Sports News-November 13, 2012
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It will be Mike D'Antoni trying to lead the Los Angeles Lakers back to an NBA championship, not Phil Jackson. The Lakers have decided on D'Antoni, who gets a three-year, $12 million contract to replace Mike Brown who was fired on Friday. Jackson was in talks to return for a third stint as Lakers coach but the Lakers went with D'Antoni who guided Phoenix to some of its most successful seasons and also coached the Knicks before stepping down in March. D'Antoni is recovering from knee replacement surgery. The Lakers are optimistic D'Antoni will arrive in Los Angeles on Wednesday. In the meantime, interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff will continue to run the show. The Lakers are 2-0 under him after opening the season with a 1-4 mark.
The Pittsburgh Steelers' 16-13 overtime win over Kansas City was dulled by the injury to their star quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger. Big Ben left the game in the second half with an injury to his throwing shoulder and could miss next Sunday night's game against the AFC North-leading Baltimore Ravens.
Outfielders Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels and Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals are the American and National League rookies of the year. Trout was a unanimous selection after he batting .320 while the 20-year-old Harper, second-youngest ever to win the NL rookie award, helped guide the Nats into the playoffs for the first time since the franchise moved to Washington in 2005.
Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman isn't concerned about football coach Bo Pelini's heated exchange with a player on the sideline during the game against Penn State. An ABC camera caught Stafford pointing his right index finger in Pelini's face and yelling after the Nittany Lions scored a touchdown Saturday. A camera captured a similar incident between cornerback Antonio Bell and Pelini Oct. 20 against Northwestern. Perlman wrote in an email to The Associated Press "at this point Bo is a victim of his reputation and is unfairly singled out by the news media. He has noticeably controlled his sideline behavior this year. Unless there is evidence that he is losing his team's respect, which I do not see, I think within reason you have to accept him for who he is." In other Husker football news, kicker Brett Maher was named Big Ten special-teams player of the week after accounting for twelve points in N-U’s 32-23 win against Penn State last Saturday. Nebraska is 8-2 overall and 5-1 going into a 2:30 home kickoff on Saturday with Minnesota. The Golden Gophers are 6-4 overall and 2-4 in the Legends. The Huskers are ranked 14th in the BCS Standings, Associated Press Top 25 & USA Today poll.
The Creighton men's basketball team passed UCLA and Michigan State to move up two spots to 13th in this week's USA Today Top 25 Coaches poll, which was released yesterday. They also moved up from 16th to 15th in the Associated Press Poll. The jump comes on the heels of CU's 71-51 win over Sun Belt Conference favorite North Texas last Friday. Indiana remained in the top spot after a 97-54 win over Bryant. Louisville, Kentucky, Ohio State and Michigan round out the top-five. The Bluejays are the only MVC team currently earning votes in the coaches poll. Also, junior forward Doug McDermott was named to the 2012-13 Preseason All-America Team by the organizers of the Lute Olson Award and was also named the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week. In other Creighton basketball news, after hosting two rounds of the 2008 and 2012 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournaments with resounding success, the university has been selected to host the second/third-round of the 2015 Division I Men's Basketball Championship. Creighton will host second-round games on Friday, March 20th and third-round contests on Sunday, March 22nd. Games will take place at CenturyLink Center Omaha. Information about tickets for the event will be released at a much later date. The Bluejays return to action on Wednesday at 7:05 when they host the University of Alabama-Birmingham.
The Nebraska volleyball team remains ninth in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association Poll released yesterday. The Huskers went 2-0 last week with wins over Indiana and Purdue. The Huskers are now 20-5 overall and 12-4 in the Big Ten. Stanford remains number one. Creighton jumped from 25th to 23rd. They went 2-0 last week with home wins over Indiana State and Illinois State. The Bluejays are 24-3 on the season and 15-1 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Nebraska will be in action next on Friday when they go to Minnesota while Creighton visits Wichita State on Friday. In other Husker volleyball news, former Ewing standout Hayley Thramer and freshman Meghan Haggerty were honored by the Big Ten Conference as the league's defensive player and freshman of the week. The award marks the first Big Ten weekly honor for Thramer and the fourth award for Haggerty. Thramer earned the accolade after she notched 17 blocks over the two matches last week. Haggerty hit .342 and averaged 1.9 kills and 0.9 blocks per set. Creighton’s Megan Bober was named the Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week.
Wayne State College remained 16th in this week’s American Volleyball Coaches Association Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll released yesterday. The Wildcats are 22-8 overall and 14-6 in league play. They went 2-0 last week on the road defeating both Upper Iowa and Winona State with 3-1 victories. Wayne State now prepares for the NSIC Volleyball Tournament starting this Friday with the fourth seeded Wildcats taking on the fifth seeded Wolves of Northern State with action beginning at 5:00 p.m. in St. Paul Minnesota.
The high school football playoffs continue for Class “C-1” & “C-2” today with semifinal action. In Class “C-1”, in a game that can be heard on 106 KIX & 106KIX.com, in the east bracket, top seed 10-1 Norfolk Catholic visits three seed 10-1 Pierce at 6:00. Pregame coverage at 5:30. The Two-time Defending State Champions are looking to become the only team ever in Class “C-1” to win three consecutive titles. The Knights are outscoring their opponents on average 41.8-13.8 while the Bluejays are outscoring their foes on average 41.4-12.4. Pierce edged Norfolk Catholic in Norfolk 20-19 on October 12. The Knights have won six of the last seven meetings. The other Class “C-1” semifinal game, in the west bracket, has top seed 10-1 Boone Central/Newman Grove hosting two seed 11-0 Adams Central of Hastings in Albion at 7:00. In Class “C-2”, in the east bracket, second seeded 11-0 Lutheran High Northeast visits Defending State Champion David City Aquinas at 6:00. The 11-0 Monarchs are the top seed. The Eagles are beating their foes on average 42.3-20.3 while David City Aquinas is outscoring their opponents by an average score of 47.6-6.8. The Monarchs beat Lutheran High Northeast in the second round of the playoffs last year in David City 14-7. The other Class “C-2” semifinal game, in the west bracket, has top seed 11-0 Sutton hosting seven seed 9-2 Doniphan-Trumbull at 6:30. Sutton won the regular season matchup 36-29 on October 5th. Elsewhere on today’s local schedule, the Northeast Hawks women’s basketball team hosts the Midland JV at 6:00 and the Wayne State women’s basketball squad is home against York College at 7:00.
Local Schedule: Midland JV at NECC (WBB-6:00); York College at WSC (WBB-7:00).
Local Scores: Nebraska-Omaha 58 North Carolina A&T 44 (WBB).
High School Class “D” Playoff Football Scores: Elgin Public/Pope John 42 Arapahoe 6; Exeter/Milligan 24 Bruning/Davenport/Shickley 20 (D-1); Humphrey St. Francis 38 Falls City Sacred Heart 13; Giltner 60 Shelton 20 (D-2).
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final Milwaukee 105 Philadelphia 96
Final 3OT Utah 140 Toronto 133
Final Oklahoma City 92 Detroit 90
Final Boston 101 Chicago 95
Final Miami 113 Houston 110
Final Minnesota 90 Dallas 82
Final Phoenix 110 Denver 100
Final Atlanta 95 Portland 87
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Final ( 1) Indiana 87 N. Dakota St. 61
Final ( 5) Michigan 91 IUPUI 54
Final (17) Memphis 81 North Florida 66
Final (18) UNLV 92 N. Arizona 54
Final (20) Notre Dame 84 Monmouth (NJ) 57
TOP-25 WOMEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Final (13) Vanderbilt 62 Lipscomb 45
Final (14) West Virginia 60 Boston U. 57
Final (23) Miami 69 Richmond 63
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