Mike Potter ·
21 Mar 2010, 3:00 AM ·
Comment
N.C. State got its wish to play in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament in its first season under Kellie Harper.
Tonight, the younger players on the Wolfpack - which hasn’t been in the tournament since 2007 - get to see what it’s really all about.
The Wolfpack (20-13) is seeded No. 9 in the Kansas City Regional and will take on No. 8 seed UCLA (24-8) in its first-round game at 9:30 tonight in Minneapolis.
An interesting sidebar has Harper (pictured) going against UCLA coach and fellow former Tennessee guard Nikki Caldwell, who was a graduate assistant with the Lady Vols during Harper’s 1998-99 senior season - oddly the only time during Harper’s career the team didn’t win the NCAA title. Caldwell was a player on Tennessee’s 1991 NCAA title team.
“I think Pat recruits highly competitive people, and I think that’s one thing Coach Caldwell and I have in common,” Harper said during Saturday’s press conference in Minneapolis. “When you play at the University of Tennessee you’re bound with all other former players, whether you played together or not, and that’s the connection that Nikki and I have. I think each player that plays for Pat (Summitt) takes away something and for me, I’ve tried to take away poise during game situations and (I’ve) tried to take away running a classy program, and I think Nikki does the same thing. She’s very professional, has a lot of energy, and has done a great job.” Continue reading »
ACC, Basketball, N.C. State, Women's Basketball Amber White, Bonae Holston, Darxia Morris, Jasmine Dixon, Marissa Kastanek, Nikitta Gartrell, Nikki Caldwell, Pat Summitt, Tennessee Volunteers, UCLA
Mike Potter ·
20 Mar 2010, 6:14 PM ·
Comment
...And Duke's run to San Antonio commences? (Photo by Rob Rowe)
CAMERON INDOOR STADIUM/DURHAM “March Madness” has come to Duke’s home floor, as for the first time in six seasons the Blue Devils are hosting the first and second rounds of the NCAA Women’s Tournament.
The No. 6 Blue Devils, who lost a heartbreaker in the second round last season at Michigan State, appreciate sleeping in their own beds this week.
But their first-round opponent for Duke, seeded No. 2 in the Memphis Region, isn’t necessarily an easy one.
No. 15 seed Hampton is coming off an impressive run to win the MEAC Tourmament, and has brought several hundred enthusiastic fans down for the game.
No. 7 seed LSU has little trouble with No. 10 seed Hartford in the opener, winning 60-39 in a game from which Hawks coach Jennifer Rizzotti is ejected.
Hampton makes some early trouble for the Blue Devils, but things return to form well before halftime in a 72-37 Duke win. It is the Pirates’ worst loss of the season, while Duke has advanced to the second round of the NCAA for the 15th straight season.
Continue reading »
ACC, Duke Allison Vernerey, Choicetta McMillian, David Six, Hampton Pirates, Hartford Hawks, Jasmine Thomas, Jennifer Rizzotti, Joanne P. McCallie, Joy Cheek, Karima Christmas, Keturah Jackson, Laura Lewis, Louisiana State, MEAC
Rob Harrington ·
20 Mar 2010, 5:33 PM ·
1 Comment
Deep in the heart of Dixie, North Carolina point guard Larry Drew himself showed the heart many have questioned all season. In a tie game with fewer than 10 seconds to play, Drew drove the length of the court, split three defenders and made a contested layup to give the Tar Heels a 76-74 victory against Mississippi State in the second round of the NIT.
Carolina justifiably has been lambasted for its poor performances on the road this season, but the Heels clawed back from two substantial deficits and took the lead late thanks to the timely shooting of Will Graves and some key defensive plays by John Henson.
The Heels are the No. 4 seed in their bracket and MSU was No. 1 —and would have beaten Kentucky and made the NCAA Tournament if not for a last-second collapse last weekend — so this constituted a major triumph for this iteration of the Tar Heels.
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ACC, Basketball, UNC-Chapel Hill John Henson, Larry Drew, Mississippi State, nit, will graves
Mike Potter ·
19 Mar 2010, 4:30 PM ·
Comment
CAMERON INDOOR STADIUM/DURHAM Duke begins its 16th straight appearance in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament on Saturday afternoon, and Joanne P. McCallie’s Blue Devils have one benefit they’ll have for the first time since 2004.
They’re starting the tournament on their home floor.
Duke (26-5), which is ranked No. 6 nationally, has the No. 2 seed in the Memphis Region and will take on No. 15 seed Hampton (20-11) in a 2:30 p.m. game at Cameron.
It’s the second game of a doubleheader, as No. 7 seed LSU (20-9) will face No. 10 seed Hartford (27-4) in the noon game, with the winners squaring off at 7 p.m. Monday night.
Plenty of tickets are available.
Duke isn’t the only Triangle ACC team playing its first-round game Saturday, as No. 10 seed UNC (19-11) will take on No. 7 seed and nationally No. 18-ranked Gonzaga (27-4) in the Sacramento Regional in Seattle at 10:30 p.m. The No. 10 seed is the Tar Heels’ lowest NCAA seed ever.
No. 9 seed N.C. State (20-13) will play its first-round game on Sunday night against No. 8 seed UCLA (24-8) in Minneapolis in the first round of the Kansas City Regional.
Duke and Hampton have one thing in common that the other teams at Cameron don’t, and it’s not because they’re blue-clad teams from well-regarded private schools in neighboring states.
They both won their conference tournaments - in locations about half an hour apart, as the Blue Devils won the ACC in Greensboro and the Pirates won the MEAC in Winston-Salem.
“We’re obviously really proud to host this wonderful NCAA Tournament, and we’re grateful to a lot of people at Duke that made this possible,” said McCallie, whose team last season played its NCAA games at Michigan State where she was the former coach and lost to the Spartans in the second round. “That’s just a great thing for Duke, and it’s really reflective of the long tradition and history here.”
The Blue Devils will be taking on a Pirate club in its first season under David Six, who began the campaign as interim head coach and has earned a three-year contract.
Hampton is 0-3 in first-round NCAA games at the Division I level, but won the NCAA Division II title in 1988.
“This is hallowed ground in terms of basketball, Cameron Indoor Stadium,” said Six, one of whose assistants is former N.C. Central point guard and assistant coach Annitra Cole. “Everybody’s heard about it or seen it on TV. But at the end of the day the court’s 94 feet, the baskets are 10 feet off the ground. So that’s what I’ve told my young ladies, and we’re ready to go. I just think that we can’t get caught up. We’re happy to be here; don’t get me wrong. We celebrated that we’re here, but now that we’re here we want to stay. It’s like getting into a party and then getting put out. We want to dance a little while, so let’s try that.”
Duke, of course, would like to believe it can go a long way in the tournament.
“I just think we have to be focused, stick to our game, and play the way that’s made us successful,” senior forward Joy Cheek (pictured) said. “Play defense and make the hustle plays. In the tournament everyone has played 30-plus games, so every game is not going to be pretty - it’s the team that wants it more. And we have to want it more that our opponent each game. So if we want to make a deep run in the tournament - which I think we’re more than capable of doing - we have to go out and play like every game is our last game.” Continue reading »
ACC, Basketball, Duke, N.C. Central, N.C. State, UNC-Chapel Hill, Women's Basketball Alana Beard, Annitra Cole, Cetera DeGraffenreid, Courtney Vandersloot, Gonzaga, Hampton Pirates, Hartford Hawks, Heather Bowman, Italee Lucas, Jasmine Thomas, Jericka Jenkins, Joanne McCallie, Joanne P. McCallie, Joy Cheek, Kelly Graves, Krystal Thomas, Laura Broomfield, Lindsey Harding, Louisiana State, MEAC, Quanneisha Perry, Sylvia Hatchell, UCLA, Vivian Frierson
Kate Shefte ·
18 Mar 2010, 10:35 PM ·
Comment
Whitney won the goal-that-mattered award tonight, though there were several other qualified candidates. File photo by Peggy Boone, IndyWeekBlogs
RBC CENTER/RALEIGH - Joe Corvo’s two-goal effort…Chad LaRose’s late heroics….Ray Whitney’s overtime wrister led his team to a 4-3 win over Thursday night. There we go.
If all the Washington goals had counted, the ‘Canes wouldn’t have even made it to overtime. But thanks to a Whitney tally in overtime, Carolina won just its second game of the year after going into the second period down a goal. Corvo’s pair couldn’t save the league-leading Capitals, who clinched the Southeast Division last week.
There were two noticeable absences on the ice tonight. League points leader Alex Ovechkin was serving the back end of a two-game suspension for another illegal hit. The ‘Canes announced today that Tim Gleason would miss three weeks with a broken bone in his foot, even though he’d already played two games with the injury. Oh, that Gleason.
“Gleason’s probably the leader of our back end,” defenseman Brett Carson said. “He battles night after night. Obviously not having him in meant some other guys had to step up and play some minutes and I thought we did a pretty good job.”
Carolina got an early break when an apparent goal off the hand of Mike Knuble was waved off immediately with a few minutes left into the first period.
Scott Walker and Corvo have both seen dramatically different and ever-shrinking roles with their new club, the Capitals. Walker sat as a healthy scratch for Washinton’s last two games, but due to injury and suspension, he was called upon to suit up tonight. Corvo got things started when he picked up a rebound to make it 1-0 and Walker got the secondary assist. Corvo memorably scored a hat trick the first time he faced the Ottawa Senators after they traded him, and obviously that was the start of a trend of sorts as he wound up close to another tonight.
“[Corvo] played well. It’s kind of a habit for him to score against his old teams, and I read in the paper today that he wasn’t even pissed off at us,” Whitney said. “If he was, we really would have been in trouble.
Continue reading »
Carolina Hurricanes, Hockey Alex Ovechkin, Brett Carson, Chad LaRose, injury, Joe Corvo, overtime, Ray Whitney, Southeast division, suspension, Tim Gleason, Washington Capitals
Neil Morris ·
17 Mar 2010, 9:36 AM ·
Comment
A joint press conference featuring coaches and players for the Carolina RailHawks and Major League Soccer’s New England Revolution was designed to promote the teams’ preseason friendly this Saturday evening, March 20, at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary.
However, another continuing revolution again took center stage thanks to one attendee, RailHawks’ President Brian Wellman.
Joining Wellman for Tuesday’s press conference at the Hilton Garden Inn in Durham, N.C. were RailHawks’ coach Martin Rennie and captain Mark Schulte, together with longtime Revolution head coach Steve Nicol and two of their young players, Raleigh natives Darrius Barnes (a Duke University grad) and Zack Schilawski (a former Wake Forest standout). All appeared before members of the local media and a smattering of diehard RailHawks supporters.
Barnes enters his second season with New England as the only field player in MLS to play every minute of every game during his last year’s rookie outing. Meanwhile, Schilawski is embarking on his rookie season with the Revolution after the team drafted him in the first round of this year’s MLS SuperDraft. Although Schilawski will play in Saturday’s game, Nicol confirmed that Barnes will not due to a minor injury.
Last year, the RailHawks won the Community Shield match against New England, 1-0. This year’s game marks the end of the Revolution’s 10-day training visit to WakeMed Park. Last weekend, the Revs traveled to Charlotte, where they defeated the USL-2’s Charlotte Eagles 2-0. The match against Carolina will be their final tune-up before the scheduled MLS season opener against the L.A. Galaxy on March 27—a event that could be delayed or canceled if the ongoing MLS labor dispute isn’t resolved by then.
I will defer to the RailHawks’s revamped Web site for much of the arduous work of transcribing the comments that came from the dais. It is safe to say that the Railhawks enter the season a hungry and confident kettle. Coming off last year’s regular season runner-up finish in USL-1, which included winning the most matches in the league, Rennie returns the core of his squad along with several new, key pieces.
“For players and for coach, a second-place finish isn’t what we’re after,” said team captain Schulte. “We want to be first. It was a commendable season, considering no one really knew each other the first month or so. This year, I think is going to be something special.”
But, it was Wellman who sounded the most insurgent chord, using his opening prepared comments to expound on the mindset of both his team and its fledgling, as-yet-unsanctioned league, the North American Soccer League (NASL).
“Every roster spot is a meaningful spot, and Martin has a plan for every guy on the roster to get us deeper in the playoffs and contend for championships in both the U.S. Open Cup as well as the NASL league cup.”
The latter reference is eyebrow-raising, seeing how such a cup does not currently exist. The USSF has mandated that the member squads of both the USL-1 and NASL play in a combined USSF-sanctioned Division 2 league for 2010. Neither the USL-1 or NASL are individually sanctioned as D2 leagues by USSF this year. Continue reading »
Carolina RailHawks, Soccer Brian Wellman, Community Shield, Darrius Barnes, Mark Schulte, Martin Rennie, MLS, NASL, New England Revolution, Nic Platter, Ramak Safi, Steve Nicol, striker from The Gambia, Zack Schilawski
Rob Harrington ·
17 Mar 2010, 2:16 AM ·
Comment
CHAPEL HILL/CARMICHAEL AUDITORIUM — They aren’t finished just yet. North Carolina, which limped into the NIT after the horrifying season that’s been chronicled here and everywhere else, utilized a raucous crowd to defeat William & Mary 80-72 in the opening round of the tournament.
Unlike the NCAA Tournament, which creates neutral venues for every game, the first three rounds of the NIT take place at the higher-seeded team’s home court. And because Carolina — seeded No. 4 in its bracket — is undertaking renovations at the Smith Center, the Tar Heels’ former home became the default option.
And what a stroke of good fortune it was. From the opening tap, the Tar Heels played with far greater intensity and joy than they have all season. Roy Williams described the crowd as “sensational” after the game, and there’s little question that the Heels benefited from the building’s emotion to fight back from a late deficit — something they’ve struggled to accomplish all year.
Continue reading »
ACC, Basketball, UNC-Chapel Hill Carmichael, Deon Thompson, nit, Roy Williams, Tyler Zeller, William&Mary
Kate Shefte ·
17 Mar 2010, 2:07 AM ·
Comment
The Wizard couldn't make the magic happen tonight against the Bruins. Photo by Peggy Boone, IndyWeekBlogs
Just when it looked as though the Hurricanes were turning the corner in the recovery process, the team reverted back to its old tendencies in back-to-back smarting losses against the Phoenix Coyotes, 4-0, and more recently, the Boston Bruins, 5-2. The Bruins looked like a hungry team barely hanging on to eighth place in the Eastern Conference while the Hurricanes looked like a bunch of guys that thought, hey, it might be nice to beat the Bruins tonight maybe…if it doesn’t take too much effort. Carolina sank to ten points back from eighth, in other words, not exactly mathematically eliminated but circling the drain.
Despite these dramatically different outlooks on the rest of the spring, the ‘Canes kept it close through two and a half periods, largely thanks to Erik Cole, who scored goals seven and eight of the year to keep Carolina within reach. But the Bruins cracked the game open midway through the third and never looked back.
“There were a lot of uncharacteristic things that we haven’t been doing the last several games,” Cole said. “It feels as bad as it did early in the year at the moment, and it’s a feeling we haven’t had in this room for quite a while.”
Carolina lost its second straight on home ice after rattling off eight in a row in Raleigh. Saturday night, it was clear the ‘Canes really missed center Brandon Sutter, who sat out the game while nursing a “lower body injury.” Indy was at the game and probably should have posted a game recap, but honestly, it would have been really short and pretty boring, something along the lines of four paragraphs describing each of Phoenix’s goals and one about how listless Carolina was beneath the headline “Bryzgalov 4 Vezina!!!” Even starting goaltender Justin Peters, who absorbed the 4-0 loss, called it a boring game. He would know.
The ‘Canes have fallen back into that bad habit of letting in a few deflating goals early and it happened again Tuesday. Patrice Bergeron deflected a puck past Manny Legace 23 seconds in with assists from two ex-Hurricanes, Mark Recchi and Dennis Seidenberg.
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Carolina Hurricanes, Hockey Boston Bruins, Eastern Conference, Erik Cole, Ilya Bryzgalov, Jamie McBain, Johnny Boychuk, Manny Legace, Mark Recchi, playoffs, Tuukka Rask
Mike Potter ·
16 Mar 2010, 7:12 PM ·
3 Comments
DURHAM ATHLETIC PARK/DURHAM N.C. Central hosts yet another challenging baseball battle with an ACC foe, this time an N.C. State team that’s looking for its first road win of the season.
The Eagles are looking for their first win anywhere, and really haven’t kept more than a couple of games competitive so far this season.
Because the weather forecast isn’t good, the game will have a 3 p.m. start - sort of - instead of the regularly scheduled 6 p.m. starting time. It’s the first of their two scheduled meetings this season, as the Eagles will visit Doak Field at Dail Park on April 13.
Jeff Citero (0-1, 9.82), a junior out of Southeast Raleigh, will be on the mound for the Eagles while the Wolfpack sends big sophomore Mike Russo (0-0, 6.14).
It’s competitive from the start, but the Wolfpack scores in every inning, hitting five homers in a 24-6 romp. Continue reading »
ACC, Baseball, N.C. Central, N.C. State Akeem Hood, Andrew Ciencin, Anthony Wilson, Blake Murray, Chris Diaz, Chris Overman, Coppin State, Dallas Poulk, Danny Canela, David Scott, Drew Poulk, Elliott Avent, Henry White, Jeff Citero, John Gianis, Justin Goodson, Kurt Wilson, Mike Russo, Nate Smith, Pratt Maynard, Ross Plummer, Russell Wilson, Tarran Senay, UNC Wilmington
Mike Potter ·
15 Mar 2010, 9:56 PM ·
1 Comment
N.C. State's Marissa Kastanek dribbles up court as Duke's Karima Christmas defends during the ACC Tournament championship game. (Photo by Rob Rowe)
BACKYARD BISTRO/RALEIGH Kellie Harper couldn’t remember exactly when she had been in such a situation before.
Back when the N.C. State women’s basketball coach was a point guard at Tennessee the Lady Vols - who won three NCAA titles during her career - were pretty much in the NCAA Tournament before the season started. Then during her five seasons as head coach at Western Carolina and three seasons as an assistant at Chattanooga before that, Southern Conference teams knew they had to win the conference tournament or they might earn a bid to the WNIT.
But the Wolfpack (20-13) has been on the NCAA “bubble” ever since losing the ACC championship game to Duke eight days ago, although most of the bracketologists had N.C. State in the field.
Harper and her team gathered with about 300 fans on Monday night to watch the Selection Special on ESPN that announced the 64 competing teams.
Continue reading »
ACC, Basketball, Duke, N.C. Central, N.C. State, UNC-Chapel Hill, Women's Basketball Amber White, Cetera DeGraffenreid, Chattanooga, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Gonzaga, Hampton Pirates, Hartford, Jasmine Thomas, Joanne P. McCallie, Joy Cheek, Kellie Harper, Louisiana State, Marissa Kastanek, Michigan State, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Nikitta Gartrell, Portland State, Southern Conference, Sylvia Hatchell, Texas A&M, UCLA, Virginia Cavaliers, Western Carolina
