Associated Press
The college basketball notebook …
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. ó Tony Bennett said Wednesday he intends to rebuild the men’s basketball program at Virginia around two basic principles: passion and integrity.
“I came here to build a great team, but more importantly, I came here to build a program that lasts, and the way you go about that is you have great integrity and you have great passion,” the 39-year-old Bennett said at his well-attended introductory news conference.
“Everything is in place here at the University of Virginia,” he said.
Bennett, a surprise choice to take over a program that has seen interest wane in recent years, replaces Dave Leitao, who resigned on March 16 after going 63-60 over four seasons.
Bennett likened the job to a marriage, which starts with much fanfare of a wedding, “but what really matters, quite honestly, is the marriage. That’s the daily investment, the promise over time and that commitment, and I think that is what it takes to build a program.”
The $130 million arena, along with the rigorous academic requirements of the university, will be used as drawing cards irather than as a detriment, he said.
“I can’t wait to show them what this is about. You can’t ask for much more as a head coach to have a place like this that offers that,” he said.
WOODEN AWARD
LOS ANGELES ó North Carolina teammates Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson, along with Connecticut’s Hasheem Thabeet, are among 11 players named to the John R. Wooden Award All American team.
Hansbrough and Lawson will lead the Tar Heels against Villanova in Saturday’s national championship semifinals. Thabeet and the Huskies play Michigan State in the other semifinal in Detroit.
Because of a tie for 10th place in the voting, the team announced Monday includes 11 players. The others are DeJuan Blair of Pittsburgh, Stephen Curry of Davidson, Blake Griffin of Oklahoma, Luke Harangody of Notre Dame, James Harden of Arizona State, Gerald Henderson of Duke, Terrence Williams of Louisville and Sam Young of Pittsburgh.
CALHOUN’S NUMBERS
HARTFORD, Conn. ó Connecticut’s men’s basketball program showed a profit of just under $6.3 million during the 2008 fiscal year, nearly four times what the school is paying head coach Jim Calhoun.
The program earned $14.07 million in revenue during the year and had $7.8 million in expenses, according to the state Office of Legislative Research. That’s a profit margin of just under 45 percent.
The report was requested in the wake of February’s heated exchange between Calhoun and a political activist over the coach’s $1.6 million salary in tough economic times.
“Quite frankly, we bring in $12 million to the university, nothing to do with state funds,” Calhoun said at the time. “We make $12 million a year for this university.”
If the coach was referring to gross revenue, UConn men’s basketball brings in $2 million more than he estimated.
OREGON
EUGENE, Ore. ó Ernie Kent will stay on as Oregon’s men’s basketball coach after a disappointing 8-23 season that led to speculation about the Ducks making a change.
Kent, an Oregon alum, has coached the Ducks for 12 seasons. Oregon has gone 219-157 under Kent, making him the Ducks’ winningest coach. He has guided the Ducks to five NCAA tournament appearances.
NIT FINAL
NEW YORK ó Jamelle Cornley has a sense of history that few others do.
The undersized senior forward from Penn State realizes that the NIT isn’t the NCAA tournament, but understands that for many years the NIT decided the true national champion. The list of winners is every bit as decorated as its more visible cousin.
“Any time you are able to play for a championship, regardless of the circumstances, you really want to leave all that you have on the table,” Cornley said.
Especially when your program has never won one.
Penn State plays Baylor for the NIT title tonight, two schools with very little basketball tradition vying for one of the game’s most tradition-rich championships.