The Morning Mix

By Troy MachirJan 31, 2013, 8:00 AM EST

Just another busy day in the college hoops neighborhood. Ohio’s game against Eastern Michigan was postponed because of an armed gunman near campus. Plus a toddler ran on the court during Baylor’s home game against Oklahoma.

64 games were played last night. I love that number.

Let’s hit the links.

Wednesday’s Top games:
7:00 p.m. – Illinois @ Michigan State
7:00 p.m. – Drexel @ George Mason (NBC Sports Network)
7:00 p.m. – Iona @ Niagara
7:00 p.m. – Loyola (Md.) @ Canisius
8:00 p.m. – Morehead State @ Belmont
9:00 p.m. – No. 8 Arizona @ Washington
9:00 p.m. – No. 9 Butler @ Saint Louis
9:00 p.m. – Arkansas @ Alabama
10:00 p.m. – Oregon State @ California
11:00 p.m. – No. 7 Gonzaga @ Loyola Marymount
11:00 p.m. – Arizona State @ Washington State

Read of the Day:
I really like the positive attitude being displayed by Michigan State redshirt sophomore Russell Byrd. The sharpshooter has struggled to live up to recruiting hype, but he refuses to quit on the people who believe in him. (MLive.com)

Read of the Day:
Nine ways to fix the officiating in college hoops. This is the funniest thing you will read all day. The Tim Higgins video is worth the click. (Troy Nunes)

Read of the Day:
Luke Winn’s Power Rankings. You know what to do with these. (Sports Illustrated)

Top Stories:
Marshall Henderson’s jail time partially the result of positive cocaine test: It had been widely reported that Henderson had spent time in jail stemming from a 2010 forgery charge. But the reason he wasn’t jailed until last spring for a charge stemming from 2010 is that he violated his probation last January.

CBT Podcast: The role of Marshall Henderson in college hoops, and Coach of the Year debate: In episode-8 of the CBT Podcast, Troy Machir and Daniel Martin provide their opinions on the colorful and often volatile Ole Miss guard. Coach of the Year candidates are also discussed.

VIDEO: Michael Snaer’s fourth game-winner in the last two years: The Florida State guard continued to show his prowess in the clutch, hitting a game-winning three-pointer for the second time in the span of a week. This is also the fourth time he’s done it in two seasons. This time Maryland was the wrong end of things.

Oklahoma survives at Baylor, moves into tie for 2nd in the Big 12: Oklahoma nearly blew a 16 point lead, but Baylor missed two chances at a game-tying three in the final seconds. This was a big win for a team that is really putting it all together for Lon Kruger, who is on the verge of having OU back in the national discussion.

No. 10 Oregon is blown out by Stanford, who is finally playing up to par: The Ducks were playing without starting point guard Dominic Artis and it showed. The Cardinals outclassed them in every regard and finished with a 24-point margin of victory.

Missouri falls on the road to LSU in Laurence Bowers’ return: Laurence Bowers return from injury was supposed to provide the boost the Tigers needed to get out of their recent slide. But even Bowers’ 10 points and six rebounds weren’t enough to get Tigers back on track. Missouri has now lost three of six.

Notre Dame holds off red-hot Villanova at home: The Wildcats came up short on the road at Notre Dame following their back-to-back home wins over top-five teams Louisville and Syracuse. This was a game the Irish had to win, considering they entered the game having lost two of three at home.

Syracuse and St. John’s will continue series until 2015: Despite Syracuse’s move to the ACC next year and St. John’s exploring options with the Catholic 7, the two original Big East members will continue to play one another for the next few seasons. Jim Boeheim is famous for refusing to schedule non-conferences road games outside the state of New York, so this should not come as a major surprise.

VIDEO: Division II players goes between-the-legs in a game: Justin Glover of Winston Salem-State attempted not one but two between-the-legs dunks during a game last week against Elizabeth City State. He connected on one of them. It’s glorious.

Hoops Housekeeping:
– A day after suffering their first SEC loss of the season, Ole Miss got another dose of bad news. Sophomore big-man Aaron Jones is out for the remainder of the season due to an ACL injury and senior guard Nick Williams is out indefinitely with a foot injury. That is not good news considering the Rebels have a showdown with Florida this weekend at “The O-Dome”. (The Dagger)

Ohio’s game vs. Eastern Michigan last night was cancelled due to gunman on campus. The university took precautionary measures after a women was robbed at gunpoint near the campus. (Hustle Belt)

– North Carolina State guard Lorenzo Brown remains questionable to play against Miami this Saturday because of an ankle injury. (Sporting News)

– Charlotte’s leading scorer, Demario Mayfield, has been suspended indefinitely due to a violation of Athletic Department policy. The 49ers are 4-2 in the Atlantic-10 but have dropped two of their last four. (Charlotte Observer)

– Iona freshman guard A.J. English will miss the remainder of the season in order to have surgery to fix an injured wrist. (Big Apple Buckets)

North Carolina sophomore P.J. Hairston, doubtful for Saturday’s home game against Virginia Tech after suffering a concussion on Tuesday night. (Fayetteville Observer)

– Wake Forest will officially retire Chris Paul’s jersey on March 2. It will be the 11th uniform to be hoisted into the Demon Deacon rafters. (Star News Online)

– Former Indiana Hoosier Devan Dumes is now facing new criminal charges after allegedly firing off multiple rounds at an Indianapolis home earlier in the month. Things have not been going well as of late for Dumes. (RTV6-Indy)

Observations & Insight:
– Butler’s Andrew Smith isn’t thought of as being one of the nation’s elite big-men. But the stats suggest other wise. (Indianapolis Star)

– Remember when Northern Illinois only scored four points in the first half against Eastern Michigan on Saturday? Well, the Huskies got 26 points from Abdel Nader, including a game-winner with 2.2sec left to beat Kent State last night. (WREX-13)

– Illinois is holding a contest for students to come up with a new mascot and symbol to replace Chief Illiniwek. Jeff Eisenberg briefs us on the best and worst submissions. Personally, I’d go with the owl. (The Dagger)

– Former-Wisconsin Badger Zach Bohannon serves as a guest blogger to explain why athletic trainers need more support. (Eye on College Basketball)

– John Gasaway tackles the polls vs. computers debate using Kansas State, Butler and Pittsburgh. (ESPN Insider)

– Tom Izzo’s teams have always had a reputation for having a deep and productive bench. This season’s team has been winning despite having a less than ideal bench composite, which is kinda surprising. (The Only Colors)

– Northern Iowa head coach Ben Jacobson believes the Missouri Valley Conference deserves three bids to the NCAA tournament this season. (Courier Press)

– A great-read on Wichita State’s Carl Hall, who has battled through heart conditions to make the most out of his short NCAA career. (Omaha World-Herald)

– Nerlens Noel vs. Anthony Davis debate continues. It’s a close call. (Run The Floor)

– Former-coach Bruce Pearl weighs in on the “down year” debate, believes the veterans make the game great. (ESPN)

– Jay Bilas and Chad Ford debate about the best player on the Indiana Hoosiers, Tyler Zeller or Victor Oladipo. (ESPN Insider)

– Matt Norlander digs up a great stat-sheet stuffing record that Ohio’s D.J. Cooper is about to set. (Eye On College Basketball)

– Some quality inside-the-numbers trends regarding the top distributors in the NEC. (Big Apple Buckets)

– Brady Heslip’s three-point attempt for Baylor at the buzzer glanced off the rim, and in reaction, Bears head coach Scott Drew did a back flop. (Run the Floor)

– An awesome time-lapse video of “The Tad Pad” at Ole Miss for the entire Rebels game against UK. (Kentucky Sports Radio)

Video(s) of the Day:
A toddler ran on to the court during the Baylor-Oklahoma game. it’s all cute until Pierre Jackson plows into him uncontrollably on his way to the basket. (The Big Lead)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hexuFpp26NI&w=560&h=315%5D

Dunk(s) of the Day:
Nevada’s Deonte Burton gets up in a hurry against UNLV. Not too many people talk about Burton, but he’s an unheralded human highlight reel.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaNUd8r-nVo&w=560&h=315%5D

Do you like the new Morning Mix? Hate it? Have a suggestion or want something featured? Troy Machir will take all your praise, insults and inquiries via Twitter (@TroyMachir)

North Texas reaches NIT finals, shuts down Wisconsin 56-54

Associated PressMar 28, 2023, 11:53 PM EDT

Candice Ward-USA TODAY Sports

LAS VEGAS – Tylor Perry scored 14 of his 16 points in the first half, Rubin Jones scored all 12 of his after halftime and North Texas closed on a 10-0 run to beat Wisconsin 56-54 on Tuesday night in the semifinals of the NIT.

North Texas (30-7) advances to the program’s first NIT championship game on Thursday. Conference USA is now 16-1 this postseason.

North Texas, which trailed 41-29 at halftime, took its first lead of the game at 56-54 with 2:08 remaining on Moulaye Sissoko’s shot in the lane to cap a 10-0 run.

Wisconsin forward Tyler Wahl missed two free throws with 49.1 seconds left and North Texas worked the clock down before Perry had it poked away. Wahl had a shot blocked at the rim, but Wisconsin secured the loose ball and called a timeout with 5.8 left. Wisconsin got it inside to Wahl but Sissoko knocked it away and dove on the ball to end it.

The Mean Green, the nation’s leader in scoring defense at 55.7 points per game, held Wisconsin without a point for the final 9:07 of the game. The Badgers made just one of their last 16 shots – with 10 straight misses.

Kai Huntsberry scored four of his 12 points in the game-closing run for North Texas, which extended its program record for wins this season.

Chucky Hepburn scored all 15 of his points in the first half for Wisconsin (20-15), which was making its first appearance in the NIT semifinals.

Wisconsin dropped to 13-8 this season in games decided by five points or fewer.

NEW VENUE

The semifinals and final are being played at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas after Madison Square Garden in New York hosted every year but two since 1938, with the 2020 tournament canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2021 event held in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The 2024 semifinals and final will be played at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

LSU’s Mulkey senses reunion in trip to Texas for Final Four

Associated PressMar 28, 2023, 9:35 PM EDT

Getty Images

DALLAS – Kim Mulkey is returning to Texas for another Final Four, keenly aware that her LSU Tigers will play a short road trip from the school she made synonymous with women’s basketball.

Mulkey is the third coach to take multiple schools to the Final Four, doing so in her second season back in her home state of Louisiana after leading Baylor to the national semifinals four times in 21 seasons.

The Bears won three national championships under Mulkey, combined for 23 regular-season and tournament titles in the Big 12 Conference and made the NCAA Tournament in all but one of her seasons.

“You never spend 21 years of your life building a dynasty, and that’s what we did at Baylor. I think we can all agree with that,” Mulkey said Tuesday. “I still have a home there. My grandchildren are there. So my heart will always be there.”

Mulkey and the Tigers (33-2) will face first-time Final Four qualifier Virginia Tech (31-4) in the opener Friday night in Dallas, about 100 miles (160 km) north of Mulkey’s former college home in Waco. Defending champion South Carolina (36-0) plays Iowa (30-6) in the late game.

Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer took three teams to the Final Four, and Gary Blair made it that far with two.

Blair’s second was Texas A&M in 2011, when he won an Elite Eight showdown with Mulkey at American Airlines Center. Five years later in Dallas, the Bears again fell one win short of the Final Four.

Mulkey is back in Dallas with a new team after a 54-42 Elite Eight victory over Miami.

“There will be Baylor people sitting in my section that are heartbroken that I left,” Mulkey said. “I get it. Someday when I’m retired, maybe I’ll write another book and have more details, but I love Baylor University, the fans there, the Lady Bear fans there. But it was time. Timing is everything in life.”

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley has fonder memories of the home of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks. The Gamecocks won their first national title there five years ago, beating Mississippi State after the Bulldogs ended Connecticut’s 111-game winning streak in the semifinals.

“Dallas, it will be etched in my memory forever,” said Staley, whose team – the No. 1 overall seed – earned a return trip with an 86-75 victory over Maryland. “I remember vividly the police escorts. I remember our fans. I remember UConn losing. That was a huge moment in college women’s basketball.”

Virginia Tech coach Kenny Brooks is a Dallas Cowboys fan, so he remembers seeing star quarterback Dak Prescott in the stands five years ago rooting for his alma mater, Mississippi State.

Prescott remembers the “huge moment” to which Staley referred. His reaction to Morgan William’s buzzer-beating game-winner in overtime made the rounds on social media five years ago.

“That was a surreal moment,” Brooks said. “But my surreal moment was last night.”

That’s when the No. 1 seed Hokies beat Ohio State 84-74 to reach their first Final Four in Brooks’ seventh season. Iowa, which beat Louisville 97-83 in the Elite Eight, has advanced this far for the first time since 1993, when Stringer became the first coach to lead multiple teams to the Final Four.

Stringer had done it with Cheyney in the inaugural tournament season of 1982, and after the Iowa trip, she went twice more with Rutgers in 2000 and 2007.

“She called me immediately after we beat Louisville,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “In fact, she was my first voice message I got that night. I know coach Stringer is behind us. I haven’t been able to get back to her yet, but I will soon.”

Mulkey’s Bears were one of the top seeds in 2017, hoping to chase a title just up the road from their Waco campus. Mississippi State beat Baylor in overtime in the Elite Eight before the OT thriller against UConn.

The Tigers are this deep in the tournament for the first time since the last of five consecutive Final Four appearances in 2008, all of which ended in the semifinals.

Mulkey was asked if she felt the burden of living up to those glory years.

“We’ve already done that,” said Mulkey, who has now reached the NCAA Tournament in 19 consecutive seasons as a coach. “Winning a national championship will only put an exclamation mark on it. We have exceeded probably what anybody could just realistically say was possible this quickly.”

Black female athletes: Having Black female coach is crucial

Associated PressMar 28, 2023, 9:32 PM EDT

Getty Images

South Carolina senior guard Brea Beal knew she could trust Dawn Staley before she even suited up for the Gamecocks.

It wasn’t just Staley’s coaching accolades, which include fueling South Carolina’s meteoric rise in women’s basketball, that sold Beal. Beal knew that Staley – a Black woman like her – would best understand how to guide her as she navigated both life and playing basketball on a big stage.

“People that were telling me what this community was about, I know it’s somewhere I wanted to be,” Beal said. “As soon as I got here, she definitely led me down a journey so I could find out who I am.”

Black female representation in the coaching and sports administrative ranks has existed on a minute scale – even in a sport like basketball, which along with track and field has the highest concentration of Black female college athletes. Black female players who have been coached by a Black woman told The Associated Press that it was crucial to their development.

“There are some coaches who will just have all guys with no understanding that there are sometimes things that a young woman may need to talk to another woman about,” said Kiki Barnes, a former basketball player and jumper at New Orleans and current Gulf Coast Athletic Conference commissioner.

While the number of women coaching women’s sports has increased in the past decade, Black women continue to lag behind most other groups. During the 2021-22 school year, 399 Black women coached women’s NCAA sports teams in Divisions I, II and III, compared with 3,760 white women and 5,236 white men.

In women’s NCAA basketball, a sport made up of 30% Black athletes, Black women made up 12% of head coaches across all divisions during the 2021-22 season, according to the NCAA’s demographics database.

Fourteen Black women led women’s basketball teams across 65 Power Five programs this past season – up one from 2021. That’s less than 22% of the total in a sport that was played by more Black athletes (40.7%) than any other race in Division I, according to a report with data from the 2020-21 season.

For the first time in a decade, four Black coaches advanced to the Sweet 16 of the women’s basketball tournament, including Staley, who said she believes it’s more popular to hire a woman at “this stage of the game.”

“And it’s not to say that I’m going to sit here and male bash, because we have a lot of male coaches who have been in our game for decades upon decades,” said Staley, who will lead her team into the Final Four this weekend. “But I will say that giving women an opportunity to coach women and helping women navigate through life like they have navigated through life will allow your student-athletes a different experience than having a male coach.”

For years Staley has been an advocate for hiring more female coaches – especially minorities – in college basketball, but WNBA player Angel McCoughtry said Black female coaches as successful as Staley are still too few and far between in the sport.

“When I was getting recruited in high school, I don’t remember having a Dawn Staley to look up to,” said McCoughtry, who played at Louisville from 2005-09.

McCoughtry also named Carolyn Peck, the first African American woman to coach her team to an NCAA women’s basketball title in 1999 with Purdue, as another example of representation in the sport.

“So there’s one or two every decade,” McCoughtry said. “Why can’t we have 10? There’s 10 Caucasian coaches every decade.”

McCoughtry, a former No. 1 overall pick by the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream, got used to being around people who didn’t look like or understand her. She is Black. Her AAU and high school coaches were Black men. Her college coaches were white men. Marynell Meadors, a white woman, was her first coach in Atlanta.

She has fielded frustrating questions from white peers, coaches and owners – like how often she washes her hair, or whether her passionate play was because she was from Baltimore.

“There’s just a disconnect in understanding things,” the 36-year-old said, adding: “We need more coaches to protect us.”

McCoughtry has never had a Black female head coach but did have the impactful guidance of Michelle Clark-Heard, a Black woman whom Jeff Walz brought on as an assistant when he took over at Louisville in 2008.

She also leaned on Tim Eaton, a Black assistant coach who she said advocated for her in her freshman year, when then-coach Tom Collen wanted to send her back to Baltimore because she was late to one of her first practices. Similarly, McCoughtry said, she felt she had less room to make mistakes than white teammates. When she questioned a coach, she was labeled a troublemaker; when she got fired up about a play, she was told she had a bad attitude.

“We just never had any inch to be human, like our Caucasian counterparts,” she said, adding: “But who understands that? Our Black coaches. Because they went through everything we went through. They have a story, too.”

Part of the reason for the lack of Black female coaches is because of who ultimately holds the power to hire, Barnes said. That’s often athletic directors, a level where there is an even greater lack of diversity – 224 of 350 in Division I are white men. Plus, she added, there are changing requirements for what it takes to get leadership opportunities.

“And now the system has changed to where now you’ve got to know search firms because now search firms are the ones that are managing and determining who gets these opportunities,” she said. “Every time we understand how to get in the room and what it takes to be prepared, it’s like the rules change.”

Barnes played high school basketball in her hometown of Minden, Louisiana, where she had an assistant coach who was a Black woman; Barnes still refers to her as “Coach Smith.”

“For her, it wasn’t just about basketball. It was about who I was as a young lady,” Barnes recalled, adding, “I would say it’s similar with a young woman wanting to talk to a mom about womanly things. It’s not that a man couldn’t do it, but I wouldn’t feel as comfortable talking to either my dad or any other man about woman things.”

Priscilla Loomis, a 2016 Olympic high jumper who is Black, said she became a coach to provide kids that look like her the representation the sport has lacked. NCAA track and field numbers mirrored women’s basketball numbers in 2021-22: 5% of head coaches were Black women, while 19% of women’s NCAA track and field athletes are Black.

“They want so badly to feel seen and to feel loved and to be given guidance,” Loomis said. “And so that’s why I always say it’s important to get women of color, men of color to the starting line, because a lot of times we’re so many steps behind.”

Auburn’s top ’22 hoops signee, Traore, plans to transfer

Associated PressMar 28, 2023, 9:30 PM EDT

Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports

AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn’s top signee from last year, center Yohan Traore, plans to transfer.

The five-star recruit from France, who played a limited role as a freshman, announced his plans in an Instagram post on Tuesday.

The 6-foot-10 Traore initially committed to LSU but landed at Auburn after the firing of coach Will Wade a little more than a year ago. He was rated the No. 24 overall recruit and No. 5 center according to the 247Sports composite rankings.

Traore averaged 2.1 points and 1.4 rebounds after arriving from Dream City Christian School in Arizona.

Traore was a member of the U15 and U16 French National Team.

He played nine minutes in Auburn’s opening NCAA Tournament game against Iowa. Traore failed to score and didn’t play in the second-round loss to Houston.

Unbeaten Gamecocks, Iowa’s Caitlin Clark star in women’s Final Four

Associated PressMar 27, 2023, 11:48 PM EDT

SEATTLE ⁠— An undefeated South Carolina team led by star Aliyah Boston and guided by vaunted Dawn Staley, an Iowa squad that features high-scoring Caitlin Clark and the return of LSU and flashy coach Kim Mulkey headline the women’s Final Four this weekend.

Virginia Tech is the newcomer to the group as the Hokies are making their first appearance in the national semifinals. Hokies coach Kenny Brooks became the third Black male coach to take a team to the Final Four in women’s basketball history.

All of the women’s basketball world will descend on Dallas this week as the Division I, II and III championships will be held there. It’s only the second time that all three divisions will have their title games in the same place.

Staley and the Gamecocks are looking to become the 10th team to go through a season unbeaten and the first to repeat as champions since UConn won four in a row from 2013-16. South Carolina advanced to its third consecutive national semifinals and fifth since 2015 thanks to another superb effort by Boston, the reigning AP Player of the Year. The three-time All-American had 22 points and 10 rebounds in a win over Maryland on Monday night.

Next up for the Gamecocks is Iowa and the sensational Clark. She helped the Hawkeyes reach their first Final Four in 30 years with a game for the ages in the regional semifinals on Sunday night. The junior guard had the first 40-point triple-double in NCAA history in the win over Louisville.

The Gamecocks have the experience edge having reached the Final Four so often with this group. No one on Iowa’s roster was alive the last time the team advanced to the game’s biggest stage. C. Vivian Stringer was the coach of that team in 1993 that reached the Final Four before losing to Ohio State in overtime.

“It is like a storybook, but it’s kind of been like that for us all year long,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “I mean, we have had — honestly, we keep talking about destiny and how it’s supposed to happen and it is happening. But I’m so happy for Caitlin. I can remember sitting in her living room and her saying, I want to go to a Final Four. And I’m saying, We can do it together. And she believed me. And so I’m very thankful for that.”

The other game will pit LSU against Virginia Tech. The Tigers are making their first trip to the national semifinals since 2008 when Sylvia Fowles dominated the paint. Now LSU is led by another stellar post player in Angel Reese.

She broke Fowles’ record for double-doubles in a season earlier this year and was key in the Tigers’ win over Miami in the Elite Eight.

Reese, who transferred in this season from Maryland, has made Mulkey’s second season at the school a special one. She came to LSU with a resume headlined by three NCAA titles from her time at Baylor along with some flamboyant sideline looks such as her silver-shimmering jacket with white pants that she wore in the Elite Eight game Sunday.

“What really makes me smile is not cutting that net down,” Mulkey said. “It’s looking around out there at all those LSU people, looking at that team I get to coach experience it for the first time.”

LSU’s opponent is also making its first appearance at the Final Four. The Hokies have had the best season in school history, winning the ACC crown as well under Brooks. He joined former Syracuse Quentin Hillsman and Cheyney State’s Winthrop “Windy” McGriff.

The significance has not been lost on Brooks, who hopes he can inspire other Black male coaches to get more opportunities.

The Hokies run to the national semifinals has been led by star post Elizabeth Kitley and sharpshooter Georgia Amoore. The pair combined for 49 points in the win over Ohio State in the Elite Eight.