SSU's Wells conducts first football practice

Photo: Savannah State University head football coach Robby Wells.

Tuesday morning lights.

It's not the sequel to the movie "Friday Night Lights." It's what Savannah State's football team was practicing under at 5:30 a.m. at T.A. Wright Stadium.

The Tigers had their first spring practice and conducted a variety of drills for first-year head coach Robby Wells and his six assistants until 7:30 a.m.

For the next four weeks, SSU will conduct 11 practices from 5:30-7:30 a.m. The Tigers will have one afternoon practice and two late-morning scrimmages before wrapping up with an afternoon spring game April 12.

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Brooks, SU dominate Coppin State

Photo: SU Coach Roger Candor.

The important part of Southern University’s 19-5 win over Coppin State came in getting a solid, knuckle-down start from junior right-hander Sherrard Brooks.

Brooks, who had struggled in three appearances, settled down after a rocky first inning, got out of a jam in the second and dominated from there until coming out after the sixth.

For a team with two starting pitchers, Chris Donaby and Seth Monaghan, out with injuries and still trying to build its bullpen, having Brooks gain confidence is a big help.

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Florida Classic faces trouble

For a couple of days late last month, it looked like Bethune-Cookman's football team would be participating in two major events in Orlando next season. But the presidents of B-CU and Florida A&M quickly ended that speculation.

On Feb. 26, ESPN Regional Television announced its MEAC/SWAC Challenge game will move from Birmingham, Ala., to Orlando's Florida Citrus Bowl for at least next season. The game will be played Aug. 31, which is Sunday of the Labor Day weekend.

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This article title is totally incorrect--It should read: MEAC/SWAC Challenge in Trouble. The Florida Classic is going nowhere with a strong base of 68,000 -71,000 fans making it the largest game in history for the Florida Citrus Bowl facility.

Without the participation of FAMU and BCU, the MEAC/SWAC Challenge will be seeking a new home regardless of the sponsorship. This is a meaningless "made for cablevision" game. Folks have to remember the product IS the HBCU football teams, not the stadium, or the classic name, or whether the game will be televised.

Jackson State football means as much to Floridians as Delaware State football--they are not on the radar.

-beepbeep

NCA&T Aggies to play at South Carolina in WNIT

Photo: NCA&T Patricia Cage-Bibbs will face a South Carolina team that finished 15-15, 4-10 in the SEC.

GREENSBORO, March 18, 2008 – After heartbreaking loss in the MEAC Championship Game on Saturday, the North Carolina A&T women’s basketball team still has one more chance to win a tournament championship. The Aggies will play in their first postseason game in 14 years when they face the University of South Carolina on Friday, March 21 in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament at the Colonial Center in Columbia, S.C.

The brackets were released late Monday night. Game time is 7 p.m. A win could put the Aggies back in Raleigh where they just played three games in the MEAC Tournament because Friday’s winner will play N.C. State at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh NEXT Monday night.

“We had a great season,’’ said head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs. “I think playing in this tournament will remind people of that. Yes, we would love to play in the NCAA tournament. But in our case, you have to have had a great season to play in this tournament too.”

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ASU Sun Devils scorch ASU Hornets in NIT

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Alabama State played an angry team Tuesday night in the first round of the NIT.

Arizona State, which, along with many NCAA basketball gurus, believed it belonged in the NCAA tournament, took out its snub frustrations with a 64-53 victory at Wells Fargo Arena.

Alabama State, playing its first NIT game since 1983, made it easy for Arizona State to set the tone and build a cozy lead by missing its first eight shots of the game and 15 of its first 16.

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ASU opens NIT with easy win over Alabama State

One down, four to go.

The ASU men's basketball team certainly looked like a No. 1 seed Tuesday night in its 64-53 win over Alabama State in the first round of the National Invitational Tournament at Wells Fargo Arena.

For the first half anyway.

"The first half we came out with a chip on our shoulder," ASU freshman guard James Harden said. "Second half, I guess we got too comfortable. We had a little lead, got comfortable, then they made a run and picked up the intensity on defense.

"We just had to settle down to come out with the victory."

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Roundtree, Munnerlyn move to Alabama State Hornets

North Marion High School graduate William Roundtree and Vanguard High alumnus Tyrell Munnerlyn both signed football scholarships with four-year program Alabama State last week.

The former county standouts made the jump from the junior college ranks at Alan Hancock College in California to Montgomery, Ala., after both were honored in the Western State Conference as sophomores.

Roundtree, a linebacker, led the Bulldogs with 111 tackles and was selected a first-team all-conference performer for the second-straight year.

Munnerlyn, a wide receiver, hauled in a team-best 42 catches for 824 yards and 8 touchdowns. He averaged a hefty 19.6 yards per catch and landed on the WSC second team.

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S.C. State downs Jacksonville State in Tennis

The South Carolina State men's and women's team earned a sweep over Jacksonville State Tuesday with the men winning 5-2 and the women earning a 6-1 victory at the SCSU Tennis Facility.

The Bulldogs improved to 10-1 with their victory, while the Lady Bulldogs climbed to 6-1 on the year.

The S.C. State women return to action Friday when they host North Carolina A&T at 2 p.m. The men's and women's team will take on Norfolk State at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

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South Carolina State Men Capture WSSU Golf Tourney

WINSTON-SALEM, NC - Senior Cory Jozefiak and sophomore Hector Arroyave finished first and second in the field to lead South Carolina State to the team title at the 36-hole Winston-Salem State Golf Invitational at the par 71, 6,214-yard Winston-Lake Country Club Tuesday.

Hampton University was second at (346-307) 653, followed by host Winston-Salem State at (348-341) 689, Johnson C. Smith University at (390-390) 780 and North Carolina Central University at (489-406) at 795.

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PVAMU set to face Texas State in the WNIT

The PVAMU Lady Panthers are set to kickoff a 2008 Women's National Invitational Tournament run

FORT COLLINS, Colo.- The Women’s Invitational Tournament announced its field of 48 teams on Monday, March 17th with Prairie View A&M scheduled for a first round match-up versus Texas State of the Southland Conference.

Prairie View A&M enters the game with a 22-11 overall record while Texas State brings a 20-10 mark into the contest. The Lady Panthers continue to break barriers under the leadership of head coach Cynthia-Cooper Dyke as this mark their first WNIT appearance.

The Lady Panthers had a history making season as they brought home the schools first out right regular season title in women’s basketball. The Lady Panthers also made history by having three of their players selected for All-Conference First Team honors, which marked the most selections the program has ever received.

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PVAMU Panthers Football Ready To Begin 2008 Spring Camp

Photo: PVAMU head coach Henry Frazier receives celebratory dunking of gator aid after historic seventh win last season.



Prairie View A&M Panthers eager to start 2008 title run

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas- Fresh off a history making 7-3 season the Prairie View A&M Panthers football team is set to kickoff their spring workouts. The Panthers 2008 camp will be a valuable tool in assisting the PVAMU coaching staff with the evaluation of their talent as well as accessing needs of improvement.

“Spring football is a huge asset for our coaching staff,” said head coach Henry Frazier III. “The practice sessions give us a great indication as to how well our players are absorbing the schemes and fundamentals that we’re trying to teach them.”

The 2008 PVAMU Panthers football team will feature a veteran unit headlined by the return of over 45 lettermen. Frazier feels that his team’s depth and experience will pay big dividends for the program next season.

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BCU Wildcats Use Comeback for 6-5 Win Over Florida Gulf Coast

Lozada stays white hot with perfect 4-for-4 evening

Daytona Beach, Fla. - Bethune-Cookman University used an amazing four-run seventh inning to grab a come-from-behind 6-5 victory over Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday night at Jackie Robinson Ballpark in Daytona Beach.

B-CU (11-6) started out the day with two runs in the second and third inning, respectively, to go ahead 2-0 early in the contest.

Senior shortstop Jose Lozada's team-leading third homerun of the season came with a solo shot to left to lift the `Cats, 2-0 in the third frame.

Freshman starter Samuel Rodriguez seemed to have little trouble on the mound until the fourth frame when the visitors from Ft. Meyers, Fla. Took aim at the freshman.

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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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