European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 21, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 30 stars and stripes wednesday March 21 2007 Mcaa tournament West regional finally heres the showdown four years after leaving Pittsburgh Howland faces Dixon former team ivi6i1s so get la seed team and scores of first and second round games seeds in bold National Champion by Alan Robinson the associated press Pittsburgh Ben How land and Jamie Dixon promised to never schedule this game even though they always secretly hoped it would happen Urcla is Pitt in the Mcaa tournament head coach is former assistant Best Friend is Best Friend Hollands old team taking on his current team and possibly the Only school he would have left Pitt to coach the matchup divides even the two households Hollands daughter Meredith missed Pitts Burgh and her friends so much after moving to the West coast in 2003 that she returned six months later re enrolled in Pitts nursing program moved in with the Dix on and became a cheerleader because of their Friendship Rowland and Dixon always insisted this game would occur Only in the Mcaa tournament and now it will thursday night in san Jose Calif As part of the West Region Al semifinals in Pittsburgh its the game Many have waited four years to see Julius Jaron Brown All those Guys that Are playing overseas or elsewhere Treyve been dying for this matchup said Pitt assistant Brandin Knight referring to his former Pitt teammates who played for Howland i dont know How much coach Howland and Dixon were looking Forward to playing but i know All of us were Howland was hired by Pitt in 1999 and in four years rebuilt a Long declining program into a National Power but his Hasty Depar Ture for the one Job he always Cov eted Urcla stunned and disappointed Many at Pitt including Forward Levon Kendall the Only remaining Pitt player who played for Howland that unhappiness among the players was eased when Dixon formerly Hollands top assistant was hired following an unsuccessful courtship of Wake Forest coach skip Prosser Dixon has been even More successful at Pitt than Howland was going 10529 in four seasons but like How land never has gotten Pitt past the Mcaa round of 16 now Hollands team is All that prevents Pitt from doing that Howland in turn has done even better at Urcla than he did at Pitt leading the Bruins into the National championship game last season this was inevitable Dixon said monday before the panthers left for san Jose a Day Early to get accustomed to being on West coast time we both said we we rent going to play against each other in the regular season but we hoped it happened in the Mcaa because you Hope they win and you Hope we win Fth Iionka Iwonna Taronna i a Piir rip 7467 9 8167 j 16 e Kentucky 8fr65 16 Jackson St 11269 1 St East a Souther Cal 4 Maryland 6259 12 old Dominion Texas 8768 12 Arkansas 7760 Vanderbilt 3 Wash St 7874 for j 11 g Washington 7744 j Friday Oregon j i 14 miam Ohio 5856 v r championship game Mon april final four Atlanta sat March 31 i Georgetown 21 2 Wisconsin 10 Georgia tech four Atlanta sat March Boston col 6255 8055 i Ohio state it 4s 9 Xavier 7871 or 16 cent Conn St 7857 i Tennessee 5j 8 Kent div 8876 j 16 Niagara 10767 i of Southern Illinois j 5 Virginia tech 6948 13 Holycross Virginia 7774 12 Lorg Bachst 12186 South san Antonio i san Jose thursday i times c 4 6 Louisville 7269 14 Pennsylvania 6852 i 1 Memphis z 8479 or f 14 Wright state 7958 of Urcla 1 7 in Sana 5449 15 Weber state 7042 Nevada 7862 15 North Texas 7358 regional source Howland and Dixon Are so close that they talk almost daily As they did sunday and monday even after knowing their teams would play one game no matter who wins wont Divide a Friendship dating Back to the 41yearold Dixons High school Days in los Angeles if youre working until mid night every Day with someone youd better be friends said Dixon a former thu player who also coached with Howland at Northern Arizona and Cal Santa Barbara youve got to realize the whole situation this didst Start at Pitt he recruited me when i was 17 but he didst think i was Good enough but i saw his team play at a Santa Barbara so in not so sure about that both coaches dismiss the idea the Mcaa selection committee intentionally set up this matchup even though it possibly could have occurred last season too if Pitt haunt been upset in the Sec Ond round by Bradley this is How it All worked out Howland said monday on a con Ference Call everyone thinks the idea was to match Pitt and Urcla up because of my connection to Pitt but it want even Pitts players Arent so sure about that we know coach Dixon coached under coach Howland and we wanted to get this win for him Forward Mike Cook said he might try to downplay it but we know its important to him and to the University Kendall also was eager for the game because it matches both of his College coaches last sum Mer Kendall dropped by Duclas basketball office during an unplanned visit to talk to Howland but the coach was out of town he was a Good coach to have and i Learned a lot even though i was re shirting in Kendall said but it worked out Well because its been a Good situation with Jamie its hard to hold it against him Howland for not passing up a Job like that Kendall says the two coaches Are similar in that they emphasize defense rebounding and Tak ing away the other teams strength the difference he said is that Howland is a Little More aggressive and vocal in practice Mcaa tournament Midwest regional Butler Learned valuable lesson in 2003 tournament by Michael Marot the associated press Indianapolis Joel Cor Nette was a Busy Man the last time Butler reached the Caas regional semifinals maybe too Busy after leading the bulldogs past Mississippi state and Louisville in the 2003 tournament these Nior spent the following week doing interviews and helping the school sell its allotment of tickets for the next game in Albany by Butler Doest intend to get Side tracked by All that this week when we got Back on Campus the students wanted to celebrate and there was the Media circus and youre trying to catch up with your school work said Cornette now the bulldogs coordinator of basketball operations you have ticket requests and everything what we Learned was that youve got to find a Way to strike the right balance with All of that the lessons from four years ago still linger with coach Todd Lickliter he admits now that having two senior starters Cornette and Dar Nell Archey camped out at a fold ing table hawking tickets in the Hinkle fieldhouse lobby might not have been the Best Way to pre pare for Oklahoma nor was set Ting aside so much time for inter views but when a Small school play ing on the Caas biggest stage reaches the second weekend of the tournament its Tough to say no the experience the bulldogs believe will make them better prepared for Friday nights show Down with defending National Champion Florida i know we wont have that Deal Lickliter said when asked about players Selling tickets i think the peripheral stuff will be taken care of by the sports staff and that will help the Only thing i really remember was what that sting was like losing to Oklahoma whats changed in four years plenty the bulldogs have already set a school record for victories were ranked for 16 straight weeks and took advantage of earn ing the highest tourney seed in school history no 5 in the mid West regional Treyve proven they can play with some of the nations Best teams having won five games against Power conference schools All of whom made the Mcaa tournament there also 80 on Neutral courts this season and Are confident they can continue winning the expectations Are different too in 03 tw6 Mcaa victories were a major accomplishment for a program that had won Only three previous tournament games one of those a third place game in the 1962 regional yes the bulldogs still embrace their Little Guy image but Treyve demonstrated they will not be awestruck two november Victo Ries in new York capped their improbable run to the not season Tipoff championship so Butler int satisfied just hanging around Well get Back to work that not a problem Junior guard a Graves said weve experienced Success and Well put this in its place too we did that in the pre season not and we want to do More off the court Butler has other advantages Classwork wont be an Issue be cause the school was on Spring break last week when the Bull dogs were beating old Dominion and Maryland they wont necessarily be under such a Strong spotlight either because seventh seeded univ is the lowest seeded team remaining and Butler is one of four teams left that does not play in a Power conference the oth ers Are Southern Illinois univ and Memphis logistics could help too St Louis is about a three hour Road trip from Indianapolis meaning the bulldogs could bring a larger contingent of fans than they did to Albany four years ago plus Cornette wont let them forget butlers near upset of Florida in the 2000 tournament the gators eventually reached the championship game before losing to Michigan state All of that has the bulldogs eager to play even though few give them a Chance against a team that has All five starters Back from last seasons team that won the championship who be excited Graves said when you play in the greatest tournament in the world you want to play the Best team and with Cornette on the Bench theres always something there to remind them of what went wrong in 2003 you want to celebrate but you also need to understand that the ultimate goal is to win a National championship and i think there were a lot of distractions the first time Cornette said i think we Learned some things from that experience that will help us this time
