Davidson trustees charter 5 more buses for students to attend game in Detroit

DETROIT — One more game at Ford Field, a few more Davidson fans in the building.

The Board of Trustees at the small liberal-arts college in North Carolina offered this week to pay for any student wishing to see the Wildcats in the Midwest Regional.

About 350 students took advantage and boarded seven buses Friday for the 650-mile trip. They were rewarded with 10th-seeded Davidson's 73-56 victory over third-seeded Wisconsin. Those students also received a night's lodging courtesy of Davidson's trustees.

The school said Saturday it had come up with five more buses to take another 250 students to Detroit for today's game between the Wildcats and top-seeded Kansas. The buses were to leave at 3 a.m. Eastern today on a trip estimated at 13 hours for the 5:05 Eastern tipoff, school spokeswoman Stacey Schmeidel said.

Davidson also provided about 20 free tickets to other students who were arranging their own transportation to Detroit, Schmeidel said. That meant that more than one-third of the private school's 1,700 students were expected to be on hand.

All the buses were to leave Detroit after the game — and all students were expected to be in class Monday, Schmeidel said.

Kansas' Self eager to end "best" talk

DETROIT — Bill Self didn't try to deflect talk about the tag that has dogged his career.

Best Coach Without A Final Four Appearance.

It's not a label you'll find in an NCAA record book, but some variation of the title usually accompanies any conversation about Kansas' coach.

"Well, if they're saying that, at least part of it that says 'best,' " Self joked Saturday, a day before the top-seeded Jayhawks face No. 10 Davidson in the Midwest Regional final. "I'm disappointed personally we haven't been there yet.

"It's something that I think about all the time. And, a lot of times, many times a day."

Self seems to have his best shot at putting the thought out of his mind.

Kansas is favored to beat the Stephen Curry-led Wildcats by almost 10 points to earn the last spot in the Final Four.

"I don't know, other than losing a championship game, if one could hurt as much as losing in the Elite Eight," Self said, "because all season long there's a buildup in your players' minds and everything: 'The Road to the Final Four.' And this is obviously the last step.

"That's something that certainly doesn't set well with us."

Notes

• New Texas Christian coach Jim Christian vowed his team would play a hard-nosed, physical brand of basketball.

Anyone who might question that needs only to look at two of his former players — San Diego Chargers tight end Antonio Gates and Washington Redskins linebacker London Fletcher. Gates played basketball at Kent State while Christian was an assistant there, and he crossed paths with Fletcher while the two were together at St. Francis, Pa.

"I love football," said Christian, sporting a purple TCU hat at his introductory news conference Saturday. "I'm probably the only college-basketball coach in the country who can say he's coached two Pro Bowl players. In another life I might have come down as a football coach."

• Western Kentucky coach Darrin Horn, who led the Hilltoppers to the Sweet 16, will interview for the job at South Carolina.

• Nevada 7-foot sophomore Javale McGee, the top shot-blocker in the Western Athletic Conference this season, has decided to sign with an agent and enter the NBA draft this year.

• Jonte Flowers scored 25 of his 30 points in the second half and Winona (Minn.) State (38-1) erased a 16-point deficit to win its second NCAA Division II championship in the past three years with an 87-76 win over Augusta (Ga.) State (27-7).