The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page C5

SeniorguardRotnei Clarkemadetheall-con- ferencefirstteamand wasoneoffourButler playershonoredbythe Atlantic10inawardsan- nouncedTuesday. moreRooseveltJones madetheall-defensive Dunhamtheall-rookie teamandseniorAndrew Smiththeall-academic team.Smithhadprevi- ouslybeenhonoredasa second-teamAcademic successiveyearswitha playersohonored. All-conferenceteams andmajorawardswere chosenbyapanelofthe Mediarepresentatives donotparticipateinthe voting. Thefifth-seededBull- seedDayton(17-13)at firstroundoftheAtlan- tic10tournamentatthe BarclaysCenterin willbetelevisedonthe NBCSportsnetwork. wouldplayNo.4seedLa Salle(21-8)inaquarter onWNDY-23.

Clarkeisinhisonly seasonatButlerafter playingthreeyearsat second-teamAll-South- easternConferencein 2011.Heisfourthinthe Atlantic10inscoring (16.7),firstin3-pointers infreethrowpercentage non-BigTenrepresenta- tiveonthe10-playerAll- DistrictVteamchosen bytheU.S.Basketball WritersAssociationfor andWisconsin. stateinscoringlastyear atPendletonHeights ing10.2ppgforButler. A-10scoringleader TemplewasvotedPlayer oftheYear. Otherawardswentto St.Louis’JimCrews Weber(defensiveplay- Christon(rookie), St.Louis’CodyEllis TravisTaylor(mostim- proved). BUTLERBASKETBALL Clarkegetsfirstteam; 3othershonored ByDavidWoods david.woods@indystar.com PlayeroftheYear DefensivePlayerof theYear RookieoftheYear CoachoftheYear SixthManoftheYear MostImproved FirstTeam setts SecondTeam ThirdTeam mond RonaldRoberts, St.Joseph’s KwamainMitchell, St.Louis All-Academic Washington T.J.DiLeo,Temple Island All-DefensiveTeam All-RookieTeam ATLANTIC10HONORS 2ND C5 ganStateandIllinois treattheHoosierstate ingavisiblepresenceat thatofcoachesfromIndi- ButlerandNotreDame.

somethingwhereweare recruitingplayersinour stateandIndianahasto PurduehastobeatIndi- ana.There’salotmore SaidIllinoiscoach thehistoryoftheplayers InoneyearatOhio MikeConleyJr.from LawrenceNorthHigh SchooltooktheBuckeyes tothe2007nationalcham- pionshipgame.Players fromIndianawereall announcedMonday.Indi- ThomasfromFort first-teamall-conference yearatleastoneplayer fromIndianahashadthat honor. Harris(HamiltonSouth- eastern)wonBigTen FreshmanoftheYear.He wasamongfourplayers fromIndianaontheall- freshmanteam.Theoth- GlennRobinsonIII(Lake A.J.Hammons(Carmel, beforetransferringto OakHillAcademyasaju- nior). LandingHarriswasa hugerecruitingvictory forSpartanscoachTom IzzooverIndianaandPur- due.Harris’mother,Joy playeratPurdue.Robin- BigTenPlayeroftheYear in1994fortheBoilermak- ers.Purduealsolostout onGaryWallacestandout Americanwhoisasopho- moreatMichiganState. aresigningkidsfromour statethatareverygood collegecoacheshaving respectforthehigh schoolcoachesinour state.Youareseeingalot ofguysfromourstatego- ingtoalotofdifferent placesandbeingableto tosecureasolidfresh- manclassledbyHam- (NorthCentral)andRa- phealDavis(Fort sonScott(FortWayne Northrop)andBasil Smotherman(Lawrence North)comingnextyear. IUcoachTomCrean hassignedanotherhighly regardedsix-player recruitingclassfor2013, linHartmanandWarren ESPNanalystandIndi- anapolisradiohostDan derBobKnightatIndi- philosophywastorecruit worktheirwayout.

Eighty-onepercentof playedhighschoolbas- ketballinthestate. Whathaschangedin isthatotherBigTen coachingstaffshave morerecruitingconnec- tionsinthestate.Michi- ganassistantJeffMeyer, whowasinvolvedina postgamealtercation withIndianacoachTom aformerassistantatPur- dueandIndiana. whichCreansubsequent- hadsomethingtodowith legebasketballjournalist RickBozichofWDRBin Louisvillewrote.James BlackmonJr.ofFort committedverballytoIn- Michigangamewithtwo playersfromIndiana ZakIrvinofHamilton SoutheasternandAustin HatchofFortWayneCan- terbury.Theysattogeth- erbehindtheMichigan bench. tovigorouslyprotecthis whoheis.Ialsowouldn’t besurprisedtohear somebodyfromMichigan saythatBlackmonsimply wantedtowatchthegame andridetoAnnArbor withhisbuddyHatch. Visitingteamscannot provideticketsfor recruits.Thehometeam canprovidetickets.That wouldprobablyqualify Michiganassistant playedandcoachedat StarMr.Basketball.

IzzohasformerIndi- anastandoutDaneFifeon hisstaffatMichigan State.OhioState’sThad MattacoachedatButler. coachedunderMattaat ButlerandOhioState. thistoughtokeepIndiana playersinIndiana.Inthe BranchMcCracken wouldidentifythefive besthighschoolplayers inthestateandrecruit themtoIndiana. anyquestionthoseother BigTenstaffsarearound morethantheyusedto therearesomanygood kidshereinthestate lately.Theycan’tallgoto CallStarreporterKyle Neddenriepat(317) 444-6649andfollowhim HOTPROSPECTS HerearesomeplayersfromIndianawhofiguretospark recruitingbattlesamongBigTencoaches: ParkTudorjunior TrevonBluiett visitedMichiganon SundayfortheIndianagameandmaderecentvisitsto madefrequenttripstoParkTudorgames. EvansvilleBosse6-4junior JaQuanLyle cuthislistto sixonSaturday LouisvilleandTennessee.

Cathedralsophomore JalenColeman hasoffersfrom interestfromMichiganandMichiganState. EastChicagoCentralsophomore HyronEdwards has MichiganStateandNotreDame. NorthCentralfreshman EronGordon, youngerbroth- offersfromIndianaandPurduebeforeplayingahigh schoolgame. BigTen ContinuedfromC1 ScottDixon willbe Carteamatleastthrough the2015season. Dixonconfirmedhis signingofathree-yearex- tension.Hehasbeenwith Indianapolis-basedGa- nassiRacingsincethe 2002season.

pectthistobehislastIn- dyCarcontract. othertwoorthreecon- Dixonhasbeenplenty dyCartitlesin2003and RickMears for10th amongalldriversinthe racewins. Sebastien Bourdais and DarioFran- chitti aretheactivelead- erswith31racewins, whichputsthemseventh with PaulTracy Dixonistiedwith Rex Mays and BobbyRahal for16thincareerpoles with18. HelioCastro- neves leadsactivedriv- alltime. DixonwontheIndian- apolis500in2008andison amagnificentrunofIndi- anapolisMotorSpeedway finishes.Hehasbeen sixthorbetterineachof second-placefinishesin 2007andlastyear.

Etc. RyanBriscoe willdrivefulltimefor Level5Motorsportsinthe AmericanLeMansSe- Thefirstraceisthis createdanadvisorycom- mitteetogivevariousin- dustrystakeholdersa voiceoncompetitionand Will Power turnedthefastest lapinbothsessionsofIn- theseasonTuesdayat BarberMotorsportsPark. A.J.Allmendinger was 16thamong24drivers, whichincludedaspinat thepitentrance.Testing continuestoday. CallStarreporterCurt Cavinat(317)444-6409. INDYCAR NOTEBOOK ScottDixonisafamiliar IndyCarteam.

THESTAR happy tostay put 2-timeseries champsticks withGanassi ByCurtCavin curt.cavin@indystar.com layupwith1.8seconds leftliftedNo.2Notre DametoitsfirstBig Easttournamentcham- pionshipwitha61-59vic- toryoverthird-ranked UConnatHartford, SkylarDigginsstole anerrantpassfromKa- leenaMosqueda-Lewis afterdribblingthrough Achonwafortheuncon- testedlayup. heavefrom65feetfell harmlesslyofftheback- celebrationfortheIrish, whohavewon26 straightgames. NotreDame(31-1) hadbeeninthetitle losttotheHuskiesin eachone. INDIANAWESLEYAN61, TaylorGoshertscored15points astheWildcatswontheNAIA Div.IInationalchampionship. ClaireRay(HeritageChristian) andPaigeSmith(Hamilton Southeastern)eachscored14.

Men STATE54 ThehostCrusad- ers(26-7)ranoff14straight pointslatetowintheHorizon Leaguetournamenttitle.Erik BuggsledValpowith22 points. ST.MARY’S70 C.J.Garner scoredacareer-high31points andLIUBrooklyn(20-13) puncheditsticketforthe NCAAtournamentwithawin overMountSt.Mary’sinthe finaloftheNortheastConfer- encetournament. S.DAKOTAST.73,N. DAKOTAST.67 NateWol- tersscored27pointstolead SouthDakotaState(25-9)to theSummitLeaguetourna- menttitleforthesecond straightyear. Etc.

Otto PorterJr. (18.1ppg,7.3 age)wastheunanimous choiceasBigEastPlay- eroftheYearandthe JohnThompson III wastheCoachofthe ErickGreen (25.4ppg, topsinnation)wasthe AtlanticCoastConfer- encePlayeroftheYear JimLarra- naga wasCoachofthe Kenta- viousCaldwell-Pope figuresineverygame) wasSoutheasternCon- ferencePlayerofthe Year.Florida’s Billy Donovan wasCoachof theYear.Kentucky’s NerlensNoel wasthe topfreshmananddefen- KansasCityfiredcoach MattBrown aftersix seasons(64-122overall, 8-24thisseason). COLLEGEBASKETBALLROUNDUP NotreDame topplesUConn Starnewsservices MarkishaWrightpursue..