Basketball – Page 5 – North Platte Post Archive

Three No. 1 Seeds in the Final Four

Posted on March 29, 2015

If you liked the look of last year’s Final Four, you will love the 2015 edition.

One game — Kentucky vs. Wisconsin — is not only a matchup of two No. 1 seeds, it’s a replay of last year’s semifinal won by Kentucky 74-73.

Seventh-seeded Michigan State will face Duke, a four-time national champion led by coach Mike Krzyzewski, who is in his 12th Final Four, tying the legendary John Wooden.

It is the fifth time at least three No. 1 seeds reached the Final Four.

This is the third straight year one conference has had two teams in the Final Four with Wisconsin and Michigan State coming from the Big Ten. The Southeastern Conference did last year with Kentucky and Florida and the Big East had Louisville and Syracuse in 2013.

Turner Says Saturday Regional Finals Highest-Rated in Decade

Posted on March 29, 2015

NEW YORK (AP) — Turner Sports says its NCAA basketball coverage received the highest rating for Saturday regional finals in 10 years.

Kentucky’s 68-66 victory over Notre Dame got an 8.4 fast national rating and 16 share from Nielsen Media Research, which the network said Sunday was the top overnight for a college basketball game on cable television. It drew 14.7 million viewers on TBS, the most for a program in the network’s history

Wisconsin’s 85-78 victory over Arizona received a 5.2/11 and 8.8 million viewers, and the combined average of 6.8/13 was the highest for Saturday regional finals since a 7.8/16 for two overtime games in 2005, Louisville vs. West Virginia and Illinois vs. Arizona.

Turner says the tournament is averaging a 6.3/14 on TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV, up 3 percent from last year and the highest since 1998.

The rating is the percentage of television households tuned to a program, and the share is the percentage watching a program among those homes with TVs on at the time.

Trail Blazers Beat Nuggets, Move Closer to Division Title

Posted on March 29, 2015March 29, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — LaMarcus Aldridge had 32 points and 11 rebounds, and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Denver Nuggets 120-114 on Saturday night for their third consecutive victory.

Portland increased its Northwest Division lead to 6 1/2 games over second-place Oklahoma City, which lost to Utah 94-89. The Blazers have 10 games remaining in the regular season, the Thunder nine.

Aldridge shot 6 of 8 and scored 16 points during the third quarter to help Portland increase a five-point halftime lead to 86-78.

Arron Afflalo scored 21 points, his Portland high since he was acquired from Denver on Feb. 19. Nicolas Batum added 15 points and Chris Kaman 14 for the Blazers.

Jameer Nelson scored 22 and Randy Foye 17 as Denver had seven players reach double figures.

Nuggets Roll to 107-91 Win as Jazz drop 4th Straight

Posted on March 27, 2015

DENVER (AP) — Ty Lawson and Jameer Nelson each scored 18 points as the Denver Nuggets beat Utah 107-91 on Friday night, handing the Jazz their fourth straight loss.

Right around tip-off, the Jazz announced Hot Rod Hundley, the former NBA player who broadcast Jazz games in New Orleans and Utah for 35 years, had died. He was 80. Hundley called 3,051 Jazz games from 1974-2009. There was a tribute to Hundley before the game.

Danilo Gallinari played with a sore right triceps and finished with 13 points for the Nuggets, who never trailed after he gave them a 3-0 lead on a long jumper moments into the game.

Denver improved to 8-6 since interim coach Melvin Hunt took over for Brian Shaw.

Gordon Hayward scored 24 points in his return after sitting out two games with a sprained shoulder. Rudy Gobert finished with 14 points and 14 points for his 18th double-double.

NPCC Knights’ Williams Commits to Eastern Kentucky

Posted on March 26, 2015March 27, 2015

North Platte Community College Knights basketball player Cameron Williams, on his Twitter account, announced that he has verbally committed to Eastern Kentucky University.

Williams averaged 21 points per game for the Knights this season and finished seventh on the Knights all-time scoring list. He was on the Region IX All – Region and All – Tournament teams his sophomore season.

The Colonels are a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I program. They are a member of the Ohio Valley Conference and finished 21 – 12 on the season. The Colonels have been in post season tournaments the last three seasons. They appeared in the NCAA tournament in 2014, losing to the University of Kansas in the second round. This season the Colonels were in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT), losing to University of Tennessee – Martin 70 -69 in the quarterfinals. They also appeared in the CIT in 2013.

Williams cannot officially sign until April 8.

Huskers’ Miles and Billikens’ Crews To Coach in Reese’s Division I College All-Star Game

Posted on March 26, 2015

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (March 26, 2015) – The University of Nebraska’s Tim Miles and Jim Crews of Saint Louis University have been named head coaches for the 2015 Reese’sDivision I College All-Star Game, which will be played on Reese’s Final Four Friday, April 3, at 4:30 p.m., at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Reese’s brand is the official candy partner of the NCAA®.

The Reese’s brand is also the title sponsor of the Reese’s Division III College All-Star Game played on Saturday, March 21, at the Salem Civic Center in Salem, Va., in conjunction with the NCAA Division III championships. An all-star game played on Friday, March 27, at 7 p.m. at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind., during the NCAA Division II Elite Eight®, will also have Reese’sbrand as its title sponsor.

Miles will coach the Reese’s East All-Stars while Crews will lead theReese’s West All-Stars. The game features 20 of the nation’s most outstanding college senior student-athletes selected by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC).

Tim Miles, Head Coach, University of Nebraska (EAST)
Since his first experience as a head coach at Mayville (ND) State University in 1995, Tim Miles has earned a reputation as a program builder. He is the only active coach who has taken teams to the postseason in NCAA Division I, Division II and in the NAIA, and has won 330 games in his 20 seasons as a head coach. In 2013-14, just his second season at Nebraska, Miles guided the Huskers to their first NCAA tournament appearance in 16 seasons and captured a pair of prestigious coaching awards – Big Ten Coach of the Year and the Jim Phelan Award as National Coach of the Year.

Miles arrived at Nebraska after five successful seasons at Colorado State, where he increased the Rams’ win total every year, reaching the postseason in each of his last three seasons in Fort Collins. The Rams earned a berth in the NCAA tournament in 2012, one of four for the Mountain West Conference, and won 20 games for only the seventh time in Colorado State’s 108 seasons.

In six seasons at North Dakota State, he helped orchestrate the Bison’s successful transition to Division I, which included a win at Wisconsin, snapping a 27-game Badgers’ win streak against non-conference opponents.

Miles led Southwest Minnesota State for four seasons, taking a program that had one winning season in a decade to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight, winning 28 games. In his first head coaching stint at Mayville after six seasons as an assistant at Northern State, Miles’ teams won a pair of conference titles for a program that had won just four games in the two previous seasons.

Jim Crews, Head Coach, Saint Louis University (WEST)
In three seasons as the head coach at Saint Louis University, Jim Crews has guided the Billikens to unprecedented success. Following a season as an assistant to Rick Majerus, Crews was named interim head coach in 2012-13 when the Billikens set a program record with 28 wins, won the Atlantic-10 Conference regular season championship and earned a second straight NCAA berth. Crews was named UPS NABC Division I Coach of the Year, Sporting News National Coach of the Year, A-10 Coach of the Year and was a finalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year.

After being named as the Billikens’ head coach on April 12, 2013, Crews led SLU to another A-10 regular season championship and a school-record third straight NCAA tournament with a 27-7 record. The season included a 19-game win streak as Crews was named A-10 Coach of the Year for the second straight season and was one of 10 finalists for the USBWA’s Henry Iba Coach of the Year Award.

Crews has been a part of 16 NCAA tournaments as a player, assistant coach and head coach. He played on Indiana’s undefeated 1976 championship team and was an assistant to Bob Knight on the Hoosiers’ 1981 national champions. He was the head coach at Evansville for 17 seasons, including four NCAA tournament berths, and was head coach at Army for seven seasons.

About the National Association of Basketball Coaches
Located in Kansas City, Missouri, the NABC was founded in 1927 by Forrest “Phog” Allen, the legendary basketball coach at the University of Kansas. Allen, a student of James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, organized coaches into this collective group to serve as Guardians of the Game. The NABC currently has nearly 5,000 members consisting primarily of university and college men’s basketball coaches. All members of the NABC are expected to uphold the core values of being a Guardian of the Game by bringing attention to the positive aspects of the sport of basketball and the role coaches play in the academic and athletic lives of today’s student-athletes. The four core values of being a Guardian of the Game are advocacy, leadership, service and education. Additional information about the NABC, its programs and membership, can be found at www.nabc.org.

Covington Scores 25 Points, 76ers beat Nuggets 99-85

Posted on March 25, 2015

DENVER (AP) — Rookie Robert Covington tied a career high with 25 points and the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Denver Nuggets 99-85 on Wednesday night.

Nerlens Noel had 14 points and 15 rebounds for the 76ers, who swept the season series from the Nuggets.

Ty Lawson scored 19 points and Wilson Chandler had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Nuggets.

Covington, who also tied a career high with six 3-pointers, scored 15 points in a 6:16 span of the third quarter to give Philadelphia a 66-62 lead.

Denver responded with a 14-6 run to end the third. Lawson hit a pair of 3-pointers, the second of which gave the Nuggets a 74-72 lead with 30 seconds left in the third quarter. Denver led by four midway through the fourth when Ish Smith drove in for a layup and Noel’s rebound and layup tied it at 79.

Philadelphia took control from there.

Huskers Mix Big Dance with Graduation Success

Posted on March 25, 2015

Lincoln – Nebraska was one of only 19 schools in the 64-team field of the 2015 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament to post a 100 percent Graduation Success Rate, according to research done by the Institute of Diversity and Ethics in Sport.

It marked the seventh consecutive NCAA Tournament team the Huskers have produced under Coach Connie Yori that has carried a 100 percent Graduation Success Rate into postseason play.

In fact, Nebraska joins Notre Dame and Tennessee as the only schools in the nation to advance to the 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 NCAA tournaments that also had perfect 100 percent Graduation Success Rates in every season.

The Huskers are one of only eight teams in the nation to advance to each of the past four NCAA tournaments and post a perfect GSR, joining Dayton, Duke, Iowa State, Kentucky, Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

In 2015, 19 NCAA Division I women’s basketball teams competed in the national tournament and posted a perfect GSR, including American, Dayton, DePaul, Duke, George Washington, Green Bay, Iowa State, Kentucky, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Pittsburgh, Princeton, Quinnipiac, South Florida, Tennessee, Tulane, UConn and Washington.

In 2007, Nebraska advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time during Coach Connie Yori’s tenure and was one of just eight schools in the 64-team field with a perfect GSR. In 2008, NU was one of 11 schools with a perfect GSR. In 2010, the 64-team NCAA Tournament field that included Nebraska advancing to the Sweet 16, featured 19 teams with perfect Graduation Success Rates. The 2012 NCAA bracket included 22 teams with a 100 percent GSR.

The 2013 NCAA Tournament, in which Nebraska advanced to the Sweet 16, included 25 teams with perfect GSR scores. That number slipped to 21 teams in 2014.

In other academic news on Wednesday, Nebraska’s Rachel Theriot and Allie Havers were named to the academic All-Big Ten team.

6 Teams with 10 or More Losses Most Ever to Reach Sweet 16

Posted on March 25, 2015March 25, 2015

Six of the 16 teams in the NCAA Tournament’s regional semifinals this week have 10 or more losses.

That’s the most ever to advance that far in the tourney.

The fact North Carolina State, Xavier and UCLA have lost 13 games apiece elicits little more than a shrug from people in college basketball. They point to there being more opportunities to lose since regular seasons went from 28 to 31 games eight years ago.

Also, top programs are trying to schedule the best possible nonconference opponents to enhance their resumes for NCAA Tournament selection and seeding.

Plus, teams beat up each other playing 18 conference games in the strongest leagues.

Other Sweet 16 teams with double-digit losses are Michigan State and North Carolina, which have 11 each, and Oklahoma, which has 10.

Five Huskers Named Academic All-Big Ten Team

Posted on March 25, 2015

Lincoln – Five University of Nebraska men’s basketball players were honored Wednesday, as the Big Ten Conference announced its Winter Academic All-Big Ten teams.

Nick Fuller, Kye Kurkowski, Trevor Menke, Shavon Shields and Leslee Smith were among the 32 men’s basketball players from around the conference recognized this afternoon. Nebraska’s five selections led the Big Ten and marked the second straight year that Nebraska has been first or second in Academic All-Big Ten honorees.

It is the fourth consecutive season that both Kurkowski and Menke earned Academic All-Big Ten honors, while Shields, who also earned first-team CoSIDA Academic All-America honors this winter, is being recognized for the third straight season. Of the three Husker seniors being honored, both Menke and Kurkowski have received their undergraduate degrees, while Smith is on track to graduate in May.

To be eligible for Academic All-Big Ten selection, student-athletes must be letterwinners who are in at least their second academic year at their institution and carry a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or higher. Under Coach Tim Miles, Nebraska has had 12 Academic All-Big Ten selections over the past three seasons.

The conference office also awards Academic All-Big Ten distinction in the fall and spring seasons and will present the Distinguished Scholar Award at the end of the academic year. Student-athletes eligible for the Distinguished Scholar Award must be letterwinners in at least their second year in residence at their institution. Qualifying student-athletes must have earned a GPA of 3.7 or higher for the current academic year, excluding summer school. The Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award was established by conference Faculty Representatives as an addition to the conference’s Academic All-Big Ten program.