TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Decision Delayed On Heels' Lawson

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 21, 2009

GREENSBORO, N.C. - North Carolina coach Roy Williams says injured point guard Ty Lawson will likely be a game-time decision for the Tar Heels' game against LSU in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Lawson has missed the past three games with a jammed right big toe. Williams said Lawson would need to practice Friday afternoon, then see if he experienced any swelling in the toe later in the evening. The final decision would come once the Tar Heels see how Lawson feels in the hours leading up to the game.

Williams said Lawson would likely start if he's well enough to play against the eighth-seeded Tigers today.

CALHOUN RELEASED: Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun will coach the Huskies today, two days after being hospitalized for dehydration.

The 66-year-old coach was released from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania on Friday morning, then had breakfast with the team and ran practice.

"I fully expected to coach Thursday morning at 10, 11 o'clock when I mentioned to Jeff Anderson, our doctor, that I hadn't been feeling well for a couple of days and he said, 'Let's go down and get it checked out,'" Calhoun said in a press conference Friday. "And the next thing I knew the hour or so turned into being admitted and they tested me for everything it seemed and they found I was totally dehydrated."

FAN DIES: A fan in his mid-70s died after collapsing at the NCAA Tournament site in Miami. The man's identity was not released.

The man from the Fort Lauderdale area was pronounced dead Friday night shortly after arriving at the hospital, a spokesman for Miami Fire Rescue said.

He was not breathing when paramedics reached him at his seat about 20 rows from the court as Arizona warmed up to play Utah. They performed CPR at the scene and all the way to the hospital, but the man was unresponsive, said Lt. Ignatius Carroll, spokesman for Miami Fire Rescue.

FEELS FAMILIAR: It feels like old times again for Rick Barnes. He's prowling the sideline at the Greensboro Coliseum, matching wits with Mike Krzyzewski and trying to figure out a way to slow down Duke.

The North Carolina native wants to cap his return to Atlantic Coast Conference country by leading his Texas team into some familiar territory, too.

Barnes, who grew up a 90-minute drive away in Hickory, went 4-5 against Duke in four seasons at Clemson and a quarter-century ago interviewed for a job on Coach K's staff. He hopes that familiarity with the Blue Devils can somehow translate to the court.

"There are some staples in their program that they do - I mean, obviously, every game they come out extremely aggressive to start with," Barnes said Friday. "They're going to apply a great deal of pressure in the first four or five minutes of the game and see how you're going to handle that."

The Associated Press

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT