News Nuggets, 03.26.05
NOTES FROM ECU AND BEYOND...
Previous Day Nuggets...
Next Day Nuggets...
Compiled from staff reports
and electronic dispatches
Capsules: Duke, State bite the
dust; Heels survive
PREVIOUS NUGGETS |
03.25.05: Holland
named to powerful USA Basketball panel ... ECU fans to have
rooting interest in NIT semis ... Triangle's Sweet 16 teams
converge at RDU ... Another DUI charge embarrasses
Cincinnati ...
More... |
03.24.05: NIT:
Memphis whips Vandy to advance to Garden ... NIT: Maryland
overcomes big Davidson lead ... Big East hops on replay
bandwagon ...
More... |
03.23.05: NIT
win over UNLV extends Stokes' ties to USC ...
Davidson-Maryland NIT matchup set for TV ... Activists file
suit over 'Chief Illiniwek' ...
More... |
03.22.05: Break
over for East Carolina football team ... Frogs in NIT
quarterfinals after overtime win ... CBS reaping ratings
bonanza from tourney ... Baseball America & Collegiate
Baseball Polls ...
More... |
03.21.05: Spurrier
straps on visor, gets down to business ... NCAA Tourney
Sweet 16 pairings & schedule ... Tournament's TV ratings up
over 2004 ...
More... |
03.20.05: Kentucky
proves it still has Bearcats' number ... Memphis zaps
Hokies, starts thinking NIT title ... Davidson tames Bears,
turns focus to Terps ... Preview: (4) Louisville vs. (5)
Georgia Tech ...
More... |
03.19.05: Hodge
leads Wolfpack to comeback win over 49ers ... Louisville
escapes upset bid by Ragin' Cajuns ... Preview: (7)
Cincinnati vs. (2) Kentucky ... Preview: (11) UAB vs. (3)
Arizona ...
More... |
03.18.05: UAB
smothers 6th- seeded LSU in Round 1 shocker ... Bearcats dump
Iowa, set sights on Kentucky ... Preview: (7) Charlotte vs.
(10) N.C. State ... Preview: (4) Louisville vs. (13)
UL-Lafayette ...
More... |
03.17.05: Timeline
on ECU hoops coach Ricky Stokes ... Nothing heals like an
NIT win for Tigers' Washington ... Horned Frogs halt
RedHawks' home streak ... Davidson rips VCU for first-ever
NIT victory ...
More... |
03.16.05: It's
not the Big Dance, but it's a win for DePaul ... NCAA
preview: UAB vs. LSU ... NCAA preview: Cincinnati vs. Iowa
... CORRECTED Final AP college basketball poll ...
More... |
03.15.05: Handicapped
Marquette makes quit exit from NIT ... New arena a factor in
Virginia's firing of Gillen ... Heart attack hospitalizes
Tech football coach ... Final 2004-05 college basketball
poll ...
More... |
03.14.05: 12
current, future C- USA teams earn NCAA or NIT bids ...
Finney dismissed by Tulane ...
More... |
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MICHIGAN STATE 78, DUKE 68
AUSTIN Michigan State had the depth
and muscle, and coach Tom Izzo finally has his win over Duke and Coach Mike
Krzyzewski.
Paul Davis scored 20 points and
fifth-seeded Michigan State moved within a game of the Final Four with a
78-68 win over top-seeded Duke in the Austin Regional on Friday night.
Alan Anderson added 17 points, and the
Spartans (25-6) sent wave after wave of defenders out to the perimeter to
bottle up J.J. Redick, holding the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the
year to 13 points.
Michigan State will face Kentucky on
Sunday in the Austin Regional final. The loss ended Krzyzewski's bid for an
11th Final Four with Duke (27-6).
WISCONSIN 65, N.C. STATE 56
SYRACUSE Alando Tucker helped
Wisconsin bounce back from a horrible first half, scoring eight straight
points during a 13-0 run that gave the Badgers a spot in the NCAA
tournament's round of eight.
Sixth-seeded Wisconsin (25-8) will play
North Carolina on Sunday with a Final Four berth on the line.
Tucker scored 22 points and Mike
Wilkinson scored 17, getting his final two on a breakaway dunk with 20
seconds left that got the rest of the Badgers to leap for joy on the court.
Engin Atsur scored 16 and Julius Hodge
had 14 on 4-for-15 shooting for 10th-seeded N.C. State (21-14).
NORTH CAROLINA 67, VILLANOVA 66
SYRACUSE North Carolina won without
Raymond Felton barely. After the star point guard fouled out, the
top-seeded Tar Heels did just enough down the stretch to hold off Villanova,
earning a trip to the regional finals for the first time since 2000.
The Wildcats (24-8) missed a chance to
tie it in the final seconds when Allan Ray was called for traveling on a
drive to the basket. He made the shot as he was slapped across the arm, but
referee Tom O'Neill already had blown his whistle for the violation.
McCants had 15 of his 17 points in the
second half and Marvin Williams scored 16 for the Tar Heels (30-4). Felton
finished with 11 points, 11 rebounds and five assists before fouling out for
the first time this season.
Randy Foye led the Wildcats with a
career-high 28 points, and Lowry also set his career best with 18 points..
Louisville, WVU rumble for spot in Final Four
Just a No. 8 seed for the Big East
tournament, West Virginia is now one of only eight teams left with a shot at
the national championship.
Just a No. 4 seed for the NCAA
tournament, Louisville can further prove the selection committee wrong by
becoming one of only four teams remaining.
Rick Pitino looks to return to the
Final Four as the Cardinals try to spoil the Mountaineers' surprising run
through the Albuquerque Regional in a matchup (4:40 p.m., CBS) that should
include plenty of long-range shooting.
``Coach (Pitino) tells us that the name
on the front of the jersey doesn't really matter,'' Louisville's Larry
O'Bannon said. ``You got to go out there and play the game of basketball
whether you are a one seed or an eight seed. I mean each game you just go
out there and play.''
Pitino, who made the last of his four
Final Four trips in 1997 with Kentucky, has the Cardinals a win away from
the national semifinals for the first time since coach Denny Crum and Pervis
Ellison led them to the 1986 national championship.
That 1986 squad finished with 32 wins,
the number this Louisville team reached with a decisive 93-79 victory over
top-seeded Washington on Thursday.
While the Cardinals have dominated the
last two games they routed No. 5 seed Georgia Tech in the second round
West Virginia has pulled out a close victory in every round.
The Mountaineers beat Creighton on a
last-second dunk, defeated No. 2 seed Wake Forest in a double-overtime
thriller and knocked off Bobby Knight's Texas Tech team 65-60 on Thursday in
the regional semifinals.
``Thrilled. It's the best word I can
use to describe it for our state, our university and especially our
players,'' coach John Beilein said.
This is the furthest West Virginia has
advanced since 1959, when Jerry West led the team to the national title
game.
The Cardinals, winners of 12 straight
since falling to Memphis on Feb. 9, have won two of three meetings with the
Mountaineers, the last coming in 1980.
Saturday's winner goes to St. Louis to
meet Illinois or Arizona for a spot in the national title game.
Fires plague Morgantown after tourney win
MORGANTOWN University officials
condemned students and fans who celebrated West Virginia's victory in an
NCAA regional semifinal by setting about 50 street fires.
The Mountaineers defeated Texas Tech
65-60 on Thursday night, moving West Virginia into the regional finals
where they will play Louisville for
the first time since Jerry West led the school to the NCAA championship game
in 1959.
``It's unfortunate that people who had
nothing to do with the team's victory stole the spotlight briefly after the
game,'' said Ken Gray, WVU's vice president for student affairs.
Gray vowed Friday that students who set
fires will face sanctions, including expulsion.
Players nabbed for passing fake currency
CONWAY, AR A pair of University of
Central Arkansas football players pleaded guilty to reduced charges,
settling claims they possessed counterfeit money, and will avoid jail as
long as they stay in college and out of trouble.
Gregory Mills, a junior tackle and
noseguard from Conway, and Kentrel Rogers, a junior tailback from Fordyce,
pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of theft of property in Faulkner
County Circuit Court. Judge Michael Maggio gave each a one-year suspended
jail sentences.
The pair must make $20 restitution over
the next two years a penalty for attempting to pass a fake $20 bill at a
food court. Prosecutors say the pair were caught with several hundred
dollars of counterfeit money but only passed only one bill.
Under the conditions of Maggio's
sentence, Mills and Rogers must complete 12 hours per semester toward their
degree in each of the next two years. If they fail, prosecutors can
reinstate a forgery charge, Deputy Prosecutor David Clark said Tuesday.
Clark said the pair were very
cooperative and deserved a plea-bargain.
``They wanted to make amends
immediately,'' Clark added. He said the two showed more remorse than any
other defendants he has ever seen. ``They're both good kids, and they both
made a silly mistake.''
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published by ECU, Conference USA and its member
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