Undermanned during overtime
A North Dakota junior college team finished a double-overtime playoff game with only two players on the floor — and still nearly won.
Dakota College of Bottineau held off United Tribes Technical College 156-154 in a regional playoff game Wednesday in Fargo, N.D., when the visiting Thunderbirds started with only five players on their roster. They had one player foul out at the end of regulation and two players foul out in the second overtime.
The dramatic ending had Tribes coach Pete Conway joking about finding a way to get his assistant coach into the game.
United Tribes had been hoping to repeat history. Nearly 30 years ago, the Bismarck school defeated Dakota College when the Thunderbirds started with five players and finished with three on the floor.
Badgers’ top candidate:
Wisconsin has posted a job opening looking for a men’s basketball coach, a sign that interim coach Greg Gard could be one step closer to becoming the successor to Bo Ryan.
A job posted Thursday on the university’s human re- sources website sought applications for the position by March 3, with an earliest anticipated start date of March 8. The Big Ten tournament starts March 9.
At Wisconsin, state rules prevent a permanent replacement for Ryan from being named without the school going through a formal hiring process, requiring interviews with multiple candidates.
After a 1-4 start in Big Ten play, Gard has steadied Wisconsin using an expanded bench and a tweaked offense. The Badgers (18-10, 10-5) have won nine of their last 10 games, with wins against four ranked teams.
Ryan retired after a 64-49 win Dec. 15 over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The abrupt timing gave Gard, a longtime assistant, a threemonth audition to take over the job permanently.
Allen reprimanded: The ACC reprimanded Duke guard Grayson Allen for his “involvement in the tripping of” Florida State’s Xavier Rathan-Mayes in the No. 15 Blue Devils’ 80-65 victory Thursday night.
ACC officials say the matter is closed and they will not comment further.