Tennessee (33-3) and Rutgers (27-8) play for the
women's NCAA basketball championship in Cleveland tonight. Tennessee is
bidding for its seventh national title while Rutgers is looking for its
first.
The Lady Vols used a 20-2 run over the last
eight minutes to beat North Carolina 56-50 on Sunday night. Rutgers
routed LSU, 59-35 to reach the final.
Good weekend for
Pirate track at Western
East Carolina's track and field teams dominated
the Western Carolina Invitational over the weekend, earning 12 first
place finishes. In total, the Pirates brought home 46 top 10 finishes.
NCAA names SMU site
for 2008 men's soccer
The NCAA has announced the selection of the NCAA
men's and women’s college cup sites for 2008 and 2009.
Hosted by N.C. State, the town of Cary, and the
Capital Area Soccer League, the 2008 NCAA women’s college cup will
return December 5 and 7 to SAS soccer park in Cary. Texas A&M will serve
as the 2009 host December 4 and 6, marking the third time it has hosted
since 2005.
Conference USA member Southern Methodist will
host the men's competition in 2008 and N.C. State will host the men in
2009.
April
2, 2007
NCAA could be big loser in anti-trust lawsuit
Has the NCAA illegally fixed the price of an
athletic scholarship below the cost of a college education? Or, is the
NCAA trying to protect amateurism and competitive balance for its member
schools?
Those questions are posed by Lester Munson,
writing for
sportsillustrated.cnn.com.
A jury in Los Angeles will answer the questions
in a trial that will begin on June 12. The jury's answer could be
expensive for the NCAA, according to Munson. Very expensive.
Lawyers representing all Division I football and
basketball players (there are 11,500 of them) claim that the athletes
are shortchanged an average of $2,500 a year because of an arbitrary
NCAA limit on scholarships.
If they're right, the athletes are entitled under
anti-trust laws to triple damages, a potential liability for the NCAA of
more than $86 million for a single year, $344 million if the calculation
is based on four years.
NCAA officials claim the scholarship must be limited
in order to produce a balance of competition among Division I schools
and to protect amateurism.
Toledo running
back charged with point shaving
The U.S. Attorney's Office brought a criminal
complaint Friday against a Toledo football player, accusing him of
taking bribes from a Sterling Heights (OH) gambler to affect the outcome
of football games and recruiting other football players and members of
the men's basketball team to do the same thing, according to a Detroit
news report.
Running back Harvey "Scooter" McDougle Jr., 22, is
charged with participating in a bribery scheme to influence sporting
contests. He was arraigned in federal court in Detroit late Friday
afternoon and released on a $10,000 unsecured bond.
McDougle, who appeared in court wearing gray
sweatpants, a gray sweatshirt and black Nike shoes, is to return to
court April 20 for a preliminary examination.
Duke's Goestenkors
named AP coach of year
Duke coach Gail Goestenkors has been named college
women's basketball coach of the year award by the Associated Press.
Goestenkors, who has won nearly 400 games in her
career at Duke, had 40 votes. North Carolina State's Kay Yow – a 1964
East Carolina graduate who returned from treatment for breast cancer –
had six votes. Goestenkors said she was accepting the award for Yow.
"My job is easy compared to what she has been
through," Goestenkors said of Yow.
Goestenkors guided the Blue Devils to a 29-0 record in
the regular season – the first ACC team to do so and 14th in NCAA
history. She also led Duke to an NCAA-record seventh straight 30-win
season.
The Blue Devils suffered their first loss in the ACC
tournament semifinals, falling to N.C. State. Her team was No. 1 in the
AP poll for the season's final nine weeks and the overall No. 1 seed in
the NCAA tournament.
Duke's season came to an abrupt end when the Blue
Devils fell to Rutgers 53-52 in the Greensboro Regional semifinals.
A seven-time Atlantic Coast Conference coach of the
year, the 44-year-old Goestenkors is the top candidate for the vacancy
at Texas, where Jody Conradt announced her resignation March 12,
Goestenkors interviewed with the Longhorns on Wednesday.
April
1, 2007
Buckeyes, Gators meet in rematch of BCS final
Ohio State reached its first national title game
since 1962 with a 67-60 victory over Georgetown on Saturday night at the
Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
Mike Conley led the Buckeyes with 15 points, six
assists and five rebounds, while Greg Oden, who was limited by foul
trouble, added 13 points — all in the second half — and eight rebounds
in 20 minutes.
Ohio State will meet defending champion Florida,
a 76-66 winner over UCLA as Corey Brewer scored 19 points for the
Gators.
Florida beat the Buckeyes for the national title
in football in the BCS final for the 2006 season.
Donovan,
Calipari attract interest from suitors
Even as Florida was preparing to play UCLA on
semifinal Saturday in Atlanta, ESPN reported that Kentucky will offer
Gators coach Billy Donovan a guaranteed $2.8 million annual contract
once Florida's season ends.
In other coaching news, Memphis has granted
Arkansas permission to talk to Tigers coach John Calipari about the
Razorbacks' basketball coaching vacancy.
ECU softball splits
with Golden Hurricane
The East Carolina softball team welcomed
defending Conference USA champion Tulsa to the ECU Softball Field on
Saturday afternoon, splitting a doubleheader with the Golden Hurricane.
The Pirates bounced back to take game two 3-0 after dropping the first
contest 3-1 in nine innings.
