OTB Sports » College Basketball

FIU loses to Northwood 71-61

Bill Jempty — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:17:14 +0000

It was the college coaching debut for FIU’s Isiah Thomas. From AP-

Isiah Thomas lost his coaching debut at Florida International on Wednesday night when Northwood, an NAIA school coached by Rollie Massimino, beat the Panthers 71-61 in an exhibition game.

Thomas, the Basketball Hall of Famer and most recently coach of the New York Knicks, faced Massimino, who coached Villanova to the 1985 NCAA title and is entering his fourth season at the West Palm Beach, Fla., school.

Lester Hunte scored 18 points for Northwood, while Patrick Horstmann had 13. Jay Duncan scored seven of his 10 points in the final minutes as Northwood pulled away.

Losing to a little known(I didn’t even know Northwood fielded a basketball team and the school is less than 15 minutes from my home) technical is not an auspicious start for FIU. The real season begins for the Panthers with a game against North Carolina on November 9th. Thomas will be lucky to lead FIU to 10 wins this year.

Eastern Illinois assistant basketball coach Jackie Moore dead at 28

Bill Jempty — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:34:10 +0000

Very sad and slightly reminiscent of Maggie Dixon who coached Army and died at the same age. RIP.

Jackie Moore, a 28-year-old assistant women’s basketball coach at Eastern Illinois, has died.

The university says Moore died Wednesday night at a hospital after collapsing as she started a workout.

School spokesman Rich Moser says doctors said Moore’s heart “just stopped.” Moser says an autopsy is planned.

Moore was in her third season at the school. She graduated from Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tenn., in 2005 and was from Windsor, Ontario.

Former UAB and NBA Basketball player Alan Ogg dead at 42

Bill Jempty — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:14:49 +0000

Very sad and RIP.

Alan Ogg, a 7-foot-2 shotblocker who played for UAB Blazers and spent parts of three seasons in the NBA, died Sunday from complications from a staph infection, a university spokesman said. He was 42.

UAB spokesman Norm Reilly said Ogg died at UAB Hospital.

Ogg played 80 NBA games over three seasons beginning in 1990 with the Miami Heat, who had a moment of silence Sunday night before playing Chicago. He also played for Milwaukee and Washington, and averaged 2.2 points and 1.7 rebounds during his career.

Ogg is UAB’s career leader with 266 blocked shots over four seasons, averaging more than two a game.

Former Texas A&M Basketball player Kevin Widemond dead at 23

Bill Jempty — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:23:13 +0000

He was playing basketball in Portugal when he suddenly collapsed during a game. RIP.

Kevin Widemond, a 23-year-old American guard, died of a heart attack during a Portuguese basketball tournament.

The Portuguese basketball federation said Widemond collapsed in the locker room Sunday during halftime of a game between his team Ovarense and Academica in Leiria, in northern Portugal.

Widemond, a native of Newark, N.J., had played 10 minutes in the third-place playoff game of the cup competition, which was canceled following his death.

“He was sitting on a bench, listening with the others to what the coach was saying, when he just keeled over,” Ovarense sports director Jose Eduardo said.

A doctor immediately began trying to resuscitate Widemond and those efforts continued in an ambulance and then at the hospital, Eduardo told public broadcaster RTP.

Eduardo said Widemond underwent extensive medical tests when he joined Ovarense a month ago. An autopsy would be performed, he said.

Army hires Cornell assistant Zach Spiker to be men’s basketball coach

Bill Jempty — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 11:25:10 +0000

He replaces the recently fired Jim Crews. From the Times Herald-Record-

(Athletic Director) Anderson confirmed that Spiker agreed to a six-year deal. The Academy will introduce its new hire at a news conference at 3 p.m. Tuesday at West Point.

Spiker, who was on campus for an interview this week, expected to leave Cornell on Saturday morning and arrive at his new home on the Hudson Saturday afternoon

Army hasn’t had a winning season in 25 years. In light of the recruiting restrictions placed on service academies, Spiker will have a hard time reversing that trend.

Why did Army fire Crews only days before his basketball team was to begin practicing for the 2009-10 season?

He replaces Jim Crews, who last month was fired after being accused of physically and verbally abusing players.

If Crews abused his players, his firing is justifiable. I think abuse of college athletes is more common than the few and far between reports of it that emerge sometimes.

U of Missouri sells old phones with coaches data stored on them

Bill Jempty — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:59:54 +0000

Who in Columbia need concern themselves with athletes twittering too much when the University is selling its own secrets. From AP-

The University of Missouri athletics department is changing its procedures after selling a box of old cell phones that included old text messages and contact numbers.

Mike Bellman paid $190 for 25 phones. They included text messages to and from basketball coach Mike Anderson, football coach Gary Pinkel and Athletics Director Mike Alden. E-mails and contact numbers were also on the phones.

The university offered to buy them back, but Bellman said he hoped to sell them to a sports collector.

Are there some sports fanatics who would cough up money for these phones or is it wishful thinking? I guess some people’s junk is sports memorabilia to other people.

Grambling Basketball coach to resign fired after player’s death

Bill Jempty — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 22:07:26 +0000

Rick Duckett had only been at the Louisiana University for a little over a year. From ESPN-

Grambling State men’s basketball coach Rick Duckett will resign, the school announced Friday, nearly a month after one of his players died following a supervised conditioning session.

Henry White, 21, became ill at a preseason session on Aug. 14 and died on Aug. 26 at a hospital in Shreveport, La. The university and an attorney for White’s family both say they are investigating, according to reports in the Monroe News Star and the Ruston Daily Leader.

White, a prep standout in Milwaukee, transferred to Grambling for the 2009-10 season from Hill Junior College in Texas.

Duckett has been placed on administrative leave through Oct. 31, when his employment officially ends, the university said, according to the reports.

Earlier this week, WISN-TV in Milwaukee, White’s hometown, reported White’s family claims the players were made to run in 104-degree heat without water.

This news article states Duckett wasn’t at the practice in question. If it is true players were made to work out in that temperature, the coaches responsible should be criminally prosecuted.

Update- Rick Duckett is now claiming to have been fired by Grambling.

Army fires basketball coach Jim Crews

Bill Jempty — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:32:10 +0000

He played college ball at Indiana for former Black Knights head coach Bobby Knight. From AP-

Army fired Jim Crews as men’s basketball coach after seven seasons with the academy.

“There was a series of events that led me down the path to determine that I needed to make a change in leadership of the men’s basketball program and terminate coach Crews’ contract,” athletic director Kevin Anderson said in a statement. “I am very disappointed with some things that have come to my attention in recent days and I have decided that it is in the best interests of the basketball program and the institution to terminate our relationship.”

The timing of Crews’ firing is odd considering teams were allowed to start team workouts for two hours a week beginning Sept. 15. Official team practice begins Oct. 16.

Army was 60-139 in seven seasons with Crews. Crews, who coached at Evansville and played for Bob Knight at Indiana on the undefeated 1976 team, recently came back from a goodwill mission to Iraq with other coaches and ESPN analysts Fran Fraschilla and Steve Lavin, coaching U.S. troops during a basketball tournament.

Based on his record, Crews firing is justifiable. In light of the military service required of cadets and how that affects recruiting, I just don’t think Crews replacement will be able to make Army competitive on a year to year basis.

Samford University basketball player Jim Griffin dead at 23

Bill Jempty — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:38:41 +0000

He is believed to have an unknown heart condition. Until a year ago, I would have wondered how a person wouldn’t have warning signs of heart problems. That changed when I was hospitalized on July 30th. I had a bicuspid heart valve and an ascending aortic aneurysm and almost no symptoms from either condition. RIP Jim Griffin.

Griffin, 23, was found dead Tuesday morning in his residence hall, according to coach Jimmy Tillette. Tillette said the senior from Chicago apparently died from an undetectable heart condition.

“It’s a cruel twist of fate,” Tillette said, according to the Birmingham News. “Jim was a guy who was known for playing with his heart, and for him to possibly pass away from a heart malady is hard to take.”

The Jefferson County coroner’s office has not released a cause of death, but an autopsy was scheduled for Wednesday.

Samford spokesman Philip Poole said Griffin apparently died in his sleep. He had played in a pickup basketball game and lifted weights Monday night.

Tillette said Griffin had not had a previous medical condition.

“It’s devastating for our team right now,” Tillette said, according to the Birmingham News. “He was a sixth man, but he was everybody’s favorite guy. He was probably our least athletic guy but got the most out of it.”

Memphis Slammed, Calipari Skates Again

James Joyner — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:13:12 +0000

For the second time in his career, John Calipari has taken a former lowly school to the Final Four by cheating and managed to leave it in the rubble while he went on to a bigger and better job.

The NCAA has forced Memphis to give up every victory in its 38-win season under coach John Calipari that ended in the national title game in 2007-08, saying the school used an ineligible player.

The announcement came Thursday, 16 months after the Tigers lost to Kansas in overtime in the championship game.

The NCAA also said the school must return the money it received from the NCAA tournament appearance that season. School officials were expected to discuss the report later Thursday during a conference call.

It is the second time both Memphis and Calipari have had to vacate Final Four seasons. The Tigers were stripped of their 1985 appearance, and Calipari’s Massachusetts team lost its 1996 berth.

Calipari is now the coach at Kentucky, where officials have voiced support for him despite the Memphis scandal.

I’m very seldom in agreement with Skip Bayless on much of anything. But he’s right here:

Punishing the current Memphis players and coaches for something they had no control over, while allowing John Calipari to go unpunished is an absolute travesty.
sss

Former U of Cincinnati and NY Knick Center Paul Hogue dead at 69

Bill Jempty — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:23:47 +0000

Even though he played with Oscar Robertson who was famous for his rebounding ability, it was Hogue who set many of the Bearcats’ records. RIP

Paul “Duke” Hogue, a star center on Cincinnati’s back-to-back national championship basketball teams, has died at age 69.

His wife of 43 years, Patti Hogue, said he died Monday of heart and kidney failure.

The 6-foot-9-inch center helped lead the Bearcats to NCAA championships in 1961 and 1962, both times defeating Jerry Lucas-led Ohio State squads in the title games.

Hogue was chosen the most outstanding player in the 1962 NCAA tournament. He scored 36 points against UCLA in the semifinals.

Hogue was a first-round pick of the New York Knicks in the 1962 NBA draft, playing two seasons for the Knicks and the Baltimore Bullets.

Tennessee Martin basketball coach resigns after internal audit

Bill Jempty — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 23:55:03 +0000

Common sense should dictate to anyone in college athletics that you don’t put school money in a personal account. From AP-

Tennessee-Martin says head basketball coach Bret Campbell has resigned after an internal audit found he violated school policies by cashing checks for summer basketball camps.

In an announcement Friday, athletics director Phil Dane said the basketball program that Campbell led to its first Ohio Valley Conference championship and NIT tournament appearance is in compliance with NCAA rules.

The university audit dated Wednesday said Campbell cashed or deposited a total of $21,145 into his personal account, which should have been deposited into university accounts. The audit said he paid for the camp’s expenses and officials in cash from the deposited checks.

Campbell said “mistakes that were made” and decided to resign.

This article states no fraud was involved. Lead Assistant Coach Jason James has already been named the Skyhawks next head coach.

Former HS and College Basketball Coach Jimmy Tubbs dead at 60

Bill Jempty — Sun, 10 May 2009 16:35:37 +0000

Prior to his days at SMU, he was a NCAA assistant coach for over a decade and a highly successful head coach at the high school level. RIP.

Former SMU coach Jimmy Tubbs, who was fired after two seasons in 2006 when an internal investigation revealed NCAA violations, has died. He was 60.

SMU spokesman Brad Sutton said Tubbs died Saturday. No cause of death was given.

Tubbs was a popular choice to lead the Mustangs because he’d spent 12 years as an SMU assistant before going to Oklahoma for two seasons under Kelvin Sampson. He was also a championship-winning high school coach in Dallas, a fertile recruiting ground SMU has always struggled to tap.

The Mustangs were 27-30 in Tubbs’ two seasons. He was 232-42 at Dallas Kimball High School, including the 1990 Class 5A state championship.

Hall of Fame Basketball coach Chuck Daly dead at 78

Bill Jempty — Sat, 09 May 2009 14:52:10 +0000

He passed away after a short battle with cancer. Besides his NBA days, Daly was an Olympic coach and in his early days, a college basketball coach at Penn and Boston College. He was one of the great ones. RIP.

Chuck Daly, who coached the original Dream Team to the Olympic gold medal in 1992 after winning back-to-back NBA championships with the Detroit Pistons, has died. He was 78.

He died Saturday morning in Jupiter, Fla., with his family by his side, the team said. The Pistons announced in March that the Hall of Fame coach had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was undergoing treatment.

He was renowned for his ability to create harmony out of diverse personalities at all levels of the game, whether they were Ivy Leaguers at Pennsylvania, Dream Teamers Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley, or Pistons as dissimilar as Dennis Rodman and Joe Dumars.

“It’s a players’ league. They allow you to coach them or they don’t,” Daly once said. “Once they stop allowing you to coach, you’re on your way out.”

Daly was voted one of the 10 greatest coaches of the NBA’s first half-century in 1996, two years after being inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the first coach to win both an NBA title and Olympic gold.

“I think Chuck understood people as well as basketball,” Dumars told The Associated Press in 1995. “It’s a people business.”

Doug Collins, a former Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls coach, learned the intricacies of the game from Daly.

“He was a man of incredible class and dignity. He was a mentor and a friend,” Collins said. “He taught me so much and was always so supportive of me and my family. I loved him and will miss him.”

Daly had a golden touch at the Barcelona Games with NBA superstars Magic Johnson, Jordan, Larry Bird and Barkley, using a different lineup in every game.

“I played against Chuck’s teams throughout the NBA for a lot of years. He always had his team prepared, he’s a fine coach,” Bird said shortly after Daly’s diagnosis became public.

“Chuck did a good job of keeping us together,” Bird said. “It wasn’t about who scored the most points, it was about one thing: winning the gold medal.”

Daly humbled the NBA superstars by coaching a group of college players to victory in a controlled scrimmage weeks before the Olympics.

“I was the happiest man in the gym,” Daly said afterward.

Daly also made the right moves for the Pistons, who were notorious for their physical play with Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn leading the fight, Rodman making headlines and Hall of Fame guards Isiah Thomas and Dumars lifting the team to titles in 1989 and 1990.

Former Piston John Salley gave Daly the nickname “Daddy Rich” for his impeccably tailored suits.

Daly had a career regular-season record of 638-437 in 13 NBA seasons. In 12 playoff appearances, his teams went 75-51. He left Detroit as the Pistons’ coaching leader in regular-season and playoff victories.

“The Daly family and the entire Detroit Pistons and Palace Sports and Entertainment family is mourning the loss of Chuck Daly,” family and team spokesman Matt Dobek said. “Chuck left a lasting impression with everyone he met both personally and professionally and his spirit will live with all of us forever.”

Despite his success, Daly wasn’t part of a Coach of the Year presentation until he handed the trophy to then-Detroit coach Rick Carlisle in 2002.

“This is as close as I’ve ever been to that thing,” Daly said, looking at the Red Auerbach Trophy.

Born July 20, 1930, in St. Marys, Pa., Charles Jerome Daly played college ball at St. Bonaventure and Bloomsburg. After two years in the military, he coached for eight seasons at Punxsutawney (Pa.) High School and then spent six years as an assistant at Duke.

Succeeding Bob Cousy as coach at Boston College, Daly coached the Eagles to a 26-24 record during two seasons, then spent seven seasons at Penn, leading the Quakers to the Ivy League championship from 1972 to 1975.

Daly joined the NBA coaching ranks in 1978 as an assistant under Billy Cunningham in Philadelphia. His first head coaching job was with Cleveland, but he was fired after the Cavaliers went 9-32 during the first half of the 1981-82 season.

In 1983, Daly took over a Detroit team that had never had two straight winning seasons and led the Pistons to nine straight. He persuaded the likes of Rodman, Thomas, Dumars, Mahorn and Laimbeer to play as a unit and they responded with back-to-back championships in 1989 and 1990.

Far from being intimidated by the Pistons’ “Bad Boys” image, Daly saw the upside of it.

“I’ve also had players who did not care,” he said a decade later. “I’d rather have a challenging team.”

After leaving Detroit, Daly took over the New Jersey Nets for two seasons and led them to the playoffs both times.

He left broadcasting to return to the bench 1997 with the Orlando Magic and won 74 games in two seasons, then retired at the age of 68 because he said he was weary of the travel.

Daly joined the Vancouver Grizzlies as a senior adviser in 2000.

In retirement, he split time between residences in Jupiter, Fla., and suburban Detroit.

The Pistons retired No. 2 to honor their former coach’s two NBA titles in January 1997.

6 former Univ. of Toledo athletes charged with conspiracy

Bill Jempty — Fri, 08 May 2009 04:07:29 +0000

This comes less than a month after former running back Adam Cuomo admitted to being a key figure in a point shaving scheme. From AP-

University of Toledo officials have known for two years the bad news was coming. It finally struck Wednesday when six former players — three each from Toledo’s basketball and football programs, as well as two Detroit-area businessmen — were charged with conspiracy to commit sports bribery in an indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

The 20-count indictment charges that between December 2004 and December 2006, Ghazi “Gary” Manni, 52, and Mitchell Karam, 76, paid money and other things of value to the athletes in order to influence, or attempt to influence, the final score of both football and basketball games. Though the money paid players was at times as little as $500, this is believed to be the first major gambling case involving two sports on a college campus.

Nothing in the indictment, however, details Manni and Karam placing wagers on football games. Instead, the indictment lists 17 specific games in which they placed bets on Toledo basketball contests, including the amounts wagered. The indictment also details 133 phone calls between Manni and those charged in the case.

Charged in the indictment, in addition to Manni and Karam, were Harvey “Scooter” McDougle Jr., 24, a former running back from Cleveland; Adam Cuomo, 31, a former running back from Hagersville, Ontario, Canada; Quinton Broussard, 25, a former running back from Carrollton, Texas; Keith Triplett, 29, a former basketball player from Toledo; Anton Currie, 25, a former basketball player from Okemos, Mich; and Kashif Payne, 24, a former basketball player from Chester, Pa.

*****

The indictment filed Wednesday alleges Manni and Karam wagered approximately $407,500 on Toledo basketball and football games between November 2005 and December 2006. Both Mani and Karam, as well as jockey Ricardo Valdes, were also named in a separate indictment Wednesday that alleges they paid jockeys to influence the results of thoroughbred horse races at Tampa Bay Downs in Florida. Subsequently, the two allegedly used the simulcast pari-mutuel wagering system to place bets on the fixed races.

None of the school’s current athletes are believed to be involved in point shaving past or present. As I wrote a month ago, with all the money that is bet on collegiate sports these days, I’m surprised there haven’t been more cases like this.