Times wires
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Florida State heads to the Sweet 16 in San Antonio, Texas, and a date with Virginia Commonwealth hoping star F Chris Singleton is ready for more playing time.
The Seminoles' leading scorer and rebounder played a combined 26 minutes in wins last weekend over Texas A&M and Notre Dame. That came after missing five weeks with a broken right foot.
Coach Leonard Hamilton was reluctant to use Singleton, averaging 13.5 points and 6.9 rebounds, at all. But he had worked feverishly to rehab and been given medical clearance.
"I could not deny him," Hamilton said. "The hard work that he put in, he was so determined to be a part of the team in any way that he could possibly help."
Hamilton isn't sure how he'll use Singleton in Friday's Southwest Region semifinal, but he knows the junior is getting healthier by the day.
"You don't miss five weeks and come back and pick up where you left off," Hamilton said. "Hopefully before we finish the season, he'll be back to where he was."
Singleton, who had a combined five points and four rebounds, hopes to see an increased role.
"Just sitting on the bench, it's been tough," he said. "But if someone else is doing better than me, I can't tell (the coaches) to take them out of the game."
Duke's injured star: Duke PG Kyrie Irving, who returned at the start of the tournament after missing 26 games with an injured right toe, won't start tonight against Arizona but will play "significant minutes," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. The freshman averaged 12.5 points in the two tournament wins.
"He played significant minutes last week when I thought he was going to play limited minutes, so I mentioned that he will play significant minutes (tonight)," Krzyzewski said. "I don't know what the hell that means. It means he's going to play great minutes, hopefully."
Return trip: When Arizona F Derrick Williams played near his Los Angeles home in late February, things didn't go well. The Wildcats lost to USC and UCLA. The sophomore, averaging a team-high 19.1 points, had a season-low eight against the Trojans and 15 against the Bruins.
Now the Pac-10 of the year is back — in nearby Anaheim. Williams was besieged with ticket requests, although he could satisfy only his family. "Not that many people have that much money to spend on a 40-minute game," he said. "But a lot of people will be at a pizza place; someplace that has a lot of TVs."
Homecourt advantage? UConn G Kemba Walker isn't worried about playing San Diego State in Anaheim, a short drive on the interstate from its campus. "I'm pretty sure we'll have a nice little fan base because our fans travel very well," he said.
Quotable: "You see the rankings, and you see us up there. But people don't really know much about us. We're finally getting an opportunity to let people see what we're about. Our guys feed off that. We understand that we're seen as a mid major, so people feel like we don't deserve it because we don't consistently play the same type of competition. But we've won 34 games. That's a whole lot of wins." — San Diego State F Tim Shelton on facing UConn tonight
Hogs get Mizzou's coach: Mike Anderson is leaving Missouri to become coach at Arkansas, the school where he was an assistant to Nolan Richardson for 17 seasons. Anderson went 111-57 in five seasons at Missouri. He made the NCAA Tournament three times, reaching the Elite Eight in 2009. The Tigers lost to Cincinnati in their opening game this year. Anderson, who also coached UAB, replaces the fired John Pelphrey.
LA. TECH: Coach Kerry Rupp was fired. In four seasons, he went 57-69 (20-42 in the WAC).
Northern Ill.: Mark Montgomery, a Michigan State assistant for the past 10 seasons, was named coach.
NIT: Host Wichita State used a 15-1 second-half run to pull away and beat College of Charleston 82-75 in a quarterfinal. It faces the winner of Wednesday's late game between Northwestern and Washington State.