UConn sports

Yes, we saw the SNY report that UConn coach Jim Calhoun is set to retire according to a “source close” to the coach. Chris Carlin said it on the air, it seems.

A few phone calls by yours truly Monday night couldn’t confirm this. Quite the contrary, no one had heard Calhoun say it. That being said, no one has said since Calhoun returned to the sidelines that it won’t happen.

Now, it’s not that I doubt the veracity of Mr. Carlin’s source, but I’m not sure that any person other than Calhoun himself and perhaps his family knows the answer.

Will Calhoun retire at the end of the season? Sure, it could happen.

Will he stay on? I certainly wouldn’t put it past him.

I just think the breaking news will probably came straight from the horse’s mouth.

- Neill

UConn football coach Randy Edsall spoke with the media by phone this afternoon to preview the Huskies’ upcoming spring practice.

UConn hits the practice field next Tuesday.

It’s been a long day for yours truly here at Gampel Pavilion but I’ve played hurt/tired before. Here are some quick highlights before we leave:

– A few dates to remember:

Practice begins next Tuesday (March 16).

The Blue-White Game is April 17 at Rentschler Field.

– As he’s said recently, Edsall reiterated that Zach Frazer is the No. 1 quarterback heading into the spring.

“He knows it’s his job to lose,” Edsall said.

Frazer’s performance down the stretch of the season was key.

“He’s on a four-game win streak,” Edsall said. “He didn’t make the big mistakes. He made some big throws. … I felt he deserved to be the number one guy based on what he did at the end of the season.”

With Cody Endres still fighting for the job and perhaps even capable of winning it, Edsall is as comfortable with the depth at quarterback his Huskies have this season as any time before.

“There’s no question,” Edsall said.

Frazer, at 238 pounds, ran a 4.8 40-yard dash Edsall said. The senior’s combined lifts (squat and bench, I believe) are up 53 pounds.

Frazer’s team in the Huskies’ offseason conditioning program (he was one of 12 captains of the groups the team is divided into) won the team championship that is staged each winter.

– Jerome Junior is the returning starter at safety but who plays opposite him could be key to the Huskies’ defense next season.

Right now (it’s really, really early) the leading candidate is redshirt freshman Marcus Aiken.

“The first day we go out there, Marcus will be there,” Edsall said. “We could change that next day.”

Edsall also listed (in no particular order, I believe) David Kenney, Andrew Opoku and Matt Edwards as possible replacements for the departed Robbie Vaughn.

– Along the offensive line it’s kind of status quo (a good thing) despite the departure of Mike Hicks and Dan Ryan.

At this point Edsall says Matt Olivier is the starter at one guard and Erik Kuraczea is the backup.

At center:

“Gary Bardzak has worked hard. So Mo (Petrus) is going to have to work his tail off this spring to make sure he keeps his position,” Edsall said.

– FB Bret Manning has “slimmed down a bit” according to Edsall in his efforts to play behind Anthony Sherman. Manning is listed as 255 pounds on the roster on UConn’s website.

– The starters at wide receiver for now are Kashif Moore, Michael Smith and Isiah Moore.

– As expected DE Jesse Joseph (shoulder), DE Greg Lloyd (knee), CB Blidi Wreh-Wilson (shoulder), OT Mike Ryan (shoulder), OT Jimmy Bennett (knee) and RB/KR Robbie Frey (shoulder) will miss spring practice with injuries.

– Lloyd’s torn knee ligaments are perhaps the most concerning to the Huskies. He could be ready by August for the start of training camp but there’s no guarantees.

“He’s here this week working out. He didn’t go home (for spring break),” Edsall said. “He’s got some work to do in terms of his rehab. … I’m not sure if he’ll be ready come August.”

A linebacker who is moving to defensive end, Lloyd has always been a big hitter (see: Notre Dame). The Huskies would obviously love to have him on the field in 2010 but…

“He’s probably not as far along as we would have anticipated at this time,” Edsall said. “He’s got to continue to work a little bit harder.”

Redshirting Lloyd is obviously an option for Edsall and his staff. We’ll see.

– DE Marcus Campbell, who returns after missing last season for academic reasons, looks pretty good to the coach.

“He’s in good shape. He’s gotten stronger,” Edsall said. “I like everything I’ve seen from him so far.”

– New Haven native LB Alex Folson has left team to deal with family issues, the coach said.

– Perhaps I was slow to realize but just so you know: walk-on Josh Massey, a former Notre Dame-West Haven track and football star, is back and is now listed as a wide receiver.

– Chad Christen, who Edsall says has a stronger leg than Desi Cullen, has the edge at punter right now. Cole Wagner “has to get more consistent” with his kicks, the coach says.

– A small insight into Edsall’s recent hiring of Jon Wholley and Darrell Perkins as assistants:

“They were the only guys I offered the job to,” Edsall said.

– Edsall on the UConn women’s basketball team’s quest for 71 in a row Monday night?

“I wish them the best of luck,” Edsall said. “I don’t think they’ll need it.

– Edsall on his “calling out” of Connecticut’s high school coaches on signing day. (In case you forgot, he said the Husky coaches are often received better by high school coaches out of state than they are in CT).

“I think it really got all overblown,” Edsall said.

The reaction has been good, overall, though.

“I think it has been very positive,” Edsall said. “I think we’re already seeing the benefits.”

Edsall said his biggest complaint/point was that the state’s high school coaches don’t use UConn for what it has to offer. He wasn’t whining about losing in-state recruits, as much as he was telling in-state coaches they were always welcome in Storrs.

“I want everybody to take advantage of what we have to offer here,” Edsall said. “That’s basically what it was really all about.”

– The potential punt returners this spring: CB Gary Wilburn, CB Tevrin Brandon, QB Leon Kinnard, SS Marcus Aiken, WR Nick Williams

– The potential kick returners: CB Gilbert St. Louis (I believe it’s actually spelled “Stlouis” but I’m going to actually ask him in person before I write it that way), RB Jordan Todman, RB Martin Hyppolite.

- Neill

Think you’ve had it tough as a UConn basketball fan watching the current Huskies play this season?

Try being the head coach.

“If I could ever figure this team out, then I probably wouldn’t be losing my mind,” Jim Calhoun said Monday before he and his team left for New York and the Big East tournament.

The coach said this when asked about his decision to pull his three seniors (Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson and Gavin Edwards) for the final 16 minutes of Saturday’s loss to USF and whether or not it will change the players’ approach Tuesday against St. John’s.

Good stuff.

Painful, undoubtedly, if you’re the coach. Honest, probably, too.

– Whether or not Dyson and Robinson return to the starting lineup Tuesday is still up in the air.

“As far as any starting team, we kept changing it today (Monday) based on what guys were doing in different drills,” Calhoun said. “I’m sure it’ll change by tomorrow (Tuesday).

“I don’t know how important it is. I think it’s more important how we play the game whoever is on the floor,” Calhoun continued. “That will be determined by me watching how they play.”

When members of the media were allowed into practice Monday it was Dyson, Kemba Walker, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel, Alex Oriakhi and Charles Okwandu with the first team.

A few minutes later Robinson had replaced Coombs-McDaniel.

– So did UConn’s trio of seniors talk about their benching?

“Not really. I think we all knew kind of what we had to do,” Edwards said. “We knew the reason for what happened. We didn’t really need to talk.”

How was practice over the last two days since the “change.”

“I think it’s been a lot more focused than it has been in a long time,” Edwards said. “Coach has really gotten rid of any nonsense that’s gone on before. Everything is strictly basketball and strictly things that we need to be doing.”

– Calhoun did say Robinson and Dyson responded well to the benching in practice.

“I think Jerome and Stanley particularly did, yeah. Stanley was really good on defense, came in with a really good attitude,” Calhoun said. “Jerome was really good yesterday (Sunday) and today (Monday).”

– PG Kemba Waker is taking the approach catcher Jake Taylor in Major League did (“Only one thing left to do now…..Win the whole %^&*$#!ing thing.”)

“At this point it’s do or die,” Walker said. “We have to win some games in this tournament. Right now our main focus is to win the whole tournament, but we want to take it one game at a time.”

– UConn has lost five straight games in the league tournament.

“We haven’t done as well in the tournament as we would have liked the last couple years,” Calhoun said. “We’d like to improve on that. But more importantly _ this is not a history kind of thing _ we really need to establish something.”

– There is no quit in the Huskies, Walker says. They haven’t given up on each other.

“No. Not at all,” Walker said. “We’ve always been together. Some nights we just don’t play hard. We all love each other, we’re all cool. Nobody is not friends on this team.”

But are the players, like their coach, losing their minds?

“Nah, I don’t think so. I don’t think the players are losing their minds,” Walker said. “We’re the ones doing it.”

- Neill

Big East Defensive Player of the Year _ Hamady Ndiaye, Rutgers

Big East Most Improved Player _ Ashton Gibbs, Pittsburgh

Big East Sixth Man Award _ Kris Joseph, Syracuse

Big East Sportsmanship Award _ Tory Jackson, Notre Dame

NEW YORK _ Hamady Ndiaye, Rutgers’ senior center, has been named Big East defensive player of the year by a vote of the league’s head coaches who were not permitted to vote for their own players.

The Big East also announced that Pittsburgh guard Ashton Gibbs is the league’s most improved player. Syracuse forward Kris Joseph is the winner of the sixth man award. Notre Dame’s Tory Jackson will receive the league’s Sportsmanship Award.

Ndiaye was a shot-blocking stalwart for the Scarlet Knights. He easily led the Big East in blocked shots with 140 and a 4.5 average. The second-best total in the league was 66. The 6-11 senior from Dakar, Senegal, also averaged 9.8 points and a team-leading 7.1 rebounds. He is the first Rutgers player to lead the league in blocks. Ndiaye’s blocked shot total this season is the second-highest in school history.

Gibbs, a 6-2 sophomore from Scotch Plains, N.J., helped Pittsburgh to a 13-5 Big East record and a No. 2 seed at league tourney by averaging a team-leading 16.2 ppg. He is first in the league in free throw shooting, making 89 percent. Last season, Gibbs’ scoring average was 4.3 while going less than 11 minutes of playing time per game. It’s the fourth time in the last seven seasons that a Pitt player has garnered Most Improved Player honors.

Joseph, a 6-7 sophomore, has been a key contributor off the bench for Syracuse. The native of Montreal, Quebec, was third on the team in scoring with an 11.0 average. He also averaged 5.4 rebounds while playing 27 minutes per game for the Orange who enter the league tournament with a 28-3 overall record. The Orange are the tournament’s No. 1 seed after compiling a 15-3 conference record.

Jackson has been an exemplary four-year performer for Notre Dame. A team captain, the 5-11 senior from Saginaw, Mich., is averaging 9.7 ppg and 5.4 assists. In league games, Jackson finished first in the Big East in assists with a 5.6 average. He became only the second player in league history to capture three assists crowns.