Depaul

The "L-Train" - La Salle all-American Lionel Simmons - pulled into this Midwest depot yesterday, all spruced up for a rare appearance on network television. But while the camera's eye focused on the brilliant Simmons, America also learned that those weren't just a group of porters the 6-foot-7 senior brought along with him. Putting together one of its most complete performances during Simmons' Reign of Terror, La Salle (3-0) blew away DePaul, 83-62, to hand the Blue Demons (3-3)

There were enough big plays, good plays and just plain old hustle to fill two games when DePaul and Kansas met last night in the first round of the NCAA East Regional at Wake Forest University's Lawrence Joel Coliseum. In fact, the teams needed more than regulation to decide the matter and, as always, the biggest and best play was the one that sealed the win. Kansas forward Kenny Gregory, who had been a thorn in DePaul's side all night with 11-for-12 shooting from the floor, came up with a block of a Quentin Richardson jumper in the waning seconds of overtime, and the Jayhawks held on for the 81-77 victory.

With its surprising victory over Georgetown on Sunday, DePaul struck a blow for the dwindling number of Division I independents. Until that victory by the Blue Demons at Landover, Md., there was a strong possibility that the NCAA could hand out the 64 bids to its postseason tournament on March 10 without tendering a single invitation to an independent. And why should it? Looking at the records of the 17 independent major- college programs through Monday night, only five were at or above .500.

The structure of Division I college basketball continued to change yesterday with the official creation of the Great Midwest. The formation of the NCAA's 34th conference ends DePaul's independent status. The Blue Demons join Alabama-Birmingham, Cincinnati, Marquette, Memphis State and St. Louis University in the non-football conference, which will begin play in the 1991-92 season. It may also mean the end of the Metro Conference, which now has only four members after the defection of Cincinnati and Memphis State in addition to departures by Florida State (to the Atlantic Coast Conference)

Gwen Jackson scored 17 points and Kara Lawson added 14 last night to lead No. 2 Tennessee (8-0) past DePaul, 80-66, in Chicago. Laura Sobieszczyk led DePaul (6-5) with 18 points. Georgia 72, Oakland (Michigan) 51 - Christi Thomas and Kara Braxton scored 16 points apiece for 10th-ranked Georgia (8-0), which used a decided height advantage to win in Rochester, Mich. Stanford 81, Arizona 57 - Kelley Suminski scored 24 points to lead No. 6 Stanford in Tucson, Ariz. The Cardinal (9-1)

Khara Smith scored 24 points and Charlene Smith had 20 to lead 22d-ranked DePaul to a 101-63 victory over Loyola of Chicago yesterday in Chicago. Ashley Luke added 13 points and Jenni Dant 10 for DePaul (11-1). The Blue Demons outshot Loyola by 50 percent to 37 percent. Meskhenet Lands paced Loyola (4-6) with 18 points. Emily Ponder added 10. The game was one-sided from the start. DePaul led by 56-23 at halftime.

Boo Harvey's 15-foot jumper at the buzzer gave St. John's a 53-52 victory over DePaul in the semifinals of the preseason National Invitation Tournament last night. The Redmen (No. 25 AP preseason poll) appeared on the way to defeat in the final seconds as they desperately tried to foul while DePaul passed and dribbled the ball at its end. Finally, just before he was fouled, DePaul guard Melvon Foster was called for traveling, giving St. John's possession with 5.7 seconds left. After a timeout, Harvey took the inbounds pass and drove three-quarters of the court for the winning jumper, giving St. John's a berth in Friday's final against the winner of the UNLV-Kansas semifinal, also played last night.

It was hardly the ending Mike Sacca had envisioned. The Bishop Eustace softball coach took his Crusaders into yesterday's NJSIAA Parochial B state championship game against DePaul with a major chink in his armor. Sacca's top pitcher, Jen Bertolino, had hurled a two-hitter in Tuesday's South Jersey championship win over Gloucester Catholic. Then, on Wednesday, she suffered torn cartilage in her throwing shoulder while pitching in a recreational league game. Bertolino spent yesterday afternoon at Trenton State with a sling on her arm, and her teammates spent it losing to DePaul, 13-2.

Jeff Luechtefeld matched his career-high of 15 points and host St. Louis overcame poor shooting in the second half to beat DePaul, 54-47, last night to advance to the semifinals of the National Invitation Tournament. The Billikens will play the winner of the Hawaii-New Mexico game in the NIT semifinals on Monday night at New York's Madison Square Garden. The championship game is scheduled for Wednesday. St. Louis (20-11) made just four of 14 field goals in the second half but never trailed in the game as the Blue Demons (20-15)

Fordham will join the Atlantic Ten Conference next season, the league will announce today, but the A-10's prime target, DePaul, won't make a decision until after Jan. 1. With the addition of Fordham, the conference will have nine basketball- playing teams in 1995-96; West Virginia and Rutgers will leave to join the Big East Conference. The addition of the Rams will give the A-10 at least a presence in the New York television market. Fordham will join Temple, St. Joseph's, St. Bonaventure, Massachusetts, Duquesne, George Washington, Rhode Island, and incoming Xavier of Ohio.

JEREMY LAMB scored 25 points and Ryan Boatright added 19 to lead Connecticut to an 81-67 victory over DePaul in the first of four Big East Tournament first-round games at New York's Madison Square Garden yesterday. The ninth-seeded Huskies, the defending Big East Tournament and national champion, had coach Jim Calhoun back on the bench for the second game. He had back surgery just 8 days ago after missing eight games, of which the ninth-seeded Huskies (19-12) won only three. Cleveland Melvin and Moses Morgan both had 19 points for the 16th-seeded Blue Demons (12-19)

  Connecticut's start to the 2012 Big East tournament looked a lot like the way the Huskies began last year's incredible run that ended with a conference title and a national championship. Coach Jim Calhoun was on the sideline again Tuesday night, just eight days after undergoing back surgery. The Huskies, again the tournament's ninth seed, had a guard leading the way, but this time it was Jeremy Lamb, not Kemba Walker, who led UConn against 16th-seeded DePaul. Lamb scored 25 points and Ryan Boatright added 19 to lead UConn to an 81-67 victory over the Blue Demons in Tuesday's opening round of the Big East tournament in New York's Madison Square Garden.

Nick Marks, Edgar Chew, and Devin McCall each won a pair of individual events and the trio teamed with Peter McBride to take the 400-yard freestyle relay, sending second-seeded Gloucester Catholic past No. 3 seed DePaul Catholic, 88-82, on Tuesday in the NJSIAA State Non-Public B boys' swimming semifinals at GCIT. Marks gave the Rams an early boost by winning the 200 freestyle, and later added a first in the 100 butterfly to his haul. McCall prevailed in the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke, while Chew finished first in the 50 and 100 freestyle events.

Jack Cooley scored 17 of his 22 points in the second half to lead No. 23 Notre Dame to a 71-53 win over Rutgers on Wednesday night in Big East action in South Bend, Ind. Cooley also had 18 rebounds for the Fighting Irish (18-8, 9-3), who won their seventh straight game. Jerian Grant added 11 points, Eric Atkins had 10 points and eight assists, and Pat Connaughton also scored 10. Notre Dame's last loss came at Rutgers on Jan. 16. The Scarlet Knights, meanwhile, have lost four in a row and six of seven.

VILLANOVA COACH Harry Perretta will have to wait another day to collect a win, but he did coach his 1,000th game as coach of the Wildcats in a 79-73 loss to Big East rival DePaul last night. Perretta became the seventh coach across all NCAA divisions to coach 1,000 games at the same institution. However, despite a team-high 22-point effort from Laura Sweeney, Villanova (15-9, 5-6 Big East) snapped a two-game winning streak. Sweeney also scored her 1,000th point after entering the game at McGrath-Phillips Arena in Chicago with 998 points.

They told him he did not look like an actor. He should be a cop. There wasn't anything special about him. But Brian Dennehy, 73, persevered, and is now a two-time Tony Award winner who has acted in more than two dozen movies, including First Blood , Tommy Boy , and Romeo + Juliet . After decades in the industry, he is still a sought-after actor. This spring he will have a lead role in The Iceman Cometh at Chicago's Goodman Theater. "If a fat, aging, Irish American can have this life, why can't [they]

VILLANOVA COACH Jay Wright thinks Syracuse's second team is probably good enough to be NCAA Tournament worthy. Meanwhile, many folks are wondering if his Wildcats (8-8, 1-3 Big East) will even qualify for a spot in the NIT. The top-ranked Orange (17-0, 4-0) will be at the Wells Fargo Center tonight. Last January at the Carrier Dome, the Wildcats beat a No. 3 Syracuse team by 11 points. Of course, they only had two losses themselves at the time. And Jim Boeheim's guys would get revenge in South Philly a month later.

As Villanova freshman Ty Johnson gets over the mental hurdle of recovering from his broken left foot, he is finding his playing time increase as a second point guard alongside Maalik Wayns. The 6-foot-3 Johnson, of Plainfield, N.J., played a career-high 33 minutes in Sunday's victory over DePaul, trying career highs with five assists and two steals while scoring seven points. Johnson has been slow coming around since breaking a bone during a pickup game last June. He declared himself 100 percent Tuesday, although he admitted the foot gets sore after a game.

Dayton took control early and went on to defeat St. Joseph's, 65-51, in an Atlantic Ten women's basketball game on Tuesday afternoon. The loss snapped the Hawks' seven-game home court winning streak before an 11 a.m. tipoff crowd of 2,451 fans at Hagan Arena. The Flyers improved to 10-4 overall and 2-0 in the A-10. Ashley Prim scored 12 points and added five assists and five rebounds for St. Joe (10-5, 1-1). Marquette 51, Villanova 50 - Katie Young's three-point shot with time expiring gave the Eagles (11-6, 2-2 Big East)

It wasn't a big, big play, but it fit the definition of a big, little play. Villanova freshman guard Ty Johnson used a quick first step and got into the lane on Villanova's second possession Sunday and fed Wildcats big man Mouphtaou Yarou for a dunk, getting the Pavilion excited as 'Nova jumped to a 10-0 lead. Villanova's top three juniors were the scoring leaders in a desperately needed, 87-71 victory over DePaul. Guard Maalik Wayns had 21 points, Dominic Cheek had 20, and Yarou chipped in 14. But Wildcats coach Jay Wright believed Johnson had a crucial tone-setting role.