As the Internet buzzed with the news, other news outlets reported that Wooden, 99, was in the hospital and gravely ill.

A statement made by NBA commisonner David Stern made things a little more confusing.

“We decided that we would not declare his obituary now, other than to say that he’s the winningest coach in our history, four 30-0 seasons, and the ultimate aficionado of our game,” Stern said. “We hope he’s in peace right now, and we’ll wait on events.”

The Post has since removed the incorrect headline and apologized for putting it up. But even thought it wasn’t acurate, it doesn’t sound good for the man who won 10 NCAA chamionships with the Bruins.

A family member told NBC Los Angeles that Wooden is near death and it’s a “matter of days.”

Wooden was hospitalized a month ago and his health has been of some concern in recent weeks.

Here’s hoping that the Wizard of Westwood pulls through.

Technorati Tags: Basketball, John Wooden, NCAA

• The Bruins hold a 2-1 series lead over the Sabres after Monday night’s 2-1 win in Boston. The playoffs have brought out the best in seemingly every player, and the Bruins might even be getting one back sooner than they thought.
• Speaking of star players getting hurt, the Bruins were on the other side of it after Johnny Boychuk took out Buffalo’s Thomas Vanek in Game 2. Vanek missed Monday’s game, but the good news for the Sabres is he might not miss much time.
• Fred Hill finally agreed to a settlement that will reportedly pay him $850,000 and he is out as the men’s basketball coach at Rutgers. This comes at the same time his father – and Rutgers baseball coach Fred Hill, Sr. – won his 1,000 game.
• Rutgers will now have to move quickly to find a replacement for Hill.
• One person who isn’t leaving college basketball: Duke’s Kyle Singler. The Most Outstanding Player from this year’s Final Four will return for his senior season instead of entering the NBA draft.

Technorati Tags: Bruins, Duke, Fred Hill, Kyle Singler, NHL, Rutgers, Sabres

• The Miami Dolphins swung a deal Wednesday to get wide receiver Brandon Marshall from the Denver Broncos, and then signed him to a contract extension. Add that to the signing and swapping the Jets have done this offseason, and winning the division may not be the slam dunk it’s been for the Patriots for most of the last decade. As of right now, New England appears to be third, at best.
• The Stanley Cup playoffs opened with three of the four games being won by the road team. While Ottawa’s win over Pittsburgh and Philadelphia’s win over New Jersey raised eyebrows, the one surprise was out West, in a game the home team won. Phoenix beat Detroit at home, while eighth-seeded Colorado knocked off top-seeded San Jose, which really is no surprise at all.
• Only in Texas would almost $60 million be spent on a high school football stadium that will seat 18,000 people. Unbelievable.
• The NCAA still hasn’t made it official that it will expand the men’s basketball tournament to 96 teams (but it will). Doesn’t matter to Joe Lunardi, who already has a 96-team bracket done for next year.
• Did anyone notice Fred Hill is still the men’s basketball coach at Rutgers? Does anyone care?

Technorati Tags: Brandon Marshall, Dolphins, Jets, NCAA, Patriots, Stanley Cup

• The Red Sox failed to climb over .500 in Monday’s loss to the Twins. Maybe they’ll feel better about the loss knowing they’re the first visiting team to play in the Twins’ new home, Target Field. I also find it funny that Bud Selig would call the Twins a “model” franchise for the last two or three decades when he was trying to contract them just six or seven years ago.
• Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger apologized for being a bonehead. Some are calling for him to receive a suspension, and that just might happen. And it should. He should also visit a barber.
• This is just strange: Two Providence College basketball players are being charged with felony assault after randomly attack another student.
• Consider this: David Ortiz is 11-for-24 this season, if you’re counting strikeouts. That projects to 229 strikeouts over a 500-at bat season. That would be a MLB record. Yikes.

Technorati Tags: Ben Roethlisberger, David Ortiz, Providence, Red Sox, Steelers, Twins

• In a week when it was all Tiger, all the time, someone else actually won the Masters. Phil Mickelson won his third Masters by three strokes over Lee Westwood.  Tiger Woods finished fourth. I’m not sure what kind of story it would have been – good? bad? – if Woods had won. But it’s a much better one with Mickelson winning.
• The NHL ended its regular season on Sunday and the field is set for the Stanley Cup playoffs, which begin on Wednesday. Bruins fans have to be happy with the team’s first-round matchup with the Sabres. Boston won the season series with Buffalo, 4-2, and goalie Tuukka Rask has been lights out against the Sabres this year.
• Boston College won its fourth national championship in men’s ice hockey, defeating Wisconsin 5-0 on Saturday. Apparently this title is sweeter because a lot of these players are from New England.
• The Jets got a little bit better Sunday night, when they reportedly agreed to send a fifth-round pick to the Steelers for Santonio Holmes. The move comes with some risk for the Jets, as Holmes is expected to be suspended for part of 2010 and he’ll be a free agent after the season. But it sounds like it was better than nothing for the Steelers.

Technorati Tags: Morning Roundup

How exactly Fred Hill and the Scarlet Knights got to this point is much more interesting than it might sound.

In case you didn’t know – and my guess is, you didn’t – Rutgers is bad at basketball. At least it has been since Hill became the coach four seasons ago (although, in his defense, the Knights weren’t that great before Hill got there).

In those four years, Hill has led Rutgers to a 44-77 record, and 13-57 in Big East play. The only reason the Knights have made the Big East Tournament the last two seasons is because the conference expanded it two years ago to include every team.

Sounds like reason enough to fire a coach, right? But Rutgers wasn’t going to because it would have had to pay a buyout in order to do so.

And then came a series between the Rutgers and Pitt baseball teams the first three days of April. Hill, whose father Fred Hill, Sr., is the baseball coach, attended the games and became upset when Pitt coach Joe Jordano protested a call. The younger Hill, who happened to be standing in front of the Rutgers dugout, hurled a few obscenities in Jordano’s direction.

Maybe not a big deal in the long run, but Rutgers AD Tim Pernetti told the younger Hill to stop attending baseball games. And then Pernetti found Hill at a game, two days later.

The school investigated and now believes it had reason to fire Hill with cause, which means it wouldn’t have to pay his buyout. Instead of just doing that, Rutgers offered a settlement that, so far, Hill has balked at. He reportedly has until Monday to decide.

With a record as bad as Hill’s, Rutgers should have taken the opportunity to fire the coach a month ago. Rutgers should be thankful for a second chance.

Technorati Tags: Basketball, NCAA, Rutgers

• The Pittsburgh Penguins threw a going-away party for the Mellon Arena and invited all of their friends. The oldest barn in the NHL saw its final regular-season game on Thursday, a 7-3 Penguins’ win over the Islanders. Sidney Crosby scored his 50th goal of the year, but once the game was over, he had just 49.
• In case you hadn’t noticed, the Red Sox and Yankees take forever to play head-to-head games. Umpire Joe West noticed, too, and went as far as to call it embarrassing and a disgrace. I’m not so sure of that, but I am sure that not everyone should have to suffer through a four-plus hour game, like Jonathan Papelbon thinks we should.
• The Bruins got a big win Thursday night, beating Buffalo 3-1. But who cares? It’s Red Sox season, right?
• John Calipari has his work cut out for him now that Kentucky lost five -five!?! – players to the NBA draft. For a guy who got UMass and Memphis to a Final Four (unofficially of course), Calipari should have no problem getting Kentucky to that point as well. And then he can leave for another school just before the Wildcats are forced to vacate everything they won.
• Boston College advanced to the championship game in men’s hockey with a 7-1 win over Miami (Ohio). The Eagles will play Wisconsin for the title. In all honesty, I’d forgotten the Frozen Four was still going. It’s only been about 10 days since the regionals.

Technorati Tags: Boston College, Bruins, Mellon Arena, Penguins, Red Sox, Sidney Crosby, Yankees

• The Bruins got some bad news on Wednesday when they found out defenseman Dennis Seidenberg would be out for the season. Seidenberg’s wrist was cut by a skate during the Bruins’ game against the Maple Leafs on Saturday. After the wrist didn’t feel right before Monday’s game against Washington, Seidenberg was diagnosed with a lacerated tendon in his wrist, and after a successful surgery, will be out eight weeks. Just one more injury in a season full of them for Boston.
• Steve Donahue was introduced as the new men’s basketball coach for Boston College. During Wednesday’s press conference, Donahue said there was no downside to taking the BC job because of Boston’s enthusiasm for sports. Someone must not have told him that feeling doesn’t extend beyond the pro level.
• In a surprise move, Wake Forest fired men’s basketball coach Dino Gaudio after just three seasons. Coaches rumored to be on the short list of replacements are Butler’s Brad Stevens (of course) and Miami’s Frank Haith. Don’t be shocked if neither wind up at Wake. Stevens, who is also being courted by Oregon, will stay at Butler, and it would be an odd move for Haith to go from one ACC team to another.
• By the way, I love it when people do these things.
• The Red Sox prevented runs on Wednesday, but unfortunately they didn’t score any of their own, losing 3-1 to the Yankees in 10 innings. John Lackey pitched well in his debut, despite his “personal” issues. Seriously, if you’re not going to share, and it didn’t keep you from performing well, why mention it at all?
• The Celtics bounced back from a loss to the Knicks with a win over the Raptors, who were playing without Chris Bosh (broken face). Boston completed the series sweep of Toronto, no thanks to this guy.

Technorati Tags: Boston College, Bruins, Dennis Seidenberg, Red Sox, Steve Donahue

• The Connecticut women’s basketball team won its 78th straight game, which happened to be the championship game against Stanford. The title was the seventh for the Huskies, and perhaps their most impressive win during the streak. The Cardinal held UConn to just 12 points in the first half, but the Huskies outscored them 41-27 in the second.
• UConn’s streak is already the best in the women’s game. Next up is the 88-game streak by the UCLA men. Considering the Huskies’ first 10 or 11 games are likely to be against non-conference teams, most of whom will be subpar competition, that record will be broken.
• So much for that defense and run-prevention. OK, so it’s just two games. But after allowing seven runs in the opener, an error and a walk led to the Red Sox’s first loss of the season, 6-4 to the Yankees.
• Boston College is prepared to introduce Steve Donahue as the new men’s basketball coach at a press conference on Wednesday. OK, so maybe people will go. But will anyone in Boston notice?

Technorati Tags: Basketball, Boston College, NCAA, Red Sox, UConn

DePaul has scheduled a conference for Tuesday afternoon, at which it will introduce Oliver Purnell as its coach. Purnell had spent the last seven seasons at Clemson, going 138-90 during that time.

All things considered, Purnell’s move feels like a surprise. I’m not so sure if his name was being mentioned publicly. It certainly wasn’t last week, when former New Mexico coach Reggie Theus was the only known candidate to be interviewed, and Isiah Thomas was throwing his name into the ring.

Purnell leaves a Clemson program that was not in good shape when he arrived. Purnell put the Tigers into at least the NIT in his final six years, including the NCAA Tournament the last three.

The only problem is, Purnell’s teams have never won a game in the big dance, and that includes previous gigs at Dayton and Old Dominion. And then there was the 2006-07 season in which Clemson started the year 17-0 and then failed to make the tournament.

So maybe this is a step down for Purnell – although a reported $15 million over seven years probably doesn’t make it too much of a drop – and maybe it’s a stretch for DePaul. Or maybe it’s a perfect fit: a good, but not great, coach going to a program where good is an improvement.

As for Boston College, it’s expected that the school could name Cornell’s Steve Donahue as the successor to Al Skinner as early as Tuesday. One way or another, a press conference has been set up for Wednesday.

If Donahue is the Eagles’ new coach, then BC is getting exactly what it should have expected to get after the removal of Skinner. I’m sure that Donahue’s tenure at an Ivy League school did nothing but impress a BC brass that holds itself in high regard.

And while Donahue is not the big-name coach that I’m sure some wanted to see at BC, he is a proven coach and certainly seems like a good fit.

Technorati Tags: Basketball, Boston College, Clemson, NCAA, Oliver Purnell, Steve Donahue