Winthrop University

What a week it was with Winthrop. I miss the fellas already: Money, Beast, Scratch, Dan the Man, Bip, Top Dog, Bubbles, Sweat Pea, Fish Tank, O'Dog, JP, Earl, RC Cola. Winthrop University advanced to the NCAA tournament for the first time last week, not bad for a school at which, until 1974, the students wore dresses. Funny, but the final act was as predictable as Rodman in drag. You knew Winthrop would end up Lossthrop. Never has a 16th-seeded school defeated a No.

In the realm of motivational tools, the little plastic doll seemed sketchy at best. It was a miniature version of a pro wrestler known as "Junkyard Dog." Gregg Marshall, the basketball coach at tiny Winthrop, had misgivings about bringing it into his locker room. Marshall tentatively announced that the child's toy would be a team award, passed along each game to the player showing the most tenacity. "I was a little leery at first how the guys would react," the coach recalled.

All of the floor decals and banners couldn't hide the downside to the NCAA tournament's opening game--Winthrop and Northwestern State would rather not be in it. The three-time Big South champion and the Southland Conference representative from Natchitoches, La.--the backdrop for "Steel Magnolias"--arrived Monday to prepare for a play-in game they both dreaded. Both brought 18-12 records.

All of the floor decals and banners couldn't hide the downside to the NCAA tournament's opening game--Winthrop and Northwestern State would rather not be in it. The three-time Big South champion and the Southland Conference representative from Natchitoches, La.--the backdrop for "Steel Magnolias"--arrived Monday to prepare for a play-in game they both dreaded. Both brought 18-12 records.

In the realm of motivational tools, the little plastic doll seemed sketchy at best. It was a miniature version of a pro wrestler known as "Junkyard Dog." Gregg Marshall, the basketball coach at tiny Winthrop, had misgivings about bringing it into his locker room. Marshall tentatively announced that the child's toy would be a team award, passed along each game to the player showing the most tenacity. "I was a little leery at first how the guys would react," the coach recalled.

A Winthrop University tennis player was killed and two other people from the South Carolina school's team were critically injured when a team van ran off I-59 near Hattiesburg, Miss., and slammed into a machine at a construction site. Bruno Torok, 19, a sophomore from Brazil, was dead on arrival at a nearby hospital.

Harness driver David Dunckley remained in a coma in critical condition late Sunday night, two days after he was thrown from his sulky in a four-horse pileup at Roosevelt Raceway, a hospital spokeswoman said. Dunckley was taken to Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola after the fourth-race accident. After a CAT scan, Dunckley, 47, was operated on by neurosurgeons at 5 a.m. for massive head injuries, said the spokeswoman.

Mitt Romney softened his attack on former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at a second rally Wednesday at Winthrop University. He chided the former House speaker for criticizing his private-sector experience, but omitted his charge from earlier in the day that Gingrich had exaggerated his record on job creation. Still, for the second time Wednesday, Romney pivoted from criticism of President Obama, who he said wanted to “replace ambition with envy” and “cause class warfare,” to his Republican foe, who is gaining in South Carolina polls.

A 43-year-old woman who took home her 15th baby Saturday says she is calling it quits. "Enough is enough," Mary Mikowski of New Hyde Park said before she left Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola with her new son, Julian. Julian, born last weekend at 8 pounds, 15 ounces, joins nine brothers and five sisters at home, from the oldest, Arthur, 22, to Christine, 4. They all live in the family's two-story house on Long Island, sharing its seven bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms.

When it comes to homicide in America, there is good news and bad news. The good news comes from Douglas Lee Eckberg of Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C. He reports, in a study of crime statistics dating back to 1900, that murder rates today are comparatively low, nowhere near historical highs and well below the rates of the late 1970s. There is, he argues, no murder epidemic.

What a week it was with Winthrop. I miss the fellas already: Money, Beast, Scratch, Dan the Man, Bip, Top Dog, Bubbles, Sweat Pea, Fish Tank, O'Dog, JP, Earl, RC Cola. Winthrop University advanced to the NCAA tournament for the first time last week, not bad for a school at which, until 1974, the students wore dresses. Funny, but the final act was as predictable as Rodman in drag. You knew Winthrop would end up Lossthrop. Never has a 16th-seeded school defeated a No.

Does a doctor's stiff white coat put off or intimidate young patients? Just the opposite, it seems, according to a New York research team that has found parents and children prefer formally dressed doctors to those who wear casual or sloppy attire. Pediatrician Ronald V. Marino and colleagues surveyed 50 sets of parents and their children, who ranged from 5 to 18 years old.