Women’s games turnout rising
Hardaway taking over at Memphis
NEW YORK — Dawn Staley and her South Carolina Gamecocks did more than just prepare for their opening-round games in the women’s NCAA Tournament. They did everything they could to make sure people attended.
The team spent an hour Thursday night calling season ticket holders who hadn’t bought tickets yet for the first and second round in Columbia. The goal was for attendance to surpass 10,000.
The move paid off as the Gamecocks had 11,085 people attend their opening-round win over North Carolina A&T and then 10,307 come to the secondround victory over Virginia. Those numbers helped bolster overall attendance at the first two rounds to its highest level in a decade, with an average of 5,067 fans taking in the first 48 games.
NCAA basketball officials are hoping for more strong numbers at the regionals this weekend in Albany, New York; Kansas City, Missouri; Spokane, Washington; and Lexington, Kentucky. Albany already has sold nearly 7,600 tickets. It helps having UConn and South Carolina headed there. The surprise is 11th-seeded Buffalo, which reached its first Sweet 16; Bulls fans have only a 4½-hour drive to Albany to see their team play.
MEMPHIS: Penny Hardaway is the new men’s coach and school officials hope he can rejuvenate the program at his alma mater.
Hardaway is a former NBA player who starred at Memphis in the early 1990s. He replaces Tubby Smith, who was fired Wednesday after two seasons as the Tigers coach.
Smith went 40-26 but failed to reach the postseason. The university owes Smith almost $10 million after buying out the final three years of his contract.
NBA-BOUND: Texas 6-foot-11 forward Mo Bamba and Oklahoma guard Trae Young, both freshmen, declared for the draft Tuesday. Young led the nation in scoring (27.4) and assists (8.7) per game.
Bamba averaged 12.9 points and led the Big 12 in rebounds (10.5) and blocks (3.7). He set a new league freshman record with 111 blocks for the season.
After the season finale against Nevada in the NCAA Tournament, Bamba pushed his way through reporters and gave coach Shaka Smart a hug. The big man was in tears. “Love you, man. Love you,” Smart told him. “It’s forever, man.”