News Nuggets, 04.23.05
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Compiled from staff reports
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Spring banquet coming up for
Triangle Pirates
PREVIOUS NUGGETS |
04.22.05: Midshipmen
get personal salute from President Bush ... NCAA refuses to
recertify Silicon Valley Bowl ... Heels' near-term hoops
future to be revealed ...
More... |
04.21.05: Stokes
adds pedigreed staffer to cap off regime ... BCS honchos
once again wrestle title formula ...
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04.20.05: Once-fallen
Marcus Vick back on the rise ... Coaching legend "Big House"
Gaines passes ...
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04.19.05: Pirate
Radio 1250 group acquires an easterly twin ... Baseball
America & Collegiate Baseball Polls ...
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04.18.05: Another
page added to Gamecocks' police rap sheet ... C-USA baseball
standings, scores & schedule ...
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04.17.05: Spurrier
draws big crowd, TV for USC spring game ... Reports: Doherty
heading to Sunshine State ... Full-count walk costs UT
hurler perfect game ...
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04.16.05: 'East
Carolina' faces 'Pirates' in reformulated battle ... UVa
pays big bucks to lure Leitao from DePaul ...
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04.15.05: Talk
1070 to air Purple-Gold 'Pigout' coverage ... Marshall hires
former Herd star as grid coach ... Doherty heads Florida
Atlantic candidates list ... Catamounts in the market for
new hoops coach ...
More... |
04.14.05: Coastal
Carolina lures Peterson as hoops coach ... Unraveling of
juggernaut title team begins ...
More... |
04.13.05: Odom
pours cold water on Virginia speculation ... NCAA voids
results of six D-II baseball teams ...
More... |
04.12.05: Legendary
Gaylord Perry set for ECU mound duty ... Baseball America &
Collegiate Baseball Polls ...
More... |
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The Durham, Orange, Wake, Quad, Person,
and Caswell Pirate Club Chapters will hold their annual Spring banquet
Wednesday, April 27, at the Sheraton Imperial in Durham.
East Carolina football coach Skip Holtz
and Director of Athletics Terry Holland will be the featured guests.
The cost for the event is $25 in
advance, $35 at the door. There will be a social hour beginning at 6:00 PM,
with dinner set for 7:00.
For more information about the event,
contact John Bland at 919-401-5433 or 919-451-2520, or e-mail him at
JBland@nc.rr.com.
NBA siren call breaks up Tar Heels juggernaut
CHAPEL HILL Sean May, Raymond Felton
and Marvin Williams came to North Carolina with hopes of winning the
national championship. Once they got the title, they really had no reason to
hang around.
``To me, it's the perfect way to end a
season and a career,'' May said.
As expected, all three are joining
teammate Rashad McCants in the NBA draft and leaving the Tar Heels without
their top seven scorers for next season. The announcement came Friday during
a news conference on the court at the Dean Smith Center.
Coach Roy Williams sat at the podium
with the players, and when he began speaking about them, he briefly had
tears in his eyes.
``I've coached a lot of great players
and these three here are at the top of the list,'' he said. ``If you added
the numbers all up for these three guys, I probably haven't yelled at these
three guys 10 times all year.''
North Carolina also lost seniors Jawad
Williams, Jackie Manuel and Melvin Scott, and now has only one player on its
roster who started a game last season point guard Quentin Thomas, who
replaced the suspended Felton in the opener.
The Tar Heels have one of the nation's
best recruiting classes coming to campus, and Roy Williams might add a
couple of more players.
``If the program was devastated, I'd be
leaving with them,'' the coach said. ``We're still going to show up on game
night. That's the attitude I'm going to have. You might beat me, but you're
not going to have to beat me by hitting me in the back. I'm going to come
right at you.''
Felton, May and McCants were part of a
heralded class recruited by former coach Matt Doherty. But the team
sputtered during their freshman year and Doherty resigned under pressure.
In their second season under Roy
Williams, who left Kansas to coach his alma mater, the Tar Heels won the
NCAA crown, beating Illinois 75-70.
``It's been a lot of tough times, and
it's been a lot of great times, especially winning the national championship
this year,'' Felton said.
May had said immediately after the
season that he would be back, but the burly, 6-foot-9 center backed off in
recent days. He was magnificent during the NCAA tournament, averaging 22.3
points and 10.7 rebounds while shooting 67 percent, and won Most Outstanding
Player at the Final Four.
While he admitted he doesn't
necessarily need the money, he's just ready for another challenge.
``I always thought I was a four-year
player,'' May said. ``But if there's a chance that I can be a top-15 pick,
it's something that I just can't turn down. The situation was just right.''
Felton averaged 13 points and shot 44
percent on 3-pointers, up from 34 percent the previous two years. With Wake
Forest's Chris Paul also in the draft and Georgia Tech's Jarrett Jack
considering also considering leaving early the Atlantic Coast Conference
could lose three of its top point guards.
Even though he's only 6-1, Felton has
an uncanny ability to get the basket to score himself or to find an open
teammate. That type of skill always is appreciated in the NBA.
``It was a dream to come to this
university,'' he said. ``Playing in the NBA is another dream, so I'm just
living another dream.''
Marvin Williams averaged 11 points
while never starting a game in his only season in Chapel Hill, but the 6-9
forward likely would have been a lottery pick had he entered the NBA right
out of high school.
In the victory over Illinois, he scored
the go-ahead basket on a tip-in with about 90 seconds left. Williams also
had the winning basket when the Tar Heels beat Duke to clinch their first
outright regular season ACC title since 1993.
``When I came here, I didn't have a
time table,'' he said. ``I was blessed to have a great season, and we won
the national championship. I feel like my time is up in college.''
As Roy Williams put it, if these three
players had returned along with McCants, he might have had the best team in
North Carolina history. Unfortunately, what he has left wouldn't be a part
of that comparison.
Forward David Noel, mostly a reserve
during his career, is the leading returning scorer with an average of 3.9
points. Noel and Thomas are the only players from the regular rotation
coming back, with Reyshawn Terry having the most experience of the rest of
the players.
Those three scored a combined total of
244 points.
``Don't count this team out next
year,'' Felton said. ``This coach over here just won the national
championship. He can coach. They will be prepared.''
McCants attended his teammates' news
conference but left without taking questions. Roy Williams made a point of
noting that McCants decided he was going pro a lot earlier than his
teammates, so he was the first to make his announcement.
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.
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