College Sports Capsules: Purke, Lockwood combine on 4-hitter, TCU wins 6-2
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Matt Purke did it a different way. The result was the same.
The undefeated freshman won his nation-leading and school-record 16th game Friday, combining with Tyler Lockwood to hold UCLA to four singles in a 6-2 victory that kept the Horned Frogs alive at the College World Series.
TCU (54-13) forced a second Bracket 1 title game against UCLA on Saturday, with the winner going to the best-of-three finals beginning Monday.
Purke, with his 97 mph fastball, is a strikeout pitcher if there ever was one. But of the 19 outs he recorded Friday, 14 came on ground balls and just two were strikeouts. It was his fewest strikeouts in an outing of three innings or longer.
"This place is an adventure," Purke said. "You never know what's going to happen here. We've been told since we knew we were coming to expect the unexpected. I was able to go out today a little different than what I'm used to throwing. But hey, I'll take groundball outs all day and no balls in the air. So not bad."
Taylor Featherston hit the biggest of TCU's three home runs, going deep off Garett Claypool to give TCU a three-run lead in the bottom of the seventh after the Bruins (50-15) had closed to 3-2.
The game was advertised as a much-anticipated pitching matchup between Purke, the 2009 first-round draft pick of the Texas Rangers, against UCLA's Rob Rasmussen, the Florida Marlins' second-round pick this year.
But Rasmussen (11-3) struggled with his control early and left in the fifth inning.
"Quite honestly, I just didn't throw enough strikes," Rasmussen said. "Obviously those two walks in the first inning hurt. Like Coach said, we were kind of swimming upstream. From that point on I didn't feel like I had it, but just tried to keep our team in the game as much as possible and just hope that there would be enough for a win."
Purke held Florida State to four hits over seven innings in last Saturday's CWS opener. The 6-foot-4 left-hander, with his signature tilted hat-and-glasses look, held UCLA hitless until Chris Giovinazzo reached on a bunt single with one out in the fifth, drawing a smattering of boos from the TCU-partisan crowd.
Brett Krill's single up the middle drove in Giovinazzo, the first earned run against Purke in 11 2-3 innings.
Purke escaped further damage when, with two outs and two runners on, right fielder Brance Rivera made a running catch on Niko Gallego's slicing fly ball.
Purke left with one out in the seventh, allowing three hits, walking two and hitting a batter. He has a 4-0 record and a 1.98 ERA in the NCAA tournament, recording 29 strikeouts and holding opponents to a .163 batting average.
"I thought Matt had good stuff, but he certainly wasn't as dominant as he has been," TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle said. "It's all about pitching and defense regardless of who you're playing or what park you're in. And we did a good job of that today."
Lockwood, who earned his eighth save, came on and walked the bases loaded with two outs before Gallego sent a chopper down the line that third baseman Jantzen Witte grabbed behind the bag. Witte raced to tag the base and appeared to have gotten there first for what would have been the third out. But umpire A.J. Lostaglio ruled that Jeff Gelalich beat him, allowing Cody Regis to score and pull the Bruins within 3-2.
Matt Curry, who hit the game-winning grand slam against Florida State on Wednesday, led off the bottom half with a single before Featherston drove the ball into the left-field bleachers for his eighth homer.
Rasmussen, who pitched a two-hitter in his first career complete game in the super regionals against Cal State Fullerton, threw 34 pitches in the first inning and walked in a run. Rasmussen allowed three runs, six hits and three walks in 4 1-3 innings.
UCLA center fielder Beau Amaral went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts. He came into the game 6 for 7 in the CWS.
"It's a new ballgame tomorrow, and we feel very, very confident about our team," UCLA coach John Savage said. "We had a misstep, and I think you've got to give a lot of credit to TCU. And we'll get back after it and play Bruin baseball tomorrow."
Roth's 3-hitter lifts Gamecocks to 5-1 CWS win
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — South Carolina left-hander Michael Roth bumped into coach Ray Tanner near the elevator at the team hotel on Friday and told him he would pitch against Clemson until his arm falls off.
"He asked me if that was one inning," a smiling Roth said.
Roth lasted one inning, all right, and eight more.
A situational reliever who had logged more than three innings just three times in 51 career appearances, Roth pitched a three-hitter in his first start in 14 months — a performance that carried the Gamecocks to a 5-1 College World Series victory over Clemson.
Their win forced a second Bracket 2 final. South Carolina (51-16) and Clemson (45-24) meet again Saturday, with the winner advancing to the best-of-three championship round that starts Monday.
Roth was efficient, throwing 109 pitches and getting 16 groundball outs. He allowed a double to Richie Shaffer leading off the third, then retired 15 of the next 17 before Wilson Boyd reached on an error.
After Clemson's Brad Miller singled to right with two outs in the ninth, Roth struck out John Hinson. He pounded his glove with his left hand as he walked off the mound, high-fived a teammate and chest-bumped another.
"For me, it's hard to imagine, under those circumstances. ... Not expecting it to be the performance that he got, it was most impressive," Tanner said. "I can't say enough great things about Michael Roth and what he did for us tonight."
Roth struck out four, walked one and hit two batters. The only run scored on Kyle Enders' passed ball in the third.
"I didn't expect to go nine innings," said Roth, his left arm packed in ice. "I really expected to at least go five and after that take it one inning at a time. My arm is sore. Hopefully I can bounce back quick — not tomorrow. We train hard and I think anybody in the bullpen is ready to go out there and throw as many as they can. Adrenaline did help."
Enders hit his third homer and had an RBI single, and Jackie Bradley drove in two runs for the Gamecocks, who have staved off elimination in three straight games.
Clemson starter Dominic Leone (3-2) took the loss, allowing three runs, four hits and a walk in 2 2-3 innings.
Roth was making his first start after pitching 26 1-3 innings over 35 relief appearances this season. Last year he started nonconference games against Georgia Southern and College of Charleston.
Before Friday, his longest career outing was 4 1-3 innings against College of Charleston. This year his longest outing was 3 1-3 innings of relief against Bucknell in regionals. Roth pitched South Carolina's first complete game at the CWS since Steve Bondurant beat Clemson 10-2 in 2002.
"I didn't really think when the game started that they were going to ride him that long," Tigers coach Jack Leggett said. "But he was having success, and he was throwing strikes, and he was getting quick outs and his pitch count wasn't up very much. Once he got rolling there, I knew we were having a little bit of trouble."
South Carolina pitching coach Mark Calvi lobbied for Roth to get the start, and Tanner liked the matchup as well as the left-hander's makeup.
"He's pitched all year under circumstances that are not comfortable, with his role out of the bullpen," Tanner said. "Now, for me to think it was going to be a complete game ... I thought he'd give us three or four quality innings and we'd have to figure it out from there."
South Carolina is one win from playing for a national title. After losing its CWS opener, the Gamecocks have eliminated No. 1 national seed Arizona State, come from behind to beat Oklahoma in 12 innings after being down to their last strike and gotten an improbable complete game from a career reliever.
"That was one of the most impressive performances I've ever had a young man pitch for me," Tanner said. "That was certainly one for the record books, as far as I'm concerned."
-- Eric Olson
Notebook: Crowds down in Rosenblatt's last year as CWS host
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The record crowds anticipated for Rosenblatt Stadium's last year as home of the College World Series have not materialized.
Ticket manager Herb Hames had worried that there would not be nearly enough tickets to meet the demand, especially because he and his committee received inquires months before the series began from folks who had never been to a CWS.
"It was just unbelievable," Hames said. "It got us nervous. Then we thought, 'All that on top of Texas and LSU, and we've got issues.' "
Some of the demand was alleviated when Texas and LSU — programs that traditionally bring large fan contingents — failed to make the eight-team field.
Then heavy rain kept crowds down three of the first four days of the tournament.
"In the end," Hames said, "I think the weather won out more than anything else. We're playing catch-up."
Crowds have picked up with better weather. Still, heading into Friday's games, total attendance was down around 13,000 from 2009, when the total attendance was a record 336,076.
Ticket-scalper arrests are about equal to last year, Hames said, but the scalpers have become tech savvy.
"They usually work in pairs," he said. "They never have a lot of cash or a lot of tickets on them. If their buddy gets busted, they're always using their cell phone to take a picture of the undercover cop and e-mail that to everybody."
Hames said the CWS online ticket exchange through www.ncaa.com has worked well for those seeking to safely sell and buy tickets.
"The prices are a little higher than I've seen in the past," he said, "but as you get closer to game times they might go down. Four hours before the game you either sell or you're shut down."
Once the series ends, Hames and his committee will go full bore into assigning seats for the first CWS to be played in downtown Omaha at TD Ameritrade Park.
Notification to season ticket-holders is expected to occur in September.
"Our commitment is to sit you similar to the location you have at Rosenblatt," Hames said. "A lot of people come by and say, 'Can you put me with the same people that I sit with now?' Lifelong friendships have been built section by section.' "
SPRY TO RETURN: Official scorer Lou Spry was back in his seat Thursday night after missing a couple of days recuperating from a heart blockage discovered Tuesday. EMTs transported him from the press box to a local hospital.
Spry said he plans to return next year when the CWS moves to TD Ameritrade Park in downtown Omaha.
"After that," he said, "I might not want to do it anymore. I'll be 75 by then."
Spry hasn't missed many games since 1981, and he's seen his share of tough scoring calls. Perhaps the most talked-about decision came in 1987 when Oklahoma State's Robin Ventura saw an end to his 58-game hitting streak.
Playing against Stanford, Ventura needed a hit in the ninth to keep the streak alive. He grounded a slow roller between first and second that was bobbled by second baseman Frank Carey, who threw wildly past first.
Spry waited and waited before charging Carey with an error. A cascade of boos from the grandstand followed.
Spry to this day is convinced he made the right call. He said Ventura agreed in his postgame remarks.
"He didn't understand why it took so long to decide that it was an error," Spry said.
CAROLINA SURVIVORS: In-state rivals Clemson and South Carolina were the last two teams remaining in Bracket 2 — testament to the high level of baseball played in the Palmetto State.
"We have had a lot of teams in the postseason in years past," Gamecocks coach Ray Tanner said, "not just Clemson and South Carolina. So we take a lot of pride in that, that we have so much good baseball in our state."
SHORT HOPS: South Carolina and Clemson met for the first time in the CWS since 2002. That was the only year the teams played each other in Omaha, and it happened twice with the Gamecocks winning both... Thursday night's 12-inning game was the 29th in CWS history to go 12 or more.... Only one of the first 11 games of the CWS (Game 3) was played in less than three hours.... Gamecocks pitcher Blake Cooper started his 19th game Thursday, most of any college pitcher this year.
Men’s Basketball
NCAA committee ready for tourney's great debate
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Texas-San Antonio athletic director Lynn Hickey is getting ready for her next big balancing act.
Yes, she wants to be the impartial judge and find a workable format for the NCAA's new 68-team format for the men's basketball tournament. She also must perform her role as an advocate for schools such as UTSA and smaller conferences such as the Southland.
All 10 men's basketball committee members will face a similar dilemma next week as they sift through the responses to the format change. The five days of meetings in Indianapolis will not include much easy reading, and it's not likely to be a simple vote, either.
"It's the first time we'll have a summary of what the different conferences are submitting," Hickey said. "I think there's been a variety of responses, but they're all over the map."
Those reactions could complicate what once looked like a simple process.
After meeting in May, the committee asked NCAA schools to give their opinions on the recommended expansion to four opening-round games, one in each region. Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith confirmed there were three options on the list — making the eight lowest seeds in the tourney play in the opening round, making the last eight at-large teams in the field play or a combination of the two.
The only clear answer heading into the meetings, which start Sunday, is this: Nobody wants to play in the opening-round games.
Teams competing in conferences such as the Southland, like Hickey's Roadrunners, or the Southwestern Athletic, a league made up primarily of historically black colleges and universities, do not want to be pigeonholed into playing an extra tourney game each year. Power-conference schools, which usually take most of the 34 at-large bids, think they should avoid the opening-round games, too.
So Smith and Hickey must figure out how to play both advocate and arbiter.
"My responsibility is to the groups I represent, so I need to be very well informed about what they want," Hickey said.
The expectation is that a vote will take place next week, though a formal announcement may not come right away.
Should the committee want more time to consider the schools' suggestions, which Hickey described as going "above and beyond" previous proposals, it could push back the vote.
"I think what the committee will do is engage in a robust discussion about the various options. Short of that discussion, it's impossible to anticipate where it comes out, how it comes out because it's the committee's decision," NCAA vice president Greg Shaheen said. "I don't think it (the time frame) has changed at all. I think it remains on the course that it has been."
Committee chair Dan Guerrero has said that a decision would be made this summer and that the new format is still expected to be in place for the 2011 tournament.
Smith, who replaces Guerrero, UCLA's athletic director, as selection committee chair later this year, wouldn't even guess at what will happen this week.
Last month, Guerrero said putting the eight lowest-seeded teams in the opening-round games would help the selection committee stay "true to the seed process" — though he understands why some leagues are worried. Committee members also must determine when and where the opening-round games will be played. Previous games have been played in Dayton, Ohio.
And with so many schools and conferences trying to score points in this debate, nobody can be sure of what will happen next.
"It's going to be very interesting when we get the full report," Hickey said. "What we have to see is how our principles are written, how our entertainment principles are written and then look at what's best for the tournament and, most important, what's best for the student-athlete. So it should be an interesting discussion."
-- Michael Marot
Keating calls on coaches not to text and drive
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Santa Clara’s Kerry Keating is challenging all college basketball coaches not to text and drive.
The Broncos’ fourth-year coach is asking coaches around the country to call his office with an oral commitment — not much unlike those they get from athletes — before the summer recruiting period begins July 6 that they won’t text and drive this summer. And, he hopes, long after that.
Keating has more than 30 coaches signed up so far, including some entire staffs, from UCLA’s Ben Howland to Butler’s Brad Stevens to Jim Larranaga at George Mason and several from the West Coast Conference teams that face Santa Clara. Keating went public with his handsfree initiative last week — first getting the word out via Twitter.
“You’re basically just saying you’re doing the right thing. We’re not trying to change the world,” Keating said. “I’m sure it’s not going to stop everyone from doing it, but by creating the awareness ... it’s so prevalent to all of us we thought it would be great to bring it up.
“It’s fitting for us because we’re in the heart of Silicon Valley, where technology starts and ends. This is something we can do to be socially responsible and kind of take the lead for guys to be safer.”
Keating has texted while driving before, along with countless others — though it is illegal in California and several other states. Texting has become one of the standard forms of communication for college coaches with their local colleagues or coaches at other schools, and it often goes from the gym to the car once a practice or workout is over. So, Keating has an answer for that, too.
Jawbone, manufacturer of a Bluetooth headset, is offering college coaches and their staffs $30 off the headset along with free standard shipping to go handsfree and still be able to text while driving.
Keating has a new son, Jaxon, born April 8, and he and wife Treena have heard of numerous cases of deaths caused by texting drivers — one in particular that has gained national attention thanks in part to Oprah Winfrey’s efforts. In November 2008, 9-year-old Erica Forney was killed in Fort Collins, Colo., while riding a bike after an SUV drifted into the bike lane. Police believe the driver was talking on a cell phone.
“It kind of just came about in the past month or so,” Keating said of his idea. “It’s coincidence Jaxon was born. We’re all on the phone so much. Of course it’s illegal to dial or text in California but not everywhere. We wanted to start grass-roots getting the word out.”
Keating’s message in short: the call or text can wait to be answered. On July 5, he plans to release his list of participating coaches. There’s no obligation to purchase the headset, though the promotion will go through the end of July.
The summer months for college coaches are typically spent shuttling from games and tournaments to scout and recruit potential players.
“It’s about understanding that it’s not that important for the 5 to 15 minutes that you’re in the car to take your hands off the wheel to get a text message through,” he said. “It’s the way of communication right now, you’re hustling out of the gym and getting in your car to get to the next game and you carry your text into the car.”
-- Janie McCauley
Calipari hopes to produce 6 NBA first-round picks
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — John Calipari spent Thursday night in New York City, watching five of his players shake NBA commissioner David Stern’s hand after being selected in the first round of the draft.
By Friday morning, Calipari’s feet still hadn’t touched the ground.
“I said it at the press conference when I took the job, ‘Players first,”’ Calipari said. “These kids realized their dreams and I was able to sit there with them and be a part of it.”
John Wall became the first Kentucky player drafted No. 1 overall when he was selected by the Washington Wizards. Teammates DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson, Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton soon followed, marking the first time in the draft’s history that five players from the same school were taken in the opening round.
Calipari called it “the greatest night” in the history of Kentucky basketball. He knows that didn’t sit well with some who believe winning national championships, not producing NBA-level talent, is what defines greatness at college basketball’s all-time winningest program.
“Some of the old guard were upset,” Calipari said. “Would we like to win national titles? If we shot better against West Virginia maybe we would have, we would have done it all.”
The Wildcats went 35-3 but fell short of collecting an eighth title after losing to West Virginia in the regional finals of the NCAA tournament.
It’s a loss that stuck with the Wildcats for several weeks but ultimately wasn’t a factor in the decision for all five underclassmen to put their names in the draft.
“I was upset that we lost, but you’ve got to move on about it and I think we had a great college career,” Wall said.
Patterson, taken by the Houston Rockets with the 14th pick, said the legacy of draft night gives this year’s team a unique place in school lore.
“We created a milestone and made history for the university,” he said. “I think that’s going to stand above everything we did at Kentucky.”
Calipari admitted navigating the NCAA tournament with a roster full of underclassmen can be difficult. He said it’s up to the coaches to make up the difference.
“That’ll be the challenge for us,” Calipari said. “How do we figure out as a bunch of young guys to get by those last three (games) to win the national title.”
It’s the only path the Wildcats are likely to take during Calipari’s tenure. He has no plans to stop signing players who could have the option of heading to the NBA after a short stint in Lexington, the path Wall, Cousins, Bledsoe and Orton followed to the pros.
“We’re going to continue to recruit the best of the best,” he said. “We’ve got another young team coming in. We could start as many as five freshmen (next year). I don’t believe we will, but we’re going to have a lot of freshmen that are going to have an opportunity.”
Does that mean he expects to produce another handful of first-round picks next summer? Hardly. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen.
“I hope we have six (first-rounders) one day,” he said. “The hard thing is, will six guys come together? Will veteran players like Patrick accept the young kids and not be jealous.”
Calipari will gladly take his chances trying to meld a young but talented roster. Kentucky has the top-ranked recruiting class for the second straight year, led by point guard Brandon Knight, with the potential to land another monster class in 2011.
“It was only a few years ago Florida was the school everybody wanted to go to, and years before that everybody wanted to go to Duke or North Carolina,” he said. “I just hate to tell you right now it’s Kentucky. I know it makes a lot of people mad, but that’s where it is right now.”
-- Will Graves
Kentucky paper challenges order barring interviews
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The Louisville newspaper is challenging a federal judge's order barring reporters from interviewing a woman accused of trying to extort Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino during her trial next month.
The Courier-Journal filed a motion Friday to intervene in the case by contesting a federal judge's rules for covering the trial, which is expected to last nine days. The paper says the order violates the First Amendment and could bar reporters from covering a public trial.
U.S. District Judge Charles R. Simpson III's order, handed down last week, said if anyone other than the judge or defense lawyers try to talk to Karen Cunagin Sypher, they will be barred from the courtroom.
Sypher has talked to several reporters since being charged 14 months ago. She's facing charges that she tried to extort money from Pitino and lied to the FBI. She has pleaded not guilty.
Capel rounds out Oklahoma basketball staff
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma basketball coach Jeff Capel rounded out his staff on Friday, adding Deren Boyd as director of operations and Ryan Krueger as video coordinator.
The 35-year-old Boyd is starting his third stint in OU's athletic department. He previously worked as an administrative assistant, interim assistant coach and director of operations for women's basketball coach Sherri Coale from 1998 to 2002 and spent time in OU's athletic development office from 2003 to 2008.
The 32-year-old Krueger worked last season as an assistant coach at Lehigh, which won the Patriot League tournament title and made the NCAA tournament. He's also spent time as an assistant for the NBA's New Jersey Nets and was a graduate assistant coach at Virginia Commonwealth when Capel coached there.
Birmingham system hires ex-judge in Bledsoe case
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The Birmingham school system has hired a retired federal judge and his law firm colleague to review the Parker High School academic records of Eric Bledsoe, the Kentucky freshman who was the 18th overall pick in the NBA draft.
Birmingham Superintendent Craig Witherspoon said Thursday that retired U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon and attorney Mark White would investigate "facts and circumstances" regarding Bledsoe's grades and report their findings to the school board.
A New York Times report last month raised questions about Bledsoe's grades as a senior, which made him eligible for a scholarship at Kentucky. Bledsoe was picked by Oklahoma City in Thursday's draft and traded to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Undrafted Razorbacks still eyeing pros
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Former Arkansas center Michael Washington has been invited to play summer league basketball by the New York Knicks.
Nick Paluch of Briscoe-Paluch Sports Management — which represents Washington — said the undrafted big man will start summer league play July 11 in Las Vegas. The firm hopes to help him land a contract with the team for next season.
Washington just completed his senior season with the Razorbacks.
Paluch's firm also represents Stefan Welsh and Courtney Fortson, two other former Razorbacks who weren't picked in Thursday night's draft. He said Friday that his agency was trying to find spots for both in the summer league, and that Fortson might end up playing in a foreign league.
Welsh was a senior, and Fortson left the Razorbacks after his sophomore season.
CBS hoops analyst Kellogg named to Ohio St. board
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Former Ohio State basketball star Clark Kellogg, who's now the lead NCAA analyst for CBS Sports, will serve on a board that oversees the university.
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland announced Friday that Kellogg will be appointed to Ohio State's board of trustees. Kellogg grew up in Cleveland and won all-Big Ten honors at Ohio State, where he played from 1979 to 1982.
He was a first round pick by the Indiana Pacers in 1982 and played five seasons in the NBA. He also has been a basketball analyst for ESPN.
He received a bachelor's degree from Ohio State in 1986 and now lives in Westerville in suburban Columbus.
Fisher named Hawaii's basketball director
HONOLULU (AP) — Scott Fisher, a Hall of Fame member of the Australia's National Basketball League, is joining the University of Hawaii staff. First-year Rainbow Warriors coach Gib Arnold announced Friday the 46-year-old Fisher has been hired as the team's director of operations.
Fisher starred in the NBL where he earned league MVP honors twice and won three league titles with the North Melbourne Giants and the Perth Wildcats. He was inducted into the NBL Hall of Fame as a player in 2007.
Between 2005-08, Fisher coached the Wildcats and led the team to the finals in his last season. Fisher also played on the 1996 Australian Olympic team, which finished fourth. A native of San Jose, Calif., Fisher played collegiate basketball at UC Santa Barbara.
Pitt sets six-game Ireland trip
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pitt men's basketball team will tour Ireland for six games starting July 31 and will meet with U.S. ambassador Dan Rooney, the Steelers' chairman emeritus.
Coach Jamie Dixon's team will leave July 29 and start playing games July 31, with the final game Aug. 7. Two games each will be played in Cork, Dublin and Belfast.
Opponents include the Melbourne Tigers of Australia, the English and Irish national teams and the Dart Kilester club team. The Panthers will also visit a children's hospital in Dublin that is managed by UPMC.
Pitt is permitted 10 practices before the trip, with the first held on Friday. The Panthers finished 25-9 last season, reaching the second round of the NCAA tournament.
NCAA upholds violations against SE Mo former coach
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) — The NCAA has upheld its finding that a former men's basketball coach at Southeast Missouri State violated rules on benefits and practice times.
The NCAA cited Southeast Missouri State last August for violations that included impermissible benefits to basketball players and coaches attending summer strength and conditioning activities. The men's basketball team was ordered to vacate its wins from 2006 to 2008.
Former basketball coach Scott Edgar denied involvement or knowledge of the violations. The NCAA said Friday that a committee upheld the violations and the penalties after they were appealed.
Edgar was fired in 2008 and is now basketball coach at Eastern Oklahoma State College. He did not return a phone message seeking comment.
Providence hires assistant for men's basketball
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Providence College has hired Chris Driscoll as an assistant coach for men's basketball. Driscoll will replace Pat Skerry, who left the Friars to take an assistant coaching position at Pittsburgh.
Driscoll has served since 2000 as an assistant coach for the Boston Amateur Athletic Club. Head coach Keno Davis said in a statement Friday that Driscoll will improve both the staff and recruiting.
Western signs men's basketball player
DILLON, Mont. (AP) — Montana Western men's basketball coach Steve Keller has announced the signing of Marquis Johnson of Bellwood, Ill.
Johnson, a 6-foot-4 point guard, transfers to Western from Triton College in River Grove, Ill. He averaged 13.4 points, eight rebounds and 2.9 assists in earning all-conference honors as a sophomore.
Football
Florida State to retire Derrick Brooks jersey
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Former Florida State and Tampa Bay Bucs star linebacker Derrick Brooks will soon have his collegiate jersey retired.
Florida State officials said Friday that Brooks’ jersey would be retired in a ceremony at its Nov. 13 home game against Clemson.
Brooks becomes the eighth Florida State player to be similarly honored. The others include Heisman Trophy quarterbacks Charlie Ward and Chris Weinke, receivers Fred Biletnikoff and Ron Sellers, cornerback Deion Sanders, noseguard Ron Simmons and tailback Warrick Dunn.
A two-time AP All American, 11-time pro bowler and Tampa’s all-time leading tackler, Brooks helped the Seminoles to their first national championship in 1993 and the Bucs’ to their only Super Bowl title in 2002.
Women's Basketball
Langford quits Cowgirls to try Australian career
LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) — Emma Langford is leaving the Wyoming women's basketball team to pursue a professional career in her home country of Australia.
Coach Joe Legerski announced Friday that Langford will not return to the Cowgirl basketball program.
The 6-2 forward is from Arthurton, Australia.
She played in 63 career games and started 49 in her two-year Wyoming career. She averaged 11.3 points and 4.4 rebounds a game during her career. She was named to the Mountain West Conference's Third Team this past season and was selected as the conference's Sixth Player of the Year following the 2008-2009 season.
