No. 17 Arizona St. hands Stanford 1st loss 90-60
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) --- Jeff Pendergraph scored 21 of his career-high 31 points in the first half and No. 17 Arizona State handed Stanford its first loss of the season, 90-60 on Friday night in the Pac-10 opener for both teams.
Pendergraph's strong play inside helped the Sun Devils (12-1) overcome a scoreless first half by Pac-10 scoring leader James Harden and extend the best start for the school since going 15-1 in 1974-75.
Harden, who came into the game averaging 23.7 points, missed his first five shots but ended up with 17 points to go with a career-high tying 10 assists.
The Cardinal (10-1) came into the game as one of six unbeaten teams remaining in Division I, but their soft nonconference schedule raised questions as to whether undefeated or untested was a better description for Stanford heading into the Pac-10 season. Arizona State answered that question quickly.
Facing their first ranked opponent of the season, the Cardinal couldn't handle the step up in competition and suffered their most lopsided loss ever in the series and biggest Pac-10 loss since a 90-58 defeat to Arizona in 1998.
That leaves No. 1 North Carolina, No. 3 Pittsburgh, No. 6 Wake Forest, No. 20 Clemson and Illinois State as the only undefeated teams in the country.
Lacking a dominant post presence following the decision by the Lopez twins to leave school early and enter the NBA draft last year, Stanford and had no answer inside for Pendergraph and lost for the first time under new coach Johnny Dawkins.
Pendergraph scored the first basket of the game and didn't slow down the rest of the half. In one stretch, he scored all 13 points for Arizona State during a 13-4 run. He got two dunks off nice feeds from Harden, who played in a distributor role, and also had an impressive alley-oop from Derek Glasser to give the Sun Devils a 34-18 lead late in the first half.
The Sun Devils led 43-30 at the half, shooting 60 percent while holding the Cardinal to just 38.7 percent from the filed and 1-of-11 from 3-point range. The deficit didn't get below double-figures the rest of the way.
Glasser scored 13 points for the Sun Devils, who have won eight straight since an early season loss to Baylor. Pendergraph added 11 rebounds and finished 14-for-19 from the field.
Arizona State won for just the second time in its last 11 trips to Maples Pavilion and has now won two straight overall in the series after losing 18 of 20 to the Cardinal.
Lawrence Hill led Stanford with 14 points. The Cardinal shot just 37.5 percent for the game, including 2-for-18 from 3-point range.
Copyright (c) 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
NCAA College Basketball Review
At this early stage, it's hard to figure out which college basketball team will come out on top in the NCAA tournament. Sports bettors are making their picks by staying focused on the strongest teams as the season begins to unfold. There are a few teams that seem to be standing out among the rest. They played with amazing performance last year and they are coming around in full swing again this season. Even though some key players were lost, their confidence remains strong and their performance on the court hasn't wavered.
The UCLA Bruins placed first last year. They are also expected to be equally as impressive this season. Although they lost some key players, UCLA is will still most likely come out ahead. They gained a strong player with Kevin Love. So far, experts say that UCLA is the best pick this season.
The Memphis Tigers have been performing extremely well so far. They came in 2nd last season and they are doing just as well this year. As with the Bruins, they have soffered the loss of some key players. However, they have gained some strength with new players such as Joey Dorsey and Derrick Rose. Dorsey won Defensive Player of the Year from Conference USA. Memphis definitely seems to be a smart pick this year.
The North Carolina Tar Heels seem to be another solid team this year, even though they lost Brandan Wright who left for the NBA this year. However, the team has gained William Graves who is a strong new player and has done very well so far. Graves is very large so he'll probably be playing under the basket in many games. North Carolina plays a great running game but they've been known to stay away from the 3 point shots in previous games. It's uncertain if this will become their deficit or if their fast under the basket strategy work well for them.
(c) 2008 Associated Content, Inc.
A funny thing happened over the weekend.
Fresh off of North Carolina's drubbing of Michigan State and Duke's dismissal of Purdue in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, I was preparing to use this space to pronounce an early December demise for the Big Ten. These are dark days in the Midwest, as the conference's vaunted football programs have suffered the dreaded slide into mediocrity. The golden child, Ohio State, has been thoroughly bashed from coast-to-coast, and one-loss Penn State not only never figured into the national championship discussion, but it'll be considered a successful trip to Pasadena if they stay within two touchdowns of USC.
The same gloominess looked certain to carryover onto the hard courts. Once a March Madness mainstay, the Big Ten has held less than a dozen entries into the last two NCAA tournaments combined. For a conference that long boasted gritty, physical teams from one through 10 (err, 11), the recent fall-off in depth was staggering.
The first days of the 2008-09 season looked to be just a continuation of the backslide, as conference favorite and preseason top 10 elite Michigan State not only got embarrassed in Detroit by the Tar Heels, but also lost on a neutral site to an unproven Maryland squad. Combined with that, the Hoosier state, the traditional breadbasket of the conference's hoop dreams, offered consecutive losses by highly touted Purdue and a 4-4 start by Indiana, including a horrific two-point win over Chaminade in Maui.
So it only made sense as I watched the conference I knew best struggling to prepare a eulogy. I was willing to overlook an encouraging five-win showing by the Big Ten in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. And I was expecting, Duke and Notre Dame to pile on the last few shovelfuls of dirt against Michigan and Ohio State, respectively. But then that funny thing happened.
The Wolverines controlled the Blue Devils all afternoon in Ann Arbor. John Beilein's funky 1-3-1 zone and a poor shooting day for Coach K's crew led to the day's first upset of a top-10 team by an unranked Big Ten underdog. And then the Buckeyes, with sophomore Dallas Lauderdale holding Luke Harangody at bay for most of the day, sounded the second blast. Hmm, maybe the funeral was too early?
At that point, I looked back the ACC/Big Ten games I dismissed so readily and the evidence pointed to a different angle. Sure, the ACC's top two throttled the Big Ten's. But wouldn't that be the case with most conferences? Do you think Oklahoma and Texas would do much better against two of college basketball's blue bloods?
But beyond those two blowouts, the Big Ten handled itself fairly well. The aforementioned Buckeyes won at previously ranked Miami. Minnesota, the Midwest's best-kept secret, handled a wild card Virginia squad and has since moved to 8-0. Iowa, a team far more dangerous in their home whites, fell a few free throws away from pushing Boston College to overtime in Beantown. And the surprise of all surprises, doormats Northwestern and Penn State found their own wins in the Challenge.
While the Big Ten is at least taking steps toward being "back," let's not get ahead of ourselves. The Spartans, and to a lesser extend the Boilermakers, did plenty to undermine their credibility as national players in their losses to this point. And intra-conference attrition will certainly take its toll once league play starts.
But beyond those black eyes, the conference looks much deeper than it has in at least three years. There are at least seven teams that can cast credible glances toward the Big Dance at this moment, which is well ahead of where the league has found itself come the last couple of Selection Sundays. Big Ten fans, our national shame may be coming to an end.
Now, if only the guys in the league office in Chicago could figure out that whole football thing.
(c) Sports Central 1998-2008.
Penn St. guard charged with lewdness, disorderly conduct
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Penn State basketball player Stanley Pringle was charged with lewd and disorderly conduct, stemming from an incident at a university library last week.
Coach Ed DeChellis says he's aware of the charges, which a police log listed Wednesday. The coach said the junior-college transfer has cooperated with police.
The team said Pringle had no comment. A message left with the player's lawyer was not immediately returned.
Pringle just completed his first season at Penn State. The guard averaged 6.9 points and was a key contributor.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
O'Neill says he'll return to Lute Olson's Arizona staff
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Kevin O'Neill said he expects to return to Lute Olson's Arizona staff and succeed the Hall of Famer when he retires.
"As I sit here today I am planning on being the next coach," O'Neill said Wednesday at a McKale Center news conference. "Lute is planning on fulfilling his contract and that is a long way off before any of that stuff happens. That is the least thing I am concerned about right now."
O'Neill became interim coach Nov. 4 after Olson took a leave of absence for undisclosed personal reason. When Olson recently announced that he would resume coaching next season -- he is signed through 2011 -- speculation arose that O'Neill might depart instead of returning to his job as an assistant.
O'Neill said he plans to fulfill the commitment he made when he came to Tucson a year ago.
"I had a two-year commitment to be an assistant here and I plan on honoring that commitment," O'Neill said. "To me, if you have a commitment and things work out then you should definitely honor them. I don't think it will be a problem at all."
O'Neill and Olson met Tuesday and had "a great talk, a very positive talk.
"I'm back to being an assistant coach and Lute is the head coach," O'Neill said. "He is making all the decisions with the program and should be. Any time you get a Hall of Fame coach back it has to be a major league plus for a program."
On March 10, Olson announced he would return, and he said the leave was necessitated "by a medical condition that was not life-threatening, but serious enough to require time away from my coaching responsibilities."
Olson, who has yet to hold a news conference, returned to his job on Monday and has been talking to players about next season.
Despite confusion over Olson's future and a rash of injuries, O'Neill guided Arizona to a 19-15 record and its 24th straight NCAA tournament appearance, the nation's longest active streak. The Wildcats were eliminated by West Virginia in the first round.
O'Neill, who took some heat from impatient Wildcats fans, said he did what he felt had to be done.
"I coached the way that I knew how to win," O'Neill said. "I don't think anybody can coach anyone else's style. When I looked at our team I thought the style we played gave us the best chance to win. That is why I did it and that is why I would do it all over again.
"I can honestly say I did the best job I could under the circumstances. I believe if we didn't have major, major injuries we would have won more games."
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Longtime powers Arizona, Kentucky and Villanova slip into NCAA men's basketball tournament
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Arizona's NCAA tournament streak lives -- barely.
The Wildcats overcame coach Lute Olson's leave of absence and key injuries to draw their 24th straight NCAA tournament berth on Sunday, extending the nation's longest active streak. Arizona, a 10th seed in the West Region, opens against seventh-seeded West Virginia in Washington.
"It's really difficult as a team to sit here and feel like we did something special because it's been done over and over again for 23 years," interim coach Kevin O'Neill said. "But in my own mind, I think this team did something special this year in that they fought through so many things on so many fronts and never gave in."
It was a good day for Wildcats. Kentucky, Villanova and Kansas State also jumped off the bubble and into the brackets on a long, anxious afternoon.
Kentucky will make its record 49th NCAA appearance, as an 11th seed in the South. Kansas State is an 11th seed and Villanova a 12th seed in the Midwest.
"It was like the weight of the world just came off my shoulders," said Kansas State freshman star Michael Beasley, who watched the selection show with teammates at a Manhattan, Kan. restaurant.
Villanova players and coaches watched the bracket show privately. And what happened when their name popped up?
"The place went crazy," Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "Everybody jumped up and screamed. I didn't even know who we played. (Freshman guard) Corey Fisher sprinted out of the room. I don't know where he went. They're a young team, and I think they would have been crushed."
Crushed is a good way to describe the feelings at Virginia Tech, Arizona State and Ohio State, all left out.
Illinois State, too, was denied.
"We get the lucky prize of being on the door step when they slammed it," said Illinois State coach Tim Jankovich, whose 24-9 Redbirds missed what would have been their first NCAA tournament berth since 1988. "I don't know if we were the last one out or the second to last one out. Most people say we were one or the other."
At least one team can blame the Georgia Bulldogs, better known for their prowess on the gridiron.
Georgia's improbable victory Sunday in the Southeastern Conference tournament championship knocked an at-large team out of the brackets. Illinois, which lost the Big Ten final, also was poised to eliminate an at-large team.
"If those two teams won, it would have knocked out two," selection committee chairman Tom O'Connor said. "But only one won a game, so it knocked out one team that we quite frankly had in the tournament."
O'Connor declined to say which team was bounced.
The Hokies lost a thriller to North Carolina, the No. 1 overall seed, in the Atlantic Coast Conference tourney semifinal. But that wasn't enough to overcome their lack of impressive victories.
"As we were building the field, it became apparent that they had one win over the field as a whole," O'Connor said.
The Buckeyes went from playing in the title game to missing the tourney in one year. O'Connor said the committee looked at the Buckeyes "very seriously. But their road record really hurt them, quite frankly. They had only one road win against the top 100."
The Sun Devils might have had the biggest beef. They swept Arizona but were denied their first NCAA bid since 2003.
Coach Herb Sendek said the Sun Devils were disappointed, but he didn't want them to be portrayed as victims.
"By playing the role of the victim, you let a great opportunity slide by to learn from the experience," Sendek said.
The lesson? Play a tougher nonconference schedule.
The Sun Devils, whose RPI was in the 80s, paid for a weak non-conference schedule; victories over Xavier and Stanford, both No. 3 seeds, weren't enough to compensate in the minds of the committee.
"The reality check is that their strength of schedule was extremely high," O'Connor said. "If Arizona State would have been selected for the tournament, they would have been the highest RPI ever to be selected to the NCAA."
By contrast, the committee rewarded St. Mary's for playing a tough schedule, giving the Gaels a 10th seed in the South as the West Coast Conference landed three bids.
Still, the 25-6 Gaels weren't a lock, and that made for some nervous moments on their Moraga, Calif., campus, last week.
"It was horrible," sophomore center Omar Samhan said. "Every night I couldn't sleep thinking about it. I'm glad it's over and ready to go play."
All the bubble survivors felt the same way. An hour after the pairings were announced, Arizona forward Chase Budinger walked onto the deserted McKale Center floor and began launching jump shots.
For Budinger and many others around the country, the long wait was over. It was time to start getting ready for the NCAAs.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Roby, Colorado dent Baylor's NCAA hopes with 91-84 win
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Baylor was hoping for at least one more win, a little padding to make sure of its first NCAA tournament berth in 20 years.
Colorado put a big dent in those plans, likely giving the Bears some anxious moments when the NCAA field is announced on Sunday.
Richard Roby and Marcus Hall scored all 17 of Colorado's points in the second overtime and the Buffaloes hurt in Baylor's NCAA tournament hopes with a surprising 91-84 win Thursday in the first round of the Big 12 tournament.
Baylor (21-10) won more than 20 games for just the fourth time in 102 years of basketball, seemingly enough to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1988. Still, the Bears wanted to get at least a win or two in the Big 12 tournament to make it easy on the selection committee.
Instead, they made the decision even more difficult.
"We'll have to see what they say now," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "I know one thing: when you're winning you don't have to worry as much. All year long we haven't had a so-called bad loss, but in a conference tournament a five seed shouldn't lose to a 12."
Colorado (12-19) had a tough first season under coach Jeff Bzdelik, losing numerous close games and winning just three in conference. But the Buffaloes have been gritty all year and somehow pulled off an unexpected win over a team that needed a victory, becoming the first 12 seed to beat a five seed in the 12-year history of the Big 12 tournament.
Colorado shot 72 percent in the first half to jump out to a big lead, withstood a furious Baylor rally in the second half, then made just enough shots in both overtimes to move into Friday's second round against fourth-seeded Oklahoma.
Roby finished with 32 points and 12 rebounds, and Hall had 25 points and 10 assists despite missing potential game-winners at the end of regulation and the first overtime. Dwight Thorne scored 12 of his 14 points in the first half for Colorado, which beat Oklahoma 72-58 in Boulder on Feb. 9.
"We haven't won as many times as we would have liked throughout the course of the year, but this team has always battled," Bzdelik said. "I've slept well throughout the year, from that standpoint, knowing they would give it their very best."
Baylor needed a win to solidify its NCAA hopes, but certainly didn't play like it in the first half.
The Bears repeatedly got beat on backdoor cuts and were hurt by Colorado's surprising outside shooting to trail by as much as 14. The Buffaloes set a Big 12 tournament record by making 18 of 25 shots in the first half -- 12 straight at one point -- and were 6-of-10 from 3-point range, taking a 44-31 halftime lead when Cory Higgins hit a layup at the buzzer.
Baylor rallied by clamping down defensively, but missed key free throws down the stretch, finishing 22-of-31 from the line. Curtis Jerrells and LaceDarius Dunn each had 20 points and Henry Dugat had 19 for Baylor, which was just 8-for-28 from 3-point range.
"It took them to get a good lead on us to actually start playing," said Jerrells, who had six assists. "That's something that we had trouble with early on, but not lately. For some reason, we did it again today."
Colorado seemed to be in control early in the second half, pushing the lead to as many as 15 points, only to let the Bears back in it.
Baylor held the Buffaloes without a field goal for nearly six minutes and went on a 14-1 run, capped by Dugat's two free throws that tied it at 61-61 with just under 3 minutes left in regulation.
Baylor had a chance at the lead with 1:15 left, but Kevin Rogers missed two free throws. Colorado botched its final possession of regulation, waiting too long to get the play started, then settling for a desperation turnaround 3-point attempt by Hall at the buzzer.
The first overtime came down to another final possession for Colorado after Dunn tied it at 74-all on a rebound slam with 15 seconds left. Hall had the ball again and got off a better shot, but his runner caromed high off the glass with 2 seconds left.
Colorado tried to run away with it at the start of the second overtime, scoring the first seven points, but Jerrells followed with a three-point play. Baylor got within 83-81, but Rogers missed two more free throws and Hall scored on a runner with 25 seconds left.
Hall hit two free throws, then Roby hit two more to extend his career at least one more game.
"We had a lot of tough losses throughout the year, a lot of close games," said Roby, who needs 17 points to become the fourth player in conference history with 2,000 points. "So we knew we were better than our seed."
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
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