INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Scott Goodyear will always remember the first time he finished second in the Indianapolis 500.
“It was emotional,” Goodyear said. “Then the roar of the crowd, and Al (Unser Jr.) raising his hand because he had won the event. It was emotional.”
Goodyear reflected on the end of the 1992 race, still regarded as the closest finish in 500 history, at a preview event for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum’s newest exhibit on Thursday.
“Second” highlights 43 drivers who finished as runner-ups at least one time but never crossed the yard of bricks first.
The exhibit features memorabilia from the likes of Goodyear, Tony Bettenhausen, Eddie Sachs, Dan Gurney, Michael Andretti, all the way up to most recent runner-up Pato O’Ward.
The fan experience opened the public Friday and will remain open until the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 28.
Indiana Sports Corp is impacting our community through sports, and now they’re taking the time to thank everyone who helps make it happen after the March Madness Tournament. Ryan Vaughn, president of Indiana Sports Corp. joined us today to tell us more about their current initiative. Here’s more from him:
Indiana Sports Corp would like to thank the NCAA® for the opportunity to show our community’s ability to deliver a world-class event.
And to our community – our venues, our host institutions, our civic partners, our volunteers, and our residents – we are deeply grateful for your hard work and support as we showed the world we were made for this moment.
Their next big event is the Indy Ultimate, which is also being sponsored by WISH-TV.
To continue your support of Indiana Sports Corp in impacting our community through sports, join our team and become a member.
For more information visit, IndianaSportsCorp.org.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) — Saturday at the Masters means a big day for fans of Tiger Woods. One of the all-time-greats was back near the top.
The energy from Tiger’s Friday finish only grew stronger overnight.
“Oh, Tiger’s back. He’s shooting a 64 today. You heard it here first. Let’s go.”
Enthusiasm as thick as the Augusta humidity as patrons turned out to see if the legend could keep it going.
“He’s hitting the ball great. He’s in every hole. If he can make a couple of putts, I think he’s got a good chance to be in the last group on Sunday.”
Tiger hasn’t won here since 2005. His recent results prove he’s capable of doing it this year.
“There’s no question he’s playing better. And he’s putting better, which will definitely give him a chance.”
“While Tiger may be playing well now, what about that intimidation factor he used to have back in the day?”
“He’s been playing as one of the players for the last, what, 10-15 years? And time has gone and gotten to a point where he’s just one of them.
“I do agree that part of his game has gone away. He had everybody beaten when he showed up on Sunday in the old days.”
The Masters, as always, is set for an incredible finish. A finish that could be historic depending on the performance of one of the greatest players ever.
“He’s back. It’s pretty exciting to watch, right?”
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) — Saturday at the Masters is moving day and while the pros hope to move up on the leaderboard… junior patrons move about the course.
Ashley Osborne: These junior patrons.
I got the answer.
Ashley Osborne: Not tallying golf scores
You got it Ryan? Everybody got it down?
Ashley Osborne: But the cost of lunch
Total– four dollars and fifty cents.
Ashley Osborne: Emerson Finch on the masters scavenger hunt too.
Ashley Osborne: Can you tell me what a scavenger hunt is?
Emerson Finch/ Junior Patron: You get to find eagle and flags.
Ashley Osborne: How are you here at The Masters?
Emerson Finch/ Junior Patron: I have a Junior Pass.
Elliott Woodward/ Patron: And as part of that free pass, there’s a scavenger hunt.
Ashley Osborne: Her grandad helped her fill out the junior pass passport.
Ashley Osborne: What are you most looking forward to seeing here today?
Emerson Finch/ Junior Patron: Eagle.
Did you see the Eagle statue when you walked in?
Emerson Finch/ Junior Patron: Yes
And did you write it down in your book?
Emerson Finch/ Junior Patron: Yes.
Ashley Osborne: Why’d you write 19.
Emerson Finch/ Junior Patron: Because there were 19 flags.
Ashley Osborne: On top of the leader board. Do you know what those flags are?
Emerson Finch/ Junior Patron: They’re for different states.
Ashley Osborne: Close, different countries. You were super close though.
Elliott Woodward/ Patron: The youth learn about the course and about the tournament, about the history.
Elliott Woodward/ Patron: And then we found out which year Arnold Palmer first won The Masters. What year was that?
Emerson Finch/ Junior Patron: 1958.
Elliott Woodward/ Patron: 1958, exactly.
Ashley Osborne: And she is very engaged. I mean, she knows the answers. She’s doing things. How proud does that make you?
Elliott Woodward/ Patron: Oh it’s a splendid thrill for me. Just to see her get so excited and of course she was so anxious this morning. We were at home and it was raining and she was just so anxious to leave home.
Ashley Osborne: Do you think you win anything if you everything?
Emerson Finch/ Junior Patron: Yes
Ashley Osborne: You do! What do you win?
Emerson Finch/ Junior Patron: I don’t know.
Ashley Osborne: The week before this, there was a women’s tournament. Now little ones like her have the chance to maybe play out here one day. What does that mean for you as a grandfather of little granddaughters?
Elliott Woodward/ Patron: Well I have 4 granddaughters and a grandson. It’s extra special for me with so many young girls in my family with the prospects of women one day playing on this course.
Ashley Osborne: And little Emerson’s already planning her champions dinner.
Elliott Woodward/ Patron: What’s the entre going to be?
Emerson Finch/ Junior Patron: Steak.
Elliott Woodward/ Patron: Alright, Steak for the entre. And what kind of sides are we having?
Emerson Finch/ Junior Patron: French fries.
Elliott Woodward/ Patron: French fries, great.
On Masters Eve, a Savannah youth golfer will compete in the Drive, Chip, and Putt National Finals at Augusta.
Kate Barber, 12, first picked up the clubs at the age of six and hasn’t put them down since.
WSAV’s Connor DelPrete has the story.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WRIC) — Virginia’s men’s basketball team will be greeted by hundreds of cheering fans when they arrive home from Minneapolis Tuesday afternoon.
The Hoos, fresh off their 85-77 overtime win over Texas Tech in the NCAA National Championship game Monday night, are scheduled to arrive at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville between 4:45 and 5 p.m.
Fans began lining up outside JPJ at around 4 p.m. and are still filing in.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Dick Bennett has a difficult time watching his son, Tony, coach Virginia. He rarely attends games.
“I’m not a model of decorum or poise,” said Dick Bennett, the former longtime high school and college basketball coach. “But I needed to be here.”
The Cavaliers didn’t make it easy on the elder Bennett, beating Texas Tech 85-77 on Monday night in the first overtime NCAA championship game in 11 years. When it was over Dick and Tony Bennett shared a hug on a court covered in confetti and then posed for a picture with the whole family before the son went to cut down the net.
“Words aren’t very accurate when your emotions outrun them and that’s kind of where I am right now,” Dick Bennett said.
Bennett, 75, drew the blueprint that Tony used to turn Virginia into a national champion. He practically invented the so-called pack line defense the Cavaliers use to squeeze the life out of opponents. With a deliberate style and stingy defense, Dick Bennett found a way to close the gap on the more talented teams. He took Wisconsin to a Final Four in 2000, the Badgers’ first in 59 years. That was as far as one of his teams ever got, but Tony Bennett was sure that same game plan could take Virginia even further.
“He’s so far past me,” Dick Bennett said of his son’s coaching. “I feel like I’m back in kindergarten.”
Dick Bennett sat behind the bench Monday night, trying to keep it together during the latest Virginia nail-biter of the tournament. While he said he doesn’t coach along anymore, Bennett couldn’t help but point and signal for the Cavaliers to get back on defense a few times as Texas Tech responded to every Virginia run.
“I’d probably do that when I’m sleeping,” Bennett said.
Tony Bennett followed his father as head coach at Washington State in 2006, then moved on to Virginia in 2009. Slowly, fittingly, Bennett built up the program to one that could go head-to-head with Duke and North Carolina without a load of five-star recruits.
The only thing missing on his resume was a Final Four run, like his dad. Tony and Dick Bennett became the second father-son combination to coach in the Final Four, joining Georgetown’s John Thompson and John Thompson III.
In Bennett’s case, the son brought home the championship that eluded the father. Dick Bennett did not attend the Final Four game against Auburn on Saturday, another heart-pounding victory for Virginia. Tony Bennett said his father told him Monday afternoon he would show up for this one, but the son still wasn’t certain.
“I’m so glad he came to that last game,” Tony Bennett said. “Great to be able to share this stuff with your dad and family and his impact’s been huge on me.”
Not just on his son. Dick Bennett is practically the godfather of defense to a generation of basketball coaches.
Bennett’s instructional video “Pressure Defense: A System” was a must-watch for coaches, said former St. John’s and New Mexico coach Fran Fraschilla.
Bennett’s teams played a more in-your-face man-to-man when he was at Wisconsin-Stevens Point, an NAIA school. When he got to Division I at Wisconsin-Green Bay, his teams didn’t have the athletic advantage.
“So he had to radically alter his defense,” Fraschilla said. “So he switched 180 from an extended defense to a packed in defense. It’s an amazing transformation. The pack line defense was born out of necessity.”
Not always aesthetically pleasing, Virginia’s style — Dick Bennett’s style — has been easy to criticize when it fails. Never more so than last year, when Virginia became the first No. 1 seed to lose in the first round to a No. 16.
Dick Bennett said his son dealt with the loss better than he ever could have.
“The way he’s kind of always dealt with things,” Dick Bennett said. “He has a higher view of things.”
As much as Dick Bennett was thrilled to be there to share his son’s joy, the highlight of either’s coaching careers, that’s not why he felt so compelled to steel himself and come to U.S. Bank Stadium on Monday night.
“I thought it was more important to be here in case they lost,” Dick Bennett said. “Not be there at a moment when things don’t go right, that’s when a parent needs to be around. So he didn’t need me here, but I guess I felt I needed to.”
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The NCAA Tournament will take an ugly turn in its final or, depending on your perspective, be a masterpiece in defensive basketball.
The national title game Monday night pits Virginia (34-3), the standard-bearer in lockdown basketball, against the new kids on the defensive block, the Texas Tech Red Raiders (31-6).
The over/under for points is 118. The over/under on bruises may be higher.
“People have been all over how bad the Final Four is going to be, the final game, the low scoring, whatever,” Sacramento State coach Brian Katz said. “I love it. It’s great defense. Fun to watch. If you’re the casual fan and you’ve got one hand in the popcorn and beer, you’re waiting around looking for the big dunk or whatever, you’re probably bored. If you’re really into the game, you get it.”
Here are a few things to know before watching what’s expected to be one of the lowest-scoring games in title game history:
1. FIRST TIME CHAMPION
The NCAA Tournament will have its first first-time champion since coach Billy Donovan won it all with Florida in 2006.
Texas Tech reached the Elite Eight for the first time last season and Virginia lost its previous two trips to the Final Four, in 1981 and 1984.
The last time two teams who had never won a championship played in the title game was Michigan State against Indiana State in 1979. That’s right, Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird.
2. VIRGNIA’S TIGHTROPE
Virginia had two close calls to reach its first title game.
The Cavaliers survived a scoring onslaught by Carsen Edwards (42 points) and forced overtime on Mamadi Diakite’s short jumper to beat Purdue in double overtime in the Elite Eight.
Virginia had another nail biter in the Final Four, beating Auburn 63-62 on Kyle Guy’s three free throws with 0.6 seconds left. Down 2 with 1.5 seconds left, the Cavaliers got the ball to Guy, who was fouled by Auburn’s Samir Doughty on a 3-point attempt. He sank all three free throws to send the Cavaliers to the title game.
3. OWENS’ STATUS
Texas Tech outmuscled Michigan State 61-51 in its Final Four game Saturday night, but saw Tariq Owens roll his right ankle in the second half. The shot-blocking senior returned after taping his ankle up, but Red Raiders coach Chris Beard declined to give an update Sunday. Playing without Owens would be a huge loss for Texas Tech.
4. CAVALIER TURNAROUND
Should Virginia win Monday night, it will likely go down as one of the biggest turnarounds in college basketball history.
A year ago, the Cavaliers became the first No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 when they were knocked off by Baltimore-Maryland County in the first round.
Virginia has used the historic loss as motivation all season and is on the cusp of erasing it with the biggest victory in program history.
5. THE SCORERS
Virginia is led by the three-headed monster of Guy, De’Andre Hunter and Ty Jerome. Guy hit a late 3-pointer before the three massive free throws against Auburn. Jerome was the catalyst early against the Tigers and finished with 21 points. Hunter came alive after quiet first half, finishing with 15 points.
Texas Tech’s trio of Jarrett Culver, Davide Moretti and Matt Mooney do the most offensive damage for the Red Raiders.
Mooney was money against Michigan State, hitting three straight 3-pointers to give the Red Raiders a 10-point cushion. Culver took over when the Spartans started paying more attention to him, scoring six straight points to stave off a Spartans charge.
Though quiet against Michigan State, Moretti can get hot in a hurry, as he did earlier in the bracket.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Auburn’s romp through college basketball royalty has brought down the winningest program of all.
Bryce Brown scored 24 points, Jared Harper and Anfernee McLemore made the plays that mattered in overtime, and the fifth-seeded Tigers rallied from a 10-point hole to beat second-seeded Kentucky 77-71 on Sunday to earn the Auburn program its first trip to the Final Four.
Harper finished with 26 points for the Tigers (30-9), who roared through Kansas and North Carolina just to reach the finals of the Midwest Region. But few gave the plucky bunch of 3-point specialists much of chance against the star-studded Wildcats (30-7), especially after they lost versatile forward Chuma Okeke to a gruesome knee injury in the closing minutes against the Tar Heels.
Chuma was there in more than just spirit, though. He was rolled behind the bench in his wheelchair early in the second half, and was right there to join in the celebration at the buzzer.
The Tigers had only reached the Elite Eight once before, and that was 33 years ago. But after twice losing to Kentucky during the regular season, they rose to the occasion on the game’s biggest stage.
They forced overtime when Harper made a tying layup with 38 seconds to go then the diminutive guard scored the first four points of the extra session. And when Ashton Hagans scored for Kentucky, it was McLemore who added back-to-back baskets that forced the Wildcats to play catch-up.
They never made it all the way back.
Samir Doughty made the second of two free throws to give Auburn a 74-71 lead with 16.1 seconds left, and the Wildcats’ Keldon Johnson misfired at the other end, wrapping up a victory that will surely send the Auburn fan base streaming to Toomer’s Corner.
PJ Washington had 28 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Wildcats, though he had a shot blocked that could have given his team the lead in the closing seconds. Johnson added 14 points and Hagans had 10.
Auburn coach Bruce Pearl admitted his team would need to shoot lights-out to beat Kentucky, and midway through the first half the Tigers were still searching for the switch.
The team that knocked down 17 3-pointers in a regional semifinal win over North Carolina missed seven of its first eight shots. Brown clanked two wide-open attempts in the first minute, and his brazen bunch quickly found themselves staring up at a big hole against a much bigger team.
The plan for Big Blue Nation was simple: bludgeon Auburn inside. And it became a whole lot easier when forwards Malik Dunbar, Horace Spencer and Austin Wiley picked up two fouls apiece.
Dunbar earned his third before halftime, earning a seat next to Pearl on the bench.
Yet despite a depleted front line, the SEC Tournament champs managed to stay in the game. Harper kept dashing to the rim for layups, he converted a four-point play late in the half, and the Tigers — who had won 11 straight after a blowout loss at Rupp Arena — were within 35-30 at the break.
It took Brown finding his rhythm for the Tigers to find the lead.
The SEC’s most prolific 3-point shooter this season buried one early in the second half. After he added a pair of free throws on the next trip down floor, Brown corralled a loose ball and dropped another 3-pointer from the corner to give Auburn its first lead at 40-37 with 17 1/2 minutes left.
Then it was Washington’s turn to provide the clutch plays.
The sophomore forward, who eschewed the NBA draft for another year in Lexington, made an acrobat duck-under layup to knot the game 58-all. Then, Washington followed up his own miss with a finger-roll to give the Wildcats a 60-58 lead with a minute to go.
Harper’s scooping layup moments later knotted the game, and both teams had chances to score again in regulation. Washington and Johnson had shots swatted in the paint for Kentucky, and Spencer — an odd choice to take the final shot — missed an open 3 at the buzzer for Auburn.
All it did was delay the wild party that would soon take place on the Tigers’ bench.
DO IT FOR CHUMA
The hashtag “DoItForChuma” began trending on social media Saturday, less than 24 hours after Okeke hurt his knee against the Tar Heels. He was curiously absent from the Auburn sideline until the under-16 timeout in the second half, when his wheelchair was pushed to the bench to a huge ovation.
BIG PICTURE
Auburn proved it could win without burying a dozen or more 3-pointers, going just 7 of 23 from behind the arc. The so-called “football school” also held their own on the boards, turned the ball over a mere nine times and proved to basketball’s bluebloods that they are every bit as good.
Kentucky needed more from Tyler Herro, who hit the go-ahead 3 in the regional semifinals against Houston. The polarizing freshman managed just seven points on 3-for-11 shooting, and he was completely absent during the most important stretches off the game.
UP NEXT
The Tigers head to the Twin Cities for the Final Four, where they will face South Region champion Virginia. The Cavaliers beat Purdue in an overtime thriller on Saturday night.
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More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/MarchMadness and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
WASHINGTON (AP) — There was nothing Zion Williamson could do but watch. Once again, Williamson and Duke were at the mercy of an opponent’s last-second shot at the rim. Once again, the Blue Devils and their phenomenal freshmen marched on in March Madness when the ball didn’t drop through.
Williamson and No. 1 overall seed Duke moved into the Elite Eight by erasing a deficit and then holding on to edge No. 4-seeded Virginia Tech 75-73 on Friday night.
Narrow as could be.
The Hokies had their chances in the closing seconds, the final one coming on an inbounds play with 1.1 seconds left. The ball went to Ahmed Hill as he jumped to the basket, but his attempt to tie it somehow fell short from close-as-can-be.
I’m not gonna lie to you,” Williamson said. “When he caught it, I said: ‘That’s it. We’re going to overtime.’”
Hill dropped to the court on his back.
“I just came up short,” he’d say later.
Williams — fittingly — grabbed the basketball and smiled broadly.
It was similar to the way two last-gasp shots went off the rim for Duke’s second-round opponent, UCF.
“The old thing: The operation was a success, but the patient died,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Their play was a success, but it didn’t work.”
And so now Duke will take on No. 2 seed Michigan State on Sunday with a Final Four berth on the line.
That Coach K and his crew are moving on is thanks in part, of course, to Hill’s late flub, of which Virginia Tech’s Kerry Blackshear Jr. said: “Ahmed is the guy that we definitely want taking that shot. You wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Duke also got by because a pair of 3s by Virginia Tech went awry just before that final miss, one by Hill and the other by Ty Outlaw.
But give plenty of credit to Williamson, and his fellow first-year stars RJ Barrett and Tre Jones. Williamson scored 23 points, Barrett had 18 and a career-high 11 assists, and Jones added 22 points and eight assists.
Barrett made only one shot in the first half, which ended with Virginia Tech up 38-34. But he made five of his first six shots after the break.
“We’ve seen him take over games all year long,” Duke’s Javin DeLaurier said.
Williamson showed off his full repertoire, all of the sorts of skills that made people joke — well, actually, they might be dead serious — that NBA teams would be #NotTryinForZion, tanking away this season in order to get a better chance at taking him with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.
At 6-foot-7 and 285 pounds but with the agility, speed and flair of a guard, Williamson scored seven of Duke’s first nine points, including one rise-above-it-all put-back jam and, later, a 3-pointer. He flew from seemingly nowhere to swat a shot off the glass at the defensive end. He tapped in a no-look layup.
And then, when Duke used a 9-0 run to erase its last deficit and make it 60-52 with 10 minutes left, Williamson was a part of it, naturally. There was a dart of a pass out of a double team in the paint to find Jones in a corner for a 3. And then the coup de grace — a soaring, rim-rattling, two-handed alley-oop dunk off a lob from Jones.
“I’m jumping not knowing where the rim is,” Williamson said. “A great moment.”
Perhaps buoyed by the knowledge that it beat Duke already this season, at home in February — albeit while Williamson was sidelined for five games after hurting his knee in a bizarre, headline-grabbing shoe mishap during a game — Virginia Tech came out looking like a team that believed.
Believed it could withstand a big game from Williamson.
Believed it could hang with the highly regarded Blue Devils.
Believed it could win.
This time, the Blue Devils were without another terrific freshman, forward Cam Reddish, who was sidelined with a bad knee and was a late scratch.
It took Duke 13½ minutes just to grab its initial lead. The Blue Devils were down in the second half. They were pushed the limit for the second game in a row. And they pulled through for the second game in a row.
TECH’S TOP PLAYERS
Blackshear led the Hokies with 18 points and 16 rebounds. Hill scored 15.
REDDISH OUT
Reddish had started each of Duke’s 35 games entering Thursday. Part of a tremendous recruiting class, he ranks third on the team with a 13.6-point scoring average. “We didn’t find out until right before the game,” Krzyzweski said.
OUTLAW IN
Outlaw started and finished with five points. He was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana based on something that happened at his home in Virginia while he was with the Hokies for their opening NCAA games in California. Coach Buzz Williams said Outlaw passed a drug test administered by an outside agency.
UP NEXT
Duke is 12-2 against Michigan State overall, 4-1 in the NCAAs. Michigan State beat No. 3 seed LSU 80-63 to reach the Elite Eight for the 10th time under coach Tom Izzo.
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More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/MarchMadness and http://www.twitter.com/AP_Top25