Lorin Dixon was multi-tasking Thursday night, talking on her cellphone while picking up a medium bacon pizza for dinner at Domino's.
   This seemed like a step in the right direction for UConn's junior guard, one of the four who will be counted on this season to help the national champions replace the irreplaceable All-American Renee Montgomery.
   There's going to be a lot to do during the 2009-10 season, a lot of ground to cover with the help of sophomores Tiffany Hayes and Caroline Doty and freshman Kelly Faris. And this summer was as good a time as any for Dixon to acquire the skils she'll need.
  

 UConn has announced there will be a new format for its 2009 UConn basketball "First Night"
 on Friday, Oct. 16.

The doors will open at 6 and there will a men's and women's autograph session with the teams and coaches from 6 to 6:45 p.m. at Gampel Pavilion.

That will be followed at 7 with a hour-long program that for the first time will combine both programs in a Skills Challenge Triple Threat Challenge (similar to the NBA All-Star Shooting Stars Contest) and dunk contest. Both teams will be introduced to the crowd, but there will be no scrimmages, as in past years.

All fans have a chance to win great prizes from UConn Athletics, Big Y and CBS Radio.

UConn Students have a chance to receive free food, free t-shirts and other great prizes.

There is free admission for all

Seek and you shall find...........................

http://www.usabasketball.com/news.php?news_page=09_wnt_quotes_10_03_09_clinic

Connecticut Sun point guard Lindsay
Whalen will be among distinguished company Friday night when she serves as
one of six grand marshals in the 2009 University of Minnesota Homecoming
Parade.

Her fellow grand marshals will include former Vice President Walter
Mondale, legendary author Garrison Keillor, NFL Hall of Fame linebacker
Bobby Bell, and MSP Communications Vice President Deb Hopp. Jeanie Borlaug
Laube will represent her father, Nobel Peace Prize recipient Norman
Borlaug, who had planned to be a grand marshal before passing away on Sept.
12th.

"It's a pretty amazing honor to be selected with some of the people who
have been picked this year," said Whalen, who led the Golden Gophers to
their first Final Four appearance as a senior in 2004. "They covered all
different areas of alumni. I'm really looking forward to it."

The six grand marshals - chosen by the University of Minnesota Homecoming
Committee - will help celebrate what is being described as "The Ultimate
Homecoming," and the parade is expected to draw approximately 30,000
spectators.

"This is a very special Homecoming at the University of Minnesota because
our Gopher football team has returned to campus after 28 years of playing
downtown in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome," said Margaret Sughrue
Carlson, the University of Minnesota Alumni Association's chief executive
officer. "We wanted grand marshals who represent the achievements of all
alumni, and particularly, grand marshals who have made major contributions
that have changed our state, our nation and our world."

Whalen captivated the state during four years at the University of
Minnesota, helping build the Golden Gophers into a national powerhouse. She
graduated as the all-time leading scorer - male or female - in school
history, and was selected the 2004 Sportsperson of the Year by the
Minneapolis Star Tribune.

"I have been CEO of the alumni association for 25 years, and Lindsay is,
without a doubt, the most impressive women's athlete to play during that
time," Carlson said. "Lindsay is an outstanding scholar-athlete and person.
I know her personally. I'm absolutely thrilled she has this honor and is in
such esteemed company."

The fourth overall pick of the Connecticut Sun in the 2004 WNBA Draft,
Whalen has become one of the elite point guards in the world. She is the
all-time assist leader in Sun history, and helped lead the team to
consecutive WNBA Finals in 2004 and 2005. In 2008, Whalen finished second
to Los Angeles Sparks rookie Candace Parker in league MVP balloting.

The first reader from an SEC school who can correctly identify the celebrities in the background (hint: Jefferson Davis is not included) wins free access to this blog for the 2009-10 season.

 http://www.usabasketball.com/news.php?news_page=09_wnt_quotes_10_05_09

You can't always get what you want....

ESPN's HoopGurlz is reporting that one of UConn's remaining recruiting targets for the 2010 freshman class is staying out west.

Here is the report......

Greetings from my little cyberspace world.

It is my job to report on the current goings-on of the UConn women's basketball team - and all that goes along with it.

But I have time to spare. I don't sleep well, unless Jay Leno is on.

And so I have a request. If you are a former UConn women's basketball player, particulary from the Geno Auriemma era - hello Marci Czel, Amy Duran, Tammy Arnold, Christine Rigby, Kiersten Walters and all the rest of you out there -  I'd like to hear what's going on with your life.

Here is the news you've been waiting for from USA Basketball's own mouth....

"After training for six days in Washington, D.C., 2009-12 USA Basketball Women's National Team members and Olympic gold medalists Sue Bird (Seattle Storm), Sylvia Fowles (Chicago Sky) and Candace Parker (Los Angeles Sparks) will lead a USA squad in Russia in the four-team 2009 Ekaterinburg International Invitational. Also selected to play in the Oct. 9-11 tournament were USA National Team hopefuls Swin Cash (Seattle Storm), a 2004 Olympic gold medalist; Tina Charles (University of Connecticut / Jamaica, N.Y.); Shameka Christon (New York Liberty); Candice Dupree (Chicago Sky); Lindsey Harding (Washington Mystics); Asjha Jones (Connecticut Sun); Crystal Langhorne (Washington Mystics); Angel McCoughtry (Atlanta Dream); Renee Montgomery (Minnesota Lynx); and Candice Wiggins (Minnesota Lynx).

Remember, basketball fans and gernerally curious, that an announcement is coming later today about the specifics of the team that will travel to Russia this week. Expect no surprises.

http://www.usabasketball.com/seniorwomengallery/2009/09_wnt_10_04_09/index.html