RALEIGH -- At least Mount St. Mary's coach Milan Brown has family history on his side.
Brown's younger brother, Marseilles, was the starting point guard for Richmond in 1998 when the 14th seeded Spiders knocked off No. 3 seed South Carolina in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Brown then transferred to Hampton. In 2001, Marseilles Brown was the starting point guard when the 15th seeded Pirates upset No. 2 seed Iowa State.
"That's probably going to show up on the video clips tonight," Milan Brown said Thursday, referring to the Iowa State upset.
Milan Brown also recalled turning to his younger brother in 2001, during the tournament selection show, after the pairings were announced.
"I think you all can beat them," Milan said.
"Why?" Marseilles asked.
"They don't have a dominant big man," Milan replied.
Wait for it ... wait for it ...
"My brother hasn't called me yet to tell me he thinks we can beat (UNC) because they don't have a dominant big man," Milan said.
"We'll show up with a rock and slingshot, man."
ENGLISH ONLY! Cultural diversity is great and all, but sometimes, for the sake of team unity, conformity must be enforced.
Such was the case for Davidson, the true melting pot of college basketball. The Wildcats' roster includes players from Paris (Boris Meno), Quebec (Max Paulhus Gosselin and Will Archambault), Istanbul (Can Civi) and Nigeria (Andrew Lovedale). But in the locker room, only one language is spoken.
"Me and Jason Richards made a rule on the team, where you only are allowed to speak English," said senior forward Thomas Sander, "because we're not as smart as the other guys."
Don't buy that from Sander, who happens to be an economics major. And it's not some arbitrary act of xenophobia, either.
"You want to know what's going on," Sander explained. "You don't want two different languages going on because then you could miss a chance at a joke, which builds team camaraderie."
The lack of a second language also means Sander doesn't know if a teammate has ever mouthed off to Davidson coach Bob McKillop in a foreign tongue.
"But I'm sure they have," Sander said. "I would, if I could speak another language."
R-E-S-P-E-C-T FOR A-C-C: Roy Williams agrees with Mike Krzyzewski on the ACC's efforts to get more respect from the NCAA tournament selection committee. Both the Carolina coach and the Duke coach said more ACC teams should be in the tournament and that the conference should do more to make its case.
"We've got to do some things, whether it's more marketing or playing tougher schedules or winning games,'' Williams said. "My guess it would be a combination of all those things.''
Krzyzewski was more pointed Monday when he said more people should be speaking out about it.
"I think there should be more people talking about it than me,'' he said. "How many people talk about it?"
FROM WASHINGTON: Georgia outscored Xavier from the floor by 12 points and lost the game by 12. And how did that happen? The Bulldogs' 22 fouls created 33 free-throw attempts for the Musketeers. ... There are at least three conflicts between named venues and Official NCAA Corporate Partners or Corporate Champions in the first weekend of the tournament. The NCAA has a deal with Pontiac but is playing at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.; AT&T is the official wireless provider while games are going on here at the Verizon Center; and the Pepsi Center in Denver is a site while Coca-Cola has the NCAA's beverage contract.
Rob Daniels contributed to this report.
Contact Jim Young at 373-7016 or jim.young@news-record.com
Contact Ed Hardin at 373-7069 or ed.hardin@news-record.com
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