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News Nuggets, 03.13.06
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

Memphis gets No. 1 seed

Conference USA regular season and tournament champion Memphis earned one of four No. 1 seeds and will be joined by regular season and tournament runner-up UAB in the 2006 NCAA Tournament, the Division I men's basketball committee announced on Sunday.

It is the first time in school history that the Tigers will be a No. 1 seed, while the Blazers will be making their third straight NCAA appearance.

Memphis (30-3) will play No. 16 seed Oral Roberts (21-11), champions of the Mid-Continent Conference, on Friday, March 17, at American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX. The game time will be determined by CBS and announced today.

The Tigers are 4-2 against ORU, dating back to the 1971-72 season. In the last meeting between the two squads, Memphis defeated ORU, 70-62, at the Mid-South Coliseum during the 1988-89 season.

The Tigers open play in Dallas, but are in the Oakland Regional. Memphis' Dallas bracket also includes No. 8 seed Arkansas (22-9) and No. 9 seed Bucknell (26-4). The first round winners will meet in Sunday's second round.

UAB (24-6) is seeded ninth in the Washington, DC, Regional and will take on the No. 8-seeded Kentucky Wildcats (21-12) of the Southeastern Conference in a first round matchup on Friday, March 17, at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. Should the Blazers advance, they would play the winner between No.1 seed Connecticut (29-3) and No. 16 seed Albany (21-10).

The game with the Wildcats will be a rematch of the NCAA second round contest of two seasons ago when UAB stunned Kentucky, the tournament's No. 1 overall seed, 76-75, at Columbus, OH.

This will be UAB's 13th overall NCAA Tournament appearance and the first time in two decades the Blazers have earned three straight bids to the event. Anderson's Blazer teams have earned a postseason tournament berth in each of his four seasons at UAB.

This will be the fourth meeting overall — and third in the NCAA Tournament — between UAB and Kentucky with the Blazers holding a 2-1 series advantage. UAB defeated the Wildcats, 69-62, in the second round of 1981 NCAA Tournament at Tuscaloosa. The other meeting, a December, 1980 contest at Lexington, resulted in a 61-53 Wildcat victory.

Villanova's Ray expected to bounce back

Villanova senior guard Allan Ray was expected to be released in good condition from St. Vincent's Hospital after suffering what physicians described as a "soft tissue injury" to his right eye in Friday night's Big East Tournament semifinal loss to Pittsburgh.

The 6-2 senior suffered the injury when he collided with a Panther player in a scramble for a loose ball near the scorer's table early in the second half.

"He couldn't see when he was here," stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright at an impromptu early morning press conference at Madison Square Garden. "And being there, they did a great job there. Everybody did a great job. Our trainer (Jeff Pierce) got right to him. An ophthalmologist rushed across town and examined him. Now they said his vision's good and they're going to release him."

Wright said "it actually looked a lot worse than it was. It'll be a day-to-day prognosis now, but it's much, much better than they initially anticipated."

Conference USA Tournament Wrap-up

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 other sources. Copyright 2006 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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