Today UConn released a response to NCAA allegations of eight major rules violations involving the school’s basketball program. Included in the UConn response was the acknowledgement that the program did commit multiple violations and that it would offer to enact self-imposed sanctions that included minimal scholarship reductions.

(UConn Officials To NCAA: Rogues Are People Too!)

Though despite taking 62 pages (pdf) to defend itself against a serious threat of harsh NCAA penalties, the UConn administration absolved Jim Calhoun of any serious blame.

The entire NCAA investigation started after Yahoo Sports (who else?!) first broke the news last year of an alleged relationship between Calhoun and his program, former UConn basketball manager, booster and de-certified agent Josh Nochimson and then-prized recruit Nate Miles.

Nochimson is the key player in the most serious of UConn’s myriad violations. The HARTFORD COURANT describes him thusly:

A team manager-turned-agent, Nochimson was Richard Hamilton’s business manager before that relationship soured and ended with Hamilton suing Nochimson for allegedly stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from him. Nochimson, because of his time spent at UConn, is considered a “representative of the institution’s athletic interests,” by the NCAA.

He is accused of developing a relationship with Miles and providing him with gifts (lodging, transportation, meals, etc.) and also working closely with members of the UConn staff during Miles’ recruitment. Nochimson has not commented publicly since these accusations surfaced and his whereabouts are unknown.

So as a “representative of the UConn’s athletic interests,” by NCAA rule Nochimson was not permitted any contact with a prospective UConn recruit, let alone provide a recruit with significant benefits - as he reportedly did with Miles.

The heart of the story involving Calhoun’s UConn, booster Nochimson and recruit Miles was capsulated today by Dan Wetzel and Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo: Read more…

For the first time ever, it appears that Notre Dame may be serious about committing its football program to a major conference. Of course, the Irish are already full-fledged members of the hoops-centric Big East, save football. Now Notre Dame is reportedly considering the Big 10 as a landing spot for its entire sports program, including football.

(UConn’s Edsall, Big East: First On Scoreboard, Last In Boardroom)

With that news, UConn football coach Randy Edsall, who was reportedly a candidate for the Notre Dame football coaching position before Brian Kelly was hired, thinks it’s time for the Big East to demand that the Irish either commit fully to their present conference or cut ties completely with the Big East. Read more…

That’s not a question, it’s a statement.

(’Coach’ Mode: Michael Cooper impregnates opposing team’s center)

I love Bob Huggins and his breast pocket mini bottles being in the Final Four, and Butler is a great story, especially in Indy. But if I could pick one game to attend this weekend at gunpoint it’s Brittney Griner vs. The Streak in San Antone on Sunday.

The sports media finally has a legitimately compelling women’s basketball matchup, but somehow the Sunday game isn’t getting more than the normal, politically-correct deference the women’s Final Four always receives. At least so far.

As I’ve written on more than one occasion here, Griner has a chance to be the Gretzky of not just women’s basketball, but the most dominant female athlete in the history of women’s team sports. Her dominant physical skills are like nothing we’ve ever seen from a team sport female.

In other words, she can dunk. Easily. That’s everything. Read more…

The HARTFORD COURANT reports this morning that starting UConn cornerback Jasper Howard “died today after an on-campus stabbing.”

(UConn has posted alert on school’s website)

According to multiple sources, Howard, 20, was reportedly was stabbed near the student union. State Police major crime unit and UConn police say the stabbing happened just after 12:30 a.m. Sunday on Hillside Road near the center of campus. Police said two people were stabbed and were found near each other on Hillside Road. Read more…

On Wednesday, Brooks informed us that the University of Connecticut had banned its cheerleaders from doing any death-defying stunts during athletic contests, done out of concern of the cheergirls’ chances of suffering serious injuries - and concern of the lawsuits that are likely to follow.

(You won’t be seeing this anymore)

But such a decision by UConn officials puts the Husky cheerleaders on a slippery slope. (”Husky” referring to the nickname of UConn’s sports teams, not necessarily the physical condition of the cheerleaders.) Why, if they’re going to keep the girls from standing on each others’ heads & leaping to the ground, what’s to stop them from disbanding the cheerleading squad altogether? The gals can still suffer strained shoulders from all that arm-raising & fist-pumping, not to mention the terrible wear on their vocal chords from all that shouting - and the school could be held liable.

So before things in Storrs come to this inevitable conclusion, let’s take a moment to appreciate what might soon be removed from Rentschler Field & hauled away from the Hartford Civic Center.

(Photos after the jump.)

Read more…

• While Stanford suffers through athletic budget problems, football coach Jim Harbaugh gets himself a new $70,000 private bathroom & shower.

• The SEC is certainly a selfless b-ball conference. When the players aren’t giving up scholarships to allow other people onto the team, their coaches are giving up raises so they can afford team trips to Australia.

• UConn is taking the first steps to curtail catastrophic cheerleader injuries.

• Schools aren’t sold on Bud Light’s plans for college-colored Fan Cans.

• Are fantasy sports a nightmare for relationships & fan allegiances?

Read more…

The HARTFORD COURANT has big news today, but buries the lede. The newspaper notes that UConn has banned its cheerleading squad from performing gymnastic manuevers in favor of a “spirit squad.”

In other words, those crazy dangerous stunts you see performed during college sports events? You won’t see them anymore at Storrs.

Christine Wilson, assistant vice president for student affairs and director of student activities, said the change was made because “we want people formerly called cheerleaders to focus in on building spirit at UConn, on spending time working on ways to engage fans and to really spread Husky spirit” rather than spend hours perfecting stunts.

Of course, we know the real reason for the ban, and the Courant fails to even bring it up. Read more…

When you think college baseball, you probably don’t think of the Big East. Well, after what transpired yesterday, you still won’t. But when it comes to impromptu rain-delay dance-offs? Accept no substitute.

UConn and South Florida were slated to play for the right to advance to the semifinals of the tournament, but some rain got in the way. So much rain that the game was eventually called off and rescheduled for this morning. So what did they do to entertain themselves during the rain delay? Dance. And they danced like they they’ve never danced before. Actually, in South Florida’s case, they danced like they’ve been preparing for this moment all season. To the point where you wonder if they actually practice baseball in between dance rehearsals.

Ten glorious minutes of your life you’ll never get back, after the jump.

Read more…

Leave it to Major League Baseball’s old and tired leadership to open half of the league’s games in cold climates, many of which will force postponements during the very first week of the season. While the proud and downtrodden denizens of Philadelphia should be have been celebrating the first professional sports crown in the city of brotherly love for decades, they instead found some of their press stolen because of a cancellation of the season opener between the White Sox and Royals a day before the game was scheduled to be played!

That’s right folks,  it’s baseball season, and it’s snowing in Chicago.

It’s ludicrous that a professional sports league that employs as many marketing consultants as locker room attendees could sign off on a plan designed to wreak havoc on the schedule year after year.

There’s a simple solution to avoid the annual cancellations, travel headaches and  furious dispossesed fan bases: Play the entire first two weeks of the season in markets that are either: A) on the West coast, B) below the Mason-Dixon line or C) have domed stadiums. Stop kowtowing to the need for a New York opener and season-starting series in places like Cleveland and Chicago, and the season might actually work the way it’s supposed to on paper.

Of course, there’s never any weather-related problems in basketball, but there are plenty of crowd issues when the basketball is being played by women. If you tuned into the NCAA Women’s Final Four last night, ESPN would like to hear from you (they don’t believe the Nielsen ratings could possibly be that low) and Courtney Paris would like to apologize for crying so much the tears started flowing out of your screen.

Put those two stories together — the blown, $64,000 guarantee by a Joe Namath-sounding women’s basketball player and an utter lack of attendance (at least heading into the Final Four; no overnight attendance numbers were available last night) — and add in undefeated UConn’s seemingly inevitable drive to a perfect season, and there are plenty of fascinating story lines in St. Louis. Yet the bottom line, as it so often is with women’s basketball, no one cares.

That’s a shame. After all, when’s the next time an NFL great will have twin daughters playing in a Final Four, one of whom has an impulsively gregarious moment that costs him $64,000? When’s the next time we’re going to get to see that face? Priceless folks, priceless.

Somehow, despite the odds and ethical questions, a 19-year-old jockey is on the verge of competing in his horse racing’s signature event. If that doesn’t seem stunning enough, this is: Joe Talamo has already earned some $4 million en route to spitting range of his ultimate goal: the Kentucky Derby.

What’s even more amazing about Talomo, as first exposed by LAIST, are hisTwitter updates. For instance, check out these recent inputs from the rider of derby contender “I Want Revenge”.

• “30 til derby: Am at Santa Anita. Worked out 3 horses this morning…Right Round by Flo Rida is my song of the day. Big month ahead,”
• “30 til derby: just got home from dinner at the ivy and tim’s show. great night! going to bed. gotta wake up early”
• “29 til derby: Working a couple more horses after the break. Then filming a scene at Clocker’s Corner for Jockeys. LA Times interview at 10.”

Hmmm, tough life you got there kid. Now, about that L.A. TIMES interview. Would you prefer a Bill Plaschke kiss up, or a clueless T.J. Simers job? Your choice.

• About that Philadelphia World Series celebration; ummm, someone forgot to tell the Braves to roll over, even with a prior winless-in-openers Derek Lowe on the mound.
• Sidney Crosby is still getting upstaged by Alex Ovechkin in the box scores, but he’s starting to make up ground on him in on-ice fights.

• If anyone needed another reason to believe that Oakland’s entry into the National Football League is an ongoing script for a future WB sitcom, there’s this entry calling for the team to consider acquiring Michael Vick.
• Forget NASCAR, the real auto racing news is in the IRL, where Danica Patrick crashed … and then went off on a rookie driver.

• Roy Williams is already setting the groundwork for an excuse if someone gets hurt and it costs his team the national title. Has he already forgotten that his Tar Heels housed this Michigan State team on the same floor a few months ago?
• Dustin Pedroia: Alex Rodriguez is a dork.
• This has to qualify as one of the stranger endings to a UFC fight in memory.

• Could unfrozen zamboni ice be the strangest free hand out in minor league hockey history? We’re going to say yes, yes it can.
• Her name is Destinee Hooker. His name is Clifton Gay. Of course they had to get married.

• Only in Italy: World famous soccer manager Jose Mourinho gets a lap dance on national TV …
  … and finds a way to appear completely uninterested. As if.

There was a lot of attention surrounding UConn entering last night’s Sweet 16 matchup with Purdue, and it was all for the wrong reasons. In the midst of an ongoing investigation of the school’s recruitment of now-departed super-stud prospect Nate Miles, no one has received as much heat as UConn’s architect himself, Jim Calhoun.

Some are even calling the early stages of the NCAA’s review, which follows an investigation launched by Yahoo! sports, a second-coming of the precursor to Kelvin Sampson’s ouster at Indiana. The logic runs that, once the NCAA actually starts digging deep into the UConn records, they’ll find that Miles was just the latest in a string of recruits who were wooed by illegal meals, gifts and contact.

So what is a Hall of Famer like Calhoun to do? That’s easy: Win the whole thing, then walk away. If Calhoun’s Huskies get out of the gate as well as they did against Purdue last night. Not only did UConn sprint to an 8-0 lead and never look back, the Huskies showed the balance and Hasheem Thabeet-led inside dominance that could lift them back to another national title.

Sure, they’re out West, but with the additional inspiration UConn has received since its exit from the Big East tournament — first Calhoun’s hospitalization, then the Yahoo! investigation — UConn suddenly looks like the biggest beast left in the dance.

Meanwhile, Missouri proved that John Calipari - a past subject of NCAA indiscretions & Calhoun’s scorn after he stole onetime UConn recruit Marcus Camby - still has some work to do if he’s ever going to deliver a national title to the C-USA program he’s taken under his wing. Mizzou did everything that Memphis tries to do — run, trap, press and run some more — except they did it more effectively and efficiently. Even a late heat-check from Tyreke Evans and near-collapse from Mizzou couldn’t resuscitate Memphis, which means that the one team standing between Calhoun and a return trip to the Final Four is Mike Anderson. At least we know what the game plan will be come Saturday: Everybody press! Ready, break!

That wasn’t the case back East, where UConn once assumed it would be, and where No. 1 seed Pittsburgh struggled through another lackluster tourney win. It’s certainly not what Pitt fans will want to hear, but the Panthers just don’t seem to be clicking on all cylinders. In fact, one could argue that Pitt hasn’t played on its top speed since knocking off UConn … again … near the end of the regular season. In fact, let’s run the gauntlet of recent Pitt performances: Lost to West Virginia in Big East tournament, underwhelmed in beating No. 16 seed, trailed No. 8 seed Oklahoma State throughout much of second-round win, then eked past a Xavier team that should have been completely overwhelmed.

If that sounds like Pitt has set the table for a suddenly hot Villanova team to swoop in a steal a ticket to the Final Four, well, maybe they have. The Wildcats smoked a Duke team that was finally exposed at the point, with streaky shooters and with no semblance of a legitimate interior game. Perhaps not surprisingly, Duke again rolled snake eyes in the tournament because it was over-reliant on outside shooting and couldn’t stop a deep set of athletic guards and swingmen. Let’s see, Virginia Commonwealth (Eric Maynor), West Virginia (Joe Alexander), anyone in the Villanova starting lineup. Hmmm, anyone else see a pattern?

But there were other sports outside of the tournament right? Well, we suppose.

• We’ve seen plenty of big sports stars in bad movies in the past — Kazaam comes to mind, no? — but none may be worse than the upcoming flick Never Surrender, which features Quinton Rampage Jackson, Anderson Silva, Heath Herring, and Georges St. Pierre and B.J. Penn.

• Remember the former editor of Lenny Dykstra’s PLAYERS CLUB magazine who promised a tell-all on just how egomaniacal and abusive his former boss was? Well, the article is out in GQ, and it crushes Nails. Crushes him.
• This is just made for a bad-karma jinx. They’re plenty of points away from clinching a division title, but you can already get your hands on Washington Capitals Southeast Division Championship gear if you know where to look.

• Speaking of the Caps, coach Bruce Boudreau is more than sick of people bitching about Alex Ovechkin’s celebration of his 50th goal. He can’t even take it anymore.
• Tim Tebow is going to work some from under center next year, and he’s already working out in new formations in spring training. So the real question is, did Mel Kiper put Urban Meyer up to this?
• Because, when we think of Marlins spring training baseball, we think of really, really old ladies.
• Darren Rovell: Responsible economic journalist, proud CNBC talking head, expat of ESPN integrity, producer and eater of preposterously large burger? Now he is.

• The Lions may want Matthew Stafford, but if they pass, the 49ers don’t. Why? Because he won’t talk about his Daddy issues. Really.
• Has anyone bothered to tell Colorado coach Dan Hawkins that he’s been struggling to make bottom tier bowls the past couple years? How, exactly, does he expect to win 10 games in 2009?
• Brazilian soccer stars are known for being big partiers — seen any pictures of the older, fatter Ronaldo lately? — but this may take the cake: A 12-hour soiree with a transvestite pornstar.