Morning Headlines for March 17th

Incoming Texas Tech Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt met with Billy Gillispie on Wednesday to discuss the Red Raiders’ open men’s basketball coaching position. Athletic department spokesman Blayne Beal confirmed that the two met in Palm Beach, Fla., in regards to the job. Gillispie was most recently the head coach at Kentucky, but was fired after posting a 40-27 record in two seasons. He was named the Associated Press Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year in 2005, when he was the head coach at in state rival Texas A&M.

The 22^nd ranked and 6^th seeded Lubbock Christian University Lady Chaparrals basketball team will be playing their first game of the NAIA Division I Women’s National Championship tournament this morning in Jackson, Tennessee. The Lady Chaps will be playing the 3^rd seeded Columbia College out of Missouri who comes into the tournament having won 19 straight games. The Lady Chaps and Cougars have never met prior to today’s contest. You can catch that game right here on 1340 the Fan at 9 a.m. following the conclusion of Sportsline .

The Field of 64 is now set in the Men’s NCAA Tournament as UT-San Antonio was able to beat Alabama State 70 to 61, and Virginia Commonwealth had a dominant second half performance to take down the USC Trojans 59 to 46.

The Roadrunners of UT-San Antonio were lead Melvin Johnson the Third who had a game high 29 points, while grabbing 3 rebounds and 1 assist. The Road Runner will now move on the face the top seeded Ohio State Buckeyes.

The VCU Rams were lead by forward Jamie Skeen who scored 16 points, had 9 rebounds, and one blocked shot. The Rams will now square off against the 6^th seeded Georgetown in the Southwest division.

Over in the NBA the Dallas Mavericks were able to wrap up their two game west coast road trip on a high note as they defeated the Golden State Warriors last night 112 to 106 behind a sold outing from Dirk Nowitski who finished the game with 34 points and 13 rebounds. Teammate Jason Terry added 19.

The Houston Rockets were able to climb back above .500 as they took down the Charlotte Bobcats 94 to 78 from the Toyota Center. Kevin Martin lead all scorers for Houston with 21 points.