Georgetown's Rodgers had budding golf career

PHILADELPHIA (AP)

Ask Georgetown guard Sugar Rodgers what her best sport is and she readily admits it's not basketball.

''I was a really good golfer,'' she said Saturday before her Hoyas took the court for practice. ''I was No. 1 in the state for three years running and then I played on a Tiger Woods' team at junior nationals in California.''

The sophomore said she met Woods a few times when she was ''12 or 13'' and also played against future star Michelle Wie while in San Diego for the junior nationals.

''I still play golf here and there,'' she said. ''I still got it a little bit.''

Even though she gave up golf, Rodgers has excelled on the basketball court. She scored 34 points to help the Hoyas beat Maryland and advance to their first regional semifinals since 1992-93.

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SPEED FREAK: It appeared to be an easy layup for Ohio State. Then Meighan Simmons turned on the afterburners.

''That's why we call her Speedy,'' Tennessee's Kelley Cain said.

Simmons streaked past several players and surprised the Buckeyes' Samantha Prahalis - who was capping a 2-on-none fast break - to block her layup.

''I was in front of Meighan for a while,'' laughed teammate Angie Bjorklund. ''But she came out of nowhere.''

It ended up being one of the more remarkable plays in a remarkable second half for the Lady Vols, who overcame a spotty first half to beat the Buckeyes 85-75.

''My teammates were saying, 'You've got to get your behind back,''' said Simmons, who had 18 points, five assists and five rebounds. ''I got a burst of speed right after that. You know, I'm not going to let my teammates get mad at me.''

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NO LUCK BUCKEYES: It was a festive week on Ohio State's campus. The Buckeyes men's basketball team, seeded No. 1 overall and ranked No. 1 in the last Associated Press poll, won their first two NCAA tournament games by a combined 61 points.

The women's team won its 10th and 11th consecutive games last weekend to also advance to the regional semifinals.

But a bad weekend for the Buckeyes began close to midnight on Friday when Brandon Knight hit a 15-foot jumper with 5 seconds left to give Kentucky a 62-60 upset over Ohio State in a Sweet 16 game in Newark, N.J.

It got worse on Saturday when the Ohio State women, who had played on even terms all day, were victimized by a late Tennessee run and lost to the Lady Vols, 85-75.

But it's not as if Buckeyes fans won't have anything to cheer for a while.

Spring football practice starts on Thursday.

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SUPPORT OF THE AGS: Wisconsin-Green Bay coach Matt Bollant is hoping for some support from one of Baylor's primary rivals when the Phoenix play the top-seeded Lady Bears deep in the heart of Texas.

Big 12 runner-up Texas A&M plays Georgia in the first game Sunday in Dallas. Green Bay then plays the Lady Bears, who won the Big 12 championship and already have beaten the Aggies three times this season.

''We hope for a lot of Texas A&M fans to come out, because I know they'll be cheering for us so they don't have to play them a fourth time,'' Bollant said. ''So I'd encourage the Texas A&M fans to get out here and support Green Bay. I'm friends with coach (Gary) Blair and he sent me a text, so I'm sure there's a lot of A&M people hoping for an upset from Green Bay.''

The two winners Sunday play each other Tuesday for a trip to the NCAA Final Four.

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HOME SWEET HOME: Texas A&M coach Gary Blair grew up in Dallas and began his coaching career at Dallas South Oak Cliff high school.

With his team in town to face Georgia in Sunday's Dallas Regional semifinal he took some time to catch up with some of his former players. Many of them came to dinner with his team on Friday night.

''Gosh, did I feel old,'' he said. ''Most of them are a little bit over 50 now and they all have two or three kids ... (but) it really made me feel good to come back and see my kids.''

Blair coached at South Oak Cliff from 1973-80, amassing a 239-18 record and picking up three state championships along the way. ''The best job I ever had was Dallas South Oak Cliff high school because it gave me the confidence to do what I'm doing now,'' he said.

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LONGEVITY: Andy Landers has been coaching at Georgia for 32 years and is the only full-time women's basketball coach the university has ever had. He said he never actively decided that's where he'd put down his roots, it just kind of happened that way.

''There's never been a reflection time or a pondering point when I've sat down and said I'm going to stay here for a long time or, boy, we're doing good,'' he said.

The Lady Bulldogs were 37-85 in their history before Landers arrived, and they haven't had a losing season since he took over.

''At the time it may have been one of the worst major basketball programs in the country,'' Landers said. ''But I felt like it could be one of the best basketball programs and one of the really neat spots to coach women's basketball. And I got there and rolled up my sleeves and went to work.''

He has compiled a 773-258 record in Athens and guided the Lady Bulldogs to 28 NCAA appearances, 19 trips to the round of 16 and five Final Fours. He got the job at age 26 after just four seasons at Roane State Community College.

''You gotta remember, I took that job when women's basketball wasn't cool, and every day since women's basketball has changed,'' he said. ''So it's been enough of a job just to keep up and keep changing and keep improving with the times, which has been a really neat thing for me.''

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RUSTON REUNION: When Kim Mulkey was a pigtailed point guard playing for championship teams at Louisiana Tech, two of the assistant coaches were Gary Blair and Leon Barmore.

They're all in Dallas for the NCAA round of 16.

Mulkey is coaching the top-seeded Bears with Barmore as an assistant, and Blair is there with his second-seeded Texas A&M Aggies.

''If you just look at the coaches, let's just say the head coaches at our level that learned from Leon Barmore: Gary Blair, Kristy Curry, Kurt Budke, the list goes on,'' she said. ''There's no secret why those coaches are winning and are successful. You can't be around a guy that loves the game and teaches the game in great detail and not pick up something from him and then develop that and mix your own personality in there.''

Barmore came to Louisiana Tech in 1977 and spent 1985-2002 as the team's head coach. He led the Lady Techsters to a national championship in 1988 and nine NCAA Final Four appearances. Mulkey lured Barmore out of retirement to join Baylor as an assistant in 2008.

Blair was an assistant at Louisiana Tech from 1980-85 and the Lady Techsters went 159-10 in that span.

''There's just a long line of coaches that came from Louisiana Tech because at a time when no other big school was putting money into the women's basketball programs, Louisiana Tech's president, F. Jay Taylor, did,'' Mulkey said. ''And I guess one of the best compliments Pat Summitt ever made to me and to coach Barmore was in the early '80s Tennessee didn't beat Louisiana Tech. She wanted to emulate that program. I will never forget that. And now we all know what Tennessee means to all of us in this business.''

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AP Sports Writers Stephen Hawkins and Kristie Rieken in Dallas and Rusty Miller in Dayton contributed to this report.