Grier to stay at San Diego rather than pursuing Oregon State job
SAN DIEGO -- Bill Grier said Thursday that he'll remain the coach at the University of San Diego rather than pursuing the vacant job at Oregon State.
"I have decided to stay at USD because I strongly feel in my heart that this is what is best for me and my family right now," Grier said in a statement released by the school. "USD is a great place and I look forward to working with our staff and players to continue building on what we have started here."
Grier interviewed for the Oregon State job on Monday.
Grier led the Toreros to the NCAA tournament and a 22-14 record in his first year as head coach.
USD won 14 of its final 16 games. The Toreros beat Gonzaga to win the West Coast Conference tournament, then upset Connecticut for the school's first victory in the NCAA tournament. The Toreros lost to Western Kentucky in the second round.
Grier received a contract extension just before the NCAA tournament.
"We are extremely excited that Bill and his family are staying with our team at USD," athletic director Ky Snyder said in a statement. "We look forward to him and his staff continuing their successful ways with this team and program. We couldn't be more excited."
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Capel agrees to contract extension after first NCAA bid at Oklahoma
NORMAN, Okla. -- Oklahoma basketball coach Jeff Capel agreed to terms of a contract extension Thursday amid speculation that he would leave the Sooners to take a job closer to home at South Carolina.
The new deal would keep Capel, who took Oklahoma to the NCAA tournament in his second season at the helm, at the school through the 2013-2014 season.
Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione said Capel's new contract calls for the coach to be paid $1.05 million per year plus incentives. In addition, the contract includes a stay bonus of $100,000 per year, payable at the conclusion of six years.
"I want to thank the University of Oklahoma, especially President (David) Boren and Joe Castiglione, for the continued belief in me and in our basketball program," Capel said. "Our program made tremendous progress this season and the new contract will allow us to build on our momentum.
After receiving a $100,000 raise last year, Capel had been making $750,000 annually on a contract that ran through June 30, 2012. He is 39-27 in two seasons at Oklahoma and recorded his first NCAA tournament victory as a coach last week against Saint Joseph's.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Boise State hopes uptempo game will crack Louisville
BOISE, Idaho -- For five seasons, Boise State coach Greg Graham has been cobbling and extolling and finagling to get a team into the NCAA tournament while grumbling fans accustomed to football success wonder why the delay.
This year he succeeded, and his reward is a first-round game against perennial contender Louisville and its larger-than-the-game coach, Rick Pitino.
"He would not be my first choice of a guy to challenge in the tournament," Graham said.
The Broncos (25-8), champions of the Western Athletic Conference, received the 14th seed in the East Regional and play Louisville (24-8), the third seed, on Friday in Birmingham, Ala.
"They're a veteran ball club," said Pitino. "It's as tough a first-round matchup as I've had since I've been a coach."
Seven of Pitino's 22 years as a coach have been with Louisville. He won the 1996 NCAA Championship with Kentucky and made it to the Final Four with Louisville in 2005.
Pitino also had stints in the NBA with the New York Knicks (1987-1989) and Boston Celtics (1997-2001).
The last time Boise State and Louisville met was the opening round of the 1994 NCAA Tournament. Louisville won 67-58.
"Louisville has a very good team, very athletic," Graham said, "and they're big. We're going have to battle them inside and try and control the paint."
Center David Padgett, a 6-11, 250-pound senior, leads Louisville with 11.7 points per game. Three other starters average more than 10 points a game, including 6-9, 220-pound sophomore Earl Clark at 10.7 points and 8.1 rebounds per game.
"Our defense is going to be tested a lot in this game because of the way (Boise State) plays," said Padgett, who missed 10 games after breaking his right kneecap.
Pitino is concerned about Boise State's uptempo game, a style of play he said is not used much in the Big East Conference but that Louisville experienced in a 78-76 loss to Brigham Young in November.
"One of our weaknesses has always been transition defense," said Pitino, whose team lost in the second round of the Big East Championship. "It can't be a weakness against Boise State, or we'll have the same result we had against BYU."
The Broncos can run the floor and in the halfcourt present additional problems with 6-9 Matt Nelson and 6-7 Tyler Tiedeman, who can play in the low post and average 15.6 and 14 points a game respectively.
"We need to make shots," said Graham. "When we shoot the ball, we're hard to beat. We like to put the ball up."
Reggie Larry, a 6-6 senior, leads the Broncos with 19.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game with his above-the-rim style and shooting ability.
"Reggie is more like their guys," Graham said. "He's just so athletic and can just do some things."
Guard Matt Bauscher, a 6-2 mostly shooting guard, averages 9.4 shots a game while, sophomore Anthony Thomas, a 6-0 guard, keeps defenses honest with his ability to drive to the basket.
Graham brushed off what making it to the NCAA Tournament meant for him.
"I don't know so much for me," he said. "It just shows we're doing things right and our program is heading in the right direction."
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Augustin's 22 points lead No. 9 Texas in 70-66 victory over Nebraska
AUSTIN, Texas -- A.J. Abrams spent the last week trying to work out of a shooting slump.
On Tuesday night, it took him 39 minutes and 19 seconds.
Abrams, who was 1-for-5 from the field in the first half, hit a clutch 3-pointer with 41 seconds left to lead No. 9 Texas to a 70-66 victory over Nebraska.
"Yesterday (in practice) he was worrying about shooting it," Texas coach Rick Barnes said of Abrams. "In that possession, we felt like he was due, and they did a really good job on him. That last possession they'll think, 'We let him go that last second' and that's all it took."
D.J. Augustin scored 22 points for the Longhorns (25-5, 12-3), who moved into a tie for first place in the Big 12 with No. 5 Kansas.
Aleks Maric had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Cornhuskers (17-11, 6-9).
Abrams' deep 3-pointer broke a 61-61 tie. He was fouled on the inbounds pass and hit two free throws with 23 seconds left. Sek Henry hit a 3 to bring the Cornhuskers within two.
Abrams added his second set of free throws with 17 seconds left to give Texas a 68-64 lead.
Henry's layup with 10 seconds to go had Nebraska within two points again.
On the ensuing inbounds, Connor Atchley's pass was almost intercepted by Maric but it was knocked away by Texas' Justin Mason who was fouled with 6 seconds to go.
"If I picked a player of the game, I'd pick Justin Mason," Barnes said. "The play of the game, it was huge. It was a bad call for Connor to throw it, and Justin made a great save right there."
Abrams was wide open right in front of Atchley and the guard made sure to let the forward know that.
"I just told him to give me the ball," Abrams said. "It was a little more explicit, but not to throw that deep ball at that moment."
Mason hit both free throws.
Nebraska got the ball to Maric but he missed a layup that was rebounded by Atchley to end the game.
Nebraska opened a 10-3 lead as Texas went 1-for-6 from the field in the first 5 minutes. Atchley and Abrams combined to go 1-for-8 in the first half.
"I don't think I lose my confidence," Abrams said. "My teammates do a good job of telling me to keep shooting it, and I'm not going to let them down."
Augustin and Damion James teamed up to run Texas' transition offense that took advantage of Nebraska's seven first-half turnovers to take a 38-25 lead.
Ryan Anderson had 14 points on 5-for-9 shooting for Nebraska, while Paul Velander scored his nine points on 3-pointers.
"They made shots, and we had careless turnovers that allowed them to go down and hit shots," Barnes said.
Augustin, who had four 3-pointers, was 9-for-16 from the field.
"(Nebraska's defense) was as good as it can get and we still lost," Cornhuskers coach Doc Sadler said. "He got 10 points from mid-range and was usually inside or on the perimeter.
"I don't know that their team is an inside-oriented team," Sadler said. "Atchley can come out and hit the big shot and their offense is so spread out. That's their game: pick and pop."
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Eaton basket gives Oklahoma State 73-73 victory over Missouri
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Byron Eaton scored off a drive near the lane with 1.7 seconds to go for his second straight game-winner in Oklahoma State's 75-73 victory over Missouri on Tuesday night.
Leo Lyons returned to Missouri's starting lineup after a 10-game absence and had career bests of 27 points and 18 rebounds. The 6-foot-9 Lyons missed only one of 13 shots, many of them from the perimeter, but it wasn't enough in a battle of Big 12 also-rans angling for a higher seed in the conference tournament.
Marcus Dove led Oklahoma State (15-12, 6-7 Big 12) with 15 points and 10 rebounds, his first double-double of the season and only his second time in double-figure scoring in nine games. Dove had three of the Cowboys' season-high 14 3-pointers.
Eaton had 15 points and freshman James Anderson added 13 points in his first game off the bench for the Cowboys, who built on successive victories over ranked Kansas and Texas A&M, the Feb. 16 triumph over the Aggies ending a 19-game road losing streak.
In a 61-60 victory over Kansas on Saturday, Eaton scored a career-high 26 points, including the game-winning free throw with 12.6 seconds to go.
Keon Lawrence added 13 points and J.T. Tiller had 11 for Missouri (15-13, 5-8). The Tigers fell to 12-4 at home.
Lawrence hit a runner with 33 seconds to go to tie it at 73, and Eaton killed most of the clock on the Cowboys' last possession while dribbling near midcourt. He pulled up for the winning shot, which popped out and back in.
Missouri didn't get off a desperation shot after Oklahoma State batted Darryl Butterfield's high, lofted inbounds pass around.
The 6-foot-9 Lyons made 12 of his first 13 shots, including several from the perimeter and a few near the 3-point line, while helping Missouri take an eight-point lead midway through the second half. He averages 12 points off the bench but had been behind defensive-minded Vaidotas Volkus, who has been hampered by a hip pointer and did not play.
Lyons locked up his third double-double of the season, and first in 18 games, in the first two minutes of the second half.
Oklahoma State has won four in a row in the Big 12 for the first time since the 2004-05 season. The Cowboys had gone 18 games since the last time they reached double digits in 3-pointers.
Anderson was the first player off the bench for Oklahoma State and hit a 3-pointer only 10 seconds later. He made his first three shots and led the Cowboys with eight points in the half.
Lyons nearly had a double-double in the first half with 14 points and nine rebounds for Missouri, which led by as many as seven points midway through the half.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Crouch's late jumper leads Bradley past No. 16 Drake 72-71
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Jeremy Crouch's jumper with 11 seconds left capped Bradley's 12-2 run that gave the Braves a 72-71 victory over No. 16 Drake on Tuesday night, the Bulldogs' first home loss of the season.
Crouch scored 23 points to lead the Braves (16-12, 9-7 Missouri Valley Conference), who held Drake (23-3, 14-2) scoreless for the final 5 minutes.
Bradley, winners of eight of its last 10, took its first lead of the second half when Crouch pulled up just inside the 3-point line and drilled an 18-footer to make it 72-71.
Drake's Klayton Korver missed an open jumper and Josh Young's desperation shot hit the rim as time expired.
Young had 23 points and Jonathan Cox added 15 for Drake, which has lost two of three as its heads into its biggest test so far, a mid-major showdown at No. 8 Butler on Saturday.
The Braves trailed 67-57 with 7:11 left and Drake seemed on its way to its 23rd win in 24 games. But Matt Salley and Theron Wilson made layups to bring Bradley within 71-67, and Sam Maniscalco hit a 3 with 1:13 left to make it 71-70. Young missed a 3 on the other end, and Bradley got the ball back with the shot clock turned off, setting up Crouch's game-winner.
Wilson had 15 points and Daniel Ruffin added 11 for Bradley, which exacted a measure of revenge after losing to Drake 69-68 on Jan. 16 on a buzzer-beater by Adam Emmenecker.
Young opened the second half with three quick baskets -- all on strong drives to the rim -- and added a long 3 and a jumper in traffic to give the Bulldogs a 46-34 lead.
Bradley used a 9-0 run to pull within 53-50 midway through the second half.
Korver then hit three straight 3s to put the Bulldogs ahead 62-53.
After trailing by as much as 20-9, Drake finished the first half on a 19-8 run to tie the game at 33.
The Braves played without sophomore guard Andrew Warren, the team's third-leading scorer at 13.1 points a game. He broke his left hand Saturday in a win over Creighton.
Bradley hit seven of its first nine shots to take the early 11-point lead. Drake tightened up its defense and pulled within 25-21 on a putback by Leonard Houston.
Jacob Baryenbruch and Cox hit consecutive 3-pointers to give the Bulldogs their first lead, 31-30. Ruffin hit a 3 as time expired in the first half to bring the Braves even. Bradley missed 15 of its final 20 shots in the opening half.
Drake committed more turnovers in the first 12 minutes, five, than it did when it set a school record with just four against Northern Iowa last Saturday.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Kemp's career-high 35 points lead Nevada past Utah State 85-80
RENO, Nev. -- Marcelus Kemp scored 22 of his career-high 35 points in the second half and a young, error-prone Nevada team avoided turnovers down the stretch as the Wolf Pack hung on to beat the Aggies 85-80 Monday night in the Western Athletic Conference.
Kemp made 4-of-8 3-pointers and 13-of-14 free throws for the Wolf Pack (16-8, 8-3 WAC), who had lost their last three games against league-leading Utah State.
"Marcelus is such a warrior. He loves the big games and the big moments," Nevada coach Mark Fox said.
Jaycee Carroll scored 24 of his 29 points in the second half for the Aggies (18-7, 8-2 WAC), who had pulled as close as 78-74 on Gary Wilkinson's slam dunk with 46 seconds left after trailing by as much as 64-46 midway through the second half.
Brandon Fields followed that dunk with a pair of free throws and Kemp made 4-of-5 from the line the final 35 seconds to secure the win for Nevada, which has won six of its last seven.
It was only the second loss in the last 15 games for Utah State, which outrebounded Nevada 36-33.
The Wolf Pack entered the game averaging 14 turnovers per outing but finished the night with only four, a sign Fox said his team is maturing offensively.
"I think you've seen that the last few games," he said. "I'm real proud of the way we handled the ball and that was a big key to this game."
Kemp, who also had seven rebounds and six assists, moved into third on Nevada's career scoring list with 1,757 points. He surpassed Alex Boyd, who scored 1,731 from 1967-70, and now trails only Nick Fazekas, 2,464 (2003-07) and Edgar Jones, 1,877 (1975-79).
"It's a great honor but the main thing is we won the game," said Kemp, who initially entered the NBA draft last spring but pulled out to return to Nevada for his senior year. "We just had to keep fighting. The team stayed together and we got the win. We kept our composure and stayed within our offense."
Armon Johnson finished with 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and six assists for Nevada, which finished the first half with an 11-2 run to take a 38-30 halftime lead.
"I just let the game come to me," said Johnson, a true freshman point guard from Reno's Hug High School. "The shots were there and I took advantage of them."
JaVale McGee added 12 points and six blocked shots, including one he grabbed and threw half court to Armon Johnson, who pulled up for a 10-foot jumper to cap a 16-4 run that put Nevada ahead 58-41 with 12:46 left in the game.
Caroll made 8-of-11 field goals the second half and scored 11 consecutive points for the Aggies -- including 3-of-3 from behind the arc -- during one stretch to single-handedly put them back in the game.
"It felt like he made 10 3s," Fox said. "He's a great player and a terrific representative of every school in the conference."
Freshman Tai Wesley had 13 points and 10 rebounds and Wilkinson 12 points and eight rebounds for the Aggies. Kris Clark tied his career-high 10 assists.
The game originally was scheduled Jan. 5 but was postponed due to a snow storm.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
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