Sports

Colleges

Roy Williams, Redick honored

Compiled from staff and wire reports
Published April 1, 2006

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INDIANAPOLIS - North Carolina coach Roy Williams and Duke guard J.J. Redick didn't get to Indianapolis with their teams, but they did make it to collect trophies as the AP coach and player of the year, respectively.

"The kids were so receptive to everything we that we tried to do every single day," Williams said in explaining the unexpected success (23-8) after graduation and early defections to the NBA cost him his top seven scorers from the 2005 championship team.

"I could do some of the weirdest things in practice, some fun and games things, and they would act like 6-year-olds. They would just embrace it so much. We, one day, even had some carnival-type games, relay races and they acted like they were 6-year-olds and had so much fun with it. Last year, the last six games of the regular season and through the ACC tournament and the NCAA Tournament was as much fun I ever had in coaching because those guys bought into it completely at that time and they were immensely talented. But this year, every day in practice was fun."

He became the seventh coach to win the award multiple times but just the second, along with Eddie Sutton (Arkansas and Kentucky), to win it at two different schools since the inception in 1967. Williams also was AP's top coach in 1992 at Kansas.

Redick, who earlier was named the United States Basketball Writers Association co-player of the year along with Gonzaga's Adam Morrison, added to his legacy.

"To me, it's all kind of surreal," he said. "Even when I got to college and had some success early on, I didn't really dream of winning such a prestigious honor, so it's been very, very humbling and I'm very grateful."

Redick received 43 votes from a 72-member national media panel. Morrison got the other 29 votes in balloting before the NCAA Tournament.

CLEVELAND STATE: Coach Mike Garland resigned after three losing seasons. He was 23-60 with the Vikings, who have not had a winning season since 2000-01 under Rollie Massimino.

DELAWARE: Monte Ross, an assistant at Saint Joseph's, was named coach. Ross, 33, joined Saint Joseph's in 1996-97. He is a graduate of Winston-Salem State, where he played for Clarence "Big House" Gaines. Delaware was 20-41 in the past two seasons.

HAMPTON: Kevin Nickelberry, 41, Clemson's recruiting coordinator for the past three seasons, was named coach. He was an assistant men's coach at Charlotte, Holy Cross, Monmouth, Howard and Columbia Union College in Maryland, and was Columbia Union's women's coach for three seasons.

INDIANA: Quinn Buckner and other former Hoosiers who distanced himself from Indiana basketball after Bob Knight was fired six years ago are offering support to new coach Kelvin Sampson. "I said to myself 'You've got to get over this. This your university and at some point, you've got to be supportive of what they do whether you like it or not,' " Buckner said. "It's still Indiana University." Steve Risley from the 1981 championship team said: "I think it's time to bury the Knight era. I think one of the biggest mistakes any university can make is trying to perpetuate that era. Look at UCLA, look at North Carolina, trying to bring a disciple out of that era. I was not a big proponent of a former player coming in."

RHODE ISLAND: Former player Thomas Behrens is suing the school for breach of contract, claiming it reneged on a promise of an athletic scholarship after his first year. URI denies it.

Times staff writer Brian Landman contributed to this report.

[Last modified April 1, 2006, 00:56:12]

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