Throughout his esteemed career, Temple coach John Chaney has never hesitated to speak out against what he perceived as injustices, whether they were related to race, politics or refereeing.
He has engendered enormous respect in this basketball hotbed for his forthright integrity, and his bold and impassioned manner.
PHOTO: AP
Yet, even by his own unapologetically aggressive standards, Chaney admitted he went too far on Tuesday night by using a player he identified as a "goon" to commit hard fouls in a tense 63-56 loss to city rival St. Joseph's.
Chaney suspended himself for Temple's home game on Saturday against Massachusetts, and he has called his behavior "reprehensible." Yet, the self-imposed penalty has not made the incident go away.
John Bryant, the St. Joseph's forward who was pushed to the floor during the period of intentional fouling, suffered a nondisplaced fracture of the right arm near the elbow, university officials said Thursday night. The earliest he can return is three or four weeks, which may mean his season is over.
Phil Martelli, the St. Joseph's coach, said Thursday without being specific that the matter may not yet be resolved. A St. Joseph's official said administrators from both universities were in conversation.
A Temple official close to the discussions, who did not want to be identified, said the university did not plan further sanctions against Chaney.
"You make a decision, and if you think you've done the right thing, you live with it," the official said. "I don't think St. Joe's or Temple wants this to have more legs than it has."
Still, questions have been raised about whether Chaney should have been allowed to decide his own punishment, whether the one-game suspension was sufficient and whether a series of recent divisive incidents involving him suggested that he was having trouble controlling his anger.
A debate also ensued about whether Temple and Atlantic-10 Conference officials, along with the news media, were treating Chaney too deferentially because of his stature as a Hall of Fame coach.
"John, who has done so much good, gets away with a lot of stuff because people like him," Governor Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania, an inveterate Philadelphia sports fan, said Thursday in an interview with WIP, a local sports-talk radio station. "Had it been someone like Bobby Knight, who the media hates, I think they would have been calling for him to be banned forever from basketball. Hypocrisy exists in every field of endeavor. If the media likes you, you get a lot more slack than if they don't like you."
Ivan Radenovic drained two clutch free throws in the waning moments of overtime, as No. 9 Arizona exacted revenge and escaped with a 57-56 victory over Washington State at Friel Court on Thursday.
Channing Frye led the way with 26 points for Arizona (24-4, 14-2 Pacific 10), which has won seven straight. Radenovic and Hassan Adams each added 10 points for the Wildcats, who dropped a 70-63 home tilt to these Cougars on Jan. 29 for one of their only two losses in the league this season.
Senior standout guard Salim Stoudamire, who entered the game averaging 18.6 points per game, was held to just eight points in the victory.
Thomas Kelati led the Cougars with 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting. Derrick Low contributed 12 points for Washington State (10-14, 5-10), which has dropped four consecutive contests.
No. 10 Michigan St. 77,
No. 20 Wisconsin 64
In East Lansing, Michigan, Alan Anderson was a perfect 10-of-10 from the field and poured in a career-high 28 points to lead Michigan State to a 77-64 win over Wisconsin at the Breslin Center.
Paul Davis chipped in 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Spartans (20-4, 11-2 Big Ten), who have won six straight games since dropping a heartbreaking 62-59 loss at Wisconsin on Jan. 16. Shannon Brown and Maurice Ager both contributed 11 points in the win.
Michigan State, which won for the first time in its last seven meetings versus the Badgers, won 20 games in a season for the sixth time under head coach Tom Izzo.
Alando Tucker scored 18 points and Mike Wilkinson added 16 points and seven boards for Wisconsin (17-7, 8-5), which has dropped two of its last three contests.
No. 12 Gonzaga 84, Portland 68
In Portland, Adam Morrison finished with a game-high 22 points, as Gonzaga clinched the West Coast Conference title with an 84-68 victory over Portland.
The Bulldogs (22-4, 13-2 WCC) clinched at least a tie for the title with Saturday's win over San Francisco, but won the league outright with Thursday's victory. Gonzaga, which has won five straight regular-season WCC titles, also locked down the top seed in next week's conference tournament.
No. 14 Washington 90,
Arizona St. 82
In Seattle, Washington, Tre Simmons scored 29 points, hitting 6-of-7 three-pointers, to lift 14th-ranked Washington over Arizona State 90-82 at Bank of America Arena.
Nate Robinson added 21 points for the Huskies (22-4, 12-3 Pac-10), who have won two in a row heading into Saturday's important matchup against conference leading Arizona.
Ike Diogu had 31 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Sun Devils (18-10, 7-9), who had a two-game win streak halted. Kevin Kruger added 17 points for Arizona State, which has lost four of six overall and four in a row on the road.
No. 24 Cincinnati 80, Marquette 68
In Cincinnati, Ohio, Eric Hicks scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Cincinnati to an 80-68 win over Marquette at Fifth Third Arena.
Jason Maxiell added 14 points and 10 boards for the Bearcats (21-6, 9-4 C- USA), who have won three straight overall and five in a row at home. Steve Novak had 25 points for the Golden Eagles (18-9, 6-8), who have lost two of three and eight of their last 11.
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Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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