After a pair of exhibition victories, Connecticut is set to open the season.Heck, yeah, we definitely feel ready, Rodney Purvis told the Hartford Courant after the No. 18 Huskies defeated Southern Connecticut State in the second preseason game. I feel real confident with this group. Weve just got to be more consistent with our effort.Kevin Ollies Huskies, who open the season with a home game against Wagner on Friday night, advanced to the second round of last seasons NCAA Tournament, and appear loaded, with veterans returning and Alterique Gilbert the programs third straight preseason AAC rookie of the year.Coach always says were not one of those teams with five or six McDonalds All-Americans, Purvis said. So we have to work extra hard for everything we get. Our energy and our effort can cover up for not having all those All-Americans, so we just have to bring it every night on the floor with our defensive intensity.The Huskies (25-11, 11-7 in conference last season) come in eight spots higher than Cincinnati (one spot out of the Top 25) in the preseason rankings, but they were tabbed just behind the Bearcats in the preseason conference poll.Ollie, who led the Huskies to their fourth NCAA title in 2014, was mentioned as a possible candidate for the Los Angeles Lakers job that went to Luke Walton. But Ollie remains in Storrs. And his team is loaded.Added to the UConn mix is 6-foot-7 Mike Larrier, who out last year after transferring from Virginia Commonwealth.We have a lot of great guards and they did a great job of finding us and sharing the ball, said Amida Brimah, the 2014-15 AAC defensive player of the year who battled injury last season. Theyre very athletic, and any time they get the ball theyre ready to just push the ball.Former Husky Scott Burrell, whose Southern Connecticut team lost an exhibition game to UConn, was impressed.Their length is like an NBA team, he said, like when the Lakers had (Pau) Gasol, (Lamar) Odom and (Andrew) Bynum. Every pass is hard. They play hard, they cut hard; their guards are strong.Theyre tough. They have a lot of talent, a lot of weapons. And some of those young guards arent in a rhythm yet. When those guys get better and more comfortable, with those big wings they are going to be tough. Kevin did a great job recruiting.Wagner, the Northeast Conferences regular-season champ and tournament runner-up in a 25-win season in 2015-16, was picked to finish second in the Northeast Conference. Two Seahawks, Michael Carey and Corey Henson, were tabbed first team All-NEC preseason.The Seahawks defeated St. Bonaventure in the NIT last year -- the first postseason victory in the history of the program.Henson led the conference by hitting 40.2 percent of his 3-pointers -- nailing 74 long-range shots.Last years success could be a little bit of a double-edged sword, coach Bashir Mason said. Obviously, it felt good to bounce back from a 10-win season with the same guys pretty much, and the guys are excited about that. But on the other end of it is the satisfaction part. So, we have to fight complacency. Just work every day to try to put ourselves back in the same exact position. Authentic Adidas NHL Jerseys . 8 Kansas to a 64-63 win over Texas Tech on Tuesday night. The freshman from Vaughan, Ont. Cheap NHL Jerseys Authentic .C. at the helm of the top team in the Eastern Conference. His tenure as the GM in Vancouver was all too brief. Though he led the Canucks to what was then a franchise record-shattering campaign in just his second season, Nonis was gone and replaced one year later. http://www.cheapjerseysnhladidas.com/ . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. Cheap Adidas Hockey Jerseys . Robredo, ranked No. 16, bounced back from an upset loss to Leonardo Mayer in the second round of the Royal Guard Open in Chile last week to down Carreno Busta in 1 hour, 25 minutes. On a day filled mostly with qualifying matches, fifth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain also entered the second with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 win over Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia, while Guido Pella of Argentina defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-6 (6), 6-4 to advance. Cheap Adias NHL Jerseys Free Shipping . -- The Bishops Gaiters are showing they belong among the countrys top varsity football teams. EUGENE, Ore. -- Sanya Richards-Ross walked the final homestretch of her gold medal-winning career, head high, as she waved to the cheering crowd, the tiniest limp betraying the loss of her final Olympic dream.Trying to qualify at the U.S. Olympic trials for her fourth Games, Richards-Ross accelerated into the final turn of her 400-meter preliminary heat, then I literally felt my hamstring grab on me.She was not surprised. Richards-Ross suffered a grade-two hamstring strain 2? weeks ago running the 100 at an Atlanta meet. Her doctor said it would take four to six weeks to recover. Thats when Richards-Ross truly contemplated the end of a journey that included three 4x400 Olympic golds, a 400-meter victory at the 2012 London Games, and the American outdoor record of 48.70 seconds.The crowd of 20,987 at the University of Oregons historic Hayward Field understood the moment, gently ushering the 31-year-old champion into retirement with a prolonged ovation.Ill always remember how the crowd reacted, she said.Someone asked before the race how would I love to go out, and I said I would just enjoy the moment, she said. To be able to run a half a victory lap here at Hayward Field for my final 400 that I didnt finish, I thought was pretty special.Richards-Ross won her first relay gold in Athens in 2004. Four years later in Beijing, she took a disappointing bronze in the 400 but ran down a Russian on the final stretch of the relay to give her team the gold. And she finally captured the individual 400-meter gold medal in London.My lows have been just as special as my highs. They taught me a lot about myself. They made me a better person, shhe said Friday, her voice finally starting to quaver with emotion.dddddddddddd Im really grateful even for my bronze in Beijing. I think its the reason I won in London, and it made London that much more special.She had already announced that she would retire after the Olympics. The rest of her life beckons -- having children with her husband, Super Bowl champion cornerback Aaron Ross; various business ventures; perhaps a broadcasting career.All of that became real halfway around the track Friday, when her hamstring suddenly announced that she would not be going to Rio.Thats the toughest part for every athlete, she said. You really want to go to the Olympics. No matter how banged up you are, you still think its possible. I just thought, Man, this is really the end of it for me, I wont get a chance to compete. That was the toughest part.Then, immediately after, I thought, Ive been so blessed, I cant cry, cant complain, Ill keep my head up.She hopes fans remember her determination. I dont win every time I step on the track, so I dont deserve [todays] ovation because Im always a champion. But I think they just see my heart and my determination and my desire to be a good person. Hopefully they saw a little of God in me every time I stepped in the track.Toward the end of her media session, as many from the tight-knit track community thanked and congratulated her, Richards-Ross finally wiped a tear from her eye.Sometimes you give everything you have and it just doesnt work out, she said. 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