SNACKS: TCU upsets Kansas, Duke-UNC to meet in ACC semifinals

By Scott PhillipsMar 9, 2017, 11:00 PM EST

THURSDAY’S THINGS TO KNOW

TCU blew a double-digit lead in the second half, but closed out the game on a 9-2 run to upset top-seeded Kansas in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals. Does this loss knock the Jayhawks off the top line when the bracket is revealed on Sunday? CBT’s Scott Phillips has more from this game here.

That wasn’t the only upset in Kansas City. Kansas State played like a team that knew what was at stake, opening up a double-digit lead on No. 9 Baylor before holding on for a 70-64 win. Projected as one of the last teams in the field, the Wildcats should be dancing on Sunday.

We’ll get a Duke vs. North Carolina Part III in New York on Friday after the Blue Devils knocked off No. 4 seed Louisville in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament. Jayson Tatum had 25 points while Luke Kennard finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds. CBT’s Rob Dauster was there was this and has more.

After a scary incident in which their plane aborted takeoff and had a minor accident on Wednesday, Michigan spent the night in a different state, drove to D.C. for the game, wore their practice jerseys against Illinois, and still came out and beat the Illini by 20 points in the Big Ten second round. Senior Derrick Walton had 19 points and five assists. This loss also gives Illinois no chance at making the NCAA tournament as head coach John Groce awaits his fate.

Huge second half from No. 6 North Carolina as they outscored Miami by 20 in the final half for a 78-53 win in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. The Tar Heels were led by Isaiah Hicks with 19 points while Justin Jackson had 12 points. Head coach Roy Williams even felt good enough to comment on President Donald Trump following the win as CBT’s Rob Dauster was there.

Leading by one with 39 seconds to go, Xavier head coach Chris Mack ignored the advice of his staff and took a gamble. It paid off and the Musketeers punched their tickets to the NCAA Tournament by defeating Butler. CBT’s Rob Dauster was at MSG for the night session of the Big East Tournament.

STARRED

Monte Morris vs. Jawun Evans — The two All-American guards put on a fun show as the Cyclones outran the Cowboys in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals. Morris was sensational as he just missed a triple-double with 21 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists as he also added two blocks and two steals. Having to do more as a scorer, Evans finished with 29 points, four assists and four rebounds.

Angel Delgado, Seton Hall — Also just missing a triple-double by one assist was Delgado as the junior big man had 12 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists in a huge Pirates win over Marquette in the Big East Tournament. It was Delgado’s 13th consecutive double-double and 26th overall this season as his passing continues to improve as the season rolls along.

Peyton Aldridge, Davidson — Going for 33 points and 10 rebounds in a win over La Salle, the junior forward showed why the Wildcats could be a dangerous team in the Atlantic 10 Tournament this week. The 6-foot-8 Aldridge was 10-for-15 from the field and 10-for-11 from the free-throw line as he’s had a very strong season.

Trevon Bluiett, Xavier — The team’s leading scorer gave Musketeers a lead for good with a turnaround elbow jumper. He ended with 23 points, four rebounds and four assists. When he’s good, Xavier is good.

J.J. Frazier, Georgia — Making several clutch plays down the stretch, Frazier helped the Bulldogs hold off Tennessee in the SEC quarterfinals. Frazier ended with 17 points and 10 assists.

REST OF THE TOP 25

Cruising to victory in the Big East Tournament was No. 2 Villanova as they rolled past St. John’s, 108-67. The Wildcats had 25 points from Donte DiVincenzo and 24 points from Kris Jenkins.
Dillon Brooks and Tyler Dorsey both had good games for No. 5 Oregon as they took down Arizona State to advance in the Pac-12 Tournament. Brooks had 22 while Dorsey finished with 21 points.
Despite 31 points from Derrick White, No. 7 Arizona rolled past Colorado 92-78.
In typical fashion, No. 11 West Virginia made it difficult on the opposing offense, knocking Texas out of the Big 12 quarterfinals with a 63-53 victory. Jevon Carter led the way with 21 points, while Press Virginia forced 14 turnovers and kept the Longhorns without a field goal for the final 5:34 of regulation.
No. 16 Florida State took its toll on Virginia Tech, as the Seminoles advanced in the ACC Tournament with a 74-68 win. Despite not shooting well, Dwayne Bacon led all scorers with 17 points (all in the second half).
Bonzie Colson registered another double-double — 21 points, 10 rebounds — as No. 22 Notre Dame defeated No. 21 Virginia by double digits. The Fighting Irish’s 71 points is the second most allowed by the Cavaliers in a regulation game this season.

NOTABLE

Seton Hall beating Marquette shouldn’t make the Golden Eagles feel any better on Selection Sunday. Marquette should be fine to get in but this loss didn’t help. Khadeen Carrington finished with 19 points to pace the Pirates.
Advancing in the Big Ten Tournament was Michigan State as the Spartans scored an easy win over Penn State. The freshmen duo of Miles Bridges and Nick Ward both had 15 points each.
Georgia is trying to win as much as possible on the small chance they can earn an at-large bid as they beat Tennessee in the SEC Tournament second round. J.J. Frazier finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds to pace the Bulldogs.
The No. 1 seed in the MAC Tournament, Akron, took care of business by rolling past Eastern Michigan in the quarterfinals as Isaiah Johnson had 24 points and 10 rebounds.
Conference USA No. 1 seed Middle Tennessee won in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament as they beat UT San Antonio. The Blue Raiders had 21 points from Reggie Upshaw.
Top-seeded NC Central defeated Bethune-Cookman by 35 in the MEAC quarterfinals.
Michigan breezed past Illinois, 75-55, in the Big Ten Tournament second round. The Wolverines, a day after an aborted takeoff, landed only hours before its scheduled 12:20 p.m. tip with the Fighting Illini. Illinois, which began the day as one of the “Next Four Out” in the most recent bracketology, saw its bubble burst.
Indiana sunk 12-of-20 from three en route to a 95-73 win over Iowa. The Hawkeyes were projected as one of the “Last Four In.” That won’t be the case on Selection Sunday.
Northwestern trailed Rutgers, 9-6, early in the Big Ten second round. Then the Wildcats went on a 31-0 run over the next 11 minutes. Guess which team won the game?
Providence had won six in a row — 20 for the season — and finished in third place in the Big East. However, NBC Sports bracket projection had the Friars as earning one of the last four byes. Does a 70-58 loss to Creighton in the quarterfinals make them sweat it out on Selection Sunday?
Jaron Martin and Luke Nelson each scored 19 as No. 1 UC Irvine advanced to the Big West semifinals.
No. 1 Nevada opened up a 17-point lead at halftime and didn’t look back, as the Wolf Pack moves on to the Mountain West quarterfinals.
Corey Baldwin’s first career double-double led No. 1 North Dakota to a 95-72 win over Portland State in the Big Sky quarterfinals.
The American Athletic Conference began on Thursday, with East Carolina, UConn and Tulsa advancing to the quarterfinals.
No. 1 CSU Bakersfield has its first postseason opponent: Utah Valley, who defeated Seattle in the WAC quarterfinals.

Report: Notre Dame closing deal with PSU’s Shrewsberry

Associated PressMar 23, 2023, 12:15 AM EDT

Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

Notre Dame is finalizing a deal to make Penn State’s Micah Shrewsberry its new men’s basketball coach, two people with direct knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The people spoke on condition of anonymity because contract details were still being completed and needed school approval.

Shrewsberry, in his second season at Penn State (23-14), led the Nittany Lions to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011 and a tournament victory for the first time since 2001.

The Nittany Lions beat Texas A&M and were eliminated by Texas in the second round.

Notre Dame has been searching for a replacement for Mike Brey, who spent the last 23 season as coach of the Fighting Irish. He announced in January that this would be his last season with Notre Dame

The Irish finished 11-21.

Shrewsberry grew up in Indianapolis and went to school at Division III Hanover College in Indiana.

He was the head coach at Indiana University South Bend, an NAIA school located in the same city as Notre Dame, from 2005-07.

He later worked as an assistant coach at Butler and Purdue, with a stint as an assistant with the Boston Celtics in between.

ESPN first reported Notre Dame was close to a deal with Shrewsberry.

Bacot says he’s returning for fifth season at North Carolina

Associated PressMar 23, 2023, 12:12 AM EDT

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – North Carolina forward Armando Bacot is returning to play a fifth season for the Tar Heels.

Bacot announced his decision Wednesday, giving North Carolina fans a bit of good news after the Tar Heels failed to reach the NCAA Tournament.

The 6-foot-11 Bacot is North Carolina’s career leader in rebounds, double-doubles and double-figure rebounding games.

Bacot led North Carolina to a runner-up finish in last year’s NCAA Tournament, and his decision to return was a major reason the Tar Heels were ranked No. 1 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25.

The Tar Heels didn’t come close to meeting those expectations. They went 20-13 and opted against playing in the NIT. Bacot earned Associated Press All-America third-team honors and averaged 15.9 points and 10.4 rebounds.

He averaged 16.3 points and 13.1 rebounds in 2021-22. He capped that season by becoming the first player ever to have six double-doubles in one NCAA Tournament.

Bacot participated in North Carolina’s Senior Night festivities this year. He has a fifth year of eligibility because of the waiver the NCAA granted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ed Cooley takes over at Georgetown with lofty aspirations

Associated PressMar 22, 2023, 6:03 PM EDT

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

WASHINGTON – Ed Cooley’s task at Georgetown is to bring a once-storied program back to prominence in a competitive conference that has three teams still part of March Madness in the Sweet 16.

Cooley’s lofty aspirations go beyond lifting the Hoyas up from the bottom of the Big East Conference. After leaving Providence, which he took to the NCAA Tournament seven times in 12 years, he already is talking about trying to coach Georgetown to its first championship since 1984.

At his introductory news conference Wednesday that felt like a pep rally, Cooley said he wanted current and former players to envision cutting down nets and watching “One Shining Moment” with the nets hanging around their necks. He promised wins – many of them – and plotted a path forward that he knows will involve some tough times.

“It’s a process, and the process now, because you have a changing landscape in athletics, you’ll have an opportunity to probably move it quicker than you would have 10, 20 years ago,” Cooley said. “We’re going to lose some games. It’s OK. Losing’s part of growth. But over the course of time, it will pay off.”

Georgetown has lost a lot the past couple of years under Patrick Ewing, who was fired earlier this month after six seasons. The team went 7-25 this season after going 6-25 last season and lost 37 of 39 games in Big East play.

While Cooley at Providence was responsible for four of those defeats, the 53-year-old distanced himself from Georgetown’s recent run of losing.

“I don’t have anything to do what happened yesterday,” he said. “My job is to move us forward from today.”

Cooley’s mere presence is an acknowledgement that Georgetown needed a major change to become relevant again. After late Hall of Fame coach John Thompson’s 27-year-old run led to longtime assistant Craig Esherick succeeding him and then son John Thompson III and Ewing getting the head job, Cooley is the school’s first outsider in the position in a half-century.

His only connection to the Hilltop – beyond coaching in the Big East – is his daughter, Olivia, attending Georgetown. Cooley, a Providence native, said her desire to live in the Washington area played into his decision to leave for a conference rival.

It was certainly no accident that athletic director Lee Reed and school president John J. DeGioia used phrases like “new era” and “new chapter” when discussing Cooley. DeGioia said he believes Cooley will “uplift and restore this team” to compete at the highest levels of the sport.

“He has a proven record of success,” Reed said. “We knew we needed a leader, someone who understood our identity and could reimagine Georgetown basketball to fit today’s unique basketball landscape.”

That landscape, including players being able to profit off the use of their name, image and likeness (NIL) and more easily transfer schools, are the biggest changes Cooley has seen since landing his first head job at Fairfield in 2006. He expects to be aggressive, and given the high volume of Georgetown players coming and going via the transfer portal, could rebuild the roster in his image sooner rather than later.

“You have to find student-athletes that fit the way you want to play, your style of play, that fit you as a coach,” Cooley said. “We need to find players that can play for me that can attend Georgetown, not the other way around.”

Cooley acknowledged that some luck is needed but also stressed recruiting local talent to keep the best players in the region around. That’s just one building block to putting Georgetown back on the map, which Cooley wants the time and latitude to do.

“The word patience is always hard because everybody wants it and they want it right now,” he said. “Everybody wants it right now. Have a little bit of patience.”

Texas’ Arterio Morris plays amid misdemeanor domestic violence case

Associated PressMar 22, 2023, 12:56 PM EDT

Amy Kontras-USA TODAY Sports

AUSTIN, Texas — In a season when Texas fired coach Chris Beard after a felony domestic violence arrest, it has allowed a reserve guard to keep playing while he awaits trial on a misdemeanor charge of assaulting an ex-girlfriend.

Second-seed Texas has advanced under interim coach Rodney Terry to the program’s first Sweet 16 since 2008, and the Longhorns play No. 3 Xavier in Kansas City, Missouri.

Arterio Morris, a freshman who was one of the top recruits in the country last year, was initially scheduled to stand trial March 29, three days before Final Four weekend. Denton County prosecutors were granted a delay to an unspecified date.

Beard was fired Jan. 5, about three weeks after he was arrested on suspicion of a felony charge of choking his fiancée in a fight during which she also told police he bit, and hit her. She later recanted the choking allegation and the Travis County district attorney dismissed the case, saying prosecutors were following her wishes not to got to trial and that the charge could not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

Morris is charged with Class A misdemeanor assault causing bodily injury to a family member, which in Texas includes dating relationships. It stems from a June 2022 confrontation in the Dallas suburb of Frisco. The charge carries penalties ranging from probation and fines to up to a year in jail if convicted.

Morris’ attorney, Justin Moore, said the charges against Beard and the player are different.

“(Beard) was charged with a felony family assault,” Moore said. “That was far more serious as to what Arterio was alleged to have to committed. We maintain Arterio’s innocence.”

According to police, the ex-girlfriend said Morris grabbed her arm and pulled her off a bed, and later pulled the front of her sports bra, causing an injury to her neck and shoulder area. Police reported seeing a sizable bruise or scratch.

Texas officials declined comment. Beard said before the season that school officials he would not identify determined the freshman could play this season.

Moore defended Texas officials’ decision to not suspend Morris.

“I do believe Texas has taken this seriously. They’ve also allowed Arterio to enjoy his due process rights,” Moore said.

Morris has played in all 36 games this season, although his minutes and have been limited on a senior-dominated team. He averages nearly 12 minutes and 4.7 points per game. His biggest moment was a soaring alley-oop dunk against Kansas in the Big 12 Tournament championship game.

Attempts to reach Morris’ ex-girlfriend through family members were not successful. According to online records, prosecutors sought the trial delay to “procure witness availability.” Prosecutor Jamie Beck did not immediately return messages.

Wichita State hires ORU’s Paul Mills to lead program

Associated PressMar 22, 2023, 12:52 PM EDT

Russell Lansford-USA TODAY Sports

Wichita State hired Paul Mills away from Oral Roberts to turn around its languishing men’s basketball program, landing what has been one of the hottest names among mid-major coaches.

The 50-year-old Mills led the the Golden Eagles to two of the past three NCAA Tournaments, engineering upsets of Ohio State and Florida as a No. 15 seed in 2021 before going 30-5 this past season and losing to Duke as a No. 5 seed.

He replaces Isaac Brown, who was fired after three seasons as the Shockers slowly slipped toward mediocrity.

“My family and I are extremely excited about being a part of Wichita State,” said Mills, who will be introduced during a news conference Thursday at Charles Koch Arena. “The rich history, winning tradition and unbelievable community support will keep us working on behalf of the greatest fans in all of college basketball.”

Mills got his break in coaching when he joined Scott Drew’s first staff at Baylor in 2003, working alongside future Kansas State coach Jerome Tang in helping to turn around a program that had been mired in controversy. Mills stayed for 14 years, helping to reach seven NCAA Tournaments, before replacing Scott Sutton at Oral Roberts before the 2017 season.

“I absolutely love Paul Mills. He’s like a brother to me. So happy for him and his family, for Wendy and the girls,” said Tang, who has Kansas State playing Michigan State in the Sweet 16 on Thursday night. “He’s going to be incredible because he is passionate about young people and about developing young men.

“There’s no throttle, like, hold-back governor on him in terms of love and what he pours into his guys.”

Mills went just 11-21 each of his first two seasons in Tulsa, but the seeds of a turnaround had been planted, and the Golden Eagles have not had a losing season since. The biggest step came two years ago, when Mills led Oral Roberts to the Sweet 16 of an NCAA Tournament played entirely within an Indianapolis “bubble environment” because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Golden Eagles slipped to 19-12 the following year before winning 30 games and the Summit League title this past season, when they were led by high-scoring guard Max Abmas, an honorable mention All-American selection.

“He’s the one that told me, he said, ‘Tang, 10s hangs with 10s and one hangs with ones,’” Tang said, “and he’s a 10 and he’s going to have some 10s around him.”

The hiring of Mills comes as the Shockers try to position themselves at the forefront of a new-look American Athletic Conference. Perennial powerhouse Houston is joining Central Florida and Cincinnati in leaving for the Big 12 after this season, and six new schools are due to arrive from Conference USA for the start of next season.

Wichita State, a power under Ralph Miller and Gene Smithson in the 1960s, returned to prominence when Mark Turgeon took over in 2000. But it was under Gregg Marshall, who resigned in November 2020 amid allegations of verbal and physical abuse of players, that it began to soar. The Shockers advanced to the Final Four in 2013, finished the regular season unbeaten the following year and at one point went to seven consecutive NCAA Tournaments.

Brown, who was Marshall’s top recruiter, led them back to the NCAA Tournament in his first year. But the Shockers were just 15-13 last year and 17-15 this past season, leading Saal to decide that a coaching change was necessary.

Turns out the answer Saal was looking for was just a few hours south at Oral Roberts.

“Paul Mills’ heart for people, passion for life and approach to the development of young people and programs is energizing,” Wichita State athletic director Kevin Saal said in a statement. “He aligns with Shocker Athletics’ core values, facilitates a first-class student-athlete experience and fuels broad-based competitive excellence.”