Virginia will open its 2008
football season at home against Southern California on Aug. 30. The
second game in the series will be during the 2010 season at The Los
Angeles Coliseum on Sept. 11.
The 2008 match-up will be the
first meeting between the Cavaliers and Trojans in football.
Louisville re-signs Pitino through 2013
Louisville has extended the
contract of basketball coach Rick Pitino three years — through the
2012-13 season.
The only coach in NCAA history
to take three different teams to the Final Four, Pitino had three years
remaining on his current contract, through the 2009-10 season.
The new agreement will take
Pitino into the first three years of the new downtown arena being
constructed on the Louisville riverfront. The new facility is scheduled
to open for the 2010-11 season.
Three
from C-USA on Rimington watch list
A trio of Conference USA
standouts appears on the preliminary 2007 watch list of candidates for
the Rimington Award, which honors the top center in college football.
Marshall senior Doug Legursky, Rice junior Austin Wilkinson and Texas-El
Paso junior Robby Felix are on the 46-player preseason watch list.
May 4, 2007
Lewellen
leaving East Carolina for Virginia post
Kim Lewellen has been named
women's golf coach at Virginia. She succeeds Jan Mann who announced her
retirement in February.
Mann directed Virginia's program
for its first four seasons, producing berths in the NCAA regional
championships the past three years and a 13th-place finish at the 2005
NCAA championships.
Lewellen comes to Virginia after
spending the past two seasons as the women's coach at East Carolina. She
led the Pirates to the program's first ever Conference USA Championship
in 2006 and a runner-up finish this season. Her 2006 squad qualified for
the NCAA East Regional, the third time a team from ECU had reached NCAA
postseason play.
Lewellen was a contestant on the
Big Break program on the Golf Channel during her stint at ECU.
Marshall women get berth in preseason WNIT
Marshall women's basketball
coach Royce Chadwick has announced that the Thundering Herd has accepted
an invitation to participate in the 2007 Preseason Women's National
Invitation Tournament (WNIT).
Marshall's appearance in the
2007 Preseason WNIT will be the Herd's first ever berth in either a
preseason or postseason WNIT. The 16-team tournament, which guarantees
at least three games per school, will be played entirely on campuses
around the country.
Three-point shot getting a foot longer for men
The NCAA men’s basketball rules
committee has voted to recommend extending the three-point line by one
foot to 20 feet, 9 inches starting with the 2008-09 season. The
dimensions of the lane will remain unchanged.
Women’s basketball rules will
maintain the current three-point line, which is 19 feet, 9 inches from
the basket.
May 3, 2007
Graham signs as free
agent with Panthers
East Carolina offensive tackle
Eric Graham has signed a free agent contract with the Carolina Panthers.
Graham will participate in the
team's three-day mini-camp May 4-6 at the Panthers' practice facility at
Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
A Jacksonville (NC) native and
product of Richlands High School, Graham recently completed his ECU
career after starting 34 of 40 games on the offensive line. In all, he
saw action on 2,320 snaps and was credited with a combined 183.5
knock-down blocks, dating back to his redshirt freshman season in 2003.
Graham, 23, was selected to both
the coaches and media All-Conference USA squads (second team) as a
senior in 2006 after helping lead the Pirates to their first winning
season since 2000 and first bowl berth since 2001.
Tulsa tennis teams, Rice men get NCAA bids
Both Tulsa tennis programs will
represent Conference USA in the 2007 NCAA tennis championships after
receiving the league's automatics bids in reward for winning the
conference crowns on April 22. The women will face Tennessee in
Nashville, TN, in the opening round, while the men will face Vanderbilt
in Baton Rouge, LA, in their opening match.
Rice's men's team will also
represent C-USA after it received one of the 33 at-large bids handed out
to the men's event. The Owls will face Texas A&M in Waco, TX, in the
first round.
First- and second-round
competition will be conducted Friday-Saturday or Saturday-Sunday, May
11-12 or 12-13, with the winner of each site advancing to the NCAA
Division I men's and women's tennis championships in Athens, GA.
Florida State panel denies tight end's release
A three-person faculty panel
upheld Coach Bobby Bowden's decision to deny former Seminole tight end
Brandon Warren a release from his Florida State scholarship. The panel,
chaired by NCAA faculty representative Joe Beckham, cited Warren's
inability to provide proof of "extraordinary hardship," according to a
Tallahassee Democrat report.
As a true freshman, Warren had
more receiving yards (301) than any FSU tight end since at least 1980.
In June 2005, a year before Warren arrived at FSU, his mother, Deirdre,
had a cancerous kidney removed. She said on Monday the cancer remains in
remission and she continues to work.
Deirdre Warren said the family
is still exploring its options and the next move. An FSU official said
Warren has exhausted his appeals with the university. Without his
release from FSU, Warren must pay his way for the next academic year to
a Division I university, including nearby Tennessee where it is believed
Warren wants to transfer.
May 2, 2007
Pirate golfers
accorded conference honors
East Carolina junior Andre
Thorsen has been named second-team All-Conference USA in golf and
freshman Tripp Brizendine has been selected to the all-freshman team as
voted upon by the league's 11 head coaches.
Thorsen posted the sixth-lowest
18-hole average among all Conference USA players with a 72.77. He
recorded five top 10 finishes in nine events this season, including a
pair of top three finishes. His best showing of the year came at the
Palmetto Intercollegiate where he came in second.
Brizendine registered a trio of
top 25 finishes, including a second place finish at the Bradford Creek
Intercollegiate. He had the sixth-lowest scoring average among all C-USA
freshmen entering this week's Conference USA championship.
UAB's
Osborn, Tulsa take C-USA golf titles
With a key eagle on No. 12, UAB
senior Garrett Osborn carded a 70 in the final round of the Conference
USA golf championship and picked up medalist honors with a 212 for 54
holes.
Tulsa earned the team title
after taking a comfortable lead following the first two rounds of the
championship played on the par 72, 6,935-yard Texarkana (AR) Country
Club.
Saint Louis becomes new challenge for Majerus
Rick Majerus has been named
basketball coach at former Conference USA member Saint Louis. Prior to
working as an analyst for ESPN for the last three years, Majerus amassed
a 422-147 career head coaching record. When coaching a full season, he
has missed the postseason just two times in 17 seasons.
