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News Nuggets, 12.28.03
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

Cards, Tigers pace productive Saturday for C-USA

A pair of nationally-ranked heavyweights were defeated by Conference USA teams on a Saturday that saw league teams collect six notable victories.

For the second time this season, 20th-ranked Louisville defeated the No. 1 team in the nation on the road.

Coach Rick Pitino and the Cardinals went into a hostile Rupp Arena and posted a 65-56 win at top-ranked Kentucky. The big win came two weeks to the day after U of L knocked off then-No. 1 Florida at home, 73-65, on Dec. 13.

Memphis also found success on the road, handing its host, 11th-ranked Missouri, a 61-59 loss.

In another high-profile game, No. 12 Cincinnati remained the only undefeated team in the league at 8-0 with an 83-63 win over Miami (OH).

Elsewhere around C-USA, East Carolina upended Virginia Tech, 74-67, in a neutral court game at Norfolk, Va., while Saint Louis posted a 72-64 home victory over Butler and Houston defeated visiting Texas A&M, 70-61, in overtime.

FSU AD Hart blasts NCAA over Romero ruling

TALLAHASSEE — An NCAA committee has told Florida State it cannot further appeal the eligibility of highly touted junior college recruit Diego Romero, who played on a professional team in his native Argentina before moving to the United States more than two years ago.

School officials, including former East Carolina athletic director Dave Hart, are decrying the ruling and say they will continue lobbying for Romero's clearance.

"The situation involving Diego Romero represents the most blatant disregard for that priority on the part of the NCAA that I have witnessed in my 20 years of involvement in intercollegiate athletics," Hart said Friday.

Hart served as an ECU administrator and AD from 1983 until 1994, when he was named FSU's director of athletics.

In a Nov. 19 letter to Florida State, NCAA associate director of student athlete reinstatement Jennifer Strawley wrote that Romero "compromised his amateur status" by signing two professional contracts in Argentina.

The school's contention was that Romero signed those contracts only to receive about $2,400 in living expenses and that he did not intend to be a professional athlete.

Florida State said Romero's move to Texas in 2001 and enrollment at Lon Morris College, coupled with his denial of other benefits — including a salary and housing allowance from the Argentine club — further proves Romero's desire to retain amateur eligibility.

"The committee considered the institution's argument that the student-athlete did everything he could have done to be eligible by enrolling at a junior college in order to transfer," Strawley wrote. "However, the issue is not with what the student-athlete did at the junior college, but rather with what he did before enrolling at any collegiate institution."

Under former rules, the NCAA would likely have given Romero an eight-game suspension this season. NCAA legislation was changed and made stricter in October 2002, increasing the maximum penalty for amateurism violations to 28 games.

But the latest NCAA ruling, if not overturned, would effectively mean Romero will never play for the Seminoles.

"He came to this country with a desire to earn a college degree and to better himself and his family," Dale Dotson, Romero's coach at Lon Morris, wrote in an appeals letter to the NCAA. "To take that opportunity away from him is an injustice not only to him, but to all of those who try to follow the correct path."

Romero chose Florida State over Texas Tech, Indiana and Kentucky and was part of a Seminoles' recruiting class which some considered as the best in the country entering this season.

He averaged 14 points and eight rebounds in his two years at Lon Morris, which reached the National Junior College Athletic Association tournament for the first time in nearly four decades his freshman season. The school is located in Jacksonville, Tex.

USF's Baxter honored with NCAA Valor Award

Jimmy Baxter, a member of the basketball and track & field teams at the University of South Florida, has earned the 2004 NCAA Award of Valor for his heroism. The NCAA will present the award during its Honors Dinner at the NCAA Convention, January 11, 2004, in Nashville, Tenn.

The NCAA Award of Valor recognizes a coach, administrator or current or former student-athlete who, when confronted with a situation involving personal danger, averted or minimized the potential disaster by courageous action or noteworthy bravery.

Last December, while driving from Tampa to St. Petersburg to visit his father on a chilly, rainy night, Baxter spotted an overturned automobile in a drainage ditch and immediately pulled to the side of the road to assist. What Baxter found was two men trapped in the car with the water level rising at an alarming speed.

Baxter returned to the interstate in search of additional help from passing motorists. Though several cars passed him as he waved his arms, Baxter eventually managed to flag down a motorist who gave him a crowbar to break the car windows. Baxter rushed back to the partially submerged automobile, broke one of the windows and was able to pull both the men to safety.

In the car were a father and his son who were en route to their home located just a few miles away. The family considered Baxter's act of heroism yet another miracle in their lives. Baxter later learned that the family was originally from war-stricken Bosnia, but had been able to come to the U.S. in search of a better life and freedom.

Baxter, a native of St. Petersburg, is completing his senior year at South Florida and plans to graduate with a degree in criminology.

Bowl results/TV schedule for C-USA teams

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16
New Orleans Bowl
Memphis 27, North Texas (Sun Belt) 17
(ESPN 2) 7:00 pm

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18
GMAC Bowl
(14) Miami (OH) (MAC) 49, Louisville 28

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23
PlainsCapital Fort Worth Bowl
(16) Boise State (WAC) 34, (19) Texas Christian 31
(ESPN) 7:30 pm

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 25
Sheraton Hawaii Bowl
Hawaii (WAC) 54, Houston 48 (3 OT)
(ESPN) 8:00 pm

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31
AXA Liberty Bowl
Southern Miss vs. (25) Utah (MWC)
(ESPN) 3:30 pm

All times Eastern.

News Nuggets are compiled periodically from staff, ECU, Conference USA and its member schools, and from Associated Press and other reports. Copyright 2003 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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