The 2013-14 Huskies basketball teams, fresh off their national championship wins last week, were supposed to be honored together at Fenway Park on April 22 before the Yankees-Red Sox game.
However, the UConn women's basketball team will not be participating because of an unforeseen conflict, according to a statement from the UConn athletics department.
"The team feels awful as it would have been a great moment for UConn and we have apologized to the Red Sox. The men are still scheduled to head up there and hopefully the Red Sox will consider having us at a later date," the statement says.
UConn senior guard Shabazz Napier, of Roxbury, Mass., will throw out the ceremonial first pitch for the game, which starts at 7:10 p.m.
Junior forward Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis was also scheduled to join him.
Gov. Dannel Malloy, who happens to be a New York Yankees fan, will also attend and participate in the ceremony.
Fenway isn't the only team to extend the Huskies an invite, however. More via the New Haven Register's David Borges.
Invitations have also come from the Yankees and Mets. This makes things even more intriguing. The 2011 team did the honors at Yankee Stadium. Kemba Walker, the New York native (and non-baseball fan) threw out the pitch, but he was joined by Roscoe Smith, Alex Oriakhi and several other teammates. Not Jim Calhoun, however -- he threw out the first pitch at Fenway Park a few days later. Just as he'd done in 2004, after saying that he had rejected the Yankees' offer (this was later found to be an embellishment, at best).
Now, the question is -- does UConn, which is trying to strengthen its foothold in New York and will be playing a football game next November in the Bronx, go with Yankee Stadium? What about CitiField -- let's not forget, SNY broadcasts both UConn and Mets games.
