College basketball: January 2009 Archives

-Ben Johnson, a sophomore midfielder out of Naperville North, will transfer from Western Illinois to play soccer at Saint Xavier, the Chicago university announced Tuesday. The Woodridge native previously played at Missouri State.

-White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper will run pitching camps in Lisle, LaGrange, Barrington, Tinley Park and Schererville, Ind. The Lisle sessions will be Jan. 24-25 for high school athletes and players ages 7-13. For more on the Bulls Sox Academy events, click here.

-Naperville's Centerfield Sports Academy will be running a pitching camp through Feb. 6 for players ages 13-18. The 90-minute sessions will be held three times a week for four-consecutive weeks. For more information, click here.

-Unbeaten Wheaton College (13-0) remains No. 1 in the D3hoops.com national Top 25 poll. North Central College (10-3) received votes in the same poll.

In the days leading up to a first-round NCAA tournament game last March, Jon Rice found himself impersonating Duke point guard Greg Paulus in practice. Belmont, the No. 15 seed, nearly became one of those Cinderella stories. It pushed the hated Blue Devils for almost 40 minutes before losing 71-70.

Now, away from the spotlight, the Bruins' focus is wandering a bit, as Kyle Whelliston explains in this ESPN.com story. But a fourth-consecutive NCAA bid is still possible. And Rice, the 6-foot guard who finished his high school career at Waubonsie Valley, is making progress. Whelliston reports:

Jonny Rice is a redshirt freshman guard who is making the most of his seven minutes per contest, shooting 54 percent from the floor and making half of his 3-pointers in limited action. He sat on the sidelines last March as his future teammates battled Duke.

"I wanted to play so bad, just get in that game," said Rice. "But last year I got a lot done with school, and it gave me time to learn the plays. Every minute I get on the floor, I just want to make the most of it and get better. And hopefully we'll get another chance to play in the NCAA tournament."