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Roscoe Smith

Position: SF
Rivals: #6 SF, #31 overall
Scout#6 SF
ESPN: 95/100, #4 SF
Ht: 
6'7
Wt: 185 lbs
School:
 Oak Hill Acad. (Va.)

SHABAZZ! Napier

Position: PG
Rivals: #25 PG, #98 overall
Scout: NR
ESPN: 94/100, #52 (2011)
Ht: 5'10"
Wt: 165 lbs
School:
 Lawrence Acad. (Mass.)

Jeremy Lamb

Position: SG
Rivals: #17 SG, #68 overall
Scout#13 SG
ESPN: 91/100, #43 SG
Ht: 6'4"
Wt: 170 lbs
School:
 Norcross (Ga.)

Michael Bradley

Position: PF/C
Rivals: NR
Scout#15 C (4 stars)
ESPN: 85/100
Ht: 6'9"
Wt: 215 lbs
School:
 Tyner Acad. (Tenn.)

Tyler Olander

Position: PF
Rivals: NR
Scout#35 PF
ESPN90/100
Ht: 6'8"
Wt: 222 lbs
School:
 E.O. Smith (Conn.)

Niels Giffey
Position: SF
Rivals: NR
Scout: NR
ESPN: 40/100
Ht: 6'6"
School:
 Berlin, Germany

Enosch Wolf
Position: C
Rivals: NR
Scout: NR
ESPN: 40/100
Ht: 7'1"
School: 
Germany

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TheRoundUp 9/7: In which UConn responds to the NCAA (in private)

UConn says NCAA will have response on Tuesday - Associated Press
UConn will give the NCAA its response to allegations against the men's basketball team today, but compliance officials need to review it before it is released to the media, so fans will still have to wait to find out what it says.

Huskies Add Defensive Lineman For 2011 - UConn Huskies Football Blog | Hartford Courant | Desmond Conner
Note the high school: Obum Obukwelu has committed to the UConn football program. Obukwelu, listed as three-star recurit by rivals.com and a two-star by scout.com, is 6-1, 255. He's a senior at Boston (MA) College High.

Big East power rankings, Week 2 - Big East Blog - ESPN
On my original power ranking ballot, I had UConn third. Known Husky-haters Justin and Meacham made me lower them to sixth. Brian Bennett? He has UConn 3rd. Smart man that Bennett.

Central Florida added to schedule for 2014, 2015 - The New Haven Register Blogs: Ramblings from The Runway
UCF will head to East Hartford in 2014, Huskies go south the following year.

Much more after the jump.

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0 comments |

Big East Football Power Rankings: Week 1

West Virginia players celebrate being ranked first in the inaugural Big East Power Rankings. Well, either that or they were excited about beating Coastal Carolina. You be the judge.

More photos » Michael Switzer - AP

West Virginia players celebrate being ranked first in the inaugural Big East Power Rankings. Well, either that or they were excited about beating Coastal Carolina. You be the judge.

Welcome to the SB Nation Big East Power Rankings. This is a new feature I'm really excited about. SB Nation's collection of Big East blogs have joined together to vote on conference rankings, which will be updated each and every Monday during the football season. Each blog gets one ballot and will rank Big East teams from first to eighth. A first-place vote is worth eight points, second place seven and so on. Without further ado, here are your Week 1 rankings:

1. West Virginia (4): 39 points -- vs. Coastal Carolina W 31-0  -- Last Week: N/R

2. Pittsburgh: (1) 34 points -- @ Utah L 27-24 (OT) -- Last Week: N/R

3. South Florida: 26 points -- vs. Stony Brook W 59-14 -- Last Week: N/R

4. Rutgers: 22 points -- vs. Norfolk St. W 31-0 -- Last Week: N/R

T-5. Cincinnati: 19 points -- @ Fresno St. L 28-14 -- Last Week: N/R

T-5. Syracuse: 19 points -- @ Akron W 29-3 -- Last Week: N/R

7. UConn: 16 points -- @ Michigan L 30-10 -- Last Week N/R

8. Louisville: 5 points -- vs. Kentucky L 23-16 -- Last Week: N/R

Hit the jump to check out my thoughts and the individual ballots from each blog.

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1 comment |

TheRoundUp 9/6: Labor Day Edition

Aftermath: Third Down A Lost Cause For UConn Football Team - Courant.com
Michigan converted 14 of 19 third downs, including five on the third-quarter drive, and six when facing a distance greater than 5 yards.

UConn’s thumping by Michigan doesn’t dampen chances of winning Big East :: Mansfield Today
Here is a long recap of almost everything UConn-Michigan.

Jeff Jacobs column: UConn coach hiding behind Big East injury policy - Courant.com
Jeff Jacobs does not like how Edsall handles injuries: "Permit me to be so bold as to say this [injury] new policy, as it's being employed by Edsall, isn't starting out so swell. I'd argue it isn't giving everybody — namely the fans — the information they need."

UConn's Edsall: Battle lost in the trenches - GreenwichTime
Randy Edsall may play coy when it comes to the injury status of his key players, but the UConn coach didn't mince words when it came to the reason his Huskies were beaten by Michigan Saturday in Ann Arbor. "I thought we got whupped on both sides of the line of scrimmage," Edsall said Sunday afternoon. "We didn't win the battle in the trenches."

What we learned in the Big East - Big East Blog - ESPN
2. No clear favorite exists: We knew the Big East was fairly wide open, but at least Pitt was viewed as a solid favorite. It's clear after the first week that every team is flawed in some way. West Virginia is the only one of the preseason contenders still undefeated, but the Mountaineers needed a while before they could put away Coastal Carolina at home. Buckle up for a wild conference title race.

Former Huskies had biggest impact - ESPN.com
Taurasi made spectacular shots look routine, as she's known for. Cash played with that fierce sense of purpose, as she's known for. And Bird came through in the clutch, as she's know for.

Fewer MA students at UMass; more at UConn | WWLP.com
Well this is pretty hilarious: The number of undergraduates from the Bay State at the university dropped by 5.5%, while the number of Massachusetts students at the University of Connecticut jumped by 70%.

0 comments |

UConn vs. Michigan 24 hours later: the good and the bad

I can't say enough good things about Michigan fans. They were great hosts.

More photos » Tony Ding - AP

I can't say enough good things about Michigan fans. They were great hosts.

Proponents of college football's bowl system love to point to the fact that the current system means every regular season game matters. Their theory is basically that one loss can derail a season and wreck national title hopes. So sorry, UConn fans, I don't think UConn is winning it all this year. Of course, the flip-side of that theory is that it really only applies to the top 10 or so teams in the country and UConn, as yesterday made painfully clear, is not one of those teams. As such, in the long run, yesterday's game is little more than a three-hour disappointment. The good news is that the Huskies are still 0-0 in the Big East and still have a few weeks to tune-up for a run to the Big East title.

So with that in mind, let's take a look at some of the good and the bad things that came out of yesterday.

The good: UConn will never have to play against Denard Robinson again, and thank God for that. A few weeks ago I drew the ire of Michigan fans by saying I felt the Huskies had more talent than the Wolverines. Clearly, I was wrong. After yesterday, I'd say that on-balance, for every position but quarterback, the teams are pretty equal, maybe with Michigan grabbing a slight edge. But holy hell what a difference that quarterback makes. Video I had seen of Robinson didn't even come close to doing justice to the monster that he was yesterday. I don't care if UConn always struggles against mobile QBs, Robinson is something special.

The bad: UConn still struggles terribly against mobile quarterbacks. It has been a problem without an answer for years, and I hoped with an offseason to prepare for Rich Rodriguez's system, Randy Edsall might have been able to find some sort of answer, but this is looking like a permanent flaw in UConn's system. Honorable mention for the bad: The fact that Devin Gardner exists and will be Michigan's senior quarterback when they visit East Hartford in 2013.

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Lutrus Watch: The re-beginning?

The results obviously were not too good.

The aftermath, however, may be even worse.

Just a season removed from tracking the swishiness of Scott Lutrus' pantaloons, the great Lutrus Watch of 2010 has begun. ... Maybe.

Lutrus, who battled through stingers most of last season, left Saturday's loss to Michigan with what appeared to be an injury. But no one can say for sure, because Randy Edsall ain't talkin'.

Local reporters asked the UConn head coach about Lutrus' status during Sunday's weekly conference call, but Edsall went all "no comment" on them, instead choosing to hide behind the Big East's new injury report, which will be released on Monday.

"I've got no comment on anything about injuries on anybody," Edsall said, responding to a question asked by Neill Ostrout of the Connecticut Post. "Not Scott or anybody. Monday they'll have the Big East [report], and on Thursday we'll have the update on what the situation is for the game."

Well, OK then.

When the injury report was first announced, it seemed as though Edsall had possibly come around from his days of juking the stats, so to speak, on the media.

But now it's clear now that that's certainly not the case. Instead, Edsall appears poised to use the conference's injury report as a force field to deflect all unwelcome inquiries into his top-secret doctor's notes; not only did the coach delay dropping the hammer on everyone about the return of middle linebacker Greg Lloyd, but now it seems he will never discuss another injury for the rest of the season.

Which would be fine, if the conference dealt out any penalties at all for false reports. Or if it was, y'know, accurate, as The Courant's Zac Boyer points out:

But that's not the end-all, be-all of the report. Just last week, for example, South Florida coach Skip Holtz didn't turn in any players for Monday's list, and Big East associate commissioner for communications said on the weekly coaches' conference call that USF "had no players on the injury list."

Holtz laughed, then said, "We do have three. They're not new, just old lingering injuries, and they will be back at some point in time during the season: A.J. Love and Sterling Griffin, and Mark Popek, an offensive lineman, are the three right now that look like they will be out for this game."

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Former Huskies Brown, Taylor, Thomas cut from NFL teams

Cody Brown's Cardinals career is over before it started. (AP Photo/Matt York)

More photos » Matt York - AP

Cody Brown's Cardinals career is over before it started. (AP Photo/Matt York)

As we watched the defense of our beloved Huskies' be gashed by Denard "Pat White's Ghost" Robinson, former UConn players were being cut around the NFL on the league's unofficial D-Day.

-- Despite receiving some glowing reviews for his work ethic and smiling 97% of the time he was on camera for HBO's "Hard Knocks" series, former WR/RS Larry Taylor was let go by the Jets.

-- Even more surprising, however, was the release of former OG Donald Thomas by the Dolphins. Thomas played in all 16 games last year, starting 12, but apparently was no longer in Bill Parcells' plans. But while the former CFL star Taylor may struggle to catch on with a team, I'd expect to see Thomas on a roster before games begin this weekend.

-- Despite being selected in the second round in the 2009 draft, Cody Brown will likely never take the field for the Cardinals. After missing all of last season because of injury, the Arizona rush-LB was cut before his career really ever began.

-- Some good news, though: Robert McClain, a seventh-round pick by the Panthers, appears to be safe for now

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Let us never mention this again: Michigan 30, UConn 10

Denard Robinson just scored again. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)

More photos » Tony Ding - AP

Denard Robinson just scored again. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)

Randy Edsall did not have his team ready to play today. Flat out. I have no idea whether Michigan is a top 15 or top 25 team, but they damn sure looked like one today. To sum up:

--Would you be interested in converting your third downs to first downs? We at the First National Bank Of Edsall would like to accommodate your request!

--UConn still can't defend the read-option. Its tiny defensive line was manhandled by Michigan's offensive line, giving Denard Robinson and a cast of thousands plenty of running room.

--UConn still can't develop receivers. Marcus Easley, God bless him, is proving to be the exception to the rule. One potential touchdown drop by Michael Smith, several other costly mistakes, and the one big play UConn made in the passing game came on an impossible circus catch.

--UConn's defenders are still reacting, not acting. If Robinson wanted to run for a first down, he could. If he wanted to pass it, he had a wide open receiver in a hole in the zone. It was a masterful performance by Robinson, who I really hope becomes a star.

--Zach Frazer simply has not improved from last year. He still throws the ball 175 mph, and it still sails. He didn't get much help from the receivers, but this offense already appears to have regressed back to the Donald Brown run-run-pass-fest from 2008.

Michigan had the big edge at quarterback, and that was the difference. UConn's offense wasn't even that terrible; the Huskies pushed around Michigan's defense plenty. But Robinson's complete dominance, combined with a really, really poorly-timed turnover and some very poor execution exacerbated the problem of needing to score on almost every possession.

UConn can still have a great year, and if they aren't a much better team by late October and early November, I'll eat my hat. The Big East title is still very much out there, and through Week 1 the league appears to be down. Plus, they won't be facing anyone like Denard Robinson every week.

But this...this was an absolute disaster.

In UConn's only chance to showcase itself against a name-brand non-Big East opponent this year, the Huskies looked more like one of Michigan's typical September MAC cupcake opponents. Right or wrong, the average college football fan will write off UConn for the remainder of the season. And so after all the positive chatter, with all the returning starters, UConn will return to the anonymous backwaters of college football for a little while longer.

6 comments |

TheOpenThread: UConn Huskies vs. Michigan Wolverines

Here's hoping we see lots of this from Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez today.

TONY DING - AP

Here's hoping we see lots of this from Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez today.

After months of waiting and anticipation, football season is finally here. Join us today as The UConn Huskies take on the Michigan Wolverines (3:30 EST - ABC (ESPN2 if you're in the south/west of the country).

Meacham will also be around to follow the early afternoon games, so feel free to chime in on whatever game you're watching before 3:30 as well.

If you're new to the blog, we run an open thread for discussion of each and every UConn game. SB Nation's nifty setup makes joining easy, and the thread updates itself, so if you're a member, you won't have to reload the page to see all the updates. We want to hear from you so please join the discussion after the jump.

Go Huskies!

293 comments |

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Former Huskies Brown, Taylor, Thomas cut from NFL teams
(from EDSBS.com)

In case you weren't totally pumped for football season...NC A&T's band doing a cover of "Bed Intruder"...Scott Lutrus is climbin' in your windows...HES GONNA FIIIIIIND YOUUUUU
UConn Football Top Story On Espn.com
In an unprecedented move Kirk Herbstreit has picked the University of Connecticut Huskies to win...
A CALL TO ARMS/DEMOCRACY/AAAARGH
How good is UConn's linebacking corps?
The Fighting Fran Dreschers are coming for Michigan!

Looking at a draft of Porter's Michigan capsule jarred my memory, and I remembered that when the UConn/Michigan game was first announced (roughly a year ago), UM fans were not thrilled.

As chronicled in this post, UConn was called worse than Western Michigan and compared to Fran Drescher.

I resolved then to post the above hype photo every day of August 2010. Uh, not so much. But here it is anyway. You will see this photo again over the next month, FYI.
The President, LeBron and Bill Russell played basketball at the White House
In celebration of the SNY deal, Alex Oriakhi dunked on/destroyed/debacled/ended/embarassed 6-9 UMass Forward Sean Carter at the Greater Hartford Pro Am. This actually happened last week, but he knew the deal was coming. Carter wasn't so lucky.
WVU accused of five major football violations

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