinnati will get $2 million-plus from the league for making a BCS bowl.

– DE Cody Brown has been invited to play in three all-star games: the East-West Shrine Game (Jan. 17 in Houston), the Senior Bowl (Jan. 24 in Mobile, Ala.) and the Texas vs. The Nation (Jan. 31 in El Paso, Texas).

CB Darius Butler has been invited to the East-West Shrine Game and the Senior Bowl. OT Will Beatty has been invited to the Texas vs. The Nation.

– Butler will probably play against Buffalo on Jan. 3.

“I think there’s a very good possibility of that,” Edsall said.

Butler will do some serious running this week has he rehabs his injured knee. “If he’s able to go, he’ll want to go,” Edsall said.

– LB Greg Lloyd will be back, too.

“I hope so,” Edsall said. “I hope that he does. Same thing with C.J. Marck. I would expect both of them to be with us.

– There’s even a chance RB Andre Dixon (suspended for that DUI) could be back.

“I would hope that he’d be with us as well,” Edsall said.

– Honest line of the day?

“I’m not sure yesterday’s game had any factor on where we would go,” Edsall said.

– After taking a break for exams, the Huskies will return to practice Dec. 15. They’ll practice in Storrs until Dec. 22.

The players will be allowed to return home Dec. 23 for Christmas and are due back Dec. 26.

After a few more days of practice at UConn, the Huskies will fly to Buffalo Dec. 30 and drive over the boarder to Toronto. (No passports needed if you drive)

– Hathaway said there was never really much of a chance UConn would play in the Motor City Bowl.

“I never thought there was a scenario that we would end up in Detroit,” Hathaway said. “There was a scenario where the Big East selection could end up in Detroit. But if it had gone to Detroit, I believe Ken would have probably gone to another school since we had been there once already.”

– Why would UConn fans travel to a bowl late in the season on days when there are UConn men’s basketball and women’s basketball games scheduled in Connecticut on the same day?

“Because I think we have a lot of very dedicated UConn football fans,” Edsall said.

Is Hathaway right?

Sure, but how many of those people are there?

– 9 p.m. update. Talked to Ken Hoffman for a few minutes.

“A Buffalo-UConn matchup is just about as geographically perfect as you can have,” Hoffman said Sunday night.

Hoffman also said UConn’s loss to Pitt (a game he attended) didn’t make much of a difference in the final analysis.

“I think it was more of a concern to UConn than the bowl game. Pitt’s a good team, let’s face it. They’re 9-3,” Hoffman said. “I don’t think it made much difference. People have been talking about this matchup for weeks.”

- Neill