VIEW THE MOBILE ALPHA VERSION OF THIS SITE

News Nuggets, 03.05.05
 —  —  —  —  —
NOTES FROM ECU AND BEYOND...

Previous Day Nuggets...             Next Day Nuggets...

Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

SEC football to use instant replay next season

BIRMINGHAM — The Southeastern Conference will use instant replay on an experimental basis during league games for the 2005 season.

University presidents and chancellors approved the change last week, rubber-stamping a prior vote by the league's athletic directors.

``Through every meeting and discussion with our coaches, athletic directors and presidents and chancellors, the use of instant replay received overwhelming support,'' SEC commissioner Mike Slive said. ``Our officials make every effort to get each call right. Instant replay will go a long way in helping them accomplish their goal.''

Details of the league's instant replay plan will be decided at the SEC spring meetings, held May 31-June 3 in Destin, Fla.

The NCAA Football Rules Committee recommended in February that member conferences and schools be allowed to experiment with instant replay for the 2005 season, as the Big Ten did last year.

Slive indicated earlier that he expected the SEC to use a system similar to the Big Ten, with officials in a booth determining which plays to review, not officials or coaches on the field.

The Big Ten said replay was used in 28 of the 57 games last season. Of the 43 calls questioned, 21 were overturned.

However, the system would not necessarily have altered the SEC's most publicized officiating mistakes last season — a clock-management gaffe in the Florida-Tennessee game and an apparent pass interference that wasn't called in the end zone during the Alabama-LSU game.

The Mountain West Conference has also announced its intention to use instant replay in 2005, joining the Atlantic Coast Conference in implementing a system based on the one the Big Ten employed last year.

Last chance for Cards to earn an outright title

Louisville can be forgiven if its celebration for clinching a share of the Conference USA regular season title was a bit muted.

The ninth-ranked Cardinals face a difficult turnaround to try to earn the outright title when they face DePaul on Saturday in the final C-USA game for both teams.

Louisville (25-4, 13-2 C-USA) earned a share of the title with a 94-82 win over No. 18 Charlotte late Thursday night. The Cardinals also wrapped up the top seed for the conference tournament.

They would like to earn the first — and only — outright C-USA title in school history. It would be the last because Louisville and DePaul (18-8, 10-5) are among five teams leaving the conference to join the Big East.

After playing at home late Thursday, the Cardinals — winners of 14 of their last 15 games — traveled to Chicago on Friday for the next day's 11 a.m. Central (noon ET) start.

``It's great to win a championship, but we can't fall into a trap right now,'' Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. ``The trap is that we're coming off a very emotional Senior Night and now we play against a team on the senior brunch, with the game set for 11 a.m. Central on Saturday, we don't have any time to prepare and DePaul is a terrific basketball team.

``We've got one game left and we want to keep on winning. We're going to have a hell of a fight in Chicago because they're an excellent ball club.''

Larry O'Bannon scored a career-high 33 points to help Louisville to its fifth straight win. O'Bannon bounced back from a two-point outing last Saturday at Memphis.

``Your hometown fans are going to remember you in your last game,'' O'Bannon said. ``I didn't know it was going to be like that.''

Cardinals forward Ellis Myles just missed a triple-double against Charlotte with 10 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds. Myles has provided a boost by averaging 10.8 points and 10.8 rebounds over his previous five outings.

``He's playing great basketball right now,'' Pitino said. ``He's handling, he's passing it and he's a big reason why we're winning right now. I think Francisco (Garcia), Larry and Taquan (Dean) get a lot of credit, but if you take Ellis out of this lineup, you have last year's team and last year's team had no low-post presence.''

DePaul has not played since an 81-80 overtime loss at UAB on Wednesday that prevented the Blue Demons from earning a first-round bye in the conference tournament. A win over Louisville would clinch at least fourth place and boost DePaul's chances at a second straight NCAA tournament berth.

The Blue Demons are 14-1 at home, where they have won 12 straight. They are 7-0 at the Allstate Arena in conference play and have never been unbeaten at home for an entire conference season.

Drake Diener drained six 3-pointers, but missed a potential go-ahead shot in the final 12 seconds of Wednesday's loss. Diener, who is one of four seniors playing his final home game, has led the Blue Demons in scoring in each of the last five games, averaging 19.8 points in that stretch.

Diener, who is shooting over 46 percent from the arc, has made at least six 3-pointers in three of his last six games.

DePaul has won the last two meetings with Louisville and both have gone overtime. Quemont Greer scored 19 points for the Blue Demons in a 60-58 win at Freedom Hall on Feb. 25, 2004 in the last meeting.

C-USA standings, scores, schedule & TV

News Nuggets are compiled periodically based on material supplied by staff members; data published by ECU, Conference USA and its member schools; and reports from Associated Press and other sources. Copyright 2005 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Page Updated: 02/23/2007 12:21 PM