News and Notes from East Carolina, Conference USA and Beyond

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03.10.05: ECU boosters anoint new leaders ... Tournament shocker: USF ambushes Houston ... Basden, Pitino cop league's highest honors ... Marshall football coach hangs up whistle ... More...

03.09.05: 49ers' Basden, Pirates' Hammonds honored by C-USA ... Gamecocks' Thompson surrenders to police ... Holiday Bowl doles out highest all-time payout ... More...

03.08.05: ECU QB derby a focus as spring drills kick off ... Pirate pitcher recognized for taming Dogs ... 2004-05 All-Conference USA basketball team ... Cards top trio of C-USA teams in hoops poll ... More...

03.07.05: ACC membership no boon for Miami baseball ... C- USA Tournament brackets and TV lineup ... C-USA Final Regular Season Standings ... More...

03.06.05: C-USA Roundup: Cards buck trend on day of upsets ... C-USA Final Regular Season Standings ... More...

03.05.05: Last chance for Cardinals to earn an outright title ... C-USA basketball standings, scores, schedule & TV ... SEC football to use instant replay next season ... More...

03.04.05: ECU sprint sensation speeds to the big bucks ... Cards thump 49ers to nail down top seed ... C-USA basketball standings, scores, schedule & TV ... Spurrier lays down law on behavior at USC ... More...

03.03.05: Burglary rap adds to latest turmoil at South Carolina ... C-USA roundup: 49ers, Cards collide; SLU stuns Tigers ... C-USA basketball standings, scores, schedule & TV ... More...

03.02.05: Tulane, with an eye on ECU, faces Cincinnati ... South Carolina rushing star gets the boot ... C-USA standings, scores, schedule & TV ... More...

03.01.05: Self-recrimination mounts for iconic Temple coach ... Louisville, Charlotte, Cincy climb in hoops poll ... C-USA basketball standings, scores, schedule & TV ... More...

MEMPHIS — The 21st-ranked Cincinnati Bearcats found out just how effective Terrence Leather can be when he plays an entire game. The result was the day's second astounding upset in the Conference USA Tournament.

Leather played only 12 minutes in South Florida's 74-48 loss to Cincinnati on Jan. 27, but he scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half Thursday night in helping the Bulls upend the Bearcats 80-68 in the tournament quarterfinals.

Leather also grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds. He even hit all three of his 3s after hitting only three 3-pointers all season.

The 11th-seeded Bulls (14-15) now have won three straight and reached the tournament semifinals for the first time in their last season as a member. The Bulls will be playing in the Big East next season along with Cincinnati.

No team has dominated Conference USA like the Bearcats, who were trying to add a fifth tournament title to the one they won last year.

But it will be the Bulls charging into the semifinals to play Memphis — an 83-69 upset winner over No. 25 Charlotte — instead of Cincinnati (24-7), thanks to Leather.

Memphis is using the tournament to get even with teams that beat it in a recent losing streak. Keeping the timely run going is also the team's only hope of reaching the NCAA tournament.

Rodney Carney scored 20 points for the Tigers (18-14), the tournament's No. 7 seed, who won for the second straight night. St. Louis, Memphis' first victim in the tournament, was responsible for one of the losses during the Tigers' four-game losing skid, and Charlotte was another.

USF, which upset sixth-seeded Houston in the opening round to set up the chance to knock off Cincinnati, will try to halt the Tigers' resurgence when the teams face off in a semifinal showdown at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Sixth-ranked Louisville, the top seed by virtue of its regular season championship, walloped Texas Christian 85-61 to move into Friday's other semifinal game (4:30 p.m.) against UAB, which advanced by edging DePaul 59-56.

2005 Kelly Tires Conference USA Basketball Tournament
Site: FedExForum, Memphis, TN
Dates: Wednesday-Saturday, March 9-12

Game 1 – (8) Texas Christian 60, (9) Marquette 57 OT (ESPN 2)
Game 2 – (5) DePaul 81, (12) Tulane 71 (ESPN 2)
Game 3 – (7) Memphis 79, (10) Saint Louis 59 (ESPN+)
Game 4 – (11) South Florida 69, (6) Houston 64 (ESPN+)

Game 5 – (1) Louisville 85, (8) Texas Christian 61 (ESPN+)
Game 6 – (4) UAB 59, (5) DePaul 56 (ESPN+)
Game 7 – (7) Memphis 83, (2) Charlotte 69 (ESPN+)
Game 8 – (11) South Florida 80, (3) Cincinnati 68 (ESPN+)

Game 9 – (1) Louisville vs. (4) UAB (ESPN) 4:30 pm
Game 10 - (7) Memphis vs. (11) South Florida (ESPN Plus) 7 pm

MIAMI — Florida International's Danny Price became the 15th active college baseball coach to win 1,000 games when the Golden Panthers beat Quinnipiac 10-5 Thursday.

Price, 51, has spent every game of his 26-year coaching career at Florida International, where he now has a 1,000-528 record. He is the 31st coach to reach the 1,000-win mark.

Price was a member of FIU's inaugural baseball team in 1973, became a hitting instructor in 1979 and took over as head coach the next season. He has led the Golden Panthers to eight NCAA Division I postseason appearances.

News Nuggets are compiled periodically based on material supplied by staff members; data published by ECU, Conference USA and its member schools; and reports from Associated Press and other sources. Copyright 2005 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.