College Basketball Capsules: No. 6 Tar Heels spoil Isiah Thomas' debut with FIU
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Isiah Thomas knew his Florida International team would struggle to keep up with defending national champion North Carolina, much less beat the sixth-ranked Tar Heels.
He also heard the handful of taunts from the home fans, including one invoking the name of a fellow Hall of Fame player who spoke negatively of Thomas in a recent book.
And yet, Thomas was smiling after his college coaching debut ended in a lopsided loss.
"Actually, it was great," Thomas said after the 88-72 loss in the 2K Sports Classic on Monday night. "The college fans are great, the sayings they come up with. I was walking off one end and all I heard was 'Magic! Magic!' You can't beat it, right?
"I gave them a nice salute. I started to blow them a kiss, but I didn't want to do that."
The Tar Heels were too big and just too talented for the Golden Panthers, serving a reminder that Thomas could be in for a frustrating debut season with the long-struggling FIU program.
Deon Thompson scored 20 points and was one of four players in double-figures for North Carolina (1-0), which shot 56 percent and dominated the boards after halftime to kick off its centennial season against Thomas — the Hall of Fame player and former NBA coach who inherits a program with nine straight losing seasons.
But for Thomas, it was a start. He didn't seem fazed by the loss, remaining relaxed as he entered the postgame press conference and even telling reporters, "I'm not quite sure how this works in college. Somebody's going to have to kind of coach me through it."
His debut came on the same day his 86-year-old mother, Mary, had open-heart surgery in Chicago. He spent Sunday with her, then arrived in Chapel Hill early Monday for the Golden Panthers' shootaround at the Smith Center. He planned to return to Chicago on Tuesday.
"My mom raised me basically to fight, just as I'm trying to put it in our team," Thomas said. "Last night, when I was speaking to her, she just said she doesn't want to die. And she's going to fight to live. With that, she told me to go to work and fight for our team."
Marvin Roberts had 18 points for the Golden Panthers (0-1), who shot 37 percent. North Carolina led 46-30 at halftime, then pushed the margin to 25 points in the first 5 minutes of the second half to eliminate any chance of a Hollywood-esque story line for Thomas.
Still, he tried to find a way to keep it close, ordering his players to spread the floor and make the bigger Tar Heels defend all the way to the perimeter.
"During the game, I actually went over there and asked why he tried to spread the floor and drive our big guys," Thompson said. "He just started laughing and said, 'Man, that's the only thing I can do.' That's a pretty good coaching decision when you've got so many big guys on the floor."
Tar Heels open season in '57 throwback uniforms
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Defending national champion North Carolina has opened the season wearing something a little different: a touch of red.
The Tar Heels faced Florida International on Monday night wearing throwback uniforms to honor the 1957 national championship team, which included some reddish trim along the waistband of the shorts and along the neckline of the jersey. It's part of the program's yearlong celebration of its centennial season, during which the Tar Heels planned to wear throwback uniforms to commemorate each of their national championship teams.
North Carolina won its fifth NCAA championship last season and second in five years. The school claims a national championship for an unbeaten season in 1924.
With mother ailing, Thomas will coach FIU opener
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Isiah Thomas will coach Florida International in its opener Monday night against No. 6 North Carolina, hours after his 86-year-old mother had open-heart surgery.
Thomas spent Sunday in Chicago with his mother, Mary. He arrived in Chapel Hill early Monday, and told The Associated Press he expects to return to Chicago on Tuesday.
"It's tough right now," Thomas said by telephone.
The Hall of Famer was at shootaround with the Golden Panthers on Monday, and spent the afternoon resting and preparing in the team hotel. He was hired by FIU in April.
New guard recruited Pitt, not the other way around
PITTSBURGH — Most major college basketball players are recruited by multiple schools. Chase Adams landed at Pitt after recruiting the Panthers.
When Centenary dropped from NCAA Division I to Division III, Adams went looking for a program that fit his skills.
Last season's Summit League defensive player of the year wanted to play on a team that valued defense. He also sought to move up to a higher level, but not have to sit the bench. He also wanted a team that needed an experienced guard — now.
Whenever he went down his checklist, Pitt landed on top.
"I did my research, I contacted Pittsburgh and sent stuff out to a couple of schools and I was able to make this transition," said Adams, who doesn't have to sit out a season because of his former school's downgrade. "This is the best situation I could ever want."
Some players might be intimidated at moving up from what was the nation's smallest Division I program to a school that was ranked No. 1 for a time last season. Adams is certain he can make the transition, and in a hurry.
He must, since he is a senior and this will be his only Big East season.
Curiously, what he is trying to achieve at Pitt, which has about 33,000 students, is similar to what he was trying to get done at Centenary, which had fewer than 900 students.
There, he sought to get noticed on a team that gets little national attention. At Pitt, he's trying to help a team that was gutted by graduation not get overwhelmed in one of college basketball's toughest conferences.
Pitt lost its top three players — NBA second-round picks DeJuan Blair and Sam Young and point guard Levance Fields — plus starting forward Tyrell Biggs. The Panthers also will be without their lone returning starter, injured guard Jermaine Dixon, plus forward Gilbert Brown, who is academically ineligible until late next month, when the season starts Friday against Wofford.
Pitt is starting over, much like Adams is doing in his career.
"It's a major step," said Adams, who is from Baltimore. "We were the smallest D-I school in the nation and there you're fighting for respect. We're going to be fighting for respect this year because people are going to be counting us out. This is the big-time and the big level."
Adams isn't big — he's 5-foot-10 — but he's shown coach Jamie Dixon during practice he can be a lockdown defender much like Jermaine Dixon, one of the Big East's top defensive players last season.
Adams also has surprised Pitt with his outside shooting. He shot 40 percent from 3-point range last season, and could help Pitt fill what seems to be a yearly need for a reliable long-range shooter.
"I'm going to bring a lot of intensity, a lot of patience on the offensive end — and I shoot pretty well," Adams said. "Competitiveness, that's the main thing."
Jamie Dixon welcomes that.
Dixon's first few Pitt teams were built on defense, and his 2003-04 Panthers trailed only Air Force in scoring defense among the 326 NCAA Division I teams. Pitt's defensive average of 56.4 points per game climbed to 64.4 by last season, when Pitt was ranked 87th.
That's why Dixon is putting a greater emphasis on defense during preseason practice, and Adams potentially could be a player who brings about immediate and measurable improvement.
Once Jermaine Dixon's broken right foot heals, Adams will join Dixon, Ashton Gibbs, Brad Wanamaker and redshirt freshman Travon Woodall in a crowded backcourt. Adams doesn't plan on sitting, not with so much to do in so little time.
"This is it for me," Adams said. "This is my shot."
-- Alan Robinson
Charlotte fans: bring back the 'stache, and wins
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It's thin with a touch of gray, but Bobby Lutz might as well be Tom Selleck to the group of fans that successfully coaxed the Charlotte coach to grow back his mustache.
The hope was bringing it back after a three-year hiatus would coincide with a return to the successful days missing since Lutz went clean shaven.
With a new group of big guys and a small, but experienced point guard, it's no hairy proposition.
"We're going to be more balanced," Lutz said. "It's really nice to have legitimate options."
Buoyed by Boston College transfer Shamari Spears, highly touted freshmen Chris Braswell and K.J. Sherrill, junior college transfer Derrio Green and the return of point guard DiJuan Harris, the 49ers expect to be far better than last season's 11-20 team that was bounced in the first round of the Atlantic 10 tournament.
"We've got so many young guys, wide-eyed, excited and happy to be here," Lutz said. "They're just fun to be around and that's what gets me excited. Knowing they're going to play hard and we're going to get better."
The first chance to prove it is in Friday's season opener against UNC Asheville in what's being billed as "Bring Back the 'Stache Night."
A group of fans started the 'stache chatter in the offseason. A Facebook group — with 583 members as of Monday — was formed to urge Lutz to "bring back what used to be the classiest 'stache in college basketball."
The fiery Lutz, one win shy of 200 as he begins his 12th season at his alma mater, sported facial hair when the 49ers were tangling with and often beating Cincinnati, Louisville, Marquette and Memphis in the old Conference USA. He led Charlotte to a couple of league tournament titles, a regular season crown and five NCAA tournament appearances in seven years through 2005.
The next season, Charlotte was in the Atlantic 10 after realignment broke up Conference USA. The mustache was gone a year later, and there have been no NCAA trips since.
Coincidence? Lutz was willing to see if there can be some mustache magic.
"It's been growing for a couple weeks," Lutz said. "It doesn't grow very fast for me, but I'm doing the best I can."
The recent struggles left Lutz's future uncertain before he received a five-year contract in March 2008. The deal was extended a year after last season's injury-filled struggles, but athletic director Judy Rose said last summer that it's "time for us to step up and be one of the better teams" in the Atlantic 10.
A solid group of newcomers should more than offset the losses of Lamont Mack and Charlie Coley.
The bruising 6-foot-6 Spears may be at the top of that list. He averaged 9.6 points and 6.1 rebounds as a sophomore at BC in 2007-08. The Salisbury, N.C., native then transferred because of family issues.
At 245 pounds, he brings girth and a good shooting touch. After scoring 26 points and making all 12 free throws in an exhibition win last week, Spears is eager to play a real game after sitting out a season.
"The last year has been practice, practice, practice, practice," Spears said.
The 6-8 Braswell had 17 points and eight rebounds in the exhibition, and the 6-7 Sherrill is another option up front. Senior center Phil Jones is thinner and in better shape than last season, and 6-8 freshman Gokhan Sirin is a tall, outside threat.
The 5-9 Harris averaged 37 minutes a game last season as the only true point guard on the roster. Lutz said he's "much more mature" and will now have help. Green, who played at Gulf Coast Community College last season, will start at shooting guard and also back up Harris.
"Teams that don't have a lot of depth, they'll have a lot of trouble because once I do get a breather and I come back in, I'm back at 110 percent again," Harris said.
Guard Shamarr Bowden, who redshirted as a freshman last season after a knee injury, has missed much of the preseason with a separated shoulder. He may not be ready for the season opener, but Lutz believes he'll play an important role.
"Shamarr adds something that nobody else can do, and that's shoot it from 30 feet and make it," Lutz said. "He can really stretch the defense."
The newcomers may mean less playing time for RaShad Coleman and An'Juan Wilderness, key players on the worst team under Lutz.
But now the mustache is back, and the 49ers are hoping to return to the successful days from earlier this decade.
"My wife likes it, so that makes it OK to do," Lutz said. "I'll probably keep it in season and get rid of it — hopefully sometime in April."
-- Mike Cranston
Wyoming gets early basketball commitment
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A point guard from Chicago has verbally committed to Wyoming despite being just a sophomore.
Cameron Harvey of St. Joseph High won't graduate until 2012.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Harvey and his family made an unofficial visit to the school over the weekend.
"I can't tell you I dreamed of going to Wyoming and would verbally commit going into my sophomore year of high school," Harvey said. "But Wyoming just felt right and I went with it."
Harvey plans to major in engineering at UW.
"First and foremost the academics really sold us," said Brian Harvey, Cameron's father, who accompanied his son to Laramie. "The instructors were really nice and the class sizes were small. (UW) had everything Cameron wanted in terms of academics."
Harvey will be a freshman in the fall of 2012, and in the spring of that year UW could have to replace as many as seven players who are sophomores this season.
Many recruiting services rank Harvey in the top five in terms of prep sophomore basketball players in Illinois.
Brian Harvey said Marquette and Baylor also have offered his son scholarships. He said Wisconsin, Indiana, Purdue, Notre Dame and Xavier also have shown strong interest at this point.
Now that Harvey's committed to UW, what happens if other schools come in with scholarship offers?
"Wyoming was the first to come off the porch, and they saw something in me," Cameron Harvey said. "It wouldn't be right to go back on that after the trust they've shown in me at this time."
UConn freshman declared eligible
STORRS, Conn. — The University of Connecticut says freshman Jamal Coombs-McDaniel has received clearance to play from the NCAA Eligibility Center.
Coombs-McDaniel missed Connecticut's two exhibition games while awaiting approval by the NCAA, which was reviewing his academic qualifications.
The freshman forward will dress for the first time Friday when the No. 12 Huskies open the season at home against William & Mary.
Pearl says team improved at every position
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl says his 10th-ranked Volunteers are ready to open their season Friday night against Austin Peay.
Pearl says the Vols are improved from last season at every position. HeÂ’s expecting to play a 10-man rotation that will feature veterans like Tyler Smith and Wayne Chism and newcomers Melvin Goins, Kenny Hall and Skylar McBee.
Pearl has stressed playing more in-state teams in his four seasons as Tennessee coach, but Friday will mark the first time one of his squads has faced Austin Peay.
After hosting the Governors, Tennessee will face UNC-Asheville at home on Tuesday. TheyÂ’ll travel to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, late next week to compete in the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam tournament.
Middle Tennessee's Yates has knee surgery
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee State forward Desmond "Boogie" Yates will miss three to four weeks because of knee surgery.
Coach Kermit Davis said Monday that Yates had surgery earlier in the day.
Yates, a fifth-year senior from Somerville, Tenn., is a two-time First Team All-Sun Belt player and Sun Belt First Team Preseason selection.
He needs just 213 points to become the schoolÂ’s all-time leading scorer.
