Carter says future could be bright for SCSU Men

It takes Tim Carter a few seconds to find the word to describe his just-completed inaugural season as South Carolina State men's basketball coach.

When he does, the word of choice is more than understandable and fitting following a campaign which saw the Bulldogs lose the most games in school history.

"Without a doubt, I was say this was the most challenging year in my coaching career," Carter said Monday.

The 13-20 overall record only tells a part of the story for what Carter experienced in his first season. Taking over a program demoralized by three straight losing seasons and the controversy which ultimately led to the firing after one season of predecessor Jamal Brown and a brutal non-conference schedule, Carter faced the dual challenge of trying to erase the damage on the fly while putting together a winning product on the floor.

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Coach: Hampton U 'ahead of schedule'

Photo: Coach Kevin Nickelberry

Year 2 with Kevin Nickelberry shows the progress of a new era at Hampton University.

Hampton University men's basketball coach Kevin Nickelberry's glass is half full this week as he assesses his second season on the job.

His Pirates finished 18-12 overall, 11-5 and tied for second place in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Hampton, seeded second, fell to seventh-seeded and eventual champion Coppin State 75-74 in overtime in a conference tournament quarterfinal last Wednesday.

But Nickelberry isn't bemoaning the early exit or making excuses. He talked all season about working toward long-term goals for the program and continued to do so after the dust cleared on his second season.

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Coppin State falls to Mount St. Mary's, 69-60

Mount St. Mary's gets first NCAA win in three tries to earn Friday game against UNC.

DAYTON, Ohio - The Mount finally got The Win.

Mount St. Mary's, a Maryland school known for getting drubbed in its previous two appearances in the NCAA tournament, got this one started with a nice-looking win Tuesday night in the opening game.

A 69-60 victory over Coppin State set up a daunting second game for the Mountaineers (19-14), who immediately started preparing for their next opponent.

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Patience not for Ben Jobe--Part III

"From the 1940s on into the '50s and '60s, the greatest basketball players in this country and many of the greatest coaches - were black. Problem was, hardly anybody knew it." Howie Evans, sports editor of the Amsterdam (N.Y.) News

There are certain historical facts the average college basketball fan doesn't know. Most have probably heard of Clarence "Big House'' Gaines of Winston-Salem State, who won 828 games between 1946-93.

But how many knew John McLendon, who won 523 games in 22 years at five different schools, was the first college coach to win three national championships (1957-59 at Tennessee State)?

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Signs of times stay with Ben Jobe--Part II

Son of sharecropper says growing up in segregated South left plenty of scars

In his sunset years, Ben Jobe often thinks of his father. Much of what he became - and much of what he accomplished as an educator and basketball coach and valued counselor to hundreds of young black men during the Civil Rights Movement - goes back to the lessons he learned from an uneducated man with uncommon common sense.

"My father was a Tennessee sharecropper who couldn't read or write,'' said Jobe, the youngest of 15 children. "He always worked. He was a workaholic, and so was my mother. But they taught us things we'll never forget.''

One day the family was chopping cotton in rural Rutherford County. Ben, who was 7 or 8 years old at the time, looked up and saw a car passing on a dusty road. "Why do the white people got a car and we don't?'' he asked his father. "Why does Mr. Caldwell got a car and all we got is ol' Jake?''

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Ben Jobe helps tell forgotten story--Part I

Former Alabama A&M coach gives perspective to hoops during Civil Rights era

Dan Klores' initial idea was to do for basketball what famed filmmaker Ken Burns did for the Civil War and baseball.

"I was going to make the quintessential film on the history of basketball, starting with James Naismith and going right on up to the present day,'' said Klores, an acclaimed New York-based producer-director whose documentary topics included boxer Emile Griffith.

That was the plan.

"Then I got caught up in the forgotten story of basketball at the HBCUs - Historically Black Colleges and Universities - and how all that tied in with the Civil Rights Movement in the '60s, and that's when everything changed,'' said Klores

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ASU Hornets face big test out West

Photo: ASU head coach Lewis Jackson.

ALABAMA STATE AT ARIZONA STATE
When: 10 p.m. today
Where: Wells Fargo Arena, Tempe, Ariz.
Records: Alabama State (20-10); Arizona State (19-12)
On the air: TV -- ESPN2; Radio -- WVAS- FM 90.7

Things got very hectic very fast for the Alabama State coaching staff. After learning about 8 p.m. Sunday that they would be heading to Arizona to play Arizona State in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament, the coaches spent the next several hours making travel arrangements, notifying the players and tracking down game film.

Monday morning, they were keeping track of the players and family members as the team gathered at the airport for the trip. Then there was the plane trip out -- complete with a film-study session while on board. Then it was getting everyone settled at the hotel and preparing for an afternoon practice.

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Banged-up Southern University to host Coppin State

The Southern University baseball team, which hosts Coppin State tonight and has a key Western Division series this weekend at Grambling, is in a world of hurt.

Eight position players and two starting pitchers have a variety of injuries.

SU (5-7) hosts Coppin State (2-14), a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, at 6 p.m. today at Lee-Hines Field.

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JSU first opponent for LSU women quest for fifth straight Final Four

Before LSU can worry about traveling 70 miles down I-10 for regional play they must first negotiate the tough terrain waiting for them at home where they will face No. 15 seed Jackson State (18-13) — the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament champion — at approximately 9:30 p.m. Saturday.

The LSU-Jackson State winner faces the survivor of Saturday’s 7 p.m. game between No. 7 Marist (31-2) and No. 10 DePaul (20-11).All four first-round games in Baton Rouge will be televised by ESPN2.

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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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-beepbeep

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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