The heir-apparent to James
Pinkney as East Carolina's starting quarterback flashed passing talents
reminiscent of Pinkney in the team's spring game Saturday in Greenville.
Sophomore Rob Kass passed for
231 yards and a pair of touchdowns, including a game-winning 77-yarder
to classmate Jamar Bryant early in the fourth quarter, to highlight the
annual Purple-Gold intra-squad battle Saturday afternoon at
Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
Kass, who completed 10 of 21
passes while splitting time with both teams, also opened the scoring by
connecting with senior wide receiver Phillip Henry on a 55-yard toss on
the game's fifth play from scrimmage to spark "East Carolina" to a 20-13
win over the "Pirates."
After the Pirates rallied from a
13-6 deficit to tie the contest on freshman Kevin Gidrey's one-yard
scoring plunge with 24 seconds to play in the third quarter, Kass capped
a brief three-play, 88-yard drive by hitting Bryant on a deep route
during ECU's first possession of the final quarter.
The three quarterbacks on ECU's
current depth chart played on a rotating basis for each squad throughout
the contest. Junior Patrick Pinkney completed eight of 24 passes for 67
yards with an interception while sophomore Brett Clay was 10 of 21 for
96 yards.
As East Carolina's
signal-caller, Kass found a receiver on six of 11 throws for 174 yards,
which included the two long TD strikes.
ECU
women's tennis matches record win total
The East Carolina women's tennis
team extended its winning streak to a season-high four matches in
impressive fashion with a 7-0 non-conference victory over N.C. Central
at the ECU Tennis Complex on Friday.
The win enabled ECU (19-8) to
tie a team single-season record for victories, matching its total set
last spring. Since taking over the ECU women's tennis program in 1999,
head coach Tom Morris has now equaled or surpassed the standard on four
occasions (16 in 2003, 17 in 2005 and 19 in 2006 and 2007).
Accusing LSU assistant submits resignation
Before returning to her alma
mater, LSU women’s basketball assistant coach Carla Berry distinguished
herself in mobile phone sales. Six years later, after excelling in the
art of recruiting some of the nation’s best players, she’s returning to
the business sector, according to a Baton Rouge Advocate report.
Berry, who first brought
allegations of improper conduct with former players by former LSU head
coach Pokey Chatman to the attention of LSU administrators, resigned
Friday.
“I have enjoyed my years at LSU
as a player and a coach, and I have memories I will cherish for a
lifetime,” Berry said in a prepared university statement. “I am excited
about the future of LSU women’s basketball, and I know the Lady Tigers
will do great things with our new head coach, Van Chancellor. I will
always be a great fan of LSU Lady Tiger basketball.”
The 37-year-old Berry, who has
not spoken publicly since Chatman stepped down March 7, did not return a
message seeking additional comment.
One
Buckeye dad says NBA decision not made
Mike Conley, Sr., has told The
Columbus (OH) Dispatch that he is "100 percent confident" that Greg Oden,
Mike Conley, Jr., and Daequan Cook have not decided whether to leave
Ohio State for the NBA.
He indicated that all three
freshmen could at least enter the draft to give themselves more time to
assess their status.
College underclassmen have until
April 29 to enter the draft and until June 18 to withdraw. The draft is
June 28. The Indianapolis Star reported Friday that Oden's father, Greg,
Sr., said his son would enter the draft, in which he is the presumptive
No.1 pick. The story did not say, however, whether Greg, Sr., who lives
in Buffalo, was told that by his son or how else he came by the
information.
April
14, 2007
Quarterbacks will
rotate in ECU's spring game
East
Carolina completes its spring football practice today with the playing
of the annual Purple-Gold Game at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium beginning at
3:00 p.m.
Similar to
last season, the two teams will be divided up as "East Carolina" and
"Pirates." However, unlike coach Skip Holtz' first two spring clashes,
which pitted the program's first offensive unit against the top
defensive unit, today's rosters were compiled in true draft fashion with
alternating picks by ECU's coaching staff.
With the
exception of the top three quarterbacks on the depth chart, all players
have been selected to a particular team. Junior Patrick Pinkney and
sophomores Rob Kass and Brett Clay are expected to rotate at quarterback
between the two squads in order to get the maximum amount of
repetitions.
RELATED ITEM: VIEW EAST CAROLINA'S SPRING DEPTH CHART
Hoyas duo testing NBA draft
status
Georgetown
basketball coach John Thompson III announced Friday that juniors Jeff
Green and Roy Hibbert have decided to submit their names for the NBA
draft.
"Both young
men have worked extremely hard to position themselves for this
opportunity," Thompson said. "They have begun a process of information
gathering which is necessary for them to make educated decisions."
Neither will retain (agents) until after the early withdrawal deadline
(if necessary)."
Pirate netters
sweep Mount Olive, N.C. Central
The East
Carolina men's tennis squad posted its first doubleheader sweep since
the opening weekend of the season with a 6-1 win over Mount Olive and a
7-0 shutout of North Carolina Central on Friday afternoon at the ECU
Tennis Complex.
April
13, 2007
Change, addition
made to ECU baseball slate
The
schedule for this weekend's Conference USA baseball series between East
Carolina and Marshall has been altered due to the threat of inclement
weather.
The two
teams will play a doubleheader today beginning at 3 p.m. and then play a
single game Saturday night at 7 p.m. at Appalachian Power Park in
Charleston, WV.
The Pirates
are currently in sixth place in Conference USA with a 4-5 league record,
while Marshall is 0-6 and in ninth place.
It was also
announced Thursday that the Pirates have added Elon University to the
2007 schedule to complete their 56-game season. The game, which will be
played on Tuesday, May 15, at 7 p.m. at Clark-LeClair Stadium, was added
to compensate for the cancellation of the scheduled March 16 game
between ECU and Michigan due to inclement weather.
NCAA football
timing returns to 2005 procedures
NCAA
football rules will go back to 2005 standards regarding a couple of
changes instituted last season to shorten the time of games.
First, the
clock will start on the snap after a change in possession, as opposed to
the 2006 rule which started the clock when the referee signaled the ball
ready for play. The committee also returned its rules on free kicks to
2005 standards, starting the clock on kickoffs only when the ball is
legally touched in the field of play.
Two major
changes intended to control overall game times include moving the
kickoff to the 30-yard line, which should result in more returns, and
limiting the play clock to 15 seconds in televised games following
commercial timeouts.
The new
rules will also limit charged team timeouts, during televised games
only, to 30 seconds plus the 25-second play clock. Conference or
institutional contractual media agreements shall supersede this policy.
This will not affect non-televised games.
Boyle spurns
chance to return as Duke coach
In a
surprising move, California coach Joanne Boyle didn't take Duke up on
its offer to have her replace women's basketball coach Gail Goestenkors,
according to a Durham Herald report.
The former
Blue Devils player and longtime Goestenkors assistant interviewed in
Durham on Monday, meeting with athletics director Joe Alleva and men's
basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, among others.
She decided
Wednesday that her heart was in Berkeley.
April
12, 2007
Purple-Gold game up
next for ECU football
East Carolina finished the
practice portion of its spring schedule in cool and damp conditions
Wednesday.
While the spirited full-pad
session completed the Pirates' weekday workout slate, it also served as
a final tune-up for the program's annual spring game that kicks off
Saturday at 3 p.m. at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
"There have been many positives
that have come out of the spring and I'm pleased with that," said ECU
Head Coach Skip Holtz. "We've made a lot of progress but understand that
we still have the summer workouts and fall camp ahead of us. There's a
lot of work left for us to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together
and get guys healthy before we can even entertain the idea of getting
ready to play."
Holtz and staff have spent the
last few days defining their current depth chart to identify the first
and second units and conducted a player draft Wednesday morning to
select roster positions for the Purple-Gold game.
Similar to last season, the two
teams will be divided up as "East Carolina" and "Pirates" and each will
feature either the No. 1 offense or the top defense in order to display
competition between equal units of the two-deep.
Holtz also indicated the format
of the scrimmage will resemble a true game as much as possible with the
utilization of a game clock throughout all four quarters with live
hitting permitted in all positions. The only exception to the norm will
be the elimination of kickoff, punting and return situations. The
scrimmage plans contemplate that the Pirates will attempt all
extra-point and field goal tries.
"As is the case every year,
we're all looking forward to Saturday," Holtz continued. "The
opportunity to have another scrimmage situation, lining up and playing
in a game-day environment is critical to our continued development
because of the inexperience we have in many key areas."
Along with the game and
festivities of the two-day Pirate Purple/Gold pigskin Pig-Out Party,
many former Pirate greats and current or retired National Football
League performers such as Earnest Byner, Reggie Branch, Tony Collins,
Brian Rimpf and Jody Shulz, along with former coach Ed Emory, will be in
Greenville this weekend and present at the game.
Charges dropped against Duke lacrosse players
The Durham Herald reported
Wednesday afternoon that state attorney general Roy Cooper is dropping
kidnapping and sexual assault charges in the Duke lacrosse case because
the three players are innocent and were the victims of a "tragic rush to
accuse and failure to verify" the allegations.
Cooper said the accuser in the
case, one of two women hired to perform a strip show for team members
during a party last spring, wanted to continue with the case. But her
accounts didn't match up with any evidence investigators have turned up,
or with the account offered by any other witness to what occurred at the
party.
Navy, Pitt resume series with ESPN matchup
Pittsburgh's first football game
with Navy in 18 years will be a national ESPN telecast on Wednesday,
Oct. 10.
Originally scheduled for
Saturday, Oct. 13, at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, the contest was moved
to Wednesday after ESPN officials expressed an interest in making the
Pitt-Navy game an exclusive national broadcast, kicking off four
consecutive days of college football programming by the network.
Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m.
The matchup will be the only college football telecast by the network
that evening.
LSU
lures WNBA coach to guide women's hoops
LSU named Van Chancellor as its
women's basketball coach on Wednesday. Chancellor, who will be inducted
into the Naismith Hall of Fame in September, resigned from the WNBA
Houston Comets in January after winning four WNBA titles with the team
from 1997-2000. Before that, he was Ole Miss coach from 1978-97 and took
the Lady Rebels to 14 NCAA Tournaments and four elite eight finishes.
Chancellor, 63, replaces Pokey
Chatman, who resigned following implications that she had an improper
relationship with a player.
