Seattle Hoops: Seattle U finally gets a Key date
THE SENIORS AT Seattle University realize they are making a major sacrifice for the future of the program. The Redhawks have no chance of making the NCAA Tournament in their first year of Division I basketball and would have been a favorite to win the Great Northwest Athletic Conference had they remained in Division II.
If Seattle U had not made the jump, there is no chance it would be facing Loyola Marymount on Thursday afternoon at KeyArena. Jan. 1, 2009, serves as a reintroduction for Seattle basketball to the area's sports landscape. For years, Redhawks basketball has been virtually hidden at the Connolly Center, grinding as an afterthought.
That won't be the case Thursday, when Seattle U plays in a former NBA arena with 500 screaming students behind one basket. The Redhawks are 7-5 entering the game against the 0-14 Lions, having beaten UC Irvine, Cal Poly and Louisiana Tech. On Monday, they pushed Oregon State until the final minutes before falling 59-50.
Few observers expected the Redhawks to have a winning record, let alone play respectably against Division I opponents. But the program is quickly gaining respect around college basketball circles for its methodical, disciplined offense that secures the ball and shortens the game.
While his club may be outmanned on most nights, coach Joe Callero has willed his team to be competitive.
"Our student-athletes have done a great job of embracing the whole experience," he said this week. "Our big thing has been, let's not question what conference we are going to be in or how it's going to be. Let's just go play the game and have a great attitude about it."
Seattle U is trying to impress the West Coast Conference into an invitation in coming years. If the Redhawks can beat Loyola Marymount -- nine of the Lions' 14 losses have come by at least 20 points -- and then play respectably Sunday at Portland, it would make a positive impression.
The transition to Division I has meant a lot of road games, a haphazard schedule and a mini-tournament of sorts against other first-year Division I teams also searching for games. Hence home-and-home series with South Dakota, North Dakota, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and then the season-ending North Dakota Tournament.This is hardly unusual for first-year Division I programs. The schools usually are grouped together like fraternity pledges who need each other until they find conferences. Seattle, however, has emerged as the best of the bunch with three wins over Division I teams. SIU-Edwardsville has two.
And the Redhawks played in the Great Alaska Shootout, at Fresno State, at Portland State and at Oregon State. The atmosphere of a Division I arena takes away from the disappointment from leaving Division II and a chance to play for a national championship.
And it has given players a chance to reemerge. Forward Austen Powers -- we'll get to the name in a sec -- is second on the club with 10.8 points per game and has led the team in scoring four times. He is a transfer from Cal State Northridge who expected to finish his career playing Division II ball. But he has become the face of the transition of the program, realizing he is laying the groundwork for future Seattle U teams to perhaps advance to the NCAA Tournament.
"I knew going Division I would mean playing teams I watched my whole life," he said. "We're that stepping stone to the future of this university, and that's a great feeling right there, is that I am going to be on this team that was known to go back to Division I. That's enough for me right there, and I've had a good time so far."
Now to the name. Austen Powers was born in 1987, 10 years before "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" with Mike Myers was released. So that put young Austen in the fifth grade at his Glendale, Ariz., school when the movie was released, a perfect target for adolescent ridicule.
"I was a fifth-grader and all the eighth-graders would bother me about it," he said. "It's definitely a great icebreaker, I can tell you that right now. I usually just say my name is Austen Powers, and 'boom,' automatic conversation. I'm so used to it. It's fine."
On Thursday, when Powers is launching a free throw, perhaps the Seattle U band will blast the "Austin Powers" theme and make their star forward feel at home. It's about time. Seattle U is finally home.
LOCAL UPDATES: Former Husky Adrian Oliver is making his presence felt for San Jose State, and that is an understatement. Since joining the Spartans, Oliver scored 27, 31 and 22 points before a scoreless game on Dec. 28 against William Jessup. Oliver leads the Spartans in scoring at 20 points per game. He transferred from Washington after six games of his sophomore season and became eligible following the fall semester. ... Former Huskies recruit Harvey Perry is averaging 3.4 points in nine games with 5-9 Colorado State. ... Former Snohomish standout Tim Diederichs is out for the season for Loyola Marymount because of a shoulder injury. He played in three games. ... True freshman Mychal Ladd (Rainier Beach) is averaging 9.5 points and 3.6 rebounds in 14 games for 7-7 Fresno State.
(c) 1996-2009 Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Cats going to Hawaii in '09; five dates open
Under Lute Olson, basketball scheduling was a finely tuned science at Arizona.
Every season, on top of Pac-10 Conference games, Olson usually would sprinkle in one or two high-profile road games, a neutral-site game and a special event, such as the Maui Invitational or NIT Season Tip-Off for his Wildcats.
Then he'd tweak the schedule strength to match his expected talent, arranging for varying mixes of low- to mid-major teams to play the Wildcats in one-time games at McKale Center or agreeing to more home-and-home series with high-major teams.
All along, Ryan Hansen, the UA's development manager and the team's radio analyst, executed Olson's wishes, usually all but finishing the following season's schedule by this time of year.
But this season, with Olson having retired in October, the 2009-10 nonconference schedule remains only halfway finished. The Wildcats have a few contractual obligations, such as the 2009 Maui Invitational, and ongoing series with UNLV and San Diego State, but still have five open dates.
NCAA rules allow teams to schedule 29 regular-season games, or 27 plus an "exempted" special event that can have up to four games in it. So with Maui on the schedule next season, the Wildcats can schedule nine nonconference games in addition to their 18 Pac-10 contests.
"We would like to pick up a couple of new games between now and the naming of a new coach," Hansen said. "But we want to leave him flexible on the back end if he wants to pick up a new home-and-home series against somebody he had a relationship with."
Then, for 2010-11 and beyond, the new coach will be able to fully define his scheduling philosophy, in part by answering these questions:
Cupcakes or suicide pills?
Under Olson, scheduling was routinely aggressive and often bordered on suicidal --- especially when early departures for the NBA started making it more difficult for him to predict what kind of UA team would play the following year's schedule.
For example, after four UA starters left for pro ball in spring 2001, the Wildcats faced Maryland and Florida in New York, played at Texas, faced Illinois and Purdue on neutral courts and went to Michigan State. Their only home game before the post-Christmas Fiesta Bowl Classic? Kansas.
Last season, the Wildcats played the top-rated schedule in the country --- including games with Kansas, Texas A&M, Illinois, UNLV, Memphis and Houston --- on top of a brutal Pac-10 slate.
This season, UA interim head coach Russ Pennell sees both sides: an easy early schedule and now a rough December run that includes UNLV in Las Vegas on Saturday and Kansas at home on Tuesday.
So far, he's been pleased.
"There were no name teams but we've been challenged enough that we've had to stretch to get better," Pennell said. "That's what is real positive about (the early) games."
Next season's coach can ratchet the schedule down, if he wishes, to a point.
But the UA depends heavily on basketball revenue to fund its athletic department, so it's in the department's best interest to keep season-ticket holders happy with an attractive nonconference schedule. In addition, the UA's aggressive scheduling has resulted in strong RPI ratings that have helped the Wildcats in NCAA tournament seedings. Players have routinely said they enjoy the stiff challenges.
"We're not going to make it a whole lot different," AD Jim Livengood said. "It's worked out well for us. And most of the people we're looking at (as the new head coach), they're not going to be shying away because of the schedule. They're not going to say, 'I'm not gonna take that job because they're playing too many good schools.' "
Among other things, Hansen said the UA would not schedule "guarantee" games --- one-time home games where opponents typically get a five-figure payout in lieu of a return game --- unless the opponent has an RPI of at least 300.
"Our fans are accustomed to playing good basketball games," Hansen said. "They understand we can't play North Carolina every time. But at the same time, they want to play a team that they recognize, or at least a team that's well-coached and has had success."
Which parties to attend?
Teams are allowed to play in the Maui Invitational and NIT Season Tip-Off once every four years, but the NCAA now allows teams to play in an "exempt" event of some sort every season. Teams used to be limited to two exempt events in a four-year span.
As a result, there's been a free-for-all of special tournaments and round-robins springing up, with some teams creating specially formulated events on their home floors, just so they could pack in some "free" games.
Last season, the Wildcats netted three home games and a date at Kansas while playing in one of those new events --- the "Jayhawk Invitational" --- while they are also scheduled to face Kansas in the Las Vegas Invitational in 2010-11.
Is it worth hosting a Fiesta?
The flip side of the exempted-event explosion is that it has all but killed special events such as Arizona's Fiesta Bowl Classic, formerly a two-game event that was not exempted and therefore could not attract high-caliber teams that wanted to give up that much of their nonconference schedules.
So two seasons ago, the Fiesta Bowl Classic was shortened to just one game, this season's game against Kansas. Hansen said the entire event is now in "flux," although Fiesta Bowl president John Junker said he hopes it remains.
"Our plan is to continue to service it and be available," Junker said. "It's up to Mr. Livengood and the new coach, but we stand ready to serve if they ring the bell."
Which way down Tobacco Road?
The Wildcats were originally scheduled to restart the second half of a planned four-game series with North Carolina this season, even though the Tar Heels drummed the UA 92-64 at McKale during the 2006-07 season. But the game was held off for a year, then postponed indefinitely after Olson retired.
The series had stemmed in large part from the friendly relationship between Olson and UNC coach Roy Williams.
"Both parties said, 'Let's play two and see what happens,' " Hansen said. "So we took a year off, and then Coach Olson retired. Having that series on the schedule was fantastic, but not having it now doesn't mean we won't resume it if the new coach has a relationship with Roy."
Instead, the UA has contracted a two-year home-and-home series with North Carolina State, which will visit McKale Center next season and host the Wildcats in 2010-11.
Hansen said the Wolfpack series resulted from feelers he put out with conference and television executives to secure another high-major opponent.
Wave "bye" to one-game weeks?
Arizona can also schedule a nonconference opponent during the Pac-10 schedule each time it has a one-game week when facing ASU.
Typically, Olson had scheduled the Wildcats to play someone else during at least the first ASU date, believing that the UA should keep an eye on the national perspective, when it might otherwise get absorbed with conference play.
But many Pac-10 teams shut down nonconference play after league games start, since the Pac-10 schedule already requires four days of travel and two road games nearly every other week at a time when fatigue can set in.
Another danger for scheduling during that time is that a road nonconference game may become sandwiched by two other Pac-10 road trips. Arizona was caught in this bind during the 2005-06 season, going to ASU, flying across the country to play at North Carolina three days later, and playing in Los Angeles against USC and UCLA the next weekend.
The UA lost the final three of those four games and finished 7-7 in its final 14 games.
"Coach Olson was starting to get away from that," Hansen said. "Playing at North Carolina and at the Los Angeles schools kind of broke our back."
(c) Arizona Daily Star.
U coaches know that devising a college basketball schedule is a thankless, complicated job
Last Friday gave us two sides of Minnesota men's basketball coach Tubby Smith.
First, the measured, analytical Tubby broke down the strengths of North Dakota State, the next day's opponent. A few minutes later, Smith's tone changed considerably as he explained and defended something he's been hammered for -- the Gophers' bunny-laden non-conference schedule, which includes the likes of ...North Dakota State.
Only two of the 12 non-Big Ten opponents figured to give the young Gophers a tussle --highly ranked Louisville, and Virginia in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Ivy League champion Cornell is the only other NCAA Tournament team from last year on a docket that included Bowling Green, North and South Dakota States, High Point (Smith's alma mater) and Division II Concordia.
Scheduling criticisms irk Smith
This criticism irritated Smith so much that he dismissed it with uncharacteristic contempt last month at a pre-season media gathering. That people even care about the non-conference slate at least shows improvement in the Gophers' profile around town, a profile raised by last year's unexpected 20-14 finish and NIT bid in Smith's first season after leaving Kentucky.
Last year's 10-2 non-conference start had some people around the program convinced the Gophers had a shot at the NCAA Tournament. Then the Big Ten season hit the Gophers like a two-by-four. The Gophers went 8-10 and never won a signature road game in conference play. Beating imperiled Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament came too late to do much good with the NCAA selection committee.
So why didn't Smith add tougher non-conference foes this time?
Smith said the young Gophers, with three freshmen counted on for key roles, couldn't handle it. "We already have three tough games," Smith said. "We don't need any more tough games to get ready."
And even if they could, Smith said the chances of director of basketball operations Joe Esposito, who handles the schedule, finding any name opponents to play in The Barn were close to slim.
"Teams don't go anywhere," Smith said. "Duke's not going to go anywhere. North Carolina's not going to come in here. Texas ... Not a Big 8 team, not a Pac-10 team, not a major conference team. I wouldn't either. You want to play at home.
"You're not going to get the top-echelon teams to come in here. It doesn't happen anymore, not unless you give them a home-and-home, and it's been hard to get that."
That's probably the biggest challenge facing Esposito and Gopher women's assistant coaches Barb Smith and Ted Riverso, who handle scheduling for Pam Borton's team. Esposito, even with more than 300 Division I teams to choose from, couldn't entice one to fill the last spot in last month's NABC Classic, which is how Concordia got in. The task for the women is a little easier, though the Gophers had to go to California and Colorado to fill out their schedule.
"It's the worst job," Borton said. "You have to go to the head coach and say, 'Do you want to play so-and-so?' "
Schedules are put together a year or more in advance. Borton's ideal non-conference schedule features five major-conference opponents, and this season's list included Stanford, Santa Clara, Boston College, Massachusetts and Iowa State. (The Gophers lost another when Yale surprised North Carolina State in the Subway Classic at Williams Arena.)
That leaves six games the Gophers should win. Borton prefers the Gophers not load up on easy opponents with high Ratings Percentage Indexes (RPI), which pad the record but won't impress the NCAA Tournament selection committee. Instead, she looks for good teams from lesser conferences, like the Summit League's South Dakota State, which last season finished 22-6 with an RPI of 60. As of Monday, the Jackrabbits rated better in RPI (13) than the Gophers (37). The teams play here on Dec. 9.
Borton faces schedule balancing act
"You can go 11-0 and have a disappointing Big Ten season because you're not challenged," Borton said. "But you can't schedule 11 heavy hitters and then play in the Big Ten. And you can't go 5-5 in non-conference, because that means you've pretty much got to go undefeated in conference."
Smith, however, said he can't be that choosy.
Years ago, a guarantee of $35,000 to $50,000 to the visiting school landed you a home game with a mid-major or a Division II team. Smith, the president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, said he's heard of some instances where schools paid up to $100,000.
"You think High Point wants to come here and play us?" Smith said. "Heck, no. He's trying to win games. Unless you give them a financial guarantee. Then they'll come in here."
Now, Smith said, even big paydays aren't always enough.
"I knew this would happen," Smith said. "When they expanded your conference schedule, I don't know what they expected. (The NCAA) did it because they wanted more home games, and the schools wanted more money. So with (athletics directors), that's exactly what it's about. That's what the whole fact is, whether at Kentucky or wherever.
"Unless you had an existing rivalry with a team outside your conference, they're not going to play. It just doesn't happen anymore. And I think people understand that ... It's all about TV now. When you see a matchup now, TV put it together."
Almost all of Smith's non-conference schedule for next season is set. He still hopes to arrange a home-and-home with Tulsa, another of his former schools, or someone from the Missouri Valley Conference. The closest MVC schools to Dinkytown are Drake and Northern Iowa, and travel costs are a consideration, Smith said.
"It's probably the toughest thing in basketball, and in sports today, especially at the college level -- the schedule," he said. "When you take over a job, there's one thing you better have control over -- the schedule. You show me a coach that's on his way out, and I'll show you a schedule that's not put in by a coach."
(c) 2008 MinnPost.
Self plans no big changes after loss in regional finals
March 26, 2007
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -Kansas coach Bill Self is going to ask his players to spend time in the weight room and come back bigger and stronger next year.
But first, like everyone else connected with the program, he has to know who's coming back.
Just two days after UCLA ousted the top-seeded Jayhawks 68-55 in the regional finals, Self said he was planning to sit down with players being mentioned as possible first-round NBA picks and carefully plot what would be in their own best interests.
Sophomore Brandon Rush, who led the Jayhawks in scoring in a 33-5 season that included Big 12 regular-season and tournament championships, is most often mentioned as a possible early NBA entry. The others, including sophomores Julian Wright and Mario Chalmers, have said they are definitely planning to return for their junior year.
But players in their situation have also been known to change their minds.
"I'm going to visit with all our guys before I go to the Final Four," Self said in a teleconference Monday with reporters. "We'll get a game plan together."
Self said he had told his players all year he would not talk about their NBA prospects until the season was over.
"I do think that we'll need to investigate and look into some scenarios. Right now, I don't know how our guys are on most teams' boards. We'll just have to wait and see.
"I'm going to wait and talk to their families before I tell you what our game plan will be. We'll gather information and pass it along. We don't believe guys' minds are made up yet."
The school's approach, he said, would be for players to "do what's best for yourself and your family and we'll support you 100 percent. But don't make a bad decision and ruin a career."
The loss to the Bruins made Self 0-4 in regional finals as a head coach. He said he does not plan any major changes to his approach.
"When you're in the Elite Eight, you're probably playing a team that's comparable to you. It is disappointing that you can have a great season but it can end on such a disappointing note because the game is a very difficult one to lose with so much at stake," he said.
"We've knocked on the door several times. We're going to get through it one of these days. You've got to win a lot of big games to play in that game.
"I don't think we're far off."
Self also said that freshman point guard Sherron Collins, who faded in the last couple of weeks of the season, might need extensive rehab on a problem with his left knee. Self said the knee was actually giving Collins more trouble than the team had wanted anyone to know.
Collins did not score at all in the UCLA loss.
"We didn't let on, but Sherron played on one leg in California," Self said. "He noticeably limped. He fought it for three weeks. We'll do tests on him to see what he needs to do. It's a little more serious than we led everybody to believe. He'll have to take some time off. We hope it won't need surgery."
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Copyright 2006-2007, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
Self to promote Manning
Manning will replace Tim Jankovich, who was named head coach at Illinois State on Tuesday. A member of the Kansas basketball staff since Bill Self's arrival in 2003-04, Manning has served as director of student-athlete development/team manager at Kansas for the past four seasons.
"When I first accepted the position at the University of Kansas, one of the first things I wanted to do was to convince Danny Manning to be part of our staff," Self said. "Upon his retirement from the NBA, we visited with him on becoming a recruiting coach. At that time, he felt it was not timely for him to be away from home and his family."
"He has sacrificed by doing many jobs within the office and has primarily been a great role model for all of our student-athletes and our program. It's not often you can have one of the greatest college players in NCAA college basketball history on you staff and be just as interested in helping our student-athletes as he was in scoring baskets."
One of the greatest players in Kansas basketball history, Manning is Kansas' all-time leading scorer and rebounder, racking up 2,951 points and 1,187 boards in his illustrious four-year career. Manning, the eighth all-time leading scorer in NCAA history, was named a consensus first-team All-America selection in 1987 and 1988, the consensus College Player of the Year in 1988 and he was a three-time Big Eight Conference Player of the Year (1986, 1987 and 1988).
Manning was named the 1988 NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player en route to leading the Jayhawks to an 83-79 victory over Oklahoma for the 1988 national championship -- KU's most recent title. He was also named the MVP of the NCAA Midwest Regional in 1986 and 1988.
"I'm very excited to be promoted to an assistant coach with the University of Kansas men's basketball program," Manning said. "This is the place I want to be and I'm looking forward to expanding my role as a teacher on and off the court to the student-athletes here at KU."
"The last four years have been a great learning experience for me. Being a part of and helping to run the day-to-day operations of the office -- from the handling of gear to academics to making road trip arrangements -- I've gained much-need experience and knowledge.
"Being around Coach Self, Norm Roberts, Tim [Jankovich], Kurtis Townsend and Joe Dooley has been very enlightening with their knowledge of coaching, recruiting and overall knowledge of the business. I will continue to lean on these outstanding individuals as I find my way around the coaching profession. Lew Perkins and his administrative staff have also been very accommodating with an open door policy to come in and share any thoughts, concerns and questions."
The No. 1 overall pick in the 1988 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers, Manning played for seven different teams -- the Clippers, Hawks, Suns, Bucks,
Jazz, Mavericks and Pistons.
He boasts averages of 14.0 points and 5.2 rebounds per game over his NBA career, spanning 883 total games. Manning was a two-time NBA All-Star (1993 and 1994), and won the league's Sixth Man Award in 1998.
Manning and his wife, Julie, are both graduates of Kansas. They have two children -- daughter, Taylor, and son, Evan.
Copyright 2007 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved
Under the radar
By Joe Rexrode
March 16, 2007
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. East Carolina. East Tennessee State. Ohio. Akron. Virginia Military Institute.
Tyrese Rice mumbles the names like he's telling you about his least favorite vegetables. These are the schools, other than Boston College, that offered Rice a basketball scholarship.
"What did everyone miss?" Rice asked Friday, repeating the question a lot of ACC staffs would rather not answer. "I don't know, I don't know what people were actually watching. I performed in the summer (in AAU ball) against all the top players Ty Lawson, Kevin Durant, Monta Ellis.
"I think people wondered if I could really play the point. But I'm just thankful I'm here. I mean, Jared Dudley and Craig Smith weren't recruited real high either. BC gets those under-the-radar guys and turns them into players."
Yes, it does. But Rice's development has been especially accelerated – faster than one of his head-bobbing jaunts into the lane. The 6-foot-1 (that's the official listing, anyway) sophomore point guard from Richmond, Va., was essentially a spot-up shooter off the bench last season, playing behind underrated senior point guard Louis Hinnant.
He started this season as the primary point, with predictably mixed results. He's finishing the season with a flourish that was anything but predictable. And when the No. 7 seed Eagles take on No. 2 seed Georgetown here Saturday in an East Regional second-round game, he might be the key to an upset few foresee.
The Hoyas have the big fellas, Roy Hibbert and Jeff Green. Most of the talk surrounding this game is on the matchup between the 6-foot-9 Green and the 6-foot-7 Dudley, and it should be a good one. But the best guard on the floor Saturday won't be in blue and gray.
"Their team is really all about the bigs," Rice said. "Their guards are good role players, but if we can speed them up, maybe we can get it done."
This is a game that might have taken place later in the tournament, but for the midseason suspension of center Sean Williams. An NBA-lottery talent, Williams made BC an imposing defensive team with his shot blocking. But he couldn't keep himself out of trouble (he was suspended last season for marijuana possession), and he was booted for another rules violation.
That downgraded BC from possible Final Four contender to mid-bracket upstart. Rice's late-season surge has the Eagles looking at that bracket with a bit more than just optimistic curiosity. And others are taking notice as well.
Rice's 26-point, four-assist, one-turnover effort was the key in a first-round win over Texas Tech.
"Rice really keeps your defense in difficult positions a lot," Texas Tech coach Bobby Knight sighed afterward, "because he's so quick and you're trying to help on him, and he gets away and creates things."
He gets away and creates things. Hmmm. Not many saw that coming, despite Rice's high-scoring career at Richmond's L.C. Bird High. He was seen as a shooter who, at 6-foot on a good day, was not a high-major wing prospect. And he certainly wasn't a point guard.
But BC's Al Skinner saw something. He brought Rice in and let him ease into his future, coming off the bench for lefty jump shots as a freshman – while learning the point-guard craft from Hinnant and assistant coach Bill Coen, who is in his first season as Northeastern's head coach.
Running the flex offense takes some patience, allowing something to develop within a series of cuts and screens even when you know you can score right now. Rice took some time to acquire that understanding.
"I think when he first got here his shot selection was poor, but we could definitely get away with it, with Sean Williams, Craig Smith and myself helping out," Dudley said. "But with this team we can't. Our margin of error is so small, so he has to pick and choose his spots. … This is definitely his team as much as anyone here. We can only go as far as he develops and improves, and so far, I don't think there is anyone playing better than Tyrese right now."
He's averaging 17.4 points a game, second to Dudley's 19.0, with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.6-to-1. It was 1.4 through December, 1.8 since. Rice basically willed BC to an overtime win over Miami in the ACC tournament, scoring 32 points and hitting the tying 3-pointer with 31 seconds left in regulation.
Skinner was more impressed with the steady hand Rice used to run the team in the waning moments of that contest.
"Tyrese's development is really a great story," Skinner said. "You're talking about an individual who coming out of high school was one of the state's all-time leading scorers, so we always knew we could score. What everyone was worried about was, 'Is he willing or able to run a basketball team?'"
Skinner thought so. Sorry, Akron. Sorry, VMI. Sorry, ACC teams who ignored Rice altogether. Skinner stole another one, a la Dudley. And if this one keeps playing at a level few thought possible, Georgetown might be sorry too.
Joe Rexrode covers Michigan State for the Lansing State Journal. He is covering the first rounds of the NCAA tournament exclusively for Yahoo! Sports.
Updated on Saturday, Mar 17, 2007 1:23 am EDT
Pittsburgh's late surge falls short against No. 20 Marquette
March 3, 2007
CBS SportsLine.com wire reports
MILWAUKEE -- With one of its top point producers wearing street clothes and a brace on his hand, Marquette needed another scorer to help pull out of its recent nose dive with an upset victory.
Along came freshman David Cubillan, who scored a season-high 20 points and almost single-handedly prevented the Golden Eagles from blowing what had been shaping up as an easy win.
Cubillan hit a key 3-pointer with 1:40 remaining, then went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line in the final minute as No. 20 Marquette held off No. 12 Pittsburgh for a 75-71 victory on Saturday night.
"He was huge tonight, and he's going to have to continue to remain that way," said Wesley Matthews, who also scored 20 for Marquette.
Marquette (23-8, 10-6 Big East) came into the game shaky and short-handed, but looked more athletic and energetic than Pittsburgh from the opening tip -- until the Panthers nearly stole the game with a late rally.
The Golden Eagles remained in the Top 25 this week despite losing four of their past five games. And Marquette was forced to play without guard Jerel McNeal on Saturday, their second-leading scorer. McNeal sat out with a cast on his right hand and thumb protecting a previously undisclosed injury.
Given the adversity, Marquette coach Tom Crean said the victory was huge for his team.
"Without sounding corny, this is one of those days they will never forget," Crean said.
A win would have given Pittsburgh (25-6, 12-4 Big East) a share of the Big East regular-season title. Earlier in the day, No. 9 Georgetown clinched at least a share of the conference championship with a 59-46 victory over Connecticut.
"The game was very disappointing," Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said. "Everything was in place for us to get a piece of the Big East title, but we couldn't get it done tonight. We didn't play well enough to win."
The Golden Eagles led by 17 in the second half, but Pittsburgh rallied with a 15-4 run.
Pittsburgh's Sam Young later cut the lead to four with two free throws, but Marquette freshman David Cubillan responded with his fourth 3-pointer of the game to put the Golden Eagles ahead 64-57 with 1:40 remaining.
Cubillan then hit all eight free throws in the final minute.
"I wasn't nervous," Cubillan said. "We shoot free throws in practice all the time."
Marquette hit 11 of 12 overall from the line down the stretch to stave off a final comeback attempt by Pittsburgh that included a three-point play and putback basket by center Aaron Gray and a desperation 3-pointer by Young in the final 31.4 seconds.
"We dug ourselves too deep of hole," Pittsburgh guard Levance Fields said. "We should have played a little bit better earlier. We had a good opportunity for the Big East title, but we fell short."
Marquette held Gray, the Panthers' leading scorer at 14.2 points per game, in check in the first half. But Gray scored 14 points in the second half to lead Pittsburgh with 18.
Gray also had a team-high 13 rebounds for his 14th double-double of the season.
"There's points in the game where we are one of the top five teams in the country," Gray said. "And there are lapses in each game where we are one of the five bottom teams in the Big East. We just have to minimize those lapses and put together a complete game."
Mike Cook added 13 for Pittsburgh. Ousmane Barro scored 10 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds for Marquette.
Crean wouldn't speculate on the severity of McNeal's injury and his availability for the upcoming Big East Tournament is unclear. The Golden Eagles got another injury scare when guard Dominic James left the game with what appeared to be a knee injury midway through the second half. James played only sporadically the rest of the way, but Crean said it was just a cramping issue.
Coming into Saturday night's game, the Panthers had held 14 of 15 conference opponents under 70 points. Marquette remains the only Big East team to break the 70-point barrier against the Panthers, but needed overtime to do so the first time. The Golden Eagles defeated the Panthers 77-74 in overtime Jan. 21.
Marquette led 43-30 at halftime, holding Pittsburgh to 35.5 percent shooting -- and Gray to only three shots and four points -- with an effective zone defense.
The Golden Eagles hit five of 10 3-point attempts -- including 2 of 3 by little-used senior center Mike Kinsella, who had scored only three points all season and hadn't attempted a 3-pointer in his college career.
Matthews said Kinsella hits those shots in practice all the time.
"Everybody was excited," Matthews said. "The bench was jumping around, the crowd was getting excited."
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