Purdue’s Haas hopes elbow brace will allow him to play against Texas Tech

The Associated Press

Purdue coach Matt Painter has all but ruled out Isaac Haas for the Sweet 16 after the star center fractured his right elbow in the Boilermaker’s first-round NCAA tournament win against Cal State Fullerton.

But the Boilermakers’ 7foot-2 senior is holding out hope that a new protective brace will give him a chance to play — even if just a few minutes — in second-seeded Purdue’s East Region matchup Friday night with third-seeded Texas Tech.

“If I did play, it would just be really short minutes, I’m sure,” Haas said.

Painter said it’s still a long shot at this point.

“He didn’t practice the last two days, so I don’t see him playing,” he said.

Colorado State

Former Colorado State assistant Medved Collins men’s after Drake’s spending basketball is to returning lead head coach a the program year to coach. Rams Niko Fort as Medved Eustachy, replaces who stepped Larry down last month, ending a “climate assessment” of the program led by athletic director Joe Parker. Eustachy, who was 122-79 in five-plus seasons at CSU, is on paid leave until June 30, at which time he’ll formally resign. Medved was an assistant coach at CSU from 2007-13 before spending four years as head coach at Furman and then leading Drake last season to its first postseason berth in six years.

Evansville

Boston Celtics assistant Walter McCarty is returning to college basketball as Evansville’s head coach. The school announced McCarty’s selection as the replacement for Marty Simmons, who was fired this month after going 184-175 over 11 seasons in which the Purple Aces failed to make the NCAA or NIT tournaments. McCarty is returning to his southern Indiana hometown, where he was a high school star. He played on Kentucky’s 1996 NCAA championship team, then was a first-round draft pick of the New York Knicks as he started a 10-year NBA career.

Florida Atlantic

Florida Atlantic hired Dusty May as its new basketball coach, signing him to a five-year contract. May has spent the past three years as an assistant at Florida under coach Mike White. May has also been an assistant at Louisiana Tech, UAB, Murray State and Eastern Michigan.