Saturday, January 3, 2009

Solid Free-Throw Shooting Secures UK Women's Win over N.C.A&T

Box Score
Quotes
Notes

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky women’s basketball team hit 29-of-32 free-throw attempts, including 13-of-14 in the final four minutes to lead the Wildcats to their fourth consecutive win with a 72-63 win over North Carolina A&T on Thursday night in Memorial Coliseum.

It was a sloppy game from the start as both teams seemed out of rhythm and sluggish. The teams committed a combined 24 turnovers in the opening half, 13 from the Blue and White. With the game knotted at 22 apiece with 1:43 left in the half, the Wildcats finally kicked it into gear thanks in large part to the heady play of Dunlap. The sophomore All-Southeastern Conference performer grabbed two defensive rebounds and scored the next seven consecutive points, including an old-fashioned three-point play, to give the Cats a seven-point 28-22 lead with 40 seconds to go. UK went on to lead 29-25 at the break after a three-pointer by Brittanie Taylor-James of N.C. A&T.

In the second half, the Wildcats seemed to be pulling away from the Aggies after Morrow and Edelen combined to hit two three-pointers a piece in the first eight minutes of action. Their hot shooting sparked a 16-2 run, giving the Cats a 46-30 lead en route to an eventual game-high 19-point advantage with 4:34 remaining. However, turnovers continued to plague the Cats and North Carolina A&T (6-5) took full advantage of UK’s season high-tying 26 miscues. The Aggies, led by 25 points from Taylor-James, held the Cats without a field goal for the final four minutes and pulled within seven (66-59) with 1:05 left. The Cats remained poised down the stretch, hitting 13-of-14 free-throw attempts in the final 3:36 to take the 72-63 win.

“We were very happy to get this win because North Carolina A&T has a very good team,” Mitchell said. “While we didn’t play our best tonight, I was pleased that we went on a big run in the second half to get control of the game. We didn’t finish off the game particularly well, but still a good win for us and we are happy with the win.”

CONTINUE READING, CLICK BLOG TITLE.

SWAC preview 2009

Excerpt:


Men: Is the glass half-empty?

1. What’s the state of SWAC men’s basketball?
Simply put, it’s not good. Sixteen years ago, when Southern upset Georgia Tech in the 1993 NCAA Tournament, the Jaguars were a No. 13 seed. These days, the mere thought of a 13th-seeded SWAC team is laughable.

Of the 31 conferences in Division I men’s basketball, the SWAC currently ranks dead last; teams often spend their nonconference season playing “guarantee” games, and they all have grim records to show for it. Alabama State has the best record at 3-7. Southern is 0-12 — but two more teams, including Texas Southern, have it worse at 0-13. Of course, with that in mind, maybe the Jaguars have a shot at a decent conference record.

Women: Or is it half-full?

1. Has the SWAC improved? According to the latest RPI ratings, it still ranks 31st among Division I conferences. Still, SU ninth-year coach Sandy Pugh said she thinks the SWAC has improved. “When I came into this league, I basically walked in with four players — and of those four players, two of them were the top two players in the league,” Pugh said. “The recruitment here in the conference has grown.” So has the coaching pedigree. It started with Freda Freeman-Jackson at Alabama State and continued with Pugh. More recently, Cynthia Cooper-Dyke has turned Prairie View from also-ran to league favorite in a short time.

CONTINUE READING, CLICK BLOG TITLE.

Auditors: UAPB Payment to coach broke law

State auditors said Monday that the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff had no statutory authority to pay $175,000 in severance to its former football coach by funneling the money through its alumni association. A finding by the Division of Legislative Audit stated that the attorney general has opined that using public funds for private purposes likely violates the "public purpose" doctrine that public funds should be used for public purposes and, thus the "illegal exaction" provision of Article 16, Section 13 in the Arkansas Constitution.

University officials said the Arkansas Supreme Court has already ruled that severance paid to former Little Rock Superintendent Roy Brooks didn't violate the state constitution. "How did you all pay off the superintendent of Little Rock?" asked UAPB Chancellor Lawrence Davis of reporters after the meeting. "Our attorneys said we had a precedent in that case."

Davis said paying the money to the alumni association was the only option to meet the terms of former coach Maurice Forte's contract that included language that any severance would be paid by a third party. Forte was fired in November 2007. "We don't have a strong support group right now. So we said we'll let you have it, take care of it for us, and we'll get it back eventually," Davis said. By negotiating a severance with Forte, "we saved some money," Davis said. "We had to make a change, I'm telling you, somehow."

CONTINUE READING, CLICK BLOG TITLE.

SWAC teams feel lost on the road

Photo: UAPB First Year Men's Basketball Coach George Ivory (right) with Athletic Director Louis B. 'Skip' Perkins (left), the architect behind the Golden Lions ELEVEN guaranteed games -- through four time zones -- out of conference schedule.

The San Diego Union-Tribune referred to the UAPB Golden Lions as "mercenaries bouncing from gym to gym picking up a paycheck." The same is true of the entire SWAC with a current record of 15-101, with three teams --Southern, Texas Southern and Mississippi Valley currently at 0-38.

Duer Sharp has a problem: His basketball teams can't stop losing.

Sharp celebrated his first full year as commissioner of the Southwestern Athletic Conference on Friday, but there wasn't much to celebrate. When you're presiding over arguably the worst of the 31 Division I basketball conferences, self-congratulation seems rather inappropriate. Sharp will be the first to say the SWAC, made up of 10 small, Southern, historically black colleges, has a problem with basketball. When those teams begin conference play tonight, the men's teams will be doing so with a combined record of 15-101. Three of those men's teams - Southern, Texas Southern and Mississippi Valley State - currently sit at 0-38. The women's teams have fared slightly better, going 20-75 since the start of the season.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff's men's team, which opens SWAC play at 7 p.m. tonight against Mississippi Valley State in Pine Bluff, could be the poster child for the problem. The Golden Lions are 1-10 after an 11-game road trip that included losses at Texas A&M (76-47), Missouri (95-41) and San Diego State (93-61). UAPB received between $75,000 and $80,000 for each game, and pocketed a total of $715,000 for the 11-game ordeal. Skip Perkins, the university's athletic director, said such "guarantee" games are necessary for keeping UAPB's cash-strapped athletic department in the black.

The SWAC's other nine schools face similar problems, and each loads its schedule with guarantee games as a solution. But some, including Sharp, worry that irreparable damage is being done in the process. "We cannot continue to have this situation," said Sharp, who plans to bring the issue to the conference's 10 school presidents at its annual meeting in May.

CONTINUE READING, CLICK BLOG TITLE.

READ RELATED ARTICLES:
Audit: UAPB improperly paid severance to ex-coach
Auditors: Payment to coach broke law
UAPB Band To Play Inauguration
UAPB band to play at Obama inauguration
VETERANS GIVE UAPB CHANCE TO MAKE RUN DURING SWAC SEASON
UAPB TRYING TO END LOSING STREAK AT 7
Aztecs pummel road-weary foes

Friday, January 2, 2009

Orlando's Citrus Bowl in sad state of disrepair

Seedy venue gives the city a black eye; home to Florida A&M University vs. Bethune-Cookman University annual "Florida Classic" that holds all-time Citrus Bowl football game record for attendance at 73,358 (2003).

Since 1997, a total of 689,592 fans have watched the Florida Classic in the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium, an average of 68,708 per year. The game is televised nationally by ESPNU as a part of a multi-year contract with the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). For the last two games, the game has been televised by ESPN Classic.

This is the best bowl trip in America. Best attractions. Best weather. Best hotels. One of the best payouts. Some of the best TV ratings. And then you show up at the stadium for the actual game.

"This place is a dump," says Tim Butera, a Michigan State fan from Washington, D.C., who was in town to watch Georgia's 24-12 victory over the Spartans Thursday. It's old and nasty," says Greg Stillwell, a Georgia fan from Palm City who was attending Thursday's game with his wife, Jennifer.

Better get used to it. Because of the slumping economy, it's looking more and more like this nasty, dumpy ol' Citrus Bowl will be the dingy, dog-eared face of Orlando sports for tourists who come here for holiday bowl games. Then again, we might not have to worry about it. If the stadium doesn't get renovated — and it's looking more and more like it won't — then the Capital One Bowl, the Champs Sports Bowl and other major college football games might not be here much longer anyway.

"A 63-year bowl tradition is at risk," warns Steve Hogan, executive director of Florida Citrus Sports, the non-profit group that organizes Orlando's college football games. Hogan tries to be the optimist and says a $250 million stadium renovation is "not a matter of if, but when." Maybe so, but it's hard to imagine that Hogan's "when" is going to be anytime soon. But more than 100,000 fans attended two bowl games here this week. And that doesn't count the annual Florida A&M-Bethune-Cookman game or future regular-season games involving Notre Dame and Florida State that are contingent on a new stadium being built.

CONTINUE READING, CLICK BLOG TITLE.

READ RELATED ARTICLES:
FAMU construction nearly done
FAMU athletic department faces tough economic decisions
FAMU's Marching 100 needs cash to make inaugural parade
FAMU Marching 100 to Perform at Inauguration
Bethune-Cookman University Athletics

Landers completes journey at Grambling, headed to Division II Shaw University program

Fourth-year starter Brandon Landers was declared academically ineligible on the eve of the fall 2008 practices and did not play in the Tigers championship season.

GRAMBLING, LA — Brandon Landers, the playmaking former Carroll High and Grambling quarterback, only gained a few yards on Friday morning. They meant more than any touchdown. Landers walked across the stage at GSU to accept a criminal justice degree, something that once seemed unlikely after the fifth-year senior starter was lost to ineligibility last August. “To come so close and fall so short,” Landers said, “I had to stay positive.”

Landers, who continued his studies while working as an assistant coach last season at Richwood High, will finish his playing days at Shaw University, a North Carolina Division II program. Shaw, which just earned its second consecutive Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship, is led by former Jackson State coach Darrell Asberry. His staff includes ex-GSU running back Vyron Brown, an assistant at Grambling during Landers’ tenure. The Monroe native also sought advice from several members of the current GSU staff who have deep roots in the North Carolina area.

CONTINUE READING, CLICK BLOG TITLE.

Harris' exit from NFL's Jaguars was all about the green

James “Shack” Harris, the local quarterbacking hero, found a pursuer he couldn’t outrun this season. Harris, vice president of player personnel for the Jacksonville Jaguars since 2003, was ousted last week after the club stumbled amid Super Bowl expectations. Not the starting passer. Not the coach. Those guys own new goal-mine contracts. It was Harris, somehow, who got the shaft.

Granted, it’s true this was one of the NFL’s most confusing turnarounds. Jacksonville came into 2008 having posted an 11-5 mark and a playoff victory over Pittsburgh the year before. With principal rival Indianapolis struggling, the Jaguars were a trendy pick to go all the way. But pre-season predictions like that are based on talent – something put in place by the front office, where Harris sat.


Photo Gallery: Memories of Doug and Shack

CONTINUE READING, CLICK BLOG TITLE.

READ RELATED ARTICLES:
Grambling's 'Shack' Harris leaves front office job with NFL's Jaguars
Jaguars sad to see 'Shack' Harris go
Grambling's Broadway collects another coaching award
Tulane tops Grambling men in New Orleans
Grambling's 'Shack' Harris leaves front office job with NFL's Jaguars
GRAMBLING FOOTBALL SEASON REVIEW: Steady progress led to surprising success
Carroll, Grambling legend 'Shack' Harris resigns from NFL's Jaguars