FACTS & STATS: Site: Dunkin' Donuts Center (12,993) -- Providence, Rhode Island. Television: SNY. Home Record: UConn 12-4, Providence 10-6. Away Record: UConn 3-6, Providence 4-7. Neutral Record: UConn 2-1, Providence 0-2. Conference Record: UConn 7-9, Providence 3-13. Series Record: UConn leads 42-27. GAMES NOTES: With their NCAA Tournament hopes hanging by a thread, the Connecticut Huskies will head to the Dunkin' Donuts Center for Big East bout with the Providence Friars this evening. After ending a remarkable season with a national title a year ago, Connecticut fell back to Earth this season managing just a 17-11 overall record and a pedestrian 7-9 mark in league play. Adding to the problems has been the poor health of coach Jim Calhoun, who underwent surgery on his back on Monday. The Huskies haven't been able to put a win streak together since opening the year with two stretches of at least five wins that pushed them to 12-1 overall. The team has spiraled downward since, Connecticut played tough against No. 2 Syracuse on Saturday but dropped the decision 71-69. On Saturday UConn finishes up the season at home against Pittsburgh. Connecticut leads the all-time series between these clubs with a 42-27 mark against Providence. This will be the first meetings between the squads this year. Providence also had a nice start to the season and went 11-2 to open the year. The Friars were unable to keep up that pace and have since fallen to 14-15 overall, including an ugly 3-13 mark in the Big East. The Friars kept themselves out of the conference cellar on Saturday, posting a 73-71 road victory against DePaul, which snapped a five-game losing streak. Providence wraps up the regular season on Friday with a road game against Notre Dame. On its home floor, Connecticut fell behind 43-29 at the half against conference powerhouse Syracuse but stormed back to make the game interesting before falling by a 71-69 final. The Huskies were never able to take a lead in the second period, shooting 40.3 percent from the floor in the game. What has really been derailing Connecticut this season has been its lack of offensive firepower. The defending champs are scoring a meager 68.6 points per game, ranking 11th in the Big East. The team has still played well defensively allowing 63.8 points per contest. Jeremy Lamb has followed up a solid freshman season as the focal point for the Huskies this season with Kemba Walker moving on to the NBA. Lamb leads the team in scoring (17.9 ppg) and managed to put in 19 points against Syracuse. The team's strength remains in the backcourt with Shabazz NApier (12.3 ppg, 5.8 apg) and Ryan Boatright (10.4 ppg). Freshman center Andre Drummond (10.1 ppg, 7.8 rpg) has been one of the better front court players in the conference this season and played one of his best games of the seasons by pouring in 17 points and pulling 14 rebounds which tied a career high. Providence went back and forth with DePaul on Saturday but sealed the game thanks to the play of LaDontae Henton who put the team ahead 73-71 with three seconds remaining in regulation and then blocked a potential game-winner from the Blue Demons. The Friars are a superior scoring team than the Huskies but only by a slim margin as they put in 69.5 points per game. On defense Providence has not had as dominant a team allowing 68.7 points per game to its opponents. Henton didn't just play well in the final seconds on Saturday but throughout the game posting a double-double with game-highs in points (24) and rebounds (15). The freshman forward (14.0 ppg, 8.6 ppg) is one of four prolific scorers that power the Friar attack. Junior guard Vincent Council (16.4 ppg, 7.3 apg) has been the team's focal point and has put together one of the better season by any player in the conference. Council is the team's leading assist man this year and scored 14 points and dished out 11 assists on Saturday. Bryce Cotton (14.4 pg) and Gerard Coleman (13.5 ppg) are the other prolific scorers for the Friars who have very little depth besides those four with no player averaging more than 6.6 points per game. Connecticut cannot afford another loss on the season and may need another long run in the conference tournament if it hopes to save its season. Providence has been a solid team at home this year (10-6) and might just be the final road block for the Huskies' postseason chances. Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Providence 71, Connecticut 69 02/28 10:49:45 ET

To fund the release of her latest CD, 'Where the Back Roads Run,' Whitney has begun a fundraising campaign through Kickstarter, which calls itself "the world's largest [online] platform for creative projects." Thus far, tens of thousands of people have pledged millions of dollars to projects from the worlds of music, film, art, technology, design, food, publishing and other creative endeavors. It's a step the singer took at the suggestion of a fan, since Whitney has found herself without a record label deal at the moment.

"First of all I wanna say, I do not NEED your money," Whitney explains on her Kickstarter page. "Only give if you want the rewards and would like to hear a full length CD instead of an EP. I'm making an EP whether or not the full project gets funded."

And just because she is raising funds in this unique -- and increasingly popular -- way, Whitney doesn't want fans to get the wrong idea.

"I am not broke, nor desperate ... that is not what this site is about," she insists. "I just think it's a great idea to involve the fans and give them some ownership in my music and career, since I wouldn't have either without them."

With pledge suggestions ranging from $10 to $500, fans contributing will receive special gifts and privileges at different levels. A $10 pledge nets a video-gram from the singer, while the $500 pledge allow those who donate to hang out with Whitney for karaoke and drinks one night in Nashville.

"My fans have always been the best, so I have no doubt that y'all will make this a successful project!" Whitney adds. "This is so fun for me, because I can make the record I want to make! I'm recording this album with singer/songwriter Jonathan Singleton, and it's going to be awesome."

Whitney's last album, 'Right Road Now' was released two years ago by Warner Music Nashville and was recorded four years ago. "Needless to say, I AM READY TO MAKE SOME MUSIC!" she enthuses.

Yet, in spite of her enthusiasm, Whitney has had to defend her choice to use Kickstarter. She took to her Twitter page Tuesday morning (Feb. 28) after seeing an article titled 'Wanna Sing Karaoke With Whitney Duncan? It'll Cost You,' posted on the website of radio station WIRK in South Florida.

The article begins: "This is what happens when your music career stalls ... and hardly anyone cares that you sold your soul on 'Survivor.' Whitney Duncan is now begging her fans to pony up cash so she can finish her next album." Referring to her explanation of the Kickstarter campaign as a "shameless plea," the article concludes that as of Feb. 27, "38 people had donated a total of $2,808. That averages out to $73.89 per donation. I'm embarrassed FOR her."

Whitney has until March 23 to raise the $5,000 to fund the recording. If a Kickstarter project doesn't meet its fundraising goal by the proposed deadline, no money ever changes hands.

Jordin Sparks paid tribute to her "Sparkle" co-star, the late Whitney Houston, at the 5th Annual ESSENCE Black Women In Hollywood Luncheon on Thursday, and she told Access Hollywood she had a few nerves before her performance.

"I don't know how I'm gonna do in there. We'll see," Jordin told Access Hollywood on the red carpet before the event. "We'll see what happens. If I choke up...

PLAY IT NOW: Whitney Houston Talks Working With Jordin Sparks On 'Sparkle'

"I'll get it together," she continued. "Have to try and keep it in."

Jordin's "Sparkle" performance at the ESSENCE event was a long time in the works, but following Whitney's death earlier this month, it turned into a tribute for the late superstar.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: A Look Back: Whitney Houston — Her Life In Pictures

"I was already going to do it and sing a song from the movie and everything like that and then all recent events happened, and now I'm going to be singing a song that she actually sang, but is also in the movie, from the original, it's called 'Look Into Your Heart,'" Jordin explained to Access. "She was a part of the Curtis Mayfield tribute album. She actually sang [an] amazing version, so I'm going to do my own little version too."

Looking back on her time with Whitney, Jordin admitted to being a little emotional as Thursday rolled around.

"It definitely makes me very emotional," she told Access. "I looked up to her and I sang her songs and then all of a sudden I was in a movie with her and I got to see her face-to-face, and she was so kind and she was so sweet.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Singing Sensation Jordin Sparks

"She was an incredible woman and I was very, very blessed to get to know her for the short time that I did, but she was incredible," Jordin added.

And the former "American Idol" winner is hoping to keep Whitney's memory alive with the release later this year of "Sparkle."

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Whitney Houston's Final Public Appearance — February 9, 2012

"It gives me a lot of excitement to be able to put this movie out because it was her baby, and she was so, so into it and so happy to be doing it," Jordin told Access . "I'm excited that I get to be a part of it."

"Sparkle" will hit theaters on August 17, 2012.

For Access Hollywood's Shaun Robinson's exclusive sit down interview with Jordin backstage at the ESSENCE event, tune into Access Hollywood on Friday.

Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

After the hopeful groom pops the question, the thrilled bride pops the cake.

"Cake pops are so trendy," says Renée Pratt, certified pastry chef and owner of Renée's Fine Cakes in Tecumseh. She began making them a year ago after a steady stream of brides requested the balls of cake, covered in icing, charmingly decorated and then stuck on a stick like a lollypop.

The bite-sized treats are now de rigueur for the well-appointed sweet table at the wedding reception. Even the most traditional bride loves the hot trend.

Pratt's most popular pop flavours are chocolate raspberry and banana. She also whips up special flavours by request, such as chocolate orange with Grand Marnier. The pops are decorated according to the wedding theme or colour scheme, with hearts, flowers, the couple's initials or other motifs. Cake pops, as well as fresh strawberries, can be dressed like mini tuxedos and bridal gowns.

The insertion of a little stick into each pop enables easy picking and eating. The pops can be arranged on platters like skewered hors d'oeuvres or stood up in glasses, offering a posy of pops. Or the stick can be left off, presenting cake balls on trays. "They look like truffles, but there are not as sweet," Pratt says.

Recently, a bride and groom tied the knot with a winter wonderland theme. Stickless cake pops became little snowballs liberally sprinkled with edible disco sparkle dust. They shared the sweet table with handmade cupcakes adorned with fondant snowflakes.

Cupcakes are another preferred delectable for wedding receptions. In place of a multi-tiered wedding cake, many couples are opting for tiers of cupcakes, crowned by a small cake set off by a mini bride and groom or other topper.

This trend arises from another: Sensible spending to get the best value for the wedding budget. Some halls charge an extra fee to cut and plate the wedding cake for the guests. Rather than pay the fee, couples are choosing cupcakes that are readily accessible to guests who can help themselves throughout the evening.

Some brides pass on the wedding cake completely. Of the 237 weddings that Reneé's baked for in 2011, maybe half a dozen brides ordered the elaborate, formal tiered cake.

"For the princess-y brides who want the big cake, we do a large artificial one," says Pratt.

A diminutive cake would be lost in a banquet hall filled with 900 guests. In such a setting, the pastry chef and her team have built a soaring sixfoot tower of cakes supported on separate stands. Two of the cakes on the lower level were edible, giving the couple something to cut and share with their guests.

"Seventy-five percent of brides want wedding cakes that are simple and elegant," Pratt figures. The rest bounce in with ideas inspired by The Cake Boss.

"My face lights up," the chef de pâtissière says. "Our motto is: We can do anything."

Consequently, Pratt's team has crafted a small mountain of a wedding cake, with a model Charger driving up the road winding around its slopes, chased by handmade figures of the bride, groom and their pets.

When another couple planned a Halloween themed wedding, the groom had a definite vision: a black cake set with the Grim Reaper overseeing the bridal couple kneeling under the blade of a guillotine, with blood-red letters declaring, "Till Death Do Us Part."

Asked to do a purple cake, Pratt readily obliged. "I love feathers, so I'm excited if the couple is doing a peacock theme."

Cake pops, cupcakes and wedding cake are definite highlights of the sweet table. To round out the selection, Pratt suggests tortes, pastry platters, fruit trays, plus anything traditional that grandma wants to contribute in the way of family or cultural treats. Another stunning confection is the French croquembouche, a tall golden tower of stacked round cream puffs bound with spun threads of sugar.

As enticing as the sweet table will be, not everyone will pay it a visit.

"Most of the men, as soon as dinner is done, they go to the bar. Older people go home when the dancing starts." Pratt assures, "If you have 100 guests, 200 pieces are wonderful." Dividing the goodies between two tables, one set at either end of the room, is a thoughtful convenience for guests grazing throughout the evening.

What's the next big thing to dazzle brides? Embellishing the sweet table with giant glass jars filled with jelly beans, jujubes and other candies, coordinated with the wedding colours, of course.

Bottom line: "Think of your needs and think of your budget," Pratt advises. She admires today's brides and applauds their savvy.

"These are smart girls, working girls, who are paying for a lot of their weddings." They know every decision costs, so they are making every morsel count.

© Copyright (c) The Windsor Star

By Joel Provano

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Heat-related deaths among football players have tripled since 1994, with Georgia recording more than any other state, University of Georgia researchers say.

In the 15-year period before 1994, there was an average of one death per year nationwide; between 1994 and 2009 the number was almost three per year, according to the study, published in the International Journal of Biometeorology. Georgia had the most deaths of any state, with six.

Researchers found evidence that elevated morning temperatures and humidity may have contributed to the trend.

"In general, on days the deaths occurred, the temperature was hotter and the air more humid than normal local conditions," said Andrew Grundstein, a UGA climatologist and senior author of the study.

But Grundstein cautioned against assigning blame only to warmer temperatures and higher humidity, noting that players are much larger now than they were 30 years ago. Linemen, who are typically the largest players, accounted for 86 percent of heat-related deaths.

"We all want a single magic number to indicate the heat threshold," he said. "But so many factors contribute to heat stress that it's impossible to draw the line at a single temperature."

Other findings from the study:

• During the 30-year period from 1980 to 2009 there were a total of 58 deaths.
• More than half of the players became ill on days when practice ended before noon.
• Most of the deaths occurred in the eastern half of the U.S.
• The majority of deaths occurred in August.

In conducting the study, researchers built a database that included the temperature, humidity and time of day of each death, along with the height and weight of the players who died during practice sessions of heat-related illness. The study did not provide participation numbers for football, but a study by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association showed that participation in football  declined 16 percent between 2000 and 2010.

LAS VEGAS — Rap music mogul Marion "Suge" Knight is facing a March court date in Las Vegas following his arrest on a 2009 traffic warrant and a new misdemeanor drug charge, authorities said Thursday.

The former Death Row Records executive, 46, was stopped driving a black Bentley with California license plates about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday on a street just off Flamingo Road west of the Las Vegas Strip, Officer Laura Meltzer said.

Knight was issued an unsafe lane change summons and arrested on a warrant stemming from previous traffic infractions. He also was charged with possession of less than one ounce of a controlled substance and released from jail without bail.

Celebrity website TMZ first reported the arrest. It said Knight had marijuana with him in the car.

Knight is due March 12 in Las Vegas Municipal Court, where court spokeswoman Jill Christensen said he was sought on a March 2009 warrant for failure to appear on three traffic violations – following too closely, failure to surrender a suspended license plate and being a non-resident driving on a suspended or revoked driver's license. The original charges stemmed from a traffic stop in November 2008.

No charge was immediately filed on the misdemeanor drug charge, which would be handled separately in Las Vegas Justice Court.

David Chesnoff, Knight's attorney in previous Las Vegas cases, declined immediate comment Thursday. Chesnoff was traveling and said he had not yet spoken with Knight.

Chesnoff represented Knight when felony drug and battery charges were dropped in December 2008 following an incident in which Knight was accused of beating a woman while holding a knife in a parking lot near the Strip. Knight also was charged with felony possession of the drugs Ecstasy and hydrocodone.

Chesnoff said at the time that prosecutors had problems collecting evidence and witness accounts.

Knight, who grew up in the Los Angeles area, once played football for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He went on to co-found Death Row Records, which helped make stars of rappers such as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur.

Knight was at the wheel of a car in which Shakur was shot and killed in 1996 in Las Vegas. The debt-ridden record label later went bankrupt and was sold.

SMS provides a sort of quasi-universal service for phone users, but once people pick up a PC or tablet and leave the cozy confines of the telco networks, they've been out of luck, until now. As it's done so many times before, Apple is breaking down entrenched business models in a bid to unify messaging ecosystems with its iMessage service.

Now, Apple has long had a Mac IM client that supports common services like AIM, Google, ICQ, Yahoo, and its own MobileMe. Along comes the iPhone, which of course did SMS but not (at least natively) IM; even with add-on apps, the two worlds remained disconnected. With last fall's iOS 5 release, the iPhone finally got its own native IM client, dubbed "iMessage" in Apple's literature, "Messages" on the phone. Whatever you call it, the client is a swipe at carriers, since iMessage transparently merges the SMS and IM worlds. Send a message to a contact who also has an iPhone, and it's delivered over the IP network using iMessage. Better still, unlike SMS, messages are encrypted (see this review for details). Send to someone on another device, and it arrives as a traditional SMS message. The translation occurs entirely behind the scenes. To both sender and receiver, the message looks the same, regardless of the transport method.

Given the vastness of the iPhone-toting population, rapidly approaching 200 million, the odds that a message will bypass the outrageously overpriced SMS network increase by the day. But what about desktop users?

That's where the next generation of OS X, Mountain Lion, points to a unified messaging future. Apple just released a beta version of one component, the Messages application that replaces iChat in Mountain Lion, and it effectively merges the multiprotocol IM support long a part of iChat with the iMessage mobile service. Since iMessage also support photos, videos, other attachments, and FaceTime video calling--all part of the base OS in a single application--it's looking a lot like a UC alternative. What's more, thanks to the iCloud back-end data synchronization service, messages get pushed to every iOS/Mac device in the recipient's arsenal: phone, tablet, PC, even iPod Touch. Indeed, a UC-like cross-platform notification system. Better still, you can start a conversation on one device, say your laptop at work, and pick it up on another, such as your iPhone in the cab on your way to the airport.

Unfortunately, like that other enterprise messaging favorite, BlackBerry Messenger, iMessage is confined to a single vendor's ecosystem. Yes, unlike RIM's fading product line, the iMessage universe will soon consist of more than half a billion devices. But most enterprise IT teams support multiple operating systems, including Android, BlackBerry, and Windows in addition to iOS. Don't hold your breath waiting for Apple to marginalize a differentiating feature by porting to its competitors, but since iMessage is based on XMPP, it doesn't seem unreasonable that, much like third-party cross-platform clients did with the various text messaging protocols, someone could reverse-engineer iMessage and mimic its features.

Admittedly, Google Talk provides similar mobile/desktop integration and indeed works across platforms; however, it's cumbersome to use (on the PC side, you typically access it from within the Gmail Web app) and not as transparently integrated into Android phones as iMessage is on Apple devices.

Why should IT care about SMS, anyway? Because your employees and future hires use phones to text, not talk. A 2010 survey found the average teen sending or receiving more than 3,300 texts a month--and as any parent of a teenager will you, the trend's still on the upswing. Avaya cites a Pew survey showing that 31% of adults would choose a text message vs. voice communication on their mobile phones. Our most recent InformationWeek Application Mobilization Survey found almost 90% of 693 respondents had deployed instant messaging to their mobile users, while our 2012 Unified Communications Survey found that more than two-thirds of respondents have deployed IM or chat clients to some or all of their desktop users.

And it's not just for idle chatter. That same UC survey found 59% of IM users spent more than three hours per week in the messaging environment. Of course, among other promises, enterprise UC systems were intended to bridge this chasm between mobile and desktop messaging, but even after years of hype, only 36% of respondents have deployed UC. One possible factor: The rapidly changing smartphone environment, dominated by consumer-oriented iPhone and Android devices. It's unclear how well, or even if, stodgy UC systems can deal with these gadgets, meaning it's well worth it for IT to investigate innate messaging capabilities.

Organizations that have already embraced the iPhone should develop an iMessage strategy. Make sure employees have their work email addresses configured as an iMessage recipient address on their phones and that their iPhone numbers are linked to their email addresses in enterprise directories. Mac-friendly organizations should start testing the iMessage desktop client and see how it might be used to bridge the mobile and desktop messaging worlds. Finally, organizations with Macs, iPhones, and iPads should test using FaceTime for peer-to-peer video calling. The iMessage client clearly indicates which contacts have cameras (every recent iPhone, Mac, or iPad), making it easy to see where a quick video call could supplant a text-based exchange.

While Apple is so far leading the way, Google and Microsoft won't be far behind in merging the mobile and desktop/laptop worlds. By opportunistically exploiting features built into base operating systems, many small and midsize enterprises may find they can get all the UC they need.