Calipari, Tigers reach contract-extension agreement
Updated: March 26, 2007, 8:41 PM ET
ESPN.com news services
John Calipari led the Memphis Tigers to a perfect Conference USA record this season before taking them all the way to the Elite Eight.
The run is not stopping there, either.
Calipari has reached an agreement in principle which will extend his contract through 2012, according to the school.
Terms of the contract were not yet available.
"This is my way to say thank you to John for what he has been able to accomplish at the University of Memphis over the past seven years," Tigers athletic director R.C. Johnson said.
Calipari's name was tossed out as a candidate for job openings like Kentucky even before Memphis lost 92-76 to top-seeded Ohio State in the South Regional on Saturday.
Memphis went 33-4 and 16-0 in Conference USA, and the Tigers' enjoyed a 25-game winning streak before the loss to the Buckeyes.
In seven seasons at Memphis, Calipari has posted a 181-63 record. Calipari owns an overall record of 374-134 in 15 years of college coaching, including nine NCAA Tournament appearances.
"We have had a tremendous seven years, especially in the incredible ride during the past two seasons and I look forward to continuing that success in coming years," Calipari said.
Information from The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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Richardson led Razorbacks to championship in 1994
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Nolan Richardson is taking over as coach of the Mexican national team.
"We had our press conference on Monday in Mexico City," Richardson said Friday. "They've asked me to try to coach the national team."
Richardson was fired from Arkansas in 2002 after an outstanding college coaching career that included a national championship with the Razorbacks in 1994. He also coached Panama's national team when the team qualified for the 2006 World Championships.
Richardson, 65, is from El Paso, Texas.
"There's been a lot of people in that area that are big time into Mexico -- wanted to see if I could somehow maybe get them qualified for the Olympics," Richardson said.
Richardson said the team will play in a tournament in Costa Rica in June, then an Olympic qualifier in Las Vegas starting in August.
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Terps fans: Don't blame the refs
Paul McMullen: Poor free throw shooting primary factor in Maryland loss
By Paul McMullen
Sun Reporter
Originally published March 17, 2007, 6:37 PM EDT
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.
Complain all you want about the charge called against D.J. Strawberry at the end of the Maryland-Butler game.
Down on Tobacco Road, in the press room at the Lawrence Joel Coliseum, the Terps got plenty of sympathy over that bad decision -- but do not blame the officials for the end of Maryland's season.
The Terps were 7-for-15 at the free throw line. Ekene Ibekwe, in particular, had difficulty breathing at the line, where he was 0-for-4. That's where Maryland lost the game.
If Xavier had to do all over again, would Sean Miller have the Musketeers foul with a three-point lead at the end of regulation against Ohio State? He could have given the Buckeyes two at the line, instead of opening the door for Ron Lewis to send it into overtime, where Mike Conley Jr. was sublime.
Virginia producing winners
With the Cavaliers joined by Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth, the state has three teams in the second round. Ditto for Tennessee, which has the Vols, Memphis and Vanderbilt, and Indiana, which has the Hoosiers, Butler and Purdue.
North Carolina has only the Tar Heels, a smaller representation than Nevada, which has its Wolfpack and UNLV.
Insert your own Pete Rose or Mike Krzyzewski joke here.
My bracket took a hit with the 8-9 games, but I also stunk on the 5, 6 and 7 seeds, going 2-2 in those games. Forget about beating you, I need to catch my son Don, who went 26-6 in the first round. If Illinois doesn't fold on Virginia Tech and Creighton beats Nevada, I get those swing games and lead the household. As Bob Knight says, I also wish it rained dollar bills.
Happy St. Patrick's Day. Recommended reading: Paddy on the Hardwood, A Journey in Irish Hoops by Russ Bradburd, a former assistant at UTEP and New Mexico State who spent a year in Tralee, Ireland, coaching and playing the fiddle.
This is Paul McMullen's 20th season covering postseason college basketball for The Sun. He will be filing online exclusive articles during the NCAA tournament.
baltimoresun.com (TM) and sunspot.net (R) are copyright @ 2007 by The Baltimore Sun.
Big 12 notes: General has views on bids
March 9, 2007
Fort Worth Star Telegram
Bob Knight thinks the Big 12 should get at least five teams in the NCAA Tournament.
And that includes both Texas Tech and Kansas State, regardless of what happens in today's Big 12 tournament quarterfinal game between the teams.
"Kansas State finished 10-6 in a tough conference," Knight said. "To me, they're a lock."
Most of the bracket prognosticators include Texas Tech in the NCAA Tournament and feel the Red Raiders will make it regardless of today's outcome. Texas Tech has three wins over Top-10 teams this season and has won five of its past six games.
While Kansas State finished ahead of Texas Tech in the Big 12 standings, the Wildcats don't have nearly the signature wins the Red Raiders have and lost at home to Texas Tech. Some feel Kansas State must win today in order to clinch a berth.
"I don't think you can put one game against an entire season or two games against an entire season," Knight said. "Kansas State finishes fourth in this league, a really tough league. I think they should be in it."
A working man
Thursday was the last game for coach Ricardo Patton at Colorado, who announced his resignation before the season.
But make no mistake, it's not a retirement.
"I'm a working stiff; I have to work," Patton said. "If you go down to Wendy's and you hear a familiar voice say, 'Can I take your order?', it may just be me."
More fallout
Several coaches privately have more or less agreed with Texas A&M's Billy Gillispie, who early in the week criticized Big 12 officials for a lack of promotion of both the strength of the conference and some of its teams.
They were also upset at commissioner Kevin Weiberg's comments this week that the league was "one of the five or six best" conferences
Unofficially, conference officials were not amused by Gillispie's comments.
Durant healthy
Texas forward Kevin Durant has not shown any lingering effects of the twisted ankle he suffered Saturday at Kansas.
He has participated in all workouts since, including Thursday's.
OSU's other home court
Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie laughed at the suggestion that Oklahoma State might have a homecourt edge for today's quarterfinal game at the Ford Center.
"Did you see the Pittsburgh game?" Gillispie said. "Well, just watch that game and see if there's going to be a homecourt advantage. They play games there every year. They have at least one doubleheader there a year where they bring in a marquee opponent. It's a real homecourt advantage for them, sure it is."
The Cowboys beat nationally ranked Pittsburgh at the Ford Center on Dec. 21.
OSU is winless on the road in Big 12 play but is 5-1 at neutral sites.
Staff writers John Miller, Mike Jones and Jeff Caplan contributed to this report.
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Virginia takes ACC lead with win over Hokies
March 2, 2007
It's been a long time since Virginia was in charge of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
With one game left in the regular season, Virginia is the surprise leader of the ACC after Sean Singletary scored 17 points and the Cavaliers beat Virginia Tech 69-56 Thursday night.
The Cavaliers (20-8, 11-4), picked to finish eighth in the preseason, wound up 8-0 in league play at their new John Paul Jones Arena and took a one-game lead over the Hokies, Boston College and No. 8 North Carolina, which lost at Georgia Tech.
The Cavaliers need only to win their regular-season finale at Wake Forest on Saturday to claim their first ACC title since 1995.
"It means we've come a long way," Singletary said of the opportunity few thought Virginia could achieve. "If we can get this win Saturday, it will just be icing on the cake."
Losing consecutive road games in the conference for the first time in three years, the eighth-ranked Tar Heels (24-6, 10-5) missed a chance to hold onto a share of first place.
"We were just so bad defensively in the first half, but I still go back and say that just because you're open doesn't mean you make shots, and they made shots," North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. "At halftime, I felt we were extremely lucky to be down seven."
North Carolina will finish its regular season this weekend when it hosts No. 18 Duke.
"Hopefully, this will get us fired up for the Duke game," Tar Heels guard Marcus Ginyard said. "I mean, that's what everybody wants."
In the other Top 25 games, it was No. 2 UCLA 53, No. 13 Washington State 45; 85, No. 6 Memphis 78, UTEP 67; Utah State 79, No. 10 Nevada 77, OT; and Washington 85, No. 23 Southern California 70.
Five conference tournaments were also in action.
In the Atlantic Sun's first round, it was Belmont 79, Gardner-Webb 61; Campbell 90, Jacksonville 85, OT; ETSU 77, Stetson 61; and Lipscomb 85, Mercer 49.
In the Big South semifinals, VMI beat High Point 91-81, and Winthrop topped North Carolina-Asheville 79-60.
In the Missouri Valley first round, Drake defeated Evansville 101-96 in OT, and Indiana State edged Illinois State 68-65.
In the Northeast Conference first round, it was Central Connecticut State 79, St. Francis, N.Y. 61; Sacred Heart 100, Wagner 68; Quinnipiac 78, Fairleigh Dickinson 77; and Mount St. Mary's, Md. 78, Robert Morris 61.
In the Southern Conference quarterfinals, Davidson 78, Chattanooga 68; Furman 73, North Carolina Greensboro 71; Appalachian State 78, Western Carolina 59; and College of Charleston 77, Georgia Southern 66.
In Charlottesville, J.R. Reynolds and Mamadi Diane added 13 points each for the Cavaliers.
"Today the key was just playing hard and playing defense more than anything," said Diane, who had managed just 10 points total in his last three games. "The offense just came."
The win provided a bit of redemption for Virginia, which was blown out 84-57 by the Hokies three weeks earlier.
Coach Dave Leitao said he shied away from the revenge angle in talking to his team and anyone else that would listen this week, but "obviously it lived in their mind-set, it lived in their spirit and they brought in a very workmanlike atmosphere today," he said.
No. 2 UCLA 53, No. 13 Washington State 45
At Pullman, Wash., Arron Afflalo scored 14 points to help UCLA beat Washington State in a showdown of the top two teams in the Pac-10.
UCLA (26-3, 15-2) wrapped up a second consecutive conference title. The Bruins had already clinched at least a tie with WSU, and the top seed in the tournament.
Kyle Weaver scored 14 points for Washington State (23-6, 12-5), which saw its hopes for the first Pac-10 title in its history end.
After trailing by one at the half, the Bruins made 11 of their first 14 shots to open the second half and pulled away from the Cougars in a game matching the top two defenses in the conference.
No. 6 Memphis 78, UTEP 67
At El Paso, Texas, Chris Douglas-Roberts scored 21 points and Jeremy Hunt added 19 to help Memphis beat UTEP for the Tigers' 18th straight victory.
The Tigers, who already had secured the Conference USA regular-season title, were lucky to escape the Don Haskins Center with a victory. Memphis (26-3, 15-0 C-USA) shot just 41 percent from the field and couldn't put away UTEP.
The Miners (14-15, 6-9) were within a point several times in the final 10 minutes, but were plagued by too many turnovers.
Stefon Jackson scored 19 to lead UTEP.
Utah State 79, No. 10 Nevada 77, OT
At Logan, Utah, Chaz Spicer made two free throws with 3.8 seconds left in overtime to give Utah State an upset, ending the Wolf Pack's nine-game winning streak.
Nevada's Marcelus Kemp missed an off-balance shot he managed to get off before falling out of bounds at the buzzer, but the ball missed everything and had barely landed before Utah State fans swarmed the court.
Stephen DuCharme led Utah State (21-9, 9-7 Western Athletic Conference) with 20 points and took the ball away from Nevada's Nick Fazekas to set up Spicer's winning free throws.
Fazekas finished with 20 points and Kemp scored 25 for Nevada (26-3, 13-2), which had already clinched its third WAC regular-season title in a row.
Washington 85, No. 23 Southern California 70
At Seattle, Ryan Appleby scored 22 points, hitting five 3-pointers, and Washington snapped a four-game losing streak.
Appleby and point guard Justin Dentmon combined for 24 first-half points, including seven 3-pointers. The Huskies (17-12, 7-10 Pac-10) hit nine 3s in the first half - more than their game total in all but three contests this season - and finished with 10.
Nick Young led USC (21-9, 11-6) with 26 points and hit 11 of 15 shots, but the Trojans lost for the sixth time in their last seven against Washington.
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