Jim Phelan is 65 years old and has been the basketball coach at Mount St. Mary's, Md., since he was 25. He's second only to Dean Smith among active coaches with 737 victories, and you'd think he'd done it all by now.
In 10 days, Phelan will mark a first in his vintage career when he takes Mount St. Mary's to the NCAA tournament for the first time."I played in the NIT and I coached as an assistant in the NCAAs with La Salle," Phelan said. "I've been there before, but I'm thankful to be taking my own team. This was one of the things we really wanted.
"I'm not too old to dance."
Mount St. Mary's (17-12) earned the trip to the NCAAs - "the big dance " - on Sunday with a 69-62 victory over Rider in the title game of the Northeast Conference tournament. Silas Cheung scored all 19 of his points in the second half as Mount St. Mary's rallied to win.
The trip is Mount St. Mary's first to the tournament since joining Division I in 1988-89.
No. 1 UCLA 91, Louisville 73
At Louisville, Ed O'Bannon scored 25 points and Tyus Edney 20 as UCLA dominated the inside in turning back Louisville for its 11th straight victory.
UCLA (23-2) held a 40-22 advantage in rebounds and scored numerous baskets on putbacks and dunks. Toby Bailey had 11 rebounds to lead the Bruins' inside attack that scored 25 second-chance points.
No. 3 Kansas 78,
No. 18 Oklahoma State 62
At Lawrence, Kan., Jacque Vaughn and Billy Thomas led Kansas to its 42nd Big Eight Conference championship with a second-half charge. The Cowboys' star center, Bryant Reeves, went scoreless for the first time in his career.
No. 13 Virginia 92,
No. 6 Maryland 67
At Charlottesville, Va., the Cavaliers' victory left four teams tied for first place for the first time in the Atlantic Coast Conference's 41 years.
Wake Forest, North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia all finished the regular season with 12-4 records and that's the way they will be seeded by tiebreakers when the conference tournament gets under way this week in Greensboro, N.C.
No. 8 UMass 79, Duquesne 53
At Philadelphia, Massachusetts (24-4) moved to the Atlantic 10 tournament finals as Lou Roe scored 20 points and Derek Kellogg 16. Duquesne (10-17), beaten 103-53 by the Minutemen on Jan. 24, came out running but the plan fell apart because of poor shooting (19-for-66, 28.8 percent).
No. 10 Michigan St. 67, Indiana 61
At East Lansing, Mich., Shawn Respert scored 24 points, including four free throws in the last 30 seconds, as the Spartans moved into a tie with Purdue for first place in the Big Ten.
St. John's 86,
No. 23 Georgetown 77
Freshman center Zendon Hamilton scored 21 points, 14 in the second half, as St. John's rallied over Georgetown in the final Big East Conference game of the season in New York. James Scott had 19 points and 11 rebounds for St. John's (14-12), which likely clinched an NIT berth with its fifth win in seven games.
No. 24 Iowa State 79,
Nebraska 77
At Lincoln, Neb., Julius Michalik hit a 14-foot baseline shot with 4 seconds left, lifting Iowa State past Nebraska in the Big Eight Conference regular-season finale for both teams.