Small schools come up big in NCAA tourney field

Boise State coach Leon Rice was hoping for the best and secretly dreading the worst when he gathered his team to watch the NCAA tournament selection show.

The Broncos went 21-10 in the regular season, but lost in the first round of the Mountain West Conference tournament. For a team that doesn't play in one of the so-called power conferences, that usually means curtains on any NCAA tournament hopes.

"You almost feel like a parent," Rice said in a phone interview on Sunday night. "You don't want the kids to get their hearts broken. When our name popped up, it was just the greatest feeling."

Boise State earned its first at-large bid in school history on Sunday and will play fellow at-large small fry La Salle in the first round on Wednesday.

After years of getting pushed aside by the higher profile schools in the six conferences that make up the core of football's BCS, the little guys are starting to get some big respect in the NCAA tournament. For the second straight year, the selection committee chose 11 teams from outside the big six conferences, the highest number since 12 were chosen in 2004.

Some worried when the tournament expanded to 68 teams in 2011 that it would just mean a few more mediocre teams from the power leagues would get chosen over smaller schools that did not win their conference tournaments.

Those fears have been unfounded the last two years.

"It's a reflection on how the landscape of college basketball has changed so much," Rice said. "We're breaking down the old stereotypes that you have to be in a BCS league to have a great basketball program. That's just not the case."

The budding trend was most noticeable with the last four teams chosen for the field on Sunday. The committee chose La Salle, Boise State, St. Mary's and Middle Tennessee State over the likes of Tennessee, Kentucky and Iowa, all 20-win teams from bigger conferences.

"For us to have our commitment at La Salle rewarded and to be in this tournament is a big deal," La Salle coach John Giannini said. "Think about some of the names that are not in this tournament and it shows just how hard it is to get there."

Let's face it, they've earned it. Butler, which is a No. 6 seed in the East this year, played in two straight championship games. VCU and George Mason have made the Final Four and Gonzaga has been anything but a mid-major come tournament time with 15 straight tourney appearances and five Sweet 16s since 1999.

The respect was also shown in the seeding of teams big and small. Virginia Commonwealth lost in the Atlantic-10 tournament championship to St. Louis, but still earned a No. 5 seed, probably thanks in large part to its performance in the tournament in recent years under Shaka Smart.

Middle Tennessee will play St. Mary's in the first round on Tuesday, with the winner being seeded 11th in the Midwest region.

"Having that much respect to get an 11 seed at-large, it kind of shows where our program has gotten to," Blue Raiders coach Kermit Davis said.

St. Louis parlayed that win over VCU into a No. 4 seed in the Midwest, while bigger schools from bigger conferences saw their seeding plummet. Oregon won the Pac-12 tournament, yet only received a No. 12 seed in the Midwest. Mississippi ran the table to win the SEC tournament but is seeded 12th in the West and Miami settled for a No. 2 seed, making the Hurricanes the first ACC team to miss out on a top seed after winning the regular season and tournament titles.

Finally a little guy ? albeit the biggest of them ? got the top slot. Miami was denied because Gonzaga got the ultimate sign of respect ? a No. 1 seed in the West region.

"You've got to savor this being a No. 1 seed, being No. 1 in the nation," Zags forward Mike Hart said. "You have to realize how special that is. To do it here at Gonzaga, a storied program that has done a lot of things, but those are two things it hasn't done, you definitely savor it and cherish it but at the same time you have to have that forward mentality looking forward to that next game and understand that you're only in this position because of how you've played in games."

___

AP Sports Writer Tim Booth in Seattle and freelancer Dave Zeitlin in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/small-schools-come-big-ncaa-tourney-field-004912626--spt.html

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Source: http://www.si.edu/events/?trumbaEmbed=view=event&eventid=104301024

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5 US troops die in helicopter crash in Afghanistan

Map locates Kandahar city in Kandahar province, a where a helicopter crashed killed five U.S. troops

Map locates Kandahar city in Kandahar province, a where a helicopter crashed killed five U.S. troops

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? A helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan has killed five American service members, officials said Tuesday.

Monday night's crash brought the total number of U.S. troops killed that day to seven, making it the deadliest day for U.S. forces so far this year. Two U.S. special operations forces were gunned down hours earlier in an insider attack by an Afghan policeman in eastern Afghanistan.

The NATO military coalition said in a statement that "initial reports" showed no enemy activity in the area at the time. The cause of the crash is under investigation, the statement said.

A U.S. official said all five of the dead were American. The official said the helicopter went down outside Kandahar city, the capital of Kandahar province. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had not been formally released.

The five dead included everyone aboard the UH-60 Black Hawk, said Maj. Adam Wojack, a spokesman for the international military coalition in Afghanistan.

Their deaths make 12 U.S. troops killed so far this year in Afghanistan. There were 297 U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan in 2012, according to an Associated Press tally.

It was the deadliest crash since August, when a U.S. military helicopter crashed during a firefight with insurgents in a remote area of Kandahar. Seven Americans and four Afghans died in that crash.

In March 2012, a helicopter crashed near the Afghan capital, Kabul, killing 12 Turkish soldiers on board and four Afghan civilians on the ground, officials said. And in August 2011, insurgents shot down a Chinook helicopter, killing 30 American troops, mostly elite Navy SEALs, in Wardak province in central Afghanistan.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-12-Afghanistan/id-6c3b5b9b965f43b1bde47256affdaa20

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Gunmen kill eight in attacks on Nigerian bank, police station

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen killed eight people in an attack on a police station and a bank in northeastern Nigeria, a witness and a security official said on Tuesday, in an area frequently targeted by Islamist militants.

The attackers stormed the town of Gwoza late on Monday, close to the Cameroon border in Borno state, where Islamist sect Boko Haram has killed hundreds in an insurgency.

It was not clear if the gunmen were Boko Haram members or one of several criminal gangs that have flourished amid worsening security in the north.

"The divisional police officer and two other policemen were killed when the station was attacked and the manager of a local bank and four others also lost their lives," local resident Umar Yahuza told Reuters.

A security official in Gwoza who asked not to be named confirmed eight people had been killed.

Western governments fear Boko Haram, or factions of it, have linked up with other groups in the region, including al Qaeda's North African franchise.

The Nigerian group is seeking to carve out an Islamic state in a country split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims.

Attacks in northern Nigeria are increasingly targeting foreign interests, especially since a French-led operation last month against Islamists in northern Mali. Nigeria has sent hundreds of troops there to join the operation.

A French family of seven were kidnapped last month just over the Cameroon border, close to Gwoza, by a group claiming to be Boko Haram who said it would kill the hostages if authorities did not release Muslim militants held in prison.

On Sunday, the Nigerian military said it killed 20 militants when it repelled an attack a barracks in Borno state.

Gunmen killed a security guard and abducted a Briton, an Italian, a Greek and four Lebanese workers after storming the compound of Lebanese construction firm Setraco in Bauchi state on February 16.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gunmen-kill-eight-attacks-nigerian-bank-police-station-051238619.html

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Iran nuclear talks show progress, Western diplomat says

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Nuclear talks between Iran and world powers this week were more constructive and positive than in the past, but Iran's willingness to negotiate seriously will not become clear until an April meeting, a senior Western diplomat said on Thursday.

The diplomat was more upbeat about the talks in Kazakhstan than other Western officials have been, suggesting there could be a chance of diplomatic progress in the long standoff over Iran's nuclear activities.

"This was more constructive and more positive than previous meetings because they were really focusing on the proposal on the table," said the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi struck an upbeat note about the talks, saying they had reached "a turning point" this week and suggesting a breakthrough was within reach.

"I call it a milestone. It is a turning point in the negotiations," Salehi told Austrian broadcaster ORF during a visit to Vienna for a United Nations conference.

"We are heading for goals that will be satisfactory for both sides. I am very optimistic and hopeful," he said, according to a German translation of remarks he made in English.

Years of on-off talks between Iran and the six powers have produced no breakthrough in the dispute over the nuclear program, which Iran says is peaceful but that Western powers suspect is aimed at developing a nuclear bomb capability.

Iran has faced tightening international sanctions over its nuclear program and Israel has strongly hinted it might attack Iran if diplomacy and sanctions fail.

At the latest talks, the six powers offered modest sanctions relief in return for Iran curbing its most sensitive nuclear work.

"We show a way into the easing of sanctions. We don't give away the crown jewels in the first step," the diplomat said.

The two sides agreed to hold expert-level talks in Istanbul on March 18 to discuss the powers' proposals, and to return to Almaty for political discussions on April 5-6.

STEP-BY-STEP

The March meeting will be a chance for experts to explain in detail what the six powers' offer means, the senior Western diplomat said, adding that the April meeting would be key.

"This will be the important meeting. We'll see if they are willing to engage seriously on the package," the diplomat said.

Western officials said the six powers' offer included easing a ban on trade in gold and other precious metals and relaxation of an import embargo on Iranian petrochemical products.

In exchange, a senior U.S. official said, Iran would among other things have to suspend uranium enrichment to a fissile concentration of 20 percent at its Fordow underground facility and "constrain the ability to quickly resume operations there".

The U.S. official did not term what was being asked of Iran as a "shutdown" of the plant, as Western diplomats had said in previous meetings with Iran last year.

The senior Western diplomat denied the six powers had softened their position on Fordow, but conceded: "We may have softened our terminology."

The diplomat sketched out a step-by-step approach, saying the six powers' proposals offered Iran the prospect of further steps in return for Iranian actions beyond a first confidence-building step. "There has to be a clear sequencing," the diplomat said, without giving details.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said on Wednesday the six powers had tried to "get closer to our viewpoint", which he said was positive.

(Editing by Roger Atwood)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-nuclear-talks-constructive-western-diplomat-says-212829672.html

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