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The Huskies broke the consecutive win streak also set by the Huskies back in 2001-03. From AP-
Tina Charles, Maya Moore and the latest Connecticut Huskies dynasty now have their own place in the record books.
Charles scored 16 points and Moore added 11 to help top-ranked Connecticut win an NCAA record 71st straight game — a 59-44 victory over Notre Dame (No. 7 ESPN/USA Today, No. 6 AP) on Monday night in the semifinals of the Big East tournament.
UConn surpassed its own mark set from Nov. 9, 2001, to March 11, 2003. Unlike that amazing run, which ended in a loss in the Big East conference tournament semifinals to Villanova, this Huskies team has thoroughly dominated its opponents in every game, winning all of them by double digits.
Connecticut (32-0) will face either West Virginia or Rutgers on Tuesday night with a chance to win its 16th Big East conference tournament championship.
Maybe the most spectacular aspect of UConn’s record is the fact they have seldom been behind in any of the 71 games. Has there ever been a more perfect sports team?
He held the school’s career homerun mark for over three decades. Small also played very briefly in the major leagues with the Atlanta Braves. RIP.
Hank Small, whose 48 career home runs from 1972-75 stood as the USC record for more than three decades, was 56. David Small said his brother fell Tuesday night while moving into his new home in Griffin, Ga.
Hank Small lost his balance on the steps in front of the house, fell backward and struck the back of his head on the pavement, according to his brother. He lost consciousness and never regained it due to massive trauma, David said.
*****
Small was the first true home run hitter at USC. In the nine-year period leading to Small’s first season, USC hit 42 home runs. Small hit six more than that the next four years himself.
Teammates called Small “Hams,” which was short for “Hammer,” because the 6-foot-3, 205-pound first baseman/outfielder was every bit the power hitter that Hank “The Hammer” Aaron was for the Atlanta Braves at the time.
“It was just an amazing feeling when you could look around the infield and you’ve got Hams at first,” Bass said. “We just knew nobody could ever beat us.”
Although Small was known for his prodigious home runs, he was the consummate hitter, possessing the ability to drive the ball to the opposite field.
“He attacked everybody. He was such an intimidating force at the plate,” Bass said. “He had such an aggressive style of hitting. You may get him on one pitch, but the next one he would hit the ball so hard.”
Small batted .379 as a freshman in 1972 with four home runs, then slumped to .282 as a sophomore with eight homers. Aluminum bats were used for the first time in 1974, Small’s junior season.
“People were scared of him,” Bass said. “He was strong. He was big. With aluminum bats, he didn’t have to pull everything. He could drive the ball anywhere.”
Small batted .360 his junior year with a school-record 17 home runs and was a second-team All-American. Then, as a senior, he batted .390 and broke his record with 19 home runs and earned first-team All-America honors.
His home run total as a senior stood as the USC single-season record until Joe Datin hit 23 in 1985. His 48 career home runs stood as the school record until Justin Smoak hit 62 from 2006-08.
“I don’t want to take anything away from what (Smoak’s) done,” Small said two years ago as Smoak approached his career record. “I just think college baseball is so much more hitting than it is pitching today. College now is a hitting game.”
Small’s career coincided with the rise to big-time baseball for USC under coach Bobby Richardson, who arrived for the 1970 season.
“Not only was he a tremendous ball player, but he was a tremendous individual as well,” Richardson said. “I just thought the world of him, and I’m saddened and shocked to hear not that he’s no longer with us.”
The ’74 club made USC’s first appearance in the NCAA tournament, and the following year USC advanced to the College World Series. USC lost the championship game to Texas, 5-1, with Small’s homer accounting for USC’s run.
“I feel like that team I was lucky enough to be on was, in my mind, probably the greatest team I ever saw in college,” said David Small, who was a teammate of his brother’s on the ’75 team and now works in building supply sales in the Atlanta area.
George Henry Small was born in Atlanta on July 31, 1953. June Raines recruited Small out of Atlanta to play for Richardson. Raines, who left for professional baseball, returned after Small had finished his USC career.
“They made Carolina baseball,” Raines said of Small and Bass. “They sure did put the program on the map.”
Small was selected in the fourth round of the Major League Baseball draft by the Atlanta Braves. He advanced quickly through the minor-league system and batted .289 with 25 home runs and 101 RBIs for Richmond of the Class AAA International League in 1978.
He earned a late-season call-up to the major leagues and played in one game for Atlanta on Sept. 27. Small went hitless in four at-bats in his only big-league game.
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Papers please, comrade. From the Honolulu Advertiser-
Perhaps it was fitting that the University of Hawai’i men’s basketball team had to sit for about 30 minutes on a stalled bus on a dark and lonely road on the way to Moscow, Idaho, last night.
“We got here, that’s all that matters,” Hawai’i head coach Bob Nash said.
And without a trip to the gulag either!
Just an attempt at humor here. You just get a chance to write many sports posts headlines like I did here.
Only 63 more teams to go. From AP-
Cornell became the first team this season to earn an NCAA tournament bid, clinching its third straight Ivy League championship by beating Brown 95-76 on Friday night with a record-tying display of 3-point shooting.
The Big Red (26-4, 12-1) made 20 of 30 attempts from 3-point range and held Brown to 30 percent shooting in the second half while cruising to their 24th victory in 26 games.
Cornell tied an Ivy League record for 3s in a game and increased its season total to 292, also a conference mark. In doing so, the Big Red wrapped up their fourth Ivy League title — securing the fifth NCAA tournament berth in school history.
Cornell will be making their 5th tournament appearance. They lost in the first round as a #14 seed the last two years. Coming off a near upset of #1 Kansas, the Big Red look to have a much better chance of advancing this year.
So one play equals a full season? From the Corvallis Gazette-Times-
Former Oregon State quarterback Lyle Moevao’s appeal for a sixth year of eligibility was denied by the NCAA on Thursday.
Moevao missed all but one pass play last season, and some of his junior year, due to shoulder and ankle injuries.
He hoped for a sixth year because he lost so much time, but it was a long shot.
“It’s disappointing for the most part in the final decison,” Moeavo said. “At the same time I have to go on and figure out what I’m going to do in my future.”
Sixth years are rarely granted. Athletes must miss two full seasons out of the possible five to circumstances they can’t control. The intent of the rule is to give them an opportunity to play four seasons.
Moevao was healthy for almost four seasons, and had the opportunity to play during four of his five seasons. That was the reason the NCAA cited for denial.
Before coming to OSU, Moevao played one year of Community College ball.
I shake my head at many NCAA rulings including this one. Hard and set rules can hurt innocent individuals and this is just one such case where the use common sense would have been a wiser choice. How many cases are there of players wanting a 6th year?
A game between two top 15 schools is scheduled to be broadcast on Versus this Saturday. From KRQE-
Saturday’s game between the New Mexico Lobos and the BYU Cougars may be the biggest game of the season and an estimated 1/3 of Albuquerque TV viewers will not be able to see it.
The No. 10/12 ranked Lobos are heading for a huge showdown Saturday in Provo, Utah against No. 13/11 BYU.
The regular season conference championship will most likely be on the line.
But, because the game will air on the Versus network, DirectTV subscribers will not be able to see it.
A money dispute between Versus and DirectTV has kept Versus off DirectTV.
On their network, DirectTV claims the parent company of Versus, Comcast, is asking too much money to carry the network on DirectTV. As a result, DirectTV does not carry Versus.
The Mountain West Conference’s tournament championship is scheduled to be broadcast on Versus next month.
I sympathize with Mountain West sports fans. This dumb dispute has dragged on far too long and NHL fans are about to get screwed even more than they have already been up to now. The playoffs are less than two months away and some of those games are carried exclusively by Versus.
The NHL’s decision to sit on its hands is mind boggling to me. The league doesn’t have a big United States fan base. Marginal fans are going to find something else to watch and perhaps permanently. Is Commissioner Gary Bettman too dumb to realize that or does he simply not care?
It was given by Ellen Kreighbaum who was instrumental in starting Women’s Sports at the University. From AP-
Montana State University’s women’s basketball program and the Bobcat Club are the beneficiaries of a $200,000 estate gift.
The MSU Athletics Department announced Friday that the gift was made by Ellen Kreighbaum, a pioneer in Bobcat women’s athletics.
The women’s basketball team will get $170,000, while the remaining $30,000 will go to the Bobcat Club for student-athlete scholarships.
Kreighbaum was instrumental in starting the MSU women’s basketball program in the late 1960s. She also helped establish the women’s athletic department at MSU.
Ellen Kreighbaum’s affiliation with Montana State began in the mid-1960′s. Prior to 1968 the school didn’t have a women’s athletic program.
The Florida High School I attended was bequeathed money to build its own swimming pool. It was still held up in probate at the time of my graduation.
He rushed for over 1,500 yards last season. From ESPN-
Oregon running back LaMichael James, one of the top freshmen in the nation, was arrested on domestic violence charges after his girlfriend said he grabbed her neck during an argument and pushed her to the ground.
James, 20, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to misdemeanor charges of menacing, strangulation and assault. He remained in the Lane County Jail on $40,000 bail, according to a jail deputy. His attorney, Michael Buseman, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Springfield police Sgt. Tom Borchers said the incident happened Monday evening outside a Springfield apartment complex. The 22-year-old woman, whose name has not been released, contacted authorities the following day and police located James in Eugene late Tuesday.
With the exception of self defense, there is no excuse for violence against a woman. If the charges are true, James needs to be disciplined. Including possibly kicking him off the Ducks football squad.
Nicknamed ‘Kaji’, he led ASU’s basketball, baseball, and freshman football teams at one time or another. RIP.
William (Bill) “Kaji†Kajikawa, a legendary former football, basketball and baseball coach at Arizona State, died Monday morning. He was 97.
Kajikawa began his coaching career at Arizona State in 1937 and retired in 1978.
He began coaching the Arizona State Teacher’s College freshman football team in 1937, when the players were known as the Bulldogs. During his tenure, Kajikawa watched the Bulldogs become the Sun Devils in 1946, and he saw his alma mater gain university status in 1958.
Before retiring in 1978, Kajikawa had worked as the freshman football coach under nine ASU head football coaches. In addition, he served as head basketball coach from 1948 to 1957, and he was head coach of ASU’s club baseball team from 1947 to 1957. He was inducted into the Arizona Basketball Hall of Fame in 1968 and the ASU Hall of Distinction in 1982.
He and one of his players were arrested earlier this week. From AP-
The women’s basketball coach at an East Texas junior college and one of his players was released on bond Thursday after their arrests after a game.
Trinity Valley Community College coach Bill Damuth was freed from Washington County Jail on $1,500 bond Thursday, a day after Blinn College police arrested him on a charge of resisting arrest. Freed on $2,500 bond was Lesha Dunn, Trinity Valley’s 6-foot-4 freshman post player from Canada, who was charged with assault on a police officer.
According to Blinn spokeswoman Cathy Boeker, Damuth angrily charged game officials at the final buzzer of No. 4-ranked Trinity Valley’s 61-55 loss Wednesday night at Blinn, then struggled with a campus police officer who was trying to restrain him.
Boeker says Dunn came to her coach’s aid, grabbed the arm of the officer trying to restrain Damuth, then struggled from behind with a second officer who was trying to place Damuth in handcuffs.
Both spent the night in the Washington County Jail in Brenham before their arraignments Thursday morning.
The charge of resisting arrest is abused by law enforcement officials all the time. Without further facts, I won’t comment on the criminal charges. As for being angry at officials, Coach Damuth needs more self control.
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