North Carolina freshman star Harrison Barnes said Thursday he knows Tar Heels legend Michael Jordan was only kidding when he told him to wear "Jordans" instead of Lakers star Kobe Bryant's Nike shoe. The video made the rounds earlier this week, showing Jordan talking to the Tar Heel players in Charlotte, N.C., where the team was playing in the NCAA Tournament.
"If I see you in them Kobe Bryants, man, I'm gonna cut you right off," Jordan somewhat joked to Barnes on the video shot by Rivals.com. "I don't care if your feet kill you, you're gonna wear them Jordans."
The Charlotte Bobcats owner then told Barnes he could wear whatever shoes he wanted as long as the team won, but pointed out "you got killed" against Duke in the ACC Tournament final.
"I didn't think it was a big deal," Barnes said Thursday afternoon at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., site of UNC's game with Marquette in the Sweet 16 on Friday. "My teammates all asked if I was going to get cute and wear the (other) Nikes. I know he was only joking, and I'm really comfortable around him."
Barnes came to Carolina with as much fanfare as any previous player in the program's fabled history, including Jordan, whose clutch shot as a freshman gave the Tar Heels the 1982 national championship. The irony is that Barnes has been compared to Jordan since before he signed with North Carolina in 2009, which is something he has embraced with open arms. His affinity for all things Jordan has been documented, and is real.
The Iowa native might be only 19 years old, but he grew up watching videos of Jordan that his mother spent years taping. He studied Jordan, from his mannerisms to his professionalism, and has aspired to discover the same level of intensity and focus that carried Jordan to six NBA world championships, five MVP awards, and a wildly successful business career off the court.
"I grew up watching his games on tape," Barnes said. "I really didn't watch cartoons or a lot of kids shows, I watched basketball, mostly tapes of his games. I think I eventually started connecting with them." For a while in high school, Barnes, who is nearly 6-foot-9, listed himself as 6-foot-6 because that was Jordan's height during his days with the Chicago Bulls.
After all was said and done, Jordan promised the team he would get them his rare brand of shoe, Air Jordan 11 Retro "Cool Greys" if they advance to the Final Four. As the school's contracted shoe provider, everything would fall within NCAA rules.
Barnes said Jordan changed his mind after the camera stopped running.
"He said Final Four, but then he said if we beat Washington, and we beat Washington, and I haven't seen them," Barnes said. "So, if I ever see him again, I'll ask him about them (the shoes)."
Missouri basketball head coach Mike Anderson may not renew his contract with the school. According to sources, Anderson has decided to take on the head coaching job at this school.
Danica not happy after wreck at Bristol With 53 laps to go in Saturday’s Nationwide race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Patrick made contact with Ryan Truex. Patrick’s car spun hard into the wall – first the nose, then the rear, leaving her with a destroyed race car. After getting out of her car, Patrick waited for the cars to come back around. When they did, Patrick walked onto the track, located Truex and spread her arms apart as if to say, “What gives?”
“It felt like to me – I came out of the corner I was just running down the straight and it felt like he came off the wall,” said Patrick, who was running 17th at the time, two laps down. “I don’t I know if he had a tank-slap off the wall, like he was pushing up and then it snapped on him and he came off. I don’t know. I don’t know if I may be giving him the benefit of the doubt right there.”
Upon first look it didn’t appear as though Truex did anything wrong. It looked liked Patrick got loose, slipped up the track and into Truex’s rear bumper. But the head-on replay does show Truex turning slightly into Patrick’s lane.
“It was my fault. I guess that’s just racing at Bristol,” Truex said. “We were racing there and I just came off the corner, got loose, and as I was saving it just came down the hill and got into her. My fault. I mean, I’m sorry. I didn’t want for that to happen. I don’t know if she thinks I did it on purpose. I guess she’s just mad because she was running good. It was an accident. I apologize.”
Regardless of fault, it was a tough way for Patrick to end this portion of her Nationwide schedule. She’d finished in the top 20 in her first three races, including a career-best fourth-place run two weeks ago at Las Vegas.
She ended up 33rd at Bristol.
Now, she heads back to her day job in IndyCar. Patrick’s next Nationwide race is June 4 at Chicagoland Speedway.
“I’m just disappointed,” she said. “I felt like this was a pretty decent run at Bristol for the first time. … It’s disappointing to leave for a couple of months with this kind of a thing.”
Kyle Busch won the race, his fourth straight win at Bristol across both the Nationwide and Cup series.
Former NFL star Lawrence Taylor sentenced to probation for sex crime
Hall of Fame NFL linebacker Lawrence Taylor was sentenced to six years probation during a court hearing Tuesday after pleading guilty to sexual misconduct with an underage girl.
Taylor, who pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges in the case in January, will also have to pay a $2,000 fine, Judge William Kelly said.
Kelly will also determine which sex-offender level status Taylor is expected to receive -- which could range from low to high risk -- during a separate hearing set for April 12. Taylor was arrested last May on charges of "improper sexual conduct involving an underage girl in a Rockland County hotel," the district attorney's office said. Prosecutors said Taylor paid the teen $300 after "sexual acts."
The girl, who was 16 years old at the time of the incident, denied allegations that she was a prostitute.
"I'm very upset about what Mr. Taylor did to me," she said. "I did not want to go to his hotel."
The teenager said she was glad Taylor had been prosecuted though disappointed that the former New York Giant won't receive jail time.
"He took something very special from me," she said. "I'm not a prostitute. I'm a victim, and I'm hurting."
Taylor entered a guilty plea to one count of sexual misconduct and one count of patronizing a prostitute in the third degree, both misdemeanor charges, prosecutors said.
He was arrested in a Ramapo, New York, Holiday Inn room on May 6, a few hours after the encounter took place, authorities said. Ramapo is about 30 miles northwest of New York City.
Ramapo police applauded a plea agreement Taylor entered into with prosecutors at the time.
"This department believes that the resolution reached in this case is fair and appropriate," Ramapo Police Chief Peter Brower said at the time.
"Mr. Taylor wants to publicly apologize to his wife and family and fans," said his attorney Arthur Aidala. "Mr. Taylor accepts responsibility for what he did and he did intend to patronize a prostitute. He did not intend to patronize an underage person."
Aidala added that Taylor was "deceived."
In July, Taylor's wife vehemently denied that the famous linebacker had sex with the underage prostitute.
"He didn't rape anyone. He didn't have sex with anyone. He didn't call a pimp," Lynette Taylor said on "Larry King Live."
Lynette Taylor told King that the girl snuck into her husband's hotel room because many people knew Taylor was in town for an autograph signing.
Taylor gave her $300 because she was going through bad times, Lynette Taylor said.
"So I mean for him, $300, here -- here is $300. Will this help you out any? It was very much that," said Lynette Taylor. "Yes, he should have told her to get the heck out of my room. But I cannot explain why men do what they do."
The Big East is going down. Hard. Everyone was talking about the league all season long and its power in numbers, but now the conference has just two teams left standing following Notre Dame’s loss to Florida State on Sunday night.
And even that number is a bit deceiving — both UConn and Marquette, the two Big East teams still playing, defeated other Big East teams in the third round over the weekend (Connecticut defeated Cincinnati on Saturday night and Marquette knocked off Syracuse on Sunday). So before the third round began, the worst the Big East could do was send two to the Sweet 16. Indeed, it did its worst.
There were a record 11 teams from the conference in the tournament, but nine have been knocked out in the first week of play. On the flip side, for all the criticism that the ACC took this season, no conference has more teams left standing: Duke, North Carolina and the Seminoles all moved on.
<a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/video?vid=8506b18d-2771-4e68-b2fd-6f152b697e59&from=IV2_en-us_foxsports_articles" target="_new" title="Goodman: Top 5 Surprises">Video: Goodman: Top 5 Surprises</a>
Here’s the rest of the Sweet 16 by league:
ACC — 3
Big Ten — 2
SEC — 2
Big East — 2
Mountain West — 2
Big 12 — 1
Pac-10 — 1
A-10 — 1
CAA — 1
Horizon — 1
Recapping the weekend’s action:
Game of the Weekend: Butler’s crazy win over top-seeded Pittsburgh on Saturday. The Bulldogs won it on a Matt Howard free throw with 0.8 left on the clock. Here’s how it went down: Shawn Vanzant put Butler ahead, then Gilbert Brown was fouled at midcourt on a miscue from Shelvin Mack with 1.4 seconds left. Brown hit the first free throw but missed the second to tie a game seemingly headed to overtime. But Pitt’s Nasir Robinson committed an ill-advised foul on Howard, who won the game at the free throw line.
Big Shot: Duke freshman Kyrie Irving hadn’t hit a field goal the entire game Sunday, but he stepped up and delivered a huge eight-foot floater with 32 seconds left that gave the Blue Devils a 72-69 lead over Michigan. Irving missed 26 games with a toe injury before coming back Friday against Hampton.
The Savior: John Henson. We gave him our national defensive player of the year award for a reason. He’s long — and his length paid off when he deflected Washington’s Justin Holliday’s inbounds pass in the closing seconds and the ball was controlled by North Carolina, which turned a one-point lead into the final three-point margin of victory.
David Lighty, Ohio State. The Buckeyes senior finished with 25 points and buried all seven of his 3-point attempts against George Mason.
Bradford Burgess, VCU. The Rams pulled yet another upset — knocking off No. 3 Purdue — and Burgess led the team with 23 points and eight boards.
Darius Johnson-Odom, Marquette. DJO nailed a big 3-pointer late and finished with 17 points for Buzz Williams’ team against Syracuse.
Kendall Marshall, North Carolina. The Tar Heels freshman point guard had 13 points and a team tournament-record 14 assists in the win over Washington.
Markieff Morris, Kansas. The lesser-known of the Morris twins went for 24 points and a dozen rebounds in the win over Illinois.
Saturday
Jimmer Fredette, BYU. The Jimmer scored 34 points and was 7 of 12 from beyond the arc while dishing out six assists in the easy win over No. 11 Gonzaga.
Erving Walker, Florida. The diminutive Gators point guard scored 21 points — including a huge 3-pointer in the final couple of minutes and also four free throws in the final minute — to beat UCLA.
Brandon Knight, Kentucky. Two days after hitting the game winner, the Wildcats freshman guard went for a career-high 30 points in the victory over West Virginia.
Jake Pullen, Kansas State. Even in the losing effort, the Wildcats senior was stellar in what became his collegiate swan song, scoring 38 points against Wisconsin.
Kemba Walker, UConn. The Huskies point guard finished with 33 points, five rebounds and four assists in the win over Cincinnati.
Story of the Weekend: The little guys. Five teams that aren’t in one of the Big Six leagues advanced to the Sweet 16: BYU and San Diego State moved on from the Mountain West, Butler advanced out of the Horizon, Richmond got in from the A-10 and VCU is still representing the CAA. Also, four double-digit seeds are still alive — No. 10 Florida State, pair of No. 11’s in VCU and Marquette, and No. 12 Richmond.
Biggest Upset: While Butler took the finish of the weekend, the Bulldogs have been there, done that in the round of 32. VCU earns this honor again — two nights after throttling Georgetown — after a resounding 94-76 victory over Purdue. Burgess led Shaka Smart’s team with 25 points and point guard Joey Rodriguez added 12 points and 11 assists.
Most Impressive: On Sunday, Ohio State blew out a George Mason team that has been as hot as just about anyone over the last couple months. Lighty couldn’t miss from deep and Jared Sullinger and William Buford each added 18 points for Thad Matta’s team. A day earlier, BYU, led by The Jimmer’s 34 points, pulled away and beat Gonzaga with ease. Jackson Emery had 16 as BYU wound up winning by 22 points.
Most Unimpressive: Texas. The Longhorns were far more talented than Arizona at just about every spot, but it was the Wildcats who advanced to the Sweet 16 with Sunday’s victory.
Under the Radar: Richmond. The 12th-seeded Spiders took care of Morehead State on Saturday, holding Kenneth Faried to just 11 points. Kevin Anderson had 14 points, four assists and no turnovers for Richmond while Justin Harper had 19 points and six boards for Chris Mooney’s team.
Best Sweet 16 matchup: No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 4. Kentucky, Friday in Newark, NJ. There’s no shortage of talent in this matchup, but the key may be how Wildcats coach John Calipari chooses to try to defend Buckeyes big man Sullinger: Do you play him 1-on-1 with Josh Harrellson or double Sullinger and leave other guys op Biggest disappointment: Let’s single out one more Big East flameout: West Virginia. We can’t put Joe Mazzulla in this class, but the rest of the Mountaineers didn’t give him enough help. Kevin Jones struggled, John Flowers was in foul trouble and was ineffective, and Casey Mitchell went cold down the stretch.
We’ll miss you: The first three guys that come to mind all played in the state of Indiana: Notre Dame’s Ben Hansbrough and the Purdue duo of JaJuan Johnson and E’Twaun Moore. They join the stellar list of Pullen, who became Kansas State’s all-time scoring leader in the Wildcats’ loss to Wisconsin; Pittsburgh’s Brad Wanamaker; Gonzaga’s Steven Gray; West Virginia’s Mazzulla; and Morehead State’s Faried.
Never would have thought: That VCU would put up 94 points against Purdue. The Boilermakers are known for their tough, hard-nosed stingy defense, but the Rams had no difficulty putting points on the board Sunday.
Shocking Decision: That Washington coach Lorenzo Romar would have given the ball to Venoy Overton instead of Isaiah Thomas with the game on the line Sunday. Romar said afterwards that he would have given to it Thomas if he had an opportunity to do it all over again.
Stat of the Day: San Diego State’s senior guard D.J. Gay played all 50 minutes in the double-overtime win over Temple on Saturday.
Quote of the Day: "I've been playing basketball my whole life and I know I shouldn't have done that. It was a stupid play. It wasn't the ref's fault. It was my fault." — Pittsburgh’s Nasir Robinson after his foul with less than a second left against Butler.
Can’t wait for the Sweet 16:
1) No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 4 Kentucky, Friday at 9:45 p.m. ET at Newark, NJ. These might be the two most talented starting five’s in the country.
2) No. 2 Florida vs. No. 3 BYU, Thursday at 7:27 p.m. ET at New Orleans. A rematch of last year’s first-round game in which The Jimmer went for 37 points and the Cougars knocked off the Gators.
3) No. 4 Wisconsin vs. No. 8 Butler, Thursday at 9:57 p.m. ET at New Orleans. Bo Ryan’s Badgers will get their shot against Brad Stevens and last year’s Cinderella story.
4) No. 10 Florida State vs. No. 11 VCU, Friday at 9:57 p.m. ET at San Antonio. One of these double-digit seeds will move a step away from the Final Four.
Steve Sabol, president of Mount Laurel-based NFL Films, will undergo radiation and chemotherapy treatment after doctors discovered a tumor on the left side of his brain.
NFL.com cited an NFL Films statement Friday about the 68-year-old Sabol, a Moorestown resident who was hospitalized March 5 in Kansas City, Mo., after suffering a seizure.
"[Sabol] will begin treatments soon," the company's statement said. "Steve is in good spirits and is deeply appreciative of everyone's good wishes."
Sabol has worked with NFL Films since 1964, when it was based in Center City. His father, Ed, was elected on the day before the Super Bowl last month to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
President Obama’s 2011 NCAA Bracket is among the best around.
Somehow, I feel like this bodes well for America.
From Dan Wetzel:
“Be glad President Obama isn’t in your office pool.
He just went a blistering 29-3 in the first round.
While millions of Americans have had their brackets busted, Obama’s is almost perfectly intact after two days of play.
His only mistakes? Not forseeing Morehead State besting Louisville, UCLA defeating Michigan State and VCU stunning Georgetown.”
Not to mention:
“The President’s bracket is in terric shape as the tournament advances. Fifteen of his Sweet Sixteen selections are alive (all but Louisville), and he still could place all eight teams in the regional finals. He appears capable of scoring higher than any player on Yahoo! And perhaps any of the other bracket contests on the Internet.”
Give him this – Our president is a smart dude.
He hit on Richmond, Gonzaga, Xavier, and his picks for today all check out.
Click to behold: The Presidential Bracket.
For all the problems facing the country (bitter partisanship, the income divide, skyrocketing deficit) who knew the answer all along should’ve been to sneak Obama down to Vegas and let him put the GDP on the NCAAs?
The President’s success has been met with a Republican outcry that this bracket hullabaloo is illustrative of Obama’s misplaced priorities – that a man who sits down to fill out a bracket is perhaps not adequately allotting those minutes to more prescient concerns like comprehensive climate legislation defunding NPR.
But I remained unconvinced and, suspecting an agenda, I did a little digging.
Rumor has it, John Boehner had Louisville in the final.
