KENNY THOMAS - Best Of You ( Video ) BETTER
Ask any Lobo basketball fan and they will tell you Kenny Thomas was nothing short of a superstar, a hometown hero, and will forever be one of the faces of Lobo basketball. A record setter and fan favorite, Kenny Thomas most certainly made his mark at the University of New Mexico, including being a part of the Lobos best four-year mark in school history.
KENNY THOMAS - best of you ( video )
BERKELEY - California rushed for a season-high 195 yards, piled up 30 first downs and scored 28 points against one of the nation's best defenses, but the Golden Bears found themselves on the wrong end of a 62-28 final score to USC Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
Norwich thoroughly dominated the opening 20 minutes of the game with perhaps their best period of the season, outshooting Middlebury 17-1. The Panthers didn't record their first shot until 22 seconds left in the stanza.
Opening statement...Gary Harris said it best. `Coach, you have to schedule more games on Valentine's Day for [Denzel] Valentine.' He thinks it's special and his mom thinks it's for him - it's not, but it's good that he played well. I'm a little disappointed in him because he isn't rebounding as well. He had a good excuse because he's kind of guarding guards now a lot more than he used to guard when he was on the inside on the wing guys. Because of that, I don't think he has as many boards, but he showed he was one of the more complete players. His defense has been so much better, we even talked about putting him on Yogi [Ferrell] because we didn't think we could cover Yogi [Ferrell]. I think [Yogi Ferrell] has become one of the greatest point guards in the whole country and I don't know if we did a good job on him or if he just wasn't as involved. When he misses a couple free throws, maybe it's not his day. We've gone through that with our players, too. We beat a really good team today. The way they played the first half, we didn't guard, and then we had our stretch where they didn't guard and we did. They scored 40 points in the first 15 minutes of the game. After that, I think we did an unbelievable job. I just thought our defense made our offense go. Zel [Valentine] found some great looks and we played a lot of that game without [Bryn] Forbes and [Eron] Harris. We got a lot out of our bench, but the shame of the thing is that I think we'll lose Kenny Goins. It looks like it might be a meniscus, so that is frustrating. Give Marvin Clark credit, he came in and actually did a pretty good job under the circumstances. All-in-all, an unbelievable crowd and an unbelievable game and yet, Indiana is a good team. I was concerned about the game because I didn't know if we could cover the way that they drive it and the way they handle it. [Max] Biefeldt, give him credit, for a while he was the best player on the floor. I give our team credit. We bounced back. Zel [Valentine] got after everyone at half time. We weren't very good in the first half, even though we got the lead. I don't think we were playing very well. The second half I think we played offense very well, and that turned our defense into our offense and we scored.
Opening Statement...Michigan State played outstanding and the plays of the game that we really had to make sure didn't happen, they happened. They made too many threes. Their field goal percentage was outstanding because we gave up too many fast break baskets. The disappointing part is that we did a very solid job in the first half and we did not continue that by playing the personnel as well as we needed to. They were just too comfortable and when they are comfortable and getting great looks and not taking anything away from them, that makes them that much better. Twelve and 19 in transition, that was crucial. You can't do that. You can't give that up to a team and their break was so good. They always have a fantastic break but today it was as good as it's been or that I have seen. We didn't get back and find shooters as good as we needed to but we let their best players be comfortable. When we played the screens the right way we were good, but when we didn't (Byrn Forbes) made us pay and that's what good players do. Denzel (Valentine) and Matt (Costello) were outstanding and they didn't need a lot of help today. We just let those guys get to the rim, and when you are playing a good team with great players you just can't let them get to that. That's really what it was more than anything else. We didn't defend as well as we needed to, we gave up too many baskets and we gave up too many strength baskets, which means they got to their strengths. The game was physical and we weren't. We need to be better, and we were much better the other night and now we turn around and get ready to play Nebraska.
On Indiana's transition defense...The biggest problem is we have two people in the paint. You need to have one guy in the paint and one guy guarding the rim, but then you got to get out. It's not as much about stopping the ball in this game as it is to get the wings covered because they run the wings so well. We have to do a better job of that and Iowa did a great job of throwing the ball ahead, but the bottom line for us is that too many times two people were in the paint and when you do that you leave too many people open and then we just don't get communicated. A couple of times there are no excuses and it will show in film, a few times we just didn't rotate quick enough and would be a lot happier if they could run that way every game. They were with their best and they were committed and we let them get some confidence from it.
Freshman Florida thrower Stipe Zunic (Zadar, Croatia), seeded ninth entering the men's javelin competition, turned in an all-star performance Wednesday, placing fourth in the event with the fourth-best toss in school history, as the Gators charted a strong opening day at the NCAA Outdoor Championships at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa.
Zunic opened the day with a personal-best toss of 75.01m/246-1 to place fourth overall in the men's javelin and earn the Gators' first five points as a team. Zunic's toss went down as the fourth-best performance in school history and broke his previous personal-best mark of 73.07m/239-8.
Horn broke his own school-record first-day score in the decathlon, totaling a five-event score of 4,123. That shattered his previous personal-best first-day score of 4,080 set en route to a victory at the Mt. Sac Relays this past April. Horn currently sits in fifth place in the decathlon competition heading into the final five events, which begin at 1 p.m. ET Thursday.
Horn opened the day with a personal-best time of 10.71 (+2.8) in the 100-meter dash to pick up 926 points. That broke his previous personal-best time of 10.77 (+2.6) set at the 2010 Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships in Knoxville, Tenn. He then followed with a third-place finish in the long jump with a leap of 7.43m/24-4.50 (+1.4) on his final attempt to earn 918 points.
Horn struggled in the men's shot put, placing 18th overall in that event with a toss of 12.61m/41-4.50 to earn 643 points. He was then seventh in the high jump with a leap of 1.99m/6-6.25 for 7.94 points. Horn capped the day with a personal-best time of 49.42 in the 400-meter dash, which broke his previous PR of 49.78 in that event, and earned him 842 points.
The Florida men's 4x100-meter relay team turned in its best time of the season at 38.49, which went down as the second-best time in school history. The quartet consisted of Eddie Lovett (West Palm Beach, Fla.), Christian Taylor (Fayetteville, Ga.), Terrell Wilks (New Haven, Conn.) and Jeff Demps (Winter Garden, Fla.). Only Florida's 4x100m relay team has run a faster time in program history, when it clocked a time of 38.35 on June 2, 2000. The two-time defending NCAA Champion Florida men's 4x100-meter relay team has advanced to the finals, which will take place at 1:11 p.m. ET Saturday. 041b061a72