Posted on: Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Promoters fail in bid to overturn NCAA rule
Associated Press
Sports promoters failed to overturn an NCAA rule limiting tournament appearances involving Division I basketball teams when an appeals court rejected their antitrust suit yesterday at Cincinnati.
The rule limits teams to two preseason tournaments in four years. The promoters argued the rule prevented them from inviting teams to more tournaments. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the promoters failed to show a violation of antitrust law because they didn't define a market in which the rule could be anticompetitive.
That ruling reversed a 2003 decision in favor of the promoters, prompting an NCAA appeal. The Maui Invitational is one of the tournaments affected by the ruling.
Each Division I school is limited to 28 regular-season games. A team can appear in more games by playing in exempt tournaments. Each tournament counts as one game.
Men's top 25 Wake Forest 97, George Washington 76: Chris Paul scored 25 points and had six assists to lift the Demon Deacons (1-0) past the Colonials (0-1) in the Preseason NIT at Winston-Salem, N.C. Justin Gray had 18 points and seven steals and Vytas Danelious added 17 points for the Demon Deacons, who advanced to a second-round home game Thursday against Virginia Commonwealth, which beat American, 82-76, in overtime yesterday.
Women's top 25 Washington 72, No. 14 Minnesota 67: Cameo Hicks scored 14 points to help the Huskies (2-0) upset the Gophers (1-1) in overtime at Seattle. In the final game of the WBCA Classic, the Huskies' pressure defense forced the Gophers into 28 turnovers that led to 20 points.
Notes
Illinois: Men's head basketball coach Bruce Weber underwent an appendectomy yesterday, but he is expected to be with the team for Friday's season opener against Delaware State. Weber should miss no more than two days of practice, the school said. The Illini are ranked sixth in the AP poll. Penn State: Women's basketball coach Rene Portland was in the hospital yesterday, one day after she fainted. Portland was admitted to Mount Nittany Medical Center at State College, Pa., Sunday night, said Dr. Wayne Sebastianelli, the school's director of athletic medicine. After being examined, she was expected to be released yesterday or today, he said.
