Sports 2000

USC basketball coach Tim Floyd resigned today after reports surfaced that he paid $1,000 to an associate of O.J. Mayo. Mayo, at the time a highly-prized recruit from West Virginia, came to Los Angeles and played at USC for one season. Mayo is now with the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies. USC has been dealing for years with reports that Reggie Bush and his family accepted a home and other gifts from a would-be sports agent while playing for the university.

Pittsburgh forced a seventh game in the Stanley Cup Final by edging visiting Detroit, 2-1. Detroit hosts Game 7 Friday. The home team has won every game of the series so far. Pittsburgh faces an historically difficult task. There have been 14 seventh games in the Stanley Cup final. The home team won 12 of them. That said, anything can happen in 60 minutes with so much at stake.

Orlando won its first-ever NBA Finals game Tuesday by holding off a late Los Angeles rally and prevailing, 106-102. Los Angeles still leads the series, two games to one. Game 4 will be Thursday in Orlando. The Magic had been 0-6 in Finals games until tonight. Orlando was swept by Houston in its only other Finals appearance, in 1995.

Texas defeated Texas Christian, 5-2, Monday to claim the last spot in the College World Series. The World Series begins Saturday in Omaha. The first-round schedule is as follows, with all times Eastern:

Arkansas vs. Cal State Fullerton, Saturday 2 p.m.
Virginia vs. Louisiana State, Saturday 7 p.m.
Arizona State vs. North Carolina, Sunday 2 p.m.
Southern Mississippi vs. Texas, Sunday 7 p.m.

Manchester United edged host FC Porto, 1-0, Wednesday to advance to the UEFA Champions League semifinals. Manchester United won the two-leg aggregate, 3-2.

Meanwhile, Arsenal hammered visiting Villarreal, 3-0, to win the aggregate, 4-1. The semifinals begin Apr. 28.

Florida International University announced Isiah Thomas today as its new basketball coach. Thomas is a Hall of Fame player who has never coached at the collegiate level.

It’s hard to believe Thomas can succeed at the Sun Belt Conference school, based in Miami. His playing career ended 15 years ago. Since then, he bought the Continental Basketball Association and turned a 40-year-old league into dust within two seasons. His five-year NBA coaching tenure with the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks resulted in a career losing record.

Not to mention his poor front-office skills, capped by the $11-million sexual harassment judgment leveled against him last year. FIU wants to make a splash but surely there were other ways to do it.

North Carolina rolled to an early 38-18 lead and were never seriously threatened Monday en route to a national championship, 89-72, over Michigan State. Both teams were trying to win their fifth NCAA men’s basketball title.

UNC accomplished the goal the seniors, including Final Four Most Outstanding Player Wayne Ellington, had set for themselves after losing in the Final Four last year. For most of 37 games, the Tar Heels played like they were on a mission.

UNC silenced the record crowd of more than 72,000 in Detroit. Most of the fans were rooting for Michigan State, which was on its own mission to bring hope and joy to a region downtrodden by economic woes. However, UNC set a championship game record by scoring 55 points in the first half and led by 21 at the break. The 21-point margin at halftime is another record.

MSU played better in the second half and UNC didn’t play quite as well. The Spartans were never trailed by fewer than 13 points in the last 20 minutes though. A key reason was the 21 turnovers MSU committed. UNC converted the gifts into 25 points and kept the game under control nearly from start to finish.