Chrabascz to Cushing

Andrew Chrabascz is leaving Portsmouth High School. The sophomore basketball star decided Friday that he will transfer to Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Mass., next fall.

After leading the Patriots to a Division II state championship this spring, Chrabascz said he was unsure if he would stay at Portsmouth or go to prep school. He said Saturday that his decision came down to Portsmouth or Cushing, and in the end, Cushing had too much to offer for him to pass up.

"My opportunities at Cushing a lot better than they are at Portsmouth," he said. "The difficult part is, I'm leaving the people I've grown up with ... but Cushing Academy is the smart thing to do, because of the exposure you get and being able to prepare you for college."

Chrabascz will be a sophomore his first year at Cushing, which will give him three years at the school to get ready for college, on and off the court. But if he completes the necessary coursework and has an appealing scholarship offer, he can go to college after his junior year.

"My goal since I was a little kid was follow in my father’s footsteps and get full ride to Division I school," Chrabascz said, referring to his father Carl, who played basketball at Penn State. "With Cushing, I get a lot more exposure, with college coaches going to practice."

Pick up The Newport Daily News on Monday for more on Chrabascz's decision to attend Cushing.

Don't hate the Devils

Some fans seem to like to compare the Duke Blue Devils to the New York Yankees. They're evil, they win all the time with a roster chock full of villainous players.

This, I've never understood. The Yankees have 27 championships, the most recent one coming six months ago. The Duke men's basketball team has three titles, and hasn't won since 2001. The Yankees are a band of high-paid mercenaries with an unlikable owner. Duke is coached by one of the most respected and revered men college basketball has ever seen, Mike Krzyzewski (side note: I can spell Krzyzewski without Googling it).

Where are the similarities? Why all the hate for the Blue Devils?

I was a Duke fan when I was a kid. Christian Laettner's game-winning shot against Kentucky in 1992 is my oldest college basketball memory. I don't consider myself a Duke fan anymore, but I'm certainly not among the legions of fans who detest Duke, can't stand Duke, and don't care so much about who wins on Saturday night as long as Duke loses.

My Duke hat is coming out of whichever drawer I threw it in after the last time I wore it. I'll wear it Saturday night and root for Duke to beat West Virginia and go to the national championship game. If the Devils make it there, I'll root for them to win their fourth title.

I don't love the Blue Devils anymore, but I don't, and won't hate them, either. And I'll never understand why so many people do.

Five seed will spoil title game

A No. 5 seed is guaranteed to be one half of the national championship college basketball game on Monday night in Indianapolis. Butler, the West Regional champion, and Michigan State, the Midwest champion, will meet in the Final Four undercard on Saturday.

This matchup is both good and bad for the tournament. When the lower seeds make it this far, and on the rare occasion they reach the championship game, it adds to the intrigue of the Big Dance. It's proof that, every year, we know the North Carolinas, Dukes and Kansases of the nation aren't locks to go to the Final Four and win it all.

Unfortunately, the Michigan State-Butler game also means we will have one boring blowout of a championship game on Monday. Because Duke or West Virginia will mop the floor with whichever feel-good story they face.

It's too bad, but there's no denying it. Butler and Michigan State both have had an amazing run, and that run will take one of them to the national final. But once they get there, as was the case for the Spartans last year, they'll run into a buzz saw with which they cannot contend.

The system isn't broken, this is just the luck (or lack thereof) of the draw. After Monday night, some will opine that the NCAA tournament should re-seed for the Final Four, so the only way Duke and West Virginia would play is in the final. And while that looks like a pretty good idea this year, it's not a sensible solution.

The NCAA tournament is perfect the way it is, even if the results aren't.

The call that wasn't

Was it a trip, or was it a spill? Was it a foul, or was it a non-call?

That was the talk in The Daily News newsroom this morning, all of us wondering why North Carolina and not our Rhody Rams will be playing in the NIT final on Thursday night. With the Tar Heels clinging to a one-point lead, URI senior Lamonte Ulmer grabbed a long rebound with about four seconds left.

As he started down the court for what would have been a 2-on-1 fast break, he hit the deck, lost control of the ball and time expired. Game over. It appeared that he got tangled with North Carolina's Will Graves, but the referees, whistles in mouths, did no blowing.

Both coaches had their take on the situation, which, astonishingly, were pretty similar.

"We got the rebound (on the final play) and were ready to go. I thought there was some contact and he tripped. He clearly tripped running down the court," Rams coach Jim Baron said.

"I don't know what happened, but something probably should have been called there at the end,” said Tar Heels coach Roy Williams. "I don't know if our guy tripped over somebody else but it looked weird. I feel badly that the game ended like that."

All I could think when it was over is that is URI needed this win, from a program standpoint, much more than UNC, the defending national champions, who have won four titles since 1982. A win here, and the Rams would face Dayton in the championship game, a big boost for the Atlantic 10 Conference, which had a stellar season on the whole.

Alas, it was not to be. So what did you think? Trip? Foul?

Neither here nor there

A couple of musings as I figure out where I went wrong in my NCAA tournament bracket:

- For those who don't think this is going to be a very entertaining Final Four, or for those sour sports columnists who feel that Duke saved it, that's insane. I haven't been this fired up for a national semifinal since George Mason.

I made it quite clear in my Tiger Woods entry (which one reader didn't agree with) that I always root for the underdog. I'll be rooting for Butler and West Virginia. Butler because, although the Bulldogs aren't exactly the little guy, they're not household names, either. I like that.

West Virginia because of Bishop Hendricken graduate Joe Mazzulla, whose sometimes turbulent career as a Mountaineer has eventually led to the pinnacle of college basketball. And judging by his performance in the regional final against Kentucky, he seems up to the challenge.

- Starting on Saturday, sports fans might be treated to the greatest nine days of viewing. It starts with the Final Four on Saturday, Red Sox-Yankees in the season opener on Sunday, the national championship (and the Tiger Woods press conference) on Monday. Red Sox-Yankees on Tuesday and Wednesday and the Masters closes out the week through Sunday.

Tell your wife or girlfriend that you're taking a break, then go out and buy her roses on Monday.

- If you're an aspiring sportswriter, last week's issue of Sports Illustrated has a must-read article by Frank Deford, who is loyalty in this field. It's entitled "Confessions of a Sportswriter," but there aren't too many "confessions."

Instead, Deford talks about some of his most memorable moments on the job in the last 50 years. It's almost amazing how much this industry has changed in half a century, and you almost wish it was still that way, when writers - and not TV, radio and crappy blogs - ruled the roost.

I know I'm only 32 and really should embrace the way of sports media, but I find myself shaking my head.

And the winners are ...

Salve Regina played host to the third annual Newport Daily News 3-Point Shootout and Shooting Stars competition.

In the boys event, Matt Kendall of Middletown outlasted Ryan DeLuca of Portsmouth in a one-round shoot off. Both players scored 14 points out of a possible 30 in the finals, and in the shoot off, Kendal caught fire late, scoring 16 points to DeLuca's 13.

For the girls, Laura Lowry of St. George's topped defending champion Sam William, a senior from Tiverton, in the final. The Dragons point guard had the highest round of the night, a 20-point total in the final.

Tiverton's Haley Higginbottom and Tyler Mulcahy won the Shooting Stars competition, beating out the three other teams that advanced past the first round.

For the full story and plenty of pictures of the shooters, check out Monday's edition of The Daily News.