UConn sports

The UConn-Kentucky game on Dec. 9 at Madison Square Garden will start at 9:30 p.m.

It’s the second game of a SEC/Big East Invitational doubleheader, with Georgia and St. John’s meeting in the opener at 7. The Johnnies and Bulldogs are on ESPN2 while the UConn game will be on ESPN.

The second night of the SEC/Big East battle (Dec. 10) features DePaul against Mississippi State at 6:30 p.m., followed by Syracuse and Florida at 9. Those games will be played in Tampa.

- Neill

UConn senior Andre Dixon and sophomore Jordan Todman have both been named as candidates for the Doak Walker Award. The award is presented annually to the nation’s top college running back.

Dixon was a second team All-Big East selection in 2007 and led the Huskies in rushing with 828 yards, including four 100-yard rushing games. Todman rushed for 318 yards as a true freshman last year for UConn with a season-high 81 yards against Virginia.

The complete list of candidates:

Armando Allen (Jr.), Notre Dame

André Anderson (Sr.), Tulane

Reggie Arnold (Sr.), Arkansas State

Baron Batch (Jr.), Texas Tech

Jahvid Best (Jr.), California, Berkeley

LeGarrette Blount (Sr.), Oregon

Chris Brown (Sr.), Oklahoma

Donald Buckram (Jr.), UTEP

John Clay (So.), Wisconsin

DaJuane Collins (Sr.), Toledo

Jeff Demps (So.), Florida

Noel Devine (Jr.), West Virginia

Andre Dixon (Sr.), Connecticut

Shaun Draughn (Jr.), North Carolina

Jonathan Dwyer (Jr.), Georgia Tech

Jamelle Eugene (Sr.), North Carolina State

Darren Evans (So.), Virginia Tech

Damion Fletcher (Sr.), Southern Mississippi

Toby Gerhart (Sr.), Stanford

Cyrus Gray (So.), Texas A&M

Nicolas (Nic) Grigsby (Jr.), Arizona

DuJuan Harris (Jr.), Troy

Roy Helu, Jr. (Jr.), Nebraska

Dan Herron (So.), Ohio State

Kendall Hunter (Jr.), Oklahoma State

Mark Ingram (So.), Alabama

Eugene Jarvis (Sr.), Kent State

MiQuale Lewis (Sr.), Ball State

Darius Marshall (Jr.), Marshall

Brandon Minor (Sr.), Michigan

DeMarco Murray (Jr.), Oklahoma

Daniel Porter (Sr.), Louisiana Tech

Jacquizz Rodgers (So.), Oregon State

Charles Scott (Sr.), LSU

Da’Rel Scott (Jr.), Maryland

Jake Sharp (Sr.), Kansas

Michael Smith (Sr.), Arkansas

C.J. Spiller (Sr.), Clemson

James Starks (Sr.), Buffalo

Curtis Steele (Sr.), Memphis

Phillip Tanner (Sr.), Middle Tennessee State

Vai Taua (Jr.), Nevada

Jordan Todman (So.), Connecticut

Joseph Turner (Sr.), TCU

Brandon West (Sr.), Western Michigan

- Neill

Sorry for the delay. Caught some traffic on the way home.

Anyway, a few notes from Big East media day Tuesday in Newport:

– The Huskies were picked to finish sixth (yawn) as usual.

In their six years in the league (five-plus anyway) the Huskies have been picked to finish fifth, fifth, sixth, seventh, sixth and sixth.

“We’re used to it,” linebacker Scott Lutrus shrugged. “We’re always picked in the lower half. It doesn’t make a difference to us. It’s just a number.”

UConn coach Randy Edsall said (he’s right, it seems) that there really isn’t a favorite.

“I really don’t know if there’s a clear cut favorite,” Edsall said. “I think you could vote for six, seven or eight teams. Everybody has question marks. … I think we’ve got just as good a chance to win the league as anybody.”

– With a series against Michigan on the horizon, it looks like UConn may not sign a deal to play Notre Dame.

The home-and-(sort-of)-home proposed deal in which UConn’s home games would be in NFL stadiums in Foxboro and/or East Ruthterford has hit a snag and could be finished.

One source in Newport said Tuesday that a deal could still be made but it won’t look the same as the proposed version. It seems UConn wants an actual home game (in East Hartford) as part of the series.

We’ll see…

– Speaking of the Irish, Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly was pretty funny when talking about a potential series between his team and ND.

Kelly said he wouldn’t insist on a home-and-home if Notre Dame was willing to play the Bearcats.

“I’d play them twice there,” Kelly said of games in South Bend, Ind.

Kelly said he hasn’t had any talks with the folks at Notre Dame. He said the city of Cincinnati has the third-largest group of ND graduates living it its borders (behind Chicago and New York) in any metropolitan area. Not sure of his facts, but it sounds like it could be true.

Anyway, Kelly’s not losing sleep over the Irish’s lack of desire to play.

“It’s not going to happen so I don’t spend much time thinking about it,” Kelly said.

– Even though DE Marcus Campbell is off the team (for now…it’s possible he re-enrolls next semester) Edsall doesn’t plan on any position switches. No defensive tackles moving out or linebackers moving down.

The younger ends the Huskies have must step up, Edsall says.

Lindsey Witten will be the Huskies’ top DE, obviously.

“I think Lindsey’s got to have a big year,” Edsall said. “It’s Lindsey’s time to step up and shine.”

– New Big East Commissioner John Marinatto isn’t worried about the Big East losing its BCS slot when the new contract is signed. The current four-year contract ends after this season.

Marinatto also isn’t worried about the Mountain West getting in. He says the two options aren’t related.

“The Mountain West has petitioned for a seventh automatic berth in the BCS,” Marinatto said. “It hasn’t attempted, in any way, to detract from the fact that we’re one of the six.

“So, more power to them,” Marinatto continued. “If they accomplished what we’ve accomplished over four years, then they’ve earned a seventh automatic berth. But we’re very confident and happy that we are where we are. I’m not worried about where we stand.”

– This just in: Desi Cullen is hilarious.

The UConn punter and captain was joking (well, not really) about wanting to actually carry or catch the ball once in his career. If it does happen, it would almost have to be on a fake punt.

“We know Edsall’s never going to run one,” Cullen said with a laugh. “It’s never happened and it never will.”

Maybe Cullen will have to stage his own fake. Well…maybe not.

“I don’t have enough cojones to just run with it,” Cullen said.

Cullen says he runs a 4.85 and would have a good chance to make it if even the chance.

So has UConn ever practiced a fake punt?

“We practiced it one time but I think that was just to get me to shut up,” Cullen said.

Good stuff….

– Look for a story on Desi in the coming days by Post columnist Chris Elsberry.

As you wait, here’s one more bon mot from the Kentucky Hammer:

Cullen spent a few minutes talking about North Carolina’s Bruce Carter and the three blocked punts Carter picked up in the Heels’ win over the Huskies last season in Chapel Hill, N.C.

“He said ‘I’m coming for you!’ and then he blocked it,” Cullen said.

“Then he did it again,” Cullen said. “After the third time I said ‘You done? My family is here, you know!’ ”

- Neill

Greetings from Newport.

No major surprises in the Big East’s preseason poll: No one really knows who will win the league.

Pittsburgh is the top choice, as voted by various media members around the league.

But four teams received first-place votes and the third choice, Cincinnati, received as many first-place votes (8) as Pitt did.

UConn, as usual, was picked as something of an also-ran. The Huskies are pegged sixth.

The poll:

1. Pittsburgh (8) 161

2. West Virginia (5) 151

3. Cincinnati (8) 144

4. USF (3) 130

5. Rutgers 126

6. UConn 74

7. Louisville 51

8. Syracuse 27