UConn overcomes 12-point first half to squeeze past Stanford for second straight title
There was no panic in the locker room. No pep talk, either. Maya Moore and her Connecticut Huskies knew the score.”It couldn’t get any worse,” she said. And it was all slipping away — the streak, the perfect season, the championship.
Leave it to Moore. The tournament’s most outstanding player took over the NCAA title game Tuesday night, rallying the Huskies from a horrible first half to a 53-47 victory over Stanford.”We knew a run was coming,” she said. “We settled down and hit some big shots.”Suddenly, a team that was stagnant on offense and trailing 20-12 at the break was moving and scoring.”Just no fear,” said Moore.That could be a motto for coach Geno Auriemma’s Huskies. UConn (39-0) is the first team ever to have consecutive unbeaten seasons, but that doesn’t cover it.
Duke escapes Butler, wins fourth title
The ball sailed from halfcourt with the buzzer sounding — bounced off the backboard, the rim, the floor.Most of the 70,000 fans on Butler’s side let out an “Ohhhhhh,” and the Duke players piled onto forward Kyle Singler at center court. What a game! And what a way to end the season, even if America’s favorite underdog came up a little short.
Final Four is Set
A far-fetched NCAA Final Four
We have our Final Four, each team playing its own role: Butler, the fairy-tale townie; Michigan State, the battered overachiever; West Virginia, the East Coast bully; and Duke, the headlining villain. This is the most unlikely of quartets to reach Indy, even though each team was in the top 11 of the preseason Associated Press poll. There were widely held reasons for them all not to make it to Lucas Oil Stadium. The Bulldogs were too meekly mid-major to beat Syracuse or Kansas State in the West. The Spartans stumbled through the Big Ten backstretch, and were without their floor general in the Midwest Region of Death. The Mountaineers weren’t rich enough in NBA talent to dance with John Wall & Co. in the East. The Blue Devils were, well, the Blue Devils of the past five NCAA tournaments — regular-season lions, postseason lambs.
Black Football Recruits Warned About South Carolina
March 25, 2010 by owner
Filed under South Carolina News, Sports
Black lawmakers are urging black football recruits to reconsider playing for the University of South Carolina because the school could lose its lone black trustee.
State Rep. David Weeks, chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he doesn’t think there are enough votes in the Legislature to get lawyer Leah B. Moody appointed to a full term on the 22-member board next month.
She is the board’s only black member and is finishing the term of a trustee who resigned before pleading guilty to bank fraud.
“We are asking young athletes to be aware … there are folks in this state who say it’s fine to play ball but not be on the governing board,” Weeks said.
He and several other lawmakers, including former Gamecocks lineman Anton Gunn, a black Democrat from Columbia, said members of the black community were calling recruits and their families and asking them to rethink playing for the school.
While the Gamecocks have been mediocre for years, the football team and coach Steve Spurrier draw massive fan support in a state with no professional sports. The Southeastern Conference team is the subject of radio talk shows and media coverage year-round, and home games at the school’s enormous stadium in the capital city draw tens of thousands for hours of tailgating each week during the season.
The team had a 2009 record of 7-6 and an average attendance of more than 75,300 at its seven home games.
After practice Wednesday, Spurrier said he had been told about what the Legislative Black Caucus was doing, but didn’t have all the details.
“That’s not into my control. Worry about what you control,” Spurrier said.
The coach quickly cut off a second question on the topic, saying he had to leave immediately for a booster club meeting in Spartanburg.
Lawmakers would not say how many recruits had been called or whether any were reconsidering their commitments. They also would not identify the callers.
Gunn said top high school recruit Marcus Lattimore was among those contacted. His parents could not immediately be reached for comment and his high school coach, Chris Miller, said he had not heard about any calls to the running back.
Georgetown’s leading scorer Freeman has diabetes
March 4, 2010 by owner
Filed under Health, Sports, Washington DC Metro
Georgetown’s leading scorer Austin Freeman has been diagnosed with diabetes, leaving his status uncertain for the team’s upcoming games.
Freeman returned to practice Wednesday and Thursday after missing Monday night’s loss to West Virginia. He was also limited in Saturday’s loss to Notre Dame.
Originally thought to have a stomach virus, Freeman learned he had diabetes when he went to the hospital Monday night.
Coach John Thompson III said Thursday he is “100 percent” certain Freeman will play again this season, but the coach wouldn’t say whether the junior guard will return for Saturday’s regular-season finale against Cincinnati.
“It may be Saturday,” Thompson said. “I don’t know what the timeframe is going to take for us to learn how to monitor and work with him. But we will get to that point, and with all the experts and support we have, I don’t anticipate it being long.”
The No. 19 Hoyas will play in the Big East tournament next week.
As a precaution, a doctor from the university’s hospital will attend all of Freeman’s practices and games for the rest of the season.
Tar Heels visit White House
May 12, 2009 by owner
Filed under Media, Washington DC Metro
A pickup game f basketball last spring brought good luck to the University of North Carolina’s basketball team and to Barack Obama, the president said Monday as he welcomed the national champions to the White House.
North Carolina won the title this year. And Obama, who scrimmaged with the players during a campaign visit to Chapel Hill, N.C., won the state’s Democratic primary and then carried North Carolina in November as he captured the presidency.
“I’m not sure whose luck rubbed off on who,” Obama said Monday as he greeted the team on the White House’s South Lawn. “I think there was just a good vibe going on there.”
Obama said almost everyone was excited to have the Tar Heels stop by. The one exception, he said, was his personal aide Reggie Love, who won a title as a player for UNC’s chief rival, Duke.
Obama picked North Carolina to win the national championship this year. He thanked the Tar Heels “for salvaging my bracket and vindicating me before the entire nation.” The president’s other picks for the NCAA tournament’s Final Four never made it that far.
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NCAA to investigate Mayo after getting ‘new information
HOUSTON — Saying the NCAA has “new information,” president Myles Brand promised to investigate former Southern California basketball star O.J. Mayo, who allegedly received thousands of dollars in gifts from money given to an event promoter by a sports agency.
On Sunday, ESPN reported that Bill Duffy Associates provided Rodney Guillory with about $200,000 before Mayo arrived at USC. Louis Johnson, a former associate of Mayo’s, told “Outside the Lines” that Mayo received about $30,000 and other benefits from Guillory while in high school and during his one season at USC.
