College Men's Basketball Capsules: No. 12 Butler routs Wright St. 70-45
IDNIANAPOLIS — Win or lose the Horizon League championship game, Butler was headed to the NCAA tournament.
Still, the 12th-ranked Bulldogs felt something was missing from their resume. On Tuesday night, they finally got the title and the ticket they so desperately craved.
One year after being upset on its home court in the conference title game, Butler blew out second-seeded Wright State 70-45 to claim its fourth straight NCAA bid.
"We didn’t want that same feeling going into the tournament or think that maybe you have to get some help or something to be in the tournament," tourney MVP Matt Howard said. "We didn’t want to have to deal with that at all. We wanted to get this done."
No worries this time. The game was every bit as one-sided as Butler (28-4) made the conference season — to the glee of bubble teams everywhere.
The Bulldogs extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 20 games and head into NCAA play as the only Division I team to complete a perfect conference season. They went 20-0 against league foes, including the two tourney games. They won the regular-season crown by a record six games and were still reaching milestones Tuesday night.
By completing a perfect 15-0 home season, Butler matched Xavier’s conference mark for most league tourney titles (six) and Detroit’s record for most tournament victories (28). If not for Wright State’s two free throws with 3.8 seconds left, the Bulldogs would have had the widest victory margin in a championship game, too. For now, it’s a record that still belongs to Xavier, which beat Detroit 122-96 in 1988.
Howard, last season’s Horizon League player of the year, had 14 points and nine rebounds. Shelvin Mack scored all 14 of his points, including four 3-pointers, in the first half. Zach Hahn came off the bench to score 11 points, and Gordon Hayward, this season’s conference player of the year, had eight points and four rebounds.
The game was so lopsided coach Brad Stevens allowed only one Butler player to log more than 30 minutes, and the final 15 minutes felt more like a coronation than a celebration.
It was exactly how Butler envisioned finishing this season after spending the past 12 months reliving those agonizing memories from the Cleveland State game.
"That’s something that’s going to be sticking with me for the rest of my career," Ronald Nored said of last year’s loss. "It kind of fueled what we have going now and it makes this even better."
Wright State (20-12) never had a chance against the motivated Bulldogs.
Only one player, N’Gai Evans reached double figures. He had 13 points. Todd Brown, who is in Wright State’s 1,000-point club, was shut out.
How bad was it?
"I apologize we didn’t play better," Raiders coach Brad Brownell said. "We’re a better team than we showed tonight, but certainly Butler was playing at a high level. Any time you get behind against them, it’s really hard and makes it really challenging for you to come back."
Butler took charge right from the start.
The Bulldogs set the tone in the first three minutes when Mack opened the game with two straight 3-pointers and Howard followed that with a three-point play.
Mack’s third 3 gave Butler a 17-9 lead just eight minutes into the game, and the Bulldogs extended the halftime to margin to 42-28. Butler’s eight 3s coupled with Howard’s two three-point plays in the first half accounted for 30 points.
And the Bulldogs were only getting started.
They made it 51-30 when Hahn hit a 3 with 15:35 left in the game, and then cranked up the defensive pressure.
Game over.
Wright State scored only 17 points in the final 20 minutes, not nearly enough to prevent Butler from taking the conference’s automatic NCAA bid. Or causing headaches for their next opponent.
"One of the things that’s neat about this run is that they’ve brought it every single night and in games where, quite frankly, people would really get on them if they lost and they don’t care," Stevens said after high-fiving his players. "These guys just believe in doing the right things."
Tournament Championship
Nelson carries Oakland to Summit title, NCAA berth
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The Oakland Grizzlies don’t have much name recognition heading into the NCAA tournament.
What they do have is a lot of confidence.
Moments after Oakland, Mich., finished a dominating run through the Summit League tournament with a 76-64 victory over IUPUI in Tuesday night’s championship game, coach Greg Kampe called the Grizzlies the greatest team in league history — and ripe for ruining NCAA brackets across the land.
"We have a goal board in our locker room, and on that goal board is to make the Sweet 16," Kampe said. "So we’re not just happy to be there. A couple years ago, we were really happy to be there. We’re happy to be there, but not just happy."
The Grizzlies (26-8) earned their second NCAA berth with their school-record 11th consecutive win. Their only other NCAA appearance was in 2005.
Derick Nelson, who broke his nose early in the Summit tournament opener against UMKC on Saturday, scored a career-high 36 points and was named the tournament MVP. Nelson provided a spark after top-seeded Oakland missed its first eight shots against the No. 2 Jaguars.
"I’m all right," said Nelson, who wore no protection over his nose. "Nothing’s going to stop me from playing this game. It didn’t matter. I wouldn’t dare miss this tournament."
Oakland, which set a school record for wins, has won 20 of its last 21 against Summit opponents. Kampe pointed out that his team had double-digit leads in 19 of those games, and in only two of them did Oakland trail in the last five minutes.
The Grizzlies’ 17 regular-season Summit wins were the most by any team in the league’s 28-year history, which goes back to the days it was known as the Association of Mid-Continent Universities.
"I told the team before the game that people will argue with me on this, but we’ll be the greatest team in the history of this league if you win tonight," Kampe said. "If you don’t, we’re not."
Oakland didn’t reflect that greatness early. The Grizzlies fell behind 6-1 and didn’t score their first field goal until Nelson turned a steal into a layup five minutes into the game. A few minutes later he started a run in which he scored 11 straight points.
"Me and J.J. (Johnathon Jones) talked about it from the beginning of the year, that this was our last chance to get to the NCAA tournament," Nelson said. "I didn’t want to be thinking I could have done something more to help us out. Tonight, I had a big game."
Larry Wright added 16 points, and Summit player of the year Keith Benson had 17 rebounds for the second straight night to go with his eight points.
"This is one of the most competitive teams I’ve ever been on," Wright said. "We don’t want to lose at anything, not even video games."
Alex Young led IUPUI with 19 points, while Robert Glenn added 18 and Leroy Nobles 14.
Nelson’s 3-pointer with 6:33 left in the first half gave Oakland the lead, and his fastbreak layup early in the second half pushed the advantage to double digits.
Nelson finished 15 of 23, including 3 for 8 on 3-pointers, and he eclipsed his previous career high of 31 points against Michigan in 2007.
IUPUI (24-10), the only Summit team to beat Oakland this season, now must wait to learn its postseason fate. The Jaguars are hoping for a NIT bid, but coach Ron Hunter is skeptical.
"These guys overachieved, and yeah, I want to lobby for our team," Hunter said. "I understand how this business works. If our name was anything different than what it is, with our record. ... For mid-majors, it’s real frustrating. I see teams with a worse RPI. Mediocrity, you’re rewarded for it. That’s the politics of college basketball. We deserve it, but it’s sexier to take the seventh place team in the Big 10 or the ninth place team in the Big East. It’s not fair at all."
Meanwhile, Oakland awaits its NCAA tournament assigning. Kampe hopes to get a No. 13 seed.
"We won’t be scared of any team or any player," he said.
-- Eric Olson
Features
No. 4 Duke in familiar territory at ACC tourney
DURHAM, N.C. — Duke always has a target on its back, and the fourth-ranked Blue Devils figure it’s gotten bigger lately.
That’s because they’ll make the cross-state trip to Greensboro for the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament this week as the defending champion and its No. 1 seed — the first time that’s happened since 2006, when J.J. Redick was the star and the leaders of the present-day Blue Devils were still in high school.
"Especially this year, because people are seeing how well we’ve been doing, (they) want to get us even more because that’ll prove something about their team," center Brian Zoubek said Tuesday. "We have to have even more resolve because of that, and recognize that teams are going to be coming after us every single game. We’re not going to be able to take a game off and just win. That doesn’t happen."
The Blue Devils (26-5, 13-3) shared the league’s regular-season crown with Maryland and won the tiebreaker to claim the top seed. They begin tournament play Friday against the Virginia-Boston College winner.
For Duke’s seniors, it’s a chance to take the next step forward in careers marked by steady progress in the postseason tournaments.
They arrived in Durham shortly after the Redick-led group had polished off the proud program’s run of seven league tournament titles in eight years and wound up taking their lumps while the rest of the frustrated ACC took turns paying them back for the series of past beatings, going one-and-done in both the ACC and NCAA tournaments.
The following season, they matured enough to win one game in each tournament. Last year, they had No. 2 seeds in both events, winning the ACC event before advancing to the NCAA’s second weekend for the first time since ‘06.
Now comes an even tougher task: repeating.
"I do see (the team’s progress) continuing," senior Jon Scheyer said. "Obviously, right now, this team has made steps throughout my career here. For us, we’re just a really hungry team right now. You win one championship, you want to win one more, and then you want to win another. So I think, for us, we’ve been there before and we know what it takes. Going into the ACC tournament, our expectation is to win it, and the same thing with the NCAA tournament."
After setting a school record by finishing 17-0 at Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke heads out to what could be considered its home-away-from-home: the Greensboro Coliseum, where the Blue Devils won a pair of ACC titles in the 2000s and last year picked up a pair of NCAA tournament victories.
And while these Blue Devils might not have any experience defending a championship, they sure do know how to win one.
Many of the key contributors are back from the group that took care of Boston College, Maryland and Florida State to earn the program’s eighth title in 11 years and first of their careers. Kyle Singler played all 120 minutes of that three-game run, while Scheyer averaged 22 points in claiming tournament MVP honors.
"We have guys that know how to prepare and win three games in a row," guard Nolan Smith said. "Just doing that and reliving what we did last year, getting mentally prepared each game, refocusing after a win and preparing for the next team we have to play is the main thing."
-- Joedy McCreary
Confident Irish take streak to Big East tourney
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Big East teams that faced Notre Dame before mid-February might not recognize the Fighting Irish squad that arrives in New York for the Big East tournament.
The Irish (21-10) no longer are looking to outgun opponents the way they usually have in 10 seasons under coach Mike Brey.
They want to outlast them.
A decision to slow down the offense has worked, leading the Irish to their first four-game winning streak in the Big East in two years. It started with wins over No. 16 Pittsburgh and No. 22 Georgetown that got the Irish back on track for a possible NCAA tournament berth, and then they beat Connecticut and Marquette.
"It’s been a great run," Brey said. "I think we’ve been more mentally tough than any time this season. We’ve kind of made our own luck and made big plays, and different guys have made them."
The Irish already were struggling when they lost three-time All-Big East selection Luke Harangody to a knee injury. Their season appeared to be falling apart.
"When Luke first went out we were kind of questioning how we were going to get it done because he was our go-to guy all year," forward Tim Abromaitis said.
A 69-68 loss at home to St. John’s, the first league road win of the season for the Red Storm, convinced Brey he needed to make a change.
He decided to go to a more deliberate offense. The idea was to put more pressure on opponents by making them defend longer and hope it would take some pressure off the Irish defense because opponents would have fewer possessions.
"A lot of the coaching decisions you make in this league is about surviving," he said. "That was basically it, survival."
When Brey first told the team of his plan, it was met with some uncertainty.
"I didn’t know what to expect," point guard Tory Jackson said.
The Irish slowed it down at Louisville, a game in which they were double-digit underdogs. The Irish lost 91-89 in double overtime, but it convinced the team that playing slower could work.
With fewer possessions, the Irish have held teams below their season scoring averages in regulation time for five straight games. No one has scored more than 67 points, and opponents are taking nine fewer shots a game.
"It’s crazy because who gets better this late in the season? Teams don’t get better this late in the season," Jackson said. "You really don’t see that much."
Especially not with their star player sitting on the bench. Even with Harangody’s knee now recovered, Brey doesn’t plan to put him back in the starting lineup for the rest of this season. He doesn’t want to mess with his team’s success.
Brey said Harangody has been great about the situation.
"You’ve got a guy like that and comes back and basically says, ‘What do I need to do to help us win? Bring me off the bench.’ That right there is 80 percent of it," Brey said.
The former Big East player of the year said he’s willing to fill any role, although he’s clearly tired of hearing talk about how the Irish might be better without him.
"You can say what you want. But a lot of people when I went down just wrote us off and I think they took that to heart," Harangody said. "They just started like they had nothing to lose, and it’s been fun to watch."
--Tom Coyne
Winston-Salem ready to return to D-II, CIAA
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — There’s one thing missing from this week’s Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament in Winston-Salem: the local school.
That’s because financial troubles led Winston-Salem State to end its attempt to join Division I before it ever became a full-fledged member.
Athletic director Bill Hayes says "you don’t miss what you never had."
So while the MEAC is gathering at the Joel Coliseum to play for a prized spot in the NCAA tournament, Winston-Salem State has reversed course.
It’s headed back to its former Division II home — the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association — after the Rams realized they no longer could afford to compete with the big boys of college sports. The Rams’ return to the CIAA is effective in the upcoming academic year.
-- Joedy McCreary
NCAA exec: No decision yet on expanding tourney
NEW YORK — The NCAA’s senior vice president says no decision has been made on whether to expand the men’s basketball tournament.
Greg Shaheen reiterated Tuesday at CBS’s NCAA tournament media day that the organization is doing its "due diligence." He says "nothing is a done deal or decided at this point in time."
The NCAA has been researching the issue and talking to its members for several months. The organization can opt out of the final three years of its 11-year, $6 billion contract with CBS after this season.
CBS Sports president Sean McManus says the network has a history of successfully renewing the rights to events it wants to keep.
Final Four to be shown in 3-D in theaters
NEW YORK — The Final Four will be shown in 3-D in movie theaters around the country.
CBS announced Tuesday that the men’s basketball national semifinals April 3 and the championship game two days later will be broadcast in 3-D in up to 100 theaters. TV networks have been experimenting with airing sports events in 3-D in theaters, and ESPN is planning to launch an entire 3-D channel.
The special 3-D Final Four broadcast will be called by CBS College Sports Network announcers Dave Ryan and Steve Lappas.
USC coach Kevin O’Neill fires 2 assistants
LOS ANGELES — Southern California coach Kevin O’Neill has fired assistants Gib Arnold and Phil Johnson, who were holdovers from Tim Floyd’s staff.
O’Neill said in a statement released Tuesday night that he let them go because he wants to move in a different direction.
USC finished O’Neill’s first season with a 16-14 overall record and an 8-10 mark in the Pac-10. The Trojans are ineligible for postseason play, including this week’s conference tournament, because of self-imposed sanctions relating to former player O.J. Mayo’s inappropriate relationship with an agent.
Arnold and Johnson each spent five years at USC, helping the Trojans make three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances under Floyd, who suddenly quit last summer.
Ga. Tech’s Radakovich withholding review on Hewitt
ATLANTA — Georgia Tech athletic director Dan Radakovich says he will wait until the end of the season for "any discussion" on coach Paul Hewitt’s status.
Georgia Tech finished a disappointing seventh in the Atlantic Coast Conference in the regular season and plays North Carolina on Thursday night in the ACC tournament in Greensboro, N.C.
Radakovich told The Associated Press Tuesday there is still "much to be gained" by the Yellow Jackets.
Hewitt’s Yellow Jackets may need to win at least one game in the ACC tournament to earn a bid to the NCAA tournament.
Georgia Tech, 19-11 overall, finished 7-9 in the ACC. Hewitt has only one winning ACC record in 10 seasons, including five straight finishes of sixth or lower.
--Charles Odom
Lee let go as Louisiana-Lafayette hoops coach
LAFAYETTE, La. — Louisiana-Lafayette is looking for a new coach.
The university says it will not renew the expiring contract of Ragin’ Cajuns coach Robert Lee.
The Cajuns had an overall record of 13-16 this season, losing to Louisiana-Monroe in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference tournament.
Lee has been with Louisiana-Lafayette for 14 years, including the last six years as head coach.
Athletic Director David Walker says it’s "painful" to let Lee go because of his loyalty and commitment to improving the program’s academic standing.
Lee won the Sun Belt in his first season as head coach, but inherited academic problems that resulted in a lost scholarship for each of his last three seasons.
Michigan St. G Allen suspended for Big Ten opener
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Chris Allen has been indefinitely suspended from the Michigan State basketball team and will miss at least the team’s Big Ten tournament opener.
Coach Tom Izzo told reporters Tuesday the guard was suspended for not meeting responsibilities to his teammates. Allen usually starts and is the fifth-leading scorer for the No. 11 Spartans, averaging 9.1 points per game.
Michigan State (24-7) opens Big Ten tournament play on Friday in Indianapolis against the winner of Thursday’s Minnesota-Penn State game.
Allen’s status for possible later Big Ten tournament games hasn’t been decided.
Jennifer Hudson to perform ‘One Shining Moment’
NEW YORK — Jennifer Hudson will be the new voice of "One Shining Moment."
The Grammy and Oscar winner has recorded her version of the song that plays each year at the end of the CBS broadcast of the NCAA men’s basketball championship game. Teddy Pendergrass and Luther Vandross have performed previous renditions.
The network said Tuesday that Hudson will be the first woman to sing it. The tune by folk singer David Barrett has been a Final Four staple since 1987, played over highlights of the tournament.
