UCONN | Sports

Men's Basketball: Lungs

The Huskies’ early initiative? Building endurance. With nine first-year players last season, the emphasis was on building muscle mass. That might have came at a cost, assistant coach Andre LaFleur said. “We wanted to get them to bulk up last year and toward the end of the season we think some of the guys couldn’t keep up as well as they need to. It’s hard to say you’re going to run and press more at UConn, but that’s what we want to try to do this year and they need to be ready,” LaFleur said.

(Picture is team before last year's Husky Run)

Men's Basketball: The Dove

Sophomore center Jonathan Mandeldove will be sidelined for about six weeks after having surgery Thursday to remove bone spurs from his ankle.

Mandeldove, who averaged 0.9 points and 0.9 rebounds in 17 games last season, should be full strength by the time the Huskies open practice in mid October.

Also, Gavin Edwards is fully recovered from a stress fracture in his right foot, and freshman Donnell Beverly (being called D-Bev by team members) has a sore back from lifting weights.

Men's Basketball: Sene

The link to today's UConn notebook leading with Assane Sene, who made an unofficial visit to campus Thursday.
An interesting sidebar to Sene's journey to the U.S.: Sene, from Senegal, was to arrive in January but didn't make it until March because of a strange hold-up with his Visa application. Apparently, the U.S. government has a man named Hassane Sene on their Homeland Security watch list. And when Assane Sene went for his Visa, he was told it couldn't be granted because his name caused alarm.

Football: Racing Into Another Season Deep In The Heart Of NASCAR Country

Welcome to Raleigh, N.C.

Should UConn’s season opener against Duke go as well as my early morning trip to North Carolina then expect a walloping by the Huskies Saturday in Durham.

I’ll take it as my first victory of the season, especially since the thoughts of a miserable road trip to Louisville last December were still lingering in my head up until this morning.

Football: A Business Trip To Duke

One thing that has seemed to resonate out of the Burton Family Football Complex with this 2007 edition of the Huskies is a totally business-like attitude.

On numerous occasions leading up to this weekend's season opener against Duke in Durham, N.C., coach Randy Edsall has pointed to a different mindset he’s seen out of his charges.

“I feel very good about this team,” Edsall said. “The one thing is, this team has shown a great commitment to working as hard as they can to be the very best they can as we go into the opening game. It’s a team that I feel will continue to work hard each and every day to continue to develop. The leadership, the camaraderie, the chemistry, to me has been better than I think in the nine years that I’ve been here. I think we’ve had some teams that were close, but I see this team as really being close and I see everybody really being on the same page and everybody really has that one mindset as to what they want to do and that’s to go out there and do anything that they can to help this team win games. Really in the true sense of the word team, I see that in this group of young men.”

Men's Basketball: Marquette heading North

Marquette will play four exhibition games in Vancouver, Canada, beginning Sept. 1. The NCAA allows one foreign trip every four years. UConn has been in Israel and England in the past.

Men's Basketball: Syracuse's Rautins out for season

Syracuse junior guard Andy Rautins will miss the 2007-08 season due to a torn ACL. In other Big East injury news, Louisville sophomore guard Edgar Sosa (sprained left ankle) will be sidelined 3-4 weeks. Sosa stepped on another player's foot during a pickup game Monday.  X-rays were negative.

Men's Basketball: A reminder ...

Tickets for the Hall of Fame Challenge Doubleheader Dec. 1 (featuring UConn vs. Gonzaga and Boston College vs. Providence) are tentatively scheduled to go on sale Sept. 21 at Ticketmaster locations and at ticketmaster.com.

Also, for more information, visit game-seven.com or hoophall.com.

Men's Basketball: Almost that time of year ...

Every member of the men's basketball team arrived back on campus over the weekend and are continuing individual workouts. Also, Ray Allen, Donyell Marshall (pictured), Kevin Ollie and Boo Willingham have been around working out with players.

On Wednesday, the Huskies posed for team and individual pictures -- in new uniforms. Yes, the uniforms are undertaking a slight change. The new ones are more tapered, more like muscle shirts. The color design is different, too, with more red trim. Also, UConn might have a third, or alternate, jersey with gray mixed in with the traditional red, white and blue.

Football: Zak Penwell's Perseverance On The Field Pays Off

On Aug. 19 we brought you the story of Zak Penwell’s long and winding road to the UConn football team (Air Force Education).