Explorers

Andrew Wyeth died four years ago at 91; in another four years, the centennial of his birth will bring forth a major retrospective exhibition at the Brandywine River Museum, designed not only to commemorate his remarkable career, but also to reevaluate it. The museum has set in motion a five-year sequence of events to set the stage for the centennial celebration in 2017. It wants these events to accomplish two things - introduce Wyeth and the other artists in his family to a new, younger audience, and encourage art historians to reconsider what the Wyeth artists accomplished.

LOS ANGELES - La Salle sophomore D.J. Peterson has quickly become an important player for the Explorers. Not that long ago, he didn't even know where the school was. The 6-foot-5 Peterson was averaging 25.8 minutes a game for the Explorers entering the Sweet 16 matchup against Wichita State on Thursday at the Staples Center. La Salle has four players with Philadelphia roots, but Peterson was recruited from slightly farther away: Minnesota. When the Explorers began recruiting Peterson, who is from Burnsville, Minn., he knew nothing about La Salle.

LOS ANGELES - La Salle's exit path from this NCAA tournament seemed inevitable. Not when it would happen - nothing was predictable about this unforgettable and historic Explorers run - but how. When your second-tallest starter is 6-foot-5 and your first big man off the bench is 6-6, getting beaten inside is the obvious worry. "They got bigger. We got smaller," a La Salle administrator noted at one early timeout Thursday night when Wichita State subbed out a 6-8 guy for a 7-footer while the Explorers switched out a 6-8 for a 6-6. It wasn't just height that determined this NCAA Sweet 16 at the Staples Center.

LOS ANGELES - In the end, as the end finally arrived long after many expected, this round of the NCAA tournament wasn't sweet for La Salle after all. It was certainly sweet to get so far and so far from home, but there was nothing on Thursday night to ease the sting of a 72-58 loss to Wichita State that ended the Explorers' tournament winning streak at three games. La Salle fell behind by 16 points at halftime as it was unable to match Wichita State's frontcourt play, and that deficit grew to 22 points early in the second half.

LOS ANGELES - By the second weekend of the NCAA tournament, it is usually obvious whether the selection committee did its work well in choosing the 68 schools that take part and in seeding them accurately. It is ridiculously difficult work to judge the differences among the teams and get the bracket exactly right, although we'd all have far more sympathy for the committee if it didn't remind us so often just how difficult it is. Aside from a couple of goofs that are obvious now - seeding Oregon way too low and New Mexico way too high come to mind - it turned out to be a solid bracket in which the better teams survived for the most part and a standard number of supposed guppies swam into the large pond of the Sweet 16 as well.

LOS ANGELES - La Salle's exit path from this NCAA tournament seemed inevitable. Not when it would happen - nothing was predictable about this unforgettable and historic Explorers run - but how. When your second-tallest starter is 6-foot-5 and your first big man off the bench is 6-6, getting beaten inside is the obvious worry. "They got bigger. We got smaller," a La Salle administrator noted at one early timeout Thursday night when Wichita State subbed out a 6-8 guy for a 7-footer while the Explorers switched out a 6-8 for a 6-6. It wasn't just height that determined this NCAA Sweet 16 at the Staples Center.

LOS ANGELES - The day starts out light for the La Salle Explorers as coach John Giannini knows the value of rest, especially at this time of the season. The team isn't required to be anywhere until a 10 a.m. breakfast in the basement of their hotel. While a lot of food does get consumed, the session primarily consists of laughter. Tyrone Garland, owner of the now-famous Southwest Philly Floater, cracks everyone up with some witty - and secretive - one-liners. His main audience is Ramon Galloway, who stands up to laugh loudly after a Garland quip.

LOS ANGELES - The good doctor didn't mean to be contrary. Dr. John Giannini was not being obtuse, or ornery, or even particularly prickly the past 2 weeks, when he disputed the "Cinderella" tag affixed to his Explorers. His dispute, of course, was meant to legitimize La Salle in his own players' eyes. He's practically a sports psychologist, for goodness' sake. Don't let him mesmerize you with that soothing tone. La Salle was as Cinderella a story as any team, ever.

LOS ANGELES - This part of La Salle's NCAA run is a shame: By the luck of the draw, Bill Raftery hasn't been assigned an Explorers game yet. The CBS Sports college basketball analyst, best in his business, doesn't mind. "It's been fun being a fan - you don't often get a chance," said Raftery, who is working the games in Washington this week. Raftery, 69, was a La Salle cocaptain in 1962-63. "Don't look up my record, that's all," Raft rafted. (In fact, the Explorers weren't bad in his time, going 15-7, 16-9 and 16-8, and he led the Explorers with 17.8 points a game as a sophomore in 1960-61.)

LOS ANGELES - La Salle coach John Giannini compared it to Selection Sunday. There were 20 minutes left in the show before La Salle's name popped up on the board. There were 20 minutes left in the team's Wednesday afternoon shootaround at Staples Center when the coach got word that backup big man Steve Zack had been cleared to play. "It was totally unexpected," Giannini said. "It was almost like Selection Sunday. You've got 20 minutes left in your last practice before the Sweet 16, and your trainer comes and says he's cleared.