Associated Press
CLEMSON, S.C. ó Almost from the moment they walked off the court last March as first-round NCAA losers, Clemson stars K.C. Rivers and Trevor Booker longed for the moment they could finally put that devastating defeat to Villanova behind them.
They thought they could back in January, when the Tigers opened 16-0. They thought it might be in February after a dominating 27-point victory over Duke. They now hope it’s Thursday, when seventh-seeded Clemson (23-8) opens the NCAA tournament in Kansas City against 10th-seeded Michigan (20-13).The Tigers lost six of their final 10 games after beating the Blue Devils.
“I’m not sure where to point the finger, but I know it’s a new beginning,” said Booker, Clemson’s leading scorer and rebounder. “It’s win or go home now. We’ve got to put everything behind us and go play ball.”The Tigers are coming off a loss to last-place Georgia Tech in the first round of the ACC Tournament.
Clemson coach Oliver Purnell said he and his staff dissected that game for two or three days seeking solutions. The conclusion?
“We’ve got to play better defense,” he said. “It’s got to start and end with defense for us, and if we don’t have that as an anchor we’re going to struggle beating teams at this level.”
FLORIDA STATE
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. ó After guiding Florida State to its best season in 16 years, Leonard Hamilton will be offered a contract extension that school officials said Tuesday would make him a “happy camper.”
Although the Seminoles will lose star guard Toney Douglas and three-year starter Uche Echefu, Hamilton has three starters returning along with several key substitutes from the school’s most successful team since 1992-93.
The Seminoles have a 25-9 record going into NCAA tournament play Friday against Wisconsin in a first-round game at Boise, Idaho.
BUTLER
INDIANAPOLIS ó Butler assistant Kevin Kuwik spent Selection Sunday in his own emotional tug-of-war. Just as he has this past month.
He celebrated the Bulldogs’ latest NCAA tournament selection with players and coaches. He also agonizes about how different this March might have been if could have shared the joy with his 30-year-old girlfriend, Lorin Maurer.
Maurer was killed, along with 48 other passengers in February, when a plane crashed into a home just outside Buffalo, N.Y. She and Kuwik were supposed to spend the weekend there at Kuwik’s brother’s wedding.
“It seems like I’ve aged a ton in the last month,” said Kuwik, now in his 14th season as a coach. “The busier you stay, the more things you can focus on, the better it is. But you still get images, flashbacks, and it doesn’t hit you as hard as it does if you’re sitting there staring at a wall.”
The memories, though, keep coming back: from the moment he and Lorin met last year at the Final Four ó he was coaching, she was raising money for the Princeton athletic department ó to the moment he learned of the crash while waiting at the airport. She was the woman he might have married.
“I am a workaholic, and she was probably the first person to grab me by the ear and say you have got to have some balance in your life,” Kuwik said. “She made me realize that there was more to life than just your job.”
Cal State Northridge
SAN FERNANDO, Calif. ó A former player at NCAA tournament-bound Cal State Northridge and the coach’s son have been ordered to stand trial on theft and burglary charges.
Superior Court Judge Sanjay Kumar ruled Tuesday there was sufficient evidence to try 23-year-old Deon Tresvant and 22-year-old Jeffrey Robert Braswell along with a third man. Arraignment is April 1.
Braswell is the son of Cal State Northridge head coach Bobby Braswell, whose team plays Memphis on Thursday. Tresvant was a senior guard, but he hasn’t played since the arrests were made in January.
Prosecutors say Jeffrey Braswell used a fellow employee’s password to log into a cash register at a Best Buy store, then rang up merchandise that wasn’t paid for.
OBAMA BRACKET
NEW YORK ó President Barack Obama is picking Louisville, North Carolina, Memphis and Pittsburgh for the Final Four.
The First Hoops Fan filled out his NCAA bracket Tuesday for ESPN.