JSU women happy to receive respect with No. 15 seed

There were distinctly different reactions from the Jackson State women's basketball team as the Lady Tigers watched the NCAA Tournament announcements inside the Walter Payton Center on Monday.

Observers would have thought JSU's name was called when a graphic showed No. 1 seed Connecticut playing No. 16 Cornell in Bridgeport, Conn. Early predictions had Jackson State playing the nation's top team and there was a sense of thrilled relief in the air.

"I was like, 'Oh Lord', that's a tough team to beat," JSU guard LaSharee Christian said about UConn. "Once we saw Connecticut, it was like now we don't know where we're going to be."

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Arkansas-Pine Bluff basketball coach resigns

PINE BLUFF, ARK. — Arkansas-Pine Bluff coach Van Holt has resigned, saying he had “anticipated better results” but will continue to support the school. The school announced Tuesday that Holt offered his immediate resignation Monday and the school accepted.

“It has been a labor of love for me and I believe much has been accomplished,” Holt said in his resignation letter. “I take great pride in the improvements in the program and had anticipated better results and a brighter future. I will continue to be a supporter of UAPB.”

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MVSU Devils' Green shows he can still coach this game

Some reward James Green and his Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils get for winning their last nine games and a SWAC Tournament championship. They get fed to bears - the UCLA Bruins, actually. And they are the first course at a picnic in UCLA's own backyard, Anaheim, Calif.

This is basketball's version of human sacrifice, but that's not the point of today's column. The reward for Valley is the trip itself, jetting, for a change, to a game in the national spotlight and a taste of the big time. The reward for Green is, simply, validation. Not that he should need it.

The guy can flat coach. Of course, anybody who has followed his career knows that. Anybody who has read regularly this column in recent years certainly has read that.

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Short trip, rough road for Coppin State Lady Eagles

Photo: Coppin State 2008 MEAC Tournament Champions.

Not getting to travel bothers team more than magnitude of task vs. Terps

In the end, it didn't matter that the Coppin State women's team won its third Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference title in four years, that it won 16 of its past 17 games or that it has one of the slickest backcourts in mid-major basketball.

The NCAA sentenced the 22-10 Eagles to a No. 16 seed in the Division I tournament and sent them down Interstate 95 to College Park for a Sunday afternoon, first-round matchup against top-seeded Maryland in the Spokane Regional.

Assembled in a large upstairs room in the school's cafeteria for the ESPN selection show, the Eagles let out a whoosh of disbelief, then clapped at the proceedings.

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Coppin's turnaround fueled by seniors

Photo: CSU 6-7 senior power forward Robert Pressley,#40, Waldorf, MD/Southern Maryland Christian Academy.

After a 4-19 start that included a 1-17 stretch, the Eagles leaned on their five seniors to spark a season-saving surge.

On the first Saturday in December, Fang Mitchell slumped on a wooden bench inside the Coppin Center, contemplating the direction his once-proud Coppin State basketball program was headed. The direction was not good.

The Eagles had just taken a 28-point pounding against Morgan State, the second-worst home loss in Mitchell's 22-year career. As the venerable coach sat there, he bemoaned the lack of leadership and passion, but especially the lack of defense.

"I'm trying to find five people that make the game important to them," he said.

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Coppin, Mount ready for date in Dayton

Photo: 6-2 Senior point guard Tywain McKee is from Philadelphia, PA, Bartram H.S.

Eagles, Mountaineers hit road for play-in game, chance to make history in tourney

Dayton, Ohio - On some levels, it doesn't make much sense. Two Baltimore-area teams, separated by 45 miles, traveled west almost 500 miles to be here yesterday. Tonight, they'll play an NCAA tournament game that, one could argue, is not really an NCAA tournament game.

It is a bizarre scenario, almost like holding a family get-together in a stranger's house in a state that no one involved has any connection to.

But, at the same time, there is so much at stake for Mount St. Mary's and Coppin State when the play-in game of the 2008 NCAA championship tips off inside the Dayton Arena that the peculiarity of it matters little.

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FAMU football coach, Taylor says jobs are up for grabs

FAMU FOOTBALL
March 24: Spring practice begins.
April 12: Spring game.

Not every player on Florida A&M's football roster has a lock on his position. New coach Joe Taylor plans to make this spring one that brings changes for the Rattlers.

Taylor, who's made wholesale changes in revamping one of the previous programs where he coached, said he won't be shy if he has to do the same thing at FAMU. He took over the coaching position at the end of December, promising to turn the program around in the wake of a 3-8 season.

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NIT BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: ASU Hornets head West

Alabama State's first foray into the National Invitation Tournament will be a bit more involved than most expected.

The eight-seed Hornets will travel to top-seed Arizona State to face the Sun Devils at 10 p.m. on Tuesday night. It's one of the longest trips any team participating in the NIT will make, and one that caught ASU officials off-guard.

"We didn't know what to expect, really," Hornets head coach Lewis Jackson said late Sunday night. "We're scrambling around here now trying to pull something together and get us out there. We're hopeful that we can be out there by 5 p.m. their time tomorrow, but I don't know right now. It's a little crazy."

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MVSU Devils head West to take on UCLA Bruins

Valley faces long odds - 16th seeds are 0-92 against No. 1s

Hours after Mississippi Valley State had earned its first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 1996, the fourth in school history, coach James Green was on the road.

He decided to just make the 4-hour trek home immediately after winning the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament - making a quick stop at a Waffle House in Tuscaloosa for bacon, eggs and coffee.

"I felt like I wasn't going to sleep anyway," chuckled Green, who arrived at 3:26 a.m. "It was good. I talked on the phone most of the way."

Little over 14 hours later Green and his team learned they will travel to Anaheim, Calif., to play No. 1 seed UCLA inside the Honda Center at 8:55 p.m. (CDT) on Thursday. The Bruins (31-3) are the Pac-10 champions and have won an NCAA-record 11 men's basketball championships.

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Mississippi Valley must play UCLA before Bruin "home crowd"

NCAA tournament road is a carpet for one and gravel for the other. A straight and heavenly path for one. A potholed hell for the other.

Carpet for one. Gravel for the other.

A straight and heavenly path for one. A potholed hell for the other.

USC and UCLA received their directions Sunday for the Road to San Antonio.

But, no, it's not the same road.

One is going to be dancing, the other is going to be dodging.

UCLA, with the easiest path of all top-seeded teams, plays two simple games(first, Mississippi Valley State) in front of a home crowd in Anaheim, then takes its fans to Phoenix for two more winnable games, its toughest probably coming in the regional final against outclassed but second-seeded Duke.

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The way this writer described the road for USC applies triple for Mississippi Valley State. If USC is travelling on gravel, MVSU is running in quicksand

Morgan State and Alabama State receives no consolation prize in NIT

We are now beginning to wonder why each HBCU program that makes an NCAA or NIT field is nearly always ranked the last seed. This is a head scratch-er for Morgan State University that received an NIT berth as the number eight seed to travel to number one seed Virginia Tech to play the Hokies on March 19, 7 p.m. The Hokies are 19-12 and Morgan State 21-10.

The game will be televised on ESPN Classic for those with cable systems and satellite dishes that receive the channel.

Alabama State University has a more difficult road to travel going to Arizona State University, a number one seed with a 19-12 record. The 20-10 Hornets has to regroup fast for this March 18, 11 p.m. contest that is scheduled for television on ESPN2. Arizona State is purported to be the best team that did not make the NCAA Tournament.

Should we count our blessings that these two HBCU teams made the field of 32 for the NIT Tournament, or grumble that the deck is stacked against them with road games for the entire duration of the tournament, even if they win?

Well, there is always a chance of an upset and we wouldn't dismiss Morgan State and Alabama State, just yet. They are both capable of winning.

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Call a timeout on NCAA selection committee

Group's decisions defy expectations by creating situations that make very little sense

You want wacko? How about the NCAA selection committee putting a couple of Baltimore-area teams in the play-in game tomorrow night in Dayton, Ohio?

Instead of sending Coppin State and Mount St. Mary's to Dayton, maybe they should reconsider and bus the Eagles and Mountaineers to College Park now that Comcast Center is available. Maryland will be playing in the National Invitation Tournament at Minnesota.

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NCAA men tournament backet breakdown: Team-by-team analysis

Mount St. Mary's College vs. Coppin State University, Dayton, OH (Tuesday, March 18, 2008)

16a. Mount St. Mary's

LOCATION // Emmitsburg

HOW THEY GOT HERE // Won Northeast Conference tournament.

RECORD, RPI // 18-14, 159th.

NCAA HISTORY // This is third appearance and first since 1999.

KEY PLAYERS // G Chris Vann (6-0, senior, 14.4 pts., 3.1 reb.); G Jeremy Goode (5-9, sophomore, 14.3 pts., 5.5 assists).

THE BUZZ // In the Northeast title game, Mount St. Mary's held Sacred Heart to 29 percent shooting, 10.5 percent from the three-point line.

16b. Coppin State

LOCATION // Baltimore.

HOW THEY GOT HERE // Won Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament.

RECORD, RPI // 16-20, 228th.

NCAA HISTORY // This is the fourth appearance, and first since 1997.

KEY PLAYERS // G Tywain McKee (6-2, senior, 16.6 pts., 4.3 reb.); F Antwan Harrison (6-3, senior, 9 pts., 2.3 reb.); F Julian Conyers (6-6, senior, 6.7 pts., 2.4 reb.).

THE BUZZ // Seeded seventh in the MEAC tournament, the Eagles won four games by a total of six points, capped by a stunning, 62-60 win over cross-town rival and regular-season champ Morgan State in the final.


UCLA vs. MVSU

16. Mississippi Valley State

LOCATION // Itta Bena, Miss.

HOW THEY GOT HERE // Won Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament.

RECORD, RPI // 17-15, 223rd.

NCAA HISTORY // This is fourth appearance and first since 1996.

KEY PLAYERS // F Carl Lucas (6-5/Sr., 12.7 ppg., 5.5 rpg.); C Larry Cox (6-10/Sr., 12.4 ppg., 8 rpg.); G Stanford Speech (6-3/Sr., 10.8 ppg., 2.6 apg.).

THE BUZZ // No SWAC team has won an NCAA tournament first-round game since Southern shocked Georgia Tech in 1993. Jackson State drew Florida last season and lost 112-69.

After the thrill, into lion's den--Coppin State

Photo: CSU Coach Ron "Fang" Mitchell team becomes the first team with 20 losses to make the NCAA tournament.

Coppin-Mount St. Mary's winner plays North Carolina

Baltimore rippled with the excitement of March Madness last night when the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament bracket was unveiled. The shudder of reality will come later.

For Coppin State and Mount St. Mary's, two teams that beat the odds to reach the 65-team tournament, reality is a date in Dayton, Ohio, tomorrow night in a play-in game out of the East Regional.

Then there is this: Coppin (16-20) and Mount St. Mary's (18-14) are playing for the right to play North Carolina, the top-seeded team in the tournament, in a first-round game on Friday at Raleigh.

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Bethune Cookman's Chaney part of 'Black Magic'

"BLACK MAGIC" IS ON ESPN AT 9 PM EDT TONIGHT AND MONDAY NIGHT.

John Chaney knows what it's like to be poor.

"People don't really understand poor," says the Hall of Fame basketball coach. "It doesn't mean you have something. It means you have nothing. You're working to make ends meet at all times, and yet there's always someone worse off."

Chaney knows what it's like to be a second-class citizen.

"In the South, when I was growing up, blacks were being arrested for vagrancy if they didn't have money in their pocket," he says. "So my mother always made sure I had a quarter on me."

Chaney knows what it's like to be slighted.

"In 1951, I was the best basketball player in Philadelphia, but I had no scholarship offers," he says. "There were only two schools in the city that had black athletes at the time -- La Salle and Temple. The others had no black basketball players on their teams."

Chaney's story is one of the threads that ties together Dan Klores' four-hour documentary, "Black Magic," which ESPN will air in two parts Sunday and Monday nights without commercial interruption.

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Lucas' free throws cap MVSU 59-58 win over Jackson St.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Carl Lucas swished a pair of free throws with .04 seconds remaining to lift Mississippi Valley State to a 59-58 victory over Jackson State on Saturday in the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship.

The No. 2 Delta Devils (19-15) clinched their first trip to the NCAA tournament since 1996 while denying Jackson State a chance for its second straight bid.

"My teammates, they held it down for me because I started slow, and in the end it came down to me and I said I had to win it for them because they held it down for me," said Lucas, who was keeping his MVP trophy close throughout the postgame festivities. "No pressure at all."

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Suber, Coppin earn return trip to NCAA tourney

Photo: Senior guard Rashida Suber, #22 flips layup for winning shot in the MEAC Championship game with .04 second left in game for Lady Eagles victory.

RALEIGH, N.C. - Rashida Suber saved Coppin State not once, but twice in the final 22 seconds yesterday.

Moments after the senior barely avoided a five-second violation on an inbounds play with a crucial timeout, Suber came out of a scramble at midcourt with the ball, leading to a game-winning, belief-defying scoop shot that beat North Carolina A&T, 72-70, in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference women's championship game.

Just like that, Coppin escaped overtime and went from crying to, well, crying. "They were tears of joy," Suber said, a black MEAC championship hat adorning her head, after she delivered Coppin (22-11) to the NCAA tournament for the third time in four years.

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Coppin State's unlikely run still has legs

Photo: Coppin State University head coach Ron "Fang" Mitchell club is back into the NCAA Tournament with an improbable upset of Morgan State.

When the final buzzer sounded, on the far end of the court, Reggie Holmes was sprawled alone on the hardwood, completely stunned. He couldn't believe his Morgan State team had just lost. The rest of the country, at least those tuning in on television, was also in a state of disbelief. But they weren't thinking about Morgan.

As the party continued at the other end of the court - as players in blue and yellow jerseys piled on top of each other, high like a Dagwood sandwich - the most unlikely of improbabilities had just unfolded. If we're being honest here, who really ever thought Coppin State had a chance?

But the public-address announcer's voice boomed. He made it official: "The Battle of Baltimore is over. For now." Coppin topped Morgan, its cross-town rival, 62-60, in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference title game, putting a bold exclamation point on the most amazing turnaround in college basketball.

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Coppin State Eagles wins MEAC championship and NCAA berth

Photo: Senior guard Tywain McKee was unstoppable in the CSU Eagles upset of regular season MEAC champions, Morgan State University.

McKee scores 33, wins it for Eagles with :03 left

RALEIGH, N.C. - It ended the way Coppin State had hoped, the ball and the game in Tywain McKee's hands, and the clock running down last night in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship game.

Coppin couldn't have been in better hands.

McKee took Morgan State's Marquise Kately down the lane, then dropped in a floater with three seconds left to lift the seventh-seeded Eagles past the top-seeded Bears, 62-60, last night at the RBC Center.

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Jackson State's Lady Tigers crash NCAA party

Jackson State earns first berth since 1995 with upset of regular season champion

BIRMINGHAM, AL - Denise Taylor has coached on the professional level as the first coach of the WNBA's Utah Starrz. The seventh-year Jackson State coach has been named coach of the year in two different college conferences. She's even won the Southwestern Athletic Conference regular season four times.

But Taylor has never been to the NCAA Tournament - until now.

The Jackson State women will be one of 64 teams to compete in the Big Dance after a 63-61 upset of regular season champion Prairie View A&M in the SWAC Tournament at Fair Park Arena on Saturday.

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SCSU Football brings in some new faces

Photo: S.C. State head football coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough

Another spring, another round of staff changes for the South Carolina State football team. During head coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough's seven-year tenure in Orangeburg, replenishing his staff has become as commonplace as posting winning seasons.

In many instances, Pough has assistant coaches make an immediate impact, only to depart just as swiftly after receiving lucrative offers from Football Bowl Subdivision schools. Chris Rumph (Clemson), Billy Napier (Clemson) and Troy Douglass (Indiana) are among several former Bulldog assistants who were snatched up by larger programs after just one season.

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PVAMU Lady Panthers one win away from second straight SWAC title

Photo: Shavonne Smith, 5-7 senior guard, Riverside, Calif.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.- One more win is all the Prairie View A&M Lady Panthers will need to secure their second consecutive Southwestern Athletic Conference Title after a convincing 83-70 win over the Lady Golden Lions of Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

The Lady Panthers shot a blazing 49 percent from the field which included a 54 percent showing from behind the arc. Candice Thomas scored a game high 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor. Thomas also went perfect from the charity stripe going 5-of-5.

Freshmen Dominique Smith contributed 17 points off the bench on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor. Smith helped ignite Prairie View A&M's fast break attack in the second half which subsequently helped the Lady Panthers secure momentum of the contest.

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UAPB Golden Lions struggle from start with MVSU Delta Devils

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — As was the theme for the regular season, a promising start gave way to a disappointing finish for the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions.

Sixth-seeded UAPB, which easily won its Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinal game Thursday, was no match for second-seeded Mississippi Valley State on Friday, losing 70-59 at Fair Park Arena.

The Golden Lions (13-18 ), who were picked in preseason to finish second and opened with a 5-2 conference record, lost nine of their last 13 games.

Mississippi Valley State (16-15 ) will take on the Alabama State-Jackson State winner in the final at 6 p.m. today. The tournament champion will get the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

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Spivery: Southern University needs ‘pieces’

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Southern University men’s basketball team is looking to add players for next season, and to do that, the coaching staff has to make some choices in order to free up scholarships.

“We’ve got to do some recruiting,” Southern coach Rob Spivery said. “We’ve got to get a few more pieces.”

The grocery list could be one, two or three more players.

“We’ve got to find another perimeter player or two who can play with his back to the basket and be a decent rebounder,” Spivery said. “And maybe another perimeter scorer.”

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Alabama State's NCAA hopes dashed by Jackson State; ASU prepares for NIT

Photo: Alabama State University Hornets head coach Lewis Jackson falls short winning the SWAC tournament championship and NCAA tournament slot.

BIRMINGHAM -- After a dominating regular season that saw Alabama State lose just three times in conference play, most figured the SWAC tournament was a mere formality. For the Hornets to falter in Birmingham, it would take a perfect storm of bad luck, bad play and bad calls.

The storm hit Friday night.

ASU committed 16 turnovers, never looked in sync offensively, rarely got a loose ball or good roll and had close call after close call go against them. Fourth-seeded Jackson State knocked off Hornets in overtime, 77-72.

"Our offense wasn't running smooth all night," ASU head coach Lewis Jackson said. "I thought we settled for jump shots too much and allowed them to take away our inside game. They were more aggressive than us. Down the stretch, they fought harder for it."

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That's the way the ball bounces--on any given Friday anyone can get upset if they don't bring their 'A' game, as the Hornets didn't. Too bad that the representative from the SWAC will probably have to play in the dreaded play-in game for the 65th slot in the NCAA tournament.

Congratulations to Mississippi Vally State University (16-15) and Jackson State University (14-19) as they battle today for the SWAC championship and NCAA automatic position.

Congratulations to Alabama State University Hornets for a 20-10 season and the possibility of receiving a consolation prize of an NIT berth.

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