Alabama

No sooner had Alabama coach Wimp Sanderson praised the effort the Crimson Tide had set forth against Arizona in the NCAA West Regional and called it a "great win," - no sooner had he spoken those words - when someone asked what he planned to do to stop Loyola Marymont on Friday? Shaking his head in wonder at the 149 points Loyola had scored against defending NCAA champion Michigan - and the 260 points it had totaled in two tournament games over the weekend - Sanderson sighed and said, "I hear the guy who was punching the numbers on the scoreboard is soaking his fingers in ice. " Sanderson paused in thought and added: "They are awfully hard to defend.

Ernie Lewis had 26 points, and Billy Donovan added 25 as Providence scored a 90-87 overtime victory over Austin Peay in a second-round Southeast Region game last night in Birmingham, Ala. The Friars (23-8) advanced to the regional semifinals against Alabama on Thursday in Louisville, Ky. Providence used a furious rally over the final 5:52 of regulation to erase a 75-65 lead by the Governors. Donovan had 11 points in a 15-4 run that gave the Friars an 80-79 lead with 2:29 to play.

Sam Bozanich was certain of one thing: he was swinging at the next pitch. With the game tied in the bottom of the ninth, two outs, a runner on third and a 1-2 count, Bozanich blooped a single into rightfield, driving in the winning run as Alabama beat Rice, 6-5, yesterday in the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. "I wasn't going to go down looking, that's for sure," Bozanich said. Alabama (53-15) advanced to a rematch with top-seeded Miami (48-13) today. The Hurricanes won the second-round meeting.

A two-week, cross-country crime spree didn't pay for a couple of Alabama jailbreakers. All it got them was a continent of trouble - including kidnap and robbery charges for their alleged stickup last week of two tourists outside a Cherry Hill hotel - and unflattering newspaper stories. Money the men did not make. When the suspects were collared in Boise, Idaho, this week - 12 days after breaking out of jail - one had $22 on him, police said. The other had nothing but lint in his pockets, said Boise Detective Bob Mack.

Ghosts and goblins were banished from the Spectrum on Halloween night by Alabama and two other groups playing the homespun, plain-spoken songs of the South. There were tales of innocent love and busted-up hearts, of truck- driving men and Tennessee women, but none of creatures that go bump in the night. The headliners, Alabama, took the stage after 10 p.m. after a protracted delay. Led by Randy Owen, one of the most charismatic singers in country music, the quartet sashayed through a vigorous and briskly paced set of many hits.

Alabama thought it would have to contend with Missouri's towering twins in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament. With one of them suspended, 6-10 center Roy Rogers easily sent the Crimson Tide into the third round. Rogers had 20 points, 13 rebounds and nine blocks last night as Alabama beat the visiting Tigers, 72-49. The Tide advanced to tomorrow night's game at South Carolina, which beat Vanderbilt, 80-70. The winner heads to the tournament semifinals in New York.

Alabama, seeking to lessen penalties levied against it for NCAA rules violations in the football program, began an appeal of the sanctions yesterday as a key figure in the case resigned. In its notice of appeal, Alabama asked that a ban on postseason action this year be lifted and that a third year of penalties, including a loss of nine scholarships, be eliminated. Meanwhile, law professor Tom Jones quit as faculty athletics representative as university officials challenged an NCAA finding accusing him of providing "false and misleading" information.

The centerpiece of Wednesday night's benefit concert for the John W. Coltrane Cultural Society was the late saxophonist's composition "Alabama," written in 1963 after the deaths of three children in an Alabama church-bombing. Alto saxophonist Sonny Fortune, bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Rashied Ali intended their reworking of the piece as commentary on the recent destruction of African American churches throughout the South. But while their motive was pure, their execution lacked even a hint of spiritual purpose.

Alabama football coach Bill Curry announced yesterday that he was leaving the Crimson Tide, fueling speculation that he will accept the head-coaching job at Kentucky. Curry did not immediately announce his plans, but a Lexington, Ky., television station reported that he told Kentucky athletic director C.M. Newton yesterday that he would coach the Wildcats. Curry, who spent three stormy seasons at Alabama, told athletic director Cecil "Hootie" Ingram and then his players and staff of his decision to leave the Crimson Tide at meetings yesterday in Tuscaloosa, Ala. "I feel if someone's not comfortable, maybe it's best to change situations," Ingram said.

Nick Saban yesterday accepted an offer to coach the University of Alabama, spurning a last-minute attempt by Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga to persuade the coach to stay. Saban, the seventh coach in Miami's 41-year history, leaves after two seasons in which the Dolphins were 15-17 and failed to make the playoffs. Saban, 55, agreed to a base eight-year contract with Alabama worth $32 million in guaranteed money. It includes a possible $4 million in bonus money for bowl appearances.

Woodbury junior Anthony Averett has committed to attend Alabama on a football scholarship. Averett and his family visited Alabama over the weekend and watched the annual spring game, Woodbury coach Zach Valentine said Sunday night. "They've been after him since two days after the national championship game," Valentine said of Alabama, which won the national championship with a 21-0 victory over LSU in the BCS title game Jan. 9. The 6-foot-1, 180-pound Averett projects as a cornerback in college, Valentine said.

Woodbury junior Anthony Averett has committed to attend Alabama on a football scholarship. Averett and his family visited Alabama over the weekend and watched the annual spring game, Woodbury coach Zach Valentine said Sunday night. "They've been after him since two days after the national championship game," Valentine said of Alabama, which won the national championship with a 21-0 victory over LSU in the BCS title game Jan. 9. The 6-foot-1, 180-pound Averett projects as a cornerback in college, Valentine said.

AUSTIN, Texas - The 2012 South by Southwest Music Festival officially got under way Wednesday, with day parties all along the Texas state capital's Sixth Street strip and official showcases for up-and-coming and already-arrived bands banging on at more than 100 venues. There are more big names than ever this year in Austin - rap kingpin Jay-Z played a free show downtown on Monday before the festival began but while the SXSW film and interactive conferences, the latter a must-attend for tech and social-media geeks, were peaking.

Rick Santorum won the Republican presidential primaries Tuesday in Alabama and Mississippi, squashing Mitt Romney's hopes for a Dixie breakthrough. Newt Gingrich, too, fell short in the region that is central to his campaign strategy. The results were unlikely to change the underlying math of the nomination fight - Romney has more delegates than all his rivals combined, and delegates from the two states are being awarded in proportion to the popular vote. Yet the Deep South is the conservative heart of the modern Republican Party, and the results highlighted continued qualms about Romney's marketability to the GOP base.

BILOXI, Miss. - Republican presidential contenders and their super PAC supporters campaigned aggressively Monday on the eve of primaries in Alabama and Mississippi that could solidify or shake Mitt Romney's standing as front-runner. In the Deep South, one of the most conservative regions of the country, Romney and his Republican rivals polished their credentials with attacks on President Obama's handling of the economy and the nation's use of energy. "The dangers of carbon dioxide?

Rick Santorum won the Republican presidential primaries Tuesday in Alabama and Mississippi, squashing Mitt Romney's hopes for a Dixie breakthrough there. Newt Gingrich, too, fell short in the region that is central to his campaign strategy. The results were unlikely to change the underlying math of the nomination fight - Romney has more delegates than all his rivals combined, and delegates from the two states were to be awarded in proportion to the popular vote. Yet the Deep South is the conservative heart of the modern Republican Party, and the primaries were important tests of Romney's marketability to the GOP base and the battle to become the main conservative alternative to him. A Romney win in either state, which the former Massachusetts governor had characterized as "a bit of an away game," would have made it harder for Santorum and Gingrich to argue that the GOP's right wing would never accept Romney as the nominee.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Ana Jimenez and her husband were so terrified of being sent back to their native Mexico when Alabama's crackdown on illegal immigrants took effect that they fled more than 2,000 miles to Los Angeles, cramming into a two-bedroom apartment with more than 20 other relatives. Now they are among the families returning to cities like Birmingham; the mass deportations never materialized and courts blocked parts of the law. No one knows how many people initially left the state, so it is impossible to say how many have returned.

EVERY COACH CLAIMS to have a great national signing day. Nick Saban actually does - every year. By lunchtime yesterday, the Alabama coach had most of his latest highly rated recruiting class locked up. "He's the best at [recruiting] in the country," said Tom Lemming of CBS Sports Network. "Over the last 5 years, nobody has been better at it than Nick Saban. " The national signing period for high school football players opened with the usual plethora of pick-a-cap news conferences and a few high-profile flip-flops.

NCAA president Mark Emmert reiterated his support Monday for a two-round, four-team BCS championship playoff. Emmert said there are ongoing discussions about what he described as a Final Four model, a scenario that this season would've matched LSU against Stanford, and Alabama vs. Oklahoma State, with the winners advancing to the title game. Alabama beat LSU, 21-0, to avenge its lone loss and win the championship in a criticized rematch. Penn State football coach Bill O'Brien named Jim Bernhardt as special assistant and director of player development, and Craig Fitzgerald , a La Salle High School graduate whose most recent coaching job was at South Carolina, as director of strength and conditioning.

THINK YOU'RE having a bad day? Things could be worse. For example, you could be the unsuspecting star of an Internet video gone viral. Or you could be a resident of Allen, Texas. Or you could be on staff at a hospital in Argentina that got a shocking visit by hooligans yesterday. Let the trilogy of horror begin: * In New Orleans, an intoxicated LSU fan passed out in a burger joint after college football's national title game. Later, he and the rest of the online world discovered that someone had been filming while a man wearing an Alabama jacket plunked his genitals on the sleeping drunk's head and simulated a sex act. New Orleans police don't see any humor in the prank and are asking the public for help in identifying the Alabama fan. Good luck with that description.