This Weekend in College Basketball: Spartans Enter Must-Win Territory

Filed under: Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Louisville, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Washington, West Virginia, St. John's

The weekend gets started early with a big game in Louisville and ends late with another huge one in West Lafayette. A lot of teams will be challenged on the road, a task that has proven difficult for everyone across college basketball this year.

No. 13 Connecticut (20-5, 8-5) at No. 16 Louisville (19-7, 8-5), Friday, 9 p.m., ESPN

Aside from the obvious implications of two ranked conference foes, this game will put one of these two teams in great position to finish in the top quarter of the Big East. Both teams sit at 8-5 in the conference and mired in a four-way tie for fourth place. The Cards went on the road and beat the Huskies last month, so UConn (above) will be trying to return the favor in the KFC Yum! Center.

No. 4 Pittsburgh (24-2, 12-1) at St. John's (16-9, 8-5), Saturday, noon, ESPN

A team like St. John's is hard to gauge, but Pitt has been solid all year -- especially on the road, where they haven't lost. Ashton Gibbs will return for the Panthers, which should give them a big lift in a game where they will certainly need his scoring.

No. 8 Notre Dame (21-4, 10-3) at West Virginia (16-9, 7-6), Saturday, 1 p.m., CBS

The Irish have been surprising all season, but they've struggled some on the road. Aside from a huge win at Pittsburgh, Notre Dame has been mediocre at best when playing away from South Bend. This is definitely a game they can easily drop to a talented Mountaineer team that is in desperate need of a win.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Source: http://ncaabasketball.fanhouse.com/2011/02/18/this-weekend-in-college-basketball-spartans-enter-must-win-terr/

Oklahoma South Carolina

Arizona Showing Signs of Resurgence

Filed under: Arizona, Washington, Pac-10

TUCSON, Ariz. - Even as his star player Derrick Williams, broken pinky and all, lay underneath a pile in celebration of a thrilling victory in front of him Saturday afternoon, University of Arizona coach Sean Miller was too preoccupied with his own emotions to deal with the dangers there.

Miller was still a bit out of sorts as he approached Washington coach Lorenzo Romar for the customary game-ending handshake following the Wildcats' 87-86 win at their McKale Center. Not at all meaning to be a jerk, Miller looked Romar in the eye and with a straight face said "Good win."

"I didn't mean to say that," Miller admitted later. "Really what I meant to say is what a game."

Let's chalk up the slip to Miller's coming down from an edge-of-your-seat-ending in which Williams needed to make three incredible defensive plays to secure the win for the Pac-10 leading and 12th-ranked Wildcats. Let's also chalk it up to the excitement Miller has to be feeling as the resurgence of the once-dominant Arizona program takes form in his second year on the job.

Miller came out here from Xavier for the challenge of returning the Wildcats to the prominence they enjoyed throughout most of the Lute Olson years. There is still plenty of work to be done to get Arizona back to the point where the program is in the national championship conversation each year, but Miller seems well on the way.

He has a stud of a player in Williams, who as a sophomore, may be the best player in the Pac-10 and he's definitely the most underrated star player out West. Williams is blessed with the God-given instincts of a special player, whose basketball savvy just seems off the charts as we saw him score 26 points, grab 13 rebounds and come up with two blocks on a night that clearly wasn't his best (6-of-13 shooting from the field and seven turnovers).

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Source: http://ncaabasketball.fanhouse.com/2011/02/19/arizona-showing-signs-of-resurgence/

Outback Bowl ESPN2

College Football: As Corrupt As Ever?

Is college football as corrupt as ever before?

According to one new report, the answer seems to be "yes." Sort of.

Inside Higher Ed, a magazine covering all things related to higher education, reported on Monday that a total of 53 major college football programs--nearly half of the 120 total programs playing in the Football Bowl Subdivision--were punished last decade for committing serious rules violations. The magazine found that the total number of rule-breaking schools was on par with what the NCAA had seen in previous decades, and also concluded that the number of schools committing major violations of academic rules had "nearly doubled."

...

Read Full Post

Source: http://collegefootball.about.com/b/2011/02/07/college-football-as-corrupt-as-ever.htm

Pac-10 Outback Bowl

Family of Slain Pace Player Indignant Over Grand Jury Ruling

A grand jury in a suburb north of New York City Monday declined to indict a police officer in the death of Danroy Henry, Jr., a Pace University football player shot while driving his car outside a bar in the Westchester County town of Thornwood.

Henry's father and his lawyer said they were not surprised by the decision and vowed to take the case to the United States Department of Justice and to pursue a civil suit.

"My faith was never in district attorney (Janet) DiFiore," Danroy Henry, Sr., said in a telephone conference call. "Our faith is in God. We were hoping she would surprise us but we had no faith in her."

Henry died a week before his 21st birthday and a few hours after the homecoming game from wounds caused by bullets fired from the gun of Aaron Hess, a police officer in Pleasantville, N.Y., who responded to a call to quell a disturbance in a parking lot after 1 a.m. on Oct. 17.

Although Henry was not involved in the fighting, Hess shot him from the hood of Henry's moving car. Police and witnesses disagreed as to whether police had told Henry to move his car or if Henry's actions put the officer in danger.

In a prepared statement, DiFiore said the grand jury of 23 persons heard testimony from 85 witnesses, including two passengers in the car with Henry and also from Hess, who testified without protection of immunity from prosecution. More than 100 exhibits were admitted into evidence at a proceeding which began on Jan. 10.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Source: http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2011/02/14/family-of-slain-pace-player-indignant-over-grand-jury-ruling/

Big 12 Sports UCLA

Kentucky Embarrasses South Carolina

Filed under: Kentucky, South Carolina, SEC

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- Darius Miller scored a career-high 22 points and No. 22 Kentucky had little trouble in a 90-59 win over South Carolina on Saturday.

Terrence Jones added 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Wildcats (19-7, 7-5 SEC), who remain unbeaten at Rupp Arena under John Calipari. Kentucky scored the game's first 14 points and led by as much as 36 to push its home winning streak to 32, the second-longest in school history.

The Wildcats knocked down 11 of 20 3-pointers and had five players score at least 11 points, including junior guard DeAndre Liggins, who didn't start for the first time this season.

Malik Cooke led South Carolina (13-12, 4-7) with 12 points but the Gamecocks shot just 34 percent from the floor in losing their fifth straight.

Leading scorers Bruce Ellington and Sam Muldrow combined for 13 points on 3-of-17 shooting as South Carolina suffered its worst loss of the season.

Miller's previous high was 20 in the NCAA tournament against Wake Forest last season, and he's remained a puzzle this season, mixing solid performances with games where he seems to disappear in plain sight.

That wasn't a problem Saturday. He hit his first six 3-point attempts and was active on the glass, grabbing nine rebounds and taking it strong to the basket when he got into the lane.

Miller had plenty of help. Brandon Knight added 12 points and set a career-high with nine assists, Doron Lamb threw in 18 while making his second straight start and Liggins appeared to have no problem coming off the bench.

It was more than enough to overwhelm the Gamecocks and ruin coach Darrin Horn's homecoming.

The Lexington native had a solid contingent of supporters behind the South Carolina bench and received a nice ovation upon his introduction, but the pleasantries ended there.

Kentucky scored the game's first 14 points as the new-look starting lineup had little trouble doing whatever it wanted against the lifeless Gamecocks. Miller hit a pair of 3-pointers during the run, which was capped by a 3-pointer from Lamb.

Cooke finally got the Gamecocks on the board with a dunk, but it hardly mattered. Kentucky quickly pushed the lead to 20 points regardless of whatever defense Horn drew up.

Kentucky zipped through South Carolina's man-to-man, deftly passed out of trouble when the Gamecocks went to a halfcourt trap and shot over their 2-3 zone.

Calipari has been on his team to finish off opponents, and the Wildcats did their best to wrap things up early. Knight threw himself into the announcers table while chasing down a loose ball with an 18-point lead. He managed to fling the ball to Liggins for a basket to put Kentucky up 24-4.

Horn called a couple of timeouts to help the Gamecocks regain their composure, but their leaders were nowhere to be found. Ellington and Smith went a combined 0 for 10 in the first half as Kentucky roared into the locker room up 50-21, tied for its biggest halftime lead this season.

There were minor moments of trepidation for Kentucky in the second half as the Wildcats stumbled a bit in the face of South Carolina's fullcourt press.

Calipari even called timeout once in frustration after a pair of turnovers keyed a 9-0 South Carolina run that trimmed Kentucky's lead to 55-32. His team's attention back on the floor, the Wildcats ended any semblance of drama by going on a 9-0 burst capped by a difficult runner from Liggins that put Kentucky up 64-32 and sent some of the faithful home early.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Source: http://ncaabasketball.fanhouse.com/2011/02/19/no-22-kentucky-embarrasses-south-carolina/

WAC Texas Bowl

No. 3 Texas Falls at Nebraska

Filed under: Texas, Big 12

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- Brandon Richardson hit a pair of free throws with 7.2 seconds left to seal Nebraska's 70-67 upset of No. 3 Texas on Saturday.

Nebraska hadn't beaten a team ranked in the top three since knocking off No. 3 Missouri 98-91 in the 1994 Big Eight Conference tournament.

The Cornhuskers' second win over a Top 25 opponent this season broke Texas' school record Big 12 winning streak at 11 games. Nebraska downed then-No. 13 Texas A&M 57-48 on Jan. 29.

Richardson led Nebraska with 15 points, 10 in the second half. Toney McCray added 14.

Jordan Hamilton and Brown each had 18 to top Texas. Cory Joseph had 13.

Nebraska (18-8, 6-6 Big 12), which trailed by seven points at halftime, took a 64-53 lead on Lance Jeter's driving layup with 2:35 left. But the Cornhuskers made just six of 11 free throws in the last two minutes to help Texas get back in it.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Source: http://ncaabasketball.fanhouse.com/2011/02/19/no-3-texas-falls-at-nebraska/

Ole Miss Temple

Can BCS Reform Come from England -- Bloody Well Right

Filed under: Florida, San Diego State, TCU, BCS, BCS Championship Game

SAN DIEGO -- Home to footballers who couldn't throw a spiral across Abbey Road, what could England possibly have to offer American football? Crumpets at halftime? Frumpy cheerleaders?

Texas billionaire Mark Cuban actually is curious to find out.

Four students from Oxford, England's oldest university, have a winning plan to reform college football's controversial system of deciding its champion. At least, that's what five judges decided on Friday, after graduate students from 10 universities made pitches for BCS reform, the topic presented to them 24 hours earlier at San Diego State's sixth international MBA case competition.

"We decided to focus on an issue that sports fans throughout the country really can rally around," said director Scott Minto.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Source: http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2011/02/14/can-bcs-reform-come-from-england-bloody-well-right/

Wisconsin Michigan State