PURDUE'S PECK, AUBURN'S ELLIS WIN WOODEN AWARDS: Coaches Carolyn Peck of Purdue and Cliff Ellis of Auburn are the recipients of the 1999 John and Nellie Wooden Awards as the nation's top college basketball coaches.
The Utah Tip Off Club, which presents the awards in honor of the renowned former UCLA coach and his late wife, announced the winners Saturday.Peck's Big Ten-champion Lady Boilermakers will play in Sunday's NCAA championship game against Duke. She has led Purdue to a 33-1 record in just her second year at the school.
Peck is a former assistant of Tennessee's Pat Summitt, who was last year's winner of the Wooden Award. Peck will become coach of the WNBA's expansion Orlando franchise this summer.
Ellis' Auburn Tigers were one of the big surprises in college basketball this season as they posted a 29-4 record, a Southeastern Conference title and a top seed in the NCAA tournament before losing to Ohio State.
Ellis, a former coach at South Alabama and Clemson, won his 400th game this season and was the SEC's coach of the year for the second time.
The awards will be presented at a banquet in Salt Lake April 10.
MILLION-DOLLAR SHOT: All the practice paid off for 19-year-old Alicia Brown, who hit a 3-point shot worth $2 million in the Gillette Challenge at the Final Four Saturday night.
Brown, who was coached by Hall of Famer Rick Barry, connected between games of the semifinal doubleheader, winning $1 million for herself and another $1 million donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
"I used a different routine Rick suggested yesterday," Brown said. "I used to dribble before shooting, but he had me bend my legs and shoot it without dribbling."
Brown, who was informed Friday that she would be taking the shot, played three years as a point guard at Corona High School in Corona, Calif. Her mother, Cheryl James, won the sweepstakes and transferred the attempt to her daughter because of Brown's high school experience.
"Half of the money is going to my mom because it was her entry," Brown added. "She's the only one keeping me sane right now."
LOBOS HIRE FRASCHILLA: Brooklyn-born Fran Fraschilla will finally get to go West as the next coach at New Mexico.
Ousted last year at St. John's after developing an interest in the coaching vacancy at Arizona State, Fraschilla was hired Saturday by the Lobos.
"I'm a basketball junkie and the chance to coach in one of the best environments in college basketball is just a dream come through," Fraschilla told the Albuquerque media during a telephone conference call from the Final Four in St. Petersburg.
His hiring at New Mexico came four days after Dave Bliss resigned to take the head coaching job at Baylor.
HOLDSCLAW WINS HER FINAL GAME: Tennessee's Chamique Holdsclaw won her final game as a collegian after all.
Holdsclaw, The Associated Press national player of the year, scored eight points Saturday to help the West beat the East 70-44 in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association all-star game.