News, Notes From NCAA Tournament Sites – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/15/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 15, 2002
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%^$By The Associated Press%^$
%^$ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – Missouri star Kareem Rush spent a sleepless night,%^$and not because he was worrying about Ohio State.%^$
%^$He was busy taking care of his bloody lip.%^$
%^$Rush needed 21 stitches to close a cut that came during Thursday’s win over%^$Miami. He went for a fake, then was hit by an inadvertent elbow as James%^$Jones jumped to shoot.%^$
%^$”I went to the hotel and iced my lip. It didn’t help,” Rush said Friday.%^$”It’s still pretty big, and I came to practice today. It’s not a big deal.%^$
%^$”It’s just a little busted lip. It’s there, but as long as I don’t think%^$about it, I’ll be fine. Like last year I had a broken hand and once I got it%^$out of my mind, I just kept on playing.”%^$
%^$Rush, also slowed by a strained neck that forced him to get X-rays during%^$the first-round victory, finished with 15 points against Miami. He averaged%^$20 points this season for the Tigers, who play fourth-seeded Ohio State in%^$the second round at the West Regional on Saturday.%^$
%^$SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser has been known to%^$drop a Lithuanian word or two into casual conversation.%^$
%^$It’s Prosser’s way of trying to narrow the language gap with two of his%^$players, senior Darius Songaila and freshman Vytas Danelius. They’re%^$Lithuanian.%^$
%^$Prosser can pronounce 10 or 12 words, including “pasitikejimas,” which means%^$”confidence.”%^$
%^$”He’s a funny guy. He tries to learn some Lithuanian,” Songaila said. “He%^$uses it all the time. I don’t think it helps, but it shows he cares about%^$you as a person.”%^$
%^$Songaila has lived in the United States for five years and speaks English%^$well. Danelius has been in the country for two years and is still getting%^$comfortable with English.%^$
%^$”Vytas doesn’t know a lot of things,” Songaila said. “He’s still young. I%^$know my way around and I try to show him.”%^$
%^$Prosser, in his first season at Wake Forest, has had few foreign-born%^$players.%^$
%^$”I think my Lithuanian probably isn’t as good as his English,” he said,%^$referring to Songaila. “Those two guys are really a delight to coach.”%^$
%^$GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) – The recruiting of Kent State leading scorer Trevor%^$Huffman has become the stuff of legend around campus.%^$
%^$Kent’s scholarship off was the only one Huffman received, and even that was%^$conditional.%^$
%^$”They were waiting on some Russian guy,” Huffman said Friday at the South%^$Regional. “It looked like I was going to have go to a junior college.”%^$
%^$His mother, Jennifer, tried to offer support.%^$
%^$”She told me, ‘Honey, it’s fine, you’re not that good,”‘ Huffman said.%^$
%^$Huffman says she has since learned otherwise. Her son is averaging 16.1%^$points, helping the 10th-seeded Golden Flashes (28-5) advance to meet No. 2%^$Alabama (27-7) in the second round.%^$
%^$Huffman’s mother is “not really a basketball connoisseur,” he explained. “I%^$just taught her what top of the key was the other day.”%^$
%^$No one had to explain Huffman’s skill to Alabama coach Mark Gottfried.%^$
%^$”If you put a Florida jersey on him, he’s bigger and stronger than (Gators%^$guard) Brett Nelson. He shoots the ball as good, too.”%^$
%^$ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – Coach Steve McClain’s strategy for luring recruits%^$to play at Wyoming is simple and straightforward.%^$
%^$”If you want a good education and you’re serious about basketball, come to%^$Wyoming,” he said Friday, a day before his 11th-seeded Cowboys played%^$Arizona in the second round of the NCAA tournament. “If you need other%^$things, don’t come.”%^$
%^$”I’m not trying to convince a kid that if they come to Laramie, it’s big%^$city-life,” he said. “There aren’t 20 clubs to go to.”%^$
%^$Instead, McClain said recruits that visit the school go out to a restaurant%^$where mounted deer heads hang on the wall.%^$
%^$”We don’t try to hide anything,” he said. “I tell the kids that if a school%^$rolls out the red carpet for you, you better look under the carpet to see%^$what’s there.”%^$
%^$SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – North Carolina Wilmington’s Brett Blizzard is%^$having the last laugh on Florida State.%^$
%^$The Tallahassee, Fla., native wasn’t recruited by his hometown college,%^$which fired coach Steve Robinson on Monday after four consecutive losing%^$seasons.%^$
%^$”It was a situation where they weren’t ready to offer me a scholarship. They%^$wanted me to wait a year and walk on,” Blizzard said Friday. “They thought%^$I’d do whatever I had to do to go to Florida State. I’d worked hard and felt%^$like I deserved a scholarship.”%^$
%^$So Blizzard went to Wilmington, and now he and the 13th-seeded Seahawks%^$(23-9) play fifth-seeded Indiana (21-11) in the second round of the South%^$Regional on Saturday.%^$
%^$The Seahawks stunned fourth-seeded Southern California 93-89 in overtime%^$Thursday.%^$
%^$”Coach (Jerry) Wainwright was there from the start and he was honest with%^$me,” Blizzard said. “He told me I’d be able to make an impact at%^$Wilmington.”%^$
%^$Blizzard unintentionally played a role in Robinson’s firing. Florida State%^$boosters were annoyed that he got away and became the Colonial Athletic%^$Association player of the year.%^$
%^$”Without question, he’s become our standard-bearer,” Wainwright said. “He%^$hangs up his ego before he gets involved in practice. He’s really helped%^$attract good players.”%^$
%^$GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) – Coach Mark Gottfried could have rebuilt%^$second-seeded Alabama slowly. But he didn’t want to wait that long.%^$
%^$Gottfried, the Crimson Tide’s fourth-year coach, chose to play several%^$youngsters his first two seasons to see what they could do.%^$
%^$”Our talent wasn’t very good,” Gottfried recalled. “We signed a bunch of%^$freshmen, the guys who are now juniors, made the decision to play early,%^$wanted them to grow with the program.”%^$
%^$Grow they have.%^$
%^$Erwin Dudley was the Southeastern Conference’s player of the year. Rod%^$Grizzard averages about 15 points. Terrance Mead and Kenny Walker are also%^$key contributors for a team back in the NCAA tournament for the first time%^$in seven years.%^$
%^$Alabama hasn’t been past the second round since 1991. They get that chance%^$against 10th-seeded Kent State in South Regional action on Saturday.%^$
%^$ST. LOUIS (AP) – Tulsa assistant coach Alvin “Pooh” Richardson was the%^$Golden Hurricane’s point guard nine years ago when then-coach Tubby Smith%^$took the school to the NCAA’s round of 16.%^$
%^$Richardson and Smith, now at Kentucky, joked about how big the coach’s eyes%^$got when he was angry, especially on turnovers.%^$
%^$”I had those eyes bulging out at me on many occasions,” Richardson said%^$Saturday. “I didn’t want him yelling at me. I didn’t want those eyes bulging%^$at me. I didn’t try to ever turn the ball over. It worked, too.”%^$
%^$Richardson said Smith told him he’s glad the Golden Hurricanes are doing%^$well.%^$
%^$”I think he gets so excited about Tulsa because it’s the spot that put him%^$on the map,” Richardson said. “It gave him an opportunity. He ran with it.%^$Once he got the opportunity, he got it done. He does have a soft spot in his%^$heart for Tulsa.”%^$
%^$Kentucky, seeded fourth in the East Regional, plays No. 12 Tulsa on Saturday%^$in the second round.%^$
%^$SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – North Carolina Wilmington coach Jerry Wainwright’s%^$low-key attitude and deadpan humor are playing to receptive reporters in%^$Sacramento.%^$
%^$Wainwright showed up a day after his team upset fourth-seeded Southern%^$California in overtime and said he wasn’t caught off-guard by having to stay%^$in town through Saturday for the second round.%^$
%^$”Contrary to public opinion, I did pack enough clothes,” he said. “My wife%^$is on an incredible buying spree right now.”%^$
