Nebraska's basketball coach Doc Sadler gets 2-year contract extension
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska basketball coach Doc Sadler received a two-year contract extension Wednesday after leading the Cornhuskers in their first 20-win season in nine years.
Sadler's contract will run through the 2013-14 season, and his base pay will increase from $700,000 to $800,000 each of the next six years.
"Doc Sadler has done an exceptional job of motivating and preparing his basketball team this past season," athletic director Tom Osborne said. "We are very pleased that he has committed to staying at Nebraska for an extended period of time. We believe the future of Nebraska basketball is bright under Doc's leadership."
Sadler's name was mentioned when coaching vacancies came up at Texas A&M and Arkansas last year, and his name was bandied again after Tuesday's resignation of Oklahoma State's Sean Sutton.
Sadler said he was not interested in the OSU job.
"This is where my family and I want to live and this is where I want to build a championship program," Sadler said. "Even though we've had some success the past two years, we are not at the level where we want to be. But I'm happy that people can see my commitment and the progress we are making within the program."
Sadler, 47, is 37-27 in two seasons since taking over for Barry Collier. He's the first coach in Nebraska history to record at least 17 wins in each of his first two years. Sadler guided Nebraska to a 20-13 record this season, and the Huskers earned a spot in the NIT. The 20-win season was only the 12th in the program's 112-year history.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Cal coach Ben Braun fired after 15 seasons
BERKELEY, Calif. -- California underachieved in the eyes of its players, its athletic director and its fans.
The school fired basketball coach Ben Braun on Wednesday following another disappointing season in which the Golden Bears missed the NCAA tournament for the fourth time in five years.
Braun spent 12 years at Cal and made the tournament five times. But the Bears only went to the NCAA tournament once over his final five seasons, leading to the decision by athletic director Sandy Barbour.
She met Wednesday morning with Braun, who then met with eight players from the team in the locker room afterward with the news. Barbour, too, talked to as many players as she could considering some had already left town for spring break. She said her decision was made this week after evaluating the program over the course of the season.
"Ultimately, the bottom line is we just didn't win enough basketball games," Barbour said. "I believe this is a very talented team and I believe they underperformed. ... It concerns me not to put the student-athletes in position to have outrageous success."
Cal finished ninth in the Pac-10 this season, going 17-16 overall and just 6-12 in the conference despite having a talented roster that included likely future NBA players in Ryan Anderson, DeVon Hardin and Patrick Christopher. Anderson, the team's leading scorer and rebounder this season as a sophomore, is likely to declare himself eligible for the NBA draft without hiring an agent so he can still return to school.
The Bears had the youngest roster in the Pac-10 -- with two seniors and no active juniors -- and made the NIT, where they were knocked out in the second round by Ohio State on Monday night. They struggled all season to play solid defense and that led to losing lots of close games.
"I was speechless, shocked, kind of numb in a way," forward Jamal Boykin said. "I heard all the rumors. I understand, but I think it's unfortunate because he's put together a really good system. I understand how the business works. This is a top university."
Braun leaves Cal with a 219-154 record at the school. His most successful season was his first after taking over when former coach Todd Bozeman was found to have paid $30,000 to the father of a former player. The Bears went 23-9 in 1996-97 and advanced to the third round of the NCAA tournament.
Integrity of the program is a priority for Barbour, who called certain things like NCAA violations "nonnegotiable" as she makes this hire.
Cal won the NIT in 1999 and made three straight trips to the NCAA tournament from 2001-03, before struggling in recent years as other conference programs have improved. The Bears have placed eighth or ninth in the Pac-10 in three of the last four years.
"I'd like to thank the Cal community for 12 great years of support," Braun said in a statement. "I've had the privilege to coach at one of the top universities in the country, and I'm proud of the program we've built. Going to eight postseason tournaments has been very special. I'm obviously disappointed that my staff and I won't be able to coach this team next year, and I feel they will be very successful."
According to terms of the most recent contract extension that went through the 2010-11 season, Braun is due a $985,000 buyout. The door to the men's basketball office was locked Wednesday afternoon and it was dark inside.
Barbour said a search for a new coach will begin immediately, aided by the firm of Eastman & Beaudine, Inc. Associate head coach Louis Reynaud will direct the program until a new head coach is named, and the other assistants will at least stay aboard until then.
"This team had a tremendous amount of talent and it was more the little things that held us back," said forward Theo Robertson, who redshirted the season while recovering from hip surgery.
The Cal job is one of two open in the conference, along with Oregon State, which fired Jay John during the season.
Some possible replacements for Braun include Saint Mary's coach Randy Bennett, former Stanford and Golden State Warriors coach Mike Montgomery, former UCLA coach Steve Lavin, former Warriors and Sacramento Kings coach Eric Musselman, UNLV coach Lon Kruger or Arizona assistant Kevin O'Neill.
Barbour already has her own short list.
Boykin said the Bears need a "disciplinarian" who will put some "fear" in the players.
"The numbers don't lie," Boykin said. "We made the NIT but that was a disappointment to a lot of people. I really have no idea why our defense was so bad. It's a mental toughness thing and we didn't have that mental toughness on the defensive end."
Braun has a school-record 11 postseason victories and reached a record five NCAA tournaments. His 219 victories at the school are second on Cal's career list behind only Nibs Price, who was 449-294 from 1925-54.
The 54-year-old Braun coached at Eastern Michigan and Siena Heights College before joining the Bears in September 1996. His career record is 552-389 in 31 seasons.
Braun was born in Chicago and played one year of basketball at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse before transferring to Wisconsin. He graduated in 1975.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
March Madness will have to wait for the games after selection committee spoils the fun
INDIANAPOLIS -- Half the fun of March Madness is getting mad. And the selection committee spoiled it.
How are we going to spend the next two days griping about who got slighted? How are we supposed to work ourselves into a lather about teams being sent the wrong places? And how will we ever muster the appropriate outrage over clearly undeserved seedings?
How dare the NCAA?
They had a slam dunk for controversy, and they blew it.
So here, because we need something to do besides fill out those brackets, are some injustices for madness maniacs to whine about:
-- Duke isn't a No. 2 seed. Certainly not at the expense of a Wisconsin or even a Stanford.
Yes, we know Duke is the paragon of college basketball and everyone else should consider themselves lucky to play with the Blue Devils. But strip the name off the front of the jersey, and this year's Blue Devils would look a lot more like a No. 3 seed.
They didn't win their regular-season conference title. Not only did they not win their conference tournament, they couldn't even deliver on that rubber match with North Carolina, getting bounced by Clemson in the semifinals. Throw in the loss to the Tar Heels in the regular-season finale, and the Blue Devils are heading to the NCAA tournament with two losses in their last three games and are 5-4 over the last nine.
True, Duke did beat Wisconsin. But that was at home way back in November. The Badgers are a different team these days, winners of 10 straight and sweeping the Big Ten titles. Wisconsin may not be the prettiest team to watch -- folks on the West Coast had to be wondering just what game the Big Ten was playing this weekend -- but the Badgers are effective. They lead the country in scoring defense, they take care of the ball and they have that rarity today, a balanced offense.
Stanford, meanwhile, reached the final of the Pac-10 tournament and lost by 3 to UCLA, a team many are touting for a third straight trip to the Final Four.
"These are really close decisions," said Tom O'Connor, athletic director at George Mason and the chairman of the selection committee.
-- The wrong Arizona team got in.
The Sun Devils beat the Wildcats twice and finished with a better record in the Pac-10 and overall. Yet Arizona State is headed for the NIT while Arizona gets an all-expenses paid trip to the nation's capital.
"They were 2-7 against the top four teams in the Pac-10," O'Connor said. "But in the final analysis ... the committee didn't feel they were one of the 34 best at-large teams in the country."
-- The Big East got twice as many teams as the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The ACC had the toughest RPI of any conference in the country, and the second-highest winning percentage. It is home to the No. 1 team in the country and has two in the top seven. The Big East, meanwhile, is fifth in RPI and has one team in the top 10. Of its top four teams, three couldn't even get out of the Big East tournament quarterfinals.
And yet the Big East got eight teams to the ACC's four. Yes, that was Seth Greenberg you heard screaming from Virginia Tech on Sunday night.
If the Big East is going to be rewarded for supersizing itself, why stop at eight? Give them 10 teams or an even dozen.
What the heck, why not just send everybody?
(Actually, practically every team does get a spot in the postseason, thanks to the addition of the 16-team field of the new College Basketball Invitational. But as Florida forward Adam Allen said recently, "Nobody wants to go to the NIT. It's like the champion of the losers if you win that. Everybody wants to play in the NCAA tournament.")
-- North Carolina's road sure looks bumpy.
As the top seed overall, the Tar Heels are supposed to get special treatment. It's like the athletic equivalent of being the teacher's pet. Nothing outrageous, mind you, but the committee gives them extra consideration when it comes to staying close to home and who they play.
On paper, it looks like the Tar Heels are living a charmed life. They have as close to a gimme as possible in the first game, playing the winner of the opening round, aka, the sacrificial lamb. They won't have to leave North Carolina until the Final Four, with their first two games scheduled for Raleigh, the next two in Charlotte.
Look a little closer, though, and the bracket isn't quite so friendly. Indiana looms in the second game. The Hoosiers might be putting the fun in dysfunctional these days, but if they get their act together, look out. The bottom half of the bracket has Tennessee, a former No. 1, and Louisville, one of the hottest teams in the country until that little hiccup in the Big East tournament.
Maybe the selection committee is as tired of Tyler Hansbrough as the rest of us.
-- We appreciate the potential of an O.J. Mayo-Michael Beasley matchup, but a Tennessee-Memphis rematch would have been a whole lot more fun.
The committee swears it doesn't get cute with the brackets, and any sideshows are purely accidental. But it's managed some good ones over the years. Some young coach is always playing his former boss/mentor and looking mighty uncomfortable about it. Last year, Louisville played its first two games in Rupp Arena, home of archrival Kentucky.
And the year Dean Smith broke Adolph Rupp's record for all-time wins, North Carolina was set up to play Indiana and Bob Knight in the potential record-breaker. Knight, of course, later broke Smith's record.
The potential for Vols-Tigers redux was there. Memphis is a No. 1 seed and Tennessee a No. 2 -- matching their rankings from that regular-season game. All the committee had to do was swap Texas and Tennessee's brackets.
"We really don't deal with 'What ifs?" O'Connor said. "They still have to play the games."
Thanks to the committee, one of our favorites will be a lot less fun this year.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Murphy's 22 points lift Norfolk State to MEAC tourney win
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Tony Murphy scored 22 of his game-high 29 points in the second half to lead Norfolk State to a 69-61 victory over Florida A&M in the quarterfinals of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament Thursday night.
The third-seeded Spartans (16-14) advanced to a Friday night semifinal vs. seventh-seeded Coppin State (14-20).
Murphy scored the last eight points for the Spartans and 11 of their final 14 after Norfolk State took the lead for good at 56-55 with 4:33 remaining on a free throw by backup center Joseph Dorsett-Jeffreys.
It was also Jeffreys' blocked shot the Rattlers' Lamar Twitty with less than a minute left that allowed Norfolk State to hold onto the lead. Murphy then nailed the victory with six straight free throws.
The Spartans led by 10 (18-10) with 8:57 left in the half before the sixth-seeded Rattlers (15-17) went on a 15-5 run in the next five minutes to take a 25-23 lead. But Norfolk State finished the half with an 8-3 run of its own to lead 31-28 at halftime.
Twitty scored 19 points and Leslie Robinson 18 for Florida A&M.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Huskies sick of Washington State's recent dominance
SEATTLE -- Lorenzo Romar wasn't making any projections.
"It is seven?" Washington's coach asked.
No, coach, it's only been a six-pack of consecutive losses your Huskies have endured at the hands of Washington State, currently ranked No. 23 in the nation. A seventh consecutive win by the Cougars on Saturday would best Washington State's six-game winning streak over the Huskies in 1941-42.
Washington (16-14, 7-10 Pac-10) would give almost anything to see the streak end in Pullman.
"A lot of us just think about it," Washington forward Jon Brockman said. "Probably more so those of us here that grew up in the state. It's something you just grow up learning and hearing about that rivalry."
It's rarely been this one-sided. A win Saturday would tie Washington State (22-7, 10-7) for the second-longest current win streak over one team in the conference. Only UCLA's eight-game streak over the Cougars is longer.
But this has been the year for snapping long losing skids to one school in the Pac-10. Washington State broke a 14-game losing streak to Oregon in January, while Arizona State stopped a 12-game losing streak to the Huskies last month.
"Losing six in a row is definitely not what you envision," Brockman said. "It just means this game means a little bit more to us than just a normal Pac-10 game."
Each of the Cougars' six consecutive wins has come with a new benchmark for the resurgent program.
There were the two victories in 2006 over ranked Washington teams, the first one a 78-71 win in Seattle over the then-No. 10 Huskies, Washington State's first win over a Top 10 team on the road.
Last year came a trio of Cougars' victories, highlighted by a 28-point rout in Pullman and capped with a 13-point win in the Pac-10 tournament that ended Washington's season.
Then earlier this year, the Huskies matched Washington State's rugged, defensive-focused style, only to see the Cougars pull through late for a 56-52 victory in Seattle.
"There are not a whole lot of surprises about Washington State," Romar said. "They're good, they're well coached and they're not going to beat themselves."
Players like Brockman, Justin Dentmon, Ryan Appleby and Quincy Pondexter have never experienced beating the Cougars. Only Joel Smith in the 2005 season and Tim Morris when he was at Stanford have beaten Washington State.
"In all the games we have lost we've had mental breakdowns that have cost us the game," Dentmon said.
Those mental breakdowns, which were all too common for the Huskies earlier this season, have been less noticeable of late. Washington has won three of its last five, and nearly upset No. 7 Stanford last Thursday, before bouncing back with a solid win over California on Saturday.
Washington could still avoid getting stuck with an opening-round game in next week's Pac-10 tournament. First, the Huskies must beat the Cougars, then get plenty of help from the likes of Arizona, Oregon and Arizona State. Still, there is a slight chance Washington could finish in sixth place.
"It's almost the end of the season. I wish we could have figured that out (earlier)," Romar said of the Huskies' improved play. "But we're capable of playing pretty good basketball."
Of course, the reward for finishing in sixth place could very well mean another matchup with the Cougars in the conference tournament. But that would also mean no long talking about the losing streak.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Tyler Hansbrough helps No. 3 North Carolina beat Wake Forest 89-73
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Tyler Hansbrough banged around and scored in the paint while Wayne Ellington knocked down outside shots. It was more than enough to keep third-ranked North Carolina atop the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Hansbrough had 29 points to continue his late-season surge while Ellington added 17 in the Tar Heels' 89-73 win over Wake Forest on Sunday night, helping them move a half-game ahead of Duke.
Danny Green had 15 points for the Tar Heels (26-2, 11-2 ACC), who shot 56 percent -- 7-for-14 from 3-point range -- to win its fourth straight in the series and fifth in a row overall.
Not bad, given their recent injuries.
"There's nothing we can do about it," Hansbrough said. "We can't sit back and say, 'Some guys are hurt.' That's where some guys are stepping up."
The 6-foot-9 Hansbrough turned in another stellar performance, going 9-for-13 from the field and 11-for-14 from the line. It was his seventh straight game with at least 22 points, a streak that began when the Tar Heels lost point guard Ty Lawson to a sprained left ankle in the early minutes of an overtime win at Florida State on Feb. 3.
Hansbrough is averaging 28 points and 12.1 rebounds during that stretch, helping pad his lead as the conference leader in both categories. He managed just five rebounds, but had four steals in 37 minutes.
Ellington, meanwhile, went 3-for-5 from 3-point range, marking the fifth straight game he has hit at least three 3s. His biggest came just before halftime, when he took a high inbounds pass from Green and knocked down a contested 3 from the far left corner in front of the Wake Forest bench. That gave North Carolina a 50-41 lead at the break that would grow to as many as 21 points.
The Tar Heels kept attacking the Demon Deacons (16-9, 6-6) to get them in foul trouble and get to the line. Wake Forest was whistled for six fouls in the first 4 minutes, while 7-foot center Chas McFarland -- matched up with Hansbrough early -- picked up his fourth foul 48 seconds into the second half.
North Carolina took advantage, hitting 26 of 34 free throws.
"(With) our style of play, the other team is going to get in foul trouble," coach Roy Williams said. "It's not just the guys in the striped shirts because we're going to throw the ball inside. We're going to attack the basket. We're going to get fouled and we're going to put the other team in position to be in foul trouble. We have with every team I've ever coached and every team I ever will."
James Johnson scored 22 points for the Demon Deacons, who were within two points late in the first half before the Tar Heels steadily pulled away. Wake Forest was playing for the first time since last weekend's 86-73 upset of the then-No. 2 Blue Devils, easily the program's biggest victory since Chris Paul left early for the NBA three years ago.
But the Demon Deacons couldn't follow that with another surprise.
"When you're preparing for these guys there's so much to prepare for," Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio said. "You've got to get back on defense. They're the leading rebounding team in the league. Tyler's a handful inside. ... You have to do a lot of things well to beat them. We didn't do obviously enough things well."
Wake Forest shot 48 percent, but went just 8-for-17 from the line and was outrebounded 38-24. The Demon Deacons hung around early by hitting six 3-pointers in the first half, but went just 1-for-7 from behind the arc after the break.
Still, the Demon Deacons' biggest problems were on defense against an attack that -- while missing Lawson for the sixth straight game -- continued to push the ball upcourt. Quentin Thomas finished with six points and seven assists in Lawson's place, while swingman Marcus Ginyard had a career-best six assists.
"It just felt like they were running the ball and we couldn't contain them on defense," Wake Forest guard L.D. Williams said. "Coaches felt all week that it was going to be a track meet out there, and it took us a little too long to realize that."
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Oakes leads Spartans over Aggies
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Chris Oakes scored a career-high 21 points to lead the San Jose State Spartans to victory over the Utah State Aggies 70-67 on Monday night.
Jaycee Carroll led Utah State with a game-high 31 points. The Aggies (18-9, 8-4) have lost three straight for the first time this season.
Utah State forward Tai Wesley was ejected for committing a blatant foul in the first 90 seconds.
Even so, Utah State chipped away at a double-digit San Jose State lead in the second half. Carroll's layup with 15:03 remaining got the Aggies within nine points of the lead. But Tim Pierce drained a 3-pointer with 13:21 left to get the lead back to 12-points for the Spartans.
The Aggies were just 1-of-9 from the field to start the game. The Spartans jumped out to a 13-4 lead in the first six minutes and would lead by 15 points with 2:40 remaining in the first half.
San Jose State (12-13, 4-8) has won two straight. The Spartans have not won more than 10 games since the 2000-01 season when the program was 14-14.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
|
