Smart Spartan: Draymond Green pulls through at MSU
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) -Tom Izzo doesn't compare many players to Magic Johnson.
Draymond Green is one of them.
Michigan State's coach said the sophomore's intelligence on the court puts him in elite company, which includes the former Spartan and all-time great.
"He ranks right up there in the top, not (just) in the history of this school," Izzo said. "We've got a guy that's supposed to be at the game this week that was 6-9, a little better than him at recognizing things, but he's going to be right up there in the top five that I've known of."
Johnson is expected to be a famous face in the crowd when fifth-seeded Michigan State plays ninth-seeded Northern Iowa on Friday in the Midwest Regional semifinals.
It's a safe bet Johnson's iconic smile will be on display when the do-it-all Green is on the court.
Green says his savvy skills stem from learning how to play the right way growing up in Saginaw.
"Some of it is God-given and a lot of it comes from watching basketball and starting off with my uncle in elementary school and my dad," he said. "They really taught us the game. They never just rolled out a ball and let us play. Then, when I played for coach (Lou) Dawkins, we got up and down the floor, but he taught us how to think the game.
"And I've always just picked coaches' brains and learned from older guys."
Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker LaMarr Woodley, who is six years older than Green, was one of those guys at the Civitan Recreation Center.
"He always wanted to play with the older kids and we rarely let him," Woodley recalled. "When he did get on the court, he had so much passion that he would get right up every time he got knocked down."
Woodley has known Green since elementary school, where Green's grandmother was the librarian. He attended one of Green's games at Michigan State this season and rooted for him in person last year during the Final Four in Detroit. He plans to go to Indianapolis next week if Green helps the Spartans reach this year's Final Four by beating Northern Iowa and then either Ohio State or Tennessee.
Would the former Michigan star get decked out in green to support Green?
"That's my guy, but I'm not going that far," Woodley said Wednesday.
Michigan State wouldn't have come this far without Green, whose clutch play helped beat Maryland on Sunday.
Green made a go-ahead jumper with 20 seconds left. Then, after the Terrapins reclaimed the lead, he got the inbounds pass, dribbled up the court and passed the ball to Korie Lucious, who made a buzzer-beating shot in what has perhaps been the No. 1 highlight of this NCAA tournament.
Michigan State will count on the Green's passing and ballhandling now more than ever because star guard Kalin Lucas had a season-ending injury against Maryland.
The rotund 6-foot-6, 235-pound Green may not look like a guard, but his mind makes up for it.
"You're not always going to be able to outrun or outjump someone," he said. "You should always be able to outthink someone."
Green's combination of skills and smarts earned him this season's Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year award.
He averages nearly 10 points a game and leads the Spartans in rebounding and steals, ranks second on the team in blocks, and is third in assists and field-goal percentage.
Dawkins, Green's coach at Saginaw High School, recalls watching a 10-year-old making incredible passes and playing with a basketball IQ beyond his years.
"I couldn't wait for him to get to high school," Dawkins said.
Green didn't disappoint when he did, leading Saginaw to Class A titles both as a junior and senior.
"He's got so many intangibles going for him," Dawkins said. "It's like an all-you-can-eat buffet because you can pick and choose what you want him to do on the court."
Michigan State is going to want him to help Lucious as he steps into his new, pressure-packed job of trying to fill in for Lucas.
"His ability to see the floor is amazing," Lucious said. "It's going to help me a lot. If I'm getting dogged up the court or I'm winded, I can give him the ball and that will take a lot of weight off me."
As much as Izzo worries about playing at least one big game without Lucas, he's comforted by knowing Green will be his on-the-floor leader.
"He's so smart, he can pick up things in one film session," Izzo said. "He can pick up things in one walkthrough and other guys can't."
Copyright 2010 by STATS LLC and The Associated Press.
Ed secretary: ban NCAA teams with low grad rates
WASHINGTON (AP)-U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says college basketball teams that don't graduate at least 40 percent of their players should be banned from postseason play
Duncan told USA Today in an interview published Wednesday that the 40 percent mark is a low bar.
If a school can't graduate two out of five of student-athletes, Duncan asked, how serious is it about its academic mission?
Duncan was to address the graduation rate issue in a conference call later Wednesday.
Under Duncan's proposal, a dozen of the teams taking part in the NCAA men's basketball tournament this week would be on the outside looking in. That includes No. 1 seed Kentucky, which has a graduation rate of 31 percent, according to figures released this week.
College basketball heavyweights can go from champs to chumps quickly
One minute, you're flicking confetti from your hair and basking in the strains of "One Shining Moment." The next, you're on the ACC coaches' conference call, explaining how the defending NCAA champions might not crack the tournament this year.
"It's everything," said Roy Williams, the North Carolina coach, running through a litany of ills ranging from defending the dribble to capturing the backboards.
Welcome to college hoops 2010, an increasingly fragile world where yesterday's bully is today's slump-shouldered loser. If Carolina (13-8, 2-4) fails to make the tournament after a championship run, it'll be the second time it's happened in three years; Florida did it in 2008 after going back-to-back in 2006-07.
Big-name program in big-time jeopardy as we hit February. It's a phenomenon felt not only in Chapel Hill, but at a few other key precincts.
Just about everybody, it seems, did a major misread on the Tar Heels, who were preseason ranked No. 4 by the coaches but now have a 76 RPI computer ranking. They lost the top four scorers from 2009, including Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson, but there was extensive experience behind them and, as usual, a worthy cast of recruits.
In a balanced but not overwhelming ACC, Carolina has had trouble defending (10th in field-goal percentage defense at .419), scoring (a pedestrian 70 points a game in league) and ball-handling (an ACC-low negative 3.3 turnover margin).
Seven-footer Tyler Zeller is dealing with a second straight injury-marred season, this time with a foot injury.
The other day, Williams sounded as much as anything like a guy who needed a hug.
"We've had 61 practices now," he sighed, "and the things I've preached in the previous 21 years seemed to work. This year, those things haven't worked."
Sunday, Tony Bennett's Virginia team went into the Dean Dome and handed Williams' squad a 15-point loss.
"How can you go any lower?" Williams said to The Raleigh News and Observer. "Be honest. How can it be any worse than it is right now?"
Some other struggling giants:
Connecticut: With a 44 RPI, it's not over for UConn (13-9, 3-6). But its next two road games are at Syracuse and Villanova, a tall order for a team that makes fewer than four treys a game (329th in the NCAA) and is getting much less from guard Kemba Walker than it did the departed A.J. Price. Not only that, it's had the uncertainty of illness surrounding coach Jim Calhoun.
Louisville: This isn't one of Rick Pitino's better teams (14-8, 5-4) at either end, shooting 33 percent on threes. But it's hanging around with a 47 RPI, and Peyton Siva, the ex-Franklin High guard, has provided a lift lately, hitting 10 of his past 14 shots over three games.
Memphis: After John Calipari uprooted himself and his recruiting class to Kentucky, rookie coach Josh Pastner has made do with Duke transfer guard Elliott Williams (19.8 points a game) and ex-Washington signee Roburt Sallie (11.0). The Tigers are 15-6, 5-2, and with a 79 RPI, need a win over Gonzaga on Saturday.
Storm warnings
Two extremes on the practice of students storming the floor after a big victory: When Kansas State knocked off No. 1 Texas on Jan. 18, students began a chant beseeching each other not to storm. You know, act like you've been there.
And then there was Connecticut's four-game stretch over 10 days, in which the court got flooded three times: At Michigan, which upset UConn; by the Huskies themselves, for upending Texas; and at Providence, which knocked off UConn.
The SEC has a policy against fans on the court and last week whacked South Carolina for $25,000 for its celebration after a win over Kentucky.
"I'd hate to see us curb all these different things," says Michigan State coach Tom Izzo. "I don't want to take the fun out of it. We had the floor stormed at Indiana once back when we were No. 1, and a cop tried to help me get off the floor. I said, 'I want to sit here and enjoy it.' "
Florida coach Billy Donovan weighs in differently, saying, "When you have people running by and screaming things in players' faces, you're putting athletes in a position to do something that's not smart, and they're going to pay the price for it.
"I'd love to see them implement a rule that when the losing team gets off the floor, if [fans] want to celebrate, go ahead and storm the floor."
(c) 2010 The Seattle Times Company.
Defense, team chemistry fuels No. 23 Penn State's return to Top 25
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) --- Penn State's Julia Trogele remembers the grueling, defense-only practices coach Coquese Washington put the team through in the preseason.
The hard work is paying off in Happy Valley.
Once a staple among the Top 25 in women's basketball, No. 23 Penn State is ranked again after a five-year absence and defense is leading the way.
"Coach would come in and say, 'We're not going to work on offense today,' Trogele said Wednesday. "We can score, but we need to learn how to defend."
Lesson learned: The Lady Lions have held opponents to 34-percent shooting, the seventh-stingiest mark in the NCAA heading into Thursday night's game against Purdue.
Heady times for Penn State (15-4, 7-2 Big Ten) after four straight seasons of at least 16 losses, including the last two under Washington.
A six-game winning streak has propelled the Lady Lions into second place in the conference, a game behind Ohio State. The Top 25 ranking is the first for the school since finishing the 2004-5 season at No. 22.
Finally, Washington is seeing positive results after watching the team struggle since taking over for coach Rene Portland in the 2007-08 season.
"I want our kids to enjoy it, absolutely," Washington said. "But like I told them, 'Who was ranked 23rd in the country last year?'"
She said she got no response from her players. Then she asked them who won the Big Ten championship last year - and they immediately answered "Ohio State."
"Don't dwell in the past, and don't look too far ahead," Washington said.
But what makes Penn State's revival noteworthy is the women's basketball tradition built at the school by former coach Portland. She turned the program into an NCAA tournament regular, with 21 berths in her 27 years and a national semifinals appearance in 2000.
The often gruff and cocky Portland also was a lightning rod for controversy, dogged by allegations throughout her tenure that she discriminated against lesbian players.
She left after a 15-16 record in 2006-07, a cloud hanging over the program after the school settled a discrimination lawsuit filed by a former player.
In stepped Washington, who came to Penn State after eight years as an assistant at Notre Dame under coach Muffet McGraw. Washington was a standout point guard for the Fighting Irish before playing in the WNBA.
She helped lead the Houston Comets to their fourth straight WNBA title in 2000 and was an assistant coach when Notre Dame won the NCAA title in 2001.
Washington, who earned a law degree at Notre Dame, made an immediate impact with her upbeat personality.
But the change wasn't immediately evident on the court. Penn State started 13-6 in 2007-08, Washington's first year, before finishing on a school-record 12-game losing streak. Another 18-loss season followed last year.
Expectations for this year's team weren't high, at least outside of Happy Valley. Slowly, though, momentum is shifting behind a combination of savvy veterans and solid freshmen.
First-year point guard Alex Bentley is the second-leading scorer (10.9 points) while still learning the intricacies of running an offense. Washington said Bentley had a breakout game on Sunday in a 70-66 win over Illinois with 19 points, six assists and five rebounds.
"She grew up a little bit and came into her own in directing the team," Washington said.
Another freshman, 6-foot-4 center Nikki Greene, has started every game. She's tied with Trogele with a team-high 6.5 rebounding average.
High-scoring senior guard Tyra Grant (19.2 points) is the go-to player. Washington said she's expanded her game to get teammates more involved on offense.
Trogele, a vocal junior forward, is one of the last players on the roster recruited by the previous coaching staff. She said her first two seasons were marked by uncertainty among some players who weren't sure "where she was going to lead."
"I've always been on board, but I'm not sure everyone was one board," Trogele said.
Things have changed this year, to the point where Washington felt she didn't need to hold the preseason team-building exercises. Veterans like Grant and Trogele have stepped up as leaders and have grown more comfortable with Washington's system.
"Some of it was sinking in from the last two years, so there wasn't a necessity to spoon-feed it," Washington said.
With each victory, expectations grow from a loyal fan base eager to root on a winner again. Washington walks a vocal tightrope with her players, offering encouragement but warning them not to take anything for granted.
This year, leaders like Trogele are spreading the same message, too.
"The biggest thing we talk about is not becoming complacent," she said. "We have to get better every day."
(c) 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Calhoun takes medical leave at Connecticut
The announcement came with precise briefness yesterday: University of Connecticut men's basketball coach Jim Calhoun will take a medical leave of absence because of an undisclosed condition.
It is not cancer - something Calhoun has dealt with three times over the past few years. It is not dehydration, which sent the 67-year-old coach into the hospital during last year's NCAA Tournament.
Peter Schulman, Calhoun's primary-care physician, said in a statement that he advised Calhoun to take time off ''to address some temporary medical issues, none of which involve any previous medical conditions that he has dealt with.''
According to a source at UConn familiar with the situation, it is a condition that will be addressed by Calhoun and his family over the next several days and weeks.
The business of basketball, which will resume for the Huskies tonight against St. John's, will be run by associate head coach George Blaney. The Huskies host No. 1 Texas Saturday.
''Our primary concern is Coach Calhoun's health and his complete recovery,'' said UConn athletic director Jeff Hathaway. ''We will do everything possible to support Coach during this time.''
The decision came after Calhoun had a routine meeting with doctors, who were concerned about the coach's general state of health and suggested he take some time off. The Huskies have been skidding lately, dropping three straight games, the last a 68-63 setback at Michigan Sunday.
For Calhoun, who has won two national championships and guided the Huskies to the Final Four last spring, the last few years have been energy-consuming, to say the least.
In addition to a successful battle against prostate cancer and two successful bouts against skin cancer, Calhoun endured charges of potential NCAA violations last March. He also broke ribs after falling off his bicycle at a charity event last summer. Add that to a holdup over details in a new contract that would have added several years and a bump in pay from the $1.6 million he has made the past few years.
The combination of those things have added to the stress level of a coach with a highly-competitive nature.
Calhoun has tried to spend more time with his family in recent weeks. Over Christmas, Calhoun went to New York City with his wife, Pat, and several grandchildren.
During the Big East tournament last season, Calhoun watched as some of his players received honors and then commented to a friend, ''Right now, I'm standing on the first tee at Hilton Head.''
Normally, such a change of focus did not occur in Calhoun until the last whistle had been blown in the season.
While it is possible that Calhoun and his wife might simply head to their summer home in Hilton Head for some rest and relaxation and return energized for the stretch run of the season, it's also possible that Calhoun decides he has had enough.
He could decide the risk/reward portion of a Hall of Fame career that has produced an 816-348 career mark - seventh on the all-time list of wins - is too much risk and not enough reward.
(c) Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company.
Clemson hands No. 12 North Carolina another road loss
Trevor Booker scored 21 points, Demontez Stitt added 20, and No. 24 Clemson broke a 10-game losing streak to No. 12 North Carolina with an 83-64 victory Wednesday night.
The Tigers (14-3, 2-1 ACC) hadn't beaten the Tar Heels (12-5, 1-1) in nearly six years but used a first-half blitz to lead by 23 points in Clemson, S.C., and held on against one of their toughest Atlantic Coast Conference opponents.
The Tar Heels' endured their most lopsided ACC loss since falling 96-56 to Maryland on Feb. 22, 2003.
Texas 90, Iowa State 83: Freshman Avery Bradley scored 24 points, including 16 in the second half, and top-ranked Texas survived its first Big 12 road test in Ames, Iowa. Texas (16-0) opened the second half with a 16-4 run.
Kansas 84, Nebraska 72: Sherron Collins scored 22 points, and third-ranked Kansas bounced back from its first loss of the season with a victory at Nebraska.
Virginia 82, Georgia Tech 75: Sylven Landesberg scored 22 points, and host Virginia used a 16-4 run late in the second half to surge past No. 20 Georgia Tech.
Pittsburgh 67, UConn 57: Brad Wanamaker and Ashton Gibbs each scored 19 points, and No. 16 Pittsburgh won another Big East road game, beating No. 15 Connecticut in Hartford, Conn.
The Panthers (14-2) have won seven straight.
Virginia Tech 81, Miami 66: Malcolm Delaney helped Virginia Tech finally put away a ranked team, scoring 28 points with a career-high nine assists to beat No. 23 Miami in Blacksburg, Va. Virginia Tech raced to a 35-point lead in the first half.
UCLA: Center J'mison Morgan will be out for at least two weeks after partially tearing his quadriceps muscle in his right leg in practice.
Women
Louisiana Tech 92, San Jose State 48: Louisiana Tech dominated host San Jose State.
Coached by soon-to-be Hall of Famer Teresa Witherspoon, the Lady Techsters (10-4, 1-1 Western Athletic Conference) roared to a 56-22 edge at halftime and cruised over the Spartans (4-12, 0-3).
Shanavia Dowdell led the way with 18 points, as four Louisiana Tech players scored in double figures, and seven had eight or more.
Britney Bradley led San Jose with 12 points, and Marnesha Hall netted 10.
UConn 58, Marquette 43: Tina Charles scored 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, leading No. 1 Connecticut over Marquette.
The Huskies' 55th straight victory is the second-longest streak in NCAA history, passing Louisiana Tech's 54-game winning streak from 1980-82. They trail only the school-record 70-game streak set by the Huskies in 2001-03.
Baylor 57, Oklahoma 47: Brittney Griner had 12 points, 11 blocked shots and nine rebounds to lead No. 9 Baylor over No. 13 Oklahoma in Waco, Texas.
(c) 2010 - San Jose Mercury News.
Calipari reignites Kentucky fans' passion
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The sky hasn't been as blue over Kentucky during the past few basketball seasons.
With the team failing last season to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in nearly two decades, sports talk-radio hosts were making the transition to radio psychologists.
''There were fans who had this tone in their voices like they believed there was no hope, that it would never, ever get back to where it was,'' said Dick Gabriel, a sports talk-show host in Lexington who has covered Kentucky for nearly 35 years.
The Kentucky teams that had advanced to three consecutive national championship games, winning two in the mid- and late-1990s, seemed like distant memories of Big Blue past.
Slowly, Kentucky faded from an annual national contender to a nobody, falling out of the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since 1990. It no longer was at its once-comfortable spot atop the SEC.
''Kentucky fans had to square up to the fact that their program wasn't really relevant,'' Gabriel said.
It certainly made the sky seem less blue.
''Right or wrong, basketball is what Kentucky people ... hang our hat on,'' said Carol Behr, long-time manager of a bookstore near campus. ''There have been some years here lately where there's been nothing to hang our hats on.''
Enter John Calipari. Enter blue skies. Enter Kentucky at 15-0, heading into Saturday's game against Georgia.
In less than nine months, Calipari has taken an NIT team and turned it into an undefeated, third-ranked team in the nation. Kentucky's start is its best since the 1969-70 season.
The former Memphis coach brought in the country's top recruiting class, headlined by freshman phenom John Wall, who graces the cover of Sports Illustrated this week.
As promised in his more than 15-minute speech to the 23,500 fans who packed Rupp Arena for the first practice of the season, Calipari has put Kentucky ''back to the rightful place atop the mountain.''
Cats fans aren't needing talk-show hosts to play shrinks anymore.
''They're back to their swagger, their arrogance,'' Gabriel explained, ''their chests are all puffed up again.''
Tom Leach, radio play-by-play announcer for Kentucky, said the first time he realized that the Cats were back was when he looked around Rupp Arena after a blowout victory and saw that early 10,000 people had stuck around to hear Calipari's comments after the game.
''The fun is back,'' Leach said. ''It wasn't a lot of fun the last couple of years, but now the fun is definitely back.''
That ''fun'' comes in many forms. It came for the occupants of the more than 400 tents who waited for nearly a week in the rain and frigid temperatures to get tickets to the first basketball practice. In less than 40 minutes, the more than 23,000 tickets were gobbled up by fans hungry for a new season to begin.
It has meant thousands making daily stops at Calipari's paid Web site and hanging on his every Tweet.
When Kentucky defeated Drexel on Dec. 21 and became the first team in NCAA men's basketball history to reach 2,000 victories, it created merchandise mania.
Black ''UK2K'' T-shirts the players donned after the game became the must-have gift for every blue Christmas.
''We keep selling out,'' said Behr, the bookstore manager. She said her store and Web site have sold more than 10,000 of them.
Behind that shirt, the store had its best December sales in history.
The same shirt also was a hot seller at the competing University Bookstore down the street, across from Memorial Coliseum.
''It's much like the level of T-shirts being sold after a national championship,'' said manager Sally Wiatrowksi.
Both said they are planning in their respective stores for a Kentucky trip to the Final Four.
''The fans are so excited,'' Wiatrowski said. ''They feel like the program is back, back where it should be.''
(c) 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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