Author Archives: Jerry Briggs

Coach Ken Burmeister is out at Incarnate Word

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Ken Burmeister will not return as men’s basketball coach at the University of the Incarnate Word, athletic director Brian Wickstrom said in a news release.

A search for a replacement will begin immediately.

Ken Burmeister

The announcement comes three days after UIW finished 7-21 and 2-16 in the Southland Conference.

“I want to thank Coach Burmeister for his 12 years of service and for helping transition our program to the NCAA Division I level,” Wickstrom said in a statement. “As we evaluate the direction of UIW men’s basketball, we will search for the best candidate to fill the position and look forward to commenting further when that person is in place.”

Burmeister posted 10 winning seasons with UIW, including two Heartland Conference titles, a pair of appearances in the NCAA Division II South Central Region Tournament and a berth in the CollegeInsiders.com Tournament.

He accumulated a 311-280 (.526) record in 21 seasons as a head coach and a 183-156 (.540) record with the Cardinals.

Iona, UNC Greensboro claim NCAA tourney berths

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The Iona Gaels and UNC Greensboro Spartans on Monday claimed automatic bids to the NCAA tournament.

Iona will advance for the third straight year.

The Gaels beat Fairfield 83-71 in Albany, New York, to win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament championship.

UNC Greensboro will make its first NCAA appearance in 17 years.

The Spartans won the Southern Conference Tournament title with a 62-47 victory over the East Tennessee State Buccaneers at Asheville, North Carolina.

UNC Greensboro last played in the NCAA tournament in 2001.

Five more conferences will crown champions on Tuesday night, including the West Coast Conference, with sixth-ranked Gonzaga meeting BYU.

BYU advanced to the title game with an 85-72 victory over 20th-ranked Saint Mary’s.

NCAA automatic qualifiers

Ohio Valley — Murray State (26-5)

Missouri Valley – Loyola-Chicago (28-5)

Big Ten — Michigan (28-7)

Big South — Radford (22-12)

Atlantic Sun — Lipscomb (23-9)

Southern — UNC Greensboro (27-7)

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference — Iona (20-13)

How good is No. 6 Gonzaga? See for yourself tonight

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How good is Gonzaga?

The question seems to blow in this time of year as predictably as a cold front out of Canada invading the northeastern reaches of Washington state.

As of Monday morning, the Zags are No. 6 in the nation according to the just-released Associated Top 25 poll.

But, as usual, opinions vary.

Jerry Palm of cbssports.com projects that Spokane, Washingon-based Gonzaga will receive only a No. 5 regional seed when the NCAA tournament bracket is released Sunday.

Meaning, that, in the eyes of the stat-crunchers, the national finalists from last year may only be the 17th- to 20th-best team in the nation.

If you’re curious about the disparity, one idea is to tune in to ESPN at 8 tonight.

That’s when the network is scheduled to air Gonzaga-San Francisco in the semifinals of the West Coast Conference tournament.

The other WCC semifinal also is interesting.

It’s 20th-ranked Saint Mary’s against BYU, set to air at 10:30 p.m. on the four-letter network.

Palm projects Saint Mary’s, from Moraga, California, as a No. 9 regional seed.

Once again, it’s a suggestion that the WCC is either vastly overrated or underrated.

With the WCC semis tonight and the finals on Tuesday, it’s time to see for ourselves, I guess.

AP Top 25
March 5, 2018

1. Virginia 28-2 ACC
2. Villanova 27-4 Big East
3. Xavier 27-4 Big East
4. Michigan State 29-4 Big Ten
5. Duke 25-6 ACC
6. Gonzaga 28-4 West Coast
7. Michigan 28-7 Big Ten
8. Cincinnati 27-4 American
9. Kansas 24-7 Big 12
10. Purdue 28-6 Big Ten
11. Wichita State 24-6 American
12. North Carolina 22-9 ACC
13. Tennessee 23-7 SEC
14. Texas Tech 23-8 Big 12
15. Arizona 24-7 Pac-12
16. Auburn 25-6 SEC
17. Ohio State 24-8 Big Ten
18. West Virginia 22-9 Big 12
19. Clemson 22-8 ACC
20. Saint Mary’s 28-4 West Coast
21. Houston 24-6 American
22. Nevada 26-6 Mountain Wesst
23. Florida 20-11 SEC
24. Miami (Fla.) 22-8 ACC
25. Rhode Island 23-6 Atlantic 10

Buzzer beater lifts Radford into the NCAA tournament

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Redshirt freshman Carlik Jones on Sunday hit a buzzer-beating three, lifting the Radford Highlanders to a 55-52 victory over Liberty for Big South conference tournament title.

Jones’ rainbow boosts Virginia-based Radford into the NCAA tournament for the first time in nine years.

Over the past two days, five teams have won conference tournaments to secure automatic bids.

Here’s a list of the qualifiers:

Ohio Valley — Murray State (26-5)

Missouri Valley – Loyola-Chicago (28-5)

Big Ten — Michigan (28-7)

Big South — Radford (22-12)

Atlantic Sun — Lipscomb (23-9)

Projection: Texas Tech headed to Dallas as a No. 3 seed

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Selection Sunday is a week away, and the state of Texas looks strong with five teams projected into the field of 68.

Texas Tech is a No. 3 seed in the estimation of Jerry Palm at cbssports.com.

In Palm’s projection, Tech will be placed in a Midwest Region pod that will open round of 64 play at Dallas.

In addition, Palm projects that Houston and TCU will be six seeds, Texas A&M an eight and Texas an eleven.

Eight-team Southland tournament field is set

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Here’s the bracket for the Southland Conference men’s basketball tournament.

It’s set for Wednesday through Saturday in Katy.

Incarnate Word (7-21, 2-16) in San Antonio was eligible to reach the tournament for the first time this season but did not make it into the eight-team field.

Southeastern Louisiana is the top seed, followed by Nicholls State, Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston.

UTSA claims 18th win, beats Rice, 79-60, in Houston

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Junior Deon Lyle said the basket just looked big.

Whatever the case, Lyle hit it with regularity in scoring a season-high 33 points Saturday, lifting the UTSA Roadruners to a 79-60 road victory at Rice.

In the regular-season finale for both teams, UTSA surged into a 24-5 lead in the first 11 minutes en route to the team’s 18th victory.

As a result, UTSA (18-13, 11-7) will be the fifth seed in the Conference USA tournament next week in Frisco.

The Roadrunners will open against the No. 12 UTEP Miners at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Rice (7-24, 4-14) was edged out by UTEP for the last spot in the tournament.

Interviewed on the team’s radio broadcast, Lyle said his teammates “did a great job” driving into the paint and kicking the ball out to him on the wing.

“The whole (Rice) team would collapse, Lyle said. “They’d lose me and I’d get open and knock one in.”

Lyle finished 11 of 24 from the field and 8 of 19 from three-point range.

His final point tally broke the team season-high of 31 points held by Jhivvan Jackson, who is out for the year with a knee injury.

“Last game we played, we played real selfish,” Lyle said, talking about an 80-62 loss Thursday night at North Texas. “We didn’t play team ball. I just wanted to make sure we got the win (tonight).

“Me and Jhivvan are real close. He’s like my brother. Then he gets hurt. I just wanted to go out and do it for him and do it for my team tonight.”

UTSA tied a season-high with 15 three-point shots and seemed to be much more locked in defensively, especially in the first half.

“We got off to a real good start,” UTSA coach Steve Henson said. “Defensively, we were very, very sharp. I thought we made a lot of the right plays, offensively.

“When the ball goes through the net, that keeps your energy going.”

The 18 wins are the most for UTSA since an 18-14 finish in the 2011-12 season, the team’s last year in the Southland Conference.

In addition, the 11 conference wins are also the most for the program in the post-SLC era.

Abilene Christian beats UIW 69-59 in regular-season finale

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Abilene Christian kept its Southland Conference playoff hopes alive Saturday with a 69-59 victory over the Incarnate Word Cardinals.

The Wildcats held UIW to 27 percent shooting in the second half in rallying from a four-point halftime deficit.

Center Jalone Friday led Abilene Christian with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Guard Tevin Foster also scored 17 for ACU.

Forward Charles Brown III paced UIW with 12 points and 7 rebounds.

Trailing by nine points, Incarnate Word rallied Saturday into a 37-33 halftime lead over Abilene Christian in the regular-season finale for both teams.

Charles Brown III hit two baskets, followed by a driving layup from Augustine Ene.

Finally, Sam Burmeister drained a three pointer at the buzzer (see video above) to lift the Cardinals into a four-point lead at the break.

The game was played in front of an announced crowd of 1,256 at UIW’s Convocation Center.

Middle Tennessee hosts Marshall after clinching C-USA crown

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The 24th-ranked Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders will play host to Marshall on Saturday, having already clinched the Conference USA regular-season championship.

Heading into the regular-season finale for both teams, the Blue Raiders have locked up the No. 1 seed in next week’s C-USA tournament.

Middle Tennessee doesn’t have any motivation in that regard.

But it does have an opportunity to show once again that it belongs in the NCAA tournament field no matter what happens next week in Frisco.

The Blue Raiders certainly lived up to their billing Thursday night.

They trounced a good Western Kentucky team 82-64 in front of 11,307 boisterous fans in Murfreesboro.

“It was electric,” Blue Raiders coach Kermit Davis said, via the Associated Press.
“I’ve said it ever since we’ve been ranked — and I don’t say it boastfully, I just say it honestly — that we look and play and prepare like a Top 25 team.

“And everybody asks me the question, ‘How are your guys going to handle it?’ The more success, the more motivation.”

Middle Tennessee (24-5, 16-1) toyed with Western Kentucky (22-8, 14-3).

The front line combination of Brandon Walters and Nick King produced 36 points and 20 rebounds.

There isn’t a team in the conference that can handle the Blue Raiders when those two are playing at that level.

“Brandon Walters is playing like an elite center in college basketball,” Davis said. “When Brandon plays like that, we can play with a lot of people in college basketball.”

One team in the conference cheering for Middle Tennessee on Saturday is UTSA.

Seeking a bye in the first round of the tournament, the Roadrunners need to win on the road against Rice and also have Middle Tennessee register a victory against Marshall.

Such a scenario would produce a tie for fourth in the standings between UTSA and Marshall.

UTSA subsequently would get the No. 4 seed and the bye based on an 81-77 victory over Marshall in San Antonio on Feb. 1.

Rice also enters the final weekend with something on the line — a shot at making the 12-team tournament in spite of a 23-loss regular season.

The Owls need a win over the Roadrunners and a UTEP loss at North Texas to claim the No. 12 seed.

C-USA Standings

Middle Tennessee 16-1, 24-5
Old Dominion 14-3, 23-6
Western Kentucky 14-3, 22-8
Marshall 11-6, 20-10
UTSA 10-7, 17-13
UAB 9-8, 18-12
North Texas 8-9, 15-15
FIU 8-9, 14-16
Louisiana Tech 7-10 16-14
Southern Miss 6-11, 13-17
Florida Atlantic 6-11, 12-17
UTEP 5-12, 10-19
Rice 4-13, 7-23
Charlotte 1-16, 5-23

Saturday’s games
Louisiana Tech at Southern Miss, 4 p.m.
UTEP at North Texas, 5 p.m.
FIU at Old Dominion, 6 p.m.
Marshall at Middle Tennessee, 6 p.m.
FAU at Charlotte, 6:30 p.m.
WKU at UAB, 7 p.m.
UTSA at Rice, 7 p.m.