UConn sports

Just saw this from the recent Big East baseball championship.

Absolutely great stuff.

Do you think Jim (Sr.) and Tom Penders did this kind of thing in the 1965 College World Series?

- Neill

So, Joe Paterno wants the Big Ten to go after Syracuse, Pittsburgh or Rutgers, eh?

If ACC Commissioner John Swafford had come out publicly in the summer of 2002 and casually mentioned that his league would like to add a few teams to its league _ perhaps Miami, Boston College and Syracuse, not necessarily in that order _ would there have been such bad blood when the defections of the Hurricanes, Eagles and Virginia Tech Hokies eventually became official?

In a word…yes.

The venom spewed (perhaps still spewing) at BC athletic director Gene DeFilippo for his role might have been lessened, but the overall feeling the Big East had of being poached wouldn’t have changed much.

Which brings us to the Penn State football coach and his call this week for Big Ten expansion. Now, let’s be clear: Advocating expansion and specifically mentioning schools to lure/recruit/entice are two different things.

There are a number of Big East football coaches who have openly said the league should add a ninth football-playing member. None to my knowledge have named that ninth member (other than Notre Dame, of course) publicly.

It may be a fine line, but it’s not one that very few are willing to cross. But the 82-year-old king/dean of college football coaches didn’t mind doing it Thursday.

Lamenting the early end to the Big Ten schedule and the period in which other conferences get most of the media attention, Paterno called for a playoff.

“Everybody else is playing playoffs on television,” Paterno said. “You never see a Big Ten team mentioned. So I think that’s a handicap.

“I’ve tried to talk to the Big Ten people about, ‘Let’s get a 12th team _ Syracuse, Rutgers, Pitt _ we could have a little bit of a playoff.’ ”

OK, let’s give Paterno partial credit for at least being up front and not pulling the rug out from under the Big East as has already happened this decade. But it still grades as a D-minus in the respect department, doesn’t it?

I mean, talking about adding Notre Dame to your conference is one thing. The Irish are an independent and it’s perfectly kosher (Can you say kosher about the pre-eminent Catholic school in the land? Well, anyway..) to talk about wooing ND to your conference.

But the Big Ten, not to mention the Big East and everyone else, have been barking up that tree for years. It’s not going to happen as long as Notre Dame still has the cache to sign its own TV deal and print its own money.

Paterno named names, something that smacks of a little arrogance, no?

Would any of JoePa’s choices fit anyway?

Syracuse is a good geographic fit but is a private school in a league made up mostly of state schools.

Pittsburgh is also an easy trip for most of the Big Ten, but that wouldn’t help the Big Ten “own” the Pennsylvania media market the way Boston College helps the ACC “own” the Northeast, right?

OK, you can stop laughing now. (I still love that gag! We all know that no one in Beantown gives a flying Van Halen album about what Clemson and Georgia Tech do in the NCAA Tournament.)

Rutgers is…well, a seemingly more attractive football partner than some. Paterno obviously has a lot of respect for Greg Schiano and what he’s done. But do the Scarlet Knights (and all their wonderful sports) fit in the Big Ten? It just doesn’t sound right.

Of course, BC in the ACC sounded funny. And there are schools in Chicago and Milwaukee as part of the Big EAST, so nothing should surprise us now.

Let’s not kid ourselves about the Big East’s role in realignment. They were scorned but they too did a little poaching of their own _ albeit in a much more up-front, perhaps polite manner _ by grabbing Louisville, Cincinnati, Marquette, DePaul and South Florida from Conference USA.

And if the Big Ten does manage to pluck a Big East team from the fold (we’re a long, long way from that happening, so don’t get too excited), it won’t take the Big East long to go knocking on some doors to find a replacement or two. East Carolina could get a call, maybe Central Florida, etc.

It’s OK for flunky journalists like myself to speculate about realignment and which teams could move where, but when the winningest coach in college football history calls schools out, it’s not quite as becoming.

- Neill

UConn guard Kemba Walker has been officially asked to return to USA Basketball this summer.

Walker is among 17 players 19-and-under who have been invited to the team trials for the USA U19 National Team. The trials are June 16-18 in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Those 17 players will compete for the 12 roster spots open for America’s entry into the 2009 U19 World Championships. The championships are in New Zealand, and players who make it will depart June 25 for the other side of the world.

Walker, who was named MVP of the 2008 FIBA Americas Championship that qualified the U.S. for this year’s World Championship, averaged 13.4 ppg., 5.0 apg., and 4.6 rpg. while leading the his team to a silver medal in 2008.

In addition to Walker, Al-Farouq Aminu (Wake Forest / Norcross, Ga.), Dominic Cheek (Villanova / Jersey City, N.J.),and Drew Gordon (UCLA / San Jose, Calif.) have all previously represented the USA.

Rounding out the 2009 USA Men’s U19 World Championship Team Trials roster are newcomers: Kenny Boynton (Florida / Pompano Beach, Fla.), Darryl Bryant (West Virginia / Brooklyn, N.Y.), DeAngelo Casto (Washington State / Spokane, Wash.), Seth Curry (Duke / Charlotte, N.C.), Gordon Hayward (Butler / Brownsburg, Ind.), Darius Miller (Kentucky / Maysville, Ky.), Arnett Moultrie (UTEP / Memphis, Tenn.), Ralph Sampson III (Minnesota / Duluth, Ga.), John Shurna (Northwestern / Glen Ellyn, Ill.), Tyshawn Taylor (Kansas / Jersey City, N.J.), Howard Thompkins (Georgia / Lithonia, Ga.), Klay Thompson (Washington State / Ladera Ranch, Calif.) and Terrico White (Mississippi / Memphis, Tenn.).

- Neill

Some news from our friends over the border. Ex-UConn guard Doug Wiggins is no longer on the UMass basketball team.

Here’s a story from Springfield.

- Neill

UConn linebacker Scott Lutrus saw the charge of interfering with an officer he was facing dropped Monday morning.

According to Lutrus’ attorney, Rob Britt, the facts in the case had been a little bit misstated earlier.

Scott Lutrus, one of the Huskies’ captains, was arrested April 24 during UConn’s Spring Weekend along with his brother Kyle.

Britt said that on the night in question Kyle Lutrus was in the process of being arrested by UConn police for his involvement in a fight when Scott tried to make sure his brother was OK. Kyle had been slashed with what appeared to be a box cutter.

Scott Luturs told UConn police as he approached, according to Britt, “You don’t understand. That’s my brother.”

The police ordered Scott to back up, though the junior from Brookfield only stopped moving forward. He was then arrested.

Scott Lutrus may have violated the letter of the law, though Britt called his actions on the night in question “understandable under the circumstances.” The prosecutor in the case apparently agreed.

Scott Lutrus did not appear Monday morning in Rockville Superior Court, though he did make a $100 charitable contribution through the court before the charges were dropped.

Kyle Lutrus was charged with two counts of interfering with an officer and one count of second-degree breach of peace because of his actions. He applied for accelerated rehabilitation last week.

- Neill

UConn linebacker Scott Lutrus will have to wait to answer a charge of interfering with an officer. Tuesday morning Lutrus’ case in Rockville Superior Court was continued to May 18.

The Brookfield native was arrested April 24 just off the UConn campus. It was Spring Weekend at UConn, and Lutrus was apparently involved in a fight near the Celeron Square Apartments.

Lutrus, 21, was recently named one of the team’s captains.

- Neill