Western Kentucky

The University of San Diego men's basketball team will play Western Kentucky tonight at Diddle Arena in Bowling Green in the Toreros' final tuneup before the start of West Coast Athletic Conference play next week. This is the first meeting between the schools. Last season, Western Kentucky finished 15-13 to become only the 12th school to reach 1,200 victories. Entering the season, Western Kentucky's 68.8% winning percentage (1,200-544 ) was fifth best all-time.

Kevin Ware is already up and walking, and he has a nice souvenir to keep him company until he's cleared to return to Louisville. Cardinals Coach Rick Pitino brought the Midwest Regional championship trophy when he visited Ware, who remains hospitalized in Indianapolis after surgery to repair a gruesome fracture in his right leg. During a two-hour surgery Sunday night, doctors reset Ware's broken tibia and inserted a rod into the bone. Because the bone broke through the skin, Pitino said doctors are monitoring Ware to make sure no infection develops.

All-American forward Terri Mann, who led the Point Loma High School girls' basketball team to four straight State championships, has signed a letter of intent to play for Western Kentucky. The 6-foot 2-inch Mann, who averaged 37 points and 25 rebounds a game this season, had narrowed her choices to USC, Texas and Western Kentucky. In 1986-87, she set national prep records for rebounds in a season with 816 and in a career with 2,256.

Sometimes, as George Mason, Butler and Virginia Commonwealth know, it's just your time. That's why we're going door to door selling Kentucky and John Calipari in this year's NCAA tournament. There comes a point in a great coach's career when the lilacs finally bloom. It took UCLA Coach John Wooden 16 years, remember, to win his first title. Dean Smith ran the cleanest shop in college hoops for years, yet the coach who started at North Carolina in 1961 didn't win it all until 1982.

UCLA committed 17 turnovers in the first half and lost, 73-55, to seventh-ranked Western Kentucky on Friday night at Bowling Green, Ky. The Bruins (1-2) trailed, 47-28, at halftime. Western Kentucky (4-1) then made 11 turnovers in the first 14 minutes of the second half to help UCLA pull to within 61-50 with 7:33 to play in the game. But the Bruins, trailing 68-53 with 4:39 remaining, then were held scoreless until the final 19 seconds. Nicole Anderson led UCLA with 17 points.

Western Kentucky will meet defending NCAA basketball champion Louisville and participate in three regular-season tournaments during the 1986-87 season. Western Kentucky, 23-8 last season, will also take on Final Four participant Louisiana State, Dayton, Notre Dame and Sun Belt Conference opponents during Murray Arnold's first season as head coach of the Hilltoppers. The Hilltoppers will meet Notre Dame in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament on Nov. 21 at South Bend, Ind.

Coming off its first loss in 6 games, the Cal State Long Beach women's basketball team will play host to Western Kentucky tonight at 6:30 at the University Gym. The eighth-ranked 49ers (6-3) let the game slip away Tuesday night against Maryland, losing in the last 2 minutes, 76-72. Guard Traci Waites led Long Beach with a career-high 30 points. However, Penny Toler, the team's leading scorer, remains in a slump, scoring only 14 points Tuesday night. Western Kentucky (5-2) is ranked No.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Western Kentucky didn't need a buzzer-beater this time. Behind Courtney Lee's strong first-half performance and some clutch shooting down the stretch, the 12th-seeded Hilltoppers advanced to the round of 16 for the first time in 15 years with a 72-63 victory over 13th-seeded San Diego on Sunday. Next comes UCLA. Western Kentucky (29-6) will face the top-seeded Bruins in the West Regional semifinals in Phoenix.

Western Kentucky put "L.A. or bust!" on its media guide before the season, then had to live with it when the Hilltoppers had a 4-4 record. The Final Four at the Sports Arena this weekend suddenly seemed a world away. "Several times this year, I thought bust was what it was going to be," Coach Paul Sanderford said. The women's basketball team that is the pride of Bowling Green, Ky.

Second-ranked Tennessee had the history, three national championship trophies and the famous coach, but Western Kentucky had the stubborn confidence. Tennessee buckled, and fourth-seeded Western Kentucky upset the defending national champion, 75-70, before 5,802 at Mackey Arena Thursday to advance past the top-seeded Volunteers to the Mideast Regional final Saturday. Western Kentucky will play Maryland, which defeated Purdue, 64-58.

It isn't easy to lose to a team with a 3-8 record. But Western Kentucky pulled off that feat in dramatic fashion, blowing a 20-3 third-quarter lead to fall, 20-24, to Arkansas State. The Hilltoppers (0-12) thus chalked up their 20th straight defeat, the longest losing streak in the Football Bowl Subdivision, whatever that is. And, most important, wacky WKU captured the Bottom Ten title. Lowlights of the season included three games in which WKU gave up more than 60 points, including 68 to No. 5 North Texas, a team that finished 2-10.

All Eastern Michigan can do now is wait. The EMUs did their job -- losing to Akron, 21-28, to finish the season with a perfect 0-12 record. But the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky (0-11) refuse to go away, no matter how much their fans would like them to. Wacky WKU fell, 23-29, to 4-7 Florida Atlantic to run its losing streak to 19 games, longest in the nation. And WKU vaulted into a first-place tie with the EMUs. The Bottom Ten title will be decided one way or another by Western Kentucky's finale tonight against No. 16 Arkansas State (3-8)

Texas San Antonio 66, UC Irvine 56: Eric Wise scored 23 points but the Anteaters (2-2) couldn't overcome 50% shooting by the Roadrunners (3-0) at Richmond, Ky. at Western Kentucky 68, Cal State Northridge 67: Anthony Sally made a free throw with 4.7 seconds left to lift the Hilltoppers (2-1). Kenny Daniels led the Matadors (1-3) with 19 points. at UC Santa Barbara 76, San Francisco 65: Orlando Johnson scored 25 points and James Nunnally had 20 to lead the Gauchos (3-0)

at Western Michigan 48, Miami (Ohio) 26: Tim Hiller threw four touchdown passes and Jamail Berry returned a fumble for a score seven seconds into the game to lead the Broncos (1-2, 1-0) over the RedHawks (0-3, 0-1) in a Mid-American Conference game. Western Michigan, which scored the game's first 35 points, capitalized on five turnovers by Miami to extend its home winning streak to seven games. at Army 24, Ball State 17: Donovan Travis returned his second interception 18 yards for the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter and the Black Knights (2-1)

No. 19 North Carolina 12, at Connecticut 10: Dan Ryan of the Huskies (1-1)was called for holding in the end zone with 1:32 to play, resulting in a safety that gave the Tar Heels (2-0) the win. at No. 23 Cincinnati 70, SE Missouri State 3: Mardy Gilyard had four touchdowns; Cincinnati (2-0) had its third-best point total. at West Virginia 35, East Carolina 20: Jarrett Brown threw for 334 yards and four touchdowns for the Mountaineers (2-0). Pittsburgh 54, at Buffalo 27: Bill Stull threw three first-half touchdown passes to Dorin Dickerson for the Panthers (2-0)

UCLA linebacker Reggie Carter was a solitary figure, standing alone at one end of Neyland Stadium. Rows of Tennessee fans were coming to grips with a 19-15 loss to UCLA on Saturday, but Carter was pointing to a patch of blue way up high, where UCLA fans were going nuts in the nosebleed sections. "Those are my people," Carter said. "They were way up there, but we could hear them all game." All because the UCLA defense put a hush on Volunteers hysteria. The Bruins held on fourth and goal at the two-yard line with two minutes left, when tackles Jess Ward and David Carter piled up the line allowing Carter to stop tailback Montario Hardesty at the one. Even then, though, they knew the job was not done.

Michael Fraliex's off-balance three-pointer with 9.1 seconds left in regulation forced overtime, and No. 21 Western Kentucky dominated the extra period to beat Michigan, 82-76, Thursday night in the Midwest Regional's first round. The game closed the books on the Fab Five era at Michigan, but not without a strong finish from the remaining two members of the famed recruiting class that made it to two NCAA title games and a regional final.