The Buzzer

It was quite a week for Rhode Island. On Feb. 8 John Bennett, a reserve forward on the Rams team that made the Elite Eight last year and a friend of many current Rhode Island players, died of injuries he sustained in a car accident 11 days earlier. The Atlantic 10 offered to let the Rams reschedule their Feb. 10 game at Virginia Tech, but Rhode Island decided to play and, after what turned out to be an eight-hour trip to Blacksburg, pulled out a 76-67 win. Last Saturday the Rams (15-10) overcame a 15-point halftime deficit to knock off UMass 59-56 and keep their NCAA tournament chances alive....

Keep an eye on Nebraska in the Big 12. The Huskers scratched out a 59-57 victory over Iowa State last Saturday for the ninth win in their last 10 games and improved to 17-8 (9-3 in the league). They may also have the conference player of the year in unsung 6'10" senior center Venson Hamilton, who on Saturday became only the fourth player in league history to get 1,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 200 blocks during his career. The others were Danny Manning of Kansas, Wayman Tisdale of Oklahoma and Byron Houston of Oklahoma State....

Syracuse's Etan Thomas, second in the nation in blocks with 4.2 per game, had 104 rejections through Sunday, a higher total than that of six teams in the Big East.