Associated Press
The college basketball notebook …
DAVIDSON ó Stephen Curry and Davidson won’t get a chance to repeat their magical NCAA tournament run.
As expected, the Wildcats were left out of the 65-team field announced Sunday. That leaves the nation’s top scorer and last year’s feel-good story relegated to the NIT.
Davidson is 26-7, but lost in the Southern Conference semifinals to College of Charleston, the Wildcats’ third loss in seven games.
No SoCon team has ever received an at-large bid, and that streak continued despite Curry’s 28.6 points a game and the Wildcats coming within a missed 3-pointer of the Final Four last season.
Davidson is assured an NIT bid because of its regular-season conference title. Those pairings were to be announced later Sunday.
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SOUTHLAND TITLE: Matt Kingsley scored 20 points and Stephen F. Austin earned the program’s first NCAA tournament berth with a 68-57 victory over Texas San Antonio on Sunday in the Southland Conference championship game.
Josh Alexander and Eddie Williams added 16 points each for the top-seeded Lumberjacks (24-7), who have won eight straight games.
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BIG WEST: Rodrique Mels had 23 points, seven rebounds and three steals to lead Cal State Northridge to a 71-66 overtime victory over Pacific for the Big West Conference tournament championship.
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UCONN WOMEN: Selecting the top seed for the women’s NCAA tournament tonight will have all the suspense of a Connecticut basketball game.
The Huskies have won all 33 of those this season, by an average of more than 31 points.
They beat No. 3 Oklahoma by 28 points, No. 11 North Carolina by 30 points in Chapel Hill, and No. Louisville twice.
They are prohibitive favorites to earn the program’s sixth national title.
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UNC WOMEN: Cetera DeGraffenreid scored 19 points to help No. 11 North Carolina rally past South Dakota 75-69 on Sunday in a tougher-than-expected tune-up for the NCAA tournament.
Jessica Breland added 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Tar Heels (27-6), who added the game to the schedule to fill the annual two-week gap between the end of the ACC tournament and the NCAAs.
The only problem was the Coyotes (18-11) didn’t play the role of the overmatched team despite the fact they’re in their first year of Division I competition. They hit 10 of their first 13 3-pointers to take a 41-32 halftime lead.
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COUNTING THE FANS:
The total reported attendance of 158,112 was the second-highest total in ACC tournament history but well behind the 2001 record of 182,525, the last time the event was held at the Georgia Dome.
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ACC NOTES: Duke is 8-1 all-time at the Georgia Dome and also won the tournament at the facility in 2001. … The Blue Devils earned their fourth championship as the No. 3 seed. It also won tournament titles as the No. 3 seed in 1988, 2003 and 2005. … Duke tied North Carolina for the all-time lead with its 17th conference tournament championship.