W Virginia PG Bryant out of NCAAs with broken foot
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) - West Virginia point guard Darryl "Truck" Bryant broke his right foot during practice Tuesday and will miss the rest of the NCAA tournament.
The second-seeded Mountaineers, who won the Big East tournament, play 11th-seeded Washington on Thursday night in Syracuse, N.Y., in the East Regional semifinals.
The school announced that the sophomore from New York fractured his fifth metatarsal.
"I feel sorry for Truck that this injury happened during this time of the season," coach Bob Huggins said.
Bryant has started 31 games and averages 9.3 points and is second on the team in assists (3.1) and 3-pointers (40).
He will likely be replaced in the starting lineup by junior Joe Mazzulla, who is more of a playmaker than a scorer. Mazzulla averages 2.2 points and 2.3 assists per game.
Washington is led by point guard Isaiah Thomas, who is averaging 17.1 points and 3.1 assists.
Copyright 2010 by STATS LLC and The Associated Press.
Pitt, Gibbs shooting for more in NCAA tournament
PITTSBURGH (AP) -Ashton Gibbs glanced at the statistics sheet following Pittsburgh's 50-45 loss to Notre Dame in the Big East tournament and didn't believe what he saw.
The Panthers, forced into a slow-paced game by the Fighting Irish's deliberate offense, scored only 16 points in the second half.
Another number surprised him, too: Gibbs, Pitt's leading scorer and lone proven outside shooter, took only four shots. Or as many shots as some top shooters manage in four or five possessions.
"I want to take what the defense gives me, and I took four shots. It's something that I did - and we lost," Gibbs said.
In a season that began with coach Jamie Dixon re-emphasizing the importance of playing don't-give-them-a-step defense, the third-seeded Panthers' inconsistent offense might be their biggest worry heading into Friday's NCAA West Regional game against 14th-seeded Oakland (26-8) in Milwaukee.
While the Panthers are among college basketball's biggest overachievers, winning 24 games after being picked to finish ninth in the Big East Conference, they've regressed offensively since last season.
They allow an average of only 61.4 points per game, but their scoring average is down nearly 10 points per game - from 77.8 to 68.1. They've been held to 66 points or fewer in eight of their last 15 games, a slump that has forced them to play excellent defense merely to stay in games.
Gibbs is a concern, too. After scoring 20 or more points three times in a four-game span from Feb. 8-21, he has been held to 13 points or fewer in four of his last five games and five of his last seven.
It's difficult to have a big game when a player is getting only four shots.
"I'm looking at how I can get myself more open - that wasn't a regular routine for me during the season - but at the same time, I'm going to take what the defense gives me and not try to force anything," Gibbs said. "My team has been doing a great job of finding me open spots and screening for me, now it's my turn to get away from my man and get as open a shot as I can."
Pitt senior Jermaine Dixon suggested there was another reason for Pitt's inability to score against Notre Dame.
"Notre Dame slowed the game down big time, but when we got shots, we took quick shots," he said. "They were holding the ball for 30, 35 seconds. We've got to take better shots."
Gibbs needs to take more shots, if only because he understands what can happen if Pitt keeps struggling for points.
This is Pitt's ninth consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament, yet the Panthers have advanced past the round of 16 only once since 2002 - losing to Villanova 78-76 in a regional final last season.
"Anybody can be beaten at any given time," Gibbs said before the Panthers left Wednesday for Milwaukee. "Being in the NCAA tournament is something you've got to cherish. We have a good seeding now, and it's our turn to take advantage of it."
Jamie Dixon likes that Pitt beat Marquette at Milwaukee's Bradley Center only last month, since that's where the Panthers play Friday - and, if they win, where they will play Sunday against sixth-seeded Xavier or 11th-seeded Minnesota. The Panthers beat Xavier 60-55 in a regional semifinal last season.
Gilbert Brown, one of only three current Pitt players who played substantial roles in the tournament last season, also isn't scoring consistently. His scoring totals over his last 12 games: 25 points, 0, 23, 6, 16, 5, 16, 3, 17, 0, 19, 3. The 5-point game was at Marquette.
Based on his pattern, at least Brown is due for a big game against Oakland.
"If we can maintain our focus, and just go out there and execute like we're supposed to, we should be fine in these first couple of games, even though I know they're going to be tough ones," Brown said. "You see the potential games that you could play (later), but your main objective is to focus on the first game."
Copyright 2010 by STATS LLC and The Associated Press.
Another Saturday showcase for Hoyas
WASHINGTON -- Armed with boots, scarves, hats and the foolishness of youth, a pack of Georgetown students schlepped three-plus miles through a blizzard to the Verizon Center to see their Georgetown Hoyas play No. 2 Villanova.
Two hours later, they went back outside to find the same blizzard still howling and three more miles of pavement between them and a warm dorm room.
But this time they were walking on air.
They and the other 10,000 brave souls who found their seats inside the arena weren't merely rewarded with a 103-90 victory over Villanova -- they witnessed Georgetown assert itself as a team that should be included in the small pack of national championship contenders.
"We are as good as we want to be," Greg Monroe said.
Right now the Hoyas want to be pretty good. Georgetown sandwiched its surprising loss to South Florida on Wednesday with impressive beatdowns of Duke and Villanova.
Last Saturday they played in front of the president; this week they survived a snowstorm.
Bring on the locusts. The Hoyas are ready.
Georgetown downplayed this as any sort of statement game. John Thompson III not only refused to entertain the notion that it was such a game, he deflected the suggestion that his players had ever billed it as one.
But when the big and impressive wins come in mid-February, they invariably come with a statement. This is Georgetown's: they belong.
The Hoyas have everything they need to get through March -- a dominant big man in Monroe, lethal outside shooters in Austin Freeman and Jason Clark, a savvy point guard in Chris Wright and a reliable, if not deep, bench.
The great teams always have a little something extra: toughness, experience, smarts. In Georgetown's case, it's an unselfishness that Miss Manners would appreciate.
The team that looked so disjointed last season and was rumored to be done in by infighting is now playing with a "please, no you" offense. Against Villanova, Georgetown dished out 21 assists on 27 made baskets, swinging the ball with whiplash-inducing frequency to constantly find the open man.
The fact that the team's leading assist-maker was Monroe with six speaks volumes to that sharing mentality.
"We never try to force anything," said Freeman, who had a team-leading 25 points on 8-of-12 shooting. "We know if we don't have the opportunity for something, instead of forcing it, we're going to find the open man."
In this game it seemed like everyone was open, no one more than Clark. The sophomore, who prior to Saturday had never sunk more than four 3-pointers in a game or scored more than 20 points, matched his career-high output from the behind the arc and had 17 points … in the first half.
With Villanova desperate to keep Monroe from dominating the game, Clark was left wide open time and time again.
He didn't disappoint. He finished with 24 points, draining 6 of 7 treys.
"After the first couple of shots, you get in the groove where you feel like you can't miss," Clark said. "So yeah, I knew it was going to be a good game after the first couple of shots."
The Hoyas, clearly ready to put that South Florida loss in the rearview mirror, rode Clark's sharpshooting to a staggering 19-point lead at intermission. The gap proved too much for the Wildcats to overcome and also revealed a chink in the Villanova armor.
The Wildcats can score and score in bunches; it's the other end of the floor where they struggle. Villanova is scrappy and feisty and pesky, but because of their lack of strength and size on the inside, the Cats have to sag on dominant big men like Monroe. Consequently, they leave shooters open -- the Hoyas sunk 10 of 19 3-pointers -- and rank just 11th in 3-point field goal defense in the Big East.
It's a problem the team has been able to overcome for 20 of its 22 games, but tellingly it also is the same problem that bit Nova in its only other loss. Temple drained 11 treys in its win against Villanova in December.
VU coach Jay Wright thought the Wildcats' defensive struggles were as much a testimony to Georgetown's offensive power as it was to their own deficiencies.
"I'm not that concerned," he said. "Once you're down 19 to a team like this, it's a different game. You don't want to come in here and press or trap this team, but then you don't have a choice. They get into that rhythm and then you're in trouble."
Indeed, the trouble kept on coming for the Wildcats. It just took different forms.
With Villanova pressing more to the perimeter, the Hoyas went from their bread to their butter, pounding the ball inside. They made just two 3-pointers in the second half, yet scored 53 points, driving the ball to the rim and either scoring or getting fouled. The Hoyas took 37 free throws in the second half alone, with Monroe (14), Freeman (eight) and Julian Vaughn (three) having great success every time they went inside.
It was a revelation of a potent inside-outside game that makes Georgetown so difficult to defend and such a player in the national scene.
It's a brutal pick-your-poison that Thompson has concocted -- a team that, as Monroe said, can only be undone by its own undoing.
OK, and maybe by a few feet of snow.
The Hoyas slept in a downtown hotel on Friday night to make sure they could get to their game on Saturday, but once the win was in the books, they had to figure out how to get home.
Told some other undergrads walked from campus, Thompson smirked.
"That's a great idea; you guys can walk back with your classmates," he said.
No doubt their feet wouldn't touch the ground. Not after a win like this.
(c) 2009 ESPN Internet Ventures.
UNM focusing more on MWC than chances in NCAA Tournament
Fans and reporters alike enjoy peppering University of New Mexico men's head basketball coach Steve Alford with questions about his team's chances in the NCAA Tournament and where he thinks his team might be seeded in the postseason.
As the Lobos reach the midway point of the Mountain West Conference season on Saturday with a game at TCU, Alford is too busy enjoying the now to think that far ahead.
Grammer's blog --MWC page (w/ standings)
"We're right in the middle of a conference race," Alford said Thursday. "We're one game back. We're the defending champ. Our whole focus right now is a league championship and just trying to drive through January.
"We've got an opportunity to be at 20 wins and 6-2 in the league, no more than one game back at the midway point. That's our whole focal point. We know February is going to be a grind. We have a tough schedule in February to get through."
That hasn't stopped the rest of the world from looking ahead to March Madness.
Entering Thursday's slate of college basketball games, the Web site RealTimeRPI.com had the Lobos sitting at No. 12 in the country.
Even before Wednesday's upset of No. 12 BYU, ESPN's NCAA Tournament bracket guru Joe Lunardi was predicting the Lobos to be a No. 7 seed in the field of 65.
"We don't start thinking about Season 3 (the Mountain West tournament) or 4 (the NCAA Tournament) until we get well through season No. 2 (conference regular season play)," Alford said. "I think our guys' focus is on one game at a time."
UNM is 19-3 overall and 5-2 in MWC play and tied for second with UNLV (17-4, 5-2). BYU (20-2, 5-1) is still atop the league standings.
But the Lobos must also look over their shoulders as San Diego State, Utah and Colorado State are sitting close behind.
The first half of MWC play has settled very little in terms of who will win the league.
"Every team in conference is a tough team," San Diego State forward Malcolm Thomas said. "Anybody can lose at any given moment. We just have to prepare and be ready for what the other teams have to offer."
UNM continues to be led by its trio of upperclassmen leaders -- senior wing Roman Martinez and junior guards Darington Hobson and Dairese Gary.
The trio is averaging 40.1 points, 17.4 rebounds and 9.4 rebounds pre game.
For now, the point guard Gary is the hot hand heading into the TCU game coming off a career-high 25 points against BYU.
Alford, who called Cougars guard Jimmer Fredette "a special player" on Wednesday, added "but I wouldn't trade my point guard for anybody."
Thanks in large part to Gary, the Lobos are riding an impressive five-game winning streak into Saturday's TCU game.
That win streak, however, was preceded by losses to San Diego State and UNLV to open league play.
If UNM beats TCU (10-11, 2-4 in MWC) in Fort Worth, Texas, on Saturday, the Lobos will be riding a six-game winning streak into their Feb. 6 rematch with San Diego State, this time in The Pit.
They then get UNLV in Las Vegas, Nev., on Feb. 10.
It isn't the first time the Lobos played those two teams thinking momentum was on their side.
After a shocking non-conference record of 14-1 that landed the Lobos in the national polls, San Diego State and UNLV brought the Lobos back down to earth with losses on Jan. 5 and Jan. 9, respectively.
But Alford seems to think his team is back on the right track heading into the second half of league play.
"I think we started to see our swagger come back like we had in early December after the Texas A&M game," Alford said. "We got hit a little bit with San Diego State and UNLV and we've responded with five wins in a row.
"The league is ranked sixth in the country. We're ahead of the Pac-10, we're percentage points behind the Big Ten. When you're playing in a league this tough, to win five in a row, that's hard. So I see our swagger getting back."
If that's true, and the Lobos tear through February like they did through most of January, Alford will begrudgingly have to deal with even more questions about his team's chances in March.
(c) 2010, The Santa Fe New Mexican.
Illini try to temper 'Cats' postseason hopes
EVANSTON - Each Northwestern University basketball season begins with a basic presumption: The team will have a losing record.
Only seven times in the past 49 years has Northwestern topped the .500 mark, and the Wildcats are the only member of a BCS Conference to have never gone to the NCAA Tournament.
That seems cruel, since Northwestern was gracious enough to host the very first NCAA Tournament back in 1939. But in the seven decades since, 300 schools have tasted March Madness, NCAA-style, while Northwestern has never been invited to college basketball's Big Dance.
Never. They're the ultimate wallflower.
Last year, the intoxicating idea of being invited to the dance teased with the Wildcats. They had 17 wins going into the Big Ten Tournament and there was a feeling if Northwestern could win a game of two in Indianapolis, that first-ever NCAA Tournament invitation might be in the offing.
Alas, Northwestern lost to Minnesota in the first round and had to settle for an invitation to the National Invitation Tournament, college basketball's booby prize. A quick loss to Tulsa ended the season at 17-14.
Still, it was a season of both success and promise for a Northwestern team that finally started to show its fangs. The Wildcats were impressive throughout the Big The campaign. They beat Minnesota when the Gophers were ranked 18th in the nation. They won at Michigan State when the Spartans were ranked No. 7. They beat Wisconsin and Ohio State and won at Purdue when the Boilermakers were a top 20 team.
With improved athleticism and the promise of more, Northwestern began to make its mark.
And when Illinois met the Wildcats on Dec. 30 of this season in Champaign, Northwestern had moved into the Top 25 for the first time in 41 years.
Since that moment, Northwestern has known both success and defeat.
Illinois held off the Wildcats 89-83 in overtime three-and-a-half weeks ago. Northwestern also has lost to Wisconsin and Ohio State, but has defeated Michigan and Purdue.
And when Illinois and Northwestern line up for a rematch tonight at Welsh-Ryan Arena, it will be a Northwestern team that still is trying to fashion the most successful season since the 1982-83 Wildcats went 18-12.
What makes it amazing is that Northwestern has had success without its best player, Kevin Coble, who was lost for the season with a foot injury back in November.
How have they done it? What's made this Northwestern team different from so many teams that have fallen apart in the past?
Illini coach Bruce Weber said hard work by Wildcat players has helped pave the way.
"When I first got into the league they were pretty good but the league was so good it was tough to win," Weber said. "But they have some players who have worked at it. They have improved. They understand the system and they are committed.
"Their kids really worked this summer. They were out at different gyms and I saw them at venues or heard word of what they were doing. They have made a commitment to it and they have some guys who are dedicated to their program."
Weber saw first-hand the advancement of leading scorer John Shurna this summer at the USA Basketball tryouts in Colorado Springs, Colo.
"I'm on the (selection) committee and coach (Roy) Williams and coach (Jim) Boeheim and coach (Lorenzo) Romar, we each have a section of the country we watch. With Shurna, his age was a big thing. He was eligible to go with the Under-19 team and he was someone I suggested or promoted.
"But he earned the spot. He played real well there. (Purdue coach) Matt Painter was one of the assistants and he'd say, ‘Shurna keeps impressing people,' and that was a big confidence-builder for him."
Sure enough, Shurna made the team and helped the United States win the gold medal at the Under-19 World Championships in New Zealand.
Weber said Shurna is a major reason Northwestern has raised both its athleticism and its toughness level, which has helped make the Wildcats are much more formidable rebounding team.
"He has a little orneriness to him," Weber said. "He doesn't back down."
Against the Illini on Dec. 30, Shurna, who attended Glenbard West High School in suburban Glen Ellyn, led Northwestern with 27 points.
Tonight, Illinois arrives in Evanston knowing it has to find another road win to make up for the home loss to Purdue on Tuesday.
"We need to clear our head and go to Northwestern and take it to them early," said Illini forward Mike Davis, who ended his mini-slump with 17 points and 15 rebounds against Purdue. "We need it."
True, but winning against the Wildcats is not as easy as it once was.
(c) 2010, Herald-Review.
Robinson's 25 rally No. 16 Pitt past Cards, 823-77
PITTSBURGH --- Nasir Robinson scored a career-high 26 points and No. 16 Pittsburgh staged a frantic rally in the final minute of regulation to force overtime, then avoided a third consecutive home loss to Louisville by winning 82-77 on Saturday.
Pitt (15-2, 5-0 Big East) won its eighth straight overall and 31st in succession at the Petersen Events Center -- the second-longest streak in major college basketball to Kansas' 52 -- despite trailing most of the second half.
Samardo Samuels scored 25 points for Louisville (12-6, 3-2), which led by as many as six points and was ahead 68-63 with 34 seconds remaining.
Brad Wanamaker scored 20 points for the Panthers, including the five points they needed to get to overtime after Louisville missed four of five free throws in the final 42 seconds of regulation.
Preston Knowles added 21 points for the Cardinals, whose only three losses in their last 10 games were to Pitt, No. 2 Kentucky and No. 4 Villanova.
Louisville can only blame itself for failing to close out another upset at Pitt. The Cardinals were 10 of 17 at the free throw line after going 39 of 45 during their 92-84 loss at Villanova on Monday. Pitt was 24 of 30 at the line, with Wanamaker going 11 of 12.
Robinson, a 6-foot-5 sophomore, hadn't scored more than 15 points during his two-season career before making 11 of 14 shots and adding a team-high 11 rebounds. But it was Wanamaker, who scored 19 points Wednesday when Pitt won its third straight on the road by beating No. 15 Connecticut, who gave the Panthers achance to win it.
Wanamaker hit a 3-pointer with 15.6 seconds remaining and, after Edgar Sosa missed one of two free throws with 11.7 seconds, Wanamaker tied it by making two from the line with 1.9 seconds remaining. Sosa scored 13 points but was only 3 of 7 at the line.
Ashton Gibbs, Pitt's leading scorer, put the Panthers ahead for the first time since they led 49-48 by hitting a 3-pointer 53 seconds into overtime. He scored 15 points despite making only one field goal in the first half. Jermaine Dixon, who missed six of his first seven shots but scored three key baskets in overtime, followed with an off-balance jumper from the wing that made it 74-69.
Louisville cut it to 78-77 on Knowles' fifth 3-pointer with 25 seconds to play. Gibbs made two free throws with 16.4 to play and, after Jared Swopshire couldn't hit a desperation 3-pointer, Dixon finished it off by scoring inside.
The Cardinals, whose starting lineup included three players who have won previously at Pitt, also won there in 2007 and 2008, with its victory there on Feb. 24, 2008, the last by an opposing team. No other opposing team has won more than once at the Petersen Events Center. Louisville also beat Pitt last season at home after Pitt ascended to No. 1 in the AP poll.
Pitt has won 11 of its last 12 despite being picked to finish ninth in the Big East after losing four of five starters from last season's 31-5 team. The Panthers are 6-0 since forward Gilbert Brown (academically ineligible) and Dixon (broken foot) returned to the lineup and are 5-0 in Big East play for the third time, also doing it in 2002-03 and 2006-07.
(c) 2010, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
March Madness games of the decade: Ohio State-Xavier at No. 10
You've likely seen countless college basketball "Decade" lists by now.
Best players of the decade.
Best moments of the decade.
Best coaches of the decade.
Blah, blah, blah.
But I doubt you've seen a "Decade" list like the one we're putting together here, because not only is it a list of the "10 Best NCAA March Madness games from this decade," it's a list of the "10 Best NCAA March Madness games from this decade" with video of the selected game attached. So you don't have to rely on my memory of what happened to know what happened. You can watch the game yourself, right here, and then debate whether each entry should've been higher, lower or omitted completely.
We'll start the countdown today and continue each Wednesday, meaning on March 10 -- the Wednesday before Selection Sunday -- the top NCAA tournament game from the last decade will be unveiled. So with that, let's get started.
Coming in at No. 10 on the list of the "10 Best NCAA March Madness games from this decade" is ...
Ohio State vs. Xavier (2007)
It had two programs from the same state against each other, and the Ohio State coach (Thad Matta) facing his old school (Xavier) and former assistant (Sean Miller). So some intriguing story lines were in place even before the start of the second-round game, but those story lines quickly gave way to a wild 40 minutes -- make that 45 minutes -- of basketball.
Xavier led 59-50 with less than three minutes remaining and seemed as in control as Memphis would a year later against Kansas (more on that in the coming weeks, obviously). The Musketeers were on their way to snapping Ohio State's 18-game winning streak and removing a No. 1 seed from the bracket. But then Ron Lewis sank a couple of free throws (59-52 with 2:54 left), Jamar Butler buried a 3-pointer (59-55 with 2:07 left), Lewis got a 3-point play (59-58 with 1:36 left), and the Buckeyes eventually found themselves with the ball and down 62-59 with 9.3 seconds remaining. And, oh yeah, Greg Oden had just fouled out on a hard foul against Justin Cage that Xavier fans to this day insist should've been called an intentional foul.
Wild stuff.
But it got wilder.
After Cage missed the second of two free throws, Mike Conley rushed up the court and found Lewis, who made an overtime-forcing 3-pointer with 2.0 seconds remaining, bringing Miller's decision not to foul while up three points late into question. In the extra period, it was all Conley. The freshman point guard scored Ohio State's first seven points and pushed the Buckeyes to a 78-71 win. Conley finished with 11 points in overtime, 21 in the game.
Now consider the alternatives.
If the officials call an intentional foul on Oden, this ends differently. If Cage makes both free throws, this ends differently. If Xavier fouls Conley while he's bringing the ball up the court in the final nine seconds, this probably ends differently. But none of those things happened, so it ended how it ended, which allowed Conley to showcase his talents through the Final Four. Otherwise, no question, he would've returned to Ohio State for his sophomore season. But Conley was viewed as a serious prospect after leading the Buckeyes to the national title game. So he entered the draft and was picked fourth by the Grizzlies in a development that raises the following question: Did Sean Miller's decision not to foul Mike Conley in the final seconds make Mike Conley roughly $9 million?
Answer: Yes, I think it did.
(c) 2010 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved.
|
