Knight Gets His Money’s Worth

After paying $10,000 to coach his Indiana team to an overtime victory over Oklahoma in a first-round game in Washington, Hoosiers coach Bob Knight came up with a money-saving suggestion to keep his finances a bit more secure.

“If I’d have had these same three officials in that other game, I’d have saved $10,000,” he said. “I thought that as the game was going on. I mostly thought that when we were ahead.”

That other game, of course, was the Indiana-Illinois matchup two weeks ago, when Knight lashed out at a referee and was penalized with the option of a $10,000 fine or a suspension from Thursday’s game.

Playing for more

When North Carolina-Charlotte defeated Illinois-Chicago, it was another victory in honor of Charles Hayward, the recruit who has missed his entire freshman season after being diagnosed with leukemia. The 49ers are wearing jerseys with a small green circle surrounding Hayward’s No. 45.

Hayward, who is undergoing chemotherapy and is awaiting a bone marrow transplant, had to watch the game from home because doctors have not cleared him to travel.

Where’s Dean?

North Carolina’s defeat of Navy marked the first time since 1957 that the Tar Heels won a NCAA Tournament game without Dean Smith on the bench.

The last time North Carolina played an NCAA Tournament game without Smith on the bench was 1959 under Frank McGuire when it lost to Navy in the first round. The Tar Heels’ last victory in the NCAA Tournament without college basketball’s career leader in victories was over Kansas in triple overtime in the 1957 national championship game.

Mississippi State coach retires

Mississippi State men’s basketball coach Richard Williams retired, two years after taking the Bulldogs to their first NCAA Final Four.

The 52-year-old Williams had a 191-163 record in 12 seasons at Mississippi State.

Williams, who graduated from Mississippi State in 1967, is the program’s winningest coach. He’ll stay with the athletic department until June 30. He qualifies for state retirement on June 1.

Out of character

All of Arkansas’ points in the final 4 minutes of its victory over Nebraska came on 15-of-16 free-throw shooting. For the game the Razorbacks, 64 percent from the line this season, were 19 for 21.

Welcome back, sort of

San Francisco’s return to the tournament 16 years after dropping basketball in disgrace didn’t last long as the Dons were defeated by Utah. USF, which won NCAA titles in 1955 and 1956, suspended the program after the 1982 NCAA Tournament, in large part because of recruiting violations… . Tennessee, which lost to Illinois State in overtime, hasn’t won an NCAA game in 15 years and hadn’t played in one in nine.

As ye seed, so shall ye reap

Northern Arizona, one of four firsttimers, nearly became the fourth No. 15 to defeat a No. 2 but lost by three points to Cincinnati. In 1997, Coppin State pulled the feat, defeating South Carolina 78-65. The others were Santa Clara 64, Arizona 61 in 1993 and Richmond 73, Syracuse 69 in 1991.

An 11 seed defeating a No. 6, as Washington did to Xavier in the East Regional, isn’t overly surprising - since 1991, it’s happened once each year except in ‘92 and ‘97. However, should the Huskies, who play Richmond on Saturday, reach the Sweet 16, they’ll be the first No. 11 to do so since Connecticut in 1991. Win or lose, the Huskies will be favored to fair better in the second round than the last four No. 11s. Those four lost by an average of 17.8 points in their bid to make the Sweet 16.