Friday, March 22, 2002
by Dan Hauptman
News and Notes
University of Arkansas president B. Alan Sugg upheld the dismissal of basketball coach Nolan Richardson. Sugg said on Thursday that after reviewing 80 pages of material submitted by Richardson and interviewing a number of people, he concluded that he agreed with Chancellor John White and that Richardson should be replaced.
West Virginia has offered Bob Huggins its vacant head coaching job. The Cincinnati coach was in Morgantown, W.Va. this week and is now back in Ohio and deciding whether to remain with the Bearcats or return to coach at his alma mater.
Radford coach Ron Bradley quit on Thursday to take an associate coaching position at James Madison. Bradley is the winningest coach in Highlanders history with 193 wins in 11 seasons.
The Big 12 is 10-2 overall. In the West Regional Final, two Big 12 teams (Missouri and Oklahoma) will play for a chance to go to the Final 4. Also, the Big 12 is 3-0 in head-to-head games vs. the Pac 10 this Tournament. Kansas beat Stanford in the 2nd round, Oklahoma beat Arizona in the 3rd round, and Missouri beat UCLA in the 3rd round. The two conferences will face off again on Friday when Texas plays Oregon.
No. 12 Missouri becomes the lowest seed ever to advance to the Regional Finals. Also, with No. 10 Kent State and No. 12 Missouri in the Regional Finals, it is the first time that two double-digit seeds advance to the Regional Finals in the same Tournament.
In the South Regional Final, Kent State will play Indiana. In the first round of last year’s Tournament, No. 13 Kent State defeated No. 4 Indiana 77-73.
Oklahoma was the only higher seed to advance on Thursday. In the other three games, No. 1 Duke, No. 3 Pittsburgh and No. 8 UCLA all lost to lower seeds.
Conference Breakdown
Big 12 (10-2): 3rd round Win – Oklahoma, Missouri.
Pac-10 (8-5): 3rd round Loss – Arizona, UCLA.
Big Ten (7-3): 3rd round Win – Indiana.
ACC (6-3): 3rd round Loss – Duke.
Big East (5-5): 3rd round Loss – Pittsburgh.
SEC (5-5):
MAC (3-0): 3rd round Win – Kent State.
MVC (3-1):
A10 (1-1): DONE after 2nd round.
WAC (1-2): DONE after 2nd round.
CUSA (1-3): DONE after 2nd round.
MWC (1-3): DONE after 2nd round.
Seeds Breakdown
1 (7-2): 3rd round Loss – Duke.
2 (8-1): 3rd round Win – Oklahoma.
3 (6-4): 3rd round Loss – Arizona, Pittsburgh. DONE after 3rd round
4 (5-2):
5 (3-3): 3rd round Win – Indiana.
6 (3-3):
7 (3-4): DONE after 2nd round
8 (5-4): 3rd round Loss – UCLA. DONE after 3rd round
9 (0-4): DONE after 1st round
10 (3-3): 3rd round Win – Kent State.
11 (3-3):
12 (5-3): 3rd round Win – Missouri.
13 (1-4): DONE after 2nd round
14 (0-4): DONE after 1st round
15 (0-4): DONE after 1st round
16 (0-4): DONE after 1st round
Indiana: First Regional Final since 1993.
Kent State: First ever Regional Final.
Missouri: First Regional Final since 1994 (the appearance was later vacated).
Oklahoma: First Regional Final since 1988
Thursday’s Heroes
Jared Jeffries, Indians: 24 points and 15 rebounds in win vs. Duke.
Aaron McGhee, Oklahoma: 21 points (19 in 2nd half) and 9 rebounds in win vs. Arizona.
Hollis Price, Oklahoma: 26 points (22 in 1st half), 4 rebounds and 3 assists in win vs. Arizona.
Kareem Rush, Missouri: 20 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists in win vs. UCLA.
Antonio Gates, Kent State: 22 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists in win vs. Pittsburgh.
