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#Post#: 589--------------------------------------------------
Re: NCAA College Basketball 2012-13
DIR By: Phill23
Date: December 3, 2012, 11:06 am
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Coach Rick Majerus dies at 64
ESPN.com news services
December 2, 2012, 9:04 AM ET
At Rick Majerus' final stop, the lone concession to the coach's
health woes were the footstools stationed at each corner of the
practice court.
Close by anytime he needed a breather. Close enough, too, to
jump up for some hands-on assistance with the proper stance or
to lead a quick walkthrough.
The jovial, basketball-obsessed coach who led Utah to the 1998
NCAA final and had only one losing season in 25 years with four
schools, died Saturday. He was 64.
Utah industrialist Jon Huntsman, the coach's longtime friend,
confirmed in a statement released through The Salt Lake Tribune
that Majerus died of heart failure in a Los Angeles hospital.
The coach had been hospitalized there for several months.
Players remembered Majerus, who got his start as an assistant
under Al McGuire at Marquette, as a coach who was exacting and
perhaps a bit unorthodox at times, but always fair. Majerus was
known for assembling rosters with an international flair, and
his final team at Saint Louis had players from Australia and New
Zealand.
"It was a unique experience, I'll tell you that, and I loved
every minute of it," said Saint Louis guard Kyle Cassity, who
was mostly a backup on last season's 26-win team after starting
for Majerus earlier in his college career. "A lot of people
questioned the way he did things, but I loved it. He'd be hard
as hell on you, but he really cared."
At the postgame news conference following Saint Louis'
four-point loss to top seed Michigan State in the NCAA West
Regional, Majerus and his players wept.
"Coach has done so much," Brian Conklin said back then. "Being
his first recruiting class, he told me that we were going to
help him build something special here. He's a great coach. I
couldn't imagine playing for a better coach, a better person. He
doesn't just teach you about basketball, it's about life."
Saint Louis athletic director Chris May said in a statement that
what he would remember most about Majerus "was his enduring
passion to see his players excel both on and off the court."
"He truly embraced the term 'student-athlete,' and I think that
will be his lasting legacy," May added.
The school announced Nov. 19 that Majerus wouldn't return to
Saint Louis because of the heart condition. He ended the
school's 12-year NCAA tournament drought last season, and
bounced back from his only losing season, with a team that won
its opening game and took top regional seed Michigan State to
the wire. The Billikens were ranked for the first time since
1994-95.
Majerus was undergoing evaluation and treatment in California
for the ongoing heart trouble and the school announced he was on
leave in late August.
"That's a tough one for me," Boston coach Doc Rivers, a former
Marquette star, said after the Celtics' loss in Milwaukee. "He's
the one that gave me my nickname. I knew before (the game) that
he wasn't going to make it through the night. I don't want to
talk much about it."
San Diego State coach Steve Fisher first met Majerus at a camp
when Majerus was a graduate assistant at Marquette and Fisher
was coaching at the high school level in Chicago.
"Rick would hold court at night with a case of beer in the
basement," Fisher said. "Phenomenal coach, a better person,
cared about family, cared about people. He will be missed by
everyone."
Loyola of Chicago coach Porter Moser, an assistant under Majerus
at Saint Louis from 2007-10, tweeted, "RIP to my friend and
mentor Coach Majerus. I learned so much about the game and life.
We lost One of the best! My heart is heavy tonight."
Missouri coach Frank Haith said it was a "sad day for all of
college basketball."
"Coach Majerus was a tremendous coach and one of the all-time
great personalities in our profession," Haith said. "Our hearts
and prayers go out to Rick's family and friends and all the
wonderful student-athletes and staff at Saint Louis University."
Majerus had a history of heart and weight problems dating to
1989 that persisted despite a daily constitutional of a mile
swim. He had a stent inserted in August 2011 in Salt Lake City
and missed some games in the 2011-12 season after gashing his
leg in a collision with players.
He backed out of a commitment to coach Southern California due
to heart problems.
Majerus was 95-69 in five seasons at Saint Louis and had a
25-year record of 517-216, with 15 20-win seasons and two 30-win
seasons. He had his most success at Utah, going 323-95 from
1989-2004. He was at Marquette from 1983-86, and Ball State from
1987-89.
Ball State was 29-3 in 1988-89 under Majerus, including the
school's first NCAA tournament victory. At Utah, Majerus
produced 10 conference championships in 13 seasons.
"Rick left a lasting legacy at the University of Utah, not only
for his incredible success and the national prominence he
brought to our basketball program, but also for the tremendous
impact he made on the young men who were fortunate enough to
play on his teams," Utah athletic director Dr. Chris Hill said
in a statement.
"His standard of excellence extended beyond the basketball court
and into the academic and personal success of his players. He
will be deeply missed and we grieve for his family and all of
his friends."
Majerus took 12 teams to the NCAA tournament, winning at least
one game in all but one of those appearances, with the 1998 Utah
team losing to Kentucky in the NCAA championship game. He led
four teams to the NIT and took Saint Louis teams to the CBI
tournament final in 2009-10.
"It's a sad day for college basketball," UNLV coach Dave Rice
said. "Certainly one of the great college basketball coaches. He
took talent where they were most effective. When you went up
against Coach Majerus and you won you knew you did something
special."
Gonzaga assistant coach Donny Daniels spent a decade as an
assistant under Majerus.
"He was a caring man, a gracious man, giving of himself,"
Daniels said. "He did so many nice things for me. He taught me
how to coach and how to be efficient."
Arizona coach Sean Miller coached against Majerus when he was at
Xavier and Majerus was at Saint Louis.
"We've certainly lost a member of the coaching fraternity that
all of us respect," Miller said. "It became very apparent when
you prepared for his team and watched him coach against your
team that there are very few coaches that are more prepared,
more detail-oriented that knew the game comprehensively than
Rick Majerus. You could also sense that basketball, the game,
the love of the game was really part of his life."
Majerus was a mentor to Ben Howland during the UCLA coach's days
at UC Santa Barbara and Northern Arizona.
"He was a great coach and a really, really good person" Howland
said. "It's a sad day for basketball because he was a brilliant
man."
Majerus was openly critical of Saint Louis' affiliation in the
Atlantic 10, complaining that the travel demands made it too
hard to succeed academically. Yet he coached two academic
All-Americans at Saint Louis, Conklin and Kevin Lisch.
A-10 commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade had nothing but kind
words for Majerus on Saturday.
"The entire Atlantic 10 family is grieving tonight over the loss
of coach Majerus," McGlade saind in a statement. "His undeniable
knowledge and love of the game was known to all, and he was an
excellent teacher committed to the student-athlete. This passion
made his impact on A-10 basketball over the past five years
immeasurable."
Majerus was born in Milwaukee and earned a spot on the freshman
team at Marquette, his hometown college. He didn't make the
varsity under McGuire, who instead hired him as an assistant
coach in 1971.
Majerus' ties to Wisconsin included a one-year stint as
assistant coach with the NBA's Bucks in 1987-88.
"He's done so much for basketball at Marquette and all through
the state of Wisconsin," Bucks assistant coach Jim Boylan said.
"For me personally, he's always been there. He's one of those
guys who, if you don't see Rick for a while and when something
was going wrong and you needed help, boom, he'd be there. He'd
basically give you the shirt off his back, if that's what you
needed."
Three of Majerus' players at Utah were first-round NBA draft
picks. Keith Van Horn was No. 2 overall in 1997, Michael Doleac
12th in 1998 and Andre Miller eighth in 1999.
Saint Louis is 3-3 this season under interim coach Jim Crews,
who joined the staff last season. The Billikens were picked to
finish second in the Atlantic 10 but have struggled without
point guard Kwamain Mitchell, sidelined probably until January
with a broken foot.
"Nobody loved basketball and teaching kids more that Rick,"
Crews said. "His passion for the game and the coaching
profession was unparalleled."
Majerus' father, Raymond, died of a heart attack at 63 in 1987.
He was a former secretary-treasurer of the United Auto Workers.
Majerus was devoted to his mother, Alyce, before her death in
August 2011.
He was briefly married from 1987-89. He is survived by sisters
Jodi and Tracy.
The portly coach was unabashed in his love of food, always quick
with a restaurant recommendation for whatever town his teams
were playing in.
His autobiography, "My Life On a Napkin," came out in 2000.
#Post#: 590--------------------------------------------------
Re: NCAA College Basketball 2012-13
DIR By: Phill23
Date: December 3, 2012, 11:24 am
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Louisville Cardinals to Join ACC in 2014
Louisville will officially join the Atlantic Coast Conference,
becoming the seventh former Big East school to leave for the
ACC.
The ACC’s presidents and chancellors voted Wednesday morning to
add the Cardinals in place of Maryland, which will leave for the
Big Ten in 2014.
#Post#: 591--------------------------------------------------
Re: NCAA College Basketball 2012-13
DIR By: Phill23
Date: December 4, 2012, 12:35 am
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Kentucky falls out of AP's Top 25
ESPN.com news services
December 3, 2012, 8:51 PM ET
Kentucky, a week after sliding from No. 3 to No. 8, fell
completely out of The Associated Press' college basketball poll
Monday, becoming the biggest single-week drop from the rankings
since they were expanded to 25 teams in 1990.
It was also the first time since John Calipari became coach for
the 2009-10 season that Kentucky's name didn't appear in the Top
25.
Indiana, Duke and Michigan remained the top three teams.
Kentucky (4-3) lost to Notre Dame and Baylor last week, the
latter a loss that snapped the Wildcats' 55-game home winning
streak, the longest in the nation. Kentucky had been ranked in
the last 61 polls, 11 of those weeks at No. 1.
The run started with the preseason poll of 2009-10, the start of
the Calipari era when the Wildcats started young lineups which
were usually gutted the next season by the NBA draft. The
Wildcats won Kentucky's eighth national championship in April
then had six players taken in the draft including Anthony Davis
and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist as the first two picks.
Duke has the longest current run in the poll -- 101 weeks which
started with the preseason poll of 2007-08. Kansas has the
second-longest run at 69 weeks.
Indiana, which has been No. 1 since the preseason poll, saw its
lead over Duke shrink. The Hoosiers (8-0) received 45
first-place votes Monday from the 65-member national media
panel, two fewer than last week.
Duke (8-0) for the second straight week had the other
first-place votes. The Blue Devils beat Ohio State last week
giving them wins over teams ranked second, third and fourth in a
span of 15 days.
The other such run was Arizona beating teams ranked first,
fourth and fifth from the regional semifinals to the NCAA
championship game in 1997, a span of 11 days.
Syracuse was fourth followed by Louisville, Florida, Ohio State,
Arizona, Kansas and Gonzaga.
Colorado (6-1) was the other team to drop out of the rankings,
falling from 19th after losing to Wyoming.
Notre Dame (7-1) moved back in to the poll at No. 22 after a
two-week absence. Wichita State (8-0), which beat Tulsa and Air
Force last week, moved in at No. 24. The Shockers were ranked
for the last five weeks of last season.
Cincinnati was ranked 11th followed by Missouri, Illinois,
Minnesota, Georgetown, Creighton, San Diego State, New Mexico,
Michigan State and North Carolina.
The last five teams were UNLV, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State,
Wichita State and North Carolina State.
HTML http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:8707245
#Post#: 592--------------------------------------------------
Re: NCAA College Basketball 2012-13
DIR By: Phill23
Date: December 4, 2012, 1:01 am
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AP TOP 25 (12/3/12)
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25
Dropped from rankings: Kentucky 8, Colorado 19
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