A deep, versatile Memphis club neutralized
Western Athletic Conference player of the year Nick Fazekas and Nevada
when it counted Sunday and nailed down a 78-62 victory in New Orleans in
the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The win bumped the nation's longest winning
streak to 24 in a row and advanced the Tigers to the Sweet 16.
Chris Douglas-Roberts led South Region No. 2
seed Memphis (32-3) with 16 points, but missed the final 8:11 with a
left ankle sprain described by Calipari as mild-to-moderate. The Tigers
overcame it thanks to the play at both ends of the court from guys such
as Jeremy Hunt, Antonio Anderson and Robert Dozier.
Hunt scored 16 points, Anderson had 14 points
and 10 rebounds, and Dozier had nine points, eight rebounds and most of
the good defense on Fazekas. Backup point guard Andre Allen had yet
another better-than-usual game in the NCAA Tournament with 10 points and
four assists, and bruising big man Joey Dorsey was aggressive as ever
underneath.
Now Memphis, which made the round of 16 last
year with a very different lineup, is headed to San Antonio for a
showdown Thursday against third-seeded Texas A&M. Once again, it'll be
the toughest test yet for a team that's beaten only five teams that made
the NCAA field — counting the two they've already knocked off.
Calipari is hopeful Douglas-Roberts will be
ready to face the Aggies.
"He said he's playing Thursday, but we don't
know," Calipari said. "If he can't go, he can't go. In that kind of
game, you can't be at 70 percent. I feel bad, but we don't know yet.
Will they move the game to Friday to try to accommodate that? I don't
think so."
Nevada, seeded seventh, finished its season
29-5.
Herd forms search committee for hoops coach
Marshall athletics director Bob Marcum has
announced the formation of an eight-person screening committee for the
vacant head men's basketball coaching position.
The committee will assist in the search and
forward recommendations to Marshall president Dr. Stephen J. Kopp.
Ron Jirsa was dismissed after four seasons as
Thundering Herd coach. Marshall was 13-19 in 2006-07.
Vols advance with 77-74 win over Cavaliers
Virginia guard Sean Singletary missed a
three-pointer in the final seconds, allowing fifth-seeded Tennessee to
knock off the fourth-seeded Cavaliers in the second round of the NCAA
Tournament.
Chris Lofton made four free throws in the last
12 seconds for Tennessee (24-10), which advances to face Ohio State, the
top seed in the South regional.
ECU women netters post pair of triumphs
East Carolina posted 10 straight-set wins out of
a possible 18 matches while recording consecutive 7-0 non-conference
victories over Mount Olive and Barton in doubleheader action on Saturday
afternoon at the ECU tennis complex.
The pair of triumphs improved the Lady Pirates'
dual match record to 13-6.
March
18, 2007
Amaker dismissed as
Wolverines hoops' coach
Tommy Amaker was dismissed as Michigan
basketball coach on Saturday after failing to get the Wolverines into
the NCAA Tournament in his six-year tenure.
Amaker, a former player and assistant coach at
Duke, finished his career at Michigan with a 109-83 overall record
(43-53 in Big Ten play) with one NIT title.
Hibbert powers Hoyas over Boston College
With 7-foot-2 Roy Hibbert scoring 17 points and
grabbing 11 rebounds, Georgetown topped former Big East adversary Boston
College 62-55 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday.
The Hoyas are the region's No. 2 seed.
Weather puts quietus on East Carolina softball
Friday afternoon's scheduled non-conference game
between East Carolina and Hofstra was cancelled due to inclement
weather, as was the Hofstra University Invitational.
The Pirates will return home and face Akron on
Monday in a doubleheader that gets underway at 4 p.m. On Thursday, the
Pirates host UNC-Greensboro in a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m.
March
17, 2007
Streaking Memphis moves ahead in NCAA
The Memphis Tigers made it 23 straight wins on
Friday by beating North Texas 73-58 in the first round of the NCAA
tournament.
Chris Douglas-Roberts had 16 points, Robert
Dozier had 11 points and seven rebounds, and Joey Dorsey had nine points
and 15 rebounds for the Tigers. Andre Allen added 14 points in the
victory.
Wolfpack advances in NIT with win at Reynolds
N.C. State jumped out to a big lead in the first
half, then held on through a second-half rally to advance to the
National Invitation Tournament quarterfinals by beating Marist, 69-62,
Friday night at raucous, sold-out Reynolds Coliseum.
Paced by a 15-1 scoring run midway through the
first half, State (20-15) jumped out to a 33-19 at the break.
The Wolfpack now advances for a rematch with
West Virginia, which beat coach Sidney Lowe’s squad 71-60 on Dec. 6 in
Charleston, WV, in State’s second game without injured senior point
guard Engin Atsur.
Tar Heels suspend RB Edwards indefinitely
North Carolina tailback Barrington Edwards has
been suspended indefinitely from the Tar Heel football team for
violating team rules and university policies, the school said Friday in
a news release.
Edwards will not participate in spring practice
but will remain on scholarship through the spring semester. Edwards
gained 330 yards rushing last season in a back-up role.
March
16, 2007
Pirate men's tennis upends Coastal Carolina
The East Carolina men's tennis team dropped just
one singles match on the way to a 6-1 non-conference upset win over
Coastal Carolina Thursday afternoon at the Billy Nichols Tennis Center
in Conway, SC.
The victory gave the Pirates their first
two-match win streak since the opening week of the 2007 season and
improved their overall record to 6-8. The Chanticleers, who had opened
the spring campaign with wins in 13 of their first 15 matches, dropped
to 13-3.
ECU will return to action next Thursday when it
travels to the Triad for a 2:00 p.m. match against UNC-Greensboro.
Fayetteville prep product lifts VCU over Duke
Eric Maynor calmly hit a jumper in the lane with
time running out to give Virginia Commonwealth a 79-77 upset victory
over sixth-seeded Duke Thursday evening.
A product of Fayetteville Westover High School,
Maynor performed his heroics with less than two seconds remaining in the
NCAA Tournament first round game in Buffalo, NY.
The Rams improve to 28-6 on the season and move
on to the second round of the tournament for the first time since 1985,
where they will face the winner of Thursday night's Pittsburgh-Wright
State contest.
Football powers horn in on March Madness
Twenty-one schools that played bowl games after
the 2006 season also earned spots into the NCAA Basketball Tournament,
which began Thursday night, according to a release from the College
Football Foundation.
Five BCS teams, including Florida and Ohio State
— who played for the national championship — received bids. The Gators
and the Buckeyes are both no. 1 seeds.
Other bowl schools in the 65-team hoops tourney
include Brigham Young, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Maryland, Notre Dame,
Oregon, Texas and Wisconsin.
