UConn women advance to AAC Semifinals

Uncasville, Conn. – The UConn women’s basketball team opened the American Athletic Conference postseason play with another rout. The No. 1 Huskies defeated eighth-seeded Cincinnati 72-42 in the quarterfinals at Mohegan Sun Arena. They will face fourth-seeded Rutgers on Sunday afternoon.

In front of a 7,332 partisan fans, the Huskies played uncharacteristically sloppy. As a team, they only assisted on 12 baskets, had 15 turnovers, and shot 25% from three-point range. Perhaps it can be attributed to the fact they were playing for the first time since last Monday or it was the first time playing at Mohegan Sun, which is located in southeastern Connecticut.

However, there were many positives to this game. The Huskies did win by 30 points and held the Bearcats to 32% shooting. Four starters scored in double figures. Breanna Stewart, the American Player of the Year, scored a game-high 22 points. She was nine for nine from the foul line.

Stefanie Dolson added 10 points and nine rebounds, while Bria Hartley scored 17 points and added five assists, but had five turnovers. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis struggled shooting again going four for 10 from the field, but ended with 12 points.

UConn (32-0) will play Rutgers (22-8) on Sunday at 1pm on ESPNU in the semifinals. The Scarlet Knights came from behind to defeat SMU 68-49. Guards Kahleah Copper scored 22 points and AAC Freshman of the Year Tyler Scaife added 18 points for Rutgers.

The UConn backcourt will be challenged to defend these two players on Sunday. In addition, the Huskies must be focused and not turnover the ball. Rutgers pressed SMU throughout the second half to take control of the game. Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer said “that it is do or die” and she will do everything in her power to help her team advance to the American final on Monday night and secure an NCAA tournament bid.

Hartley and Moriah Jefferson must pass the ball up court to see Stewart and Dolson in transition. If they do that, they will win in ease. If they don’t, Rutgers will press and then drop into a zone and pack it in to force the Huskies to make outside shots.

The Huskies defeated the Scarlet Knights twice this season. Most recently, UConn won last weekend 72-35.  Defensively, the Huskies held Rutgers to their lowest scoring output of the season.

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Game Notes:

UConn advanced to a conference semifinal for the 26^th time. They are 23-2 in the conference semifinals.

Louisville and South Florida will meet in the second semifinal on Sunday at 3pm (ESPNU).  Both teams won in Saturday evening blowouts.

Former UConn men’s basketball player Andre Drummond stopped by the UConn locker room after the game and took a picture with the team.

The American honored seven UConn players during a pre-game ceremony before the game. Soniya Chong was honored for making the All-Freshmen Team; Mosqueda-Lewis and Kia Stokes were honored for making the Second Team All-Conference; Dolson, Hartley, Jefferson and Stewart were honored for making the First Team All-Conference. Dolson received her Sportsmanship Award and Defensive Player of the Year trophies. Stewart received her Player of the Year Award and Geno Auriemma received his Coach of the Year Award.

The American Women’s Tournament Preview

On Friday afternoon, the American Athletic Conference announced the conference’s major award winners – Coach, Player, Rookie and Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Just like on Thursday, the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team took home some more hardware.

Sophomore Breanna Stewart was honored as the Player of the Year and head coach Geno Auriemma was named the Coach of the Year.  Rutgers’ Tyler Scaife was earned the Rookie of the Year honors, while Antonita Slaughter from Louisville was the Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Stewart was a dominating force during the regular season. She averaged 19.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game. This should be the first of many awards that Stewart will earn this postseason. She is a finalist for most National Player of the Year awards and should be named a First Team All-American.

Auriemma has led the Huskies to another undefeated regular season. Dating back to last season’s NCAA Tournament, No. 1 UConn has won 37 straight games and will be the favorite to win the AAC postseason tournament and the program’s ninth national title.

UConn will begin American Tournament play on Saturday in the second quarterfinal game at 2:00pm on ESPN3. The top-seeded Huskies will face No. 8 seed Cincinnati at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.

The Bearcats hung on for a 54-52 win over No. 9 seed Central Florida in the opening round on Friday night and will play UConn for the third time this season. In the second game of the opening round, No. 10 seed Houston upset No. 7 seed Memphis and will play No. 2 seed Louisville on Saturday evening.

AAC Preview

Dark Horse-

South Florida is fighting for its NCAA Tournament lives.  They earned the No. 3 seed with a win at Rutgers this past Monday. Two more wins would get them to 20 for the season and the championship game which should guarantee them an NCAA bid.

Game to Watch-

Rutgers vs. SMU – Rutgers has been ranked during the regular season and should make the field of 64.  However, they have lost their past two games (at UConn and vs. USF).  Have they done enough to get into the NCAA Tournament?

A Final Goodbye-

UConn can possible play Rutgers and Louisville for the final time in a conference postseason tournament. Next season Rutgers is off to the Big Ten while Louisville is heading to the ACC.

Just like the Old Big East-

UConn should win their first American Athletic Conference Tournament Championship on Monday night. They have been the best team all season and have the best player and coach in the conference – if not the country. If the Huskies win, it will be their 38^th conference championship. 

American Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament Schedule

Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Conn.

Quarterfinals – Saturday, March 8, 2014

12pm – No. 4 Rutgers (21-8, 12-6) vs. No. 5 SMU (17-12, 8-10)

2pm – No. 1 Connecticut (31-0, 18-0) vs. No. 8 Cincinnati (13-17, 5-13)

6pm – No. 2 Louisville (28-3, 16-2) vs. No. 10 Houston (6-24, 1-17)

8pm – No. 3 South Florida (18-11, 13-5) vs. No. 6 Temple (14-15, 8-10)

Semifinals – Sunday, March 9, 2014

1pm – Semifinal No. 1 (ESPNU)

3pm – Semifinal No. 2 (ESPNU)

Championship – Monday, March 10, 2014

7pm – Winner of the Semifinal Games (ESPN)

Would Of, Could Of, Should Of

It has been a pretty big week for the University of Connecticut.

Connecticut forward Niels Giffey, left, comes down with a rebound against Cincinnati guard JaQuon Parker, right, during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, March 2, 2013, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/David Kohl)

The week started with the men's basketball team ranked in the Top 25 for the first time since late December. 

The men's basketball team had a huge opportunity on Thursday night at AAC leader Cincinnati.  They had a 10 point lead late in the first half, but saw it evaporate late in the second half.  The Bearcats out willed and out toughed UConn late in the game.  The Huskies made plenty of poor decisions and it cost them the game.

Kevin Ollie's crew needs to refocus.  They need to get DeAndre Daniels healthy.  Daniels was out of Thursday's game with back spasms.  They have games at Central Florida on Sunday night and a home game with South Florida.  They need to win those game as well as rematches with Temple and Rutgers and try to defend their own home court in games with Memphis, SMU and Cincinnati later in the season.  They have nine games left and need to start making up ground in order to avoid the 4/5 AAC Tournament quarterfinal game.    

Bob Diaco, former Notre Dame defensive coordinator, speaks as Connecticut's new head football coach during an introductory news conference on campus in Storrs, Conn., Thursday, Dec. 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

The football team got 14 new players committed to playing for UConn this coming year.  However, the national ranking services gave Bob Diaco a pretty poor grade.  These rankings are dumb and flawed.  They rank young kids until their senior year of high school.  I do not believe that they take team fit into consideration. I wonder what their rankings are on these athletes while in college and in the NFL?

On Thursday, the University of Tennessee suspended the upcoming football series with UConn.  Tennessee is opting to play two neutral site games in Tennessee in 2015 and 2016.  The two universities agreed to find a new date by 2015.

Connecticut's Bria Hartley (14) drives past SMU's Gabrielle Wilkins (3) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Storrs, Conn., Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014. Hartley scored a game-high 21 points in her team's 102-41 victory. (AP Photo/ Fred Beckham)

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/02/04/3245299/uconn-women-win-30th-straight.html#storylink=cpy

The top-ranked UConn women had their largest conference win this year defeating SMU by 61 points.  Five UConn players scored in double figures.  On Sunday, they will take on No. 4 Louisville for first place in the American Athletic Conference.  The game preview will be posted on The UConn Blog sometime on Saturday.

Go Huskies!