Young's sharpshooting gives Mountaineers first NIT title since '42
March 29, 2007
CBS SportsLine.com wire reports
NEW YORK -- West Virginia has a championship to help lessen the disappointment of missing the NCAA Tournament.
Frank Young and the Mountaineers shot past Clemson to their first NIT title in 65 years.
Young scored 24 points, including six 3-pointers, and De'Sean Butler added 20 points to help West Virginia beat Clemson 78-73 in the National Invitation Tournament final Thursday night.
The Mountaineers thought they had a good case to receive an NCAA bid, with a 9-7 mark in the tough Big East and a victory over UCLA. But they didn't make the cut.
"It's been a lot of fun to play in this tournament and all the emotions just built up as it went along," Young said. "Of course we wanted to be in the NCAA Tournament, but to win this tournament, all the joy is still there. We're still happy about finishing our season with a win."
Young averaged over 22 points in the five games of the NIT and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
"It was gratifying just to see how far I've come as a player," Young said. "The trophy signifies that I did a pretty good job leading this team."
Young has stepped up in March. He averaged over 20 points in the Big East Tournament. The senior followed that up with a stellar NIT to cap off his college career.
"That is as impressive a run as I've seen," West Virginia coach John Beilein said of his star. "He's just a believer, he gets on a roll and they just go to him. It just feeds off itself."
It was the Mountaineers' first NIT title since 1942, when Rudy Baric led West Virginia over Western Kentucky.
West Virginia (27-9) advanced to the championship game by edging Mississippi State 63-62 on Darris Nichols' buzzer-beating 3-pointer. Nichols finished with 13 points and nine assists in the championship game.
The Mountaineers, who came from 14 down in the second half in the semifinal, didn't need a late-game rally this time, using a 12-2 to run at the end of the first half to take control of the game. The Tigers (25-11) trailed by double digits for the entire second half before a late 11-0 spurt cut it to the final margin.
K.C. Rivers scored 18 points and Vernon Hamilton added 16 for Clemson, which completed one of the most up-and-down seasons in school history. The Tigers started out 17-0 before losing nine of their next 11 games. They turned things around in late February winning five of six before falling to Florida State in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.
Clemson finished tied with the 1986-87 Tigers led by Horace Grant -- for most victories in school history. The Tigers were trying to become the third straight team from South Carolina to win the NIT. South Carolina had won the last two titles.
"We had a good year," Clemson coach Oliver Purnell said. "We tied a school record for wins, we advanced to the final of the NIT, it was a successful season."
The Tigers advanced to the championship by holding off Air Force 68-67 in the other semifinal.
West Virginia led 26-24 with 3:56 left in the first half before hitting four straight 3-pointers to take a 38-24 lead. Young, who averaged 13.7 points in the regular season, hit two 3s to start the spurt.
Rivers' layup with 41.9 seconds left ended the 12-0 run. West Virginia was 12-for-20 (60 percent) for the game.
"The story of the game is giving up 3s and them making 3s," Purnell said.
The Mountaineers last lost to Louisville in double overtime in the Big East Tournament -- also at the Garden -- three weeks ago. They beat Delaware State, Massachusetts and North Carolina State to get to New York.
The Tigers fell to 0-2 all-time in the NIT championship. They lost to California in the 1999 title game. Clemson still has never won an NIT or NCAA men's basketball title.
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West Virginia catches fire from beyond the arc to win its first NIT title in 65 years. (AP)
McKay heads to Liberty, replaces Dunton
Former New Mexico coach Ritchie McKay will be named the next head coach at Liberty University, a source close to McKay told ESPN.com.
McKay replaces Randy Dunton, who was fired after six seasons. McKay visited the Lynchburg, Va., campus over the weekend and lands a head coaching job a day after New Mexico held a news conference in Albuquerque to introduce McKay's replacement, Steve Alford.
McKay takes over a Liberty team that finished 14-17 overall, 8-6 in the Big South, two spots behind undefeated conference champion Winthrop.
This is McKay's first foray to the East Coast after working in the state of Washington and serving as a head coach at Portland State, Colorado State, Oregon State and New Mexico.
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March Madness throws firms for a hoop
Employers may lose millions in productivity, but the tradeoff boost in morale may be worth it, some observers say
By Tim Simmers
MEDIANEWS STAFF
If you believe the estimates of how March Madness can drain office productivity, the corporate world could be in for a tough few weeks.
One group forecast that employers could lose $1.2 billion or more during the 19-day NCAA Tournament while fans tweak their office-pool brackets, check scores on Web sites, watch games on television or tune into free streaming video of the contests on their office computers.
But the productivity-loss guesstimate may be a bit dramatic, like one of those last-second upsets that the basketball event, which began Tuesday, is famous for.
"I see a lot of people doing pools around the office, and it's one of those events like the Super Bowl," said Dave Karraker, spokesman for Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. of Foster City, a video game and console company that produces its own college basketball game. "It's bringing people together on common interest."
Karraker said the company isn't going to "do anything official" involving the annual event, such as setting up in-house pools or showing the game on office big-screen TVs. On the other hand, "we're definitely not sending out e-mails reminding people to stay focused," he said.
Some workers may spend up to two hours a day following tournament games, according to John Challenger, president of outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which put out the $1.2 billion productivity-loss estimate. The group used wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and MRI CyberStats data on the number of people with access to the Internet at work to come up with the number.
But even if the tourney cuts into worker output, Challenger thinks the $1.2 billion is "a good buy for employers."
"We think it's fun and the employee camaraderie is a good thing," Challenger said. "There's no need to be sitting over employees' shoulders making sure they're at the grindstone."
Challenger said there used to be a "really clear line" between company time and personal time. Now, with employees using BlackBerries, laptops and e-mail to do work around the clock, "there needs to be a balance, including some personal time at work."
Workers used to work together for a lifetime and knew each other well, he added. Today, workers jump around a lot, and many employees are temporary.
"Companies need to work at bringing people together," he said. "This is a ready-made event to boost morale and camaraderie, so use it to your advantage."
Many companies are becoming more flexible and tolerant "because you're not going to attract talent if you manage with an iron fist," said Brandi Britton, senior vice president of OfficeTeam, a Menlo Park staffing company. "And talent is so hard to come by."
A survey by the Challenger group of 100 human resource executives found that only 6 percent of companies plan to take steps to prevent workers from accessing March Madness Web sites to follow their favorite teams.
The other 94 percent of companies either do not consider productivity loss during the tournament a problem, or they allow the March Madness distraction as a reward for hard work the rest of the year.
Challenger said the event stands out for its productivity loss because it's so long. In the first week, many games take place during work hours.
A growing number of employers recognize that trying to put the clamps on March Madness fever can be futile and even counterproductive.
Richard Carlson, principal at Spectrum Economics in Mountain View, started laughing when asked if March Madness would hurt company productivity.
"Employees have got to have a little fun," Carlson said. "They used to close down auto plants on the first day of hunting season in Detroit. This doesn't have any productivity impact at all on Bay Area companies."
Wire services contributed to this report.
Georgetown's Green and Hibbert among 5 unanimous All-Big East selections
March 5, 2007
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -Georgetown juniors Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert were among five unanimous selections to the All-Big East first team Monday.
Pittsburgh's Aaron Gray, the only repeat selection from last season, and fellow seniors Herbert Hill of Providence and Demetris Nichols of Syracuse were the other unanimous picks in the voting of the league's 16 head coaches.
Also selected to the 11-man first team were: Russell Carter and Colin Falls of Notre Dame, Dominic James of Marquette, Lamont Hamilton of St. John's, Curtis Sumpter of Villanova and Frank Young of West Virginia. All are seniors except James, a sophomore who was the league's rookie of the year last season.
Green and Hibbert, both second-team selections last season, led the Hoyas (23-6, 13-3) to their first Big East regular season title since 1988-89. The 6-foot-9 Green led Georgetown in scoring at 13.6 points per game, while the 7-2 Hibbert averaged 12.7 points and led the Hoyas with 6.4 rebounds per game.
Gray, the preseason player of the year, averaged 14.4 points and 10.1 rebounds for the second-place Panthers (25-6, 12-4).
Hill averaged 18.0 points and 8.6 rebounds this season for the Friars, well above his 9.0 and 4.8 averages as a junior.
Nichols led the conference in scoring at 18.8 points per game and shot 86.7 percent from the free throw line.
The 11-member all-rookie team included three unanimous picks: Jerome Dyson of Connecticut, Eugene Harvey of Seton Hall and Scottie Reynolds of Villanova.
The conference's player, rookie and coach of the year will be announced Tuesday night.
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Montana 72, Idaho St. 71, OT
Feb. 27, 2007
POCATELLO, Idaho (AP) -Andrew Strait scored inside with 2.9 seconds remaining in overtime to give Montana a 72-71 win over Idaho State on Monday night.
Strait was fouled on the play, but the center missed his free throw and ISU guard Akbar Abdul-Ahad's last-second shot from just over half court missed, sealing the victory.
Jordan Hasquet had tied the game at 65 for the Grizzlies with two free throws with 34 seconds remaining in regulation. David Schroeder missed a potential game-winning shot as time expired, sending the game into overtime.
Hasquet and Cameron Rundles led Montana with 17 points apiece. Rundles scored all his points in the second half, including five 3-pointers. He also had the game-winning assist to Strait.
Hasquet and Stuart Mayes each had 13 rebounds for the Grizzlies, who out-rebounded ISU 41-32.
David Schroeder led Idaho State with 16 points, while John Ofoegbu had 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Idaho State (12-16, 7-8 Big Sky) has one more chance to earn a place in the conference tournament. The Bengals play Montana State on Tuesday in Pocatello, in the final regular-season game for both teams
Monday's game was the regular season finale for Montana (16-14, 10-6), which advances to the Big Sky Tournament.
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