East Carolina has turned to former Auburn Tigers coach Jeff Lebo to lead its long-struggling men’s basketball program.

The school announced Monday it had hired Lebo to replace Mack McCarthy, who spent three seasons on the sideline for the Pirates before stepping down to take a fundraising job in the school’s athletics department. Lebo had spent the past six seasons at Auburn, going 96-93 overall before he was fired earlier this month.

The 43-year-old coach played at North Carolina under Dean Smith in the late 1980s and had coached at Tennessee Tech and Chattanooga previously.

The school has scheduled a news conference for Lebo on Tuesday.

Lebo inherits a difficult job at East Carolina, a Conference USA school located in the shadows of instate Atlantic Coast Conference programs Duke, North Carolina and North Carolina State. The program hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament since making a surprise run to win the Colonial Athletic Association tournament in 1993 and hasn’t had a winning record since the 1996-97 season.

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North Carolina coach Roy Williams says sophomore Tyler Zeller is uncertain to play against UAB in the third round of the NIT on Tuesday night.

Zeller was hit above his left eye midway through the second half of the weekend win at Mississippi State. The blow opened a cut that needed five stitches and left him with a mild concussion.

Williams said Monday that Zeller is “50-50″ to play and that he wouldn’t practice. The 7-footer had seven points and seven rebounds off the bench against the Bulldogs.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

The freshman sensation provided a record-breaking reminder on Tuesday night against Hartford.

Wall dished out a school-record 16 assists as the third-ranked Wildcats crushed the Hawks 104-61, a virtuoso performance that even left coach John Calipari a little stunned.

“He is a pleaser,” Calipari said. “He will defer to his team.”

And Wall’s coach will defer to his players. When told Wall needed two assists to break the mark of 15 set by Travis Ford 16 years ago, Calipari sent Wall back into the game and kept running set plays until the record was his.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

“I want to focus on Virginia Tech,” he said.

Virginia Tech’s biggest concern is following Berry on the field. He has 14 career interceptions but the safety often plays in the middle of the defense like a linebacker.

“We’ve asked Tennessee to put a little red light on top of Eric and so we’ll know where he is all the time,” Virginia Tech offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring joked Tuesday. “They haven’t really gotten back with us to let us know if they’re going to do that.”

Berry (5 feet 11, 203 pounds) is an effective run-stopper. He is second on the team with 83 tackles, including six for losses.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

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The fifth-year senior matched his career high with 17 points to help the Tar Heels (No. 4 ESPN/USA Today, No. 6 AP) beat North Carolina Central 89-42 on Wednesday night in the 2K Sports Classic, his second double-figure scoring output in as many games to open the season.

Deon Thompson scored 13 for the Tar Heels (2-0), who broke it open with 21 straight first-half points. North Carolina shot 69 percent in the opening half and 59 percent for the game, dominating the transitional Division I Eagles from nearby Durham in the first meeting between the schools.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

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The injury first occurred earlier this season and Hardy planned to try and play through it. But he aggravated it last week in the Northern Arizona game, and X-rays revealed a fracture.

Nutt met Wednesday with Hardy and his mother. They decided Hardy would have surgery on Thursday in Jackson.

Hardy leads the Rebels with five sacks this season and has 26.5 for his career, but he’s never been able to stay completely healthy. He played in only nine games last season and was limited by a stress fracture in his foot.

Click here to read the full article – By Chris Low of ESPN.com

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According to a Knoxville City Police report, the arrests stemmed from an attempted robbery outside a convenience store near campus. A powered pellet gun was recovered in the players’ car after they were stopped by police near the Gibbs Hall dormitory on campus, where the Vols’ freshman football players live.


Click here to read the full article – By Chris Low of ESPN.com

Already woefully thin at linebacker, the Vols (4-4) are looking at different options of filling the role of defensive quarterback as they prepare for Memphis (2-6).


Click here to read the full article – By BETH RUCKER of The Associated Press

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“There’s holes in everything,” coach Tom O’Brien said. “But you have to understand where the holes are. … You have to go back, evaluate everything you did.”

But at this point, the finger pointing isn’t coming from the offense. Those players will leave it to the defense to sort out the shortcomings prior to Saturday’s game at Boston College.

“The defense will take care of themselves,” Owen Spencer said.

Of particular concern is the secondary, which has been torched the last two games.

O’Brien said the safeties did an acceptable job against Duke, but too many receivers were already running loose.

“They didn’t have to make tough catches,” said O’Brien, who praised the accuracy of Duke quarterback Thaddeus Lewis. “They were all on the money.”

Safety Clem Johnson the Wolfpack defenders are starting to ask more questions of the coaching staff in an effort to solve the problems.

“Get a better grasp of where we’re supposed to be and what the coaches want us to do,” Johnson said. “We’ve been kind of inconsistent when it comes to tackling.”


Click here to read the full article – By Bob Sutton of Thetimesnews.com

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Todd Selected as Grand Marshal

Former UA standout Richard Todd, who played for legendary Coach Paul Bryant, is 2009 Grand Marshal. Todd played quarterback for the New York Jets and the New Orleans Saints from 1976 to 1985.

The Tide welcome the Gamecocks of South Carolina to Bryant Denny Field with game time to be announced.

Popular SEC Contest

The heavily favored Crimson Tide headed into week six at Mississippi Oct. 10 riding an undefeated season with its most recent win against the Kentucky Wildcats, 38-20 on the road at Commonwealth Stadium in Louisville. After another road trip to Oxford, Miss., to take on the Ole Miss Rebels, the Tide returns for Homecoming 2009 matching up against rival South Carolina.

Tough Tide Defense

In this third season under Head Coach Nick Saban, Alabama has been a stingy team, denying opponents late-minute opportunities by bringing a tough A-game defense in the closing quarter. This formidable “D” should provide a noticeable challenge to Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks in both teams’ 2009 head-to-head meet. From the first game of the season, led by All-American candidate Rolando McClain, against a highly-ranked Virginia Tech offense, the Tide defense shut this opponent down denying any fourth-quarter points while UA’s offense rolled to 18 last-period points. During the contest against Arkansas, the Tide held highly-touted Razorback QB Ryan Mallet to a 12-for-35 completion record while picking him off for his first INT of the season.

Offensive Weapons Bring Success

The Tide’s QB Greg McElroy in the game against the Arkansas Razorbacks passed for his career-high outing of 291 yards with three TDs tossed. This included an 80-yard strike to Marquis Maze that was one of the longest pass plays in the Tide’s history. But, South Carolina is no stranger to playing in big games as was evident when they defeated the Rebels of Ole Miss in week three. Mississippi entered the week nationally ranked at No. 4 but walked away surprised at the defeat (16-10) handed to them by the Gamecocks. It was a big win for South Carolina who had not defeated a top five team since beating North Carolina in 1981. But, they will have to suit up against Saban’s formidable offense where McElroy enjoys being the sixth-ranked passer in the nation with a 165.48 passer rating completing 78-for-119 with nine TD tosses. Add to this arsenal RB Mark Ingram, SEC’s rushing touchdown leader with six on the season. Ingram is the Tide’s rushing leader with 487 yards so far on 83 carries. He is averaging 5.9 yards per touch with nearly a 100 (97.5) per game. Ingram exhibits an excellent hold on the ball having never lost a fumble in his 187 career runs and 17 catches where he has compiled 204 touches. He has 15 rushing scores in his Tide career.

South Carolina has its challenge of the season facing the Tide on their own turf when they meet at 3 p.m. Oct. 17 at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Chris Webb is a sports writer for www.sportsfantreasures.com. He would like to invite you to check out their Alabama Crimson Tide Merchandise and Texas Longhorns Merchandise.