Syracuse has overcome a lot on way to round of 16
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -Quick turnaround? OK. Starting center out with an injury? No problem. Syracuse has overcome every obstacle thrown in its path.
"Syracuse basketball is about being ready to play and being consistent," coach Jim Boeheim said. "We're usually ready to play."
The Orange (30-4) meet Butler (30-4) on Thursday night in the semifinals of the West Regional at Salt Lake City, and the fifth-seeded Bulldogs already have a leg up. They'll have one more day to rest than top-seeded Syracuse.
"I think it's a tough turnaround for us. We have to go a long ways. They did us no favors," Boeheim said. "But we have to do what we've been doing. That's the good thing. We don't have to do anything other than play the way we've been playing. That's what we've done all year."
It's simply a continuation of the pattern of the first two rounds in Buffalo, N.Y. Syracuse's first game, against Vermont, was the last one of the day and didn't end until midnight Friday. The Orange were then immediately scheduled to play Gonzaga in Sunday's first game, which started just after noon.
There hasn't been much to worry about, really. Syracuse won its first two games by an average of 22.5 points - and without starting center Arinze Onuaku, whose status for the remainder of the NCAA tournament is unknown.
His absence was sorely missed in the opening minutes against Gonzaga. Elias Harris opened the game with a soaring alley-oop dunk, catching the Syracuse defense by surprise. Harris continued his personal attack as the Zags kept feeding 7-foot center Robert Sacre in the lane in an effort to get Onuaku's replacement, forward Rick Jackson, in foul trouble.
The strategy worked when Jackson went to the bench with his third foul with 8:58 left in the first half and Syracuse clinging to a one-point lead.
Enter 7-foot freshman DaShonte Riley, who had logged 125 minutes in the 14 games he saw action during the season and another 12 in the first-round win over Vermont.
"There's no question that was a very trying moment because they were playing well, and they've got post people that were hurting us," Boeheim said. "He made a couple of plays in there that made a big difference. I mean, a big difference."
Despite two embarrassing moments - Riley was forced to take a 3-pointer when the shot clock was about to expire and let a Gonzaga player rip the ball out of his big hands and start a fast break the other way - he acquitted himself well.
"He played with a lot of confidence and he gave us a real big spark off the bench, making people take tough shots," said Wes Johnson, who had a career-high 31 points and pulled down 14 rebounds to lead the Orange attack.
When Riley fouled out in the closing minutes, he left the court with zero points, no rebounds, three turnovers, one assist and one steal.
"His stat line doesn't show it, but I thought he was very productive defensively and offensively when he was in there," Boeheim said. "He gave us some really good minutes in the stretch of the game when it was really close there. He made a good steal, made a good pass, chipped a couple of balls."
Onuaku, who injured his right knee against Georgetown in the Big East tournament, had not practiced with the team before last weekend, and Boeheim said he wouldn't insert a player in a game who hadn't practiced.
His absence has forced Boeheim to switch to a smaller lineup featuring Kris Joseph, who excelled all season coming off the bench. Joseph has struggled somewhat offensively in the tournament, scoring just 13 points in the two games (he averaged more than 11 during the season), but he's been a force on the boards with 15 rebounds and he had six assists against the Catamounts.
"Guys don't get the rest that they need," said Boeheim, a candidate for national coach of the year. "We're asking Kris Joseph to do things he didn't have to do before. He's not playing the way he's capable of playing."
The team practiced behind closed doors after it returned home Sunday, and Onuaku's status remains day-to-day. His injury likely prevented the Orange from being the top seed in the South, where Duke is No. 1. But that's all behind them now, as is the losing streak Syracuse took into the first round.
"Coming into the tournament, we had lost two games straight. People kind of turned their heads," guard Scoop Jardine said. "Then we lost Arinze. We knew it was a good team all year and we could stick together and just play basketball."
Copyright 2010 by STATS LLC and The Associated Press.
College Basketball: Bobcat men attempt to rebound at home
San Marcos --- Texas State head coach Doug Davalos might have said it best after watching his team struggle in a 82-78 loss to Texas-Arlington last Saturday afternoon.
Davalos didn't wax poetic, but he made sense when asked how his team would bounce back after the loss.
''How do we respond? The whole league is playing like this,'' Davalos said. ''You can't get too high or low on this conference schedule because you've got so many games to play and we did a great job to put ourselves in a position where it's not must-win mode.''
Four days later, Davalos might be singing a different tune.
The Bobcats lost their second consecutive game and dropped to 4-4 in the Southland Conference after their 75-66 loss to Southeastern Louisiana Wednesday night.
While the loss didn't put Texas State in must-win territory, it did raise some red flags.
The Bobcats held a 12-point lead with four minutes, 37 seconds left in the first half, but only led by three at halftime. Texas State also got foul happy in the second half, sending the Lions to the free-throw line 36 times.
Even though the Bobcats made 22-of-27 free throws in the second half, their overall field-goal percentage was awful. Texas State only made seven of its 38 attempts.
The Bobcats need to pick up a win tomorrow afternoon against McNeese State to avoid a three-game losing streak. Tip-off is scheduled at 4 p.m. inside Strahan Coliseum.
It will be the first time Texas State and the Cowboys have met on the hardwood this year. The Bobcats fell in Lake Charles, La., 85-79, in 2009.
Texas State is 10-8 all-time at home against McNeese State.
Can the women make it two in a row?
Maybe the Texas State women's team is on the right track after posting its first conference win Wednesday night.
''That win was huge for us in what we're trying to do with this program,'' Texas State head coach Suzanne Fox said. ''We just need to be able to put another one together to get going in the right direction.''
At the same time, perhaps it's a mirage.
Only time will tell for the Bobcats, as they hit the road tomorrow to Lake Charles, La., to play McNeese State.
The Cowgirls aren't the best team in the conference with a 5-15 overall record. McNeese is 1-5 in the SLC with its only win coming three games ago against Nicholls State.
Kiara Johnson and Kendra Wells lead the Cowgirls in scoring with 14.3 and 12.9 points per game, respectively.
Saturday's game won't be played on McNeese's campus, rather, it will be held at Jennings High School, the alma mater of Cowgirls head coach Brooks Donald Williams.
(c) San Marcos Daily Record.
Stars align as Hoyas top Blue Devils
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As the Georgetown players bounded through the hallway to their locker room after their convincing 89-77 upset of No. 7-ranked Duke, somebody yelled, "We're bringing it back!"
The question now is how far back? To the Final Four three seasons ago, or the second round of the NCAA tournament two years ago?
One thing's for sure: This team is better than the one that unraveled and lost in the first round of the NIT last season, and the Hoyas' complete performance against Duke on Saturday went a long way in proving that.
It wasn't just who Georgetown beat -- the No. 7 team in the country -- it was the way the Hoyas knocked off Duke: with one of the best shooting performances in school history, on national television, in front of a packed and roaring Verizon Center crowd that included the President and Vice President of the United States.
No pressure.
"We were more nervous about the guys sitting on the other bench," coach John Thompson III said.
It turned out there wasn't much cause for concern.
Despite a subpar performance earlier this week in a loss to Syracuse, Georgetown is a different team this season. It's "light-years" more mature, Thompson said. The players are more comfortable in the system. And it showed in the program's first true marquee win of the season.
"This group is much different," Thompson said. "I've said that from the beginning. Last year's over. It's done. It comes up all the time. These guys have said it: It's over, it's done. We're a much different team; a much, much different team. That's not to say we're not going to lose games, but we're a much different team."
Just ask Duke.
It was this game last year that sparked a five-game losing streak for the Hoyas. It was the opposite of what happened this year. Last season, Georgetown was coming off a win over Syracuse but fell 76-67 at Duke and won only four more games the rest of the regular season. On Saturday, it seemed the Hoyas couldn't miss. They shot an astounding 71.7 percent from the field -- the best under Thompson, and the highest since 1980.
"We could never match their emotion," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "The place was electric, their team was electric, and they played that way for 40 minutes. We haven't had a team shoot 72 percent against us since I don't know when."
Let's just say it's been a while. March 18, 1984, to be exact. That's how long it's been since Duke allowed an opponent to shoot 70 percent
But the stars -- Chris Wright, Greg Monroe and Austin Freeman -- were literally aligned. While all three members of the team's top trio have had their turn to carry the Hoyas this season, the team is at its best when they're all in sync as they were Saturday afternoon. Georgetown is 12-0 this year when all three reach double figures. Against Duke, each of them scored at least 20 points.
"It was exciting, the crowd was pumped up, Obama was there," Monroe said. "We all came up with more energy than usual. Not that we don't normally play with energy, but this game was something that we really wanted to get, and you can see it. We were all over the place defensively and offensively."
Georgetown had 48 points in the paint to Duke's 24 and only relinquished the lead twice. Defensively, Georgetown had nine blocks and forced Duke into uncharacteristic mistakes and 15 turnovers. It's still early in the season, and Krzyzewski wouldn't go so far as to say Georgetown is a legitimate national title contender, though he did say "they're really good."
"I don't think Georgetown is a powerhouse," Krzyzewski said. "You can't let one game define you either way."
Georgetown didn't; otherwise it would have had a repeat of what happened in its 73-56 conference road loss at Syracuse. If the Hoyas can continue to stay focused -- and Thompson has little doubt they can -- last year's NIT appearance should finally become a distant memory.
"I think that this group can beat any team in the country if we do what we're supposed to do," Thompson said. "And if we don't, we can lose to everyone else on our schedule. That's not the plan. But I think we can beat anyone in the country, and they know that."
Now Duke knows it, too.
(c) 2009 ESPN Internet Ventures.
Pat Knight's approach to revitalizing Texas Tech hoops is refreshing
Kansas City, Mo. --- Before the start of the college basketball season, two big crowds stood out on the floor of the Sprint Center, where players and coaches from Big 12 teams met with the media for interviews.
One crowd was made up of 15-20 print/TV reporters that surrounded Kansas University coach Bill Self. The other crowd, not to be outdone, flocked to Texas coach Rick Barnes.
Not too far away, a guy in a red polo shirt and slacks sat by himself, minding his own business. Not a single recorder or camera within 15 feet. It was Pat Knight, whose Texas Tech Red Raiders will take on Kansas University at 12:45 p.m. Saturday in Allen Fieldhouse.
With a clear path to a one-on-one interview, I thought I'd talk to him. After introducing myself to the coach, I asked him about the two giant crowds.
''You surprised by the amount of people surrounding these guys?'' I inquired.
''Nah, we're just glad someone came and talked to us,'' Knight said. ''When you have a chance to win the national championship like they do, it doesn't surprise me at all.''
Here's what surprised me -- how down-to-earth Knight was. A lot of players and coaches appear uptight during media days, where it's programmed in their brains that reporters are out to get them. Not the case with the second-year Texas Tech coach. Knight was so off-the-cuff that it was refreshing for a change.
We talked about a variety of topics. I felt like I was shooting the breeze with an old college friend. One of the topics we talked about was his relationship with Self.
''I've known him since I was an assistant at Indiana,'' Knight said. ''That was in '98. I always judge guys on how they treated me when I was an assistant, not as a head coach. Because everyone treats you well as a head coach. He (Self) is first-class. He's always treated me well, sat with me at games, gone to dinner with me, hung out with me. We text each other all the time, on a regular basis. He's just a good guy, funny guy, man.''
Knight added: ''He'd be like one of my boys I'd hang out with at a bar, like one of my college boys. He's a guy who you can trust, have a good time with. If you just met him, you wouldn't know he's a basketball coach, or a great basketball coach like he is.''
Knight, as one can imagine, is well-versed on his hoops history. He grew up with the game. His father, former Texas Tech coach Bob Knight, has more victories (902) than any coach in the history of men's college basketball.
Pat Knight has a vision to start something special at Tech -- something Lubbock, Texas, isn't used to seeing. The Red Raiders have never finished higher than fourth in the Big 12. Knight wants to change that.
Year one of the Knight era was rough. He was overwhelmed.
Last year, in his first full season as a head coach, Knight went 14-19 overall and 3-13 in the Big 12. The Red Raiders finished 11th in the conference standings. Knight had just taken over the program from his dad, who coached at Tech from 2001-08. The younger Knight was an assistant and associate head coach at Tech when his father coached the Red Raiders.
''Last year, it was a strange situation, taking over for your dad,'' Pat Knight said. ''You go from being an assistant, and now you're the head coach and you don't know how to ask him for advice. Then, you try to do some things different and people that shouldn't be talking start going, 'Well they're being disloyal or they're trying to change things.' You're just trying to do your job.''
When Tech's season ended early in March without an NCAA Tournament appearance, Knight made it a point to talk to two hoops icons for advice.
The first one was his dad. It helped, Knight said, to ask his dad for more advice in the offseason, when it wasn't as busy. Who better to consult than a guy who has three NCAA Tournament rings (1976, 1981, 1987, Indiana), an Olympic gold medal (coached U.S. in 1984) and four national coach of the year awards?
The second one was Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who calmed Knight by telling him to be patient. Taking a program not used to making the NCAA Tournament every year and making it a perennial contender doesn't happen overnight. Knight's time would come.
That time doesn't look like it's too far off.
Despite losing its first two Big 12 games, Tech began this season 9-0, its best start in eight decades. The Red Raiders (12-4) were ranked for the first time in five seasons.
Junior forward Mike Singletary keys the Tech attack with 15.4 points per game. He made a name for himself last season when he poured in a Big 12 tournament-record 43 points against Texas A&M.
"I tried not to screw it up,'' Knight recalled. ''I swear to God, I tried to call a play for a ball screen for (Alan) Voskuil or (John) Roberson and they called me off. They were like, 'We're going to give it to Mike.' I was just going to try to mix it up.''
Knight was more impressed by Singletary a day later, however, when he went for 17 points and eight rebounds in an 81-60 loss to Missouri. Sure, the stats weren't nearly as dazzling, but that wasn't the point.
''What I was happy about was he watches himself all night on ESPN, you know, gets his ass kissed, but then he ends up having a (good game) against Missouri,'' Knight said. ''I think that shows a lot about a kid also. That's what I was more impressed about. That gave me hope for this season that he could have back-to-back games, because I don't know how many kids, after having a game like that, wouldn't have been able to do anything the next day.''
Knight's desire for his team to sustain its flashes of productivity showed during the nine-game winning streak. The Red Raiders held off then-No. 12 Washington, 99-92 in overtime, on Dec. 3. That was a game TTU probably wouldn't have won last season.
If Tech is to make noise in the Big 12 in the coming years, it will help to have a proven floor general. That's where the junior Roberson comes into play. The point guard can fill it up, like on Wednesday, when he erupted for 25 points against Missouri in the second half.
Roberson can also distribute. He leads the Big 12 with 5.44 assists per game. The Plano, Texas, native will have his hands full on Saturday, trying to defend All-American candidate Sherron Collins, but his conference-leading 35.62 minutes per game suggest Roberson should be well-conditioned for the challenge.
Tech has actually had recent success against Kansas, winning three of the last five battles. However, those three victories all took place in Lubbock. Tech has lost by an average of 32.6 points per game in Allen Fieldhouse since the Big 12's inception. The Red Raiders are 0-6 in that time.
"They can win it all,'' Knight said of Kansas. ''So can Texas. In my mind, they have the personality and the coaches to do it. They've both been to the Final Four before and know the situation. Hopefully three nights (this season), they'll be off, but I really expect good things out of them.''
Knight is also expecting good things from the Red Raiders. A full-fledged turnaround hasn't happened yet, but he's working on it. Tech finished 11th in the Big 12 last year, eighth two years ago, and has only reached the NCAA Tournament once in the last three years.
It will take time, but Tech appears on the right track. The Red Raiders have a chance at cracking the NCAA Tournament in March.
If that happens, perhaps Knight's media days crowd will start to grow in the coming years.
(c) KUsports.
Men's college basketball: Dartmouth coach resigns on eve of Ivy opener
Terry Dunn has resigned as Dartmouth men's basketball coach on the eve of the Big Green's Ivy League opener, the school announced.
Dunn told the team Friday afternoon and submitted his resignation to acting Athletics Director Bob Ceplikas.
Dunn was in his sixth season as coach, compiling a 47-103 record. The Big Green (3-10) will play today at Harvard
Assistant coaches Mark Graupe, Michael Brown and Tim Lane will coach the team against Harvard, and an interim coach will be announced next week.
Dunn's departure is the second coaching change in the Ivy this season. Penn's Glen Miller was fired in December after a 0-7 start.
A Fox Sports report said that Dunn was forced out by a "player revolt."
(c) 2010 The Ithaca Journal.
