NCAA Men's Tournament Capsules: Spiders, Rams make Richmond the City of Hoops
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Rally over here, rally over there, rallies planned all around Richmond as the city embraces having two teams advance to the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament.
Take a bow Richmond and VCU.
The Spiders and Rams have made Richmond the first city since Los Angeles in 2007 to send two teams to the round of 16 in the same year. And Richmond also boosts the same number of teams left in the tournament as the Big East.
Both teams depart Wednesday to San Antonio and Richmond's own canal walk will be the site of a community pep rally. The celebration will be highlighted by the unfurling of a huge banner showing television commentator Dick Vitale preparing to eat crow.
"We wanted to poke a little fun at him because he was so wrong about our city," said Jack Berry, executive director of Venture Richmond, an economic development group focused of promoting downtown. He said the image will show Vitale holding a plate of crow with the words "Eat Crow Baby."
Vitale and other basketball experts lambasted the NCAA selection committee for including VCU in the field ahead of other teams they deemed more worthy.
In response, the Rams gone on an impressive NCAA tournament run, beating three schools from power conferences by an average of better than 16 points. VCU plays Florida State on Friday night, after Richmond takes on Kansas.
The atmosphere at VCU is much different than it was a few weeks ago, after the Rams lost five of eight games in February, seemingly dashing their NCAA tournament hopes. When they failed to win the Colonial Athletic Association tournament, fans wished them luck in the NIT.
"It's been crazy, everybody beeping their horns and people congratulating you and stuff," point guard Joey Rodriguez said after he returned to campus from the Rams' stunningly dominant victories in Chicago. "A couple of weeks ago, they were like, what are these guys doing?"
Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones said he expects a huge turnout for the rally, and he was still working Tuesday night hoping to arrange travel to San Antonio so he can support the teams.
"I would like nothing more than to be there," he said.
The schools intend to transport students to the rally after the fans gather to see their team off, and there will be free t-shirts celebrating the tandem handed out at the celebration.
The university presidents will ride up the canal in boats decorated in their school colors to a dock for the pep rally, and they will be greeted by Mayor Dwight C. Jones and a band.
"It's not San Antonio," Berry said, "but we have canal boats, too."
Right now, VCU and Richmond own the city. During the season, Richmond belonged to the Spiders.
In the annual meeting of the teams, the Spiders rolled on their home court, 72-60. They led by as many as 30 and ended a 6-year losing streak to the Rams. But that was on Dec. 11.
If they meet again this weekend, the winner would advance to the Final Four.
"It's really interesting to be a city that has two schools not only in the Sweet 16 of the same tournament, but in the same region," Richmond forward and city native Justin Harper said. "We could potentially end up playing each other down the road if we both continue to take care of business. I think it's pretty cool."
Harper isn't getting ahead of himself, pointing out, "We need to focus on Kansas first."
But the rivals will be be pulling for each other in Texas.
"Even though they're a big rival of ours, after we get done playing them, we pull for Richmond all year long," Rams coach Shaka Smart said. "People are going to talk about for a long, long time: 'Hey, 2011, that was the year that the Rams and the Spiders went to the Sweet 16' and who knows what else? Maybe we'll play in the elite 8. That would be phenomenal."
Unless you are, for instance, the mayor.
"I don't know what I'm going to do if they end up playing each other," Jones said. "That's going to be pretty dicey."
The schools — about 6 miles apart — could hardly be more different.
VCU is the second-largest public university in Virginia, with an enrollment of 23,483 undergraduates and a seemingly ever-expanding campus in the urban heart of the capital city.
The University of Richmond is a private liberal arts university with 3,048 undergraduates and a lake in the center of a campus dominated by stately brick buildings and towering trees.
Before they return to their own sides of the fence, should both teams win Friday night fans of both will come together to enjoy something that may never happen again.
Commentary: NCAA justice not denied, but delayed another story
Bruce Pearl is hardly the first coach to cheat and-or lie to NCAA investigators, just one of the very few whose transgressions already cost him a job and could wind up costing him a career.
Cold as it sounds, sacrificing Pearl might be worth the trouble if it deterred others from taking the same low road. It won't.
The NCAA enforcement people love to say that every case they consider involves "a distinctive set of facts." No doubt. But their rulings say otherwise.
Justice is rarely denied for those caught red-handed, but delayed? If your team has an opportunity to make money for the swells in charge of the postseason for either of the big revenue-producing sports — football and basketball — there's never a rush.
Not coincidentally, the exception has both a name and a place in the NCAA's tortured rulebook — "a unique opportunity."
Former Auburn quarterback Cam Newton didn't have to squeeze through that loophole to play in the Bowl Championship Series title game two months ago; NCAA investigators simply took Newton at his word that he had no idea his father was shopping him around to at least one other school, asking for nearly $200,000 in exchange for Cam's signature on a letter of intent.
But the "unique opportunity" escape clause is exactly how five members of Ohio State's football team remained eligible for the Sugar Bowl after being caught selling jerseys, championship rings and trophies to a local tattoo parlor owner.
Instead, the five-game suspension handed down will be served at the start of next season, which coincides with the soft part of the Buckeyes' schedule.
Cynical as that seemed at the time, it gets even worse. Turns out Jim Tressel was tipped off to the violations more than nine months ago and hid it from the NCAA, his school's compliance department and even the higher-ups. He went so far to mislead Ohio State's internal investigators as recently as December before coming clean earlier this month.
Ohio State's response was a two-game suspension, plus clawing back $250,000 from Tressel's salary, estimated at $3.5 million annually.
With the possibility of an even more severe punishment from the NCAA hanging over his head, Tressel finally apologized and asked OSU athletic director Gene Smith to tack on an additional three games, contending "my mistakes need to share the same game sanctions."
Like Pearl's former employer, Tennessee, Ohio State is hoping that self-punishment is harsh enough to keep the NCAA from inflicting any more.
Pearl lost his job after his team lost an NCAA tournament game to Michigan by 30 points, apparently running up against the unwritten rule that administrations will tolerate cheating, but not cheating and losing.
It's worth remembering in the middle of March madness that football coaches and players aren't the only ones turning up in the NCAA docket.
Connecticut basketball coach Jim Calhoun was handed a three-game suspension for failing to maintain "an atmosphere of compliance" — translation: running an out-of-control program. UConn was also hit with scholarship reductions, recruiting restrictions and three years' probation, but Calhoun's penalty doesn't take effect until next season, allowing him to roam the sideline for however long the Huskies keep advancing in the tournament.
UConn may have been surprised the NCAA piled some extra penalties atop those the school imposed on itself, but not the delayed justice afforded Calhoun. The NCAA makes 90 percent of its revenue from the tournament — the current TV contract covers 14 years for $10.8 billion, or about $700 million per year — and the one constant in the punishment the organization metes out is its reluctance to mess with rainmakers such as Tressel and Calhoun while it's raining money.
The kids who help make that possible don't appear to get the same breaks, especially those who play at the less-glamorous programs.
Former Oklahoma State receiver Dez Bryant was suspended for an entire football season after lying to investigators about going out for lunch with former NFL star Deion Sanders. Kansas State basketball players Jacob Pullen and Curtis Kelly were suspended just hours before a game after getting "improper benefits" at a department store.
Likewise, Baylor's Perry Jones was found to have received those same benefits and handed a six-game suspension, but his began with the team's Big 12 tournament game.
Citing both the Newton and Ohio State cases, athletic director Ian McCaw argued Baylor's team "received a disparate outcome in relation to other recent high profile cases."
Anytime the NCAA cares to explain its rationale, we're all ears. The people who run college sports push the notion that what they're protecting is amateurism and not the monied interests. But all the lying going on at every level below them is done in the service of preserving that bigger lie.
Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke@ap.org.
Kansas PG Taylor shining after nearly losing job
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Fearlessly driving to the basket and making almost 60 percent of his shots, Kansas point guard Tyshawn Taylor is playing awfully well for somebody who was in danger of losing his job.
Or was he? Taylor thought he was. So did just about everybody else who follows the Jayhawks. Suspended for two games and then benched for a couple of more, Taylor seethed as sophomore Elijah Johnson seized an unexpected opportunity to run the offense and coach Bill Self publicly declared it may be time for a change.
A chastened Taylor seems to have cleaned up his act and he has certainly elevated his game, particularly on defense, at the most critical point in the season.
It may turn out to be Self's masterstroke of the entire NCAA tournament,
"He's always had the talent," said Self. "Now he's got his confidence back."
Since Self reinstated him and returned him to the starting lineup, Taylor has played the best basketball of his career, scoring in double figures while averaging almost 15 points. In tournament wins last week over Boston University and Illinois, the 6-foot-3 junior averaged 11.5 points and 5.5 assists and shot 57 percent.
The top-seeded Jayhawks, who meet 12th-seeded Richmond on Friday in the Southwest Regional semifinals, have always had a powerful inside game and reliable shooting from the floor. Their most inconsistent position throughout another 30-win season was at the point.
But if Taylor keeps up the pace, Kansas will be an even tougher draw the rest of the way than many might have thought a few weeks ago.
Taylor makes no effort to disguise his motivation.
"Who doesn't love to start? I'd been starting here for a while," he said.
He finally got his job back in the Big 12 title game against Texas. As though in celebration, he rolled up 20 points, four rebounds, five assists and a steal in an 85-73 revenge victory that sent the Jayhawks into the NCAA tourney on a nice, sweet roll.
"Coach wants me to be aggressive and that's exactly what I'm trying to do," he said.
Self has refused to disclose exactly what got Taylor in trouble last month. If benching him after the reinstatement was a psychological ploy, it certainly helped that Johnson was able to rise to the occasion.
"I got in some trouble and Elijah came in and played well and we didn't miss a beat as a team," Taylor said. "We were still winning. We were still playing well. Defensively, coach said we were better. So that definitely opened my eyes a little bit. I thought, 'I've got to come back and be a presence on the defensive end.'"
A big smile crosses Taylor's face when asked if perhaps his coach was playing mind games.
"I think so," he said. "I sat two games as my punishment. When I came back I didn't start right away. but I kept a positive attitude. I was working hard in practice throughout the whole time. He told me I had a good attitude and I would be fine if I just stayed positive. And that's exactly what I did. When he called on me to play, I played. That's what happened."
Like any good point guard, Taylor has been creating plays for his teammates.
"He was terrific in Tulsa," Self said of the early round victories. "I thought the second half against Illinois he controlled the whole game. The (Morris) twins got a lot of credit for getting the ball in tight. But look who got it to them."
Self said he never worried that benching Taylor would cause his attitude to go south.
"Not at all, because he cares," he said. "He cares a lot. He's a good kid and his heart's in the right place. Sometimes he just makes some immature decisions that come back to bite him. But it's not because he doesn't care.
"My thinking on that was that was something that would get his attention, and it has, in a very positive way."
-- Doug Tucker
Air Force vet returns to his former training base
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida State's Bernard James is heading back to San Antonio, this time in a different uniform.
James went through basic training, and attended military police and leadership schools at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. In total his time there accounted for about six months of his six-year enlistment. But this time he's on another mission.
The 6-10, 245-pound shot-blocking southpaw is returning with the Seminoles (23-10) to meet Virginia Commonwealth (26-11) on Friday night in the NCAA tournament.
"I really feel honored to be in this position to be representing the Air Force and the military in general," James said. "It's a huge part of my life. I wouldn't be here and I wouldn't be the person I am today if I hadn't gone into the military."
Florida State is happy to have him.
In the Seminoles' two tournament wins last weekend in Chicago, James scored 24 points and grabbed 16 rebounds and had half dozen blocked shots in 46 minutes.
In the absence of scoring and rebounding leader Chris Singleton to a foot injury, James has led the team in those categories in addition to his dominating defensive presence.
James' 77 blocked shots are second best for any Seminole in a single season. It's topped only by 6-7 jumping-jack Rodney Dobard's 111 blocks for Florida State's last Sweet 16 club in 1993. And James has done it despite averaging less than 21 minutes a game, roughly a half a game.
"He's always had the potential to take over a game," junior guard Luke Loucks said. "And he's still learning a lot about being a post player."
Although James chose to trade in his Air Force blues for the garnet and gold of Florida State, the Air Force has been, and still is, a big part of his life.
After being persuaded by his unit supervisor, Erick Dumas, to give basketball a shot in an intramural game in 2003, James' life changed. He played well and people noticed.
"That was really the first time in my life people were praising me for something I had done," James said. "I really just wanted to keep that feeling coming. That's kind of what got me hooked on basketball."
His experiences in the service helps James keep things in perspective.
"You end up in some tough situations and some dangerous situations, but the people and camaraderie, the bonds you form just having a common goal," James said. "It's really a lot like basketball, being on a good team. The Air Force is a much bigger team."
A high school dropout at 16, James got a GED so he could enlist in the Air Force where he spent three overseas tours in the Middle East — Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq.
"Every time I was deployed and came back everybody that I worked with would say, 'did u grow?'"
James loved the military and thinks about returning as an officer if and when pro basketball is out of his increasingly capable reach.
"He's still learning," said Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton, tacking on his well-worn "work in progress," comment.
James, who turned 26 last month, didn't win a starting job until late December after Xavier Gibson was injured in a holiday tournament in Hawaii. Since then James has be steady, if not brilliant at times.
In the Seminoles last five games, James has made 26 of 37 field goal tries and blocked 15 shots.
The trip to San Antonio brings comparisons to Hall of Famer David Robinson. The former Spurs star, also a lefty with military service, grew several inches after high school.
James' Florida State teammates often call him "the Admiral" because of the comparison.
"That's a real honor," said James, who never got to see Robinson play. "I've heard so much about David Robinson and what a great player he was."
Now people are hearing about Bernard James and how a good player he is.
-- Brent Kallestad
BYU's Rose hopes for return trip to Final Four
PROVO, Utah (AP) — Google the words "Phi Slama Jamma" and the names "Dream" Olajuwon, "Glide" Drexler and "Silent Assassin" Young bring back memories of Houston's high-flying 1983 Final Four team.
Scroll a little farther along and the name Dave Rose appears. No adjectives, no catchy nicknames, just simple, straightforward, unassuming.
Rose, who 28 years later is trying to take the BYU Cougars to college basketball's greatest stage, probably wouldn't have it any other way.
"Coach is really soft-spoken and humble about his part on a Final Four team," said BYU assistant Dave Rice, a member of UNLV's 1990 NCAA championship team. "If guys bring it up, he'll talk about it. But it's not something he brings up very often."
That's not to say Rose can't impart those experiences to his third-seeded BYU squad, which faces No. 2 seed Florida in a Southeast regional semifinal Thursday night in New Orleans.
And he certainly isn't about to squelch his players' excitement.
"I don't know if you can be overexcited to play," Rose said before his team left Tuesday for the Big Easy. "What you hope is that they play with no fear. They understand they're in a position where a couple of more wins ... and they're in the Final Four. That's the ultimate goal ... then you see what happens from there."
As a player, Rose was an energy guy off the bench, a co-captain and shooting guard asked to hit the open shot, make the extra pass or dive for a loose ball — not necessarily dunk with the likes of his more famous teammates Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler and Michael Young.
As a coach, there's no denying Rose's success. He recently was named one of four finalists for the 2011 Naismith Men's College Coach of the Year award.
His 127 victories in his first five seasons as BYU head coach placed him fifth for best career starts by wins in NCAA history, ahead of names such as Jerry Tarkanian, Jim Boeheim and Thad Matta.
This year's 32-4 mark is a school record, and his 78-18 mark in Mountain West Conference games is the best winning percentage (.813) in conference history.
He won back-to-back MWC coach of the year honors his first two seasons, and shared the honor with San Diego State's Steve Fisher this season.
Though intense competitors on the court, the men share a friendship and respect for one another.
"He's very genuine," Fisher said of the 53-year-old Rose. "He's not full of himself. He doesn't have to tell you he's good. He's not overly demonstrative. He's a guy that when they win, he sits back and talks about how good a team he's got."
Fisher also called Rose "steady at the wheel," even when BYU goes through occasional rough patches — something they did this year when leading rebounder Brandon Davies was suspended late in the season for violating the school's honor code.
"He doesn't scream and yell and go crazy too often," said the more animated Fisher. "I like his style. Obviously, he's got proven results with what he's done."
Rose will be the first to admit his style has changed a bit over the years. At Dixie State College, players recalled him as a coach not afraid to storm down the tunnel and chase after a referee.
He's not so apt to do that anymore.
Part of it no doubt was making the jump from the junior college ranks to BYU assistant and then to head coach in 2005 of a mid-major program.
A more profound impact, however, came from lying in a pool of his own blood during a scare with pancreatic cancer while on a family vacation during the summer of 2009.
A Deseret News story last year chronicled how paramedics removed an ailing Rose from a flight to Las Vegas and Rose's worsening condition in the emergency room where he coughed up enormous amounts of blood.
Further tests revealed a grapefruit-sized tumor on his spleen, which was removed in emergency surgery along with the tail end of his pancreas and six lymph nodes.
The diagnosis was pancreatic neuro-endocrine cancer — considered a rarer form of cancer that is not as aggressive as the most common form of pancreatic cancer that claimed the life of actor Patrick Swayze and thousands of others through the years.
Though Rose can never say he is "cured" because the cancer left the source where it originated, scans every six months have shown him cancer-free.
Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs had surgery for a similar condition to Rose's in 2004 and still deals with the disease.
While Rose's prognosis remains good, he readily admits he's a changed man on and off the court.
He smiles more, takes more time for his family, notices tiny details he otherwise would have missed.
"He just appreciates every day now and having the opportunity to coach because he was really close that summer ... to having that all taken away," Rice said.
"He still very competitive, and still has the same fire," Rice added. "But the big change is that he worries a little bit less on a day-to-day basis about the little things. ... whether the bus is a little late getting there or something doesn't happen exactly right. Little things used to bother him. He's a little bit more patient now."
Rose no doubt will takes time to smell the beignets in New Orleans, and allow his players to take in some sights, just as they did when playing in Buffalo earlier this season.
"We stayed at Niagara Falls," Rose said of that late-December trip. "There was a time in my career (where I'd think), 'If we go to Niagara Falls, we'll jinx ourselves.'"
That's not the case anymore. He's also doesn't view each season as success or failure.
"It's really hard to explain unless maybe you've been through it somehow," he said of battling cancer. "It seemed like I was always trying to get our team in a position to be really good at the end of the year and that was where all the focus was.
"Now I seem to enjoy each step of that process."
But which would ultimately bring Rose more satisfaction, knowing that he played on a team that came within a buzzer-beater of winning an NCAA title? Or taking his own team to the brink?
"That's a good question," Rice said. "I don't know that we can separate the two. I think the fact that we're having success speaks volumes to coach Rose's experience as a player, then as a coach. He's able to use those experiences to help this team progress and go through the highs and lows that every team goes through, and rise above it."
-- Lynn DeBruin
Florida, Boynton have help on Fredette this time
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Florida's Kenny Boynton guarded Brigham Young's Jimmer Fredette nearly every minute of their game in last year's NCAA tournament. He won't have to this time around. It has nothing to do with Boynton's sprained left ankle, either.
The Gators (28-7), the No. 2 seed in the Southeast region, feel like they're better prepared to handle the nation's leading scorer when they play the third-seeded Cougars (32-4) in the regional semifinals in New Orleans on Thursday night.
Fredette scored 37 points against Florida in the opening round last year, leading the Cougars to a 99-92 win in double overtime. He scored 10 points in the decisive extra frame, taking advantage of Boynton's fatigue by hitting two 3-pointers and getting to the free-throw line six times.
Coach Billy Donovan's team is hoping for better results in the rematch.
"When you play against a guy like that, you understand how good he is and you try to take away what he's really good at," said versatile forward Chandler Parsons, the Southeastern Conference's player of the year. "Watching him, he's done it against everybody, so it's not like we're going to say, 'All right, face-guard him and he's not going to score.' He's going to get his. He's going to score points."
How many probably will be key.
The Gators had a decisive size advantage last March, pulling down 12 more rebounds and scoring 16 more points in the paint. That should be the case again, especially since the Cougars are playing without suspended forward and leading rebounder Brandon Davies.
BYU offset its post issues with nine fewer turnovers, 11 more free throws and Fredette. Fredette made 13 of 26 shots and added three assists, two steals and a blocked shot.
Boynton, then a freshman, had the tough task of guarding BYU's star.
He'll get much more help Thursday.
Scottie Wilbekin and Casey Prather, two freshmen who have shown a knack for defense, will rotate in on Fredette. That should take some pressure off Boynton, the team's second-leading scorer and best defender, and keep him fresh on both ends of the court.
"I really felt like last year, because of our lack of depth, I thought (Boynton) got worn out as he started to get into that into the first overtime, then second overtime," Donovan said. "I just don't think it can be one guy. Now there's going to be some possessions and some plays in the game where whoever's on him, they're going to be on an island by themselves. That's gonna happen."
That's where Fredette shines, too.
The 6-foot-2 guard has ridiculous range, doesn't need screens to get open looks and has the ability to drive into the lane and find teammates for easy shots or draw fouls. That's why Fredette averaged 28.8 points during the regular season and has been at his best last this season.
He averaged 31.4 during Mountain West Conference play, 35.3 points during the league tournament and has 66 points through two NCAA tournament games.
"In every game that he's played, everybody's trying to stop him, everybody's trying to slow him down and he still gets 33 a game, he still averages 28 a game, he still does it regardless," Donovan said. "I'm not comparing him to Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, but I did make the comment a year ago that I thought Fredette had more of an impact in a college game than John Wall did. ... When you're dealing with a guy like that, there's a lot of times that you are at his mercy because he's got the ball in his hands.
"When you throw the ball to a great player in space, it's not like you're going to prevent the guy from getting a shot off. It's going to go up."
Boynton typically draws the team's toughest defensive assignment, at least on the perimeter. Whether it's Ohio State's David Lighty, Kansas State's Jacob Pullen, Tennessee's Scotty Hopson, Vanderbilt's John Jenkins, Kentucky's Brandon Knight, UC Santa Barbara's Orlando Johnson or UCLA's Tyler Honeycutt, Boynton has held his own.
Fredette could be Boynton's toughest matchup, especially if his ankle gives him problems. Boynton sprained it Saturday against UCLA and missed practice Monday. He returned Tuesday, and the Gators need him to be back at full speed for the rematch.
Advancing might depend on it.
"What makes (Boynton) good is he has great, great feet and he has great lateral movement, and he can play close enough to people and keep people out of the lane," Donovan said. "He can really, really spread himself out and athletically he can really move his feet. ... He's got great ability."
-- Mark Long
Fisher not living in past as Aztecs advance
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Steve Fisher is living for the moment, just like his San Diego State Aztecs.
Although he already has a long basketball resume that features a national title at Michigan, Fisher is excited all these years later to have the Aztecs in the NCAA round of 16 for the first time.
As the No. 2-seeded Aztecs (34-2) prepare to meet the third-seeded UConn Huskies (28-9) on Thursday in Anaheim, Fisher could tell his players all sorts of stories from his many postseason coaching experiences.
The Wolverines won the national title under Fisher in 1989, when Bo Schembechler famously declared that "A Michigan man is going to coach Michigan" after Bill Frieder accepted the Arizona State job on the eve of the tournament.
When the Fab Five came along, the Wolverines reached consecutive national championship games, losing to Duke in 1992 and North Carolina in 1993. Michigan has vacated the records from both seasons because of forward Chris Webber's involvement with booster Ed Martin.
In 1994, Michigan made it to the regional final before losing to eventual national champion Arkansas. Stories galore, right?
"Not from me, no," Fisher said. "I'm long past that era."
A dozen seasons into his SDSU tenure, he's helping to write a new chapter at a school with precious little hoops history, a Midwestern transplant leading a team laden with Californians.
Last Thursday, SDSU beat Northern Colorado for its first NCAA tournament victory in seven tries. Two days later, prior to a double-overtime victory against Temple, Fisher received a new lapel pin from tournament officials.
"As I said on Saturday, it's been 17 years since I put a pin on for the second round. And it felt good," he said.
What Fisher has accomplished at SDSU is remarkable. Hired in 1999, two years after he was fired at Michigan, he inherited a sad-sack program that won only four games the previous season. His first team went 5-23, including 0-14 in the Mountain West and winless away from San Diego.
He did get the Aztecs to the NCAA tournament in his third season, ending the school's 16-year postseason drought. But the 13th-seeded Aztecs were shipped to Chicago and were routed 93-64 by Illinois.
In 2003, SDSU got its first postseason victory, in the NIT. The Aztecs reached the NIT semifinals at Madison Square Garden in 2009 before losing to Baylor.
Now they're in the NCAAs in consecutive seasons for the first time ever, with their highest seed. They were No. 11 seeds in 2006, when they lost 87-83 to Indiana, and again last year, when they fell 62-59 to Tennessee.
"I feel great. I'm excited to be a part of it. I'm proud that I'm part of something that hasn't happened before," said Fisher, who turns 66 on Thursday. "We've had tremendous support starting with Steve Weber, our president, and everybody around with, 'What can we do to make your job effective? What can we do? What do you need?' They've gone out of their way to try to help. Now that we've won, and this year won to the degree that we have, we've got a lot more people that are involved, in the arena, in the support group, and that feels good, too.
"Everybody likes to be loved, and they're loving this team right now. For me to be a part of it, it feels really good, for me, for the team, for everybody."
The 34 victories are eight more than the previous school single-season record and the Aztecs were nationally ranked this year for the first time ever. Their highest ranking in The Associated Press Top 25 was No. 4, and they were sixth in the final poll.
Maybe that's why Fisher doesn't need to tell stories about his Michigan days.
"He doesn't really talk too much about being there with another team," said forward Tim Shelton, one of five SDSU seniors. "He's always talking about us, us, us, what we can do. Last week we were in there after the game, he was like, 'I haven't been past the first round in like 17 years.' He was like, 'It feels good. It's a new team, it's a new experience for me, as well.' He has a whole lot of confidence in us.
"He's enjoying it. That's just a credit to what he does, building up a program."
Mountain West Conference rival BYU, which handed SDSU its only two losses, also advanced to the regionals. Despite the rivalry, Fisher and BYU coach Dave Rose have a mutual respect.
"I think what he's been able to do with that program, for that university, their students, the community, I'm really happy for him," Rose said. "He's a great coach and he had great success early in his career and then kind of just went off to do his own thing. Now he's kind of got them back in the national spotlight and I'm really happy for him."
Fisher and Rose will be pulling for each other.
"It's kind of pleasing for our team and our staff that San Diego State is in the Sweet 16 because we know how good they are," Rose said. "It's nice to be able to show the rest of the country how good the teams in our league are."
Fisher said it helped that the Aztecs were in the NCAAs last year, and mentioned that they're not just happy to have made it this far.
After finally beating Jimmer Fredette and BYU to win the Mountain West Conference tournament, SDSU will have to try to slow down UConn guard Kemba Walker. If the Aztecs win, they'll play the Duke-Arizona winner for a berth in the Final Four.
"I'm hoping that I have to fret and scheme and game-plan for another two weeks," Fisher said.
-- Bernie Wilson
Butler's calm demeanor leads to last-second wins
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Matt Howard stood at the free-throw line Saturday with 0.8 seconds left and a whole nation waiting to see if Butler could eliminate another No. 1 seed. He made it look easy.
Buzzer-beating shots and last-second free throws have become a way of life for Butler recently, sustaining two consecutive runs into the NCAA's regional round and turning the Bulldogs into the Ice Men.
"There was no question he (Howard) was going to make that free throw. You just knew it," coach Brad Stevens said Sunday. "It's really, really hard to do that, but Matt stepped up and did it."
Whatever it takes, Butler almost always seems to get the job done. Before Howard's free throw and intentionally missed second shot sealed Saturday's bizarre victory, it was Andrew Smith's inadvertent tip to Howard for the layup winner against Old Dominion. Before that, it was Howard's pick at midcourt that gave former teammate Gordon Hayward an open look for a half-court heave that nearly beat Duke in last year's title game.
And before that, it was Hayward's rebound to seal the Final Four win over Michigan State and before that it was Hayward's steal to preserve a second-round win over Murray State.
How does Butler do it? They say they simply focus on all the little things and making big plays part of their regular routine.
"I've just been fortunate to be in the right position," Howard said. "You can't get much easier than a layup and a free throw."
Teammates and coaches have different explanations for the last-second heroics.
Shooting guard Shelvin Mack, whose foul with 1.4 seconds left Saturday nearly cost Butler the game, believes the success is a direct result of Stevens' calm, confident sideline demeanor. Mack believes that resonates with a veteran team and has helped the Bulldogs to stay composed when others come unglued.
The win over the top-seeded Panthers is a perfect example. While the officials used replay to check the clock after Mack's foul, Butler was already calling a play and trying to console the distraught guard.
"They kept telling me there would be another possession," Mack said.
In Howard, Butler has an unflappable 6-foot-8 senior forward, former Horizon League player of the year and an academic All-American who has added a 3-point shot to his repertoire this season. He's smart enough to understand where to go when a shot is taken and to know when to miss a free throw without being reminded.
Yet Howard's greatest attribute may be compelling his teammates not to take plays off — and to believe they will win, no matter what happens.
"I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that Matt Howard makes sure we all play a full 40 minutes," Stevens said.
Most of Butler's key players have been together for three seasons, which gives them the freedom to them improvise when necessary.
Take the play that gave Butler a 70-69 lead with 2.2 seconds left Saturday.
Stevens called for senior guard Shawn Vanzant to drive to the baseline and dish to Howard. But with defenders converging and Howard covered, Vanzant saw the wide-open Smith underneath the basket for an easy layup to give Butler a 70-69 lead with 2.2 seconds to go. He never hesitated.
To the nation, it was another chapter in Butler's incredible run. To the Bulldogs, it was just another play in another game.
Over the past two seasons, Butler has gone 12-6 in games decided by one or two points or in overtime and the Bulldogs have been even better come tourney time. They are now a remarkable 5-1 in postseason games decided by four or fewer points over the past two years, coming within that infamous bounce of being 6-0.
Opponents, including fourth-seeded Wisconsin, now know what they're getting when they draw Butler (25-9), too.
"They're not an underdog at all. They have talent all over their team," Badgers forward Jon Leuer said in preparation for Thursday night's game against the Bulldogs. "They have guys that can really fill it up and they're well coached, too. You mix that talent with the coaching they have and you're going to be in for a battle."
Especially if the game comes down to the final possession.
"I think if you look at us right after that call (against Mack), there was head-scratching for a few snippets," Howard said. "But you have to believe they're going to miss one of those two and that you'll have a chance. I think any time you have a coach who is that calm and that confident, that helps, and being through what we've been through helps, too. We just believe in ourselves."
-- Michael Marot
Strickland playing big role for short-handed UNC
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Dexter Strickland doesn't seem to mind that all the attention goes to his touted North Carolina teammates. The sophomore knows the Tar Heels will have a tough time winning in the NCAA tournament without him.
Strickland is the team's top perimeter defender who frequently draws the opponent's top scorer. He's started every game but one, yet also serves as the backup point guard for a team with just eight scholarship players heading into Friday's game against Marquette in the round of 16.
And he's doing that while playing through a right knee injury that might require surgery after the season.
"I'm going to do whatever I have to do to contribute to winning," Strickland said Tuesday. "Whatever position I have to play, I'm going to do that to help my team win."
Strickland is averaging about seven points per game for the Tar Heels (28-7), the No. 2 seed in the East Regional. He was the only player among North Carolina's starting lineup not to make one of the all-Atlantic Coast Conference teams this year.
But with freshman star Harrison Barnes (team-high 15.5 points) and 7-footer Tyler Zeller (15.2), the Tar Heels don't need Strickland to shoot a bunch of 3-pointers or score a lot of points.
His value in Sunday's second-round win against Washington showed up most in the stats of the player he defended. He pestered Washington's Isaiah Thomas — who came in averaging about 17 points and shooting 45 percent — into 12 points on 5-for-15 shooting in Sunday's second-round victory in Charlotte.
"It's hard because one game we're asking him to chase a guy around screens like crazy, and the next we're telling him he's got to stay in front of the basketball and the guy is quick as lightning," coach Roy Williams said.
Strickland also came through with a pair of free throws with 5.4 seconds left that gave the Tar Heels the final margin, capping a day when he finished with 13 points, six rebounds and no turnovers in 29 minutes.
"I think he's the X-factor," freshman point guard Kendall Marshall said. "A lot of things that Dex does doesn't show up on the stat sheet. He keeps getting these tough matchups but he goes out there and competes for 40 minutes."
Strickland has been at his best this season when he's driving to be the basket or using his speed in the open court as part of Williams' transition offense. He's shown flashes of explosive leaping ability, too, from a drive-and-dunk that punctuated the win against Duke in the regular-season finale to leaping over the Blue Devils' Kyle Singler for a jaw-dropping dunk that was waved off after a charge call in the ACC tournament final.
His role grew after Larry Drew II quit the team, forcing Strickland to take on more of the ball-handling duties again after playing the point as a freshman. He's played through a partially torn meniscus in his right knee suffered in February, postponing surgery that would have ended his season.
Strickland said the knee feels fine right now and he hasn't decided if he'll have surgery after the season.
"The kids love him, they gravitate toward him," Williams said. "They understand he hasn't had the kind of accolades and honors everyone else has had, but yet they understand how important he is to our team. Nobody thinks they can chase him down from behind. Nobody enjoys him guarding them. Nobody enjoys trying to stop him when he tries to take it to the basket."
-- Aaron Beard
Krzyzewski two wins away from tying Knight, Wooden
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — If all goes well for Duke this weekend in California, Mike Krzyzewski will make history in a couple of different ways.
The top-seeded Blue Devils (32-4) left for Anaheim, Calif., on Tuesday for the West regional semifinals, and there's a chance that by the time Duke returns home, Krzyzewski will have his record-tying 902nd career victory.
Wins over Arizona on Thursday night and the Connecticut-San Diego State winner Saturday would move Krzyzewski into a tie atop the all-time wins list for Division I men's coaches with Bob Knight, his mentor and coach at Army in the late 1960s.
It also would clinch his 12th career trip to the Final Four — matching the mark held by John Wooden.
"There will be a lot of guys who will win 900 games eventually," Krzyzewski said. "But to be the first two, and it be the coach and his player to do it, is ... something very unique, and that's the type of relationship and friendship I've had with Coach Knight. I'm glad I can share a moment, that moment with him. I've shared ... really good ones with him."
A victory in the Final Four not only would push Krzyzewski into first place by himself, it would put the reigning national champions back in the title game.
"It says a lot about him, his commitment to our game, his commitment to his kids and to the program," said Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins, one of Krzyzewski's early star players who later spent 11 years as one of his most trusted assistants.
"That will always stand out to me, someone who has dedicated his life to doing what he's doing," Dawkins added. "I'm just happy to see it turn out the way it has turned out for him and the program."
The milestones certainly have piled up during the past 36 years as Krzyzewski compiled a 900-283 career record at Army and Duke with four national championships with the Blue Devils.
"It's mind-boggling. I thought it was a heck of an accomplishment to coach 800, much less win 900," North Carolina coach and Tobacco Road rival Roy Williams said. "It's off the charts."
The accomplishments seem to have come with exceptional frequency this season. Krzyzewski started the year in fourth place on the victories list but passed both Adolph Rupp and Dean Smith in December. That came a month after he picked up his 800th win at Duke.
"What really impresses me is the longevity of what he's done over the last 20, 30 years," said Phoenix Suns forward Grant Hill, who led Duke to consecutive national titles in 1991 and '92.
"With each generation of players coming into Duke, he's been able to adapt to that generation, and figure out how to motivate it," Hill added. "The '86 generation, with Johnny Dawkins and those guys, they were different than the '96 generation, and then the '06 generation is different from them. He's been able to connect with every one of them. It's a remarkable thing to do, and not many coaches can do it. He's figured out a way that he can, and that might be his greatest achievement."
Krzyzewski credits part of his success to being a former point guard for Knight.
During the three seasons Krzyzewski earned varsity letters while playing for Knight at Army, the Black Knights went 51-23. Krzyzewski was the team captain of the 1968-69 squad that went 18-10 and reached a second straight NIT.
"I feel like it's amazing that a coach and his point guard can be the first two coaches in the history of (the men's) game to win 900, and that it says something about the guy who has 902 and it also says something about the United States Military Academy," Krzyzewski said.
He also has said that Knight's win total should be higher because he should still be at Indiana, where "he'd have probably 1,100 wins."
Then again, the 64-year-old Krzyzewski certainly has shown no signs of slowing down. Reaching 1,000 wins — and beyond — remains a realistic possibility.
He sure still knows how to draw a crowd — even when no one expects it.
As the Blue Devils boarded their bus to the airport Tuesday afternoon, members of the Ohio University baseball team lined a street outside Cameron Indoor Stadium a few hours before that evening's game against Duke. The Bobcats snapped photos and video of the coach with their cellphones and cheered Krzyzewski as he shook hands with a few of their players.
"I hope he does (stick around for 1,000 wins), not because of a certain number but because of what he means to our game," Dawkins said. "I think he's been such a great representative and role model for basketball that you know the game is in great shape and in great hands with a man like that involved with it. I think for everybody who likes to give back to the game, he's been a tremendous role model and leader."
-- Joedy McCreary
Juco stars lead Marquette into North Carolina matchup
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Buzz Williams knows having a roster filled with former junior college players sticks out a bit, especially when facing a blue blood program like North Carolina.
Having humble roots is a source of pride for Williams and his players, who embrace the idea that they had to work harder than marquee recruits at glitzier schools to get where they are today.
Still, Williams would much rather talk about who his players are and where they're going — a surprise NCAA tournament regional semifinal matchup with the Tar Heels on Friday night — than dwell on where they came from.
"Whether they're junior college or high school or transfers, whatever that is, to endure the culture that we have here, you have to have something to you as a human," Williams said. "Does that mean that you're more hungry because you've maybe not had some of the same things that some other kids have had? There's probably some truth to that. But I don't ever want it to be so stereotypical."
Marquette has made six straight NCAA tournaments, the last three under Williams, who took over in 2008 when his former boss, Tom Crean, left for Indiana. But this is the first time Marquette has made it to the round of 16 since Crean's Dwyane Wade-led team made the Final Four in 2003.
And with his team now commanding a little more national attention, Williams is getting more questions about his roster. Key Golden Eagles players Jimmy Butler, Darius Johnson-Odom, Jae Crowder, Dwight Buycks and Joseph Fulce all had stints in junior college.
So, for that matter, did Williams, whose start in coaching came at Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas.
After Marquette beat Big East rival Syracuse on Sunday, Williams noted that there were "four junior college guys up here" — himself, Johnson-Odom, Crowder and Butler — on the postgame interview stage.
"We were trying to figure out if we could eat at McDonald's or Burger King," Williams said. "We weren't sure what Sweet 16 meant other than it was our 16th birthday."
That's still a source of pride, but Williams now would prefer to downplay the issue.
"I think you have to be careful, because you become very stereotypical when you start identifying guys in accordance of where they went to school, where they're from," Williams said. "I think that's really dangerous."
For their part, Marquette players are grateful to Williams for giving them a shot at big-time college basketball when plenty of programs wouldn't have given them a second look.
"I think it just makes everybody work a little bit harder," Butler said. "Coming out of high school, going to junior college, you either didn't have the grades or didn't have the exposure. So now, the NCAA tournament's just another way of trying to make your dream come true, so to speak."
So why aren't other programs more receptive to junior college players?
"You only get three years or two years with that player," Crowder said. "I feel that's why a coach may not take (a junior college player), or they feel like the player's not developed enough. Different reasons. But Buzz has his ways. He realizes that there's talent in that area, and he puts his trust in you, so you have to put it in him and compete every day."
Johnson-Odom said Williams' attitude toward junior college players shows he's different from other college coaches.
"He understands where we came from as kids," Johnson-Odom said. "A lot of guys were less fortunate. They didn't have as many things as other people have. And a lot of junior college guys had to fight their way into programs. You don't really see that much success with a lot of junior college kids. And Buzz, he installs that success in you.
"He makes you believe that you can do it. You just love him as a coach, he's a great person off the court and he teaches you about life."
Crowder said humble roots give the Golden Eagles an edge.
"You're very hungry. You're not satisfied," Crowder said. "Coming out of high school, a lot of guys go straight from high school to this level. And you can just be complacent with where you're at. But we're not satisfied. You're not happy. You just feel like you've got to keep working, keep working, because that's all you did to get to this point. That's to our advantage."
-- Chris Jenkins
Turnaround is remarkable in Matta's 7 years at OSU
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — It's hard to even recall how bleak things were at Ohio State seven years ago when Thad Matta took over as head basketball coach.
"It wasn't good," Matta said of the woeful culture of the program.
Jim O'Brien had been summarily dismissed for giving a recruit money, NCAA investigators were sniffing around campus and ready to drop the hammer on the Buckeyes and on top of everything else there wasn't all-world talent in the pipeline.
Now the top-ranked Buckeyes (34-2) are the No. 1 overall seed and on a roll coming off second- and third-round wins by a combined 61 points heading into Friday night's regional semifinal showdown with Kentucky (27-8) in Newark, N.J.
How fitting that when he first arrived at Ohio State, Matta used Kentucky as one of the templates for what he wanted to construct.
"When I came here, I looked at what a Kentucky had done, what a North Carolina had done, and those things weren't built over night, and not in a decade. It took several decades," the thinning-haired, 43-year-old native of the aptly named Hoopeston, Ill., said Tuesday. "When we came in here seven years ago, Ohio State had a 51-percent winning percentage in the Big Ten. We knew we had our work cut out for us in building this thing."
But how has Matta turn around the program?
Satch Sullinger, father of Matta's current star post player, Jared, is a legendary high school coach in Columbus. His son, J.J., also played for Matta at Ohio State. He tells a story that sheds light on how Matta treats his players — and why he might just be the best recruiter in the nation.
"Thad Matta coaches the whole kid," Sullinger said. "When Jim O'Brien was fired, he wrote out a map for the guys to come to his house to give them the news. They'd never been there before. Thad Matta wasn't in that position (at Ohio State) for two weeks before he had his whole team over to his house. It's family. He coaches family. He doesn't coach a basketball team."
When then-athletic director Andy Geiger ruled early in Matta's first season that Ohio State would not accept any postseason offer to mitigate potential NCAA penalties, Matta recognized how damaging that was to his budding program. With little to play for, the Buckeyes nonetheless went 20-12 and shocked unbeaten and No. 1-ranked Illinois on a late shot in the regular-season finale.
Shortly after that, Matta began receiving verbal commitments from one of the greatest recruiting classes ever — the so-called Thad Five of Greg Oden, Mike Conley Jr., Daequan Cook, David Lighty and Othello Hunter.
With the possibility of additional NCAA sanctions hanging over the program, Matta provided a unique escape clause to them: If the NCAA added to Ohio State's penalties, he would release them from their scholarships. It was a remarkably fair and gracious move. Lighty, still a Buckeye, refused the offer outright. The others stuck with Matta and Ohio State.
No more sanctions were levied. In Matta's second season, the Buckeyes went 26-6 and lost in the second round of the NCAAs. The great recruiting class then came in and led the way to a 35-4 season that ended with a loss to defending champion Florida in the national title game.
Matta, whose teams at Butler, Xavier and Ohio State have always won at least 20 games, piled up records of 24-13, 22-11 and 29-8 heading into this season. Those glittering marks have come despite losing Oden, Conley and Cook, and subsequently fellow prized freshmen Kosta Koufos and Byron Mullens to the NBA draft after one-then-done seasons.
Imagine how good the current Buckeyes might be if Evan Turner, the consensus national player of the year and the No. 2 pick in the NBA draft, had come back for his senior season.
"There's not a lot of programs that have been hit with the early departures like we have," Matta said. "But that's part of it. I'm not making excuses, I'm OK with it."
The ever-upbeat Matta does not countenance prima donnas or selfish players, either.
"He brings in a lot of guys with great character," said Jon Diebler, Ohio's leading schoolboy scorer who has developed into the Big Ten's leading all-time leader 3-pointers. "He wants people who want to win. That's the most important thing, guys who can kind of put their egos aside and do what's best for the team."
Hang around off the court and you become a cohesive unit off it: That's the Matta Plan.
"Thad's got them playing at a high level, and he's got them playing together," Purdue coach Matt Painter said earlier this season. "That's why they're ranked No. 1 in the country."
Matta is as meticulous in preparation as any coach, and he knows premier players love to run and dunk. So he starts with top players who can do that, then requires that they become fierce defenders to earn playing time. It's a formula that has worked again and again.
"We have to play the way we think can win games," Matta said. "I want our guys to enjoy being out there, I want them to play with great confidence, I want them to 'have fun.' But I do know that winning makes guys have fun."
In a state that lives and dies with the Buckeyes in football and expends considerably less emotional capital on the basketball squad, Matta has built a solid foundation.
With the football program in turmoil in the wake of coach Jim Tressel violating NCAA bylaws and then covering it up, the basketball program has become a point of pride in Ohio.
Will it ever remotely compare with the wildly popular football team, such a part of the fabric of the state and university? The larger point is that the question is no longer laughable, as it was seven years ago.
"When you're Ohio State, of course everyone thinks of the Horseshoe and the great football tradition," said Lighty, who has been a part of a school-record 129 wins in his five seasons. "But I think it's starting to kind of be a dual-sport school now. As we continue to hopefully get better and make history, things will hopefully change around and we'll be up there competing with the football team on the same level nationally."
-- Rusty Miller
Efficient Taylor is key to Wisconsin's run
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The nation's most efficient point guard, Wisconsin's Jordan Taylor, flashes a mischievous grin every time he stops to talk.
That wide smile cracks up the Badgers and it comes with a confidence that already has teammate Mike Bruesewitz believing Taylor will be the governor of Wisconsin one day. Two more wins for Wisconsin and it may be inevitable.
Taylor's poor shooting could have kept Wisconsin from playing in Thursday's NCAA regional semifinal against Butler in New Orleans. Instead, it was everything else the Badgers' point guard did in a 70-65 win over Kansas State that locked up their trip to the round of 16.
He blocked a key shot, had six assists without a turnover, and made all the right decisions despite a 2-for-16 shooting performance.
"I didn't even notice he was struggling that bad against Kansas State, for him, that is, because he just doesn't let the emotions get to him," freshman Josh Gasser said.
Taylor, a junior, leads the nation among point guards with a 4.38 assist-to-turnover ratio. It's the best mark for a starting point guard in college since Chattanooga's Wes Moore (4.38) in 1996-97 and on par with NBA players like New Orleans' Chris Paul and Toronto's Jose Calderon.
"He has great composure," senior forward Keaton Nankivil said. "In a game like Saturday's, it's easy to let that moment get the best of you, but battling the way he did and making the plays after he admitted having struggled throughout the game, making the plays in the last couple of minutes that he did is kind of a microcosm of how he is as a person."
He's often a jokester, eager to crack up his teammates. Even coach Bo Ryan is amused at Taylor's quick wit and timing.
"He's a tough personality not to like," Bruesewitz said. "He's just a tough kid not to like and on the basketball floor, I don't know if I've ever played with a smarter player.
"I've learned a lot from the coaching staff, but I think I could say I've learned just as much from Jordan. He's constantly talking to guys, constantly telling them what he sees, why he sees it and what's going on and why that happens."
Taylor, who averages 18 points a game, is clear in his goals for the Badgers, something that impressed Ryan when Taylor visited Madison as a high school star from the Minneapolis area.
"When I first met him, (he's) not a very imposing guy, not long and lanky, physically short of stature, vertically challenged, as we say, but his eyes never left mine," Ryan said. "He spoke very clearly, very succinctly."
That cool, unwavering confidence struck a chord with Ryan, who has built Wisconsin's program for the last 10 years on the foundation that it's a super team over superstars.
"We felt he could be a heck of a leader," the coach said. "And he certainly hasn't let us down."
Wisconsin (25-8) is still playing because of Taylor and its recruiting efforts in Minnesota, where Taylor, Jon Leuer, Bruesewitz and Jared Berggren all played in high school.
Taylor said his knowledge of Leuer's game, plus Ryan's experience as a point guard was a major draw to Madison. He was also impressed with how he was recruited by associate head coach Greg Gard, Ryan's key adviser for the last 17 years.
"Coach Gard was always trying to help me out before they had even offered me a scholarship," Taylor said. "He was trying to help me out and tell me ways I could improve my game. And this was before he knew if I was even good enough to come here. So, I took that to heart."
Taylor also watched former Badgers point guard Trevon Hughes' leadership style, so when it became Taylor's time, he decided to slide into the role.
It was another great choice, even though Taylor defers any credit about his efficiency, saying he never thinks of risks or rewards when making decisions at the helm of the offense.
"I don't think it's really something you think about in the game," Taylor said. "You just play the game, try and take what the defense is giving you. We've got a lot of guys who can make plays on our team. We've got a lot of guys that can stretch the floor, create space to make plays and make the decisions a lot easier."
-- Colin Fly
Duke's Irving to get significant time vs. Arizona
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski says point guard Kyrie Irving will play "significant minutes" in the West regional semifinal against Arizona.
Speaking before boarding a bus to the airport, Krzyzewski said Irving would not start Thursday night in Anaheim, Calif., but is ahead of schedule in his return from a toe injury that cost him most of his freshman season.
Irving missed 3½ months with an injured right big toe but came off the bench in both of the top-seeded Blue Devils' NCAA tournament games. He scored 14 points in 20 minutes in his return against Hampton. He had 11 points in 21 minutes against Michigan and was on the court at the end of that win.
Krzyzewski says the Blue Devils (32-4) are "good with who we're starting."
