North Carolina coach Roy Williams met the media the day before his third-ranked Tar Heels played No. 2 Duke and proved he wouldn’t be too successful in a pop culture quiz.
A reporter began a question about the rivalry by saying “I don’t mean to be Dr. Phil-esque with this, but …”
When the question ended Williams looked around the room and said, “Who’s Dr. Phil?”
After being told he was a television talk show host who helps people with their problems, Williams, showed his love for his passion outside basketball by saying, “I though he meant Mickelson with a wedge.”
Williams then told a story on himself:
“When I was at Kansas, they had a contest among the students I was supposed to help judge about who looked the most like this one guy. I turned to (guard) Jacque Vaughn and asked him for some help. He said `You never heard of Kramer?’ and told me who to vote for. I guess I’ve led a sheltered life.”
North Carolina sports information director Steve Kirschner said Williams isn’t exaggerating about his lack of entertainment knowledge.
“We were in a group talking one day and somebody mentioned the latest `Lord of the Rings’ movie,” Kirschner said. “Coach was amazed they made a movie about that and we had to tell him it was the third film in the trilogy.”
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IMPRESSIVE STREAK: Memphis’ 77-48 victory over Southern Methodist on Wednesday stretched the Tigers’ home winning streak to 45 games, the longest current run in Division I.
It’s always worth a trip to the record book for real perspective, however, and this is one of those stats where it is really true.
The Division I record for consecutive home wins is 129 by Kentucky, a streak that lasted just over 12 years and ended on Jan. 8, 1955, with a 59-58 loss to Georgia Tech.
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KNIGHT TIME: Stanford’s Trent Johnson considers himself one of the fortunate college basketball coaches who had a chance to spend some quality time with Bob Knight.
Knight, the winningest coach in Division I history, resigned Monday at Texas Tech, where his son Pat has taken over the Red Raiders program.
“Whatever he felt was best to do, I support him wholeheartedly,” Johnson said. “There aren’t a lot of guys who professionally give as much as he’s given to this game. There are only a rare few of us who have the opportunity to have quality time with somebody of that magnitude, whether it’s an hour or two hours. He’s special, he really is special.”
They’ve crossed paths again since Johnson took over at Stanford, like in the Pete Newell Challenge in December 2006. Stanford, now ranked No. 9, beat Texas Tech 62-61 in late December at Dallas.
The Hall of Fame coach walked away with 902 career victories and three national titles.
“I’ve been very fortunate and have gotten to know him the last couple years,” Johnson said. “My fourth year in Nevada when we played them in the NIT in Lubbock and we got beat, he was very cordial before and after the game. The following summer we had a fundraiser, which he spoke at. His speaking fee is probably $50,000 and he turned it down and donated it to the men’s basketball program at the University of Nevada.”
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SIMPLE NUMBERS: No. 12 Texas won 18 of its first 22 games and the numbers don’t lie about what the difference is in the two results.
In their wins, the Longhorns have allowed opponents an average of 61.3 points on 37.8 percent shooting.
In their losses, the Longhorns have allowed 80.5 points on 50.4 percent shooting.
This really is a simple game.
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PATRIOT LEAGUE FIRST: When Bucknell beat Colgate 91-85 in overtime on Wednesday, it gave the Bison 10 wins and made some Patriot League history.
For the first time in the conference’s 18 seasons, all eight members reached the 10-win mark.
On that day, the Patriot League joined the Atlantic Coast Conference as the only leagues this season to have every member with at least 10 wins over Division I opponents.
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REAL BRACKET BUSTER: When ESPN announced the 50 matchups for this year’s BracketBusters, one stood out as a game that could really affect the seedings for the NCAA tournament.
No. 15 Drake will visit No. 10 Butler on Feb. 23 as the marquee game of those designed to give the midmajor conferences a chance at some national attention as the regular season winds down.
Last year, Butler, then ranked 12th, hosted No. 16 Southern Illinois in a BracketBusters game. Southern Illinois, like Drake a member of the Missouri Valley Conference, won the nationally televised game 68-64. Both teams went on to reach the round of 16 of the NCAA tournament.
The Drake-Butler meeting will be the first between the schools since Dec. 6, 1972, when Drake won 83-68 in Des Moines.
This is the sixth version of BracketBusters and 16 conferences will participate.
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BIG FREE THROW: Cal Poly senior forward Matt Hanson entered Thursday’s game against UC Irvine having made 15 of 39 free throws this season, a paltry 38.5 percent.
He missed his first three free throws in the game before being fouled with 1.4 seconds left and the game tied at 56. He missed the first but made the second – his first successful free throw in six games – to give the Mustangs their third win in four games.
Still, Hanson, who finished with five points and six rebounds against the Anteaters, saw his season percentage drop to 36.4 percent.
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AP Sports Writer Janie McCauley in San Francisco contributed to this report
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