Other College Sports Capsules: Gottfried putting his touches on N.C. State program
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Mark Gottfried wants his North Carolina State basketball players to believe they can win after five straight years of struggle. He's unafraid of going head-to-head against the national powers from just down the road for recruits. And the coach isn't shy about changing the mentality and habits within a program that hasn't been to the NCAA tournament in five years.
Hired in April to replace Sidney Lowe, Gottfried's efforts to reverse the program's sagging fortunes have touched on the conditioning of players, the scheduling philosophy, even the way he wants the players to carry themselves in class and on campus.
"I'm talking about a mindset that they begin to understand day in and day out what it takes to be successful," Gottfried said Tuesday. "You've got to learn how to be on time. You've got to learn how to have a great attitude in class. I tell them: 'Look nice, dress nice, speak nice, be nice — be a professional.'
"We're getting there. Not that these guys are bad guys. They're not. But what's going to happen is you're going to get in a game for the first time and it's those periods where the rubber meets the road — and how are we going to respond? We don't know yet. And these guys haven't been there, to be quite frank, where they can turn that into a win and turn that into success."
Few of the Wolfpack's frustrated fans are going to question Gottfried's moves right now. As he said, "The bottom line in winning fans over is winning games," and N.C. State hasn't done much of that in the Atlantic Coast Conference lately.
Lowe, the point guard on the "Cardiac Pack" team that won the 1983 NCAA championship, was a beloved figure at the school who could never build any sustained on-court success. He went 25-55 in ACC regular-season play, never finished higher than ninth in the league and went 3-16 against nearby rivals Duke and North Carolina before resigning after five seasons.
Gottfried and his staff managed to avoid mass defections after taking over — freshman point guard Ryan Harrow transferred to Kentucky — and has spent the three months since trying to forge relationships with those players even though they were limited to only a handful of workouts due to NCAA rules.
In the case of rising junior Richard Howell, Gottfried pushed the 6-foot-8 forward to get in better shape. He said Howell weighed 271 pounds in the spring, but is down to around 250 and carrying himself with more confidence.
"Everybody was a little bit different," said Gottfried, who had worked as an analyst for ESPN since leaving Alabama in 2009. "Guys want to know what their role is. Some of that is hard because I've watched them on television, but until you coach somebody, you don't really know their game sometimes. ... Guys want to know how they're going to fit in. They want to believe we can win, so that was our job with these guys."
With the learning process ongoing, Gottfried said it's hard to predict exactly how his first team will stack up with the rest of the ACC. While he talked about his players embracing the early changes and the program having some early momentum, he also cautioned Wolfpack fans not to expect too much, too fast.
"I've got no magic dust that we can just sprinkle over our guys," he said. "There are habits that have to be built. We're trying to get those built right now, and I think we're making steps."
Hobbs named UConn men's basketball director
STORRS, Conn. (AP) — The University of Connecticut has named a former player to the position of director of men's basketball administration.
Karl Hobbs was a point guard and team captain for the Huskies in the early 1980s and spent the last decade as head coach at George Washington University.
The hire was announced Tuesday by UConn head coach Jim Calhoun.
At George Washington, Hobbs led the Colonials to a pair of Atlantic 10 Tournament titles and one regular season championship.
He also spent eight seasons as an assistant coach at UConn from 1993 to 2001 and served as an assistant coach at Boston University for six years before that.
As a player he led UConn in assists for four consecutive seasons and currently ranks fifth on the UConn career assists list.
Tulsa-Oral Roberts series could take brief hiatus
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — The annual Mayor's Cup basketball game between Oral Roberts and Tulsa might not be played next season.
Tulsa athletic director Bubba Cunningham tells the Tulsa World the crosstown rivals are having difficulty in finding a mutually agreeable date to play the game.
Cunningham says it's "not a dead issue" but that it's possible the series could skip a season.
The schools have a contract to play at Oral Roberts during the 2011-12 season. Tulsa wants to play the game before entering Conference USA play, while Oral Roberts is open to a game after conference play has started for both teams.
Cunningham says Tulsa should receive its conference schedule soon, which should help him determine if there's a good time to play the game after the Golden Hurricane start league play.
Memphis coach has 'no desire' to play Tennessee
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Memphis coach Josh Pastner has told a Knoxville radio station that he has "no desire" to play Tennessee.
Pastner appeared on WNML-AM on Monday. The teams have played every season since 2005-06. Tennessee visits Memphis this season.
Asked about playing Tennessee, Pastner said: "I have no desire to play Tennessee ... I don't think it does us any good. I'm just being honest with you. For us, it's a game that, I don't know why we play it, but we play it because the athletic director wants me to play it and he's my boss and what he says goes."
Reached afterward, Pastner said he doesn't consider Knoxville a fertile recruiting ground, so why give Tennessee exposure in Memphis, a place where the Volunteers recruit players, The Commercial Appeal reported.
MSU-Northern names assistant hoops coach
HAVRE, Mont. (AP) — Montana State-Northern men's basketball coach Shawn Huse says former Chinook High basketball coach Chris Daniel is joining the Lights as an assistant coach.
While at Northern, Daniel will finish his degree in elementary education. He tells the Havre Daily News that finishing his degree was a big factor in getting him to leave his coaching job at Chinook. The Havre native has coached the Chinook boys for five seasons and the girls for three.
Daniel joins a Northern team that returns all of its players from last year's Frontier Conference tournament championship and NAIA national tournament appearance. He takes the spot of two-year assistant Larry Brazzle, who decided to return to Los Angeles.
UK guard Hood tears ACL, out indefinitely
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky coach John Calipari says junior guard Jon Hood has suffered a torn right ACL playing in a pickup game.
The school says Hood will undergo surgery after the inflammation subsides, but it's not known when he will return. The injury happened Monday. Hood scored 26 points in 33 games last season, averaging 0.8 point per game.
Women's Basketball
Anaconda's Laslovich transferring to Montana Tech
BUTTE, Mont. (AP) — Former Anaconda standout Lisa Laslovich is transferring to Montana Tech to play basketball. Tech coach Kerie DePell says Laslovich is a proven winner who has the ability to be a major factor on the floor for the Lady Diggers next season. She transfers to Tech from NCAA Division II Montana State Billings.
Anaconda won state championships when Laslovich was a sophomore and a junior and finished third her senior year, posting a 61-8 mark during those three seasons. She averaged 10 points, three steals and three assists per game as a senior.
Last season at MSU Billings, Laslovich played in 27 games and averaged two points and one rebound per game.
Tech's Harrison booted off women's team
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — Senior guard Shanel Harrison has been booted off the Virginia Tech women's basketball team for unspecified violations of team rules. Coach Dennis Wolff announced Harrison's dismissal on Tuesday, declining further comment.
Harrison is a 6-foot Washington, D.C., product who averaged 8.8 points and 4.9 rebounds at Tech. She appeared in 89 games, starting nearly half those, and scored a career-high 27 points at Boston College last season.
Track & Field
MSU Billings cross country signs two recruits
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Montana State Billings men's cross country coach Dave Coppock has announced the signing of Dylan Lammers of Pocatello, Idaho and Ethan Wilhelm of Bozeman.
Lammers was an all-state runner as a junior in 2009 and won the individual district championship in helping Century High School win the team district title. His best 5 kilometer cross country time during his senior year was 16 minutes, 27 seconds.
Wilhelm earned all-state honors in track as a sophomore and in cross country as a junior. He helped Bozeman to three state cross country titles. His best 5K time was 16:15.
Coppock says he believes Lammers and Wilhelm will be capable of running in the Yellowjackets' top seven at some point this season.
Softball
UNO softball joining Great West before Summit move
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The University of Nebraska at Omaha softball program has accepted an invitation to join the Great West Conference as an associate member for the 2012 season.
The university is in the process of reclassifying from NCAA Division II to the Division I Summit League. The Mavericks will be a part of the four-team Great West for one year before beginning Summit League play in 2013.
The one-year move allows the UNO softball players to be eligible for weekly and all-conference awards in 2012, although the Mavs will not be eligible for NCAA postseason play.
UNO joins Houston Baptist, North Dakota and Utah Valley in the Great West for softball.
Volleyball
LSU-Arkansas volleyball match to be televised
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas' women's volleyball team will play LSU on national television this fall. The university announced Tuesday that the Oct. 26 match at Fayetteville will be carried by ESPNU. The game is part of the network's regular women's volleyball programing on Wednesday nights.
LSU is the defending Southeastern Conference Western Division champion, though Arkansas leads the series, 22-14.
