Hoopville - Big South Conference

East Region - First Round: After one half, No. 13 Winthrop appeared poised to pull a first-round upset in the second consecutive year after the Eagles, as a No. 11 seed, beat Notre Dame last season. The Eagles battled No. 4 Washington State to a 29-29 tie in the first half. But they couldn't maintain any momentum after the break, posting only 11 points as Washington State blew out Winthrop 71-40. Junior center Aron Baynes led the Cougars with 19 points and eight rebounds. Washington State will play Notre Dame in the second round.

No. 5 Notre Dame made sure No. 12 George Mason would not reprise its Cinderella role this year by beating the Patriots 68-50 in the first round. The Fighting Irish played solid defense on everyone not named Will Thomas, who scored 25 points, the only Patriot to reach double figures. The rest of the team shot 20.5 percent from the field. Sophomore forward Luke Harangody led the Fighting Irish with 18 points and 14 rebounds, helping Notre Dame dominate the post with 42 rebounds to the Patriots' 31. [3/20/08]

Big South Conference Tournament Championship: No. 2 Winthrop continued its mastery of the Big South with a 66-48 win at UNC-Asheville, delivering the Eagles their eighth conference championship and NCAA Tournament bid in 10 years. In the first season after coach Gregg Marshall left the school for Wichita State, new coach Randy Peele continued the winning tradition in Rock Hill. The Eagles held the Bulldogs to 18 points first-half points but only led by four at the half. They extended the lead in the second half, fueled by senior guard Michael Jenkins' 33 points. He hit six three-pointers, finishing 11-of-19 from the field. [3/08/08]

Big South Conference Tournament Semifinals: No. 2 Winthrop moved within a game of its fourth consecutive Big South championship and NCAA Tournament appearance after beating No. 3 High Point 61-53. Senior guard Michael Jenkins led the Eagles with 14 points. High Point shot 34 percent from the field, and only four players scored. The Eagles will play No. 1 UNC-Asheville and 7-7 junior center Kenny George, who scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs to an easy 75-57 win against No. 4 Liberty. UNC-Asheville beat Winthrop by 15 and 13 during the regular season. [3/06/08]

Big South Conference Tournament Quarterfinals: The home teams held court Tuesday in the Big South Conference Tournament quarterfinals, with all of the higher seeds winning by at least 10 points, except No. 3 High Point, which beat No. 6 Coastal Carolina 59-56. Senior forward Arizona Reid led the Panthers with 20 points and 11 rebounds. High Point will play No. 2 Winthrop. The defending champs slammed No. 7 Radford 76-45.

The other semifinal will feature No. 1 UNC Asheville and No. 4 Liberty. The Bulldogs beat No. 8 Charleston Southern 87-63 with balanced scoring as five players reached double figures in scoring, led by senior guard Bryan Smithson's 22 points. The Flames silenced the No. 5 VMI Keydets 103-88 in the other match up. [3/04/08]

Chanticleers Lose Top Rebounder: Coastal Carolina junior forward Joseph Harris has a torn ligament in his left thumb and will miss the rest of the season. Harris averages 8.3 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. He is third in the conference in rebounding. Harris injured the thumb during the Chanticleers' loss to UNC-Wilmington Saturday. He will need surgery. The silver lining to the lost season is that it will not count against Harris' eligibility. Coastal Carolina said Harris will qualify for a medical redshirt, preserving his remaining two years of eligibility. [12/11/07]

Coastal Carolina Hires Ellis: Coastal Carolina has signed former Auburn coach Cliff Ellis to a five-year contract to be their new head coach. The 61-year-old will replace Buzz Peterson, who took a job with the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats. He has a 534-337 Division I record, making him 12th in wins among active coaches. His last coaching job was at Auburn where he earned a 186-125 record from 1994-2004. Ellis was a television broadcast analyst over the past three years. [7/3/07]

Winthrop Guard Dies From Car Accident Injuries: DeAndre Adams, 20, a guard on Winthrop's basketball team died from wounds sustained in a car crash. The crash occurred when Adams was driving to Austell, Ga. His car left the road, flipped and hit a tree. He spent several days in a coma before dying. Last year, Adams appeared in 20 games for Winthrop, averaging two points, three assists and a rebound per game. [5/17/07]

Nation’s Top Scorer to Enter Draft: Reggie Williams will skip his senior season at Virginia Military Institute to enter the NBA draft. Leading the nation in scoring, Williams averaged 28.1 points per game and feels ready to explore his options at the next level. The 6-5 forward does not plan on hiring an agent. [4/27/07]

Brad Greenberg Leaves Hokies Staff to Take Radford Job: Former Virginia Tech associate coach Brad Greenberg is now the head coach at Radford. He brings experience to Radford as the former general manager of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and vice president of player personnel for eight years with the Portland Trail Blazers. Radford was 8-22 this past season and needs a coach like Greenberg to give the struggling program a boost. He is the brother of Hokies coach Seth Greenberg. [3/30/07]

Former New Mexico Coach McKay Finds New Gig: Ritchie McKay, fired just over a month ago at New Mexico, has been named Liberty's new head coach. McKay, 41, had an 82-69 record in five years with the Lobos and led them to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2004-05. However, New Mexico only managed a 15-17 record this season, leading to his dismissal. McKay, who replaces Randy Dunton at Liberty, also coached at Oregon State, Colorado State and Portland State. His career record stands at 165-158 in almost 11 seasons. [3/27/07]

Midwest Region - Second Round: It took 38 minutes for No. 1 Florida's engine to warm up and accelerate to the Sweet 16 as the Gators were able to pull out of the Big Easy with a tough 74-67 victory vs. No. 9 Purdue. Florida was able to convert their 31 appearances at the free throw line into 27 points in the come-from-behind win. Florida was led by Corey Brewer and Al Horford with 17 points apiece, and they also contributed by grabbing eight rebounds and nine rebounds respectively. Florida will face No. 5 Butler Friday. Carl Landry lead the Boilermakers with 18 points and 10 rebounds in the last game of his college career.

Kevin Kruger did his dad proud, hitting three big three-pointers in the second half to help the No. 7 UNLV Runnin' Rebels, coached by his dad Lon, get an upset win over the No. 2 Wisconsin Badgers 74-68. The Rebels were led in scoring by Wendell White, who had 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Kruger had 16 points, seven assists and six rebounds and was 4-of-5 from three-point range. Badgers star Alando Tucker helped to key a 15-2 run in the second half to help Wisconsin to a five-point lead, but UNLV came back. Tucker finished with 17 points. Kammron Taylor led the Badgers with 24 points, including a three-pointer and an old fashioned three-point play that got Wisconsin to within three points, 70-67, with 59 seconds left. UNLV will battle the Ducks of Oregon in the Sweet 16.

No. 3 Oregon showed Cinderella the door by dismissing No. 11 Winthrop 75-61 to advance to the Sweet 16. The Ducks held the Eagles to 39.3 percent shooting from the field and got 22 points from senior Aaron Brooks to rout the only remaining double-digit seed in the NCAA Tournament. Three other Ducks reached double figures in scoring as the team shot 48.2 percent from the field and was 11-of-23 from long range. Senior Torrell Martin led the Eagles with 15 points. Winthrop upset No. 6 Notre Dame in the first round. [3/18/07]

Midwest Region - First Round: No. 1 Florida was able to roll into the second round after defeating No. 16 Jackson State 112-69 in the first round. Jackson State was able to take the lead early in the contest until the Gators put up 71 points in the second stanza. Florida will now play No. 9 Purdue in the second round. Joakim Noah was a perfect 7-of-7 from the field, but teammate Corey Brewer led the Gators with 21 points in the victory.

No. 2 Wisconsin let No. 15 Texas A&M - Corpus Christi build a 25-7 lead in the first half. The Badgers couldn't hit any shots to open the game, while the Islanders seemingly could do no wrong. Wisconsin climbed back before halftime to trail only 27-19. The Badgers were sensational in the second half, outscoring Texas A&M - Corpus Christi 57-36 to win 76-63. Senior leaders Kammron Taylor and Alando Tucker had 20-plus games to help the Badgers overcome the Islanders. Taylor finished with a game-high 24 points, and Tucker was right on his heels with 23 points.

No. 3 Oregon proved it can do more than run up the score against No. 14 Miami, Ohio. The Ducks persevered 58-56 in a slower defensive battle. Senior Aaron Brooks helped Oregon pull off its first NCAA Tournament win in five years by scoring 18 points. Sophomore Michael Bramos missed a three-pointer that would have tied the game with 10 seconds remaining. He finished with 18 points, and junior Tim Pollitz had a game-high 21 points. Oregon committed only five turnovers in a clean game.

No. 11 Winthrop completed its destiny by beating No. 6 Notre Dame 74-64 to win its first NCAA Tournament game. The Eagles have played well in two consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament but failed to break through for the upset. Winthrop ended the game on an 11-2 run to negate the Fighting Irish's furious second-half rally, which erased a 20-point hole. Seniors Craig Bradshaw and Torrell Martin scored at will against Notre Dame. Bradshaw finished with 24 points, and Martin added 20.

Senior-laden No. 7 UNLV got big games from Wendell White and Michael Umeh to lead the Rebels to a 67-63 victory against No. 10 Georgia Tech. White and Umeh scored 19 points apiece to form a masterful inside-out combination that flustered the Yellow Jackets. Georgia Tech got 11 points from junior Anthony Morrow and sophomore Alade Aminu. But freshmen stars Thaddeus Young and Javaris Crittenton struggled, shooting only 7-of-23 from the field and combining for 16 points.

Purdue was able to ride an 11-point lead after an 8-0 run to start the second half to advance to the second round to play Florida. Purdue was led by Senior Carl Landry with 19 points and 12 boards to a victory over a staple of the NCAA Tournament -- Lute Olson's Arizona Wildcats. The No. 9 Boilermakers converted the Wildcats' 17 turnovers into 20 points and were able to hold off Arizona to play another day. [3/16/07]

Big South Conference Tournament Championship: No. 1 Winthrop secured a bid to the NCAA Tournament with an 84-81 victory against No. 6 VMI in the Big South championship. The Eagles completed a perfect run through the Big South, but the final game was tough as the Keydets hung with Winthrop from start to finish. Torrell Martin led Winthrop with 17 points and helped keep the Eagles on top for most of the game. But the Keydets remained close and had an opportunity to tie the game in the final possession. Reggie Williams missed a long three-pointer at the buzzer. [3/03/07]

Liberty Shows Dunton the Door: Liberty will not renew coach Randy Dunton's contract, ending Dunton's nearly 20-year run with the Flames. Dunton was Liberty's coach for the past five seasons and compiled a 66-85 record that included a Big South championship and NCAA Tournament appearance in 2004. He had been an assistant coach at Liberty since 1989 before becoming head coach in 2002. The Flames finished the season 14-17 this year and lost to VMI in the conference tournament Tuesday. [3/02/07]

Big South Conference Tournament Semifinals: Junior forward Reggie Williams played all 40 minutes for No. 6 VMI, delivering a superb performance. He finished with 28 points, eight rebounds and five assists to lead the Keydets to a 91-81 victory against No. 2 High Point, a significant upset in the Big South. Four other Keydets scored in double figures for phrenetic-paced VMI.

VMI advances to the Big South championship against No. 1 Winthrop. The Eagles protected home court against No. 5 UNC - Asheville, which was ready to battle Winthrop for 30 minutes. But after keeping the game close through the second half, UNC - Asheville wore down against the Eagles, who quickly built a double-digit lead. Senior forward Craig Bradshaw led Winthrop with 23 points. [3/01/07]