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News Nuggets, 07.24.05
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

CIAA trophy to be named after 'Big House'

WINSTON-SALEM — The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association has decided to name its basketball championship trophy after the late Clarence 'Big House' Gaines, the legendary longtime Winston-Salem State coach.

Gaines, who died in April at age 81, retired in 1993 after 47 seasons at NCAA Division II Winston-Salem State. His 828 wins rank him fifth on the NCAA career coaching wins list for men's basketball, behind Dean Smith, Adolph Rupp, Bob Knight and Jim Phelan.

Gaines led the Rams to the CIAA title in 1953, the first of eight CIAA titles, and won a national championship.

His most famous team was the 1967 Rams squad, featuring Earl 'The Pearl' Monroe, that went 31-1 and won the Division II championship.

That year, Gaines was named national coach of the year and Monroe, who averaged 41.5 points per game, earned player of the year honors. Monroe went on to star in the NBA with the New York Knicks.

The Rams' 1967 national title was the first by a team from a historically black school.

Gaines was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 1982.

Winston-Salem State will compete in the CIAA for the 2005-06 season, then will begin its move to Division I and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

ECU hoops mirror reflects Herd, Wave, Knights

Conference USA has further defined the basketball schedule format approved earlier by league coaches with the naming of the three teams that each member institution will meet on a home and home basis.

C-USA teams will play each of the other 11 teams in the restructured league once in addition to a second game against three designated "mirror" opponents for a total of 14 conference regular season contests.

East Carolina, coming off of a 9-19 season which led to the hiring of new Pirates coach Ricky Stokes in mid-March, will play Marshall, Tulane and Central Florida twice during the 2005-06 regular season.

Marshall and Central Florida became C-USA members earlier this month. The Thundering Herd program is guided by former Georgia coach Ron Jirsa, whose Bulldogs managed a controversial 55-54 win in Greenville on Dec. 13, 1997. Marshall was 6-22 last season.

Tulane ended the Bill Herrion coaching era at ECU last season with a 77-71 win over the Pirates in New Orleans. The Green Wave finished 10-18 in 2004-05 and brought in former Maryland assistant Dave Dickerson to take over the program.

Central Florida offers the Pirates a winter trip to Orlando against a team that will be seeking its third straight NCAA Tournament bid. The Golden Knights coached by Kirk Speraw lost three seniors from a 24-9 club.

The complete list of league home and home opponents for each C-USA team:

East Carolina: Marshall, Tulane, Central Florida.

Houston: Rice, Central Florida, Texas-El Paso.

Marshall: East Carolina, UAB, Central Florida.

Memphis: Southern Miss, Tulsa, UAB.

Rice: Houston, Southern Methodist, Tulane.

SMU: Rice, Tulsa, UTEP.

Southern Miss: Memphis, Tulane, UAB.

Tulane: ECU, Rice, Southern Miss.

Tulsa: Memphis, SMU, UTEP.

UAB: Marshall, Memphis, Southern Miss.

UCF: ECU, Houston, Marshall.

UTEP: Houston, SMU, Tulsa.

Compiled by staff writer Al Myatt.

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.

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