Northern Illinois University on Monday named former Colorado coach Ricardo Patton its men’s basketball coach.
Patton’s success as a Division I coach helped set him apart from hundreds of coaches who were considered for the job, Northern Illinois athletic director Jim Phillips said.
“There’s only been 11 teams in the history of Colorado basketball in 106 years that have won 18 or more games,” Phillips said. “The man on my left (Patton) is responsible for six of those.”
Patton, 48, replaces Rob Judson, who was fired this month after his team finished the season with a 7-23 record. Judson had a career record of 74-101 with the Huskies.
Patton said he is confident he can turn things around at Northern Illinois.
“We should be playing for conference championships,” he said.
Patton took Colorado to six postseason berths and had a 184-160 record in Boulder. Two of his teams played in the NCAA Tournament, including the 1996-97 team that was the first Colorado team in 28 years to make it to the tournament. That team beat a Bob Knight- coached Indiana team in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to set Colorado’s school record with 22 wins.
Phillips said several coaches, including Knight, who is now with Texas Tech, Rick Barnes of Texas and Indiana’s Kelvin Sampson, strongly recommended Patton. Detroit Pistons guard Chauncey Billups, who played for Patton at Colorado, also supported his hiring.
“They were all emphatic that there is not a better person for the job at Northern Illinois,” Phillips said.
Memphis: Chris Douglas- Roberts, the team’s leading scorer, did not practice because of a sprained left ankle as the Tigers prepared for the NCAA Tournament regional semifinals against Texas A&M.
“The kid says he’s going to play, but you never know,” coach John Calipari said.
Douglas-Roberts went down in pain with about eight minutes to play in the Tigers’ 78-62 victory over Nevada in New Orleans on Sunday.
Memphis athletic department spokesman Bob Winn said Monday that Douglas- Roberts’ ankle would be evaluated each day.
“He’s got three days to try to get well,” Winn said.
Calipari said he was unsure if the injury would keep Douglas-Roberts on the sideline Thursday night in San Antonio.
“You can’t play in a game like this at 75 percent, 80 percent. And especially the way we play them,” he said. “If you’re breaking down defensively or you’re not able to stay up with the pace of the game, it’s just you’ve got to sit back and let these other guys go.”
Stanford: Center Brook Lopez will remain in school for his sophomore season rather than declare himself eligible for the NBA draft.
The 7-foot Lopez, whose twin brother Robin also plays for the Cardinal, averaged 12.6 points and 6.0 rebounds. He also blocked 45 shots despite missing the start of the season following back surgery in late September.
Georgia State: Former Mississippi coach Rod Barnes was hired to replace Michael Perry, who was fired March 4 after compiling a 62-75 record, including 11-20 this season, over four seasons with the team.
Barnes, 41, was an assistant at Oklahoma this season. He was 141-109 in eight years at Mississippi, his alma mater.
