The Morning Dish – Saturday, February 26th
Chaney Suspended for Rest of Regular Season: After some reflection, Temple University officials decided that coach John Chaney’s self-imposed one-game ban was not sufficient. They suspended Chaney for the team’s remaining three games during the regular season. Chaney admitted earlier in the week to sending in Nehemiah Ingram into Tuesday’s game against St. Joseph’s to “send a message.” Chaney was upset at the officiating during the game, particularly in regards to screens St. Joseph’s was setting on offense. That message eventually came in the form of a hard foul on the Hawks’ John Bryant. It was later revealed that Bryant had suffered a broken arm and is out for at least the rest of the regular season. Embarrassed by his actions, Chaney suspended himself for one game, Saturday’s home contest against Massachusetts. But the school determined that wasn’t enough of a penalty when it learned that Bryant would miss three to four weeks and added another two games, March 2 at Rhode Island and March 5 against La Salle, to the suspension. Chaney will be allowed to return to the bench when Temple begins play in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament.
McNamara Could Play Today: Syracuse guard Gerry McNamara will likely play today against Providence after injuring his left ankle during Wednesday’s game against St. John’s. McNamara was hurt with 12:21 remaining in the game, appearing to twist the ankle while trying to dribble past a St. John’s defender. The 15th-ranked Orange (23-5, 10-4 Big East) went on to win the game 83-69.
Alabama Caucus to Call for Black Recruits to Boycott Auburn: Lawmakers in the state’s black caucus are calling for a black athletes’ boycott of mostly white Auburn University until the school agrees to rehire two black administrators fired in a reorganization of the athletic department. The roughly 30 caucus members met last week with Auburn president Ed Richardson and asked him to rehire associate athletic director Stacy Danley and assistant athletic director Eugene Harris, even if they had to be placed in positions outside the athletic department. Both were fired earlier this month as part of a department restructuring; a white assistant athletic director also was fired. Richardson sent the caucus a letter outlining efforts by university officials to address the issue of diversity on campus, but he did not commit to rehiring Danley and Harris.
Tennessee’s McFadgon Expected to Miss Today’s Game: Tennessee senior guard Scooter McFadgon is not expected to play today against Arkansas. The senior has a bruised right kneecap. McFadgon, the Vols’ scoring leader at 14.1 points per game, has missed the last two games. He’s struggled through one of the worst shooting slumps of his career. Since scoring 23 points in the win at Florida Jan. 19, McFadgon is just 24-of-80 from the field (30 percent) in his last seven games. McFadgon suffered the injury, which was first described as a thigh bruise, in the 84-73 loss to Florida on Feb. 12
