Women Cardinals in NCAA Final Four
The Cardinals women's basketball team will play the Oklahoma Sooners in San Antonio Sunday afternoon.
Cause for a lot of excitement, right? Honestly at the Stanford Campus, at the track, and near Maples Pavilion, not many were even aware of the game. But Christopher Riskowsi, a Stanford grad student in Education is a big Fan.
"It's incredible. It's so exciting, especially the way they got here through the 'Elite Eight'. What a last second shot to put us in the Final Four."
Other non-students on campus admitted they watched the men's college basketball tournament, but were not following the women's.
One track coach, Kofi Pashadi, wishes them well.
"That's awesome. It's amazing, I just heard about it this morning, the news. I hope that they come true. We support them and I know they play good ball."
In the event of a Stanford win, the team will go on to the finals Tuesday night at 5 p.m.
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W.Va. coach Huggins keeps bouncing back
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - In a testament to the difficulties of building two championship-caliber programs, only 12 coaches have taken multiple schools to the Final Four. It's an elite fraternity that West Virginia's Bob Huggins, who coached Cincinnati to the 1992 Final Four, will attempt to join Saturday against Kentucky in the East Regional final.
With a Mountaineers' victory, Huggins can actually join an even smaller group - one that explains the 56-year-old and his career perfectly.
Only Eddie Sutton has ever led a team to a Final Four (at Arkansas), been fired as a college head coach (at Kentucky) and then resuscitated his career and returned to the tournament's last weekend (at Oklahoma State).
It's probably the ultimate testament to a person who is flawed, imperfect and, in the end, just an exceptional pure coach of the game. College basketball is fickle. Career momentum is everything, usually a meteoric rise and then eventual downfall. Almost no one comes back from a college firing (a failed NBA adventure is different).
Compounding the challenge, Huggins, like Sutton, wasn't let go because of a lack of victories. A DUI arrest, complete with wobbly field sobriety video and vomit on the door accounts, helped do him in at Cincinnati. There was also a less than desirable (if not quite accurate) graduation rate, a history of player arrests and a near-fatal heart attack.
To say Huggins was slightly radioactive in 2005-06, when he sat out a year, understates it. Many schools were never going to touch him. It caused his friends to call him and check on his mental health. While everyone figured he'd coach again, there was no precedent, other than Sutton, to returning to an elite program. Something in Conference USA seemed more likely.
Huggins laughed at his friends' concern then. He laughs even harder at attempts to describe that year as a dark time in his life. He got fired. He didn't just deal with it; he kind of reveled in it. He was a millionaire who got to spend a year enjoying life.
"It wasn't as bad a low point as you all try to make it out to be," Huggins said. "It's kind of fine. I [worked] my whole life. And just to wake and say, What do I want to do today? Somebody would call and say, 'Do you want to do this? No, I don't want to do that.'
"[Former Auburn coach] Cliff Ellis called me and said, 'Huggs, are you all right?' I said, 'I'm fine.' Cliff said, 'What are you going to do?' I said, 'Well, I think I'm going to open a bottle of red wine and have a glass of red wine."
Huggins has never lacked confidence. He was the son of a high school coach who, through all the drama, has always been known among his peers as an exceptional motivator and teacher of the game. It's often not what his teams do, but how well they do them - namely, defend and rebound. He's always been able to get his guys to play hard for him.
His career is self-made. At 27, he was named the head coach at little Walsh College in Ohio. Three seasons later his team was 34-1. He took mid-major Akron to the NCAA tournament. He restored the tradition at Cincinnati and for much of the 1990s had one of the hottest programs in the country. No matter where he ended up, he was convinced he'd make it work.
"I knew I would coach again," he said.
Kansas State gave him the chance in 2006-07. The Wildcats won 23 games and set a foundation, by signing Michael Beasley, that continues today - Huggins' former assistant, Frank Martin, has KSU in the Elite Eight. Then West Virginia, Huggins' alma mater, called. He couldn't resist.
The return to his roots has suited him perfectly. What you see now is a man in full contentment. He's surrounded by family and friends in Morgantown. His relationship with the school's president is ideal. He's on a first name basis with the governor. He loves representing the working people of West Virginia, so much that he's been moved to tears when he hears "Country Roads."
Huggs is getting sensitive.
He isn't particularly popular among rival fans. His preferred sideline attire - a black warm-up jacket - is often mocked. He's gotten more bad publicity than he can recall.
"There's nobody in here that's going to write anything about me that's any worse than some of the stuff that people wrote [who] never met me," he said Friday.
He hardly cares about how he's perceived anymore. You like him, fine. You don't, you don't. There was a stretch at Cincinnati when he tried to dress like the other coaches, buying designer suits for thousands of dollars. It didn't work. He often looked uncomfortable or ridiculous. He was heckled as "Thuggins." So now he wears the warm-up jacket. "It's comfortable," he shrugs. He's the Bill Belichick of college hoops.
What Huggins has always been is the blue-collar exception in an Armani-clad world of coaching. He likes going to barbeque joints, drinking Miller Lite and hanging out with regular folks. He goes out in public and interacts with people. He loves when his neighbors have a cookout and haul out a cooler full of beer and everyone sits around in what he calls, "driveway parties."
If you got to know him, you'd probably like him; certainly a lot more than a number of coaches with a more polite public image.
"People who know me, know what I'm about," he said. "My kids know what I'm about. That's what's important to me."
If Huggins gets back to the Final Four, his 18-year gap between appearances will be the second longest in NCAA history (Lou Henson, 19 years). It's a testament to his resilience. He has 669 victories, and if not for some crushing injuries (Kenyon Martin's broken ankle in 2000 most notably), he'd have been back already, if not the owner of a national championship.
"[Former Louisville coach] Denny Crum said one time, '[To win a title] you have to be lucky and you can't be unlucky,"' Huggins said. ”He pointed at me and said, 'That's the most unlucky guy I know.'"
In a sense, yes. In another, not so much. A title at Cincinnati wouldn't make this current run with the Mountaineers any better. It wouldn't make a trip to Indianapolis next any more meaningful. It wouldn't make the strange fact that after all these years, Huggins has almost boomeranged back. Saturday he stands to be the sympathetic fan favorite - mostly because at this point anyone who goes against John Calipari is a fan favorite.
"I don't care," he said, pretty much his answer to everything.
The guy has fallen down more times than he can count. Each time he's gotten back up and kept coaching. Now he's returned to glory's doorstep, one win from another Final Four, 18 years, three schools, multiple scandals and one high-profile firing later.
Copyright (c) 2010 Yahoo! Inc
Sweet 16 NCAA Basketball Picks Favorites
There are four 2010 Sweet 16 basketball picks matchups set for March 25th that are currently available to make your March Madness predictions on they include Cornel vs Kentucky, Butler vs Syracuse, Washington vs West Virginia and Xavier vs Kansas State. Let's take a look at what the early Vegas odds betting trends show as the 2010 Sweet 16 NCAA basketball picks favorites are.
According to our Vegas odds sports betting trends the Kentucky is a slight favorite to win this Sweet 16 NCAA basketba picks matchup straight-up, 52% of bettors are taking Kentucky. While the game total is anticipated to go UNDER the posted total as 99% of online sports handicappers are making their March Madness predictions on the UNDER.
Next, the Butler vs Syracuse Sweet 16 basketball picks matchup shows 98% of early wagers are being made on Syracuse to advance to the Elite Eight with a win straight-up. The over/under Sweet 16 NCAA basketball picks are set to 138 1/2( ov-110) and 94% of the wagers are coming in on the UNDER.
Washington will face West Virgina on March 25th and according to online sports handicappers West Virgina is getting 79% of the wagers to win this Sweet 16 NCAA basketball picks matchup straight-up.
Lastly, Xavier will face Kansas State and it appears Kansas State is edging out Xavier with 57% of the sports betting action to win the Sweet 16 NCAA basketball picks matchup straight-up.
Compare vegas odds to the best online sportsbooks using our sports odds comparison software before you make any 2010 NCAA Sweet 16 Bracket predictions.
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Georgetown vs. West Virginia Free Pick + Preview
Welcome to the CappersPicks.com college hoops weekly predictions pages! We KNOW you will find our FREE weekly March Madness predictions, tips, betting advice, strategies, CBB gambling articles and more to help you become the best College Hoops bettor on your block!!
Georgetown vs. West Virginia - 9:00 P.M. Saturday, March 13th
Big East Conference Tournament Finals
Georgetown +2 (-110)
West Virginia -2 (-110)
Over/Under 132.5
As the 8th seed in the Big East Tournament, the Georgetown Hoyas will look to pull off their third straight win over a higher seed and bring home the title tonight against the #3 seed, West Virginia Mountaineers in tonight's final at Madison Square Garden.
After losing two out of their last three regular season games including a 68-81 loss to this very team, Georgetown (23-9) found their offense at the perfect time, reeling off three wins to land themselves in the finals. After a routine 69-49 win over South Florida, they pulled off an incredible 91-84 upset of top seed Syracuse. Last night they showed they are for real by demolishing a very good Marquette team, 80-57.
They are playing with the same form and intensity that had them ranked in the top 10 earlier in the year which bodes well for this ride to continue deep into the NCAA Tournament.
The Hoyas are led by sophomore C Greg Monroe and junior G's Austin Freeman and Chris Wright. Against the Golden Eagles, Monroe was a force with 23 points and 13 rebounds. Wright added to the effort with 15 points and Freeman had 12. If they can repeat this effort one more night, they will add a title to their already impressive Big East Tournament resume.
West Virginia (26-6) has been living on the edge this entire tournament. In their 54-51 win over Cincinnati, it took a buzzer beating three point shot by senior F Da'Sean Butler to seal the win. Last night against a Notre Dame team that simply would not go away, they barely escaped elimination when Irish G Tory Jackson's three point shot with four seconds left bounced off the rim to come away with the hard fought 53-51 win.
None the less they find themselves in the finals and with a win could still secure a #1 seed for the upcoming NCAA Tournament. With the star power on this team, including Butler, sophomore F Devin Ebanks, and sophomore F Kevin Jones they have what it takes to win a National Title.
In the last two games, Butler has 39 points, 13 rebounds, and 8 assists, Jones has 27 points and 9 rebounds and Ebanks has 18 points and 13 rebounds.
Georgetown has looked extremely impressive in their last three games and come into this one with a ton of momentum. West Virginia has been leading a charmed life, but their last two games were a little too close for comfort. I expect tonight to be more of the same with the Hoyas keeping it close enough to cover, if not pull off the outright win.
Betting Trends:
West Virginia is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
West Virginia is 5-12 SU in its last 17 games when playing Georgetown
Georgetown is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games
Georgetown is 12-5 SU in its last 17 games when playing West Virginia
Hoyas vs. Mountaineers Free Pick:
Georgetown +2
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Tuskegee men win SIAC tournament
ATLANTA -- Lorell Friend's free throw with four seconds remaining sealed Tuske gee's 61-57 win over Clark Atlanta on Sat urday and gave the Golden Tigers their first Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament championship in 31 years.
Calvin Thomas scored 16 points and Friend had 15 for Tuskegee (20-10), which last won a SIAC tournament in 1979.
Derrick White finished with 10 points and 16 rebounds.
The Golden Tigers receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II tournament. The field will be announced tonight.
Thomas had four points in a decisive 8-1 run in the final three minutes.
With the game tied 52-52, Friend hit a jumper with 21/2 minutes left to put Tuskegee ahead. Thomas drained four free throws on the Tigers' next three possessions, the last with 11/2 minutes remainingto make it a five-point game. Andrae Nelson's free throw with 52 seconds left gave Tuskegee a 60-53 advantage.
David Brown had 17 points and Najee Lane 12 for Clark Atlanta (24-6).which last won a SIAC title in 1965. The Panthers beat Tuskegee twice this season.
Tuskegee, which was the SIAC tournament runner-up two years ago, also reached 20 wins for the first time since finishing 20-9 in the 1981-82 season. The Tigers were 21-10 in 1978-79.
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Washington University men's basketball heads to NCAA Division-III tourneyWashington University's Bears are once again headed into the NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament as the team to beat.
The Bears are ranked number one in the nation and are two-time defending Division III national champions.
The team watched the announcement of tournament bracket Monday morning in the Danforth University Center Fun Room. The women were waiting to hear their bracket placement later in the morning.
In the first round, the Bears will face Missouri's Westminster College. Wash U was 23-2 in the regular season.
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Coaches support bigger tournament
The Big Dance could be just a few steps from picking up a whole bunch of new partners.
The NCAA recently met with conference commissioners, university presidents and athletic directors about the possibility of expanding its popular Division I-A men's basketball tournament from 65 teams to 68 or 96.
"It's just a series of ongoing dialogues with interested parties, but nothing definitive to even analyze at this point," said NCAA senior vice president Greg Shaheen, who oversees the tournament.
The fact that the NCAA is considering opting out of its 11-year, $6 billion TV contract with CBS after the Final Four in April and increasing the size of its tournament has coaches buzzing locally and nationally.
March Madness may get even zanier.
"I'm not only for expansion, I think they ought to double the size of the field to 130 teams," Duquesne coach Ron Everhart said. "That still would only be a little more than a third of all Division I basketball teams in the field."
Under the current format, 65 of 347 teams get into the NCAA tournament and 32 teams are picked for the NCAA-owned National Invitation Tournament.
Percentage-wise, those figures still are well below the number of bowl berths handed out to Division I-A football teams. Sixty-eight of 120 teams participate in postseason play.
Under the NCAA's new basketball proposal, a bracket of 68 teams would involve three additional "play-in" games. In a 96-team field, 31 games would be added.
"Expansion would be a good thing," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said. "You look at the football situation. You have 34 bowl games and teams that are .500 playing in some of them.
"On the other hand, you have teams in basketball that are pretty good who are being left out of the NCAA tournament every year."
Several high-profile coaches also have come out in favor of expansion, including Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Syracuse's Jim Boeheim.
Krzyzewski believes the NCAA and NIT should be combined into one tournament. He also believes all regular-season conference champions should automatically be in the field. Ten were excluded last year.
For now, talk of increasing the NCAA tournament field is purely speculation, but it has led to much discussion and debate.
"I love it," Villanova coach Jay Wright. "I just think it's an idea whose time has come."
"I would like to see it opened up and see more teams get a chance to compete," Georgetown coach John Thompson III said.
The NCAA's current deal with CBS still has three years and $2.1 billion remaining, but a clause in the contract allows college sport's governing body to opt out after this season. SportsBusiness Journal reported that CBS and Turner Sports are considering a joint bid on a 14-year deal to land the expanded NCAA tournament. Fox and ESPN also are seen as potential bidders.
"For obvious reasons, you think there could be opportunity," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. "It gets compared to football and bowl games. I don't think the opportunity is there. I don't know how it's feasible. It's only based on monetary reasons.
"If adding 32 more teams makes more, that's the only way it will happen."
Others who have expressed their concerns about expansion include Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, who wonders how it will affect the regular-season races and conference tournaments; ESPN commentator Dick Vitale, who called the idea "ludicrous"; and Jerry Palm from collegeRPI.com, who said it would "add more unqualified teams to a tournament already filled with them."
Kentucky coach John Calipari believes the current 65-team NCAA tournament is big enough. And Michigan's John Beilein, who coached at West Virginia from 2002-07, thinks 96 teams are too many.
"I could see adding a couple more play-in games if you had to, but to go to 96 may be a hard thing to do," he said.
Illinois coach Bruce Weber believes a much larger NCAA tournament would give coaches a little more job security.
"Selfishly, I think as a coaching profession, there's so much pressure on you to get into the tournament, if you don't get in, you're a failure," he said. "So, I think it would help keep jobs. It would maybe stabilize some programs, so I am definitely for it. I think most of our coaching profession is."
The NCAA tournament began as an eight-team bracket in 1939, moved to 16 teams in 1951, 32 in 1975, 48 in 1980 and 64 teams in 1985, when there were 282 Division I teams.
In 2001, the NCAA adopted its current format. A play-in game increased the field to 65 teams.
"To me, it's foolish for those people who are saying it's perfect the way it is," Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. "Obviously, they've lived a very shallow life when it comes to looking at change and what change can do and how it can affect things. The history of expansion with the NCAA has been very successful.
"The only people who would be disappointed would be all those people that have already printed out their 64-game bracket sheets. I think those can be changed.
"For the expansion not to take place, it can only be because there are some people behind the scenes that are controlling certain entities that will not allow us to do this. But, if this doesn't happen, it'll be a crime."
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